Latest / College Hockey Mouth / Episode 9: Head Coach Bob Joyce | Embry-Riddle Hockey

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Episode 9: Head Coach Bob Joyce | Embry-Riddle Hockey · College Hockey Mouth

• speaker-0: Welcome back, everyone, to the College Hockey Mouth Podcast, a College Hockey South series, episode nine. We have been doing this for just over two months now. Keeping it rolling. We're keeping the train going. Devin Sarah joined alongside Danny Bohm for today's episode. Great to have you back, stud. We've got an awesome interview coming up in today's episode. Probably my most anticipated for me personally. And I think our viewers are gonna really get a kick out of this one, but What's going on in your world, Mr. Bohm? speaker-1: Not a terrible amount, but I I do want to address I'm I'm gonna break the fourth wall a little bit. So we're recording this on Wednesday night. We did the the interview with Coach Joyce, by the way. I th wanna thank him tremendously for, you know, taking his time out to to do that because you know, we've had a lot of really good guests and you know, he certainly ⁓ continued that trend. That that was an awesome time ⁓ talking to him. ⁓ but we're gonna be putting out a clip tomorrow. of that interview. And listen guys, I'm wearing I'm a diehard Texas fan. Okay. I have been since I I was like seven years old and I'm wearing a Texas football shirt. Do you think when we post that tomorrow, you think there'll be any comment whatsoever? At least one. speaker-0: Yes, because everybody's got something to say to you. I I'm I don't know who it's gonna be yet. It could be Savannah, it could be Kelly, could be Gavin. But what's on my mind is are you more of a Texas fan then or more of a South Carolina fan in sports in speaker-1: Whatever. See, this is this is a touchy subject now. It they could be like two parallel beings when Texas was still in the Big Twelve, but now I do have to pick sides a little bit more. I don't know. I haven't really been forced to do it too much. I think they've had ⁓ some series in baseball and maybe a game or two in basketball so far, but they haven't played in football, which is obviously the you know, sport in the conference. So I'm gonna actually say no comment on that. No comment. speaker-0: Interesting. You're no subject to or how should I say this? Interesting. You're no stranger to having multiple teams in your arsenal. You claim to be a fan of the Bruins and the Blackhawks. I still don't understand that. So I guess you can be a Texas and South Carolina fan at the same time, depending on who's doing better. speaker-1: No, that's definitely not what it is. ⁓ people will can accuse me of that, but listen, it has been a lifelong it's been a a life's worth of misery watching Texas sports since see I started when Kevin Durant was on not that this is important or anyone cares, but Kevin Durant when he was playing his one year at Texas and I've been a fan ever since and man, there's been some bad Texas athletics. Jeez. But we got a big win. Big win over Oklahoma. And that's why I was wearing the the shirt the other day. I I was feeling proud of my boys. Also, ⁓ I guess the other thing that's been going on, and you're wearing the hat, the the people listening can't ⁓ can't see it. But ⁓ both of our baseball teams suffered game five losses over the weekend. Yours was a little bit more gut wrenching though, I will admit. speaker-0: Quick story about that. I sat at B dubs alone for five hours and they were about to close the place when it got to the fifteenth inning. And they asked me, Are you gonna get out of here soon? I said, Please just let me get to the end of the game. Sure enough, I knew it was gonna be over because the Tigers sent up their Tommy Canley. And if you know anything about baseball, you know that guy throws nothing but meatballs half the time. Threw one to one of their best hitters. Congrats to the Mariners. I don't know. It was a week from hell in Detroit sports, except for the Red Wings, because I thought it was gonna be downhill. I thought they were gonna suck after the Montreal game. That was one of the worst I've seen in a while. And then they turned it around and swept the the maple leaves. Maybe that's a sign of the good times. Gotta rep the D no matter what though. So speaker-1: Yeah. ⁓ Cubs were way less ⁓ less competitive in their game five. I mean they had a chance but speaker-0: I was gonna ask you, so you've seen a pretty bad one. Twenty fifteen I think it was, the Cubs were pretty good. That wasn't the World Series year though. That was the year before that. And you guys had a pretty gut wrenching playoff loss then, right? So I I mean, you're no stranger to this. speaker-1: Well, it's been a little bit for the Cubs. Their last playoff appearance was in 2020 and that that wasn't really real with no fans and everything. But before then, save for the World Series year, I mean they were called the lovable losers for a reason. So I guess in a sense I'm I'm a little bit more accustomed to it because by the end of the game I was like, you know what, this is a good year. I'm not I'm not sad. speaker-0: Well, I share your sentiment there, brother. Midwest cities, I don't like you guys. You don't like us. We share one thing in common though. Our teams sometimes stink it up. So aside from Danny and I's sports quisms about baseball, football, and hockey now, we got one of the all-time greats. He's been against some of the greats that we love this game for. We're gonna sit down next with Emory Riddles, Bob Joyce, for episode nine of College Hockey Mouth. And for our interview segment on College Hockey Mouth, we are ecstatic and grateful to bring you today's interview with an all-time great in college hockey. He's a former member of the NHL's Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals, and the Winnipeg Jets. He's an NCAA national champion and a 2005 inductee into the University of North Dakota Athletics Hall of Fame. He also holds the single season scoring record at North Dakota with 52 goals. in the nineteen eighty six-eighty seven season, I was a member of the nineteen eighty eight Canadian national team at the Olympics. Please welcome head coach of the Embry Riddle men's division three team, Bob Joyce. Bob, welcome to college hockey mouth. speaker-2: Thank you guys and thank you for having me. It's ⁓ it's a pleasure to be here. speaker-0: Absolutely. And I know that introduction is a mouthful. I'm glad I didn't screw it up. You're a well known face in the college hockey world, a well known face around the ACHA and head coach. But we want to ask you about your time as a boy back in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. Give us the pleasure of hearing about your time growing up and playing hockey. speaker-2: I I actually was born in New Brunswick but ⁓ we only lived there for I was there for a couple of weeks and my dad was in the Canadian Air Force. We ⁓ we moved to Gimli, Manitoba, which is about an hour hour north of Winnipeg, and then he ⁓ he was a fighter pilot and we're in Vietnam from sixty nine to seventy one. We are actually down in ⁓ Randolph Air Force Base in Texas. He was training US pilots ⁓ in T thirty eight doing like fighter pilot kind of stuff. And and then we got to Winnipeg ⁓ after that in in about seventy two and stayed there and he switched to Transport Canada so we had a little more stability. And the first house we had there, we were on the base, but there was a hockey rink right across the road. So I would just put my skate guards on. I was think five or six years old and walk across the street and skate outdoors and and then he switched to ⁓ the equivalent of the FA up there, Transport Canada. So we stayed in Winnipeg and played a lot of outdoor hockey growing up and I was fortunate to we We moved right next door to two feature first round picks, ⁓ James and Steven Patrick. Steven Patrick is Nolan's Patrick dad. Some of your your people might know Nolan. He was Philadelphia for a couple of years there, a few years and had some injuries, had to retire. But so I was fortunate to have some I was a kid they put a net and f they shot frozen tennis balls at me and and ⁓ so but they were great mentors for me and and I'm very thankful