Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Between The Pipes: Adrian Denny on the Utah Mammoth clinching the playoffs, Surge in goal scoring + more

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Between The Pipes: Adrian Denny on the Utah Mammoth clinching the playoffs, Surge in goal scoring + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

0:06
Speaker 1: Did you were listening to the Sean O'Connell Show from
0:08
Speaker 1: a Murdock Hondai studio of ESPN seven hundred and ninety
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Speaker 1: two to one, A f am Sean o'connald show continues
0:16
Speaker 1: and we check in Between the Pipes with Adrian Denny,
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Speaker 1: a condensed scheduled this week because I'm on PFL duty
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Speaker 1: again in Belfast and I didn't want to miss a
0:26
Speaker 1: conversation with my guy, our Mammoth insider, Adrian Denny Between
0:30
Speaker 1: the Pipes, brought to you by our friends over at
0:32
Speaker 1: Aladdin Industries, your Utah Vlux dealer and the truck with
0:35
Speaker 1: the Duck Valley Plumbing, heating and cooling.
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Speaker 2: Adrian Denny, how are you, sir? It's up, Sewan.
0:41
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me in on a Monday, Sun's out
0:44
Speaker 3: O case, the Monday's here for the Mammoth. Got that
0:47
Speaker 3: all done with Saturday and Sunday. I like what you
0:51
Speaker 3: did there.
0:52
Speaker 1: I actually want to go back to Thursday Night with
0:54
Speaker 1: the Mammoth before we get to the weekend, because that
0:58
Speaker 1: was the night that this Utah Mammoth team clinched officially
1:02
Speaker 1: a playoff spot in the second year of the club's
1:05
Speaker 1: existence and I know you've.
1:07
Speaker 2: Probably already talked a lot about it.
1:08
Speaker 1: We have not discussed the officiality of that milestone being reached.
1:14
Speaker 1: And look, it's significant in a lot of ways. Even
1:17
Speaker 1: as a standalone. It feels even more significant because of
1:21
Speaker 1: what else has been happening at the Delta Center of
1:23
Speaker 1: the last four years or so. This is incredibly exciting
1:27
Speaker 1: playoff hockey coming to Utah now.
1:31
Speaker 3: Well, Clayton Keller kind of set the expectation last summer
1:35
Speaker 3: at Mammoth Week in Saint George. He said the goal
1:40
Speaker 3: and the expectation is playoffs. And as we went into
1:43
Speaker 3: training camp, got to say message from other players and
1:48
Speaker 3: from general manager Bill Armstrong, and you know, they weren't
1:52
Speaker 3: shining away from it last year.
1:53
Speaker 2: They came close. This year.
1:56
Speaker 3: They wanted to get there, and they got there. And
1:58
Speaker 3: it's not that easy. The Detroit Red Wings, longest playoff
2:02
Speaker 3: drought now in the NHL of over a decade, looked
2:07
Speaker 3: like this was going to be their year. They were
2:08
Speaker 3: leading the Atlantic Division right before the Olympics and completely collapse.
2:12
Speaker 3: They're not in the playoffs. So you set the goal,
2:16
Speaker 3: you're looking towards it. It's an eighty two game season
2:20
Speaker 3: there's ups, there's downs. But oh see, as we promised,
2:25
Speaker 3: Once the Mammoth got into January, that seven game home stands,
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Speaker 3: that's where it's set the tone. And for me, it
2:31
Speaker 3: was a six to one win against Toronto on January thirteenth.
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Speaker 3: All Right, I thought, this is this is going to
2:37
Speaker 3: be the last time this team is not in a
2:41
Speaker 3: playoff position. Now that they've secured that win, they're a
2:44
Speaker 3: playoff team. They're moving forward. We're going onward here, and
2:49
Speaker 3: they've been in a playoff spot for all but about
2:51
Speaker 3: twenty four hours since then. It was late late January,
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Speaker 3: a Sunday night to a Monday night, and they've had
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Speaker 3: the first wild card spot since February second.
