Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Roxy Bernstein on the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Mammoth evening the series in game 2, First home game tomorrow night + more

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Roxy Bernstein on the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Mammoth evening the series in game 2, First home game tomorrow night + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

0:00
Speaker 1: I told you it was a jam Pack show today.
0:02
Speaker 1: I cannot wait to have this conversation. I was bouncing
0:05
Speaker 1: back and forth. And normally I stay on the local
0:08
Speaker 1: broadcast when I'm watching the Utah Mammoth, But when my
0:11
Speaker 1: guy Roxy Bernstein is on the national call, you know
0:15
Speaker 1: that I'm going to watch Roxy Bernstein on ESPN.
0:18
Speaker 2: It was.
0:20
Speaker 1: Utah Mammoth in Vegas against the Golden Knights trailing one
0:25
Speaker 1: zero in the series, and they got the win the
0:27
Speaker 1: other night to tie the series up one one. Roxy
0:30
Speaker 1: Bernstein was on the call. He joins us now to
0:33
Speaker 1: talk all things hockey Stanley Cup playoffs.
0:36
Speaker 2: Roxy, welcome, How are you, sir?
0:37
Speaker 3: I'm great, oc nice. I appreciate you getting the ratings
0:41
Speaker 3: up for me there at Salt Lake City. It's in
0:43
Speaker 3: a tough competition when the other's competing broadcasts.
0:46
Speaker 1: I tell you what, though, Roxy, I have expressed my
0:49
Speaker 1: admiration for your versatility in the business many times. I
0:53
Speaker 1: will take every opportunity I can to do it because
0:57
Speaker 1: there are a lot of basketball guys who can do
0:59
Speaker 1: foot and there are baseball guys that can do football,
1:03
Speaker 1: and most of you in the play by play world
1:07
Speaker 1: have some blind spot for hockey, but not my guy,
1:09
Speaker 1: Roxy Bernstein, you are excellent even on what I think
1:13
Speaker 1: might be the toughest sport of them all to call.
1:16
Speaker 3: They're at all different, and the pacing is clearly different. Sean.
1:20
Speaker 3: You know, football, it's like ten seconds of quick action,
1:25
Speaker 3: then there's a lull, right, Basketball it's fast paced, is moving.
1:29
Speaker 3: Baseball's definitely got the most deliberate pace. Hockey it's non stop.
1:34
Speaker 3: You got to be locked in, guys hopping over the boards,
1:37
Speaker 3: who's coming on, who's coming off, and even at stoppages, Okay,
1:42
Speaker 3: they're starting quickly. It's just the pacing is different, and
1:46
Speaker 3: but the passion is there, and it's just there is
1:49
Speaker 3: nothing better than playoff hockey. And the environment in Vegas
1:54
Speaker 3: was great for Games one and two. It certainly was
1:57
Speaker 3: electric at the Fortress. And I can't wait to see
2:00
Speaker 3: what's gonna happen to the Delta Center tomorrow night, Game three,
2:03
Speaker 3: the first home playoff game for the Utah Mammoth.
2:06
Speaker 2: I can't wait either.
2:08
Speaker 1: I think the atmosphere is going to be absolutely bananas.
2:11
Speaker 1: I know that the ownership group has some plans for
2:14
Speaker 1: trying to make sure that the stadium experience the arena
2:18
Speaker 1: experience is elevated even beyond what it has been in
2:20
Speaker 1: the regular season.
2:22
Speaker 2: The hockey itself.
2:23
Speaker 1: What we saw at the end of Game one was
2:27
Speaker 1: the Vegas Knights being the Vegas Knights and saying, you
2:30
Speaker 1: know what, our advantage in this series is clearly our size,
2:34
Speaker 1: our physicality, our playoff hockey experience, and we're gonna bully
2:38
Speaker 1: this Mammoth team into playing our game of hockey. And
2:42
Speaker 1: they were able to come back and win Game one
2:44
Speaker 1: because of it. I was very curious what the response
2:47
Speaker 1: was going to be and whether Coach Bear and the
2:50
Speaker 1: Mammoth We're going to figure out a way to not
2:52
Speaker 1: let that happen again in Game two, and in the
2:56
Speaker 1: early goings.
