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KRAKEN THIS MORNING: Time to hit the road - 6 games! (10/14) · Seattle Kraken Audio Network

0:02
Speaker 1: Welcome to Cracking this morning, a presentation of the krackin
0:06
Speaker 1: audio network Ken Sports Radio ninety three point three KJR FM.
0:11
Speaker 1: Here's Mike Benton.
0:12
Speaker 2: All right, time to get you geared up for tonight
0:14
Speaker 2: the six game road trip opens up for the Kracking
0:17
Speaker 2: in Montreal, and you can't picture more challenging settings than
0:21
Speaker 2: this Bell Center for the home opener of the Montreal Canadians.
0:26
Speaker 2: Cracking this morning comes your way on a Tuesday, October fourteenth,
0:30
Speaker 2: Mike Benton with you first of two meetings coming up
0:33
Speaker 2: with Montreal. We have coverage opening up three point thirty
0:36
Speaker 2: later on today from thirty two Bar and Grill take note.
0:39
Speaker 3: Hope you can join us out there by the way evera.
0:42
Speaker 2: Fits you, al Kiniski at Bell Center in Montreal, and
0:45
Speaker 2: we'll be here for you all across the global Credit
0:48
Speaker 2: Union Cracking Audio Network. Jeff Baker, VP of Editorial for
0:52
Speaker 2: the Seattle Cracking again his handywork at NHL dot com
0:56
Speaker 2: slash Cracking. We'll join us here in just a bit.
0:59
Speaker 2: We'll right down more of this two to one ohs
1:01
Speaker 2: start get into defensive philosophies under Lane Lambert and the
1:06
Speaker 2: challenge facing the crack in this evening, not just in
1:09
Speaker 2: the form of Bell Center and its crowd, but also
1:12
Speaker 2: Lane Hudson and crew, who are developing into a pretty
1:15
Speaker 2: formidable young squad right now. Jeff Baker joins us here
1:19
Speaker 2: in just a bit too talk more on the progress
1:21
Speaker 2: of the Kraken heading into their first game of six
1:24
Speaker 2: consecutive on the road. Well before that conversation, we'll get
1:27
Speaker 2: you caught right back up from Saturday, with the Kraken
1:31
Speaker 2: taken on the Vegas Golden Knights already off to their
1:34
Speaker 2: first home opening win and season opening win in franchise
1:37
Speaker 2: history and aiming for a two to one oh start.
1:41
Speaker 2: They knew they were going to be in a battle,
1:44
Speaker 2: and the highlights tell this story.
1:46
Speaker 4: Here's Dorf the uptop barner back to door. If we
1:49
Speaker 4: have right circle barter across Michaels dot left.
1:53
Speaker 3: Circle had Matt bluff down and held.
1:55
Speaker 4: By Toby Dacre fifty three seconds to go, old a
1:58
Speaker 4: crack at penalty kill as many mineers left side down
2:02
Speaker 4: the wall into the corner. Everly he'll punch it back
2:06
Speaker 4: up top bits done and crock bars alone.
2:09
Speaker 3: The pact.
2:16
Speaker 5: Bits done front the line sends it down the left
2:20
Speaker 5: side wall to every who found Veneers in front, toe
2:24
Speaker 5: drags ain't in hill and a Seattle cracket take a
2:27
Speaker 5: one nothing lead a power play goal twelve oh two
2:31
Speaker 5: left and Perry at number two.
2:33
Speaker 6: Well, Seattle catches Vegas is eating a little bit too
2:35
Speaker 6: much towards the neutral zone. Has done. Does put that
2:38
Speaker 6: puck down deep. Beverly's the man.
2:40
Speaker 3: In the corner. He knows Veneer's up front.
2:42
Speaker 6: He wants to put it onto his forehead, which he does,
2:45
Speaker 6: but by the time Eaton Hill comes out, Vaneer steps
2:48
Speaker 6: around into.
2:48
Speaker 7: The back end. It's one nothing cracking.
2:51
Speaker 4: Mars side hutting knocked down Marner again that shot. It's
2:55
Speaker 4: a body that was Montour on the way through. Ben
2:57
Speaker 4: Hutton again. He'll send it down the wall. Marner over
3:01
Speaker 4: the hurdle back to Marner is they'll send it down
3:04
Speaker 4: the boards. Vegas setting it up is Babo door fIF
3:08
Speaker 4: the left wing side door fIF back hands it up
3:10
Speaker 4: top to.