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Speaker 2: So they're there.
2:59
Speaker 3: So we see it, right, Okay, playoffs, playoffs, plust. And
3:03
Speaker 3: then you get to Thursday morning and we get a text.
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Speaker 3: If the Mammoth win tonight in regulation, Anaheim beats San Jose,
3:14
Speaker 3: it's official and you're thinking, okay.
3:16
Speaker 2: That's possible, let's go do it. Likely.
3:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then the Mammoth jump up early against Nashville,
3:22
Speaker 3: lead from tape to tape, and at the second intermission
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Speaker 3: they're ahead. Anaheim is off to a great startup to
3:32
Speaker 3: nothing against San Jose looking to end a six game
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Speaker 3: winless skid, and it just kind of sunk in and
3:38
Speaker 3: it kind of got a little emotional, like there's there's
3:43
Speaker 3: life moments that you have that that hit you. And
3:47
Speaker 3: I'm sitting there second intermission and I'm thinking, this is it.
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Speaker 3: We're gonna do this tonight. And we were obviously on
3:57
Speaker 3: the air on the radio when when Anaheim sealed it off,
4:00
Speaker 3: and our TV post game stayed on until it was done.
4:04
Speaker 3: And the next morning at practice, I head coach Andre
4:08
Speaker 3: Turney was happy.
4:09
Speaker 2: He was in a good mood.
4:11
Speaker 3: He didn't address it on Thursday at Morning Skater or
4:15
Speaker 3: after the game because it wasn't official, but you could
4:18
Speaker 3: tell that it's sunk into to Bear too, that he
4:22
Speaker 3: in this group had accomplished their goal for the regular
4:26
Speaker 3: season to get to the postseason. And it was a
4:30
Speaker 3: fun morning at the Mammoth Ice Center the morning after
4:33
Speaker 3: practice or the morning after the game at practice that
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Speaker 3: after the team clints the playoff spot.
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Speaker 1: I know that there's a lot of pressure on the
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Speaker 1: players to fulfill on the promise right and to make
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Speaker 1: it to these playoffs. Feels like for Bear and you
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Speaker 1: can tell me more than it feels like for him,
4:48
Speaker 1: there was a lot of like more meaningful pressure, like,
4:53
Speaker 1: hey man, we all recognize now that this is a
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Speaker 1: team that is definitely talented enough and has the pieces
5:00
Speaker 1: in place, and you've been pretty fortunate with health this year,
5:04
Speaker 1: and management front office made some I think important moves
5:08
Speaker 1: and some good trades, especially the acquisition of Wiger, and
5:12
Speaker 1: it was kind of like, all right, the the building
5:16
Speaker 1: blocks are there. Now you as the coach, you have
5:19
Speaker 1: to assemble this thing into what it's supposed to look like.
5:23
Speaker 1: And we got to a point where, not in like
5:26
Speaker 1: a sinister way, but when you had a couple unexplainable
5:30
Speaker 1: losses where there was some like side eye going just
5:33
Speaker 1: like huh. We all love Bear obviously, he's the only
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Speaker 1: coach that Utah Mammoth hockey fans know. He's the guy
5:41
Speaker 1: that has been so gracious with his time and helping
5:43
Speaker 1: be an ambassador to this community.
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Speaker 2: So everyone loves him.
5:46
Speaker 1: But I think you heard the insiders and you heard
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Speaker 1: the real hockey people saying like, if you can't get
5:51
Speaker 1: this team as assembled to the playoffs, that is problematic
5:56
Speaker 1: for the coach and so for him especially, it feels
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Speaker 1: like there must have been a lot of joy, a
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Speaker 1: lot of relief, maybe a feeling of alleviated pressure when
6:07
Speaker 1: you did Clint Trump Thursday.
