Round Two v2: Well... This Isn't Ideal

Formatting quickly took a hit in this episode, and we just ended up talking through our feelings. Pour a cold one (unless you're driving while listening, then don't do that) and kick back with us as we pick up the pieces and focus on this weekend.

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This recording is the sole view of the members of the Dump & Chase Podcast.  This is a non-commercial fan production. We are not affiliated with or compensated by the Youngstown Phantoms, the United States Hockey League, or any league, club, or team.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:37

Hello, Phantom fans, and welcome to season eight, episode 28 of the Dump and Chase podcast. Coming up in this episode, we are going to look back at two of probably the most frustrating games in Youngstown Phantoms history taking place in the second round of the USHL playoffs. We're also going to look ahead to what the Phantoms are going to need to do to climb back into this this upcoming weekend. And that's about all we got because this is going to be a really short episode. My name is Sam Olmstead, and joining me as always is Dan Conley.

SPEAKER_05 1:12

Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming.

SPEAKER_04 1:15

And Justin Irwin. Inconceivable. You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means. That wasn't planned. I we just know the movie that well.

SPEAKER_05 1:31

How many times do you think you guys have said or quoted that movie?

SPEAKER_04 1:35

In a season or all time? All time?

SPEAKER_05 1:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:39

I I think we may have quoted the entire movie by now. Wait a minute. Rats of unusual size? I don't think they exist. Want a peanut? Now we've quoted it. We had to get those last couple ones in there.

SPEAKER_05 2:01

We had to get the laughs out of the way now.

SPEAKER_04 2:04

Uh yeah. I'll call the brute squad. I'm on the brute squad. You are the brute squad. I mean, right now this is better than anything else I think we're gonna talk about in this episode. So he's not completely dead. I think that's relevant to Blaith. Okay, stop it. Um God, I dread how this is gonna go. Gentlemen, how are we doing? Not well, not well at all.

SPEAKER_05 2:30

And as we've been talking, the penguins are down 3-0 now in game two to the fires. That's not getting any better on that front either.

SPEAKER_04 2:38

I thought, how could this get any worse? Thank you, Dan. Yeah. Any more quotes? I think I I think you're about to lose your spot as chief morale officer here.

SPEAKER_05 2:50

I'll talk to my legal department.

SPEAKER_04 2:52

Um the legal department may be drunk at the beginning of the episode.

SPEAKER_03 2:59

Well, we kind of drag out the uh the the pre-episode bayonur, so yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:06

Which uh I believe would go back to the HR department, which is you, Dan. So uh you guys want to ping pong back and forth there for a little bit. Um yeah, it a trying weekend, I would say.

SPEAKER_03 3:19

It was that's other words I'd describe it, but as being the legal department, I don't think we can say what I would want to say.

SPEAKER_05 3:28

It was a kick to the dick. That's what we want to say.

SPEAKER_04 3:30

Yeah, that's not not not not a great weekstand weekend for Youngstown fans, according to Dan. A great weekend for Youngstown bar owners.

SPEAKER_05 3:42

It was. I uh I tried forgetting about Saturday's game, Saturday's night, Saturday night. How'd that work out for you? I had to go to work the next day.

SPEAKER_03 3:53

I did not. I slept in.

SPEAKER_04 3:57

Um, so to kick this off, uh we we do have some good news here. The uh and over the past week, uh the uh nominees for a lot of the uh end of season awards has been announced. Um, as of recording, uh a couple of the winners have been announced. So we'll get through that. Yeah, so we'll just go through the list here. Uh starting out, uh Tobyash Trayball nominated uh for rookie of the year, ended up not winning it. Uh was it Cooper Solaire? Yep. If I said that right from Sioux Falls, ended up taking rookie of the year. And then the uh all rookie first team was announced. Tobiash was named to uh that, so congratulations there. Uh going through again as of recording, we do not have any results for defenseman of the year. Uh, we have Jack Wilson nominated, forward of the year, and player of the year, both Cooper Simpson uh nominated for both of those. Uh Tobiash Trayball nominated for goalie of the year. Uh Ryan Ward, fine, is this the first time that I can remember? I'm trying to think. Is this the first time Wardo's been nominated for coach of the year?

SPEAKER_05 5:01

Unless he was nominated his first year when they won the cup. I I don't think he was, though.

SPEAKER_04 5:05

I think, yeah, it's might be the first time. But speaking of first time, uh GM of the year, Jason Deskins and Ryan Kosecki finally nominated there. Finally.

SPEAKER_05 5:13

Yeah. Now everyone is spared a uh me going off on the lack of recognition that the front office of the Phantoms get.