3:11
Speaker 8: White Cloud shot locked all the way through again.
3:13
Speaker 4: In Seattle will airmail this one down the ice chandler.
3:16
Speaker 8: Steven said up to Monteur, who bull rushes zack white
3:21
Speaker 8: Cloud and now Monteur getting into it on the far side.
3:25
Speaker 8: Glass a big punch to the side of the head
3:28
Speaker 8: of Ben Hutting. Monteur's club went flying into the stands.
3:33
Speaker 8: And now Monteur takes down Hutting right in front of
3:36
Speaker 8: the Seattle Cracking.
3:38
Speaker 4: Bench not even ears watched by tomash hurdle six seconds left,
3:42
Speaker 4: pneers left circle shut.
3:44
Speaker 5: On huave out stod.
3:53
Speaker 9: Yes, Hey McCain and over time shareen. When's it for
4:02
Speaker 9: Seattle their first two and oh start in team history?
4:07
Speaker 3: Too on over Vegas.
4:10
Speaker 6: Well, it was fetched one picking up the puck inside
4:12
Speaker 6: the blue line. He knew the time on the clock.
4:15
Speaker 6: He is about seven seconds.
4:16
Speaker 7: He got a shot off.
4:17
Speaker 6: Mcknn was in front. He finds the rebound, he buries
4:21
Speaker 6: it to to one overtime win.
4:23
Speaker 3: Bring on the final gags.
4:25
Speaker 2: All right to Montreal we go, And of course he's
4:28
Speaker 2: on this trip. He once grew up there and is
4:30
Speaker 2: now living life large as VP of Editorial for the
4:34
Speaker 2: Seattle Crack and Jeff Baker joins us as handy works
4:37
Speaker 2: scene of course at NHL dot com Slash Cracking.
4:40
Speaker 3: Hey, Jeff, thanks for doing this.
4:43
Speaker 2: Two and oh starts so far for this team for
4:45
Speaker 2: the first time in franchise history. And I pose this
4:47
Speaker 2: question with Everett All on Cracking Weekly earlier. Where are
4:52
Speaker 2: we looking at right now with this start? Is this
4:55
Speaker 2: at it's meant the bar is at it's a start
4:59
Speaker 2: beyond our wildest dreams?
5:01
Speaker 3: Or is this show me more?
5:06
Speaker 10: That's a good question. I don't know whether any two
5:09
Speaker 10: games stretch in professional sports can be judged to be
5:13
Speaker 10: exceeding your wildest expectations.
5:15
Speaker 7: Because any team.
5:16
Speaker 10: It is capable of beating any other team in pro sports,
5:19
Speaker 10: and you can do it on consecutive nights that you
5:21
Speaker 10: usually look for longer term stuff than that when trying
5:25
Speaker 10: to gauge I would say it's a very important start,
5:28
Speaker 10: just because of the difficulties, the level of difficulty. They're
5:31
Speaker 10: going to see the Crakenwell on this road trip, you know,
5:35
Speaker 10: a six city road trip, not much rest in between,
5:38
Speaker 10: and really they have eight out of their first ten
5:40
Speaker 10: games there against playoff teams from last spring, and so
5:45
Speaker 10: you know, you.
5:46
Speaker 7: Do the math. Have they gone on in two at home?
5:49
Speaker 10: All of a sudden you're staring down a serious gauntlet
5:52
Speaker 10: that that can actually start threatening your season before it
5:55
Speaker 10: even gets started.
5:56
Speaker 7: And so I think, what.
5:57
Speaker 10: Those two games did? You know? I was very happy
6:01
Speaker 10: to see that happen. You know, you know, I think
6:03
Speaker 10: it's the best possible outcome clearly because they won both
6:06
Speaker 10: games and they got four points out of four. But
6:09
Speaker 10: I think it mitigates potential problems down the line. So
6:12
Speaker 10: now you know, even if they do play, you know,
6:15
Speaker 10: only five hundred on this six game trip, all of
6:17
Speaker 10: a sudden you come back and you're five and three, right,
6:19
Speaker 10: So you built in quite a good margin for error
6:23
Speaker 10: by virtue of those two games, and now you know
6:26
Speaker 10: now to keep moving forward, you use that to your advantage.