6:09
Speaker 3: As you know, professional sports has expectations and as a competitor,
6:17
Speaker 3: you embrace that. And starting the team here in Salt Lake,
6:24
Speaker 3: the Smith Entertainment Group gives you everything you could possibly
6:29
Speaker 3: ever want, every resource, every item of support. From a
6:34
Speaker 3: personal standpoint, You've got the best practice facility in the
6:38
Speaker 3: NHL that they just threw up in record time, and
6:42
Speaker 3: with that comes expectations that are you know that that
6:51
Speaker 3: are implied right, and as a head coach of a team,
6:55
Speaker 3: you you realize that and you would one rather have
7:00
Speaker 3: that than be scrapping along trying to piece things together
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Speaker 3: and you know, hoping that things are gonna work out.
7:11
Speaker 3: When you when you've got everything that that has been
7:15
Speaker 3: you know, laid out for for the Mammoth and you're
7:18
Speaker 3: coaching that team and you just got Mackenzie Wieger and
7:22
Speaker 3: you've got veterrends that that they've pieced together to help
7:25
Speaker 3: in these playoff runs, you would want nothing more. But yeah,
7:31
Speaker 3: there's pressure, like it's it's it's why you get into
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Speaker 3: what you're doing. Because you have that competitive spirit, that
7:41
Speaker 3: competitive edge in your blood, and you know no other way.
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Speaker 3: It's what you want, but you know that you have
7:50
Speaker 3: to perform and you have to deliver.
7:53
Speaker 1: Along with the big time team and franchise milestone. Over
7:59
Speaker 1: the weekend, you saw Dylan Gunther hit the forty goals mark.
8:03
Speaker 1: You saw we talked about this already, Schmaltz career high
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Speaker 1: in points. Clayton Keller, whose role, as I think, kind
8:11
Speaker 1: of evolved a little bit.
8:12
Speaker 2: He had a big weekend, especially at Nashville game.
8:14
Speaker 1: Three point game for him there, and you're seeing again
8:18
Speaker 1: the pieces become, you know, greater than the team is
8:22
Speaker 1: greater than the sum of its parts. But those parts
8:25
Speaker 1: now are starting to really elevate into different conversations amongst
8:30
Speaker 1: you know, NHL players at their respective positions.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, how about Dylan Gunther.
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Speaker 3: What's more impressive for Gunther the fact that he gets
8:39
Speaker 3: to forty goals in a season he started as a
8:42
Speaker 3: twenty two year old. He just turned twenty three on Friday,
8:44
Speaker 3: but one of ten players since twenty twelve twenty thirteen
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Speaker 3: to be twenty two and under at the start of
8:49
Speaker 3: the season. He gets to forty goals or the fact
8:51
Speaker 3: in his second NHL season he has already increased his
8:55
Speaker 3: goal total by thirteen. He had twenty seven last year,
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Speaker 3: which was a good year, and he's in year one
9:00
Speaker 3: one of an eight year deal. Nick Schmaltz has been
9:02
Speaker 3: building on a career high end goals for the last
9:05
Speaker 3: two months. He's at thirty one now. Clayton Keller is
9:09
Speaker 3: the second hottest player in the NHL in the last
9:12
Speaker 3: three weeks. Only Jack Hughes, who scored the golden goal
9:15
Speaker 3: in the Olympics to win the Golden Medal, has more
9:19
Speaker 3: points than Keller. So yeah, the last two three weeks
9:25
Speaker 3: building up to this, Mammoth offensively four plus goals in
9:30
Speaker 3: six straight games. And you see the talent, You see
9:34
Speaker 3: things coming together, and you see guys like Kyler Yamamoto
9:37
Speaker 3: playing with Logan Cooley and Dylan Gunther and being that
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Speaker 3: perfect compliment. And looking at the six defenseman who you know,
9:46
Speaker 3: I think it's top top defense, defensive core in the NHL,
9:50
Speaker 3: and Crevel Milk has been pretty good, so I think
9:53
Speaker 3: I think you gotta like But what you've seen from
9:56
Speaker 3: the group headed towards that postseason, which is where are
10:00
Speaker 3: going to be next week at this time.
10:02
Speaker 2: That's do you believe it? It's so wild.
10:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're going to be in playoff hockey mode a
10:08
Speaker 1: week from today basically, but work left to be done again,
10:13
Speaker 1: we're doing this. We're having our conversation on a Monday,
10:16
Speaker 1: which is not typical because I'm traveling for PFL action
10:20
Speaker 1: Winnipeg and Saint Louis to finish it out. And you
10:24
Speaker 1: got to get You've got ninety points right now, you
10:26
Speaker 1: probably get to get to what do you think ninety
10:29
Speaker 1: three in order to be securely in that wild card number.
10:33
Speaker 2: One spot yet magic number three?
10:35
Speaker 1: Okay, So Winnipeg and Saint Louis, can you get the
10:40
Speaker 1: three points you need?
10:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that's how you do it, right. You win
10:45
Speaker 3: your way in at the Delta Center. Would we have
10:50
Speaker 3: it any other way? Just like clinching a signature game
10:54
Speaker 3: against Nashville on Thursday could have been one of the
10:56
Speaker 3: best games of the year. That's how you want to
10:58
Speaker 3: go in and and now, after a weekend where you
11:01
Speaker 3: dropped a couple of games in LA, who's right behind you.
11:03
Speaker 3: They've won four straight. They're starting a road trip tonight.
11:07
Speaker 3: But there's a catch to it. They're playing Seattle they're
11:09
Speaker 3: playing Vancouver and they're playing Calgary, three of the bottom
11:14
Speaker 3: four teams in the NHL, so you know, like to
11:17
Speaker 3: control things for yourself and take care of it. But
11:21
Speaker 3: I think I think they will. The Delta Center is
11:24
Speaker 3: going to be juiced. The Mammoth are going to understand
11:28
Speaker 3: that Saturday and Sunday weren't great games. I was I
11:31
Speaker 3: was saying Sunday night after the contest after they lost
11:34
Speaker 3: four one in Calgary, like this is this isn't a kindergarten.
11:37
Speaker 3: They know, they know that that wasn't great. It wasn't
11:40
Speaker 3: It wasn't a great weekend. So kind of kind of
11:43
Speaker 3: happened after you clanched, maybe Xdale a little bit and.
11:47
Speaker 2: Then take your eye off the ball. Yeah for the pucks,
11:50
Speaker 2: since it's a puck sport, not a ball sport. It happens.
11:53
Speaker 3: We talked about how I thought that that was largely
11:56
Speaker 3: in part the stuff that didn't go perfect during during
11:59
Speaker 3: the month of March. But but back on, Winnipeg's still
12:01
Speaker 3: fighting for a playoff spot. It depends if they still
12:04
Speaker 3: will be tomorrow because they play at Vegas tonight, which
12:08
Speaker 3: as we look at it right now, looks most likely
12:11
Speaker 3: all of a sudden to be the first round playoff opponent.
12:14
Speaker 3: So Winnipeg coming in Saint Louis has been eliminated, but
12:17
Speaker 3: that they've been pretty pesky since the Olympic break too.
12:20
Speaker 1: But well, let's talk about that playoff outlook, because it's
12:25
Speaker 1: far from settled, right Mammoth could drop Edmonton, could rise
12:29
Speaker 1: back up Vegas. Though right now, if I guess, if
12:32
Speaker 1: it starts today, which it doesn't, it's Utah versus Vegas,
12:37
Speaker 1: and a lot of us were like, okay, just avoid Edmonton,
12:40
Speaker 1: get away from Edmonton, don't play Edmonton in the first
12:43
Speaker 1: round of these playoffs. Is Vegas a significantly better matchup
12:49
Speaker 1: for the Utah Mammoth because when we started having those conversations,
12:53
Speaker 1: we were thinking, you'd rather have Anaheim, You'd rather have Anaheim.
12:56
Speaker 2: Well, now it's a different team.