to and good friends and ⁓ so it was it was ⁓ a great place to grow up and play hockey. speaker-1: So growing up in Manitoba, could you have ever imagined you'd spend all this time now in Daytona Beach, Florida? And and maybe just a little bit of a follow up, because I know some of us US people can struggle with Canadian geography. Do you think you could have even picked out Daytona Beach on a map when you're growing up in Canada? speaker-2: Well, we all kinda wanted to come to Florida in wintertime, so we were kind of aware of it, you know. ⁓ I was always playing hockey, so never got the chance. Yeah, I know, I mean it actually started when I when I went to play in Las Vegas in the IHL and I remember kinda coming over the mountains, it was sort of dusk and I saw the lights of Vegas and I never would have imagined that to play there. And then I got traded to Orlando. This was in back in the old IHL. I got traded to Orlando, so I was kinda lucky to play in some really fun cities and and ⁓ they really took care of us and and the weather was warm we could be on the golf course every afternoon so it was kinda nice. speaker-0: Yeah. So cool. And before that, right, you you spent a couple of years at Notre Dame College. You become a draft pick for the Boston Bruins in eighty four and then you go and play for North Dakota. Tell us about winning a national championship there and playing with some of the absolute legends that ⁓ were your teammates, like Ed Belfour and Tony Hercus. Yeah we speaker-2: We were really fortunate. In fact, so Tony and I came in as freshmen together and then he our sophomore year he went and played for the Canadian national team for a year and then he came back and that same year in eighty six, eighty seven, Eddie Belford was a twenty one year old freshman and played that one year of college hockey. But it you know, it was really ⁓ and you hear this a lot from championship teams. It it was truly a team effort. The you know, the scores scored, the checkers checked, the defenders defended, the goalies stopped the puck and and ⁓ I think the league po coaches poll had a picked fourth out of eight teams in the old WCHA, but we started the season I think eight no and just really weren't expecting that. It just all ki came together at the right time and and ⁓ you know, we scored a lot of goals. We it was a different era back then too, you know, it was l much more high scoring back in the eighties. But it was kinda fun to we played Michigan State, the the final four was in Detroit, Michigan that year at the old Joe Lewis arena. So we played Michigan State in the in the championship game and beat them in their own backyard. So that was kind of nice. speaker-1: Take it back again. ⁓ you know, going to that ⁓ Notre Dame team, you had some teammates that went and decided to play major junior in the ⁓ in the CHL. What went into the decision of playing college hockey for you? 'Cause it wasn't necessarily the outlet that it is today. speaker-2: Yeah, that's a really good question. So I mentioned I I grew up next door to the Patrick's. I mean there's one house between us, but in Winnipeg and Stephen Patrick had went and played in Buffalo or ⁓ sorry, ⁓ Brandon. He was a first rounder to Buffalo and played with the Weak Kings. And then his brother James, who's three Stephen's five years older than me, and James is three years. James played in North ⁓ North Dakota. So I was kinda going back and forth. And my rights were owned by the Winnipeg Warriors back then who were have had since moved to Moose Jaw not too ⁓ too long after that and are still there in Moose Jaw, but it was Just the opportunity to ⁓ to go to school. ⁓ I was really aware of North Dakota 'cause you we used to get the games on T V. But yeah, you had to make a decision early, you know, you had you 'cause you could r ruin your college eligibility if you played in the Western League. And Winnipeg wanted me to play at sixteen. I had a good training camp and then they offered me some money to sign at seven seventeen, you know, to me at that time was like a Camaro or something, right? So, you know, I I had a lot of support in my family and my d and ⁓ my folks just said, you know, it's not about money or anything at this point. ⁓ you know, you have a chance to go to school and and that you know, it was a it was a really a game changing decision for me. speaker-0: The success even before you get to the NHL shows. But when you finally get into the show, you play with the Bruins, tell us about what that experience was like as a Bruins and then with the other two teams and the Capitals and the Jets. Well speaker-2: It's it's the dream, right? You know, I I had an opportunity to turn pro after my sophomore year of college. ⁓ but my agent, a guy named Herb Hinder, well, I guess he was my family advisor then, and that wasn't technically my agent, but he had played hockey for Canada in the Olympics in nineteen sixty eight. And he said to me, you know, there's a lot of guys that play pro hockey, but not many get the opportunity to play in the Olympics. It isn't like it is now. Professionals could play, but it wasn't like they were stopping the NHL. In fact, most of my team had already signed a pro contract. So And he was a hundred percent right to get that chance to play in the Olympics, my folks, and one of my favorite pitchers is my mom and dad at the opening ceremonies in Calgary. ⁓ 'cause you know, I as a parent, you know, I know the time I put in for my kids. Of course we do it ⁓ without a second thought, but I know the effort that they put in. So it was great for them to have that opportunity to see that. And then ⁓ so but then like I said earlier, ⁓ when we were chatting before the the we started recording, you know, I I went right from Calgary to to Boston and and a guy named Craig Janney was there ahead of me. ⁓ he played on the US Olympic team. He was there a couple of days earlier 'cause the the US that year didn't qualify for the medal round. It's a little different. It was it's a bracket now, but it was different back then. And so he played on a I think a Thursday night. They didn't want to they didn't want to put us in in the same game. And then I played on the Saturday afternoon and and I was fortunate to score two goals my first game, which was a real thrill. And but it's funny, you know, I remember walking in the locker room. I didn't even know what number they gave me and I didn't want to kind of eyeball my jersey so I kinda side eyed it, you know, I didn't want to be this nerdy kid. So it was a lot different than it is now. There wasn't press conferences and all these things, you know, like they'd have now for these kind of guys. ⁓ but it was a lot of fun. And it the Bruins was a great a great organization to go to playing with Ray Bork and Cam Neely and these guys. A real team atmosphere and got him to make a run to the Stanley Cup final that year and we sort of ran into a pretty good team in the Oilers and but ⁓ a really great experience and truly living the dream. speaker-1: Yeah, I've as a diehard Bruins fan, I'd be remissed if I if I didn't ⁓ bring up the eighty-eight Bruins team that made it to the final because, you know, it it wound up in the Stanley Cup final appearance, but you guys played some wars in that playoff year. ⁓ and one video that I've that I was sending around our group chats when I heard we were gonna have you on the podcast, and I believe it was either game three or four of the Adam Adams division final against Montreal, you wound up tangling with Chris Chelios. speaker-2: Yeah, yeah, he ⁓ he kinda slashed me in the corner and and ⁓ I tried to I kinda challenged him. He didn't do anything and then I skated to the front of the net. Next thing I know I'm getting punched in the face. So it was kind of a a rude awakening to ⁓ fighting in the NHL. But yeah, it's kind of a I guess a feather in my cap to to get to fight him, but 'cause yeah, a great hockey player too. And and ⁓ my I've Terry O'Reilly was our coach. I'd never seen him so happy as when I fought Chris Chellios 'cause he was I think they're friendly now, but at the time from their playing days they they weren't fans of each other, so he was quite excited about that. speaker-1: You know, that was your your first