SPEAKER_03 5:21

I mean, we'll we'll see when the the final scores are tally.

SPEAKER_04 5:25

Yeah. Um, and then also uh, you know, keeping a watch out for the all USHL teams, uh, first team, second team, third team, uh, those will be coming out. I think everything's coming out this week. I'm not entirely sure, but it's we're recording Monday night and they've already kind of kicked it off.

SPEAKER_03 5:40

They're dribbling this out.

SPEAKER_04 5:42

Yeah, little yeah, little one or two each day, something like what however it is they're doing it. But uh so no, I mean, Dan, there you go. You've talked about the recognition and everything else. Um, Phantom's very well represented this year.

SPEAKER_05 5:55

Yeah, yeah, they have some in each category, and damn it, they deserve it. They've earned that right to be in there. They've had a great year, and it's they've been consistent all regular season long.

SPEAKER_04 6:03

So it's and speaking of recognition, if I remember correctly, like the all-rookie second team, like four of the six players were uh from Cedar Rapids.

SPEAKER_05 6:11

Yeah, that was surprising. That's uh I didn't realize that they were that young, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 6:17

And uh, you know, I I mean maybe we should have another category podcast of the year. Oh, wait, we're the only ones.

SPEAKER_05 6:25

We get first and last place.

SPEAKER_04 6:27

Somehow the league would still find a way to not give it to us. They they used to do media team of the year, which the uh first couple years we would, you know, obviously jokingly try to interject ourselves into, but that was always for the actual like broadcast uh groups for each team. So um, so uh three other matchups going on um in the USHL playoffs. We're just gonna go through them uh quickly here. Uh, because I didn't we had other things going on this weekend. I didn't watch any of these games, so I can't tell you anything beyond the final score. Starting out west, uh, the series with the one seed uh Sioux Falls Stampede and the five-seed Lincoln Stars. That series is tied 1-1. Uh Sioux Falls winning game one five to two, and then Lincoln uh pulling out an upset. I guess you could say, unless you're uh Joel Norman, he actually called this.

SPEAKER_05 7:22

Yes, he did.

SPEAKER_04 7:23

Uh last week, uh Lincoln getting the four three overtime winner um in the second game that they played. So that's so far his predictions holding for that series. That uh Lincoln would steal one in Sioux Falls. So we'll have to see what comes up the rest of this weekend. And then possibly in the future, we may want to rely more on his predictions than ours. I mean, Justin did pretty good last week, so yeah, and unfortunately it's carrying over into this week.

SPEAKER_03 7:52

I really wish I was, I really wish I was wrong. I mean, to be fair, I I predicted us doing a lot better, but uh it is what it is.

SPEAKER_04 8:03

Um, the uh Fargo Sioux City series, the uh two-seed Fargo, three-seed Sioux City. Uh Fargo is up in that series two to nothing, uh winning game one, four to one, and winning game two seven to four. Uh apparently nobody in the west is having any trouble scoring.

SPEAKER_05 8:18

No, I mean anybody playing Sioux City is gonna score. They've never won, they've never worried about how many goals they led in. They've always just tried to outscore. But I think Sioux City had like a three to one or they had a pretty good multi-goal lead in game two. And Fargo just came out.

SPEAKER_04 8:32

Yeah, they yeah, they came back and ran away with that one. Um, and then in the Eastern Conference, uh the two-seed Dubuque Fighting Saints and the what are they? The four-seed, five seed, I can't even remember. The five-seed Muskegon Lumberjacks. That series is tied at one. Uh, Dubuque picking up the Gwyn in game one, two to one. Muskegon coming back in game two, uh, beating Dubuque six to two. So, um, with that all all the way, uh, probably a segment we've dreaded more than any other in recent history. Let's go ahead and take a look at what happened this past weekend with the Phantoms.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

It's the wicked record.

SPEAKER_04 9:17

Justin, you've you've actually been a pretty big fan of the music we use uh leading into these segments. That may be the saddest I've ever seen you look.

SPEAKER_03 9:26

Uh yeah. I I'm totally not doing a shot while we're recording this right now. Yeah. I mean, obviously this isn't ideal.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

No.

SPEAKER_04 9:45

It's also the name of the episode.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:48

I I was looking up at the redsheet and I'm like, yep, that's yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:51

I I I usually try not to get too uh meta and name drop the episode title in the episode, but uh I mean again, we're only mostly dead.

SPEAKER_03 10:05

Nobody's going through our pockets for loose change at this point.