6:31
Speaker 10: You maybe don't play as tight to start, you may be,
6:34
Speaker 10: you know, you know, focus more on just getting the
6:36
Speaker 10: job done. And you know, clearly if they go out
6:39
Speaker 10: and lose three or four in a row from here,
6:41
Speaker 10: then then you know, the start kind of gets their
6:43
Speaker 10: raise very quickly. But I think it's really good in
6:46
Speaker 10: terms of the amount of leeway that it's bought. It's
6:49
Speaker 10: bought this team during what's going to be a very
6:51
Speaker 10: difficult stretch to start the year.
6:53
Speaker 2: And I'll add to your point, it's a proven core value.
6:56
Speaker 2: You win and take care of business at home, and
6:58
Speaker 2: you find a way to stay flow and say finish
7:01
Speaker 2: around five hundred on the road. So yeah, certainly you
7:04
Speaker 2: get back to this around roughly two games over five
7:08
Speaker 2: hundred at the end of eight games here into the season,
7:11
Speaker 2: you're doing yourselves a pretty good favor. Something else that
7:15
Speaker 2: we did talk about earlier, Everett Allen myself and I'll
7:18
Speaker 2: just kind of run this by you here is we've
7:20
Speaker 2: heard over and over and over about what Lane Lambert
7:23
Speaker 2: Hockey was going to be all about. Home opener, it
7:26
Speaker 2: took a while for this team to get going the
7:28
Speaker 2: first period. You can certainly thank Joey to Cord for that.
7:31
Speaker 2: But then against Vegas, I mean, I kind of maybe
7:35
Speaker 2: one time, perhaps the Kraken were hemmed dangerously in their
7:42
Speaker 2: own zone. And I think to me, as compared to
7:45
Speaker 2: past seasons, we're already seeing advanced steps grow as far
7:51
Speaker 2: as what this team is going to be all about.
7:53
Speaker 2: Yet there is still a long road ahead. However, what
7:57
Speaker 2: do we know so far about Lane Lambert Hockey that
7:59
Speaker 2: has been put in the place.
8:02
Speaker 10: I think clearly there's been a premium placed on defense,
8:07
Speaker 10: and that's evident in the fact they've given up only
8:09
Speaker 10: one goal in each of their first two games. Now,
8:12
Speaker 10: Joey Decord had a lot to do with that. But
8:15
Speaker 10: you know, it goes in tandem too. If you're playing
8:17
Speaker 10: well defensively, a structurally sound defensive games, the core doesn't
8:21
Speaker 10: have to make all kinds of miracles shaves. He'll make
8:23
Speaker 10: the saves that he has to make sure and you know,
8:26
Speaker 10: maybe a couple above average, sure, but you can't have
8:29
Speaker 10: him expected to make ten above average saves every period
8:33
Speaker 10: and survive to tell you to live another day. I mean,
8:36
Speaker 10: that's not going to happen, So it goes in tandem.
8:38
Speaker 10: I think they've done a good job of limiting the
8:41
Speaker 10: opportunities against Joey Decord, and when Joey Decord has needed
8:45
Speaker 10: to make a big stops, he's been there. So that's
8:47
Speaker 10: important because cutting down on goals against was going to
8:50
Speaker 10: be just as important for this team at scoring more goals.
8:54
Speaker 10: In fact, I would argue they had much more leeway
8:58
Speaker 10: for cutting down on goals and much more room to
9:00
Speaker 10: cut down on goals than they did to actually score goals,
9:03
Speaker 10: because they scored a lot more goals last year. And
9:05
Speaker 10: so yeah, you know, you know, is there is there
9:07
Speaker 10: that much extra room to get in the goal scoring?
9:11
Speaker 10: Maybe not, But then if you cut down on your
9:13
Speaker 10: goals significantly. Then all of a sudden, your goal differential
9:15
Speaker 10: gets the race anyway, and that's how you win games.
9:18
Speaker 7: You get that goal.
9:19
Speaker 10: Differential to zero or on the positive side of the
9:21
Speaker 10: ledger instead of minus eighteen minus nineteen like it's been
9:24
Speaker 10: in the last two years, and all of a sudden,
9:26
Speaker 10: you start winning more games. And I think that's that's
9:28
Speaker 10: been huge. I thought the Anaheim games for me, was
9:31
Speaker 10: very telling because the Ducks came out and you could
9:34
Speaker 10: tell under their new coach Joel Quenville, they were playing
9:37
Speaker 10: a very structured, very system oriented game. I mean, they
9:42
Speaker 10: did not give.
9:42
Speaker 7: A crack in a lot of room to operate in
9:44
Speaker 7: three wheel.