NHL coach was Terry O'Reilly. What a what a fiery personality he was. Do you think you take anything from him or maybe even other coaches you've had into your and your coaching style, the way you you coach your team? speaker-2: Yeah, I mean, you know, one thing I liked about Taz, that was his nickname, the Tasmanian devil, right? You know, he wasn't so much X's and O's, but you knew that he, as a player, like, he never left anything on the table. It was a hundred percent. He could really play too. He had ninety points one year and most people know him how for how tough he was. But so he was a guy that never asked you to do anything that he wouldn't do. And the intensity, you know, that sort sort of thing. And as a pro he just expected you to And he was great. He knew when guys knew when they had to take care of business. He wasn't telling people to go do things. ⁓ of course that he wouldn't have done, but ⁓ he knew the players knew to take care of business when it was time to do that, which is kind of there's a lot more of that back in those days. But yeah, you take things from all your coaches and his is you know, the thing that I take from him is just just the intensity that he brought to every even, you know, they used to game days if you weren't playing or if you're injured or something, he and the other assistant coach got him John Cunniff, you play a game called two pass. And we used to like to call it two slash because those two were pretty they've even just goofing around after practice. So ⁓ real great guy too, a wonderful human being, Terry over. speaker-3: Competitive. speaker-0: We got two more just on your playing career, but the first one I wanna ask you is, you know, he he mentioned Taz at the Bruins. What did you learn playing under all time head coach at North Dakota, Gino Gasparini, who you you raved about in some interviews you've done about him? What what did he you learn from the game about him? speaker-2: You know, he he you know, I know in what it's like now managing and coaching, you know, young players in their teens and early twenties and he really was able to prepare us, you know, almost like professionals. He sort of took that he expected that professionalism from you. He commanded it, you know, he just his his aura, you know, he'd won a couple of national championships and he had a an aura of ⁓ you know, professionalism about him and and he he had so much success that and he he could in game kind of make transitions. He prepared us, you know, the college schedule's pretty pretty set, right? W and we were winning every that late last year especially. We'd have mon Sundays would be optional. Mondays were compulsory optional. We knew to work, you know, we'd be two two hour practice on Tuesday. And then Wednesday tactical, Thursday get ready for the game. So he was really good at at laying out the practices and and ⁓ getting the most out of each and every player. So again, another guy that it really helped. He would have made a really good professional coach actually. ⁓ he elected to stay at the college level, but he would have done really well as a professional coach. speaker-0: My second question for you, you played with some all time guys, right? Randy Gregg, five time cup champ, Raymond Bork, who's an already a legend in his own, Cam Neely. Who was your favorite guy to play with? And who was your favorite that you've ever played against? So I speaker-2: just tell you a quick Randy Gregg story on my Olympic team. He was actually a doctor at that point. He was going to be out of hockey when he was eighteen. He was playing juvenile hockey up at Edmonton and and he got his undergrad completed playing at that kind of level of hockey. And then when he was doing going to med school he saw open trials for the University of Alberta team. So he thought he'd go skate and he made the team. So when we're on our Olympic team, you he played in nineteen eighty, played all those years NHL and then he just wanted to play in the Olympus again in eighty eight. So one night in Quebec ⁓ I got cut. You can't see it 'cause of the beer, but I got a puck in the face and and the doctor didn't do a very good good job of stitching me up, so he told our trainer, get your suture kid, I gotta fix that for him. So he sewed me up. So the only time ever my teammate ⁓ the only teammate I would trust with a to sew me up. So that was kind of fun. Best teammate. I mean, it's hard from a hockey perspective 'cause they're all really good people, you know. ⁓ you know, playing on a line with a guy like Cam Nealy, holy cow, you know, like just Just a a fantastic guy and intense, ⁓ you know, the ultimate Bruin, really. You know, he was probably personified the power forward before there was one. You know, one of the toughest guys in the league and and ⁓ scored 50 goals in less than 50 games. I mean, that's a pretty, pretty rare combination. Ray Bork was amazing, but a better human being than hockey player, and that's saying a lot. You know, he's a top 10 player of all time. And by my college teammates, it it really comes down to the friendships that you make. Yeah, I was a great opportun I had a great opportunity to play with some really great players in college and pro and and playing against guys, what was the question? Who was my favorite guy to play against? Is that was that the question? Well, it's tough, you know, like we said earlier we played the Oilers in the final and I mean I'm happy to have gotten a chance to play against Wayne Gretzky and Lemiew and these guys, but the only time I was really starstruck was when Guy Lefleur made his comeback. And I growing up in Western Canada, you know, he he retired from the Montreal Canadians and And out west we only saw a bunch of all of Toronto. This it wasn't like it isn't like it is now, or it wasn't like it is now where you can watch any game any night. ⁓ so I watched him through the seventies, you know, when I was a kid and and he makes a comeback. I started a game in Madison Square Garden, he was right wing and I was left wing. I just I wanted to ask him to sign my stick. But the funny thing is, ⁓ a couple the next year he's playing in Quebec with my college roommate ⁓ roommate, Tony Herkus. And Herkus calls me from the road one night. ⁓ you know, I don't even know how we got a hold of each other back in those days before cell phones, but he must have been he must have called me. And he's like, Gila Fleur was his roommate on the road. Like, even the fact that Guillafleur had a roommate He's like, hang on a sec. He's like, Flower, turn the speaker-3: You know. T V down. I was like, Wait, you can't talk to Keith a flirt like that. speaker-2: So I guess he was a wonderful guy. So excuse my language, but it was kind of funny, you know. No, he no bucket. I played it ⁓ with guys that didn't wear a helmet against guys that didn't wear a helmet, which was kind of a shocker too, you know. speaker-1: He didn't have to wear a helmet, did he? He's just one of those guys that can never wear a helmet, you know. speaker-2: He had the hair hair going and in fact one game when he was playing for Quebec, I I was either hurt or was exhibitioning him like early in the season and he was coming down the right wing and I was standing with a guy in the corner at the old Boston Garden. I said, This guy can still play and he he took a slap shot, scored off the wing like back in the day. So yeah, that's I'm really happy I got to play against Guilla Flair, believe it or not. speaker-1: As you progress throughout your career, you kind of went further south. How have you seen the game like the perspective of it in the South and how it's viewed from, you know, the locals here change from the time when you got down here ⁓ in Orlando to modern day here in twenty twenty five? It speaker-2: It's amazing. You know, it started like I said earlier, I got to Las Vegas and they were did a great job of really promoting us. We had a great turnout. I think we averaged nine or ten thousand fans a game. ⁓ but we did a lot of community work. We'd go to schools and dress kids up in in hockey gear and talk about the game and give ⁓ you know, they'd at their school would have a night at the game and bring the mascot, that sort of thing. And and then getting traded to