12:59
Speaker 3: Biggest thing is they don't have Connor McDavid, and that's
13:03
Speaker 3: that's been a struggle to it is to manage him. Right,
13:07
Speaker 3: the Mammoth have beaten Vegas. They had to outscore Edmonton
13:13
Speaker 3: to beat him for the first time ever last week,
13:15
Speaker 3: which is not not the recipe really won in a
13:19
Speaker 3: seven game playoff series.
13:21
Speaker 2: That's that's a lot. Yeah, you don't.
13:24
Speaker 1: You don't want to have to play overtime hockey night
13:27
Speaker 1: after night against Connor McDavid and a returning Leon dry Sidele.
13:33
Speaker 3: Though, we may want to look at some videotape from
13:35
Speaker 3: Saturday in LA when the Kings shut out the Oilers
13:39
Speaker 3: by account of one nothing. Not really sure how that
13:45
Speaker 3: possibly happened, but it allowed Vegas to take over first place.
13:49
Speaker 3: Mammoth fad success against Vegas. You want that matchup, I
13:55
Speaker 3: think for a number of reasons. Number one, know Conor McDavis.
13:58
Speaker 3: We talked about. Number two, the logistics getting back and
14:03
Speaker 3: forth is easier than getting up to the northern prairies
14:06
Speaker 3: of Alberta. Vegas is still a team that won a
14:09
Speaker 3: Stanley Cup championship in twenty twenty three, and they've got
14:12
Speaker 3: a lot of those players, and they made that coaching
14:14
Speaker 3: change and since they did their five ozho and one,
14:19
Speaker 3: they just beat the Avs and in overtime.
14:21
Speaker 2: So Vegas is a good team.
14:24
Speaker 3: Uh. As we said last time, the Mammoth played them
14:28
Speaker 3: like something's wrong here, something is off, and they made
14:31
Speaker 3: a coaching change. So they've they've they've been better. They
14:36
Speaker 3: they've beaten a lot of Calgary and Vancouver. So but
14:38
Speaker 3: but they did beat Colorado, did beat Edmondson, So they
14:41
Speaker 3: do have some good wins there. It's not their fault
14:43
Speaker 3: what their what their schedule has been since they've gotten
14:46
Speaker 3: a new coach.
14:46
Speaker 2: Though.
14:47
Speaker 3: Sometimes when you make a coaching change, you look at
14:49
Speaker 3: the schedule like, Okay, this will set things up to
14:51
Speaker 3: make everything look.
14:53
Speaker 2: Look really good. But but Vegas has challenged.
14:55
Speaker 3: They got that that pedigree of winning a championship and
14:59
Speaker 3: having that playoff experience.
15:02
Speaker 2: So one A, one B.
15:03
Speaker 3: I take Vegas over Edmonton, not saying that there's a
15:07
Speaker 3: clear cut advantage there, but for a couple little micro
15:12
Speaker 3: elements that that would be better for me. You're gonna
15:18
Speaker 3: start growing a playoff beard. No, I just it just doesn't.
15:23
Speaker 3: It doesn't work. It doesn't work, man, I just it
15:27
Speaker 3: doesn't work. I'm I'm one of those guys that if
15:33
Speaker 3: you know, if if I don't, I don't shave in
15:35
Speaker 3: the summer every day. As you've seen, right, you've seen
15:38
Speaker 3: that I can look hip and cool for maybe a
15:43
Speaker 3: week like that, all right, and then it just doesn't work.
15:46
Speaker 2: It's got to end.
15:47
Speaker 1: As soon as it gets past like the five o'clock shadows.
15:51
Speaker 2: Then you're just losing it.
15:52
Speaker 3: It's got to end. So I've never I've never grown
15:55
Speaker 3: I've never grown the beard. I just I just it.
15:59
Speaker 2: It just does work. You can leave it at that.
16:02
Speaker 1: I'm actually really interested to see. I know this is
16:05
Speaker 1: like a very far down the list of important things
16:09
Speaker 1: to talk about with you with U tell Man cockey,
16:11
Speaker 1: but you got to punch it. Like super young guys
16:14
Speaker 1: on this team that probably don't grow a great beard,
16:18
Speaker 1: and like what is Logan Cooley's playoff beard gonna look like?
