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2026 Opening Week Reactions & Takeaways w/ OHL Commissioner Bryan Crawford - The OHL in 60 Podcast · The Armchair GM's Sports Network

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You're listening to the Armchair GM Sports Network.. Thank you.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Opening week has come and gone in the Ontario Hockey
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: League for the 2026-27 season. And we're here to talk
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: all about it. Brandon Caputo and Colin Ward with you
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: on another episode of the OHL in 60 podcast right
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: here on the Armchair GM Sports Network. Thank you everybody
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: tuned in live tonight on the video version on YouTube.
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  Speaker 1: 60 podcast or an Instagram at the O in 60 podcast,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: as well as on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok for our
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: short reels and content. We're going to welcome on Commissioner
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  Speaker 1: Brian Crawford in segment two today. We're really excited to
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: talk to him about a variety of topics around the
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Ontario Hockey League. Really appreciate him being able to join
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  Speaker 1: us a little bit later, but we're going to get
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  Speaker 1: into a lot of different topics from this week with
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: it being the first week of the Ontario Hockey League season.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to discuss top performers, what Colin wants to
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  Speaker 1: see going forward, potentially with a different length of the season,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: potentially maybe starting the regular season a little bit later
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  Speaker 1: as well. We're going to talk some officiating. We're going
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  Speaker 1: to talk everything on today's show with Brian Crawford and
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  Speaker 1: really looking forward to chatting with him. But with that said, Colin,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: you know, week two of the NFL is coming gone
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  Speaker 1: as well. I know you're pretty fired up. What's going
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  Speaker 1: on about that? But a lot, a lot, a lot,
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  Speaker 1: a lot. Yeah. We're not going to talk about my team.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: We're on our, like our fourth string quarterback, but yeah,
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  Speaker 1: The lefty's back. Yeah, well, we'll see how long Pennix lasts.
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  Speaker 1: But regardless of that, Colin, it's just initial takeaways from
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: what we saw in the first week. Again, I know
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  Speaker 1: there were some of those top teams. It happens every year.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: You know how many times it's happened to the London
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Knights where the first week they're missing half their lineup.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: It was the Guelph Storm this week with, I believe,
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  Speaker 1: was 13 or 14 players that were still away at
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  Speaker 1: NHL-related camps. So, again, a little bit watered down of
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: a first week, and that's something that we kind of
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  Speaker 1: want to discuss a little bit later. maybe we'd ask
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  Speaker 1: the commissioner about it as well. But, uh, what did
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  Speaker 1: you think of the opening week? And it's always fun
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  Speaker 1: to have, you know, OHL regular season hockey back and,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: you know, Friday night face off and all the great
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  Speaker 1: things the OHL is doing with the league.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, absolutely. Friday night face off is it's honestly,
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  Speaker 2: it's a treat for the fans, right? You're able to
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: access to access your team on a given night easier. Um,
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  Speaker 2: it's just, it's just so much better for the fans.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: It's better access. It's easy to access for the fans.
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  Speaker 2: And that's what it's all about growing, growing the brand
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: of the OHL. Um, What a first week. A lot
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: of goals. A lot of goals. A lot of shutouts.
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  Speaker 2: You know, it's interesting. Week one is always unique. You
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: mentioned the NFL, and it's so funny how NFL week
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: one tends to not be a great week of football, right?
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: And that's kind of like the OHL. It feels like
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: it's an extra week of preseason with the amount of
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  Speaker 2: rosters that are not put together as of yet. Guys
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  Speaker 2: in NHL camps. it just, it feels like there's so
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  Speaker 2: much time yet. Um, and it feels like it's the
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  Speaker 2: last week of preseason this week with the way the
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  Speaker 2: lineups were for some teams. Uh, it's, it was a
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: good week though. It was a good week. A lot
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  Speaker 2: of goals, a lot of, a lot of new faces,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of guys in their draft year have stepped up. Uh,
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  Speaker 2: you look at Sue night one, right? Like the stories
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  Speaker 2: there in Sault Ste. Marie, that was quite the game. Uh,
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  Speaker 2: there's going to be problems closing out games early on
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  Speaker 2: in the year. That's a big thing to watch too.
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  Speaker 2: As we're in the first month of the season, you're
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  Speaker 2: going to have those seven, six games. Like you're going
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: to have those games. You're going to have those prototypical
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: junior hockey games. And I feel like that's the most
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  Speaker 2: exciting part about the first month of the season. That's
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  Speaker 2: why you enjoy the OHL. Cause you're going to have
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  Speaker 2: these crazy games at the start of the season, but
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  Speaker 2: it was pretty calm for the first, first weekend of
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: the year. That's usually is.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Guys get involved in the chat as well. We've
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: got super chats. We've got everything in there on the
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: YouTube version and, If you're listening on audio as well,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: you know, make your voices heard with us on social media.
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  Speaker 1: We always love to hear the feedback from you guys
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: as well. And check out our merch store there. All
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: of our OHL in 60 podcast merch is available there
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: when the QR code does come back up. But I'm
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: going to pull up the topics for you guys today.
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  Speaker 1: Just a quick rundown here of how the show is
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  Speaker 1: going to operate today. As you mentioned, OHL Commissioner Brian
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  Speaker 1: Crawford is going to join us later in segment two.
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  Speaker 1: But we got a lot to go over in the
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: first 40 minutes or so of the show. OHL headlines,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: preseason and opening week suggestions. performers of the week and
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: gotta love week one power rankings. Colin always, always one
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  Speaker 1: of your favorites of the year reaction.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Overreaction Tuesdays. I guess if you're listening in the audio version,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: it is Tuesday. So, um, but it's overreaction Monday for those, uh,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: watching us live on YouTube. So we thank you.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: Terrible. Oh, sir. Owen too.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Can't wait for that.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: There's not going to be a rant on that golf fence.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: Don't worry.
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  Speaker 3: You got it. Yeah.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: You guys are fine.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Collins rant last week on the Tanner Adams trade. That's
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: available on our YouTube channel. If you wanted to just watch.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: With the stats, I mean, Tanner Adams is a great player.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: He is a great player, but 15 picks is ridiculous.
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  Speaker 2: He's a great player. I'm not saying that he's probably
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  Speaker 2: going to win rookie of the year clip that, but
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: I will say it's.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Too much little teaser. I think Collins rant is going
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: to be something to do with attendance this week. So
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: we'll get to that a little bit later. We're going
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  Speaker 1: to start off here with some great performances as Colin
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: mentioned from The opening week, first off, a couple of
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: hat tricks. We opened up Friday night. Noah Laus. Wow.
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  Speaker 1: What a performance.
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  Speaker 2: 17-year-old.
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  Speaker 1: He had 12 goals all last season. He had a
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  Speaker 1: hat trick in the first eight minutes and 21 seconds
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: of the Sioux Greyhounds opening night game against the Saginaw Spirit.
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  Speaker 1: Just a great story for this young man. And again,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: looking to improve on a 12-goal total. He's already, you know,
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  Speaker 1: three goals in that first game. He's on quite the
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: trajectory to, you know, really obliterate that total.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, What a story for Noah.
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  Speaker 2: That was one of the most spectacular stories you just
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  Speaker 2: saw on Friday night in the Ontario Hockey League. To
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  Speaker 2: see that happen so quickly, right? To score a hat
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  Speaker 2: trick like that in the first period. Wow. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: that was pretty cool to see. Eight minutes in, you
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  Speaker 2: have a hat trick. I mean, you can't ask for
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  Speaker 2: any better start to your year than that. That's better
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  Speaker 2: than what Noah probably even drew up coming into the year.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, that's incredible. Great start for Sue, too.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and a first-round pick in 2025 for them, so
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  Speaker 1: obviously a lot of promise there for him with the
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  Speaker 1: Sioux Greyhounds this season, and look to see him shatter
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  Speaker 1: that 29-point total he had as a 16-year-old last season,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: but a great start, and an opening hat-trick in the
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: first 8 minutes and 21 seconds of the game. Everybody
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: lost their hat by the second period, so good stuff there.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: The second hat-trick of the weekend was another good story
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  Speaker 1: as well. We had This one from Xavier Tessier, which
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: was a record-setting night for Tessier. He got the scoring
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: start at eight seconds into the season. A new Flint
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  Speaker 1: Firebirds record for the fastest goal to start a game,
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  Speaker 1: eclipsing Ethan Kepin's prior record of 10 seconds. He'd go
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  Speaker 1: on to score his hat trick in the 5-4 win
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  Speaker 1: over Saginaw. Colin, you wanted to touch on this one
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  Speaker 1: because it was a pretty good story for Flint.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, this is something for Flint. Eight seconds in.
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  Speaker 2: fastest goal to start a season. I mean, like I said,
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  Speaker 2: there's been a lot of good things this weekend for teams.
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  Speaker 2: It's better than you even could drop going into the
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  Speaker 2: season for fans, for teams, for everybody with the organizations.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I mean, for this one, for Flint, right?
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  Speaker 2: Eight seconds in your opener. That's big. Flint getting the
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: extensions done, especially with a win, getting a win in
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  Speaker 2: that game over Saginaw like that.
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  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 2: Those are, those are special ways to start a year.
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  Speaker 2: When you see a rival on your schedule to start
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  Speaker 2: the season, you're always thinking this could be something down
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  Speaker 2: the road. And for this, you got the divide cup.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: So you got the cup on the line for this one,
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: you get a headstart. And I feel like when you
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: go into the season, this is what you look for, right?
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: Like you always see the start of the schedule and
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: you see, Oh, you're playing a division rival. You'll want
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: to get a good start on those games and you'll
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: get the cliche. I know it's early in the year.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: It's early in the year, but those are games that
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: you'll want to get any time of the year, especially
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: in division like that. Flint Saginaw, it's always a good atmosphere.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: It's always the best. I mean, we talked to Brian
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: last year about it on the deadline, on the deadline
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  Speaker 2: show about it. Like it's, it's really cool. The stories
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  Speaker 2: and you got fans traveling to Saginaw, Saginaw fans traveling
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: to Flint with their tickets. It's, it's cool. It's that's
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: the beauty of the OHL. And I mean, for Tessie
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: to get the start like that, eight seconds in, I mean,
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: he's going for the Cy Young in week one, but
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: what a start with the hat trick three and oh,
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: he's a Cy Young favorite so far through week one.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And I mean, seven goals in 37 games last season.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: So he's on pace for another for a career year
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: as well. Shattering those totals. So, yeah, bold take there
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: that he takes it because he only needs four more
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: goals for last season's total. But he's obviously a highly
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: touted player, a second rounder in 2024 by Flint. So
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: they look to have a big season out of him.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: So a couple of good, good stories there with Tessier
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  Speaker 1: and Noah Laus as well. Looking to have career years.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: And you know what, Brandon? People are going to say, like,
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, look at the league, right? And
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: we could have people listening to the show right now,
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: and they'll be like, hey, you know, maybe what does
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: this have to do with it? But you know what?