2:56
Speaker 2: It was like, uh, well, we'll see. It doesn't look
2:59
Speaker 2: too bad, but it hasn't looked that great either.
3:01
Speaker 1: At about halfway through the first period, the Mammoth started
3:04
Speaker 1: to play their game and obviously translated to a victory.
3:07
Speaker 2: You were on the call, what did you see?
3:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's the way I saw it too, Sean. It's
3:12
Speaker 3: like the Mammoth, I don't want to say they were
3:15
Speaker 3: a little timid, but when you're on the road in
3:17
Speaker 3: a playoff game at a visiting barn. It's loud and
3:20
Speaker 3: the momentum that the home team feeds off of, and
3:24
Speaker 3: those first eight to ten minutes, Vegas was thriving off that.
3:29
Speaker 3: They came out with an early goal, they got the
3:31
Speaker 3: power play, and then when Utah killed it, that was
3:33
Speaker 3: a huge, I think, momentum swing back to the Mammoth
3:38
Speaker 3: because they were in danger of going down to nothing
3:40
Speaker 3: after they already had that mark Stone power play goal,
3:43
Speaker 3: and they settled in, They got to their game and
3:47
Speaker 3: they learned from game one how to counter what Vegas
3:52
Speaker 3: was doing. In game two, I thought Andre Turney and
3:55
Speaker 3: baron his staff did a good job of sticking to
3:58
Speaker 3: their game. And the game for Utah is speed. They
4:01
Speaker 3: are the faster team that's not up for debate, and
4:05
Speaker 3: they had to find a way to utilize their speed
4:08
Speaker 3: in game two, and I think they did. Game one,
4:11
Speaker 3: Vegas clogged up the neutral zone. Utah had a hard
4:14
Speaker 3: time breaking through with guys like Gunther and Keller and
4:19
Speaker 3: Schmall and coolly trying to use their speed to their advantage.
4:24
Speaker 3: They found a way to do it in game two.
4:26
Speaker 3: I'm curious to see the chess match. Okay, you know,
4:29
Speaker 3: John Twrderella and Vegas are going to react and figure
4:32
Speaker 3: out how to kind of chop the game up and
4:35
Speaker 3: ugly it up, because that's the way Vegas needs to
4:37
Speaker 3: play with their size. The more skill, the more speed,
4:40
Speaker 3: at least for me, from top to bottom is with Utah,
4:43
Speaker 3: and they need to thrive on that. If it gets
4:45
Speaker 3: into a track Meetchohn, that's the advantage Utah and there's
4:48
Speaker 3: no way Vegas wants to do that.
4:51
Speaker 1: If I had told you before the series started that
4:55
Speaker 1: we'd be through two games and the Keller and Logan
5:01
Speaker 1: Krause line in Nick Schmaltz line would be kind of
5:04
Speaker 1: underwhelming and a not generated points and not generated goals,
5:09
Speaker 1: but we still somehow want a game.
5:11
Speaker 2: Would you believe me?
5:15
Speaker 3: I don't think wholeheardedly I would have believed you, how
5:18
Speaker 3: that because you do need your depth pieces to win
5:21
Speaker 3: in the playoffs, you can't just rely on that top line.
5:25
Speaker 3: And the way Vegas game won it wasn't because of
5:28
Speaker 3: Jack Eichel and Mark Stone, It was Colton's sissons. It
5:32
Speaker 3: was the depth guys that were the difference to me
5:36
Speaker 3: in game one and in game two. For me, look,
5:40
Speaker 3: I think Logan Cooley is an emerging star. This he
5:44
Speaker 3: and he is showing you he is a playoff type
5:46
Speaker 3: player and understands the big moment and thrives in the
5:50
Speaker 3: big moment. And he certainly, to me, was the catalyst
5:54
Speaker 3: for Utah in Game two. But he needed to get
5:57
Speaker 3: the depth guys. I thought some of the Utah players
6:00
Speaker 3: really responded and played well in Game two. And those
6:03
Speaker 3: depth guys, they didn't necessarily score, but they were noticeable
6:06
Speaker 3: and they were active. And that was the case in
6:10
Speaker 3: Game one. Ivan Barbershev was everywhere. Even though he didn't
6:13
Speaker 3: really factor into the scoring all that much. He did have,
6:16
Speaker 3: you know, the empty netter, but his physicality was evident
6:22
Speaker 3: and guys like Kraus, I thought delivered that. In Game two.