Orlando, this was in the mid nineties. We did the same thing. It was a new team to the city. We had a great turnout. The magic had just went or ⁓ advanced to the BA finals the year before. So there was there was a real rush to get tickets when we came with the IHLs. We had, I think, nine or ten thousand season ticket sales that first year. Same thing, a lot of community outreach, and it's just amazing how it's grown. Even in my time in coaching, you know, in the ACHA and then AAU, now back in the ACHA with Amber Riddle, 10 years ago, there was SCHC. We had six teams. FAU was one of them. ⁓ Or, you know, we actually started, we created our own league, the East Florida Collegiate Hockey. conference. You know, the more letters in your the smaller your geographic area, you know, but it really helped us. We ⁓ we're two time conference champs, you know, so it really helped grow the program and and now, you know, FAU has two teams, we've got two teams. Tampa's got two men's teams, a women's team, same with US F, Miami. It's just amazing to see the game grow. And, you know, people ask me, you know, who's your favorite team in the NHL? Who do you like to see? And I yeah, I I want to see my friends do well, of course, but I'm happy when when St Louis wins and Washington wins and You can't really call Florida a non traditional market anymore anymore. They've been in the cup final between the two teams here, I don't know how many years in a row. So, ⁓ yeah, it's just fantastic to see the game grow that way and and that women are having the opportunity to play in college down here too. ⁓ yeah, it's it's great to see. speaker-0: As your pro career winds down, Danny mentioned it, you're in Florida and you start to get into flight instructing, right? Programs founded at Ember Riddle around the time that ends, right? I believe nineteen ninety-eight. So walk me through from the time you get into flying to getting to Ember Riddle and eventually becoming the head coach of the Ice Eagles. So ⁓ speaker-2: ⁓ when I retired from hockey I had some opportunities to coach. I w I was playing I played three years in Europe and I thought I was gonna continue playing. Contract kinda didn't work the way I wanted, I had some other offers, but I thought, you know what, we won the national the championship in the German elite league and I scored a goal in my last game. I thought this is a good time to go out and my dad was a pilot as I mentioned earlier, so I thought about being an airline pilot. I kinda wanna step out of my comfort zone and do something different, you know, see see what else I could do 'cause I'd always been a hockey guy, you know. And ⁓ so I got my ratings in about a year. working as a flight instructor and then we were about to start a we're the kids were coming and and I realized I didn't want to travel anymore of an airline job. And I liked the flight training environment. It's just coaching. It's just a different game. And now I'm a director of aviation safety. So we just coach them through safety things and managing safety. And ⁓ so yeah, the the team had started in nineteen ninety eight. ⁓ by the time I got there, it got away for a couple of years. ⁓ and it was true club hockey where, you know, throwing the bags in the back of the pickup truck and scrambling around to find games. Kid the young kids got the thing going again for one season. And Dr. Ken Burns, who's our general manager, he's the chair of the flight department at Ember Riddle. He was their faculty advisor, but just kind of signed the paperwork that first year. The first year that I worked at Riddle, I worked for Ken actually, basically coaching flight instructors, coaching the coaches. And ⁓ then he asked me, You want to take this thing over? I Yeah, let's do this. ⁓ that's kinda how it all started and you know, we went from trying to you know, and another guy, ⁓ Dr Anthony Galante, who you met yesterday, is one of the assistant coaches. He actually had played for Ember Riddle back in the day and coached them at one point. He became a Daytona police officer. He's a pilot himself. There wasn't jo flying jobs at that in the early nineties. So he went to Daytona PD and now he's got his PhD and he's still works part-time for the Daytona PD, doing drone things and teaches that stuff. And we've really become a family. And the other guy, Bill Thompson, came over from Prescott. He grew up in Rochester, New York. He's a hockey guy his whole life. He you didn't meet him yesterday. He's on the EIR. He had his shoulder replaced over the summer, so he's still recovering. But ⁓ and then you saw Dylan Howard, one of our graduates, coaching yesterdays. You know, our goal was to create a family. We asked the When we took it so what do you guys want to get out of this? And they said, We want to be competitive, we want to create a legacy. And and that's, you know, what we see now. When we see our I've got a picture on my phone of three of my players wearing Ember Riddle hockey jerseys down in Machu Picchu. And they would never know each other had it not been for hockey. And you guys know how it is. Like you just make lifelong friends and we really have ⁓ one of our graduates ⁓ his father passed away recently and they had a memorial last week to end up in New Jersey and Coach Galante was up there and a bunch of his teammates came up. So we kind of checked that box of creating that family and that legacy and and that's really why we do it. speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah, that that that's awesome. ⁓ so this year ⁓ kinda kinda got off to a it's a different environment with ⁓ you know, the the move back to ACHA and it's a little crowded in division three. ⁓ kind of got off to a little bit of a a tough start, but you guys have turned it around, won five straight and three of those have been on the road. What have you seen from your team in in this l last ⁓ recent bit of success? speaker-2: Yeah, good question. We talked about that a little bit yesterday. You know, we we it's kind of been tradition to play the Gators the first game and we beat ⁓ a couple of years ago. And I think the hockey house guys were there. and we went in overtime with a one point eight seconds left, and two or three years ago, I think it was. ⁓ you know, packed barn and it's a lot of fun. But so it's very cyclical for us. You know, we don't recruit at all. We're a very niche school. Like there's no undecided kids at Impermiddle. They know exactly what they want to do. So we kind of rely on who shows up and and so I think maybe right now we'd be a little more competitive with Florida, but start of the season we had a lot of new players and ⁓ just trying to get systems down. You know, it happens pretty quick. You have tryouts and then boom you're you're playing a game and we you've only practiced twice as a team. So we got off to a bit of shaky start, but I was mentioning yesterday that we lost eleven six to USF, but I said to my team, I said, We're gonna get better and I saw a lot of good things in that game. You know, usually when you score six goals in a game you expect to win, but It was just one of those games where everything went against us and I played in games in pro hockey. That's how NHL teams can lose ten one sometimes. It just does not go your way. And then we we won the next night in overtime at USF. So that we started kinda on grasping the system a little bit and and the guys just kept plugging away. We stayed with it and now I think we've battled back to five hundred. Yeah, we'll just keep you know, we a t good test. Our next game back is gonna be FAU's D two team, so that'll be a a good test. Just But ⁓ we played those guys even up over the years back in the day. It's been a while since we've beaten them though. They're they're pretty quality team and but that's good. I we like that challenge, you know. So ⁓ we'll just keep building. speaker-0: And you've had talented teams. During that COVID year, we were talking before the recording about how you guys qualified for nationals. And unfortunately, your postseason tournament was canceled from the pandemic. With this squad, especially on the defensive side, you've got a lot of talent, right? Gerard Keene is a former product in the OHL, played for the London Knights, which