SPEAKER_04 10:09

Um yeah, so uh this game on Friday again, it was a 2-1 loss for the Phantoms. Madison, I mean, early on in the first period, they get that they get that goal to go up one nothing. Just kind of a just kind of an odd angle shot that just snuck its way past uh Trey Ball, giving them a one-nothing lead. As a team, I mean, this first period obviously was you know the best period that Madison had this entire weekend. Really the only good period.

SPEAKER_05 10:37

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they they cycled the puck on the Phantoms a few times, and the goal they scored that goes off of like a miss clear from the Phantoms and you know uh Titan Burgesson. That's the one player that I said I thought was their best their best offensive threat. Um, my uh my jinx did not come through here. Not that I was trying to do that by any means, but that was a shot that it was from a weird angle. Like you said, it was just I don't think there's anything Trade Ball could have done about that. That hit just under the corner of the bar and put that in. But that first period though, I've never seen really Madison cycle the puck on anybody. And I you hate to say it seemed like that first period for the Phantoms, they looked like a team that hadn't played really in a couple weeks. You you feel weird saying that because it they didn't, they just look slow, slow like with process.

SPEAKER_03 11:20

I yeah, I I wouldn't even say speed-wise, it it just seemed like the decision making was way off.

SPEAKER_05 11:26

Right. Yeah, it's one of those things maybe sometimes you gotta get kind of gotta get like punched in the mouth a little bit to get going. But after that first period was over, it was you know, we we expected to see a pretty big rally from the team in the second, third period. And from that point on, the rest of the rest of these two games, it was uh all Phantoms every game, every period, but unfortunately the score did not reflect that.

SPEAKER_04 11:46

No, you you don't want to pile on, but when you look at these two games, I mean, you know, this Cooper Simpson's goal at the end, you know, towards the end of the third period, they're getting Youngstown back within one. I mean, you I mean, yes, it was a goal in the sense that the puck went across the line. Um, it wasn't off a shot.

SPEAKER_03 12:05

Well, I I again, well, not again. I I think that's this is the first time we've discussed this at the episode. Um, we've talked about this privately quite a bit. You're not beating Caleb Hale with, you know, a pretty shot. No. So yeah, you need something lucky, fluky, greasy.

SPEAKER_04 12:27

I I will say, in the case of Cooper Simpson's goal, I'm glad the referee was behind the net. Because, you know, Caleb Hale was out at the front of the crease, the puck was just sitting in the crease right behind him. Nobody knew where it was, except for all of us. Screaming and pointing, it's right there, it's right there, like not even a foot away from the goal line, just sitting there. Thankfully, the referee was behind the net and could see the puck, so he didn't blow the whistle. And then a shoving match ensued. The puck ends up going in the net.

SPEAKER_05 12:56

That was one of the few times he didn't kick the net off the morning either.

SPEAKER_04 12:59

Yeah, that that that too. I I think the count is five um over these two games that he kicked it off. Yeah, and you can't and you can't say, Oh, there must be something wrong with that net because he did it at the other end, too.

SPEAKER_05 13:10

Yeah, and Trailball. I mean, I he really didn't Trailball didn't have a chance to do it because the puck really wasn't that a whole lot, but that's one of these things. It seems like you like when you're playing basketball and you're shooting the ball and you keep missing, and it feels like the hoop is like it's like super small. I feel like that's what the fans are feeling like right now, shooting shooting on Caleb Hyle. He's you know, he's seeing everything Justin and Sam, you guys mentioned about trying to get traffic in front of it, you know, just trying to muck it up a little bit. But uh it feels like you know, we saw Jacob Fowler and when that when the team won the Clark Cup, he was playing on another level, but we knew he could do that. He was consistently playing, you know, except for the very beginning of the year, from like this the quarter period on the rest of the year. Jacob Fowler played at a high level, and he played at an even higher level when the playoffs started. You know, Caleb Hyle, we know that he's got up, ups, and downs. He's got his good is very good, and he can also just you know not have a good game at the same time. Um, right now he's standing at four four games in a row where he played out of his mind, out of his mind. Yeah, I'm sure there's other chances. There are times when the Phantom just downright missed. They did have some like backdoor passes where I think they're trying to play a little more like I don't know what the theorem is for for hockey, but it's for soccer, it's called Tiki Taca. So it's like short little passes, one touch passes back and forth. Where their timing was just uh like a half second off, and but the timing's been there in other parts of the year. But Caleb Howells played out of his mind four games in a row in these playoffs, yeah. And if the fans keep doing what they're doing, I I if you look at all the metrics this weekend, I can't see this happening again, but you you never you never know.