9:44
Speaker 10: They did a good job of shutting them down for
9:47
Speaker 10: the first half of the game, and it's because they
9:48
Speaker 10: were playing under more structure, more discipline, and that's you
9:51
Speaker 10: know what with Cuenville's teams do. But but the Cracking
9:54
Speaker 10: were able to match that, and I was very impressed.
9:56
Speaker 10: You know, when they came away with the three to
9:58
Speaker 10: one win, I mean I thought that was a well deserve,
10:00
Speaker 10: well earned victory because that team that they'd played, they
10:03
Speaker 10: look like a playoff team the first half of that game,
10:05
Speaker 10: and you know, when the Cracking came away with a
10:07
Speaker 10: win after being outplayed for a good part of the
10:10
Speaker 10: first half, I was saying, Wow, this could be interesting
10:13
Speaker 10: to watch from here.
10:14
Speaker 7: And then they go out and they beat Vegas.
10:16
Speaker 10: Vegas looked a little tired the other night. I know
10:19
Speaker 10: it's early in the season, but they they've had some
10:20
Speaker 10: tough games to play right off the bat here and
10:23
Speaker 10: they're still getting used to each other, Mitch Marner and
10:25
Speaker 10: his new team. But I think the Kracking did a
10:28
Speaker 10: good job of shutting them down. And like you said,
10:30
Speaker 10: you win the games at home and then you try
10:33
Speaker 10: to stay afloat on the road. In the past, so
10:34
Speaker 10: we haven't won the games at home. One more games
10:37
Speaker 10: on the road at times than at home. So that's
10:40
Speaker 10: that's equally big to the Cracking to get two home
10:42
Speaker 10: victories to start things off.
10:44
Speaker 2: Jeff, what do we know about Matty Beniher's heading into
10:46
Speaker 2: the six game trip.
10:49
Speaker 10: Well, I think he looks very comfortable playing out there
10:52
Speaker 10: with Jared McCann and Jordan Everley. I think that's you know,
10:57
Speaker 10: it's it's kind of nice to see you see those
11:00
Speaker 10: guys back together again and and and and operating together.
11:04
Speaker 10: You know, when when they've had the chance to do that,
11:06
Speaker 10: as we know they have success in years past. I mean,
11:08
Speaker 10: McCanns looks very good.
11:10
Speaker 7: Uh.
11:10
Speaker 10: I think Veniers looks a lot more confident in the
11:13
Speaker 10: early going than he has at the start of any
11:15
Speaker 10: season I've seen him play up till now, and that
11:19
Speaker 10: even includes his uh yeah, you know, his Rookie of
11:22
Speaker 10: the Year campaign when he had the easy whatever was
11:24
Speaker 10: eight or nine games to start the previous spring. I
11:26
Speaker 10: mean he came in looking fairly confident because he'd already
11:29
Speaker 10: tasted d NHL, but he wasn't as confident as right now.
11:32
Speaker 10: I mean, now he's been through the hard knocks. He's
11:34
Speaker 10: been through, you.
11:35
Speaker 7: Know, the setbacks.
11:36
Speaker 10: He's he's seen what works what doesn't, and when he
11:40
Speaker 10: gets the pluck, he holds onto it confidently. He looks
11:42
Speaker 10: like a leader out there. He creates space for other
11:44
Speaker 10: people by holding the pluck. He allows other people to
11:47
Speaker 10: get free and to get into dangerous scoring positions. I
11:52
Speaker 10: think right now he's starting to look like like a
11:55
Speaker 10: maturing center in the NHL, A guy that's been through,
11:58
Speaker 10: like I said, been through the Ringer, through the Knox
12:00
Speaker 10: a few times, and he's still only twenty two years old,
12:03
Speaker 10: so that's very positive. I like what I've seen at
12:05
Speaker 10: him so far, and I think he's made the players
12:07
Speaker 10: around him better.
12:08
Speaker 2: Jeff Baker joining us here on Cracking this morning ahead
12:10
Speaker 2: of the six game trip opener tonight at Montreal. Another
12:14
Speaker 2: guy in line who is projected to play a major
12:18
Speaker 2: role on this team, like Maddy Benier's. He's up here.
12:22
Speaker 2: He's nineteen, but he is still fresh out of the
12:24
Speaker 2: WAHL in. Berkeley Catton has yet to play a game
12:28
Speaker 2: also for his NHL career, and I mentioned this earlier
12:31
Speaker 2: Jeff to others where if you have a situation and
12:35
Speaker 2: you're winning games, conventional wisdom says it's awfully tough to
12:40
Speaker 2: change your lineup. And we heard from Lanne Lambert that
12:43
Speaker 2: Berkeley Catton has got await his turn. Where do you
12:46
Speaker 2: see the situation heading right now with where he plays
12:51
Speaker 2: and when he finally gets in his first game.