16:22
Speaker 1: What is Dylan Gunter's playoff beard gonna look like a
16:25
Speaker 1: little better? Clayton Keller is not exactly a beard guy,
16:28
Speaker 1: so you might you might be the only team skating
16:31
Speaker 1: in the Stanley Cup playoffs that's got like half bearded
16:35
Speaker 1: teenage faces.
16:36
Speaker 3: Might have some stringy beards, you know what I'm talking about.
16:40
Speaker 1: Spicy Tuna is gonna have to shave his off and
16:44
Speaker 1: like glue it onto somebody else because then he'll be
16:46
Speaker 1: able to regrow.
16:47
Speaker 2: In just a few days. Yeah about a half hour.
16:52
Speaker 1: Uh, Veggie got I think a much needed rest ding
16:56
Speaker 1: in the bad weekend, and people, if you don't know
17:00
Speaker 1: Correva Melca is playing a lot in goal for this
17:04
Speaker 1: Utah Mammoth team for obvious reasons. He's second right now
17:07
Speaker 1: in the NHL in wins. It's a it's been a
17:10
Speaker 1: good year for him. As you finish out these final
17:15
Speaker 1: two games, you kind of need your best in the goal,
17:18
Speaker 1: I'm assuming, and then obviously in the playoffs you're gonna
17:21
Speaker 1: ride it until the wheels fall off. Have they managed
17:25
Speaker 1: him enough? Is he what's his body like right now?
17:29
Speaker 1: You're closer to the team, you're down to practice. Uh?
17:32
Speaker 1: Can Vamelka hold up after a long season where he's
17:37
Speaker 1: been kind of overused relative to some other goaldies in
17:41
Speaker 1: the league.
17:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, you mentioned some of the numbers. Thirty seven wins,
17:45
Speaker 3: second the NHL, sixty two games played first in the NHL,
17:48
Speaker 3: first in the NHL in minutes, second in the NHL
17:52
Speaker 3: in shots face, So yeah, he's he's been there, but
17:55
Speaker 3: it's his Uh, it's his crease rest the way. I'd
17:59
Speaker 3: expect him to start tomorrow and Thursday to wrap up
18:03
Speaker 3: the regular season, and then it's all him in the playoffs.
18:06
Speaker 3: So if all goes well, Sunday night will be the
18:09
Speaker 3: last we've seen a v Tech Vanichick this year. Because
18:12
Speaker 3: if he comes in, it's gonna be in a playoff
18:14
Speaker 3: game where things have gone south.
18:17
Speaker 2: Is the plan for me.
18:18
Speaker 3: And the good thing about playoffs you're not playing back
18:23
Speaker 3: to backs. You're playing every other day, maybe with two
18:26
Speaker 3: days rest. And the Mammoth have been good in those
18:30
Speaker 3: positions three seven and one in back to backs this year.
18:33
Speaker 3: Those are done thirty seven, twenty five when you're playing
18:36
Speaker 3: on one or two days rest.
18:39
Speaker 1: Let's see, they busted out the Zamoth, they introduced the
18:44
Speaker 1: Tusk mug. We're gonna get anything new, anything special for
18:49
Speaker 1: the playoffs.
18:51
Speaker 3: We had Chris Armstrong, president of Hockey Operations, on Hockey
18:54
Speaker 3: Night Utah on TV on Saturday, and Kim Becker was
18:57
Speaker 3: poking and prodding yeah, and he said yes, and you'll see.
19:05
Speaker 3: So I think I think there's some some fun stuff
19:09
Speaker 3: in store for the Delta Center to take it to
19:12
Speaker 3: that playoff level for the first time ever here in
19:15
Speaker 3: Salt Lake.