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: These are stories that are really cool. for the players,
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: for the individual players of the league. This is the
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: beauty of the league, of the development of the Ontario
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: Hockey League, right? This is why this is the cool part.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: Every year, last year, we see the Aspinall's of the
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: world who were unbelievable for Flint. Maybe this year's the
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Tessie A's, right? Last year, we saw Brady Martin and Sue.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: It's just the Noah Louse here now. Like, it's cool
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: to see that transition take place in franchises. I mean,
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: you never know. Maybe Christmas talk, we're talking halfway through
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: the year. Oh, this is a favorite for the MVP race. Like,
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: this is who my vote is. None of us really
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: picked Nikita Klepov last year at the beginning of the season.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: He was almost unanimous at the end of the year, right?
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: Other than Sam O'Reilly. But, you know, like, it's just,
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: it's cool to see what happens. Like, you never know
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: with a big start and all of a sudden it's
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: December and they're not going away. and I think this
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: is really, it's important to shout out these performances early
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: on in the season like this, because it's really cool.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and great confidence building for those young players. Let's
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: quickly run through the captaincy announcements that have come through.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: We'll begin in Barry. We've got Evan Passmore being named
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: the 28th captain in Barry Colts history. 181 career games
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: for him with the Barry Colts. Moving forward, we've got
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: the Brantford Bulldogs calling. No C yet, but Jack Good,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: Cameron Hankeid, Jet Kwaja, and Caden McGregor named the assistants.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: Maybe waiting on a certain player to potentially come back
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: or not. We'll have to wait and see as that
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: one develops down the road. We've also got the Kitchener
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Rangers announcing that Andrew McNeil is their 61st captain in
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: team history, along with Cam Marquette, Alex Balicki, Tanner Lamb,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: and Luca Romano, who was just sent back from the
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: New York Islanders to join them. So that's the captaincy for.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: Impressive list.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, impressive list for the Kitchener Rangers. And I believe they're, yeah,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: the fourth one that I had taken here was, uh,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Nolan Laird is the captain of the North Bay battalion.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: So Colin, what are your quick takeaways from those four announcements?
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, for Brantford, like you mentioned, I'll just
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: touch on that right away. Uh, don't know yet what
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: their status is, right? Like obviously Jake O'Brien was their captain.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: If he's available, uh, let's say he doesn't make the AHL. Well,
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: then he's OHL eligible, right? So you never, you don't
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: want to make decisions, but those four gentlemen and talking
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: with Spencer Hyman last week on the dog cast, it'll
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: play itself out throughout the season. The Bulldogs group room
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: is very tight. There's a lot of guys right now
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: that you can think are leaders that aren't right now.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: So that's one thing for, from a Bulldog standpoint, there
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: are no rush. I'll name a C it'll play itself out.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: All four of those candidates are unbelievably deserving for Kitchener.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: What an impressive list of leadership group. For post-Memorial Cup,
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: it's very impressive to see this. I look at the
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: Memorial Cup, and usually the first half after you go
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: for it, maybe one of the new leaders that's wearing
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: an A is a 17-year-old that gets an opportunity. But
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: you look at the Malachis, you look at the Arquettes,
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: you look at the Lamb, look at Romano. Those are
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: all well-deserving leaders. And obviously, Andrew McNeil will be their
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: heartbeat this season. He'll lead them into the battle. And
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: I feel like those guys are... like that's one of
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: the deepest leadership groups I could see after winning Memorial Cup.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: Like you look at that core of leadership and you're thinking,
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: how's this team not going to be a contender this year?
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: Maybe I was wrong in my pre-rankings having them fourth
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: in the division because you look at this leadership prior
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: to the deadline. I mean, obviously we'll see what way
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: they go, but long ways to go for that. But
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: you look at their leadership group and I'm thinking, man,
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: oh man, what a great, what a great leadership. And
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: then Laird and North Bay. I want to touch on that.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: What a, you know, that guy has played such a
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: long career with North Bay. You look at the way
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: North Bay is, this is kind of their window. It's
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: just the year they go back to the conference final
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: after spending there three years in a row. But Nolan
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: Laird has been a heartbeat. He's been through so much
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: over the last couple seasons there. I think that this
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: is the opportunity for Nolan's game to evolve even more,
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: take a step up, because each year you kind of
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: see him getting better and better as a player. Leadership
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: capabilities are obviously already there. Ryan O'Lehan and staff naming
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: him the captain. But I think this is such a
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: good opportunity for Nolan Laird to be a coming out
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: party for him this year in the Ontario Hockey League.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: Expect him to be a well-known commodity throughout the season
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: going into the next level. AHL. Expect that to be
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: a big one there with Nolan Laird to the 20-year-old
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: center getting the opportunity to be the captain of the
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: North Bay Battalion. Very well-deserving. I like the way he
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: he kind of represents what the North Bay battalion are.
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: So I'm very excited to see what he can do
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: in North Bay. What an opportunity for him. Yeah.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: Andrew McNeil, back-to-back defenseman after Cam Reed was the captain
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: last year with Kitchener, obviously led them to the OHL
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: championship Memorial cup, but for North Bay, as you mentioned,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Aaron Enright, Parker Vaughn, who I'm a big fan of.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: I really like Parker Vaughn's game. Unfortunately went undrafted, but
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: a big opportunity for him as well. And then Renee
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: van Bommel, who they got from the London Knights, uh,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: you know, obviously had played in a lot of big games, uh,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: over his career with the, with the London Knights of
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: being around, you know, a team that's, uh, been, been
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: in a lot of deep playoff runs. So speaking of
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: the London, speaking of the London Knights, Colin, we continue
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: just like last week when we tossed, we talked about
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: what is Mark Hunter potentially doing here, continuing to stockpile. Well,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: he did it two more times since we, uh, since
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: we last talked here. So first, uh, We've got the
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: London Knights trading Jackson Marthaler to the Oshawa Generals for
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: a fourth round pick in 2030. So again, they make
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: a trade there unloading a player for a pretty decent
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: draft pick. A fourth, you'd say, is pretty good. And
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: then they also traded Gino Carcone to the Brampton Steelheads
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: for another fourth round pick in that same year of 2030.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: So London gets two more fourth round picks, Colin. What's
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: Mark Hunter got up his sleeve now?
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: Something's up. Something's up. It just adds an extra pick.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: This doesn't hurt, right? When you have two players who
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: get an opportunity to play a higher role elsewhere and
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: you have a chance to bring in a fourth round
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: pick like that, fourth round picks are valuable. It's kind
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: of a third round pick. And when you look at
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: the trade concepts, because you can't trade a first round
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: pick in the Ontario hockey league. So it's almost like
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: you're getting two thirds in a, for trade value. I
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: think that this trade, I think these traits of the Knights,
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: it adds a lot to the cup board. I totally
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: expect the London Knights to go all in this year,
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: the trade deadline. I think they have a quality roster.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: I think this is kind of the year after last year,
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: taking a step back to make two steps forward this year.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: I think this year is a London Knights year to
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: make a run for it in the Midwest, right? You
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: look at all the power rankings, all the projections, London
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: one and two with Guelph, right? I have Guelph winning
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: the division and London beating them in the playoffs. That's
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: in depth. You're not going to find that on any
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: other show in depth. But I think that, uh, I
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: think that this really adds up London to go all
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: for it sometime this season. I don't know what the
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: deal is going to be, but you don't have to
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: rush to make a trade. It's September. But I totally
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: expect the London Knights to be a dark horse and
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: be the team this year to be in the Western
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: Conference and OHL in general.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Linus Funk as well went from London to Oshawa, so
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: they connect on another trade here, Roger Hunt and Mark Hunter.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: Hey, that's good for Oshawa too. I like those deals
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: for Oshawa. It doesn't hurt. It does not hurt to
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: add quality players like that from the London Knights.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: No, absolutely not. And you know, if London's taking a
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: few guys off their roster, somebody's going to be coming
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: in at some point. So we'll get the popcorn ready
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: for the London Knights potential trade down the line here.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: But the other trade that came through, Colin, up your
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: alley here with Alexander Semensov going to the Brantford Bulldogs
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: from the Barry Colts for a sixth round. Was that
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: a sixth round pick or fifth round pick? Fifth round pick,
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: excuse me, in 2020. 2028 the graphics so small I
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: can't even see it but it's a fifth round pick
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: in 2028 again this guy is a former first round
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: pick of the Barry Colts didn't crack their roster two
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: years in a row so it seems like a pretty
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: good buy low candidate here for Spencer Hyman Colin being
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: close to the Bulldogs what can you tell us about
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: this one yeah you know I actually have.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: The quote I'll look it up right now I just
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: got the text by last week we wrote the article
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: on the website on the Iron Chair GM Joel Vanderland
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: and myself on this deal. And we really took a
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: deep dive into these types of trades because these types
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: of trades are so intriguing because it's a, it's a process.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: It's trust your development staff. I trust the player. The
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: points are there. You saw the points there. Alexander's coming
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: off a great season in the OJ last year, just
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: under half a point of game is, which is a
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: quality 16 year old year in the OJ. It's just
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: for the Bulldog standpoint, how do you get this player
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: to get it all together? You know, get their game
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: all together. You know the offense is there, and you
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: see these deals in all types of hockey. You see
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: it in the National Hockey League level, and you see
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: it here in the OHL. These deals are unbelievable because
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: you make these deals, and all of a sudden, you
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: just got to find it out. Maybe the Mike Babcock
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: system works out good in Brantford for him. Get to
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: play extra with the Titans. The relationship with the Bulldogs
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: and the Brantford Titans has been a good relationship over
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: the last couple of seasons of what they've done with
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: Patrick Babin, David Bachman now. Every year, there seems to
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: be a player that comes out of the Titan program
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: that makes a full-time OHL roster. I feel like this
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: one for Alexander, though, is a potential to find his
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: overall game. Find a complete game. You can't all get
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: your cookies all night, right? How can you be effective
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: having a B game? And I think that this is
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: the opportunity. Obviously, the Bulldogs, Spencer Hyman, trust his development staff.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: That's your bread and butter in the Ontario Hockey League.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: I talked about that on the dogcast this week, where
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: When you make these deals, you trust your development. It
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: is the bread and butter to the Ontario Hockey League.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: Every team in the league, they're developed. has to be
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: everything to them. It's applying the resources and need to
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: get better. Everything's there. Maybe Gary Roberts, Luke Van Morkert
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: come in from the athletic training side of the Bulldogs
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: in some, this type of move. He's not very big Alexander.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: I met him on Saturday, Friday, Saturday. He's not very big, but,
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: The skill set is there. It's just how do you
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: get it all together? You look at the NHL, you
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: see these deals all the time. Look at Patrick Laine.
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: Now it's bouncing around, bouncing around, right? Like you see
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: these deals all the time in the National Hockey League
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: where you see all this potential. Now Yakupov, look how
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: good he was in Sarnia. Just never worked out. I
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: feel like this deal for the Bulldogs is a low risk,
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: high reward trade in the fifth. It's kind of like
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: a fourth because you can't trade a first. it's an
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: easy deal for Barry to get another pick. And for Brantford,
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: like I just mentioned, you get the opportunity to develop
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: a kid who was the 18th overall pick in last
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: year's draft. Now you look at Brantford's draft from 2025,
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: you got Caden McGregor, David Buckman, and Alexander Semestov, plus
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: Jeremy Freeman, who in his draft year last year was
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: a high-name player in the draft, just fell to the
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: third round. Like, let's not forget about how good of
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: a year Jeremy Freeman had in his draft year, right?