6:25
Speaker 3: I thought the fourth line really gave some energy as
6:27
Speaker 3: well to Utah. And that's what you need in the playoffs.
6:30
Speaker 3: It can't just be a top heavy lineup. You're not
6:33
Speaker 3: gonna go deep. You need to have that balance in depth,
6:36
Speaker 3: and guys have to embrace their role. That's what I
6:38
Speaker 3: saw from Utah in game two.
6:43
Speaker 2: How do we handle Game three?
6:44
Speaker 1: Roxy We've never hosted a playoff game before in the NHL.
6:48
Speaker 2: What are we supposed to do. What about what's the
6:50
Speaker 2: dress code? Were I supposed to wear? Like I do?
6:55
Speaker 2: I have to show up pregame. How's this gonna work?
6:59
Speaker 3: Yeah? Above right, you got to show a pregame. You
7:02
Speaker 3: gotta get ready to go. Where are your top mammoth sweater?
7:08
Speaker 3: That's what you need to do this time of the year.
7:11
Speaker 3: And bring your energy, bring your passion, and be in
7:13
Speaker 3: your seat early. Right, that's the other thing. Like a
7:16
Speaker 3: lot of times, okay, the drop of the puck, the
7:19
Speaker 3: building buildings not entirely for get there early, don't miss anything.
7:24
Speaker 3: Get you there for the pregame hype. Watch the pregame
7:28
Speaker 3: skate to get you ready, and then you can go
7:31
Speaker 3: get your beverage of choice and your food of choice.
7:36
Speaker 3: But make sure you're in the seat because it is
7:39
Speaker 3: electrical and the team takes the ice for the first
7:41
Speaker 3: time getting ready for the game. When they come out,
7:45
Speaker 3: it is going to be the roof may blow off
7:47
Speaker 3: the Delta Center. I've been in so many buildings for
7:50
Speaker 3: the playoffs, and I'll be in Anaheim on Sunday for
7:53
Speaker 3: Game four between the Oilers and the Ducks. But that
7:57
Speaker 3: is just the epitome of hockey. Fantom is just the
8:01
Speaker 3: energy level is going to rise, and you just feel
8:05
Speaker 3: it's definitely different this time of the year.
8:08
Speaker 1: I don't know if you felt this way before the
8:10
Speaker 1: series started, when we know no one had skated yet.
8:14
Speaker 1: But the Mammoth have a chance to win their first
8:19
Speaker 1: ever playoff series as a franchise. This Golden Knights matchup
8:23
Speaker 1: is one that they can actually get past, not in
8:25
Speaker 1: just single games, but they can win this series.
8:28
Speaker 2: Do you feel that way?
8:30
Speaker 3: I do. I think they can win the series. Look,
8:32
Speaker 3: if you look at the regular season, Utah had more
8:35
Speaker 3: wins than Vegas did, even though Vegas is the Pacific
8:38
Speaker 3: Division champion, the Mammoth of the number one wild card.
8:42
Speaker 3: But the Mammoth had more wins than the Golden Knights did.
8:45
Speaker 3: And I know a lot of analysts around the NHL
8:48
Speaker 3: were calling the Pacific Division a pillow fight because it
8:51
Speaker 3: seemed like nobody wanted to win it. But Vegas got
8:54
Speaker 3: hot down the stretch with John Tortorella and Game two.
8:58
Speaker 3: That was the first regular loss for the Golden Knights
9:01
Speaker 3: since Towards took over at the end of March. But
9:06
Speaker 3: the playoffs are a different animal, and now that Utah
9:08
Speaker 3: has had a taste of it. Look, there are veteran
9:11
Speaker 3: guys Ian coles won cups, right you look around the
9:14
Speaker 3: Utah room. There is some playoff experience Kevin Stenlin. It's
9:18
Speaker 3: not like they're devoid of that type of experience. But
9:21
Speaker 3: the key offensive guys hadn't been there before Keller Coolly.