is one of the best programs around the Ontario Hockey League. Alex McCullum was all over the ice. Darren Zantel had a heck of a series versus the M3 team. You've said that. Your coaching style isn't to be aggressive and on these guys. You have this as a stress relief. What's going into this turnaround and how your guys are stepping up at the right time right now? Well speaker-2: You know, we just talk about playing real hockey. You know, this is not pond hockey, this is not men's league, and no disrespect to those guys. It's we were watching the game before our game, it looked like a lot of fun. If I ever play again, that's the kind of clock hockey I wanna do, you know. ⁓ they look like they're having a great time and but it's just playing real hockey, being smart with the lines, getting pucks deep, no limit turnovers, filling lanes. You know, I tell my guys when you watch an NHL game and there's four guys staring in a puck in the corner, who's gonna score the goal? It's the guy behind you, right? ⁓ you see the same mistakes at every level. So if we can limit those mistakes and, you know, get some goaltending, you we're gonna get opportunities. So yeah, and I like I s like you had mentioned, I I want this to be the out for them. We have a very challenging no, they they're in a very challenging academic program with whether it's flying airplanes or ⁓ engineers j you mentioned Gerard Keeney's a mechanical engineering student. I mean they're not I'm not there's no help from the coach on in the homework on the bus. The formulas are about three pages long that they're working on. So they're really smart. They're very driven. ⁓ so we want hockey to be the fun out out for them and not stress them. The first time they they mentioned ⁓ a kid came to me, coach I got a big test. This is years ago, big test on Monday I can't go on the road trip. I kind of said, then I go, ⁓ yeah, no problem. Do your thing, you know. ⁓ I had not heard that before, but But that's their priority, right? So we make sure that schools is is taken care of first. And ⁓ again, we tell the families that come through whether if they're flying airplanes or designing ⁓ we've got a tutor for you built right in on the team. So yeah, credit to those guys for for juggling all that. A lot of R O T C aviation maintenance science science is very time consuming. So I'm really impressed with with what these kids do. Yeah. speaker-1: Well, I personally could ask you questions about the eighty eight Bruins all night, but I'll ⁓ I appreciate ⁓ you taking time and ⁓ I wanna thank you for all the work you've done with Ambry Riddle. ⁓ as as someone who has worked for the conference now for a few years, I know it's not always convenient, but I really appreciate the people who take their time out and ⁓ you know, help us all try to grow the game down here. speaker-2: Well and I'll say the same to you, I was texting earlier to thank you guys for the promoting not only ⁓ FAU there but the entire league and all these things help draw people out and you know, we sell tickets, ten bucks a game, but helps off s shoot the the offset the cost the kids pay for their dues. So all the good work that you guys are doing really it's a real community that comes together for these kids and and everybody plays a vital role. speaker-0: Yeah, and and and Bob, what you know, goes into to your team off the ice, right? Like you're the head coach, maybe the X's and O's, but there's a lot more behind it. So so what are those things that people don't see that it takes to run a successful club hockey program? speaker-2: Great question. I mentioned ⁓ Ken Burns, his wife Regina, does a lot of the off eye stuff. I mean, they'll host a team dinner at their house every Thursday night. And they cook and get everybody together. ⁓ Saturday night we had two weeks ago we had a a pretty scary moment. Kid had a ruptured spleen. Everybody rallied together. You know, his teammates were there. We're at the hospital till three, four in the morning. ⁓ you know, so the the families, the the parents came down, they're appreciative of of all the support. The volunteers, we have girls running our social media. Secretary, EMT, all kinds of people that are are volunteering their efforts on our behalf. And I make sure that our players understand that and and I'll say to them every year at our team wrap up banquet. You hockey's always recognized the roles that how important each role is. In the Stanley Cup, you get fifty two names on it, and only twenty six of them are players. Because you need all those other people too to be able to become a championship team. So we really value our volunteers. Running the broadcast, we have guys doing the T V broadcast. It all started with a a phone. Ken Burns would use his iPhone and call the game for Regina. His wife is blind. So he'd call the game for her. And then the f the families, and then he started doing on YouTube. And that's how it all started. Now we have a couple different cameras. We actually have replays like big time now, right? ⁓ it's really come a long way. And that's it's a real credit to all the people that have helped us along. speaker-3: It's speaker-0: Big props to the broadcast people over there. I know Louis DePalo's been doing it for a while. Aaron White does some of the help with that. He's a character, isn't he? speaker-2: course, yep. Yes, he's great. He's he's been big here in in central Florida for with youth hockey and was doing UCF games and he he's a big part of our family as well. speaker-0: I love all of that. Last thing we want to leave you with here on College Hockey Mouth is as a player, as a coach, you've seen a lot now. And now that you've come to this point, what is your favorite memory and moment, playing or coaching hockey? speaker-2: You know, I think ⁓ of course all the friends are are are number one, right? The the relationship that you make and and you guys are all part of that. I get to meet you guys like you, you know, like that's the relationship that you make. I think from ⁓ from coaching, I think the year that we qualify for nationals, twenty like I said, ⁓ you know, we beat Florida Gulf Coast and four years earlier they beat us eighteen to nothing. We used to lose my football scores of these teams, right? So to to work towards that and that might be one of my favorite moments of of coaching is is that opportunity to ⁓ qualify for nationals. But as I say that I I I mentioned I'll mention we got a a text from one of our former players. He was on an i his dream was to be an airline pilot and fly for the Air National Guard. And in both interview panels they had a hockey guy on there and that's all they talked to is hockey the whole time. And he sent us a really n us coaches a really nice text that thanking us for that opportunity. So those kind of moments too really stand out that And we can have some kind of small impact on these kids, you know, helping them make their dreams come true. So, ⁓ you know, if that's that's our legacy then that's that's okay. It's a pretty good thing. speaker-0: man of of many talents, flight instructor, a hockey legend, and just might be one of the best coaches around the ACHA. Bob, we really appreciate your time on College Hockey Mal. Thanks again for coming on. speaker-2: Thank you guys. I really appreciate the opportunity. speaker-0: I think we could have had that interview be two hours long and still not fully satisfied with sitting down with Bob. Danny, one of my favorite conversations ever, to be honest. Just pure gold, talking about the legends he played with. I also really love his perspective on coaching and being a stress relieving type coach instead of so X's and O's oriented. Thank you so much to Bob. That was terrific. speaker-1: Yeah, absolutely. Really, really interesting human being. I mean, obviously the him playing in the NHL and the time that he did and the players he played against sticks out on the resume. But, you know, you talk about his journey. It's very, very unique hockey person and to end up as a you know, as a safety officer for a flight program in Daytona Beach, Florida, of all places when he grew up in Canada. ⁓ really interesting guy and offered some really cool insight on the Embry Riddle hockey program that, you know, those