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: So this is kind of, it's an interesting draft year.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: when you see what Brantford's doing where maybe they're skipping
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: a year instead of this year being the year where
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: they go draft, get draft picks and stuff. Maybe, maybe
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: last year was a year when you look at the draft, right?
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: And you look at Aiden Kelly's performance this year, maybe
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: they don't need the draft picks. Maybe it's just a
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: year by year basis. And maybe that's what they're going
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: to do. But for Brantford, it's a, it's an easy
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: flyer on a player development, trust your development staff. The
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: quote I got from Spencer Hyman was, Alex is a
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: former 18th overall pick with a tremendous upside, and we
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: are excited to welcome him to the Bulldogs organization. We
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: believe strongly in his potential and looking forward to working
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: with him, helping him get back on track, and supporting
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: his development this season with the Brantford Titans. So that's something, Brandon,
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: that we just mentioned, right? Development, trust in the process.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: The development side is the bread and butter in hockey.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: In the OHL, NHL, AHL, development is applying resources. We
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: saw it with Barry with the ad from North Bay.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: to their front office, resources, trust your development, it's a
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: bread and butter. That's why this deal comes in.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Yep, absolutely. You see how this one sort of marinates
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: for the Bulldogs going forward and how much of an
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: impact he can have on the roster going forward into
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: the future. Speaking of the Barry Colts calling our last
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: headline to go over, Declan McNally signs with the Barry
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Colts after the big trade from the Guelph Storm with
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: GM Marty Williamson and team president John Winstanley going out
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: and getting this young man for Obviously, the future, they
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: gave up a lot of draft capital, but obviously a
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: guy that was taken in the first round by Guelph
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: and George Burnett's obviously going to be happy to have
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: those picks to be able to use to go get
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: more players to contend for an OHL Championship Memorial Cup.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: But McNally signs with the Barry Colts. Looks like he's
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: going to be the next great Barry Colts defenseman to
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: come through that program.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: Well, Brant Clark, Bo Akey, Keyshawn Aitchison.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Not a bad list, eh?
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's right on the plotter. There's no pressure, Declan.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: No pressure, Declan. You just signed today, and I'm making
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: a list of those gentlemen with you. But Declan's a star.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: He showcased it last season in his draft year. You
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: look at the numbers, it speaks for itself. You look
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: at the personality. You look at the way he plays,
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: the poise he plays with. He doesn't play like a
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: prototypical 16-year-old. This deal for the Barry Colts works out
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: for both sides. It's an OHL hockey deal. And I
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: feel like this deal... to me is something that is
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: huge for Barry for their future.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Preseason and opening week suggestions, Colin, you want to talk
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: about this a little bit. You mentioned something to me
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: off air that you wanted to bring up potentially a
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: 70 game season, potentially starting the regular season a week later.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: You know, what, what are your takeaways from all that
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: and how maybe we can improve OHL opening week going forward?
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: Well, I feel like my biggest room for improvement would
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: be for the OHLs. opening week is just to see
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: these teams have full rosters. I want to see the
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: best players when you, when tickets first come out, the
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: first game that sells out for every team, except for some,
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: there was some attendance issues this year, but, uh, or
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: this weekend, but there's some teams there that the first
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: weekend of OHL hockey sells out right away. And that's
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: the game. We want the best quality on the ice. Well,
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: how do we get that? Obviously NHL camps going on
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: at the same time. If opening night was this Friday
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: or this Thursday, I guess, with Peterborough and Kingston, if
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: Thursday was Peterborough and Kingston this week, look at the lineups, right?
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: Look at the lineups. Look at Guelph, right? If Guelph
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: was this weekend against Erie and Brantford, look at Guelph's
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: lineup with the amount of players they got back this week.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: It's one of those things to me where I wish
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: it was a four-game preseason. I wish that this past
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: week was the last game in the preseason, and I
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: wish that then training camp started a week later, so
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: a week after school starts. I know that's hard with
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: school starting because players are all over, right? And you
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: can't miss school. So that's kind of make, that's why
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: it's hard to move. But I wonder if you go
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: to four preseason games, put it down a week, and
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: then you add an extra two games to the end
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: of the schedule, have 70 games. You have more, more opportunity,
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: more eyes. I know it's hard to be done with
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: arena services and stuff like that and availability, but I'm just,
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: I feel like it would be really cool to see
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: an extra two games. Like similar, like what the NHL
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: is doing. NHL drops a preseason. I guess that's the
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: question I'm going to ask the commissioner. You drop, do
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: you drop the preseason games too? And do you adapt
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: that NHL model? What happens? That's just interesting to see
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: where the OHL is at with that. If that's ever
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: going to be a possibility, I don't know. It is
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: the good, the way we have it, but I just
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: want to see players play all most of the games.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: It's like world junior time, right? You got to bank
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: points now for Guelph. They're going to have to bank
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: so many points in about a month and a half span.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: Then they're going to lose players again to world juniors.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: So it feels like it's hard to ever bank points
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: when you really don't have your full team until after
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: January 9th and that's trade deadline. So that's why I
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: wonder if he could add two more games at the
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: end of the schedule, get more opportunity and more, more
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: opportunity to see the game, see the quality teams play. Right.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: That's my biggest concern.
• 26:03
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: I think they've tried to make it so that there's
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: not as many three and threes anymore with the schedule
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: as well to try to help teams and their travel
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: and things like that. This is another hockey league that they're,
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: they're not getting to fly on private planes from the
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: city to city. I mean, I've been on those, those
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: buses and those grinds. It's a, it's, it's, it's, it's long.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: And it's especially for teams like Sue and Ottawa and
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: Windsor that have to travel long lengths eerie with the
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: schedule they have in the Western conference. Like I understand that,
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: you know, maybe we have to give them some time
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: and some break in between. And that could, you know, unfortunately,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: you know, make the schedule just not feasible to start
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: a week later, but, You know, if there's if there's
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: a way to fit two more games in, and as
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: you mentioned, shorten possibly the preseason and start that week
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: later or, you know, for example, Guelph's getting Ryan Roberg,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: Ethan Zada, Vlad Drevecky back. Have that be their home
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: opener this weekend as opposed to last weekend with, you know,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: no offense to the Guelph Storms taxi squad, but it
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: just didn't have the same feeling right for a team that.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: is going to be competing for Memorial cup, a contender.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: You know, how many times have we seen that with
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: London with their opening week and then teams take advantage
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: of them. It just doesn't feel the same way. Even
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: when the, the, the player introductions we have this week,
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: you know, the, some of those top end players are
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: missing and don't get to have that opportunity.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. And I would have liked to see Luca
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: Romano and Kitchener at their opening night Memorial cup banner, right?
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: Like that'd have been cool to see that as well.
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: Assistant captain with the Rangers. It's something that if it's
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: a week later, it's no problem. So I, I got
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: it begs the question. That's all the reason why it's
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: more opportunity and that's what it comes down to. Um,
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: so that's why I'll ask that.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: Okay. And lastly on attendance, you wanted to touch on that.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think attendance is down this weekend. I mean,
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: you look at some of the teams around the league, right? Um,
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: Windsor was down a little bit. You looked at Owen sounds,
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: you look at Niagara's, uh, those are three teams. They're prototypically.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: You would like to see a higher attendance for opening night,
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: right there. We, I usually don't pick on those teams
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: attendance wise. Um, that's interesting to me. I mean, maybe
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: it's nice weather. There's a lot to do in the
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: falls this time of year, a lot to do out
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: by the Bay shore. It was rib fest. I saw.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: So that's a big one. Shout out to Greg Cowan's
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: Twitter too. He is, he's the leading, he's the leading
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: horse right now in the horse race or social media
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: personality of the year and the OHL through week one
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: on a Josh Brown's poll. He's the leader right now.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's incredible content putting that out there in Windsor.
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: I mean, Windsor's usually pretty good, so I was surprised
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: about that for week one, especially against the London Knights
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: in a home-and-home. I was shocked to see so many
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: empty seats. And I know Windsor is usually a venue
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: that sells out late in the year, right? Playoffs, you
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: gradually see it get bigger and bigger, the WFCU Center.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: NFL football's on.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and that's another thing during the football season, too.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: But I'm very surprised to see a Saturday night like
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: that in Windsor. and not even be like half full,
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: not even be three quarters full. Right. So I was
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: kind of surprised about that. Uh, but it's early in
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: the year. It's early in the year. Cause the tigers
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: are out. So I don't know, like, you know, and
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: the Wolverines have a loss to Western Michigan. So I
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: don't know. I don't know what's going on there, but
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: it's important.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: The lions don't look good either.
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: No.
• 29:14
  Speaker 4: Ooh.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: Touchy subject for those in Southwest Ontario.
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: The red wings are already done anyway.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: You guys still got great pizza. So just, uh, you know, eat,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: eat your sorrows away on that end. Let's we got
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: about 10 minutes for Brian Crawford joins us, Collins. Let's
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: go through the performers of the week, player of the
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: week from the Saginaw Spirit staying in the Michigan area.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: Is Dima Jolkin going to be a top potential draft
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: pick from the Ontario hockey league in the upcoming NHL
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: draft in 2027. He's their captain, you know, great player.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: He had a great week here, you know, two, two
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: games played three goals, two assists, five points plus one
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: Dima Jolkin. One of my favorite draft eligible players this year, Colin,
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: he does a lot of different things for the Saginaw
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: spirit on and off the ice and, He plays a
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: pesky game as well. So it's great to see him
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: get off to a hot start.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I like Dima's game. I mean, he's in all
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: aspects of the game. He contributes. You look at the points.
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: It's not just the points. He's not a perimeter player.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: He plays in the interior. And I think that's a
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: big thing I look for. I like looking for players
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: who play in the middle of the ice, who aren't
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: afraid to play in small spaces. And I think that's
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: what Dima really excels at. He uses his body well, too,
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: for that type of game, right? You look what he
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: did at the international level this offseason. He played a
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: big part with Hockey Canada. Now with the Spirit, two
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: games in, five points. That's a player who, no, I'm
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: not overreacting, that could be a high-scoring player, similar to
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: what Klepov did last year for the Spirit. That's a player,
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: in my opinion, that I think could have a Klepov-type year.
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: That's how much hype I believe in Dima Jilkin. Just
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: like you said, Brandon, I'm sure you can echo the
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: statement about Dima's game. Like, you mentioned he's one of
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: your favorite prospects in the draft. I mean, that's a
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: guy that I wouldn't be surprised to put up Klepov-type numbers.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: I know that's a big ask, but he's going to
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: be their lifeblood. Like he's going to be their guy, right?