12:55
Speaker 10: Well, I'm not that worried about when he plays his
12:58
Speaker 10: first game. I mean, if you look back to what
13:00
Speaker 10: happened with right, I can't shine right. I can't remember
13:02
Speaker 10: exactly when he got into his first team, but I
13:05
Speaker 10: do know more importantly that he played something like eight
13:08
Speaker 10: games up until the month of December, and maybe then
13:11
Speaker 10: one extra one. Maybe there's seven games through the up
13:14
Speaker 10: till the month of December, and then another game before
13:17
Speaker 10: they ended up sending him back to juniors.
13:18
Speaker 7: And that's really all they've got, right, They've got.
13:21
Speaker 10: That they you know, they can stick him in that
13:24
Speaker 10: many games and then they have to make a call.
13:26
Speaker 10: And so you got to stretch those out over a
13:28
Speaker 10: period of a few months if you want to keep
13:31
Speaker 10: him up at the NHL level, and you think that
13:32
Speaker 10: he's better off learning here even in practice, so he's
13:35
Speaker 10: probably not going to get a whole lot of games
13:37
Speaker 10: one after the other. I did not think you would
13:40
Speaker 10: see him in the season opener, And you really don't want.
13:42
Speaker 7: To play him against Vegas, Yeah, because that's.
13:45
Speaker 10: The kind of game that can get really shut down
13:47
Speaker 10: a young guy's confidence. I mean, you don't want to
13:49
Speaker 10: put him up against these Stanley Cup contending teams. And
13:51
Speaker 10: unfortunately for the Crack and you know, here to start
13:54
Speaker 10: the year, you've got nothing but a bunch of any
13:57
Speaker 10: Cup you know, playoff teams, potential playoff teams that they're
14:01
Speaker 10: facing for the first month of the season. So I mean,
14:04
Speaker 10: looking at the just the immediate schedule. I mean, they've
14:06
Speaker 10: got a game against Philadelphia coming up that can be
14:09
Speaker 10: a tough place to play as well, uh for a
14:12
Speaker 10: young guy. But I mean, you know, as far as
14:14
Speaker 10: playoff pedigree and stuff goes, that's probably the on paper,
14:17
Speaker 10: the least formidable of what they're actually facing here in
14:20
Speaker 10: the opening months. So I mean that would be one
14:22
Speaker 10: spot to put him in, you know, at the start
14:24
Speaker 10: of a back to back set where they go to Washington,
14:27
Speaker 10: d C.
14:27
Speaker 7: The next day. So so I mean.
14:30
Speaker 10: That that that looks like a potential opening right there.
14:33
Speaker 7: And you know, do I.
14:35
Speaker 10: Do I see him playing against the Toronto Maple Leafs
14:37
Speaker 10: on a Saturday night.
14:38
Speaker 7: No, but I'm not going.
14:40
Speaker 10: And so yeah, I think that's Uh. I think you've
14:43
Speaker 10: got to limit the pressure in where he comes in,
14:46
Speaker 10: and you've got to really take your spots, because, like
14:48
Speaker 10: I said, you can't play him four games now and
14:51
Speaker 10: burn half the stuff and then you have to send
14:52
Speaker 10: them back and we could two from now to junior,
14:55
Speaker 10: right like, So they really have to stretch these out
14:57
Speaker 10: and and see also they have to see what he's
14:59
Speaker 10: doing in practice. That was a big part of Shane
15:01
Speaker 10: Wright's thing. This didn't get recorded on a lot. I
15:04
Speaker 10: mean they were monitoring, right, Shane right closely in practice,
15:07
Speaker 10: seeing what his progress is like. And then they were saying, Okay,
15:10
Speaker 10: now we're ready to cherry pick another one of these
15:12
Speaker 10: games to put him in, and knowing that we only
15:15
Speaker 10: have a finite number of games to play them before
15:18
Speaker 10: they would have to make the call to send them
15:19
Speaker 10: back to junior. And so yeah, you know, I think
15:22
Speaker 10: practice is going to help determine some of this as well.
15:26
Speaker 2: Montreal waits tonight in their home opener at Bell Center,
15:31
Speaker 2: so you can bet the energy is going to be
15:34
Speaker 2: off the charts.