9:28
Speaker 3: But they played games on the big stage before, and
9:30
Speaker 3: Vegas clearly has that pedigree. They won the Cup back
9:33
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty three. I think in a lot of
9:35
Speaker 3: ways that goes out the window now game one, I
9:38
Speaker 3: think that Vegas took advantage of that. Utah figured some
9:42
Speaker 3: things out in game two. Now it ships the Mammoth
9:45
Speaker 3: have stolen home ice advantage away, and now you have
9:49
Speaker 3: to defend home ice. And if you can do that,
9:52
Speaker 3: if you can win your games at home, you're going
9:54
Speaker 3: to win this series. It wouldn't shock me at all.
9:56
Speaker 3: And I felt this way before the series. Oh see
9:59
Speaker 3: that you I could definitely win this series.
10:02
Speaker 1: Incredible, incredible game last night between the Stars and the
10:06
Speaker 1: Wild The Ducks got over on the Oilers. The Western
10:12
Speaker 1: Conference playoffs. Any surprises for you or just something that's
10:15
Speaker 1: jumping out.
10:16
Speaker 3: For you, nothing's really surprising. Look maybe that how flat
10:23
Speaker 3: the Penguins have been and how Philly has just dominated
10:26
Speaker 3: that series, and I think it's indicasion. Sidney Crosby's definitely
10:29
Speaker 3: banged up. He's not he's not I only even he's
10:32
Speaker 3: close to one hundred percent, but he's trying to battle
10:35
Speaker 3: through it. That's what you have to do this time
10:36
Speaker 3: of the year. And they have a lot of pride,
10:38
Speaker 3: and I would expect the Penguins to come out and
10:40
Speaker 3: throw everything they have at the Flyers in Game four.
10:43
Speaker 3: But other than that, I really haven't been surprised by anything.
10:48
Speaker 3: I expected Colorado breathe through against the Kings, although I
10:52
Speaker 3: thought LA even though they didn't win Game two Sean
10:54
Speaker 3: to me, for most of that game they were the
10:56
Speaker 3: better team. They just didn't win it. Now they go
10:59
Speaker 3: home down two. Zho. You allude to the game last night,
11:04
Speaker 3: the double overtime thriller in Saint Paul, and that it's
11:07
Speaker 3: just a heck of the series. Those teams are going
11:08
Speaker 3: to beat each other up. I don't see any way
11:11
Speaker 3: that doesn't go seven. I just think those teams are
11:13
Speaker 3: so evenly matched, and it's been amazing hockey to watch,
11:17
Speaker 3: and some of the other series like, how about the
11:20
Speaker 3: nastiness in the Tampa Montreal series. That is just it
11:24
Speaker 3: was a physical fight the other night, which you don't
11:29
Speaker 3: normally see those type of battles in the playoffs. Guys
11:33
Speaker 3: don't want to miss chunks of time in being the
11:35
Speaker 3: penalty box, and you're having team pictures in the penalty
11:37
Speaker 3: box and a couples of the couple of series so far,
11:42
Speaker 3: and I expected nastiness to get turned up a little
11:44
Speaker 3: bit now in the Utah Vegas series. I don't think
11:47
Speaker 3: we've there's been pushing and shoving, you had teams coming together,
11:51
Speaker 3: but you haven't seen the same type of nastiness that
11:54
Speaker 3: you're seeing in the other series. At some point that's
11:57
Speaker 3: going to change. And now that Utah is even the series,
12:00
Speaker 3: I expect a strong pushback from Vegas in game three.
12:03
Speaker 3: And I think the physicality, even though I think it's
12:05
Speaker 3: been extremely high. For example, Vegas had fifty one hits
12:09
Speaker 3: that they were credited with in game one. That's fifteen
12:12
Speaker 3: more than any game they had in the regular season,
12:15
Speaker 3: it gets cranked up as the series goes along, and
12:18
Speaker 3: I would expect some ugliness maybe to come in the
12:21
Speaker 3: next couple of games.
12:22
Speaker 2: That was one.
12:22
Speaker 1: I think the keys of game two is that, you know,
12:25
Speaker 1: the Mammoth didn't get bullied around.
12:26
Speaker 2: It was what it was fifty one or fifty two
12:28
Speaker 2: to thirty in game one, Yeah, and they were.