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: Like he, a lot of the offense, a lot of
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: these situations, big situations, he's going to have the puck
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: on his stick and he's your captain, right? So I
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: expect it to be a big role for Dima this year.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: Some teams treat their captains, you know, with, with high
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: regard with moving. I mean, and he's been good for
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: Brady Wasslin too. Like look at the week Wasslin had
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: his first week with the Saginaw spirit, right? Like he
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: scored a couple of higher highlight real goals and, If
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: they get Klepov back, which I know he's performing right
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: now with the Anaheim Ducks, so if he does come back, great.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: If not, I think Dimas Jokin can obviously lead that
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: team this season.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: And the Ducks salary cap's going to be interesting with
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: the offer sheet to Carlson, right? I wonder if Klepov
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: has an in just because of that. You've got to
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: clear a cap somehow, right? You put an entry-level deal
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: on your contract, but that's unfair to the player. That's
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: so unfair to the player because then you're putting on
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: pressure to be a guy right away. And you kind
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: of forget the whole tool of being patient on the
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: development side of things. Right. That's my scary part. I
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: ran it about this last year on the, when we
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: talked about it here about players go play in the AHL,
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: how I I'm not sending a player to the AHL
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: to be a third line checker when they're going to
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: put up a hundred points. I'm not doing that. Like
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: from my perspective, I'm not sending Jake O'Brien to Coachella
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: Valley to be a third line center, fourth line center.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: He's not going to be a beat-up player. He's not
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: going to lead the team in penalties. And that's where I, like,
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: clap off. Like, if he's not going to be a
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: top-six player in Anaheim or in the farm system in
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: San Diego, and then if he's going to play in
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: Anaheim and play once every nine games just to clear cap,
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: I don't like that. I dislike that so much. I'm
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: against that.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'd like to see him back in Saginaw.
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: Me too.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: Having people dance with somebody playing about a thousand times when,
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: when we have a connection of Klepov, Waslan and Jilkin
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: hooking up for a goal. I'd love to see that.
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: Is that a segue for the final segment of the
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: show this week?
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: Potentially. We'll have to wait and see. Paulo Frasca, goaltender
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: of the week from the Sudbury Wolves, 2-0 record, 0.50
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: goals against average and a 982 save percentage, along with
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: a shutout 56 saves. got to love this for the
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: Sudbury wolves. They've had some good goaltenders over the years,
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: but this looks like a young, good one here.
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: And this is Paolo playing off his playoff, right? He
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: was really good in the playoff as well for Sudbury
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: in their series against Brantford. This is the development thing
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: we talk about, right? Year one, year two in the
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: Ontario hockey league. What's that pop, right? Wait, do they
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: take that step up? That's, that's what happens when you
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: get these elite players. That's what happens when the guys
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: go and play pro out of the OHL. They take
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: that step up each year for Paolo. Now being an
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: older player in the Ontario hockey league, I, like I said,
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: he had a good playoff last year. The numbers, I mean, yeah,
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: they're under eight, the same percentage and over three, the
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: goals against, but he played a good Brantford team. And
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: when you look at the numbers over time in the playoffs,
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: some of these, you know, the saves he made, like
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: for him to build off his playoffs so far in
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: a week one, it just speaks volumes of his development
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: trend and where he's going. I mean, the sky's the
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: limit for Powell.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: And great to see a guy that was an 11th
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: round pick. It gives those guys that were drafted in
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: the later rounds, some opportunity and some hope there that
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: eventually you can turn your way into a starting goaltender
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: at the Ontario Hockey League level.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: And those mean something now. Those picks mean something now
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: with the new landscape.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, they do. Royden Smith is the Rookie of the Week,
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: another goaltender, this one from the Kingston Frontenacs. He played
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: in two games with Kingston missing some of their top-end
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: goaltenders away right now due to injuries. He went 2-0
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: with a 2.46 goals against and a 9.33 save percentage,
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: 70 saves. To me, I was shocked Kane Cloutier didn't
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: come away with this award with his great first week
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: as the first overall pick in the Ontario Hockey League
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: as a 16-year-old scoring a game-winning goal and having a
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: goal last night as well. But can't not talk about
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: Royden Smith and what he was able to do. He's really,
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: you know, the third guy in Kingston. He comes away
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: with a great week.
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: Man, you know what? Kingston, they have a goaltending controversy.
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: They got four goalies on their roster and they're all quality.
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: And Royden Smith, you could say, would be probably like
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: looking on the outside in, I thought he would be
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: the fourth out of the four. Not after this week.
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: I mean, what is the goaltending situation in Kingston? I mean, that's,
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: it's a good problem to have. And thank God I
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: don't have to make that decision. You guys, Corey Cooper
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: and Troy Mann have a very tough decision to make
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: because their goaltending is superb. So far, even on paper,
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: it looks really good. And that's partially why the Kingston
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: front eggs are ranked so high on the, a lot
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: of the projections.
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: Makes sense. Corey Cooper, former goaltender himself. So clearly he's
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: got an eye for the net. So, We'll have to
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: wait and see how that, how that situation progresses in Kingston,
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: because you know, they've got, they've got some really good
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: ones there and we'll have to wait and see if
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: he's going to get some more starts down the road,
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: but a great start for him. And then lastly, prospect
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: of the week comes to us from the GOHL. Mitchell
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: Newins is from the St. Catherine's Falcons two and Oh, 1.92
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: goals against nine 39, say percentage, a shutout 62 saves. St.
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: Catherine's is a great program and he's a prospect of
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: the Owen sound attack and other a team that has
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: developed a lot of good goalies.
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: Uh, look at that mask.
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Gotta love that. Yeah.
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: Look at that mass, the Red Wings mask junior. Um, no, I,
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: I think that this award, I mean, it's so it's
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: neat to see the geo, the relationship with the OHL growing. Um,
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: it's nice to see, right. Learn players, learn the prospects.
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: Cause next year, Mike Mitchell could be a guy that's
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: in the OHL with Maxim Kurovic being the tandem in
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: Owen sound. Right. So, it's nice to see the development
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: thing in St. Catherine is a great program to develop
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: and it showcases everything to who they are. Yeah.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: And hopefully we'll get some more GOHL updates throughout the season.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: We've got a couple of people that we might reach
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: out to that cover the GOHL on a regular basis.
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: We'd love to get some prospect and development talk from
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: some guys that are OHL affiliated, especially with the GOHL,
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: you know, being a development league for the Ontario hockey
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: league now. Great to see there. So the OHL commissioner
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: is going to join us in just about a minute here, Colin. So,
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: I don't know if there's any any other person that
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: didn't win an award this week that you want to
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: give a quick shout out to.
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: I don't think so.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: It was Kane Cloutier for me. I thought he had
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: a great first week.
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he did. No, that's big.
• 37:22
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: Your first overall picks usually have all the eyes on
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: them in the first first week of the season. Right.
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: So this is the go to guys. Right. And I'm
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: sure Oshawa fans had a lot of a lot of eyes,
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: a lot of expectations on Kane as well.
• 37:35
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  Speaker 5: in hockey. You're listening to the OHL.
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  Speaker 4: In 60 podcast right here on the Armchair TM Sports Network.
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: We've got OHL Commissioner Brian Crawford on the OHL in
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: 60 podcast with us. Brian, Colin, and Brandon are with you.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: Really appreciate you taking the time after hours tonight to
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: join us live on the show.
• 40:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. You just caught me post-workout, so hopefully the
• 40:07
  Speaker 3: attire is okay.
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: What's the bench press for Kamish?
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: I did three sets of 10 at 225 tonight.
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: Not bad. I should have played the Labor Day game.
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: Still got it.
• 40:20
  Speaker 3: It's still got a little bit of the football strength
• 40:21
  Speaker 3: in me.
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: Were you at the Labor Day Classic? I got to
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: mention it with the Argos Ticats.
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: No, no Labor Day Classic this year. I was tied
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: up Labor Day weekend coaching my U14 baseball team and
• 40:35
  Speaker 3: we won. an OBA championship this year. So real, real pleased.
• 40:39
  Speaker 3: It was the conclusion of a, of a multi-year run
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: for that group. They're all kind of going to move
• 40:45
  Speaker 3: on into different directions and other levels of baseball next year,
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: but it was a great way to cap it off
• 40:50
  Speaker 3: for the, for the boys and their families.
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: Right on. Congratulations. I know you took the team when
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: I saw you guys last year in Brantford at the
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: Madhouse and you took the team there for a viewing experience.
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: That was pretty cool to see the team together. And
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: then an OBA run. Congratulations on that, Brian and the team.
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: That's right on.
• 41:07
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: Well, Brandon, do you want to kick things off?
• 41:10
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: My hardest hitting question for you, Brian, is what was
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: your best round of the summer?
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: My best, I didn't play much golf at all. Baseball
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: was my, you know, kind of focus this summer. I
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: played once up in Muskoka and I didn't even play
• 41:24
  Speaker 3: a complete round because I was fitting it in between meetings.
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: Later in the day.
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: We go and get like a 10 AMT time. So
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: I had to, get it in quick. But yeah, my
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: golf game has gone downhill dramatically since leaving the PGA tour, unfortunately,
• 41:39
  Speaker 3: but lots of other good things to spend my, spend
• 41:42
  Speaker 3: my time and energy on in the nice warm months.
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: For sure.
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. And OHL is back opening weekend just took place, Brian.
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: I mean, how thrilling is it that you're finally here
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: opening weekend? It feels like training camp takes forever. Once
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: it opens the off season takes forever. And then next thing,
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: you know, training camp drags on and then you're ready
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: for opening night. What's your first opinion here or what's
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: your reaction to what opening week was for you guys?
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I mean, I think the thing that stands
• 42:07
  Speaker 3: out for opening week was, you know, some young guns,
• 42:11
  Speaker 3: you know, showed up. And that's always great. It's obviously
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: a great weekend and opportunity for those guys with, you know,
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: a lot of the older guys out of camps and
• 42:18
  Speaker 3: so forth. They're not back with their teams yet. But,
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: you know, some of the some of the top guys
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: from this past year's draft. you know, really showed up
• 42:25
  Speaker 3: and played well, made meaningful contributions to their new teams,
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: which bodes well for, you know, the future of those
• 42:32
  Speaker 3: clubs and our league. So that was a great start.
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: You know, obviously, you know, raising a Memorial Cup banner
• 42:37
  Speaker 3: in Kitchener, any year that we can raise a Memorial
• 42:40
  Speaker 3: Cup banner is a pretty good thing. And hopefully we can,
• 42:45
  Speaker 3: I believe, tie the record for consecutive years of the
• 42:49
  Speaker 3: Memorial Cup one by one conference this coming year. So,
• 42:53
  Speaker 3: You know, that's what really the first week is all about.
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: You know, it's great to see all the buildings full
• 42:58
  Speaker 3: and people excited about the league being back and, you know,
• 43:01
  Speaker 3: getting going again. So it's good to be back here
• 43:05
  Speaker 3: and going in September.
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. I mean, and you mentioned that about players being
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: away at NHL camps. I brought up a question earlier
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: on in the episode. Is there any chance? What is
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: the likelihood? It's probably not likely, but I got to ask.