19:16
Speaker 1: So I think when we got the announcement that the
19:19
Speaker 1: franchise was coming to Salt Lake City, when you work
19:24
Speaker 1: in sports media, you get a little bit, even if
19:28
Speaker 1: you try not to, you get a little bit jaded
19:30
Speaker 1: to how special sports can be. Right, And that took
19:36
Speaker 1: me back to like when I was a little kid
19:38
Speaker 1: and you were talking about I mean, my grandparents were
19:41
Speaker 1: living in the Bay Area when the Sharks became a
19:43
Speaker 1: team in San Jose, and I remember just the fascination of, Oh,
19:47
Speaker 1: my gosh, there's gonna be a brand new team. And
19:50
Speaker 1: we had the Marlins in those days in baseball. Wow,
19:54
Speaker 1: there's gonna be a brand new team. You got the
19:56
Speaker 1: Vancouver Grizzlies and the Toronto Raptors, and obviously the Grizzlies
19:59
Speaker 1: didn't stay Vancouver, but it took me back to being
20:02
Speaker 1: a little kid. We're going to get a new team
20:05
Speaker 1: in this market, in my hometown, in our market. And
20:09
Speaker 1: then I attended the very first game, and that I
20:13
Speaker 1: tell people all the time that is a top three,
20:17
Speaker 1: maybe four sports memory I've ever had relative to the
20:21
Speaker 1: state of Utah, like and just relative to my own
20:25
Speaker 1: life period. It was one of the coolest things to
20:28
Speaker 1: be there sold out Arena, get the win in the
20:31
Speaker 1: first game in the existence of this brand new hockey team.
20:35
Speaker 1: And it feels like that with playoff hockey coming for
20:38
Speaker 1: the first time, because it's this thing that you've watched
20:41
Speaker 1: and you've talked about and you've never really experienced, so
20:44
Speaker 1: you can't fully understand it. And now we get to
20:47
Speaker 1: start building that understanding as a hockey community in Salt
20:50
Speaker 1: Lake because it's actually happening.
20:52
Speaker 3: How many times over the years has there been a
20:55
Speaker 3: Game seven in the playoffs and everybody on Twitter is like,
20:59
Speaker 3: do yourself a favor and turn this on as they
21:02
Speaker 3: watched their first hockey game of the year too, right,
21:05
Speaker 3: and then they do it again the next year when
21:07
Speaker 3: they watch their next hockey game.
21:09
Speaker 2: But it's it's electric and gosh, was it.
21:14
Speaker 3: Ever weird last year when we didn't make the playoffs
21:17
Speaker 3: watching two months of playoff hockey and seeing that and
21:21
Speaker 3: thinking what it was going to be like when it
21:24
Speaker 3: comes here. And then we know how we do things
21:28
Speaker 3: around here. We've seen it with the Jazz on those
21:33
Speaker 3: championship runs and in the playoffs and the last time
21:35
Speaker 3: the playoffs were in the Delta Center in twenty twenty two, Like,
21:39
Speaker 3: it's it's a thing here. And then you add the
21:44
Speaker 3: NHL element to it and what we've seen and what
21:48
Speaker 3: that place has become. It's a rock show every night.
21:51
Speaker 3: It is absolutely berserk. Like for me, none of this
21:56
Speaker 3: has sunk in yet I don't know that it ever.
22:00
Speaker 2: Might not till we get actual playoff hockey.
22:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm gonna do something really unfair because we've got
22:05
Speaker 1: like ninety seconds. But the Utah Grizzlies have played their
22:09
Speaker 1: last game as a franchise, and obviously they laid a
22:12
Speaker 1: long and I think really important foundation for hockey in
22:16
Speaker 1: the state, playing out at the Maverick Center for a
22:19
Speaker 1: long time and whatever it was called before that. And
22:22
Speaker 1: you know, to bummer to see him go, and you've
22:25
Speaker 1: been closer to that franchise than any of us. So
22:28
Speaker 1: just real quick, your thoughts on the Grizzlies ending their run.