15:35
Speaker 3: Before I get to.
15:36
Speaker 2: That, the crack and a facing a HABS team that
15:39
Speaker 2: made the playoffs this last season into the wildcard spot.
15:42
Speaker 2: Lane Hudson just signed an eight year, seventy million dollar extension.
15:47
Speaker 2: My goodness, he is on a rocket ship right now
15:50
Speaker 2: to begin his NHL career. So where's the bar at
15:53
Speaker 2: you think, Jeff with this team with Lane Hudson, get
15:56
Speaker 2: in the bag and where you gauge how they met
16:00
Speaker 2: as are right now in the Eastern Conference?
16:02
Speaker 10: Well, I mean on paper they look like a playoff team, right,
16:05
Speaker 10: I mean they made the playoffs last year. They gave
16:07
Speaker 10: Washington some trouble in the opening round before they got
16:10
Speaker 10: overwhelmed by Washington talent. But I mean they've got a
16:13
Speaker 10: lot of good young players. They've got a good young
16:16
Speaker 10: offensive core on the team, n defensive corps as well.
16:19
Speaker 7: I mean you mentioned Hudson's.
16:21
Speaker 10: They've made some They've made some acquisitions to bring in
16:24
Speaker 10: some more veteran presence on this team because you know,
16:28
Speaker 10: I think they used showed a little bit in the
16:30
Speaker 10: playoffs last year. But I mean the big thing with
16:32
Speaker 10: the Canadians is that there are expectations for them now.
16:37
Speaker 10: You know, it's one thing to go through is everybody's
16:39
Speaker 10: favorite rebuilding project and then say, oh, you know, they've
16:42
Speaker 10: got three to five years to be serious, this, that
16:44
Speaker 10: and the other. But when the expectations come, Nobody expected
16:47
Speaker 10: them to.
16:48
Speaker 7: Make the playoffs last year, so.
16:49
Speaker 10: They were playing with house money. Now they're not. Now
16:51
Speaker 10: people expect them to win, and it's a lot tougher
16:53
Speaker 10: when teams see.
16:54
Speaker 7: You coming to go out and win.
16:56
Speaker 10: I think they've won two out of their first three,
16:58
Speaker 10: which is which is a good.
17:00
Speaker 7: Start for them, and they lost.
17:02
Speaker 10: Their only loss was against the Toronto Maple Leafs. So
17:06
Speaker 10: which is a Stanley Cup contending team. So I mean,
17:10
Speaker 10: I think, you know, there are expectations on them for sure,
17:14
Speaker 10: and I think this should be a playoff team. But again,
17:17
Speaker 10: they there's that intangible of whether they can actually do
17:19
Speaker 10: it when the expectations.
17:21
Speaker 7: Are there, and we're gonna find out. We're gonna find
17:23
Speaker 7: out a lot.
17:23
Speaker 10: In their home opener. I mean, you remember a year
17:26
Speaker 10: ago the Cracking came in there and they completely, we
17:28
Speaker 10: completely blitzed the Canadians. I think it was eight to
17:32
Speaker 10: two the final score or something like that, and so
17:35
Speaker 10: you know, I don't think we're going to see that
17:36
Speaker 10: happens in this home opener. I think it's going to
17:40
Speaker 10: be a very emotional pregame ceremonial here. They're doing a
17:45
Speaker 10: whole lot for Ken Dryden and passed away last month,
17:48
Speaker 10: and so I mean, that's that's going to be a tough,
17:51
Speaker 10: tough amount in the clients for the Cracking. We're gonna
17:53
Speaker 10: find out a lot about the Cracking in this game
17:55
Speaker 10: as well. But I think they're going to be up
17:57
Speaker 10: against the stronger Canadians team.
17:59
Speaker 2: That atmosphere is going to be an absolute collision when
18:03
Speaker 2: you consider how much of a challenge that it can be.
18:06
Speaker 3: Jeff, you grew up there, by the way, and.