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: is there any chance that the season would ever end
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: a week or start a week later, just so then
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: you could get these players in opening nights? You look
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: at a team like Guelph, for instance, who a lot
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: of players gone to NHL camps in opening night, the
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: fans are all excited and it's no offense, but it's
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: a B squad that for night one, is there any,
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: any chance of that happening ever where maybe a week later?
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: So team, cause the NHL adopted or the NHL shortening
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: their preseason to four games. Is there any chance that
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: would ever happen in the elk?
• 43:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it's something that we're constantly evaluating. As
• 43:53
  Speaker 3: you know, we actually started the season a week earlier,
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: starting a year ago. And this year with where Labor
• 43:59
  Speaker 3: Day fell late, right? Late in September, the first week
• 44:02
  Speaker 3: of September, camps opened before Labor Day. So kind of
• 44:05
  Speaker 3: uniqueness around the calendar. It's really all based on Memorial Cup, right?
• 44:10
  Speaker 3: And taking your 26 weeks back for Memorial Cup to
• 44:13
  Speaker 3: fit in the season. And really the addition of the
• 44:15
  Speaker 3: additional week a year ago was about decompressing the schedule
• 44:20
  Speaker 3: a little bit, right? We were able to eliminate about
• 44:22
  Speaker 3: 30 to 33% of the midweek and three and threes
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: and that sort of thing. And last year's schedule applicable
• 44:28
  Speaker 3: to this year's schedule again. So just to decompress the
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: schedule a little bit, a little less weekends, a little
• 44:33
  Speaker 3: less of those three and threes that are three and
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: threes are tough on, on teams, you know? So it's
• 44:37
  Speaker 3: really about kind of trying to balance the needs of
• 44:40
  Speaker 3: how many weeks you need to fit that full schedule
• 44:42
  Speaker 3: and where Memorial Cup is, where Labor Day is, all
• 44:45
  Speaker 3: those sorts of things. Obviously, the NHL has changed their
• 44:48
  Speaker 3: schedule with their training camps and those sorts of pieces
• 44:50
  Speaker 3: as well. So it's something we're continuing to evaluate. What's
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: the right number of games? What's the right number of weeks?
• 44:56
  Speaker 3: When is the right number of times to play those?
• 44:58
  Speaker 3: And we're certainly aware of the fact that the opening
• 45:01
  Speaker 3: week can be tough, especially for some teams that are
• 45:04
  Speaker 3: missing multiple guys from their roster. But it's also kind
• 45:08
  Speaker 3: of part of what our league's about, right? It's a
• 45:10
  Speaker 3: good opportunity for, as I said off the top, for
• 45:12
  Speaker 3: those young players to get in the lineup, to show
• 45:14
  Speaker 3: what they've got, to earn, you know, continue from training camp,
• 45:17
  Speaker 3: earning their spots with their clubs, or at least getting
• 45:20
  Speaker 3: that experience maybe before they go to, you know, another
• 45:23
  Speaker 3: level of junior hockey to continue to develop before, you know,
• 45:26
  Speaker 3: they're ready to make the full-time jump to the OHL.
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: Brian, just a little bit more on, you mentioned being
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: a Memorial Cup year. I know every season you have
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: a lot of high hopes for the OHL and the
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: league itself, but with you hosting the tournament and having
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: a little bit more of a season at the end
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: of it, you know, is there a little bit more
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: excitement now just based off of that alone? Just, you know,
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: knowing that the Memorial Cup is going to be hoisted
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: here in Guelph, in Ontario, you know, for the first
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: time in a long time, it feels like, because the
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: last one was in Saginaw, it was in Michigan, a
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: little bit different of an opportunity as cool as that was.
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: But to have, you know, the Memorial Cup raised here
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: in Ontario for the first time in a while, just
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: how much more excitement do you and your, I guess,
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: staff get based around what this season could potentially be
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: in June?
• 46:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, obviously the
• 46:14
  Speaker 3: first kind of year for me, you know, with the
• 46:16
  Speaker 3: Memorial Cup in the OHL, you know, I think it's,
• 46:21
  Speaker 3: you know, it's still heavily, you know, a CHL property, right?
• 46:24
  Speaker 3: Even though it's in Ontario and it's being run by
• 46:26
  Speaker 3: the host committee in Guelph. And so we're there as
• 46:28
  Speaker 3: a support mechanism.
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: We'll do some.
• 46:30
  Speaker 3: Events that we'll run as an OHL office in conjunction
• 46:33
  Speaker 3: with the Memorial Cup and Memorial Cup. post committee. So,
• 46:36
  Speaker 3: you know, I think it's exciting in that, you know,
• 46:38
  Speaker 3: you're going to have two teams in it this year,
• 46:40
  Speaker 3: which is great, obviously extra opportunities, you know, to hoist
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: it again. I think that there's, you know, an extra
• 46:46
  Speaker 3: buzz certainly in Guelph and in, in, in around our league, because,
• 46:50
  Speaker 3: you know, we know it's here and fans can go
• 46:52
  Speaker 3: and experience it a little bit more difficult to, you know,
• 46:54
  Speaker 3: get out to Rimouski or Kelowna or something like that
• 46:58
  Speaker 3: where it's been the last couple of years. So I
• 46:59
  Speaker 3: think for the fans, especially there's an excitement level that, Hey,
• 47:02
  Speaker 3: I could actually go follow my team, you know, to
• 47:05
  Speaker 3: the Memorial Cup a little bit easier this year than
• 47:07
  Speaker 3: I might in other seasons. So, you know, to have
• 47:11
  Speaker 3: the profile event, you know, here in our league is
• 47:14
  Speaker 3: always a great thing. And, you know, we'd certainly host
• 47:17
  Speaker 3: it every year if we could. But, you know, we're
• 47:19
  Speaker 3: excited for it. And Guelph is, you know, they put
• 47:22
  Speaker 3: on a great show. They have a great fan experience. Obviously,
• 47:25
  Speaker 3: they added the LED and ice this year as a
• 47:28
  Speaker 3: new kind of a trial run on how that would
• 47:31
  Speaker 3: work in the Memorial Cup year and bring some additional
• 47:33
  Speaker 3: excitement to the game presentation. So we're excited to go
• 47:37
  Speaker 3: set up shop at the Nexus Speed River there next
• 47:40
  Speaker 3: year or next spring and see if we can keep
• 47:43
  Speaker 3: the Memorial Cup here in Ontario.
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: Brian, you mentioned all the things with the OHL, the draft.
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: The draft being in Kingston last year and the success
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: that it felt like from teams, What's kind of the
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: takeaway from the draft and what's next to the OHL
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: draft going into the upcoming season?
• 47:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, he's wildly successful was part of the takeaway.
• 48:03
  Speaker 3: You know, we were really thrilled with how it went.
• 48:05
  Speaker 3: Kingston was an amazing host. You know, Kingston Tourism, great partner,
• 48:10
  Speaker 3: the Fronts. Um, and you know, our teams really leaned
• 48:12
  Speaker 3: into it and I think everybody saw, you know, what
• 48:15
  Speaker 3: kind of first class experience, first class event, you know, we're,
• 48:18
  Speaker 3: we're running in the draft, what we're trying to do
• 48:20
  Speaker 3: for the families, uh, and the players, uh, in terms
• 48:24
  Speaker 3: of welcoming them into the, into the league. And, you know,
• 48:27
  Speaker 3: we want to just grow from where we left off
• 48:29
  Speaker 3: last spring. Uh, you know, we'll be returning to Kingston
• 48:32
  Speaker 3: again this year, uh, slightly earlier a week earlier at
• 48:35
  Speaker 3: the first week of June, right after Memorial cup concludes. And,
• 48:39
  Speaker 3: you know, we'll try to build off of what we
• 48:41
  Speaker 3: did last year, try to get more players, more families
• 48:42
  Speaker 3: out there to experience that. And, you know, what it
• 48:46
  Speaker 3: means to have your name called and be part of
• 48:48
  Speaker 3: the OHL, whether it's in the first or 15th round.
• 48:51
  Speaker 3: So it was a great first year to bring that
• 48:54
  Speaker 3: event back after 25 years of being virtual. And, you know,
• 48:58
  Speaker 3: we're excited to take it into the future beyond, you know, 2027.
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: I have a quick follow-up on that one, Colin. Is
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: there something you're looking for in the next host of
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: the draft, Brian, or you haven't reached that yet?
• 49:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, we'll start that later this fall to figure
• 49:13
  Speaker 3: out what we want to do uh beyond this year
• 49:16
  Speaker 3: uh i mean it very well could be to return
• 49:18
  Speaker 3: to kingston you know i think we'd like to to
• 49:20
  Speaker 3: see it move around to some other communities and um
• 49:23
  Speaker 3: so we've certainly had a quite a few inbound uh
• 49:26
  Speaker 3: expressions of interest uh from a variety of communities in
• 49:30
  Speaker 3: the ohl to try to bring the draft uh there
• 49:32
  Speaker 3: so that's great. You know, we've got a number, we've
• 49:35
  Speaker 3: tried to develop a number of properties that can move
• 49:37
  Speaker 3: around like the Conor McDavid top prospects game as an
• 49:39
  Speaker 3: example that we can bring to our different OHL communities,
• 49:42
  Speaker 3: grow our brand, engage with our fans and do all
• 49:45
  Speaker 3: of those sorts of things. So, you know, we'll start
• 49:48
  Speaker 3: that process later this, later this fall and work towards,
• 49:52
  Speaker 3: you know, establishing, you know, a host for, for 2028.
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: OHL Commissioner Brian Crawford's with us. Brian, we have, we've
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: had some crossover games. We're going to have, Brampton playing
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: against Kingston and Ottawa and Cornwall as well. We had
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: Saginaw go out east. We had London go out west.
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: What can you tell us about more potential cross promotion
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: between the three leagues? And again, is that going to
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: be more preseason, regular season? Where do you kind of
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: see this growing going forward?
• 50:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been something that we've obviously been exploring more
• 50:23
  Speaker 3: and more, growing it, you know, two years ago and
• 50:25
  Speaker 3: growing it again this year with additional teams taking part.
• 50:29
  Speaker 3: You know, I would certainly like to see us do
• 50:32
  Speaker 3: more of it. And, you know, we'll explore the idea
• 50:35
  Speaker 3: of having more interlock games in the regular season. So
• 50:39
  Speaker 3: they count in the standings, involve more teams from the
• 50:43
  Speaker 3: West and from the Maritimes and so forth. And, you know,
• 50:46
  Speaker 3: that's certainly something we'd like to see. I think it
• 50:48
  Speaker 3: is exciting for fans. It's great to bring our leagues together.