12:31
Speaker 1: Basically even on hits in game two, and that was
12:34
Speaker 1: something they that the Mammoth absolutely had to step up
12:37
Speaker 1: and match the Golden Knights on even if they don't
12:39
Speaker 1: have the size necessarily to do it. I was happy
12:42
Speaker 1: to see him kind of close that gap definitely.
12:46
Speaker 3: And they've had some players that Krous is going to
12:48
Speaker 3: throw his weight around. He's a big, physical guy. That's
12:50
Speaker 3: what he does. And I think that's why Andre Turney
12:53
Speaker 3: put him on that top line. When you have the
12:55
Speaker 3: skill of Keller and Schmaltz, you need to have some
12:57
Speaker 3: sandpaper on that line. Krous, with his size, he has
13:02
Speaker 3: excelled playing along those two guys and has had a
13:04
Speaker 3: career season. And then even Okay, Logan Cooley gets a
13:08
Speaker 3: lot of the credit and deservedly so. He's been great
13:10
Speaker 3: in the first two games. Kyler Yamamoto has been a
13:14
Speaker 3: factor even though what he's five to eight, one hundred
13:17
Speaker 3: and ninety pounds whatever it is, he throws everything he's
13:20
Speaker 3: got at you. He plays with that grit and determination
13:23
Speaker 3: and he's he was a big key for me also
13:25
Speaker 3: in Game two with his presence out there for the Mammoth.
13:29
Speaker 1: I love you know, Gunther Cooley is the one who
13:31
Speaker 1: got the goal on the rebound. But but Gunther decided
13:34
Speaker 1: to pull his best Connor McDavid impersonation and he just
13:37
Speaker 1: turned on the Jets, took the puck one hundred and
13:40
Speaker 1: ninety plus feet and created that rebound opportunity for Cooley.
13:44
Speaker 1: That's the kind of speed I need to see from
13:46
Speaker 1: the Mammoth.
13:47
Speaker 3: Moving forward, and that's what they're capable of doing. And
13:50
Speaker 3: I think he caught Vegas off guard of that move. Sean,
13:53
Speaker 3: I don't think that. I think it was Rasmus Anderson
13:55
Speaker 3: who was the defenseman that was there. I don't think
13:58
Speaker 3: he knew that Gunther had that in him. He knows
14:01
Speaker 3: Gunther's quick and as fast and has a great strident speed,
14:05
Speaker 3: but that extra gear that boosts that he got around him.
14:09
Speaker 3: I don't think he anticipated that. And then if you look,
14:13
Speaker 3: here comes Logan Kooley reading the play from the opposite wing,
14:16
Speaker 3: and Vegas lost sight of him, and it was Jack
14:19
Speaker 3: Eichel's responsibility defensively and he lost him and then Cooley's
14:22
Speaker 3: there to jam in the rebound and that turns out
14:24
Speaker 3: to be the winner. And you can't have those slip
14:27
Speaker 3: ups in the postseason. You make a mistake this time
14:30
Speaker 3: of the year, it ends up in the back of
14:31
Speaker 3: your net and you can't have those type of brain
14:34
Speaker 3: cramps coming up.
14:36
Speaker 1: All right, unfair question, will be my last one here.
14:39
Speaker 1: We had leol Messi in town last night playing into Miami,
14:44
Speaker 1: playing at RSL, and it was a big deal.
14:46
Speaker 2: It was a you know, expensive ticket to get in.
14:48
Speaker 2: It was huge.
14:49
Speaker 1: Everyone showed up, sold out everything. And we had a
14:53
Speaker 1: conversation yesterday about, you know, the opportunity to be there
14:56
Speaker 1: in the building when potentially the greatest of all time
14:59
Speaker 1: or one of the great of all time is there playing.
15:02
Speaker 1: And we've had opportunities to watch Lebron James play basketball.
15:05
Speaker 1: You have this unique seat in these sporting events. You
15:09
Speaker 1: already mentioned you're going to be calling Connor McDavid and
15:13
Speaker 1: the Oilers playing against the Ducks. Who is the best
15:16
Speaker 1: and you have to think of all your sports here,
15:19
Speaker 1: who is the best individual talent you've gotten the call
15:22
Speaker 1: games for.