18:08
Speaker 2: With Ken Dryden sadly passing on, it brings me back
18:11
Speaker 2: to I think one of my favorite hockey reads, and folks, again,
18:14
Speaker 2: if you haven't picked this thing up, find out on
18:16
Speaker 2: Amazon anywhere else. It's called The Game by Ken Dryden. Jeff,
18:20
Speaker 2: you and I working in hockey so much, there's a
18:22
Speaker 2: lot that we pick out of that book and think, Okay,
18:24
Speaker 2: we've seen this before, we've seen this before. But for
18:28
Speaker 2: those who aren't exposed to a lot of the behind
18:31
Speaker 2: the scenes, day to day regime in hockey, it really
18:35
Speaker 2: does a great job appealing back the curtain on what
18:38
Speaker 2: life is like as a player in the room, on
18:42
Speaker 2: the airplane traveling, and how you grow camaraderie and amidst
18:46
Speaker 2: one of the greatest dynasties as well in any shell
18:48
Speaker 2: history you growing up back there? What did Ken Dryden
18:52
Speaker 2: mean to you?
18:54
Speaker 10: Well? Man? Everything was the first goalie I ever followed
18:57
Speaker 10: on a professional team. I started watching him play at
19:00
Speaker 10: the Canadians and as it probably seventy five to seventy
19:02
Speaker 10: six seasons, was when I first started watching hockey on
19:06
Speaker 10: a regular basis. I mean, and I got to see
19:10
Speaker 10: him at the tail end of his career, and the
19:11
Speaker 10: one thing I remember is how frustrated some fans were
19:14
Speaker 10: getting with Ken Dryden at the tail end of his career.
19:16
Speaker 7: I mean, people forget.
19:17
Speaker 10: When the Canadians won their fourth straight Stanley Cup in
19:20
Speaker 10: nineteen seventy nine, he wasn't supposed to start Game two
19:24
Speaker 10: of the finals against the Rangers. They had lost. The
19:26
Speaker 10: Canadians had lost Game one, I think by a four
19:28
Speaker 10: to one score in Montreal. It was a big upset,
19:31
Speaker 10: and then they pulled Dryden and they were gonna start
19:34
Speaker 10: Bunny La Rock for Game two, and Lo Rock got
19:36
Speaker 10: hurt in the warm up and he couldn't start the game.
19:40
Speaker 10: So Dryden comes in, gives up like two goals in
19:42
Speaker 10: the first three shots. Fans of booing him, but by
19:44
Speaker 10: the end of the game, the Canadians, by the end
19:46
Speaker 10: of the first period, actually the Canadians had figured things
19:48
Speaker 10: out and we're winning the game again.
19:49
Speaker 7: They didn't lose the rest of the series.
19:51
Speaker 10: One another Cup and then Dryden retired. But that's kind
19:54
Speaker 10: of how he went out. And so it's funny people
19:56
Speaker 10: don't always appreciate greatness when they're seeing it in the
19:58
Speaker 10: moment in real time, but then you know, when you
20:01
Speaker 10: go back over time, you kind of you kind of
20:04
Speaker 10: look and.
20:04
Speaker 7: You realize, wow, I got to experience that.
20:06
Speaker 10: So my life watching hockey was always winning Stanley Cupps.
20:10
Speaker 10: As a fan, you know, I never knew what it
20:12
Speaker 10: was like to struggle and suffer.
20:14
Speaker 7: In the wilderness.
20:14
Speaker 10: And then the minute the team finally lost, it was
20:18
Speaker 10: it was devastating as a young fan to see that,
20:20
Speaker 10: and then you kind of get acclimated to it over
20:23
Speaker 10: the years. But I mean when I was watching that
20:24
Speaker 10: team back in the day, I mean they lost two
20:26
Speaker 10: or three games in a row, there was a coach's
20:28
Speaker 10: head that was going to roll down the streets and
20:30
Speaker 10: so and so the and I'm not kidding with you.
20:33
Speaker 7: I mean they fired Alan mcneilis.
20:35
Speaker 10: Coach after he won the Stanley Cup in nineteen seventy one.
20:38
Speaker 10: They forced them to resign. And so, I mean there's
20:42
Speaker 10: a lot of demands.
20:43
Speaker 7: Here on coaches.
20:44
Speaker 10: And when I try to apply that sometimes to my
20:48
Speaker 10: sports writing over the years in different markets, it was
20:51
Speaker 10: very different because I grew up in a market where
20:53
Speaker 10: there was completely.
20:55
Speaker 7: No tolerance for second best.
20:57
Speaker 10: I mean, and how did those coaches manage not to
20:59
Speaker 10: get fired by living tours.
21:02
Speaker 7: You know, that was the problem in Montreal.