guys don't really recruit. You know, the guys who show up on the team are they they know what they they want to do and, you know, they kinda just have to do w the best they can with the best they got. And I I loved it. So shout out shout out to Coach Joyce. Really enjoyed that conversation. speaker-0: We said it in the interview. He's got that Embry Rail team buzzing. We're going to talk about that matchup and mention it in the game recaps. Five straight wins. And that's the first time they've done that since they qualified for nationals during the COVID shortened year. Speaking of that, game recaps for week six in college hockey south. Our game of the week was USF and Florida Gulf Coast. This is a sweep for the Bulls now sitting at six, one and one on the year. Grant Dietz doing Grant Dietz things. Two goals in game one. Lots of special teams in this one. Kind of a chippy game. Florida Gulf Coast showed they can keep up. Bulls go into Hertz Arena and they take care of them. speaker-1: Yeah. It it was a a little bit of a a show me game on both sides. ⁓ unfamiliar opponents, even though geographically you would think they'd play more often. But super glad that ⁓ we got to show Golf Coast on on this stage. ⁓ as a college hockey south team for the first time playing another conference opponent. ⁓ it didn't go their way, obviously, but they were, you know, good games, tight throughout. And man, it just seems right to have them in in college hockey south. ⁓ Aside from, you know, just the geo ga geographical reasons and them being in the southeast, playing against ⁓ you know, other Florida teams and and all that. So th that was a blast to see and yeah, who knows? Maybe we could ⁓ end up with the ⁓ two team next year. speaker-0: Gonna leave that sentence where you finished it. That's that's that's got its own space. This M3 team with Paul Johnson to him, they put up a fight in this, and ultimately, I think USF showed some of the depth here. Jacob Duhaim, Grant Dietz, terrific series for them. And now we're in the lobes of conversation. USF seems like they're gonna be one of the teams at the end of the year we're talking about. Interesting enough, another Western Florida team in Tampa. Got a split with Tennessee up in Knoxville and a weird one. Tampa had a short-staffed roster from what I heard in game one, falling that 3-1, their second loss of the year, the other one against South Carolina M2. But they come right back, establish themselves in a 5-1 game on Sunday, and it sets the stage for a massive weekend against last year's ACHA M2 national champions, which we'll get to in the previews. speaker-1: Yeah. ⁓ a team that really surprised Tampa and the early goings last year 'cause it was it was Tennessee's first year at Division One AAU at the time. And I don't think the expectation were were for them to compete the way they did, but they've that was probably the statement that let everyone know that they were on a different level than, you know, people expected. Tennessee has had some some outcomes not go their way in the early part of the year, but took the first one. And Tampa was able to even the series on Sunday. One guy I gotta give a shout out to, ⁓ 'cause I I I saw the highlight of this goal and I thought it was hilarious. Robbie Seawagon, who last year was more of like a middle sixth ⁓ contributor, got some time on the power play. He scored a goal in the game on Sunday. He s he he buried it and then completely ran over the goalie, like Dustin Bufflin style. You know, the goalie was fine and you know, there was a little bit of a a dust up after but ⁓ When you get guys like that who can contribute, ⁓ outside of you know their usual dynamic offense at the top of the lineup makes them a very dangerous team. ⁓ if Sea Wagon can contribute in the series against Lyndon Lindenwood, Tampa should have a good shot. speaker-0: Elise, Satter Down, Sea Wagon, you name it. Talent is everywhere on this lineup. But it's also talented off the ice. We want to give our congratulations to the head equipment manager for them, the Tampa Spartans. Caden Hurrock was recently hired by the Tampa Bay Lightning as a locker room assistant. Caden spent time playing as a goaltender with Robert Morris University before moving to Tampa and helping them with their operations and game day staff. Danny, this stuff is just as cool as what we talk about on the ice. Another person from Tampa's internship program. They've had a couple of people go to the national leagues from this group. So fun to see for Caden and that entire Tampa family. speaker-1: Sure, for sure. I think selfishly, you know, you you look at that and it's it's a hope story for everyone else that that's working in club hockey. You know, there are times where it feels like, you know, that this isn't the biggest stage and, you know, what are we really doing here? ⁓ will will this ⁓ lead to anything in the future? But this is a story here that can give people hope and that this is ⁓ this can be a a la launching pad to a career in professional hockey. It doesn't have to be the NHL, but professional hockey in the future. speaker-0: Professional sports, period. And with all of the interns that belong with College Hockey South, every single one of you can contribute. Every single person does their part from the social media to the operations, your group, Danny, Savannah Prefontaine, the woman's side of things, everybody that contributes the resume and the work ethic shows. Caden's a shining example of that. We wish him nothing but the best of luck. And be sure to say hi to him if you head to a lightning game in the Tampa area. Anytime soon. That is, you can find access considering he's gonna be standing next to ⁓ some pretty prominent guys there with Andre Vasilevsky, Victor Hedman. ⁓ my gosh. Being in the same locker room as those guys is insane. Think about. Can't forget Kita Kucharov. Moving along in our game recaps, Florida Southern, the Moccasins, a much needed bounce back performance for them. They get the sweep over Jacksonville, kept this game close. Their forward, Colton Wyden. Some nice moves against Jacksonville, some highlight reel goals. And selfishly on this podcast, we've been giving Gavin a hard time about his squad. They've bl they've gotten blown out in some games. This one, though, they get the win against the new team in Jacksonville. That's we've seen is nothing to take for granted. On the eastern side of the southernmost state, Florida Atlantic took on Embury Riddle. Just talked about Bob Joyce's squad. Six to two win, night one, four-nothing shutout in game two. We've got to give our love to Embry Riddle's Ryan Obert. It's his first win in goal for the Ice Eagles in two years, and the first shutout in his collegiate career said it when we opened the episode. Five straight wins. That's the first time since basically their best year ever. The only year they qualified for nationals under Bob Joyce's tenure. You can't ask for more momentum after they started 0-5 and now sitting at five and five on the year. speaker-1: Yeah, the boys are rolling. Ryan Obert, might as well get your first win and your first shutout on the same night. Get both out of the way. That way you don't have to save multiple pucks. speaker-0: I think too, he seeing this game, you got a lot of help defensively. I think FAU at times was vulnerable in their own end. Ice Eagles took advantage. Darren Zanto, who Bob mentioned, looked great. Their captain, Rowan Luke, physical as heck. They've got a very interesting schedule. The next time we'll see them battle at the beach, they'll take on the ⁓ T owls. They're gonna need everything and then some against what is still a good FAU team. We know got Triple swept by Tampa in three games. Should be exciting for the Ice Eagles program. Congrats to everybody involved. UCF traveled to Kennesaw State. Split series in this one. Assistant captain and defenseman Kevin Flanagan scored on the Owls. Exciting off the opening face-off of game two. Knights maintained that energy. Led four to one. Kennesaw State, injury problems to open the year. They put up a fight in game two, scored two within, I think it was 30 seconds of each other. In the final minute, made it interesting and a good split for both of these teams. A