SPEAKER_03 14:42

Yeah, and I mean, hey, you know, maybe take a hard shot, not a high percentage chance, hope for a rebound, something like that. Um, that was another thing. We didn't get a whole lot of second chance opportunities.

SPEAKER_04 14:55

Well, no, they were all deflected up into the net.

SPEAKER_03 14:57

Yeah, well, I mean, shoot lower, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:03

And with that, you know, Madison, they played instead of doing a lot of backdoor passes, and Madison, you know, it's they were there, and Madison's D-Man, they did a good job of just holding them up just enough, like just denying that puck hitting the back door, so they did good as well. And you know, it's crazy how big Madison's they got a beefy back line. They they block a lot, they take up a lot of space back there.

SPEAKER_04 15:23

Um, yeah, so I jumped to the game on Saturday, and it's I I get uh you know, it's just one of the most frustrating games I think I've ever sat through at Cavelli Center, and it was and it and it was frustrating in the sense of other than scoring goals, I don't know how Youngstown plays a better game. Uh the defense was sublime. Yeah, the the the the fore checking, the back checking, this this game was a master class.

SPEAKER_05 15:50

It was the most physical game I've seen the fans play too. Like they finished every single check.

SPEAKER_04 15:55

They gave they they gave Madison nothing through the neutral zone. You know what I mean? You play almost 80 minutes of hockey and you only get 14 shots on goal, and 80 minutes, not 60 minutes, almost 80 minutes, 77 whatever minutes it was, and you only manage 14 shots on goal.

SPEAKER_03 16:13

Their best period was four shots on goal. Yeah. That's in that's incredible.

SPEAKER_04 16:20

And these weren't high quality shots. I mean, what there was a couple we counted that were just kind of dump-ins from the blue line.

SPEAKER_05 16:28

Yeah, they and the Phantoms had 73 shots in two games, and they gave up 34 shots in two games. If you look at all the metrics of the game and just erase the final score, you would take those numbers that the Phantoms had every single time. But I think we talked about it before. If you have it's hockey's the only sport where you have a hot goalie that can just shut you down. With that being said, there were so many times in this game where I thought, like, I think Chessey O'Reillowski, he played in the second game. I thought he played a great game in the on Saturday. He did miss a couple chances, but I guess everybody did on the team. But there was one time it was like backdoor. I think Richard Zemlika in the in the overtime period hit him with like a pass across the crease. I don't know how the heck Caleb Howell got his pad to that. I don't know because I thought for sure it was in. There was a couple times where uh I think Cooper Simpson had one where it looked like it was gonna go. I think uh Hesh hit went off the side netting from my angle. You probably not from you guys' angle. Before I sit out there, I swear that was in and just hit off the side netting of it. And it's one of those things as the game went on, you kind of felt like the only the only way Madison was gonna score a goal in this game was with off was something fluky because they weren't generating any sort of offense, they weren't generating any sort of anything, they were just they were throwing pucks in that, and then it's so weird looking at Madison's attack because their attacks were so far and few between, but it was very, very direct. It wasn't you know the fans, they were doing more dump and chase in this series than I think I've ever seen them do. But I think that it was very effective, especially Saturday. They were dumping and they're the they were getting there before Madison was almost every single time. And I think in Saturday, too, they they were putting traffic in front of Madison right in front of Heil. But I think if you looked at how they had like their traffic, was wasn't just like betting in someone in front of him, the traffic was kind of going left to right. I think sometimes the shots were just like a half second again off where the traffic either was in front of him and then it moved down the way, and then the shot came in, or it was a half second late coming and it was what at the same time. But I I thought that was you hate to say it was one of the better games the Flaton's played because they lost, because that feels weird to say, but I think it's truthful.

SPEAKER_03 18:32

Uh yeah, I think it's one of the best games I've seen them play in a very long time. And I mean, to lose it that way, um it's really rough to take, but I mean, at the same time, you're seeing a goaltender who is just at the top of his game.

SPEAKER_05 18:52

And you look at last year, you know, the fans are down 2-0 to Muskegan. And I had a different feeling because Muskegon outplayed the Phantoms. The Phantoms just did not play very well in that series. I don't feel that same way in this series because it's it's very how many the fans can beat Madison three times in a row, like no doubt about it. You know, there's no more room for error. You know, the most dangerous animal was a wounded animal, and right now the Phantoms are wounded. And I expect I I really I know they can do it. I know we know they can do this. Um, if they can come back and and really pull this series off, I think it's gonna go a long way and make it around the rest of the playoffs. Oh god, yeah. It's one, it's it's one game at a time. You can't think down the road, but all you gotta do is just one just one game in a row, one game in a row, and they'll be all right. They still need nine wins, they still need nine wins to win the Clark Cup. The goal is still the same.