21:04
Speaker 10: They just couldn't do it, so they didn't. They lost
21:07
Speaker 10: I think eight games one year, they lost ten games
21:09
Speaker 10: and next and eleven games the next. In the seventies,
21:11
Speaker 10: I mean, that's that's that's how they did it, and
21:13
Speaker 10: that became the standards. So reading Dryden's book, it's interesting
21:17
Speaker 10: as he talked about it. I read it forty years
21:19
Speaker 10: ago for the first time, but I mean, what suck
21:22
Speaker 10: with me was just how insecure he seemed about the
21:25
Speaker 10: whole dynasty thing. And even though everybody looks back, oh,
21:28
Speaker 10: they ruled the roosts, they were dynasty. For those guys,
21:31
Speaker 10: it wasn't.
21:31
Speaker 7: It was real time.
21:32
Speaker 10: They had to win every single year and keep winning.
21:35
Speaker 10: And they never felt confident in their in their status
21:37
Speaker 10: and their stature, and Dryden certainly didn't. That came across
21:40
Speaker 10: and his writing. He never felt totally secure as a
21:43
Speaker 10: goalie in the net because he realized how quickly he
21:46
Speaker 10: don't think, can come and go.
21:48
Speaker 7: It was a very interesting perspective that he offered.
21:51
Speaker 2: Sometimes you don't appreciate it really until it's all in
21:54
Speaker 2: the rear View mayor and that was the havel dynasties
21:56
Speaker 2: of the late seventies. Ken Dryden, a part of that
21:59
Speaker 2: Hockey Hall of Fame, elected him in nineteen eighty three
22:02
Speaker 2: and sadly passing on last month at the age of
22:05
Speaker 2: seventy eight. Jeff, appreciate this, enjoy the environment. Looking to
22:09
Speaker 2: see if the crack and can make this three and
22:11
Speaker 2: oh but we'll get you back on some time. But hey,
22:13
Speaker 2: enjoy some Schwartz is Delhi out there on my behalf
22:16
Speaker 2: as well too.
22:16
Speaker 7: Thank you again, Thanks Thanke care Mike.
22:18
Speaker 3: All right, Jeff appreciate you.
22:19
Speaker 2: Thank you very much again, Jeff Baker joining us as
22:22
Speaker 2: work seen on NHL dot com slash cracking and yep,
22:25
Speaker 2: you can call me jealous. Schwartz is Delhi by the
22:29
Speaker 2: way out there. It is magnificent. If you ever get
22:32
Speaker 2: a chance to get out to Montreal, explore the city,
22:34
Speaker 2: it is one of a kind. And the krack and
22:36
Speaker 2: opening up their trip there to begin six games on
22:39
Speaker 2: the road for the Canadians. We'll be opening up boor
22:42
Speaker 2: straight on home ice. They come off a three to
22:45
Speaker 2: two victory over the Chicago Blackhawks and out to a
22:48
Speaker 2: two and one star underhead coach Marty san Luis. In
22:51
Speaker 2: that win over Chicago, Cole cough Field and Zach Bolduke
22:55
Speaker 2: score before Cayden Gooley broke a two to two tie
22:58
Speaker 2: with a dramatic game winning goal in the final minute
23:02
Speaker 2: of regulation to knock off Chicago at United Center Montreal
23:06
Speaker 2: last season, as we mentioned, got into the final wildcard
23:09
Speaker 2: spot with a record of forty thirty one and eleven
23:11
Speaker 2: and ninety one points. That broke a three year playoff
23:14
Speaker 2: drought and perhaps coming of age right now, not just
23:17
Speaker 2: with Hudson but also players like Nick Suzuki, Col koff
23:20
Speaker 2: Field and you're Isslavkovski as a part of their core.
23:23
Speaker 2: The Krakens swept last year's regular season series and they
23:27
Speaker 2: have won three of the last five meetings. Looking for
23:30
Speaker 2: more success at Bell Center, I hope you can be
23:32
Speaker 2: with us again. We'll be live at thirty two Bar
23:35
Speaker 2: and Grill for pregame, intermission and post game coverage opening
23:38
Speaker 2: up at three point thirty Ever fits you Al Koniski
23:40
Speaker 2: on the call from Bell Center little past four pm Pacific,
23:44
Speaker 2: and again we hope that you can join us. All
23:46
Speaker 2: lacrosse ninety three to three KJARFM and the Global Credit
23:50
Speaker 2: Union Craken Audio Network. Big thank you to Jeff Baker
23:53
Speaker 2: for joining us. Have a good one for Kracken this morning.
23:56
Speaker 2: I'm Mike Benton. Enjoyed the game.
23:58
Speaker 1: You're home for the Kraken Sports Radio ninety three point
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