story among stories this week was Middle Tennessee not just getting the win over Lynn in game one and game two. Aidan Kopeck, longtime goaltender for the Blue Raiders, got the win in net and then took it to a knee, proposed to his longtime girlfriend Sydney. Saw on the video clip from Middle Tennessee's broadcast, the crowd erupted. Everybody on the ice. looked like they had no clue what was coming and Aiden made magic. This is one of the most beautiful clips we've seen. I don't know if I've ever seen a proposal at an A C H A game before. And Danny, just give us your reaction to this. Aid Aiden's such a great guy too. Awesome to see. speaker-1: ⁓ I think a proposal at a club hockey game would be a first for me too. Big congratulations to to him and his now fiance, because she did say yes, we should mention that. Yeah. ⁓ got the win, but I guess that that kind of becomes a footnote on this night for them and you know, wish them nothing but happiness in the future. Aiden, who got the shutout in the CHS championship game last year against South Florida, ⁓ had a bunch of saves and One of my favorite moments from from last year. He as soon as the buzzer went, all the all the skaters and everybody ⁓ you know, they threw their gloves and the gloves and helmets off. He then went straight to the trash can and yaked. He was so I don't know I don't know if it was like adrenaline or if if he was exhausted, but and and the boys went crazy by the way. They went nuts when when he did. Yeah, that was really cool moment. But congratulations. speaker-0: Also props to him for still giving an interview during that time. One of the nicest guys with the pleasure of meeting for me. When we had that long delay, the Zamboni that broke during the championship game, if you remember. Had to move rinks. He was the first guy to the tunnel just chatting with us. Soon as he came into our circle. Everybody just could feel how how how great of a guy he was. Really funny too. Just we'll talk about anything, anytime, anywhere. You love to see goalies with personality like that. Wish nothing but the best for the soon-to-be Copex and their journey together. And not to mention, Middle Tennessee, exciting overtime win on night two, with Matt Siciliano scoring 20 seconds left into the extra frame. Blue Raiders, six and two on the year. They've won six straight. And they're undefeated in conference play. Finally, for our game recaps, Alabama and Georgia on the woman's side. Alabama getting the sweep in. A very historical rivalry for two big name schools and Crimson Tide get back on track, six to three and six to one victories. speaker-1: Yeah. ⁓ I think one thing to note so far, two MVPs of the first two seasons of women's hockey and CHS haven't necessarily been scoring at at the rate that they did the years before. I don't know if that's because teams are looking for them, they know how to defend them a little bit more, or maybe just the talent is evening out and goals are they're being they're harder to come by now. ⁓ but it's interesting to see Claire Carson, Paige Oaks not not off to the scorching starts that y you may have expected. speaker-0: I'd say that's a little more of even distribution. They recruited pretty well in the offseason. They've got more players coming, talking about Alabama specifically, and of course Pedokes, very talented in her own right. Great set of games to recap. Fun week six. Three stars of the week. First star goes to Tampa's Kylie McDonald for a goal and seven assists during their sweep of the South Florida Bulls, ten to one and nine to two. Second star, Middle Tennessee's Tommy Chunchikov. And you've talked about him a lot before the season even started. You told us this was going to be a guy to watch out for. The Blue Raiders, four goals, three assists in their sweep of Lynn University. Also had a shorthanded goal in game number two. And our third and final star, UCS Jacob Graziati. Goal five apples during their split with Kennesaw State. speaker-1: Yep, congratulations to our three stars. ⁓ Tommy, this is his second time being included in the three stars. Might have to have to cut him off. I don't know. That's been a conversation that may have been had ⁓ about some middle Tennessee guys. But they can't stop scoring goals, Devin. So I don't know. We we we just can't help ourselves when they keep putting up numbers like this. Him and Matt Siciliano, but Kylie McDonald, seven assists in two games. Great job, Kylie. speaker-0: Two teams that put up a lot. You said it. Middle Tennessee now has five or more goals in their last four games. Really awesome stuff out there. We're gonna briefly run through this with our upcoming matchups. Not a lighter week in college hockey south, but one game we gotta talk about a little more than others is the Battle of the Champions. It's our college hockey south game of the week. It was also recently announced as the Hockey House game of the week. Lyndon Wood. The reigning ACHA, men's division two national champions, host Tampa on Saturday and Sunday from the home of the national tournament, Centine Community Ice Center in Madeline Heights, Missouri. Danny, the last couple of years, the debate has been about which league is truly better, which league can match up, which teams from those leagues if they competed when we're talking about a former AAU team with ACHA. How would it go? We're gonna have that answered because both these squads had virtually the same roster from a season ago. Can the Spartans hang with the Lions? speaker-1: I believe so. When you look at Tampa, ⁓ like you like you mentioned, a lot of the same players from last year, the team that won the national championship, and not only won the national championship, was very commanding. You know, they didn't they weren't blowing teams out, but they were they were in control in every single game they played, f starting with the CHS playoffs. And I think one thing that we should point out is that the Tampa's played eight games already, eight games against you know, pretty solid opponents and Lindenwood's coming off of a series against Liberty last week, but they only played one game for that. So three three games so far and one came back in I think it was towards the end of September. So maybe they're still working out the kinks a little bit, shaking off some rusts. Who knows? You know, they're a national champion, so maybe they're just able to snap into gear immediately. But I think we're gonna have a great series here. I'm really looking forward to it. Tampa looking to make a statement. speaker-0: College Hockey South fans, if you want to know the makeup of what Lyndon Wood looks like, what makes a national championship team, it's the same things that Tampa has. Depth is off the charts on this Lindenwood squad. I think a season ago, they had as many as 11 or 12 guys that were putting up double-digit goals, not just points, but goals. They handily walk through teams on both sides of the ice. One of their guys to watch out for is Gavin Delfosse. He's got A staggering eight assists in just three games. They're three and ⁓ in those contests. They trounced Liberty, a team that Tampa knows, getting the win over them a few weeks ago. And I believe if Tampa's gonna win this game, a game in this series, they've got to stay out of the penalty box. We know Nick Kuzlik has talked about that with us. Very well coached team. They've got as many as 13 seniors on that Tampa squad. And boy, if they see Cole Wheaton a very good goaltender for Lyndon Wood, they're gonna have to get a lot of shots. This is a fun time, and we wish them the best of luck. We'll see if they can represent the conference well against the ACHA's best in the middle part of the United States. Also going on, this could have very easily been our game of the week as well, Danny. A matchup you know very well. South Carolina takes on Clemson. That's M2 South Carolina taking on M3 Clemson on Friday, 810 PM Eastern from Flight Adventure Park. Twenty twenty four AAU Division I National Champions South Carolina against the Tigers. First of two matchups with the ⁓ two squad this year for Clemson. They'll have one against the ⁓ three team over Kakke in mid to late November. speaker-1: Yeah. ⁓ almost nothing has to be said, right? It's