• 50:51
  Speaker 3: It gives some additional kind of drama and talking points
• 50:54
  Speaker 3: early in the season as we head towards the Memorial Cup,
• 50:57
  Speaker 3: national rankings, all that sorts of things. And plus, it's
• 50:59
  Speaker 3: a it's a great experience for the players to get
• 51:01
  Speaker 3: to play teams from other leagues. Not everybody gets to
• 51:04
  Speaker 3: the Memorial Cup in their career. And you know, we
• 51:06
  Speaker 3: think that's a great experience. So, you know, for Saginaw
• 51:09
  Speaker 3: and for London to go East and West this year
• 51:11
  Speaker 3: and have that experience, we certainly hope to see more
• 51:13
  Speaker 3: of that, you know, thankful for those clubs for, you know,
• 51:16
  Speaker 3: taking the lead and bringing our teams out to see
• 51:19
  Speaker 3: them in the preseason and giving our players those experiences. So,
• 51:23
  Speaker 3: you know, this is also a new idea. It's existed
• 51:27
  Speaker 3: in the league in the past and the CHL in
• 51:28
  Speaker 3: the past. And we think it's just another way that
• 51:31
  Speaker 3: our fans can, you know, get excited about the league and,
• 51:34
  Speaker 3: and have something to follow closely, especially in the fall
• 51:39
  Speaker 3: months where things are a little quieter as people are
• 51:42
  Speaker 3: kind of getting into hockey mode, getting back into the
• 51:45
  Speaker 3: swing of things when it comes to the hockey season.
• 51:47
  Speaker 3: So having events like this is part of that. The
• 51:50
  Speaker 3: Seaway Shootout in a couple of weeks, Chance for us
• 51:52
  Speaker 3: to build our brand in Eastern Ontario back in a
• 51:55
  Speaker 3: community that was a stalwart of the OHL and of
• 52:00
  Speaker 3: the CHL with so much history, Memorial Cups and great
• 52:02
  Speaker 3: players that came out of Cornwall and a very different
• 52:06
  Speaker 3: community and market than it was 30 years ago. So
• 52:10
  Speaker 3: we're really excited about that. They've done a great job
• 52:12
  Speaker 3: maintaining their arena and keeping it up to standard and
• 52:16
  Speaker 3: doing things to it to make sure that it wasn't
• 52:18
  Speaker 3: becoming a relic. And we're excited about that opportunity. We've
• 52:23
  Speaker 3: had really great results already in ticket sales and really
• 52:26
  Speaker 3: just starting to market and push that and expect to
• 52:28
  Speaker 3: see two full buildings there for that event. So we're excited.
• 52:32
  Speaker 3: We're excited about that. And as I said, adding more
• 52:35
  Speaker 3: properties and events to the portfolio is the goal.
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: The new landscape, Brian, with everything that has happened with
• 52:43
  Speaker 2: the NCAA agreement, now a year plus into it, new arenas. Obviously,
• 52:47
  Speaker 2: we see the announcement with Sudbury, Brantford with shovels in
• 52:49
  Speaker 2: the ground. How exciting is that for the commission of
• 52:52
  Speaker 2: the OHL to see these new buildings coming in and
• 52:56
  Speaker 2: really growing the resources here for all teams in the
• 53:00
  Speaker 2: Ontario Hockey League with these new arena announcements? I mean,
• 53:02
  Speaker 2: it's a big deal getting more state-of-the-art facilities with the
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: new landscape of the CHL.
• 53:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it's a great time for our league.
• 53:10
  Speaker 3: We have three buildings that are under construction, like as
• 53:13
  Speaker 3: we speak, Ottawa, Sudbury, Brantford, that are all going to
• 53:17
  Speaker 3: come online within two years. And that's really, really exciting
• 53:21
  Speaker 3: for our league. And then when you think about renovations
• 53:24
  Speaker 3: that have taken place in Oshawa, that is, you know,
• 53:27
  Speaker 3: its first stage was complete. It's got two more stages
• 53:30
  Speaker 3: to go. London that had work done last year. Kitchener
• 53:33
  Speaker 3: that is constantly updating. They just opened their brand new
• 53:36
  Speaker 3: restaurant and club space. You know, Sue has some plans
• 53:39
  Speaker 3: for renovations. We think about the buildings that are kind of,
• 53:43
  Speaker 3: you know, teenagers, you know, in the Kitchener and Niagara, like,
• 53:47
  Speaker 3: we were in a really, really good place when it
• 53:49
  Speaker 3: comes to facilities. We've got interest building in Peterborough and
• 53:53
  Speaker 3: some commitments from Peterborough as we push towards, you know,
• 53:56
  Speaker 3: seeing a new venue constructed in Peterborough. So it's, it's
• 54:02
  Speaker 3: a great time, you know, for us and for the
• 54:04
  Speaker 3: fans of our league, you know, these facilities are community
• 54:07
  Speaker 3: assets that bring people together, especially in the cold winter months,
• 54:12
  Speaker 3: you know, when you don't get outside your house for
• 54:14
  Speaker 3: almost any other reason.
• 54:15
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 54:16
  Speaker 3: We recognize the commitment that the communities have to make
• 54:22
  Speaker 3: to finance these big projects, but they give so much
• 54:26
  Speaker 3: to the communities. We're excited to be able to be
• 54:30
  Speaker 3: the primary tenants of these buildings and to be part
• 54:32
  Speaker 3: of building those community bonds. That's exciting. And we're continuing
• 54:37
  Speaker 3: to work on opportunities in new markets and exploring opportunities
• 54:41
  Speaker 3: in new markets, York region, Halton region, Chatham, Kent. These
• 54:45
  Speaker 3: are opportunities south of the border as well that we
• 54:49
  Speaker 3: hope to see getting to the finish line and being
• 54:51
  Speaker 3: able to build new buildings and ultimately bring in expansion
• 54:55
  Speaker 3: teams down the road.
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: James Boyd's been an interesting addition to the Ontario Hockey
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: League front office. Brian, you know, guy that has a
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: lot of experience with the Ottawa 67s. What has he
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: brought to, I guess, that group there and how is
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: his role continuing to develop going forward with the league?
• 55:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like it's like I signed Connor McDavid to,
• 55:16
  Speaker 3: you know, he's the front line center and, you know,
• 55:22
  Speaker 3: James is phenomenal. He's got a tremendous amount of experience
• 55:26
  Speaker 3: in our league as a player, as a coach, as
• 55:27
  Speaker 3: an executive with multiple teams. He's extremely well liked by
• 55:33
  Speaker 3: everyone and knows everyone in the hockey community and everyone
• 55:36
  Speaker 3: knows him. Being able to bring a guy like that
• 55:40
  Speaker 3: in to fill the gaps that I honestly have and
• 55:45
  Speaker 3: lead the hockey operations of our league to represent the
• 55:48
  Speaker 3: general managers and You know, the coaches and all the
• 55:51
  Speaker 3: hockey ops folks, you know, they have a tremendous trust
• 55:54
  Speaker 3: in James that, you know, he is making sure that
• 55:57
  Speaker 3: we're headed in the right direction when it comes to
• 55:59
  Speaker 3: on ice. And so, you know, I'm really, really pleased
• 56:04
  Speaker 3: with our entire staff that we've been able to assemble and.
• 56:08
  Speaker 3: and add to in kind of the last two seasons. And,
• 56:12
  Speaker 3: you know, that's what it's all about, right? Making sure
• 56:14
  Speaker 3: that you've got great people around you, you know, he
• 56:16
  Speaker 3: cares about the league as much as anyone that I've
• 56:21
  Speaker 3: come across and in our league. And, you know, I'm
• 56:24
  Speaker 3: certainly lucky to have them have them on our team
• 56:27
  Speaker 3: and appreciative of Roger and the team in, in Ottawa
• 56:31
  Speaker 3: for letting us have them.
• 56:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I know it's, One of his last games for
• 56:36
  Speaker 2: James was actually in Brantford, and he was right beside us.
• 56:39
  Speaker 2: We were chopping it up about officiating and everything in
• 56:43
  Speaker 2: the league about rules and stuff. Great learning experience talking
• 56:47
  Speaker 2: with James Boyd. And I mentioned officiating. We talked about resources,
• 56:51
  Speaker 2: but the resources for officials, it seems like every year
• 56:54
  Speaker 2: it's growing. You see the camp that you have now
• 56:56
  Speaker 2: with the officials, and every year now you're seeing referees
• 57:01
  Speaker 2: make that jump to pro hockey more consistently.
• 57:03
  Speaker 5: How.
• 57:04
  Speaker 2: how far has that come here in your time, Brian,
• 57:07
  Speaker 2: officiating resources for the officials? I mean, it feels like
• 57:10
  Speaker 2: every year there's guys going pro.
• 57:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 57:13
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean, that's, that's been far preceded me. You know,
• 57:18
  Speaker 3: this league has not only been the number one league
• 57:20
  Speaker 3: in the world for developing players. It's the number one
• 57:22
  Speaker 3: league in the world for developing officials, you know, at
• 57:25
  Speaker 3: the NHL level, at the international level. And so we're very,
• 57:29
  Speaker 3: you know, incredibly proud of that.
• 57:31
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 57:31
  Speaker 3: Every league on the planet and every sport on the planet,
• 57:33
  Speaker 3: officials suck. You know, it doesn't matter what sport you're in,
• 57:36
  Speaker 3: what league you're in. And that's what officials are to fans.
• 57:41
  Speaker 3: But we really do have some of the very best
• 57:43
  Speaker 3: officials in hockey. We're proud of being able to develop
• 57:47
  Speaker 3: them and send them on to higher levels. You know,
• 57:50
  Speaker 3: we bring on new young officials every year. Our officials
• 57:54
  Speaker 3: who represented the OHL at the Memorial Cup were the
• 57:56
  Speaker 3: youngest of the officials that were there. So that kind
• 57:59
  Speaker 3: of speaks to the movement of new officials. You know,
• 58:02
  Speaker 3: in the last couple of years, we certainly put together
• 58:04
  Speaker 3: kind of an additional strategic plan around development, investing. And
• 58:08
  Speaker 3: you mentioned, you know, we do a couple of big things.
• 58:10
  Speaker 3: We do a big development camp in the springtime and
• 58:13
  Speaker 3: identification camp. Those are for young officials in the system
• 58:15
  Speaker 3: that are you know, aspiring to work in the OHL.
• 58:18
  Speaker 3: You know, we've kind of grown that event and made
• 58:21
  Speaker 3: it centralized and done more with it. We have a
• 58:23
  Speaker 3: massive training camp in August, just like we have for players.
• 58:27
  Speaker 3: We have one for officials as well, you know, throughout
• 58:31
  Speaker 3: the season training environment. The investment that the league has
• 58:34
  Speaker 3: made in speedo and the video technology has is like
• 58:38
  Speaker 3: night and day and what it allows us to do
• 58:41
  Speaker 3: with officiating and player safety and what the teams are
• 58:44
  Speaker 3: now starting to utilize it for in the second year
• 58:47
  Speaker 3: of having that technology available. So yeah, you know, do,
• 58:51
  Speaker 3: do officials get everything right? Of course not. Coaches and
• 58:54
  Speaker 3: players don't get everything right either. And, you know, we've
• 58:56
  Speaker 3: got a, we've got a really dedicated team that's trying
• 58:58
  Speaker 3: to make it better every day and improve what we're
• 59:01
  Speaker 3: doing on the ice and officiating side of things. And
• 59:04
  Speaker 3: having a guy like James who, understands it from so
• 59:06
  Speaker 3: many different angles is also part of leading that.