SPEAKER_03 19:39

They need one win.

SPEAKER_05 19:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 19:43

Um, I I did have a high point during this game, and uh Justin was witness to it. The end of the uh Ryan Rosinski penalty in the third period.

SPEAKER_03 19:55

Um, I mean that the face off, and what happens?

SPEAKER_04 19:58

Yeah, there was a face-off to the left of Trayball, one second left on Rosinski's penalty, and I said and I said out loud, I'm like, one second left. I'm like, win this pay, win the face-off, put some air under it, flip it to center. And that is exactly what ended up happening.

SPEAKER_03 20:15

And Rosinski drew a penalty, and Rosinski drew a penalty.

SPEAKER_04 20:19

Um now there's one now. Justin, Justin, I've I'm I'm gonna have you go back a little bit here because I I know this this was uh sticking in your craw on Saturday. Uh, the reason Ryan Rosinski was in the penalty box to begin with. Uh yeah. Uh we had a point earlier in the game, and I can't remember who it was. Somebody coming around the back of the net, and they kind of got checked by uh Caleb Hale. A lot of people were not happy about it.

SPEAKER_05 20:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:43

Uh for the remainder of the game, a lot of people were screaming for somebody to do the exact same to Caleb Hale. And somebody did. Not realizing uh that would be a penalty if he did that. Because in no league. But what Caleb Hale did probably should have been a penalty. Now, in any league anywhere, you cannot just plow over the goaltender, irregardless of where they are on the ice.

SPEAKER_03 21:04

And I know there's this misconception that if they come out of the blue crease, that they are somehow fair game. In no league at any level is that the case. I don't know, maybe the KHL. And then that sounds like something the drunk Russians would do.

SPEAKER_04 21:22

Yeah, and then you know, Rizzo ran him over, got called for interference. And I mean, Hale stepped right in front of him.

SPEAKER_03 21:28

Yeah, but Rizzo did not take any, you know, precaution. He just went right into him.

SPEAKER_05 21:36

He was playing the puck off the boards. Rizzo took an inside track to that. Hale played the played the puck and then took an inside track to it. It was just crazy timing, is what how the reason that happened.

SPEAKER_04 21:46

Because you you you got to apply some logic to this. You if a if a skater, you know, if if a forward or defenseman is injured, there are plenty of guys on the bench to take their place. If a goaltender is injured, there is one guy. On the bench to take their place. And sometimes Nika, yeah. And if it and if you did not have rules protecting goaltenders, people uh players would be taking runs at them all the time. What now what happens when you've got two injured goaltenders in the you know halfway through the second period, then what? There's a reason goaltenders are protected and you can't hit them irregardless of what your feelings are for something they may have done earlier. Because what happened happened. I mean, Rizzo went to the box for it.

SPEAKER_03 22:30

No, there's the idiots uh I mean around us that scrape for that all game, right?

SPEAKER_04 22:36

Um yeah, but it's yeah, you you can't do it now. Uh, granted, yeah. I mean, like you said, like Rosinski really didn't make a motion to try to get out of the way of it or anything else. I don't know, maybe if it was just this is gonna happen, might as well make it worth it.

SPEAKER_05 22:52

I think that's what it was right there. You know what I mean? Like, I think if he had to try to stop you to eat a blue attire, probably take it out a hill worse.

SPEAKER_03 22:58

So yeah. Uh that you know make it look like you're trying to avoid him and clip him. Yeah, oh no, I'm not I am not promoting that. No, you you gotta try to to avoid it. The period dot I wouldn't want to see somebody do that to Trey Ball, right? And I'm sure in a similar situation, Trey Ball would have done the same thing that Heil did.