22:32
Speaker 3: It's where I started in hockey as an intern in
22:35
Speaker 3: O two and to be the play by play announcer
22:37
Speaker 3: for thirteen years, and in twenty eighteen when I got,
22:42
Speaker 3: you know, opportunity of a lifetime, which is why I'm
22:45
Speaker 3: back here. I cried my eyes out for weeks leaving
22:51
Speaker 3: knowing that I like that was it was such a
22:54
Speaker 3: part of who I was and who I became, and
22:58
Speaker 3: you know, it's it's an organized that it's special. It
23:02
Speaker 3: was West Valley City's team, it was the neighborhood team
23:07
Speaker 3: over there, and there were fans from throughout the valley
23:10
Speaker 3: that had cheered on that team for three plus decades,
23:13
Speaker 3: and people that had worked at the arena that you know,
23:17
Speaker 3: we're part of the fabric.
23:18
Speaker 2: And the identity.
23:19
Speaker 3: And it was a hockey team, and it was a
23:22
Speaker 3: first DAID activity, and it's where kids had birthday parties
23:25
Speaker 3: and they had postgame skates with the players, and it
23:29
Speaker 3: was it was, it was a great thing. And I,
23:33
Speaker 3: you know, when I left, I'd always followed the team
23:35
Speaker 3: and I just love cheering on the Grizzlies. And for
23:38
Speaker 3: my family here in Salt Lake now going to a
23:42
Speaker 3: Grizzlies game on a Sunday observe with my niece and
23:44
Speaker 3: nephew and my brother on Friday night to say goodbye,
23:47
Speaker 3: the last night that I could make it to a game,
23:51
Speaker 3: and it was for me. There wasn't tears, because all
23:55
Speaker 3: the tears were cried out in twenty eighteen when I left,
23:59
Speaker 3: But it was it was it was hard seeing how
24:04
Speaker 3: much the team meant to so many people, and I
24:07
Speaker 3: could see it in their eyes that that it was
24:09
Speaker 3: coming to an end. And and my message has been
24:13
Speaker 3: the three decades of memories from Grizzlies Hockey it's going
24:17
Speaker 3: to live with you forever, and it's going to bring
24:19
Speaker 3: you happiness forever. And the memories have been made and
24:27
Speaker 3: the last game has been played and the team went
24:29
Speaker 3: out on top. Unfortunately they couldn't make it seven straight wins.
24:33
Speaker 3: They lost in overtime after erasing a four to one deficit,
24:36
Speaker 3: uh yesterday, but great crowds and the organization over there
24:41
Speaker 3: went out on top. And I was really really impressed,
24:43
Speaker 3: which is the game presentation, the fans support, and the
24:47
Speaker 3: way that they were filling filling the Maverick Center over
24:50
Speaker 3: there until the the very ends.
24:52
Speaker 2: They went out on top.
24:53
Speaker 3: And you know, my, my, my hearts with everybody who's
24:58
Speaker 3: crushed today because it's over, because there's so many people
25:02
Speaker 3: that love that team, shared on that team, worked for
25:06
Speaker 3: that team, worked with that team, that have a void
25:09
Speaker 3: right now. But the good times and the memories, hopefully,
25:13
Speaker 3: I think if you think back at those, you can
25:15
Speaker 3: never can never have those go away.
25:18
Speaker 1: So Grizzlies, weirdly like, thank you for your service, Grizzlies,
25:22
Speaker 1: because it was awesome having that team be part of
25:24
Speaker 1: the community, and I get it. NHL showed up and
25:27
Speaker 1: all of us immediately turned our eyes to the mammoth
25:30
Speaker 1: and that's just gonna happen. But we won't forget you Grizzlies.
25:34
Speaker 1: Thank you for your time. It was awesome having you
25:36
Speaker 1: out there in West Valley City. Adrian always love checking
25:40
Speaker 1: in with you man. Thanks for being here. Thanks brother,
25:42
Speaker 1: I appreciate you.
25:43
Speaker 2: That's between the pipes brought to you by A.
25:45
Speaker 1: Laddin Industries, your Utah V Lux Steeler and the truck
25:48
Speaker 1: with the Duck Valley Plumbing, heating and cooling