15:24
Speaker 3: I watched I never got to call Michael Jordan, which
15:27
Speaker 3: would have been incredible to do. I would say it's
15:32
Speaker 3: Connor McDavid, to be honest with you, is great. Is
15:35
Speaker 3: some of the Major League players and all MLB that
15:38
Speaker 3: I've done over the years. You watch McDavid, he's just
15:42
Speaker 3: different and the way he moves and the burst that
15:48
Speaker 3: he has, and he's doing it against his peers. It's
15:52
Speaker 3: not like he is this guy coming to play with
15:56
Speaker 3: a group of middle school kids and he's just them
16:01
Speaker 3: and dominating and taking advantage of it because you know,
16:04
Speaker 3: he's the older veteran understands this guy. He's doing it
16:08
Speaker 3: to the best players in the world. And just a
16:11
Speaker 3: couple of weeks ago, I took my son to a game.
16:14
Speaker 3: They were playing Evan who was playing in San Jose.
16:17
Speaker 3: So I took him to the game. When a couple
16:19
Speaker 3: of his buddies and I looked over at my son
16:22
Speaker 3: and his friends and their jaws hit the floor because
16:24
Speaker 3: McDavid had a hat trick, he hit five points. They
16:28
Speaker 3: dominated the game. He just was toying with another professional
16:34
Speaker 3: team and it was just incredible to watch. Even with
16:36
Speaker 3: a superstar like Maclan Celebrini on the ice, who is phenomenal,
16:40
Speaker 3: But McDavid is just different. You watch him, he's just
16:43
Speaker 3: captivating the way he moves. There's nobody like him in
16:47
Speaker 3: the game right now.
16:50
Speaker 1: Your guy Macklin Celebrini might be that eventually if he
16:53
Speaker 1: keeps at this pace. But man, I'm gonna avoid talking
16:55
Speaker 1: about him right now because the.
16:58
Speaker 2: Sharks are not in the playoffs. You're not sooner than later.
17:02
Speaker 1: They're going to be a real problem for the Mammoths,
17:04
Speaker 1: But not today, not right now, Roxy.
17:06
Speaker 3: You know, but the Mammoth in a great spot. Right
17:09
Speaker 3: in year two you make the playoffs. They're clearly a
17:11
Speaker 3: franchise that is ascending. And there's a few of them
17:14
Speaker 3: in the Western Conference. Like we know, Vegas is going
17:16
Speaker 3: to be good for years. Some of the other teams,
17:19
Speaker 3: clearly like Minnesota and Dallas, have a lot of talent.
17:22
Speaker 3: Certainly Colorado. Colorado right now is the oldest team in
17:25
Speaker 3: the league, and at some point that's going to catch
17:28
Speaker 3: up with them. As we know, Father Time is undefeated.
17:30
Speaker 3: But the three teams in the West that are clearly
17:33
Speaker 3: on the rise, they're going to be cut contenders for
17:36
Speaker 3: years along with the Mammoth. Because I do believe that
17:39
Speaker 3: Utah's in that spot with the pipeline that they have
17:42
Speaker 3: and the talent of like Iginlan, Dano Yer and Simyschev,
17:46
Speaker 3: coming Anaheim and San Jose are right there with them,
17:50
Speaker 3: and those are going to be some rivalries, I think
17:52
Speaker 3: for years to come with all the talent and the
17:54
Speaker 3: youth and speed these two franchise or these three franchises.
17:57
Speaker 1: Have, Roxy, do you have a great call on Sunday?
18:01
Speaker 1: I appreciate your time as always. I have a deep,
18:04
Speaker 1: deep admiration for your skill in the business, and you're
18:08
Speaker 1: an even better person.
18:09
Speaker 2: So thank you, sir.
18:10
Speaker 3: You got it, buddy, anytime I'll see hope to see
18:12
Speaker 3: you soon.
18:13
Speaker 1: That is Roxy Bernstein. Give him any sport, he'll do
18:17
Speaker 1: a great job on it, even hockey. He was on
18:20
Speaker 1: the call for Game two when the Utah Mammoth got
18:23
Speaker 1: their first ever playoff win. We hope for playoff win
18:26
Speaker 1: number two on Friday Night,