• 59:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: The stripes are always going to be the enemy, but Hey,
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: they do a great job. And again, they're not, not
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: everybody's perfect, but you know, it's continued to develop and grow.
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: My last question for you, Brian is a little bit
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: based off of that. The new head check health initiative.
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: What can you tell us about why that was so
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: important and why you guys wanted to implement that this
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: season and how you think that's going to you know,
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: obviously affect players' health mentally and physically in a better
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: way going forward?
• 59:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, that was really just about kind of standardizing,
• 59:40
  Speaker 3: you know, our return to play protocols, our health safety protocols,
• 59:43
  Speaker 3: the technology that we're using in those protocols and ensuring
• 59:48
  Speaker 3: that we have, you know, a higher standard when it
• 59:50
  Speaker 3: comes to, when it came to, you know, concussion management. And,
• 59:54
  Speaker 3: You know, it's something that the league had been really,
• 59:56
  Speaker 3: really good at.
• 59:57
  Speaker 2: Dr.
• 59:57
  Speaker 3: Zarnada has led that for us for several years of
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 3: the CHL as a whole. And this was just kind
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 3: of the next step in integrating technology that's available to
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 3: us to be able to make sure that we're best
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 3: in class in that area. That is ultimately what we're
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 3: striving to be, whether it's in officiating, whether it's in
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 3: player development, fan experience like that. We want to be
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 3: best in class and we want to be best in
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 3: class in every category that there is. You know, we
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 3: learned from the NHL, we learned from other leagues. Just
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 3: because we're not the size of the NHL doesn't mean
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 3: that we can't operate at a premier level and be
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 3: best in class. And so, you know, that was a
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 3: big initiative. Having Greg Kimberley now in his third year
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 3: in the role of Director of Player Safety, you know,
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 3: a lot of people might think of him, you know,
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 3: kind of as the disciplinarian for the league and he
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 3: is that, but all of the other things that he
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 3: does working with the ATs and the medical teams, the
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 3: equipment technology, like we implemented all the anti-cut technology equipment
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 3: two seasons ago as a requirement for all players, making
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 3: sure that the standards are high, improving other sorts of areas,
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 3: you know, the work that we've done this recent year
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 3: around fighting and other sorts of things to make sure
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 3: that you know, the game is as safe as a
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 3: physical sport can be. And, you know, I'm a fan,
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 3: as big a fan of contact as anybody, you know,
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 3: having been a professional football player, I love contact and physicality,
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 3: but we need to do it in the right way.
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 3: And part of that is also training the players, like
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 3: how to protect themselves on the ice, how to take
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 3: a hit, how to not get themselves into dangerous situations,
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 3: and also working with our teams to make sure that
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 3: that is a coaching point as well, because it's not
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 3: just about, you know, the player delivering the blow, it's
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 3: sometimes about the player making, the player receiving, making sure
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 3: that they didn't put themselves in a, you know, compromised
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 3: position as well, and so having Greg Kimberly in that
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 3: role and be able to work with all of those folks,
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 3: it's just another resource that we've been able to establish
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 3: in the last two seasons to try to advance those areas.
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 3: And once again, you know, be, you know, be a
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 3: best in class in the world and in, in this,
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 3: in this area.
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: Colin, take us home.
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 2: Yep. My last question for you, Brian, and we get
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 2: told this all the time, job interviews, everything. What is
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 2: the five-year plan for the OHL? The, What would you
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 2: like to see five years from now? What would you
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 2: like to see here in the Ontario Hockey League?
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, certainly, you know, continuing on our growth
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 3: trajectory is paramount. And we've seen, you know, we've had
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 3: incredible growth on our attendance, on our partnerships, on our
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 3: players moving on to the next level. um, you know, finding,
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 3: finding some kind of stability in the hockey system. Obviously
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 3: this is a massive change that occurred two seasons ago.
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 3: We're still not kind of at a stable place across
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 3: the system. We've been a beneficiary of this. Like we've had,
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 3: you know, we had 188 players come into our league
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 3: last year, record number of Americans each season, international players, um,
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 3: which has led to record numbers of draft choices and
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 3: all of the, these great metrics, but there still is
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 3: some of that, um, Instability that exists. Ultimately, we're a
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 3: producer of 16 to 19 year old players for every
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 3: other league in the world that is for players older
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 3: than our league. And that's the NHL, the AHL, international
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 3: professional leagues and the NCAA. And so, you know, working
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 3: that is certainly a big part of the next, you know,
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 3: five-year plan as well. Obviously we have a growth strategy
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 3: in place and looking at how we grow. And part
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 3: of that growth is based on the fact that we've
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 3: got this influx of players, you know, the market is
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 3: demanding it. We've got a number of communities that have
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 3: grown to the point where they could be very good,
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 3: very viable, very strong host markets for the league. A
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 3: lot to accomplish, but it's a real unique time in
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 3: the OHL where we have all these opportunities that we
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 3: just need to make sure that we grab a hold
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 3: of and capitalize on.
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: OHL Commissioner Brian Crawford giving us some time here after hours. Brian,
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: we really appreciate you taking the time as always. Always
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: appreciate catching up with you at the rink and always
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: giving us a lot of great time and honesty. So
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: look forward to obviously. it was great having Jan as
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: the kickoff to the OHL season with OHL opening week
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: being a success, but look forward to chatting with you
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: as we go forward and more league events. And obviously
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: with it all culminating with the Ontario hockey league championship
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: and the Memorial cup in Guelph later this June, but
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: appreciate your time as always.
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 3: Thanks guys. Pleasure. Thanks so much. Have a great season.
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 3: We'll talk soon.
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: Sounds good. Thanks Brian. There was OHL commissioner, Brian Crawford, Colin,
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: great stuff. They're always great to catch up with Brian.
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: You know, he's always a, one that gives us a
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: lot of good insight and obviously a lot of hard-hitting
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: questions as well. He's not afraid to, he's not shy
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: from taking the questions. So, you know, he's done a
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: great job in his first couple of years as commissioner
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: and continuing to want to, you know, make initiatives to
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: make the league better. And obviously with the NCAA and
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: everything going on there as well, we have to continue
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: to try to make the Ontario Hockey League the best
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: development league and sort of the best destination for junior
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: hockey players to want to go to. So that was
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: great to hear from him.
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 2: No, 100%, Brandon. I mean, Very. I honestly, every time
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 2: I talk with commissioner Brian Crawford, I have a great
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 2: conversation with him. He is everything that the league needs
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 2: to represent the Ontario hockey league. I mean, going from
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 2: David branch to Brian Crawford, I mean, it's tough shoes
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 2: to fill for Brian, but he's done a great job.
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 2: And every year you see the league develop as a whole. Right.
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 2: And I mean, he talked about the growth of all
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 2: the players coming here to the Ontario hockey league like that. Like,
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 2: It's interesting with all the Americans. You get those people, oh,
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 2: more Americans in the league, right? But you know what?
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 2: It's growing the game. It's growing the league as a whole.
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 2: And that's what it's all about. And you want the
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 2: best quality on the ice. And I think for the
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 2: league to add all these players and keep the best
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 2: quality on the ice, it just speaks volumes. And the
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 2: commissioner is a big part of that.
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: And I know we're not going to see players that
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: are of the elite caliber maybe stay for those four
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: or five years anymore, but I guess that's just the
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: catch-22 of getting those players here at 16, but eventually
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: them either pursuing their academics or signing ELCs or going
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: to the American Hockey League as well. Those new avenues
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: that are available to players that we just didn't have
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: just a few years ago, right? So I think that's
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: important for the best development path for whatever the player wants.
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 2: Well, it's going to be interesting, Brandon, to see if
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 2: this law goes through about the NCAA, about how many
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 2: international students you can have. That's going to be interesting
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 2: to see if the NCAA actually passes that because that's
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 2: going to affect the NCAA hockey.
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: It will, and it will affect the amount of Canadians
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: that would be able to get scholarships for those teams, right?
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 2: It's unfortunate for the kids that want to go for
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 2: the education, right, that are getting an education. That's unfortunate.
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but amazing stuff there from OHL Commissioner Brian Crawford,
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: and maybe we'll have him back on later in the year.
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: We'll have to wait and see how things go, but
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: it was great to get him on. as a launching
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: pad for the start of the new OHL season. I
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: appreciate him taking some time after hours, after his workout to, uh,
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: to join us there. I think the play, maybe, uh,
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: we need to have a competition, Brian Crawford against some
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: of the players for the bench press, but, uh, it
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: sounds like you can still, it sounds like you can
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: still lift. So, uh, uh, again, appreciate the OHL, Josh Sweetland,
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: everybody else for, uh, setting that up with the OHL commissioner,
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: much appreciated. So calling it to wrap up the show here,
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: power rankings in week one, gotta love these your favorite.
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: Your favorite overreaction of the year.
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 2: Power rankings. I love the power rankings. I can't wait
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 2: for the draft lottery. I should have started that this week, too.
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 2: Eight teams in it.
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: Guelph would have been in it, and we don't expect
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: them to be in it.
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 2: Can you imagine if I did one in Guelph? Oh, yeah.
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 3: Overreaction.
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 2: Guelph fans are going to hate me. I'm trying to
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 2: promote them.
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: I know. That's what you should be doing. So here's
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: the power rankings. I'll read it off for you guys
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: listening to us in audio. Ari Otter, 16. Oshawa Generals, 15.
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: Sioux Greyhounds, 14. Sarnia Sting, 13. Kitchener Rangers, 12. Owenstown Attack, 11.
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: North Bay Battalion, 10. Brantford Bulldogs, 9. Peterborough Peets, 8.
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: Ottawa 67, 7. Saginaw Spirit, 6. Flint Firebirds, 5. Sudbury Wolves,
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: up to 4th. They move up 4 spots. Guelph Storm
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: dropped 2 spots from 1 to 3. Kingston Frontenac's also
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: making a big jump, going up 4 spots to No. 2.
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: And the London Knights going from 2 to 1. Colin,
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: what do you think about it?
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 2: No, it's early. I mean, I wouldn't have moved Guelph to,
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 2: they didn't have a roster. Um, so I wouldn't have
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 2: moved Guelph down, um, to three. I wouldn't have moved
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 2: them two spots. Uh, yeah, I wouldn't have changed much,
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 2: but Hey, not my decision anymore. Um, on the initial,
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 2: on the initial rankings, but it's interesting. I, uh, it's
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 2: so hard week one, you know, like it, it's tough.
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 2: I don't even look at, I don't even look at
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 2: special teams until the month. Cause you don't know, like what,
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 2: Guelph power play, you know, like it's not really fair
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 2: to be able to judge a team like that. They
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 2: scored one goal. They're a minus. I guarantee you, this
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 2: will be the lowest goal deferential. The Guelph storm are
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 2: going to have all year and their goal deferential minus 10.