SPEAKER_05 23:23

You know, speaking of that, uh, I thought I thought the first period of Saturday's game was super chippy, and it's weird how it just leveled out in the second period. Yeah, yeah. I think uh what somebody from the Capitals took a shot after a whistle in the first period, yeah, yeah, and that drew a lot, but it was more than that that was going on. Um, yeah, something I forgot to talk about in this game is I think we were talking last week about like keys that that happens in the playoffs, and that's one of the things I mentioned was was luck. And I don't think that the the Phantoms had much puck luck in this year. Sometimes you gotta create your own luck. But when that shot came in, that the it wasn't even a real was it a shot on that, or was it just a pass it just off of a hit off of Butello's butt? I don't know what the hell happened, but that felt so much like the debut goal that sent the Phantoms home two years ago that went in there, and it's weird how I think everybody in the arena felt the same way, including the players. That it's we're not even on the ice, we're we're we're emotionally invested in these players. Are you they're they're everything about them, their blood, sweat, tears, everything's for that moment, and something like that happens. And um you know you're doing everything right, you can't score, and then you feel like you're the game's just uh is sometimes it doesn't feel like the game rewards you when something like that happens to you. But I also made mention too about the the the margin of error that Madison plays with is so small. That's the only way they're gonna score is like a fluky goal. Now, Titan Bergenson in on in Friday's game scored two goals that were good goals again off of mistakes from the fans, but as a whole, it's gonna take an effort from Hyle, like we saw these past two games, in order for the Capitals to get a get to get the get a win. There's there's no other outcome, at least I mean, unless they change something to play different. But the only way Madison comes out with a 2-0 victory is if Hale plays those two types of games because Madison just they don't have the firepower, they don't have their their game that they play is not conducive to scoring lots of goals. They have to play that way, it has to go like that. And um, can can it be sustainable? Because they were they were treading water, they were they were bailing water from the start of the first period to that last whistle and and on Saturday. And that takes a lot out of you. That takes a lot out, and especially in the playoffs when you're playing like your your top couple lines, your top four D-men and your top four lines and your top uh six a fours a lot more than everybody else. Is that sustainable for them? I don't know, because you lose more energy when you don't have the puck than you do when you do have the puck. So I I just I just can't see that they can sustain this for long periods, you know, more, I should say.

SPEAKER_03 25:50

Yeah, and like you mentioned earlier, uh the phantoms are a wounded animal that makes them dangerous. Yeah, I mean, I think taking that emotion into game three in Madison, where we have a pretty decent record. I uh like I said, we might be mostly dead, we are not completely dead.

SPEAKER_05 26:11

And I think the three of us believe in this team. We've seen it all year, yeah. And these these players are gonna believe in themselves, and I just hope they don't get dejected from the effort that they gave Saturday and the result that they ended up getting from that effort do not match.

SPEAKER_04 26:24

That's yeah through these first two games, beyond beyond everything we've said. I mean all I mean, all the respect in the world to Caleb Hale for what he's done. Oh no, yeah, I mean it's I mean, say what we want, and and yeah, Madison is lacking in a lot of areas, and in a lot of ways, over these two games, Youngstown had their way with them. Caleb Hale held the line for Madison.

SPEAKER_03 26:48

And here's a guy we've seen for several years, and maybe not shown quite this potential. Uh, I mean, this year he's he's played very well against us um when he's played, but nothing like what we saw in these past two games, especially Saturday.

SPEAKER_05 27:06

Yeah, sometimes you do everything right and the other team makes a play. I think I've said that, and you just tip your tip your cap to him. And I think we're all gonna tip our cap to Caleb Howell after this weekend and say don't do it again.

SPEAKER_03 27:18

Yeah. That said, can you keep it up for another two games? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:23

Sam, yeah, Sam, your point of 14 shots in nearly 80 minutes a game. I mean, God, that's a stat you love to have every single game.

SPEAKER_04 27:31

Oh yeah, yeah. Well, and I and I said before we recorded, it's the way to take Caleb Hyle out of the equation, the way Madison played these two games, any other goaltender in that net, especially on Saturday, any other goaltender in this league in that net, Youngstown's walking away with at least four or five goals.

SPEAKER_02 27:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:52

But yeah, I mean, and it's you know, at the at the end of the day, it's we see what we see. I mean, these guys, these guys are the ones out on the ice. They, you know, they see the angles, they see everything else, they see what's going on. I mean, it it it boils down to right now, you know, Caleb Hale is a very confident goalie. His confidence is sky high right now. Yeah, you know, if you know, and it's I Youngstown's task is gonna be because uh honestly playing the game, I don't see what they need to change going into game three.

SPEAKER_03 28:20

Not a damn thing. I will make one thing, one point. Um, maybe we need to do a little bit better on face-offs.

SPEAKER_04 28:28

Yeah, especially that first period on Friday, face-offs were killing us. I mean, all through the weekend there were there were stretches. I I think by the time you got to the third period on Friday, it got a little better. It was a little better on Saturday, but the beginning of the game on Friday, we were phantoms were getting killed on face-offs. Yeah, I mean, but um, you know, at the end of the day, it's just you're playing against somebody with a ton of confidence right now. It's I the I you know the message for the week is you gotta figure out a way to crack that confidence, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 28:59

Or you just go out and have like a seance as a team and burn somebody's old jock strap to try to get hockey gods in your favor. I don't know what you do for that.

SPEAKER_03 29:06

Yeah, give Joe Boo some rum, man. Uh, more movie.

SPEAKER_04 29:13

Joe Boo needs a refill.

SPEAKER_03 29:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:15

Um so does Justin. Justin is our podcast, Joe Boo. That's funny. No, seriously, they have me stuffed in a locker. Although you're doing vodka, we might have to change the name. Joe Booski. Job Joe Buskovich. Job. Yep, I I had this segmented out and everything else, and we're pretty much at the point now. Who cares?

SPEAKER_05 29:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:49

Um, because I we pretty much went through the recap and the preview all in one there.

SPEAKER_05 29:54

Yeah, we certainly did.

SPEAKER_04 29:55

Um, so just doing some housekeeping. Um, so the uh game's coming up this weekend, taking place up in Madison. We have game three on Friday. That is an 8.05 puck drop local time. And game Saturday, fingers crossed, if necessary, uh, would also be an 805 puck drop. These games will be available on Flow Sports. I don't know if the team is doing any type of watch party like they've done in the past. I would kind of hope they would, but I haven't seen anything yet.

SPEAKER_03 30:22

Hey Sam, can you do me one last favor? What's that?

SPEAKER_04 30:26

Play the weekend recap music. The recap or the preview? Preview, yeah. Okay, sure. I will give you the preview music.

unknown 30:34

The weekend preview.

SPEAKER_05 30:41

We're not done. Yo, Justin, well done. I had no idea where you're going with that.

SPEAKER_04 30:53

Winnie was gonna skip over, and I'm like, oh no. Wait a minute, I I do have I still do have major league on here.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

Listen up. We won a game yesterday. And if we win one today, that's two in a row. We win one tomorrow, that's called a winning streak. It has happened before.

SPEAKER_04 31:16

Then there's a button here that says Dan, which one is that? No, I'm kidding. Uh huh. I'm sure this one just we're not touching either.

SPEAKER_05 31:23

Yeah, the one from Dan, the guy was at the game Saturday.

SPEAKER_04 31:28

Yeah, Dan. Do you want to talk about that, Dan? You had a or no, or no, not that one, but the uh other surprise visitor on Saturday. You had you had a better angle of that than we did because we weren't sure who it was from our angle.

SPEAKER_05 31:39

I was sure. Yeah. I was pretty pumped to find out that uh former fans captain Colson Han Ram was going to be at the game Saturday. E. I think he had practice on Friday, so he couldn't get the game Friday, but um, it was kind of cool to have him and Melbourne Straw kind of give like a little bit of try to get some juice in the crowd Saturday. And then lo and behold, I don't know whose idea it was. It'd be cool if it was Colson's idea to go on the ice and with the shovel. If if the job was to go clear clear the uh you know the ice shavings off the ice, he did a horrendous job of that.

SPEAKER_04 32:06

No, he didn't even go. I don't even think he went to the net.

SPEAKER_05 32:09

He went to Madison's bench, he went to Madison's bench and started right there.

SPEAKER_03 32:13

Oh, they were they were pissed.

SPEAKER_05 32:17

He went there, and I don't know what I wish I could have heard what he said, but as soon as he went up on there, they saw who he was and he was started chirping at him and they started yelling to the referee. They had to move out of his way. He didn't he he didn't collect a single piece of ice shaving at all.

SPEAKER_03 32:36

And the referee just looked over like, what ref, that was my favorite part.

SPEAKER_05 32:46

They're all captains on the ice talking crap to us again.

SPEAKER_04 32:52

Probably gave a couple of them PTSD.

SPEAKER_02 32:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:56

Oh wait, what wait, what's he doing back?

SPEAKER_02 32:59

That was unfair. Don't beat my hands.

SPEAKER_04 33:05

I yeah, he he skate he skated by the fate, he skated by the Phantoms bench and they just went nuts. Yeah, oh yeah. Phantoms pens went nuts when he went by.

SPEAKER_05 33:13

They probably heard what he was telling Madison. Like I said, he like he must have had somebody else's skates on, or they weren't really sharp because he looked like he was he was not the smoothest I've ever seen on the ice out there going out. But it was so funny. He went out there, the other person on the other side went all the way down to the goal. He beelined right for Madison's bench and right angled straight to there.

SPEAKER_03 33:34

Well, he went down, he went down kind of behind the net, yeah, or or towards the like corner and then just yeah, did a sharp turn and went right past their bench.

SPEAKER_04 33:44

Did he have hockey skates, or was there like a pair of like ice skating skates laying around? Because if you ever see a hockey player on like ice skating skates, it's hilarious.

SPEAKER_05 33:54

Yeah, the other girl probably took her skates out. They're probably five sizes too small for him. He's probably like one of those Chinese ballerinas with this leg, with his foot leg up in the front.

SPEAKER_04 34:08

I saw that mustache and I'm like, oh my god. See, I didn't see the mustache, all I saw was the gray hoodie, and we had seen straw before the game, and he had a gray hoodie on, so I thought it was straw. I didn't even know that Colson was there until then.

SPEAKER_03 34:22

Yeah. I I saw well, I saw the dark hair, so uh and it was like, Who the heck is this? It's you know, obviously not the the usual ice person, and then I saw the mustache and I'm like, Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 34:39

Yeah, by the way, how how nice was it to see Melvin Straw back in town? That was interesting. I mean, yeah, it's it's this weird thing right now, where like because the college playoffs are over, yeah, like college season's over, and it's the way the scheduling was in the past, it's you know, the fun the frozen four would be happening like around like the conference finals.

SPEAKER_03 35:00

And if you enter the transfer portal, you you kind of want to find some place to go hang out.

SPEAKER_05 35:04

Yeah, he entered it and found it and came to the fans all in one week. That's crazy. Yeah, a hell of a week. That was a hell of a week, yeah. But you know what? That says a lot to the fans organization. These players want to come back, and yeah, yeah, we've seen him multiple years. That's pretty darn cool.

SPEAKER_03 35:19

We have not seen a seen a player taunt the other team's bench.

SPEAKER_05 35:23

That has to happen now. That has to happen.

SPEAKER_03 35:26

Oh, other teams are gonna do it to us.

SPEAKER_05 35:29

Yeah, um, they might go get Simon Lackcosy to go do it to the Phalans, Friday and Saturday.

SPEAKER_03 35:39

Is there anybody that would enrage me to no extreme?

SPEAKER_04 35:45

Is there anybody left on the roster when the whole Latcosy thing happened?

SPEAKER_03 35:49

No, I don't think so. No, no, no, we would be the only ones.

SPEAKER_04 35:52

That would have that, yeah. That would have been the year before Jack Wilson. So yeah, no. There's nobody left, so yeah, that wouldn't do anything. I don't even know where Simon Latcosy is now, anyways. All right, so that is pretty much gonna be it for whatever you want to call this, an episode or whatever. Um, so the next episode is either gonna be one of two things. We're either gonna be previewing game five back in Youngstown, or we're gonna be wrapping up season eight.

SPEAKER_03 36:17

And if we're previewing game five in Youngstown, wow, what a recording schedule.

SPEAKER_05 36:23

Yeah, how would honestly, how's that gonna work?

SPEAKER_03 36:26

Oh, you'll find out you'll find out. We're recording Sunday night, Saturday night.

SPEAKER_05 36:33

Saturday night, record recording, recording recording Sunday night.

SPEAKER_04 36:36

Sam will probably stay up Sunday night to get it out Monday morning.

SPEAKER_05 36:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 36:40

Yep. If if it gets to that point, yeah, you're because our our recording schedule a few years ago going to the finals was hellacious. So if that ends up being the case this year, you're gonna find out.

SPEAKER_05 36:53

I believe.

SPEAKER_04 36:54

Um, so as always, um, you can listen to us on wherever you listen to your favorite podcast, Apple, Spotify, wherever that may be. You can find us on social media, on Facebook and Instagram. So before we get out of here, to my co-hosts Dan Conley and Justin Irwin. Any final thoughts?

SPEAKER_05 37:10

See you Tuesday. I can't top that. Let's go.

SPEAKER_04 37:16

Alrighty. So, as always, hockey is a sport played on ice with sticks in a puck, and our podcast is a thing you just listen to. See ya.

SPEAKER_05 37:24

I really do think it'd be a great idea for you two to watch Princess Bride and just talk about it.

SPEAKER_04 37:30

Just do just do just do like a rewatch episode.

SPEAKER_05 37:33

Yeah, but nobody no, but nobody else gets to hear it. It's just you guys are commenting the whole time. All they can hear is a movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That way you hear your comments only.

SPEAKER_03 37:41

Not doing like a mystery science version where we have like silhouettes of us, which I still have, which I still have my cutout. You know what? No, I watched it.

SPEAKER_05 37:50

I still have mine. Because uh, we'll see Justin every uh ever so often. I guess the visual cues don't work very well for podcasts, but you'll see Justin just throwing back a shot every couple.

SPEAKER_04 38:04

For his health, we'll record it once and then just put it on a loop. Oh, say goodnight, Gracie. Good night, Gracie.