it's South Carolina and Clemson. I think it means a a little bit more to me, you know, having ⁓ be an alumni f of South Carolina. You know, it was the that was the very first club hockey game I ever went to. Many, many years ago was a South Carolina and Clemson game and it was in Flight Adventure Park in Irmo, South Carolina, and the atmosphere was unbelievable. I had no idea what to expect and it, you know, blew my expectations out of the water. And it I'm sure it'll be much like that or even more intense. So it'll be a fun game. Sure the in intensity will be off the charts. Yes. speaker-0: Yeah, we were texting in in the podcast group chat with Kelly Kelbline about this. Prominent supporter with Clemson, wrote a bunch of great articles and was a prominent figure with that program. She gave us the clips of the brawls from back in the day. These teams historically have been at some Donnie Brooks. They don't like each other, especially when they play in the big barn, Bon Secores. So could we see another one of these? And I don't want to put thoughts into either team's mind, but Could we see another scrappy shove you into the board's face first kind of game? speaker-1: You know, y obviously you don't wanna I don't wanna speculate here, Devin. But look, it's it's each team's most hated rival and hockey's a physical sport. South Carolina notoriously has been a in your face type of team for the last few years under Coach Sierwa. And Clemson's not gonna back down. And on the road you have to think, you know, they're gonna be pretty juiced up and wanna prove themselves. So look, I wouldn't be surprised at all if it happened. Shout out to Kelly, by the way. Who won we sh we should shout out Kelly. This is the first year in I don't know how long that the Clemson hockey program hasn't had her helping out in some form or fashion. And I know she's dearly missed because of all the great work she did with them at various different departments. Shout out to Kelly. speaker-0: Works with the Savannah Ghost Pirates now up in Georgia. One of our best, and the one that sends out all of these game covers on the Instagram page that we post. Thanks to Kelly and good luck to both Clemson and South Carolina in this rivalry matchup Friday at Flight Adventure Park. Tennessee takes on Middle Tennessee, another rivalry of sorts in a different state. Former College Hockey South program, Tennessee, now the M2 ACHA, part of the ACCHL. Middle Tennessee. We talked about them winning six straight. They'll take on each other Friday and Saturday from Ford Ice Center at the Antioch rink. speaker-1: Fun series, Tennessee coming off the split against Tampa. ⁓ I think that they obviously wanted to get their season off to a a a better start, new league, new conference, and they've got an ⁓ MTSU team that they're gonna be traveling to take on that's been rolling and scoring a whole bunch of goals and will probably make it hard on us to not include them in the three stars again. So, ⁓ expect a lot of goals in that series. speaker-2: I should speaker-0: Final game to preview for y'all Florida Tech ACDC and USF ACDC. Haven't given too much love to the American Collegiate Development Conference teams. Two squads we probably expect to see down the line in February. This one, these two happening, excuse me, these two games happening Friday and Saturday, home and home series. Friday at Advent Health Ice, home of the Bulls, and Saturday, the Space Coast Ice Black. speaker-1: Yeah, I mean AC D C they're popping off down there. It's been fun to see ⁓ what's going on. ⁓ Florida Tech scored a bunch of goals so far. Those guys know how to fill the net. Derek Mordea and Braden Cour Curry, ⁓ amongst others down there with the Panthers, scoring a whole bunch of goals. Expect more more from them this weekend. And really excited to see how the AC DC, ⁓ you know, that that conference race takes shape over the course of the season. speaker-0: Three and two Florida Tech. They've won a couple of games in a row. Bulls just getting their season started. Look forward to that home and home series. Danny, as we wrap up episode nine, anything cool you see around the ACHA or the conference besides what we talked about? speaker-1: Around the ACHA. There was a clip posted by I believe it was it was Hockey House. It may have been today, actually. I could be wrong, but I think it was Texas State and North Texas. There was a kid on Texas State. The game was like one to nothing in the first period and dude on North Texas was chirping him so he points at the scoreboard. And I love that. You know what? I'd I'd rather chirp when, you know, it's a close game that know, you're quiet throughout and when you know you're gonna win you finally start chirping. But Buddy paid for it because North Texas came back, took the lead, and then later on a North Texas player pointed up the scoreboard like, You know what? You got me. You got me. You can't come back from that. I speaker-0: So Adrian has this star forward, Blake Wideman, that puts up a ton of goals. He was one of the best. I think he was all conference last year up in Michigan. And he scored a hat trick against Liberty Night One. And he gave the goalie the one, two, three, sort of a tomahawk chop at him when he's when he finished the hat trick. Well, that game was a blowout, but Liberty came back the next night, the Flames, and one By the identical score, but in their favor, six to two. And one of their guys had a multi-goal performance, I'm pretty sure. He did the exact same celebration right at the tendee. And I don't know about you, ⁓ we don't talk about M1 teams considering there's not really any in college hockey south at all. That's what rivalries are made of. I hope we see not selfishly, I hope we see some of that bitterness come out in what's two rivalry matchups we mentioned, Clemson, USC, Middle Tennessee, and Tennessee. It's a mouthful, right? I love it. I love seeing stuff like that. It it it makes for good conversation. speaker-2: Well yeah. speaker-1: I mean the the clip we put out or we're going to put out tomorrow because we're recording this on Wednesday, is Bob Bob Joyce, coach of Ember Riddle fighting Chris Chelios and how his head coach Terry O'Reilly Taz as he called him was overjoyed when he got when he got ejected from the game and you know, he got the five and the ten and he walked through the fans at the old boston garden. So yeah, I mean ho hockey fans look, it it it's a confrontational sport, it's physical, you know I think I did see that clip, by the way. And the goalie got run over in one of those clips, too. What's up with all the goalies getting run over, man? We got to protect these guys. speaker-0: It's a fast game. They're a big guy. They take up a lot of space. Also, the final thing that was insane to see this is a team we talked about the other ⁓ couple weeks ago, almost upsetting South Carolina, but ⁓ Liam Baxter for Vanderbilt had an insane double windmill highlight. I believe he went bar down on the frozen tide goaltender in Alabama this past weekend. Probably the best live barn footage I've ever seen. You don't always see the footage clearly. They they've got a they've got a nice setup out there and he made them look silly on this one. speaker-1: didn't I actually didn't I I saw the the post. I don't think I actually saw the celly, so he goes Bar Mexico and then he g what'd he do, did he ride the stick or something? speaker-0: See wal yeah, he walks through and then No, actually I think he just goes down to one D, pretty typical. But still, it was pretty cool. Everyone's talking about the defense though. Not not great from the frozen tide. We've given them their flowers, but man, you gotta move your feet here. speaker-1: Hey hey hey. A top ten play is a top ten play. Forget about the other people. The highlight is is of our man Scorin. speaker-0: Absolutely. So that's just gonna wrap up episode nine for week seven now of College Hockey South. Boy, this thing is rolling along. Next week we'll talk about battle at the beach. But for now, behalf of our great interview with Bob Joyce, co-host Danny Bohm, our producer Gavin Coker, my name is Devin Sarah. We appreciate you listening to another edition of College Hockey Mouth, a College Hockey South podcast.