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 2: I guarantee you that I'll never be a minus 10
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 2: again after their next game. Um, So that's where I'm
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 2: at with it. It gets so hard this early. It's
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 2: so hard. I know we usually didn't do really a
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 2: power ranking until a month in. It's just so hard
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 2: to update it.
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I mean, look at those standings right there. Brantford,
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: we didn't know what they were going to be coming
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 1: into the season. They're top of the Eastern Conference right now,
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: along with Sudbury and Oshawa, 2-0 start. No, Jack Moore's
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: fired up about that one, but Kingston as well. So
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: we got four teams in the East that are 2-0 ahead.
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: Only one in the West is 2-0, and that's the
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: London Knights. Everybody else is at least 1-1 or 0-2. So,
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: you know, who's going to be the last team standing
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: with the undefeated streak?
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 2: I don't know. The Eriotters. The Eriotters. I guess they're
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 2: 1-0 too.
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: Sorry, I'm just saying.
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 2: The Firebirds. Yeah, you know what? It's interesting to see
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 2: who's going to be the last team. Who will be
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 2: the last team to lose? Guelph would have been the favorite,
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 2: but It's funny, we talked about it last year. Well,
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 2: Brantford lost the first game to Kitchener, then they didn't
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 2: lose in regulation until, like, November. So, it's interesting to
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 2: see what team will go first. Sudbury's hot. Oshawa's hot.
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 2: Start the year, they're ready to go. Kingston looked good yesterday.
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 2: They looked really good night one. I mean, night one,
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 2: I mean, the Peterborough Peets were kind of... I don't know.
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 2: I said goaltending coming in was going to be a
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 2: question mark. On last week's show, I said the Peets goaltending.
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 2: That was... That was, I guess I'm putting them on the,
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 2: I'm putting them in the sin bin for the weekend. I,
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 2: I feel like that was kind of one that kind
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 2: of shocked me in a negative way. I thought Peterborough
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 2: was going to be a little bit better than what
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 2: they looked in week one. Obviously it's week one. I'm overreacting,
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 2: but I feel like the Pete's could have been a
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 2: little better. I don't know. I thought they didn't look
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 2: that good and Kingston getting out shot, I guess, in
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 2: night one to the Pete's, but goaltending is part of
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 2: the team, right? So, yeah.
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: Adam Novotny is still gone too.
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 2: So that's a big one. Yeah. Then that's a big
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 2: one as well. If I were to project the last
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 2: team to be undefeated, I think it'll be the London Knights.
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: Let's for the sake of the show. And for what
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: we're trying to do, let's say Sarnia sting.
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 2: Let's say, Hey, I want Sarnia to have a good year.
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 2: I want the hive to be the hive. I want
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 2: it to be buzzing in the hive. You know, like
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 2: I want them to go there and have posters on
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 2: the wall, like of the quotes from this podcast. I,
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 2: you know, I want the Sarnia sting to have success.
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 2: I think that, this is the year they, if they're
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 2: going to get better, it's gotta be this year, right?
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 2: Like you can't go four years without making a playoffs
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 2: in the Ontario hockey league. I think that's what the
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 2: stinger looking at. And I think they make the playoffs
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 2: this year are flying colors. It's like when I used
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 2: to try to get C's to get degrees and all
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 2: of a sudden you get a B and it's like, Ooh,
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 2: I don't even know how I did that, but maybe
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 2: the sting will do it.
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: Well, you can miss the playoffs four years in a row.
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah. True.
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 5: True.
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: Take a screenshot of this because this will probably be
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: the last time you see the Guelph Storm last place
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: in the Western Conference.
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 2: There's another one, too.
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: Take a screenshot of this if they go on to
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: win the OHL Championship and the Memorial Cup.
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 2: Look at their power play, Brandon. Their penalty kill. Everything. Everything.
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 2: Like I said, they played the Air Centennials. Like, no
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 2: offense to the Air Centennials. They got a great program,
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 2: but they played their affiliation team. Like, I can't cut up.
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 2: Guelph at all if I say anything negative about Guelph
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 2: this weekend it doesn't even count for them their home
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 2: opener their first opening game is this week their first
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 2: game this week is their opener they should do their
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 2: lineups and stuff for their next home game that should
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 2: be their next like home opener type thing in Guelph
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 2: because I feel so bad for Storm fans yeah.
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: Well I'll be in Guelph on Friday doing some interviews
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: there for what is in my opinion their home opener
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: but we'll have to wait and see there We'll have
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: some great pieces up on armchairgmsports.com. If you guys want
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: to check out some of our great written pieces, Joel Vanderlaan,
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: Christina Felice and Elliot Hooten doing a great job for
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: us on the right written side, as well as Colin always,
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: you know, getting in there with some of the quotes
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 1: and things like that for our written pieces, the encyclopedia
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: of the network.
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 2: Joel and I, Joel and I just hammered one out
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 2: last week on, I think it was Thursday night. Yeah.
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 2: Last Thursday night during Thursday night football. What, what great,
• 1:13:32
  Speaker 2: great writing. That was a Joel and I write in
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 2: an article, collabing on an article during Thursday night football
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 2: when I was all upset about the Broncos, but it
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 2: all worked out.
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: So we're our last part of today's show. It's going
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: to be calling, helping me out because, uh, I was
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: asked to be part of this Friday forecasters for the
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 1: Friday night face off in the Ontario hog league. What,
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: what a star studded crew here. We got, uh, Greg Cowan,
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: Jean Pereira, Ben Leeson, Brock Otten, Josh Brown, Ryan Payette,
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: and myself. So, um, starting off hot, uh, in, uh,
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: giving tribute to my Atlanta Falcons with a nice 0-1 start.
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: Picking the Kitchener Rangers. Shout out to Greg Cowan, Ben Leeson,
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: the only two to pick the Owen Sound attack, and
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: a 1-0 shutout victory in Kitchener for their banner-raising Pierce
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 1: Bowie getting the goal, and Ryerson Leanders getting the shutout.
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: I should have picked the former Sabres goaltender. That's a
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: misplay on my part, but start off the season with
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: a hot and ready 0-1, Colin, but this is going
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: to be cool going forward, and you're going to help
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: me make my pick. So this week is the Niagara
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 1: Ice Dogs at the Saginaw Spirit. What do you think
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 1: I should lean here?
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 2: Well, I think you're leaning towards Saginaw, no doubt. And
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 2: I think eventually for those on video, I'm going to
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 2: have a whiteboard above my shoulder. I'm going to wear
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 2: the cape. I'm going to look like a college professor.
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 2: I'm going to get the old movie theater 3D glasses,
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 2: pop the lens out. I'm going teacher mode here. And
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 2: I'm taking, I am hammering. And now you know what
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 2: the problem is with this? Now there's going to be
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 2: quotes when you're wrong. Teams are going to post all
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 2: the picks, right? But I am hammering the Saginaw spirit.
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 2: And I know there's a fellow forecaster on this forecast list, Brandon,
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 2: named Josh Brown, who I hope also listens to this.
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 2: Who I know, a big supporter of the Finley. He's
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 2: a global ambassador of the OHL and 60 podcasts. And
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 2: I know for a fact that I know the Saginaw
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 2: Spirit are going to win this hockey game. I don't
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 2: know by how much, but they're going to win this
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 2: hockey game. And I think you look at the guys
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 2: they got returning this week in Saginaw. Good things are happening.
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 2: Jelkin's flying player of the week. It's too much for
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 2: the Ice Dogs. It's too much for the Ice Dogs.
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 2: You're going to stay icy against the soaring Saginaw Spirit.
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 2: Saginaw Spirit, Friday night, face-off winners.
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: Sorry to our friend Reece Dumanee. He's going to be
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: calling the game in Saginaw for that Flint Sag road
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: trip for Niagara.
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 2: And you're going Denver Bronco one-on-one, B-Cap. You're going Denver
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 2: Bronco one-on-one. We're waddling the next week.
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 1: We are going to waddle. I am picking the Saginaw Spirit,
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: and I'm expecting Brady Wassland to have a big game
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: against his former team that drafted him fourth overall a
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: few seasons ago. And he's off to a good start.
• 1:16:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, he scored a highlight road goal, two goals,
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: two assists with Jilkin. Levi Harper, my defenseman of the
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 1: year pick, had a great week as well. Brody Peepoy,
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 1: you know, draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs. So
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 1: Saginaw's got a sneaky good roster, and I think Dylan
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: Clark's going to enjoy calling their games this year. But,
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 1: you know, as much as the Ice Dogs are a
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 1: part of my heart, I got to go Saginaw Spirit
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: on this one.
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 2: Me too.
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 1: I got you, Brandon. I'm getting back to 500 this week.
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 2: You're going Bronco style. Did I convince you? How was
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 2: the convincing aspect? I know we're going to get a
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 2: text from Josh on it.
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: I was already going to lean Saginaw, but you made
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 1: my decision pretty easy. There we go. Colin's going to
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 1: be my advisor this year for the Friday Night Forecast picks.
• 1:16:49
  Speaker 2: This could get ugly.
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: It could get real ugly, but, uh, started off on
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: one with, uh, Owen sound taken down Kitchener. So Colin final,
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 1: final thoughts here as we wrap up, you know, week
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 1: one of the OHL season going into week two. Again,
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 1: it really almost feels like week one because of all
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 1: the players coming back from NHL camps. So what are
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: you hoping to see this week as we are going
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 1: to record on Tuesday next week?
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 2: I think the golf storm don't lose a game this weekend. Um,
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 2: I think that's a big one. I think Guelph, you're
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 2: going to create momentum here with their roster. I think
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 2: that's a big one for the Storm. Obviously, this could
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 2: bite me by saying that, but I think Guelph has
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 2: a successful weekend this weekend. And I expect to get
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 2: guys back, and I expect it to be a full-strength
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 2: OHL soon. And I think that's the biggest beauty of
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 2: the league, right? And it feels like it's the week
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 2: one of the season going into this week. Teams are
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 2: getting their guys back. It feels more healthy. You're going
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 2: to get a Friday night face-off win this weekend. It's
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 2: all going to be good. We're going to be strutting
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 2: our stuff into Tuesday night next week.
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Waddle, waddle, waddle. Waddle, waddle, waddle. That's going to
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 1: wrap it up for today's live episode of the OHL
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: in 60 podcast and week two for us here in
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: the 2026-27 Ontario Hockey League season. Thank you to everybody
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 1: tuned in live here on the video version on YouTube.
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: Make sure to hit like and subscribe, smash that bell,
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 1: and comment your thoughts on today's episode. We always want
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: to hear your guys' feedback. And thank you to those
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: listening the next day on your favorite on-demand audio podcast platform.
• 1:18:16
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• 1:18:22
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• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: once again to OHL commissioner, Brian Crawford for being able
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: to join us and talk about the upcoming initiatives for
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 1: the Ontario hockey league and Josh Sweetland, the manager of
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: communications for setting that up for us. So for my cohost,
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: Colin Ward, mine is Brenna. That's it for another episode
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 1: of the OHL in 60 podcast. And we will chat again.
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 1: in eight days. You're listening to the armchair GM sports network.
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah.