Latest / College Hockey Mouth / Episode 28: CHS Playoff Recap and AAU Nationals Preview

Transcript

Episode 28: CHS Playoff Recap and AAU Nationals Preview · College Hockey Mouth

• speaker-0: Hello everyone and welcome to the Kalachocke South podcast. Kalachalkey Mouth. This is episode 28, and it's our playoff recap. Guys, we just wrapped up a successful playoff weekend. ⁓ what was it, 34-35 games in four days? Pretty much from sunup to sundown. We were at the Panthers Ice Den in Coral Springs, Florida. We crowned our four champions and guys. get you guys back in your hometowns and it was awesome to meet you in person. Well, knew you guys, but I mean see you guys, you know, all together at once. just what an unreal week. I mean, Danny, we'll start with you, man. How were you feeling about everything post ⁓ playoff? speaker-1: I'm feeling a lot more rested now. I told Devin and and Gavin w when we were talking about when we wanted to record this. I wanted to do it as soon as possible because I still wanted to be in like the the post playoff fatigue because it's true. Like we were there for you know teen hours, you know, two of the days. But man, it it was just incredible. ⁓ shout out to Kyle for ⁓ setting everything up and ⁓ you know, it it it definitely logistically was stressful. ⁓ when we were putting everything together and in terms of, you know, making sure we had enough staff and the broadcast. But man, it created such a a unique and fun atmosphere. And we we had some awesome, awesome help that, you know, we can't overstate ⁓ how huge they were in making sure everything came across smoothly. I don't think there was a any point where we were we really fell behind, which is almost unfathomable considering the amount of games ⁓ we had. But yeah, ⁓ awesome experience. ⁓ kinda sad that it's over now because it was a blast. But ⁓ yeah, and and you know what, gotta shout out these two guys here who killed it on the broadcast. Devin calling games, a sideline, play by play, color, Gavin producing color play by play, and all of our broadcast talent did a great job. Really, really happy with how it came out and all the content we were able to produce. ⁓ yeah, what a weekend. speaker-0: You know, I think about all of the late night shenanigans when people were getting really delirious on like Friday night, Saturday night, 'cause I think all of us collectively lost probably hours of sleep. I don't know if I got more than like four or five hours of sleep on each of the nights until Sunday. And that hit me like a truck Sunday night for sure. You know, Gavin, so special to have you and Noah out from Florida. Southern and your fiance Lena, just incredible job on the Den rink. You know, how does this play off experience in your mind? speaker-2: Yeah, it was it was one of the best experiences, you know, going into it is kind of one of those things that I've worked a couple of tournaments throughout the year, Columbus, you know, Battle at the Beach, and you're always like, ⁓ I can do this for two days. You know, like this is a great two day stint and go home and you're like, You get to rest. Well, it's a gauntlet. Five days is a lot. For the teams, for the people doing it. I mean, so shout out to all the staff. And it was awesome to have Lena and Noah get to do this with me as well. And Lena working for every game, worked honestly more games than I did. She was on camera for every single game on that den rink. So big big credit to her. ⁓ we we came home and ⁓ took a four or five hour nap. I got a text from Noe said he passed out from four fifteen to eight forty five. So just you know, it was a three hour drive back and then knocked out. But I mean it was awesome. ⁓ you know we switched rinks at the end of it and I I told Danny before the championship game I missed the Den rink a little bit because you were between the benches. So you could hear the chirps between both sides, whether the mics picked them up or not, you know, you got to hear ⁓ you got to hear the the waving, all that stuff, the teams arguing with each other, it was great. And then even like the players asking for shout outs for their family. So being between the the benches was cool, but ultimately it was one of the greatest experiences ever. And it kind of is one of those moments where you're like, I know I could do this for the rest of my life because of if you can handle five days, thirty five games and being in a rink for fourteen hours, you're just you're a special kind of person and ⁓ Hockey's meant for you and that's just that's what the weekend taught me. And so shout out to everyone who was working it, putting it together, and a big shout out for Kyle for turning into what we would say is a many nationals. speaker-0: There's moments in broadcasting and hockey where you earn your stripes. Feel like all of our staff earned it and then some with how much load everyone put on and and just unbelievable job. It was so much fun. And we could sit here and and think about the stories and the people and we'll get to all of that. We're gonna recap the best we can the games from the weekend. We had some real good ones. We had some lopsided ones and everything in between that you could ask for in thirty four or thirty five games. So We started off on on Thursday. We had the M3 playing games, the round one games. And we started off the day with Tampa versus Embry Riddle. And Tampa, you know, as we we talk about these games, kind of their story begins with this in that they were supposed to be a top four seed and get a first round bye. At the very end of the year, they drop in the rankings. They have to play number twelve seed Embry Riddle. They take this game handily. They scored from Brendan Sickles, who had an excellent tournament on the power play. Alex Valencia, Ryan Wilbur, Cal Hamrington added more, and Eric Lerhalp ended up being the final one. They cruised over Bob Joyce's squad, who had a heck of a season themselves. At times they were one of the biggest triumph stories and got into the twelve seed, but they fall five to one. Second game was Bama versus UCF, number seven seed versus ten seed. UCF walked into this game ready to go. Alabama, I feel like we talked about their strength of schedule being why they had gone up in the rankings. They hadn't won a whole lot of games this year. And, you know, still a a hard performance from them. But goaltender Luke Haggett had his work cut out for him. It was a nine to two win. And, you know, just Thomas Solar with a hat trick. Jacob Fuller, four goals. Colin Jackson, three assists, and a lot of guys that collectively put it to Bama, especially in the second and third period. So they moved on to day two with that. And then KSU took on number nine Tennessee. This was a rematch from earlier in the season, and the score ended up being the exact same as when these two teams played in the first semester. Six to two, Kennesaw State win. Maurice Legaux had a hat trick and support with Sousa, Kravis, their leadership group. Some of their new guys, Jonathan Shaw, had first time I hadn't seen him on the ice, second semester edition looked terrific on their blue line, and that was a lot of, you know, what Kyle Stevenson wanted his group to do, and they They took care of Tennessee, who played hard, ran away at the the end. And, you know, to wrap up the day, it was Clemson beating a a Hardy Vanderbilt team. And, you know, Gavin, you saw this game. Debarta LaMayo was solid for Clemson starting it out. You know, Goveo was big. They survived at the end. Vanderbilt was down by a goal with three minutes left. They put maybe nine or ten shots on Clemson's netminder, but the Tigers survived and played on to day two. And, you know, I think we learned that the ⁓ three teams that deserved to be there and one games, big games in the regular season ended up coming out of this day. speaker-1: Definitely. I think what stood out to me on that first day, ⁓ the first game that I worked specifically was the Bama and UCF game. I think Tampa Ember Riddle started about thirty minutes before then. But that felt like the quintessential like the first period in particular was like the quintessential, like, okay, now we're in the playoffs. Like, you know, when whenever, you know, if you have a team in the playoffs, ⁓ the Stanley Cup playoffs in particular, you you sensed the different level of urgency in that first period. Immediately. Everyone's hitting everything. Every shot's on net. Everything feels important and hectic. And that's exactly what the first period was like. It was three to two. I think Bama e ended up with a two one lead at one point and there there may have been a a taunting penalty that that was costly for for Bama there. But yeah, so that that was like the first like okay, this is playoff hockey. That this is little bit different. Yeah, Clemson and Vandy was a heck of a hockey game. Vandy was super impressive. ⁓ and we got the first taste of of the den rink, which I mentioned over and over again ⁓ that weekend, just had such a unique and special atmosphere because of how enclosed it was. So all of the sound, you know, reverberated through the room and it was it was it just made it like two to three times louder. And so it sounded like you were playing in a packed arena even though, you know, y there was hardly any seating. speaker-2: Yeah, and that denrank was like I said, probably one of my favorite places to call a game, honestly. You get a different atmosphere. You've gotta watch for pucks. I got hit by one of ⁓ in one of the games, caught me in the leg in the middle of a call. So that one for the video is right there. Abused Gavin Sib. Weena wrote that. speaker-1: No. speaker-2: So yeah, that one caught me in the leg during USF Clemson's win and ⁓ we'll talk about later. But yeah, KSU Tennessee, that was ⁓ two teams that I've never gotten to watch before. So it was really cool to see on Tennessee the speed that they have and a lot of young players on that roster. So Tennessee's got a lot of I mean, obviously they have an M2 team, so you're gonna have a lot of younger guys who are gonna have to find ways to grow as a player if they wanna either A move up or just turn into a competitive team. And they were competitive. For a while and KSU just relied on some experience. I mean, Reese Legaux was ⁓ was a guy that Kyle Stevenson talked about being a game changer. He got the game winning goal with eleven twelve left in the second, and then it was pretty much KSU from there in the third period scoring three unanswered. A lot of those from those veterans g veteran guys. So day one was a success, not as many games, a couple breaks between, but saw some great hockey on day one from the ⁓ three division. speaker-0: Awesome stuff. And for the sake of continuity, we're keeping it by division. So we're talking about ⁓ three to start here. And on day two, it was the eleventh of ninth place games that took place. Ember Riddle versus Vanderbilt. Ember Riddle won six to two and they had their way with this four nothing lead late in the second. Kruost and Bob Joyce's squad, we're going to see them finish the tournament that way. Alabama took down Tennessee three to two for the ninth place game. Dodderer and Seckenheim were the only goal scorers for Tennessee. ⁓ Koshurkian, Groves, and Ditondo scored for Bama, and the game-winning goal, fifty seconds left in regulation was pretty great to see. speaker-1: I've got a button just a second here, Devin, because we probably butchered the this guy's last name so many different ways. Kish Carrion is what I heard from Hold on. I just had audio. Hold on. Watch ESPN just started on my computer for some reason. How about I just hit the mute button? There we go, guys. Danny Danny figures out his technology. ⁓ anyways, Kish Carrion is his last name, Devin, and he's a heck of a player. speaker-0: I hope nobody takes offense. We ⁓ set a lot of names. I think we set a record for the most amount of names said in four days. little slip-ups here and there. I I just ⁓ happy for Bama to finish out their season that way. And and you know, quick note on Tennessee. I talked to Kenny Richter earlier that week and they had a tough year. Not as many games they won on the schedule, started later than everybody. They have a lot to build on there in Knoxville. I I know they'll be back with a a better squad and more experience next year. In our quarter final, number six seed Clemson took on number three seed Florida Golf Coast. And this group was on f ⁓ as ready to go. ⁓ you'll see a playoff team. Clemson had a hard game against Vanderbilt the night before, and it it it showed, you know, they I think Vanderbilt ⁓ Clemson wrapped up at twelve forty five in the morning. They played this one early the next day and just BJ Ricardi was a brick wall, a twenty nine safe shutout. Ice Eagles outshot the Tigers sixty to twenty-nine. It just was not ever Clemson in this game. And Jack Lee at a hat trick, Nathan Walker, and Daniel Lysen scoring, and that was the story there to move on to the semifinal. Tennesaw State took on the South Florida Bulls. Eleven to five USF win in the first had an insane start. Five to one after the first. I mean, they they rattled off. I think it was four or five goals in the first ten. Ten minutes and it just never felt like KSU had a chance at that point. Grant Dietz had a hat trick, Ethan Coran, two goals, Jonathan Heller, a lot of different guys just showed off the depth. And that's something that USF needed to have come alive to win games in this tournament. And you saw it there. Keeping it rolling, Ken middle Tennessee State took on UCF in a nine nothing beatdown. Andrew Caskell, ten of UCF, was pulled in the first seven minutes, just a Really tough way for UCF to go after they they had a dominating performance themselves. And Matt Siciliano, four goals and an assist. Chunchikov, all of the Chunchikov Island members for Danny Bohm were were active in this. Lyndon Palmer, four point night, and a shutout for Aiden Kopeck in goal. Just this was the middle Tennessee State we expected to see. And they looked that fast. They were running laps around UCF in this game. And finally it was South Carolina number four C with number five Tampa. An overtime thriller. This was our game to watch of the day. ⁓ I know hockey house was was on it too. There was just, I mean, Gavin on the Den Rink, a late night slobber knocker, two sides that were kind of even in terms of what we thought about them. South Carolina, of course, had the story about the playoff. They're the number sixteen team in the country, Tampa nineteen. And it's ultimately the Tampa that comes away knocking them off as a five seed. speaker-2: Yeah, it was kind of a weird game because, you know, Tampa kind of came out dominated early, really set the pace, and South Carolina's not not a team that last year they were known for scoring goals and still really aren't. They're known for defense. And so Tampa kind of overwhelmed them early. Luke Ench gave up a weird goal. He tried to play the puck, turned it over, and just let ⁓ Gamecock put it in an open net. So kind of some uncharacteristic play for Tampa as well. And both teams settled in and eventually South Carolina able to tie it in overtime. And it was just, you know, there's a reason this guy's an all-star, went to Europe, got a player of the game over there. Tyler Hofberg sealed it in overtime, a big name, big guy. ⁓ you know, big players shine in big moments, and that's what Tyler Hofberg did there, sending the former Natty champs to the losers bracket. speaker-1: Yeah, I I would have to say if there was one guy I I don't know. If if I had to put together a few players that really stood out as like, wow, they're a lot better than I think we give them credit for, Tyler Hofberg's definitely on that list. ⁓ he's a smaller guy. You know, I think we've had conversations about this, ⁓ or I had with ⁓ someone else throughout the week. He's a smaller guy and for how aggressive that Tampa team is, you think he would He wouldn't really play that kind of style, but he does. And he's aggressive offensively and he gets involved defensively and physically. ⁓ he had a heck of a playoff run and he got the game winner in that game and man, that what a battle that was. You you felt bad that either team had to lose by the time it was over. And then you mentioned, Devin, that that Clemson and Golf Coast game. That was that was an eye opener. Like a s like a serious it was like it was like getting the smelling salts like whoa, whoa, Golf Coast is here. Like the Gulf Coast has has a point to prove. They their first year in the conference, they want to win this frickin' thing. And yeah, I mean they were they were chirping early from the bench and it didn't slow down. Man, they were like a wet blanket on Clemson. And then you had like a like a classic niece hockey game with USF and KSU where there's it's eleven to five and there's fighting majors and kids getting kicked out left and right. So fun quarterfinal games, but we had some real fun in the semis. speaker-0: And talking about that day three, it was seventh place game, UCF, real barn burner with ⁓ Kennesaw State. UFC F was big in this game. They survived a Kennesaw State comeback. I think KSU had a really not so good four or five periods on day two and day three and turned it on late. They got it to overtime, but Tannis Solar, big overtime goal. I know he didn't maybe play the way we expected him to in the tournament, and that's just big for That group that's really young still. They're only graduating three guys to come out and win, take seventh place, and then South Carolina shut out Clemson six consecutive periods without a goal for the Tigers and the end of their run. And Snee, Borsuk, and Minasi with goals, twenty five safe shutoff for Drew Durduff, one of the award members for the conference this year. We'll get to later. Middle Tennessee State and Tampa. So Tampa comes off this thrilling overtime game. They get a crack with the number one team in the conference, number two in the country, but they matched the speed of the Blue Raiders. They have a five-two win in the semifinal. Guy you just talked about that was huge, both ends of the ice, Tyler Hofberg, a number of big plays in this, just taking away scoring chances. I feel like the neutral zone watching this Tampa matched Middle Tennessee State stopping on pucks, getting out of the zone when they had to. Middle Tennessee State, I mean, they missed the net a lot. And they had some great looks, but Luke Ench locked in probably the best performance of his career, no? Uhhuh. speaker-1: Think. And the neutral zone, I'm I'm glad you mentioned that, Devin, because a as you mentioned, Middle Tennessee, the first thing you noticed when you watched them in person for the first time, they are fast. They transition quickly, they're quick puck movers. ⁓ so if Tampa wasn't allowing them to gain any speed through the neutral zone, whether they were getting in on the four check and, you know, you know, slowing down their breakouts or just not letting MTSU carry the puck over the blue line, it was just tough for them. They they had to grind and ⁓ One thing I know I was in the penalty box for the third period. There just wasn't any wasted motion for Tampa. Everything I mean, it not every play was perfect. You know, you can't expect to have perfect execution, but you know what? That if there wasn't a play to make a pass to get out of the zone, they chipping it out. They were doing the high flipper, just making sure that ⁓ you know, they weren't ⁓ turning the puck over because MTSU is they've shown the entire year they can they can score at a really high level and holding them to two goals is is a huge feat. speaker-0: It was a really great coaching performance from Jack Walsh and they took penalties but they killed him off. The way Tampa did this with three unanswered, Brendan Sickles, Tyler Hofberg for Aiden Rodriguez, Ryan Joyce at the end, just a matching performance. J J. Murray's squad though is going to nationals, so they're gonna have maybe a bit of motivation now going into a pool play that we expect them to have that speed with and just wake up a lot of teams they meet ⁓ in St. Louis. But Our ⁓ final game of the day was USF and Florida Gulf Coast, a five four South Florida Bulls, thriller. Grant Dietz got it started. FGCU, it was punch, counter punch, two by each side in the third. Chase Weyman scored to force overtime with five fifty three left. And then Jonathan Heller on a four on three power play. You don't like to see it end that way on a on a penalty kill. It was a very tough. I mean Obvious Jacob Lang enrich trip. So not anything ⁓ you know, that was ticky, tacky or controversial. It's just it's the way it ended. ⁓ USF went on to the championship and you know, Danny, I could see you just when we were all settling in on this game, like ⁓ very electric atmosphere, a lot of shouting, a lot of emotion in this, and USF got it done. speaker-1: Well yeah, so I I believe that was so that was Saturday night and that was the last game that was active of the day. So it it was a sellout at the Mes rink. Everybody that was still gonna be hanging around was watching that game and with good reason, like that game was electric, especially that third period, especially like the last ten minutes. It it just ramped up tenfold. And ⁓ yeah, like you said, you you wish it didn't come down to a penalty in overtime, but ⁓ you know what? it happens. I personally don't remember what the trip looks like or what the trip looked like from Langheinrich. But I was I was in the box and you hate to see someone's season potentially end that way. And I believe he's a senior as well. So but that was tough. But man, what a heck of a game. What a battle between these two. speaker-0: Perfect way to cap off Saturday. And heading into our championship game, the Bulls met Tampa in the Battle of the Bay. Of course, it had to be this way. Number two seed versus a number five seed. Now, USF, with you think about the way Tampa played against Middle Tennessee State, they were jacked up and coming off an overtime win. Almost like USF had that same formula on day four here. And Tampa, they might have used everything they had against Middle Tennessee State because USF went after the first a four nothing lead. Max Ratliff was terrific. Two goals in this game. Ethan Cran added one. Deets didn't see him on the five on five. He was basically only playing special teams the entire game shorthanded, up a man. He had a shorty and it just never felt like Tampa until the very end when they had a push was going to make this a game and and it got chippy in the middle. speaker-1: Yeah, you wonder how much ⁓ the four games in four days play to factor in this. There's no escaping it. ⁓ and it's not like Tampa plays a style where they're taking shifts off. I mean, they go at ya. So, I mean, that could be really taxing and also, you know, it's no secret. They're pretty active post whistle, take a lot of penalties. You know, I had some ⁓ you know, misconducts and ⁓ fighting majors along the ways. So and that's really taxing, especially when you're playing day like back to back to back to back. So shout out to them for, you know, digging in and making a game out of it late, but ultimately it was USF's weekend. speaker-0: And their first conference championship, a group that last year was runner up to middle Tennessee State in that crazy scenario where we switched ranks mid game from a Zamboni breaking down and then just ⁓ faced a gauntlet middle Tennessee State team. I felt like ⁓ with this one, I mean Deeds had the game winning goal, but Bogdonoff, it was really the depth that USF proved they had in this. And Tampa, of course, they had a push at the end, you know, goals from Coward. ⁓ Gelman, I believe Cowards too was like straight out of the box. Hoffberg made it interesting at the end. And, you know, if nothing else, we had this conversation throughout the broadcast. Do they have a chance at nationals being number nineteen? They beat number two. They lose by two goals to number six. It's a tough argument. You don't we don't know. But the time of this recording, by the time you'll hear this, you'll for sure see the final ranking. But at the time of this recording, we don't have it. It's ⁓ just I don't know. I don't know if they get in, but if they have, congrats to them and If not, still great season for the Spartans and Jack Walsh and I know they have a ⁓ they left it all out there and for Yeah. speaker-1: With with the with with what they had, you know, with the the path they had in front of ⁓ did everything they could. Obviously they could have won against South Florida. But yeah, I mean look, we're we're hoping they get in. Absolutely. speaker-0: So our ⁓ three championship with USF and big ups to that whole organization, Joe Rhodes, their coach, building a great team. We'll definitely see them at nationals with middle Tennessee State, and they're seeding a weight to be decided. For the women's division, we'll switch it over and we'll circle it on back to when they started on Friday, quarter final with number three South Carolina and number six USF. Our friend Lizzie Penn came on last week, talked about so much anticipation. How do they get Chloe Valente going? How do they support her? South Carolina answered that. It was a back and forth game. They led for most of it, pretty much I think the whole way. Veronica Anderson, two goals. Grace Seaman was massive. Anna McGee Churn and Beckwith, Peary. You go down the list, Gav, in our notes. I mean, ⁓ just ⁓ probably the best game of the day, honestly. And USC and advanced over a really hard fought game. speaker-2: Yeah, it's one of those games that you kind of knew between the two sides was gonna be a barn burner, have a lot of offense, not necessarily too much goaltending, especially when you have the offensive firepower that both sides have. So it was a it was a great game by both sides. speaker-0: So eight to six win. speaker-1: Nothing. No, I I I made a face because we're we're talking about we'll we'll get to it. We'll get to what their game was like in the semifinals, talking about their goaltending. But yeah, let's get let's keep going. speaker-0: Let's keep it We got we got four divisions. We're already at a half an hour, so we're we're trying our best to roll through ⁓ Alabama versus Auburn in this Iron Cup rematch, seven to two Alabama win. Annisel Horchuk with the hat trick. The Tigers did everything they could to keep Alabama off the scoreboard in the first sixty four saves for Emma Gurton in this game in net for Auburn. Just not enough. It was a Alabama team on a mission and they got it done in this one, followed up by Tampa versus Georgia. The Spartans also win by the same score, seven to two. Three different goal scores in the first period. Georgia looked impressive defensively. You can tell they have some building blocks in there. And they got some good goaltending by Lego. Still dope. The Spartans moved on to day two. And then we finished up with a 10 to 1 Florida win. But I need you to explain this, Danny. This is the word that was repeated to me all week by four or five different people. This was the closest 10 to 1 game we've ever seen. speaker-1: I believe the way I phrased it was it was the most dominant ten to one loss I've ever seen in my life. Because I I really can't stress enough how good Clemson looked in this game. They they dominated puck possession. They really did. And Olivia Park, who wound up getting second team all conference goal ⁓ goaltender, was incredible, seriously. You know, was probably the best goaltending performance I saw start to finish the entire weekend. And she had to earn it because th there were a h a bunch of high danger chances and a lot of firepower on Clemson's side. ⁓ and she was so close to getting the shutout too. ⁓ and it was like some fluky play. Of course, there was like four minutes left in the game, and ⁓ she I think she was trying to break up a pass in the middle with her stick and she wound up tipping it in her own net. And I saw her in the hotel after the game, and I was like, ⁓ so close, so close, right? She was like, Yeah, I don't know, I f I felt like scoring on myself. ⁓ but no, it it it was a it was a fun ten to one game. I don't know what to say. Take my word for it if if you don't wanna go back and watch. speaker-0: That finished up our day one of women's action, day two with the seventh and fifth place games. Auburn took on Georgia in the seventh place, a four to one win for the Ice Dogs. Very impressive from Paige Oaks, who potted two goals. Auburn's only goal scorer was Hannah Green on a misplay by their goaltender Gabby Sidman. Kind of interesting there how you see some goaltender mishaps lead to goals, but ⁓ like we said, really strong Georgia team defensively. They got stuff to build on for the future and They'll be at AAU Nationals in Jacksonville in a week's time here, or this week, by the time you're hearing this. So Clemson followed up with USF in the fifth place game, ten to six. Clemson win over USF. A Chloe Valente hat trick wasn't enough. Olivia Yoder added her own. And Gavin called this game through the fog. Now, what was going on in the Den rink this that morning? speaker-2: Yeah, I don't know if it was maybe a mix of like somehow Florida weather got outside. I mean, it looked like you wake up six AM and you just can't see a thing. You walk out your house and you're just like, Where am I? That's what it looked like when you walked into the den rink that morning. I mean, all the glass was fogged over. They had a guy going around trying to squeege it. Still wasn't enough. Kept fogging over. So I don't know how we got through that one play by playing color wise, 'cause you like I said, Noah was on play by play for that one. And dude I don't know how he was able to see what was going on through those through the glass. I mean we talked about the bench being a little bit of an issue. That morning it was the fog and the glass, but it made for a cool atmosphere. You some guys got off after practicing and the first game of the day was just like out it might kind of like outdoor ring vibes. If they just took the roof off and just let the fog in, that's what it would have been like. It was it was it was honestly one of the best environments, but also super weird at the same time. ⁓ speaker-1: Humid morning on the Denrank. ⁓ my god. speaker-0: Unbelievable. Well, Clemson finished up the tournament in a good way there. And the semifinal between Tampa and Florida was perhaps our well, these two semifinals were games of the tournament for their side. The Spartans scored on the first shot of the game, thirty something seconds in, thirty seven seconds from Ava Johnson. At first you felt like, okay, well, Tampa, they have this control. They had the longer bench than Florida, but the the Gators said Heck no, we're in this fight. Christina Ball, Marissa Benia scored two minutes apart and took the lead going in the break. Now, you know, great story going in was that they didn't know if they were gonna be, I guess, well rested enough to to play this Tampa team. I mean, Tampa didn't have to work very hard against Georgia. Florida, you know, they they had this outchanced game against Clemson, but man, they were ready to go and they killed off four Tampa Spartan power plays. One of those a five on three. throughout the second to stay in the lead two to one entering the third. It was Florida defensively holding on. Olivia Parkin net. Danny, you said to us that this was maybe the goaltender of this tournament. She was so locked in from the moment this puck dropped. And if it wasn't for Ava Johnson to answer and tie with three minutes late, we'd be talking about a different story. ⁓ they score with forty seconds left. Josie Burns or no, excuse me, Molly Braga took advantage of bit of a defensive error by Florida in their own zone and took the lead. Unbelievable performance by Florida. You have to give your hat to them. We all thought we were going to see the upset of the tournament, but Tampa survives to go to the final. speaker-1: Yeah, that w that was a a heck of a hockey game. ⁓ man, and it it it it really did feel like it eventually. It Tampa was ⁓ fumbling on some chances there in the third period. ⁓ and then ⁓ well they they tied it at the beginning of the period and then Florida took a lead back. ⁓ my goodness, that that's terrible. I'm looking at the official scoring now. And on ⁓ Ava Johnson's second tying goal of and her third that of the game, they didn't give whoever gave the ⁓ long stretch pass. the assist because that's a shame. That's what made the play, essentially. It was a great hockey game. Whenever Tampa gets pushed like this, it's it's noteworthy because of how dominant they've been in in the division over the the first three years. But Florida defin definitely had the talent to do so and not just hang with them but to beat them. So it's not just a you know a knot in the or a feather in the cap for Florida. It was one for Tampa as well, 'cause Florida's a really, really talented team. speaker-0: Perhaps silver lining is that Florida really proved with their goaltender that they have something there for the future. And big props to Katie DeVoe. I think she had an assist on every single goal, set up some big plays. Beth MacArthur as well had one to take the lead, ⁓ or I guess put Florida even more ahead. And if it wasn't for I think ⁓ you know, some of the mistakes there at the end, we we would have been talking about a crazy story. So that followed up with Alabama and South Carolina. Now, a one-one game entering overtime here, and I can see Gavin smiling because this was just a thriller that neither side was giving an inch here. South Carolina, they could not beat that goaltender and net Natalie Kutz. It was down to the wire. They get it. It's a shootout. Alabama takes it. Talk to me about how much fun you had calling this. speaker-2: Think this was a one a great game. I had the opportunity to call this one with Connor Stein from Miami. He's on play by play for this one over there. But we were talking during the game and before it ⁓ that these two teams met not too long ago, like early in February, and it was a completely different game, completely different story. Still went to overtime, but it was eight to seven with Claire Carson scoring the game winner. So we were we were came into this one fully expecting goals, goals, goals. Like that was that was the mindset. That's not what we got. You know, normally you complain you're like, two teams, not a lot of goals. This was a goalie master class. Mackenzie Cronin specifically I mean, we mentioned it, played a tough game, gave up a lot of goals against USF, did not do that against Bama. And it was kind of tough for both goaltenders as well. Like for it to go to a shootout and how it ended was weird because it was the only one of the tournament, if I'm correct, between across all divisions. And ⁓ and it was kind of weird too because At one point, Bama got forced into Morgan Grisbowski having to take a shot. So no one really knew the rules, and she hopped out on the ice to go give Cutz a tap and then hopped off. And they tried to send Caroline Krakow out there to take a shot. And they were like, no, she's gotta get off. Grisbowski touched the ice. I have a spotter. And Grisbowski, you know, they don't necessarily practice shootouts too much. We don't because they just end up in ties, so you don't see them a whole lot. Or Grisbowski skates over and s had to turn back for the puck because she overskated it. And that ruined her attempts. You know, that was a big, a big moment in it. And it's unfortunate. You know, like I said, I'm not like you don't practice those. So it's unfortunate when that happens. And ⁓ I also felt like a coach at one point. I mentioned that Natalie Cutz on the broadcast hadn't faced too many shots on our blocker side. And I don't know if maybe South Carolina heard me. One of their players went up and beat her blocker side. So I was like, I said this all game, they haven't tested her. But Two goaltenders, great game, and just it obviously sucks for the losing side because you've worked so hard and Alyssa Narzliko sat on the bench for probably ten minutes after the game, just talking it over with the coach, just obviously upset. It's emotional. You've played all season and that's how it ends. It it's gotta end for somebody. And it was just a tough way, but honestly, one of the best games of the day, especially because, like we said, eight seven between the two teams last time they met up. speaker-0: Tough to see. Alyssa's our friend came on the podcast and you know I think for Alabama they they had a mission that a team that was a bit underlooked this year kind of didn't know what they were gonna be up against if they did play South Carolina and they get it done. Alabama rolled into this championship game with Tampa on Sunday. The rematch of last year's conference final. Alabama, the story, Danny, one of this all year was they hadn't had a regulation loss in the Kalachaki South team. Since Alabama, generally in the regular season, hadn't had one, but Tampa looked like Tampa in this game. Three different goal scorers in the first. They never looked back. Joey Burns had the final one and it was a shutout win for Clara Curek and Net. What did you observe for a Tampa team that survived against Florida? Did they just say in this game that no matter what, we're gonna shut down the frozen tide? speaker-1: It looked like one team was prepared for the starting for that start time and the other wasn't. You know, like I I overuse analogies on here. I've too many analogies, I know. But it w it was like Mike Tyson coming out against Michael Spinks and and like their heavyweight title fight. It was a f like if if it was possible for there to be a first round knockout, this would have been a first round knockout. Like they came in and and it was haymakers left and right. Personally, I don't know. I I did camera for this one. I don't know how Alabama got the five shots on goal. Because the puck was in their defensive end the entire period. And Tampa was like very from the very, very first shift of the game. They're playing below the goal line and just grinding. And it was their top line with McClurdy, Ava Johnson and and ⁓ Molly Braga. You know, they're very skilled players, but to get in there and to set that tone immediately where you're gonna grind and play below below the goal line and force Alabama to defend, it really set a tone that lasted all sixty minutes. It it was really no contest. Tampa was better from beginning to end. speaker-0: Gotta give big ups to Carlos Piñeros getting a team rebounded and they take home the College Hockey South Trophy. Four nothing win, get redemption. And you know, I gotta give my my props to a lot of people that we're friends with here on the pod and and that worked really hard in this game. Molly Braga, Ava Johnson, what a tournament for Miss Johnson, number sixteen. You know, every googliata, we had this college hockey south ESPN fantasy league. Yep. Yep. So this was this was the story of women's division for me. During the Georgia game before we had I had gone up to Carlos Pinero and wanted to talk to s to him about some notes and I I saw Avery walk by and first thing I thought of was who's the last person in our fantasy league? Who's last place? Because that the punishment we mentioned last week was you had to sing the national anthem. Gavin or you, what to I forget who, texts me and says, ⁓ it's Avery. So I stop and say, Hey. Congrats to getting this far, but you're singing, right? She goes, What? I'm like, You're singing the anthem. You lost the fantasy. And immediately I could just see her face go red and just smile, like, ⁓ god, she turns away. So Avery was a great sport about it. She went right up to the PA stand. Amanda Michigan announced her as the voice of the Lady Spartans. And it was patriotic. I mean, we had the whole place singing the national anthem. You know, everybody's clapping. Just got so loud in there. ⁓ man, unreal. speaker-1: I've got I've gotta jump in here because Avery, she's awesome. She's a great sport, like like you said. She went through with it. But so she found out that she was actually going to be singing. And her first thought was to text me and ⁓ tell me to tell the PA person that to make sure to announce that she's not a singer and that this is being done against her will and that it's for a fantasy bet. And was the worst thing she could have done. Because I immediately typed out ⁓ a very flowery introduction. I can't remember exactly what it was, but then I sent it in the group me. That was that actually included her because she's on the CHS staff. But ⁓ yeah, I I said something like she's like a splendid Spartan singer and I was like it was a worst, but yeah, yeah, that was a a very ⁓ light moment from the weekend. speaker-2: Maybe we'll maybe we'll give ⁓ a little ⁓ sneak pee. I know there's a clip going around, so maybe I'll maybe I'll put a little bit of it in in here in the video podcast. speaker-1: Yo, that's gotta be the clip. That's gotta be the clip. speaker-2: Yes. ⁓ Can you see? So proudly we hailed at the twilight lasting whose rod stripes and bright stars built us fly for the ramparty watch were so gallantly stream in the Kids right. ⁓ save us that star changes. B Yeah. speaker-0: And your back. My favorite part is everyone's But you know, you know, she started off great. I felt like we we really heard the best of her voice. I just I just knew that when when she hit the and the rock it's red glass She I don't know how hard she would try. She gave it her all. That was amazing. Just man, top three moment of the tournament. Unrealistic. So props to the Lady Spartans. Yeah, I guess that's it. That's that. Move it along, you know. speaker-1: Wasn't that a great rendition? speaker-0: You got your clip, Gav. Congrats. So on the M2 side, when we transferred over three games for this this side of things with three teams, Florida Atlantic and Florida started us off on Thursday night, guys. A fast paced, clean game for the most part. The Albulls, they had a mission in the the late stages. Florida had tied this game up. It was, I believe, 3 3. Leon Billet, Brady Beijer, Jake Murphy, and Jackson Newendike tallied a couple of points. It was not enough for Zach Shields, who played a phenomenal game in goal. And we got to see Rocco Bruno for the first time in a while. Gunnar Stevens has been the story of their team. Four straight wins coming in. Got them through regionals, but Rocco ends up as kinda gonna spoil the awards, but goaltender of the year and like did what he had to in goal. Day two, it was the Spartans turn with the Gators and in a chippy game. Tampa takes the win five to three. Cole Satterdown led the way with two goals. They advanced to the championship game. Tampa net miner, Kyle Meyer, unfortunately left the game in the early third period with an undisclosed injury, but did not return. They they put Eddie Zayn into the game, who was a great net miner for the M3 squad this year. Called up earlier this year, so he's eligible for the M2 squad at Nationals. Just a not so great moment from what was a Fun day. And you certainly hope that Kyle Meyer is okay. We still don't have a an update on how he's doing, but we know he was he was in some pain there coming out of the game. So that led to a day three with Florida Atlantic and Tampa. All of the teams collectively and the commissioner Kyle O'Neill decided to move the championship game up a day. No sense on just playing an extra day on on Sunday for, you know, two sides that are guaranteed a spot at nationals, one of their regionals. So we had Eddie Zayn in goal for Tampa. But Florida Atlantic saw that as an opportunity and they put it on him. A ton of goals in the first. They opened things up, led five to one after two periods. Now, Tampa had a lot of power plays. FAU killed off a ton. They just never gave up the momentum, you felt like. And five different owls with multiple points, seven to two conference championship. The first for Florida Atlantic, surprisingly, in their history in Kalachalkey South. But Gunnar Stevens is named playoff MVP. An unbelievable end to the year for this group. Christian Long and them are rolling it to nationals with a one-two goaltending tandem. The depth perhaps has come alive. Christian Cuccio was a goal scorer in this game. They got Blaise Pepe involved. That's a big story for them. And they beat the rivals in Tampa. For now the ACDC side, our final division to recap on Friday. Started off with Florida Tech and USF and the guys out of Daytona scored four unanswered goals and built a five to one lead. Or not Daytona, Central Florida. That's not that's Embry Riddle. Come on, Dev. Florida Tech, though. They built a five one lead. USF came back and tied it with twelve seconds left from Connor Nickerham. Hope I said that right. But Centennial Centino Chancia had the overtime winner for Florida Tech. Guys, just real quick, I mean, observation, you know, USF fought in this game, but Florida Tech without Braden Curry got it done. speaker-2: Yeah, ⁓ Dan Danny's sideways, sorry. ⁓ that's distracting me right now. But regardless your your video's gonna see that. ⁓ audio's not gonna know that. There we go. Yeah. Florida Tech, you know, I'll I'll get into this later. They ⁓ they struggled to maintain leads in the tournament and some of that's due to some undisciplined play. I've mentioned it in the AC DC division. We haven't seen the best goalie stats. speaker-0: We've seen that, yeah. speaker-2: Some of that's due to a lot of teams having really great offenses. So there's a lot of guys in the AC D C that can score and it affects goaltenders, which sucks because genuinely you sometimes you see some good goaltenders and you get into those games, it's like those NHL games where you're like, it's just not a goaltender's night. It's just like that every n every game in the A C D C typically, because the goal scores are just that good. And Florida Tech able to come out on top of this one, taking advantage of some great goal scoring by, like you said, Santino Chancio, who had a good tournament. speaker-1: I've I've gotta mention Charlie Seraphian on the call for for this game. He he was dynamite, especially the ⁓ the ⁓ the finish here in regulation and then in overtime. Just a dynamite call. He was he was the entire weekend on the mic and off the mic because that guy's is an incredible character. My god, what a great time he is. Yeah, that that that was a ⁓ probably the craziest OT game we saw the entire weekend. I mean, it's hard to beat that. speaker-0: Yeah, it was definitely our story on the social media because it by that point we hadn't had many overtime games starting this on Friday. And that this was kind of the first one we were like, whoa, look what's happening there on the stadium rink. I think it was just a a great way there. And then followed up by Florida State and Embry Riddle and the number six seed, Ryan Smith's crew. Now they had a losing streak coming into this game, played some tough ones against ⁓ two and ⁓ three opponents, but they showed up and they showed up big in this. ⁓ I mean, we'll we'll get to them as we go down the line here, but Ryan Chambray was massive. They just took it in ⁓ in what was a incredible game. ⁓ guys, as we as we continue rolling here, let's keep in mind what you talked about with some of the goaltending or lack thereof. The ACDC, ⁓ man, ⁓ it gets get it gets wild, right? Well, we had Embry Riddle take on USF. The Bulls win this one. Sebastian Middleton with two assists and then Jacksonville took on Florida Tech. Well, I mean Gavin, before we started recording, you called this Jacksonville team. They could have been an ⁓ three. They are that good. Twenty four minutes, two minute penalties, tons of just roughs, guys sent off, like a very scrappy game that ends with Nick Nalmoff having a hat trick, among others. Yeah. speaker-2: This this game was insane. You know, and it was kind of weird because we talk about Rust and Danny highlighting fourth period in there because I don't know how to type. It's been a long day. I called softball before this. Don't worry, I'm seeing the notes. ⁓ But yeah, it was a it was a tough start because Jacksonville hadn't played a game yet, and you know they haven't played in over three weeks, probably. ⁓ have been practicing but not playing. They kind of came out a little rusty, and I and I say rusty loosely. Because they dominated the first period in terms of shots and ozone time. And Florida Tech just had opportunities. And when they had the opportunities, they took advantage. And that's what gave them the three one lead in the at the end of the first period. And Jacksonville something changed between that intermission. Coach Derek Lodermeier went in there, talks to the guys, and they got together and they scored three goals, flipped the script, tied it at four going into the third period or the fourth period, as I would like to say on the notes. ⁓ But Jacksonville came out and it was more of the same from the first period, but way better defensively. And also taking advantage of Florida Tech, drawing all those penalties. When you have twenty four minutes and penalties and over sixty for the entire game, that's a recipe for disaster. I said you're I said something on the broadcast where I'm like, you're not baking a cake. It's a recipe for disaster. I stand by that. That's what happened in the game for Florida Tech. And Nick Naumov getting the hat trick was huge. ⁓ and Michael Gugliata got a goal at the end and he pumped the bench up. That dude's a spark plug for them. So when he's pumped up, that that that bench was electric in that third period. They I think at one point ⁓ Frank Noble leaned over and asked me if Florida State had won because they were trying to figure out who they were playing on Sunday morning. So that was that was one of the other benefits of being between the benches and the Den rink. You got teams asking who they're playing because they're asking if other games are done. speaker-0: In that air bubble across the street, you talked about Florida State. They had a strong and I mean strong performance against Florida, four to one when Matthew Silliman, thirty-two of thirty-three, stopped in a net. They held it down defensively. That was their hallmark. Luke Collins had two goals, Jay Van Ray and Ryan Chambray with two points each. They advanced to the conference championship game as a number six seed. Danny, I'll let you hold your horses on the analogy. I know you're thinking of it for Florida State. On Sunday, ACDC, the third place game, Florida Tech versus Florida. Ten to three. ⁓ Florida win. Kind of, yeah, just a wild game from start to finish. But ⁓ they take it in the third. And then on the championship, Evan, your voice was holding on till the very end. And you needed all of it and then some. ⁓ I mean, this is what this is what everything built towards. You get Jacksonville in there versus a Florida State team hungry. You know. I'll let you take this away. It was phenomenal. Start to finish, one of the best games of the weekend. speaker-2: Yeah, and we mentioned ACDC goaltending being kind of crazy. Well, in this game, they locked in. Connor Rose, Matthew Silliman, I mean both of them, like we said, we got to see a lot more of Silliman because he had to play more games due to them being the sixth seed. Connor Rose from night one to night two, from game one to game two, completely different goaltender. ⁓ stood really tall in his crease. Also had a lot of help from the defense of J U. Arguably the best defensive game of the entire tournament by both sides, ⁓ but One of the things we mentioned is neither team is necessarily as fast. There are a lot of strong skaters, a lot of guys that find ways to muscle their way into the low slot and find goals. Well, that's not how this one got started. Blake Krattenstein jumped off the bench on the rush, took one down and fired one. I mean, there was no chance for Connor Rose. It beat him top right corner. It was just a beautiful shot. And then J U got to their game later. Michael Gugliata, the energizer bunny, as Noah said on the broadcast. drove down, got Silliman into a uncomfortable situation, got him moving around a little bit, something you didn't see too much from Florida State. In a scramble, Googliada finds a stick on the puck and puts in the back of the net. And, you know, big credit to these two guys right here who set up the game winners. ⁓ Luke Collins had an opportunity on a shorthanded break and just not able to tuck it back door. He got rewarded later 'cause effort finds a way to be rewarded. They say Puck doesn't lie. And Luke Collins set up Cole Brunoli, who was One of the faster guys on that FSU roster was all over the ice, buzzing the whole game. And they score with eleven one eleven left in the third. And from there, I mean, it was insane because J U had the opportunity and the guys to get that tying goal and just Florida State found a way defensively. And I don't know if ⁓ Ryan Chombre was hurt, you know. Obviously a gauntlet, maybe got a little banged up, didn't play too much five on five, but the experience and the death from Florida State were the difference in this one. AU's got a lot of freshmen on that roster. It's talking to Coach Derek Lodermeyer after the win vs. Florida Tech. So bright future for that program. It's only their first year. So to end up in a championship game, obviously it sucks to lose, but you can't be too upset knowing you put this all together over the course of six months. And their spring was fantastic. So for it to end this way is it is tough, but that program is gonna be exciting to watch. Don't forget about the Dolphins next year. speaker-1: Yeah, watching the last six minutes or so, because I was on the other rink with Florida and Florida Tech, got to see the last six or seven minutes of regulation. It it was that was an aw awesome atmosphere. ⁓ you know, that that's when those last two days is when it really took on the the nationals feel where everyone in the building, you know, descends onto one rink. You know, it's high stakes, it's a close game. ⁓ you know, I I feel like I might be responsible for the goal because I had just told Noah in his ear what the overtime rules were gonna be for the championship, which would would have been so much fun. Devin, it was gonna be five on five continuous overtime. ⁓ that would have been amazing. But no, an incredible moment to see the you know, it's the the thrill and the agony, you know, the the FSU bench went crazy seeing that goal and then you know what, feel awful for J U. so close to that like Cinderella story, you know, first year program. But as Gavin said, they've got the building blocks and, you know, this isn't this is far from the end of their story. speaker-0: Well said, gentlemen. An exciting one. Loved how Florida State, I don't know if they debuted these. Maybe they had these earlier this year, but first time I saw the tally jerseys in diagonal on the front. That was pretty cool. So happy for for Sean Bray, a friend of ours on the pod, one of the first guests we had here, and Ryan Smith has been a long time coming. That program travels, their story is how far do they travel to practice? Two and a half hours. They win a conference championship. They said their number one goal, the only thing, was that they're gonna win the A C D C League. They did it. They're conference champs and that kind of wraps up our recaps of the games. And you ⁓ speaker-2: You mentioned Ryan Chombre. One thing I gotta say about this guy, 'cause I noticed this the moment he stepped on the ice for their first game against the RAU. Dude's got the coolest stash. I mean, it was like he was pulling off the playoff beard, but he just pulled the mustache. Yeah. Danny mentioned he had it over in Europe, but he had but you could tell he'd been perfecting it, maybe four playoffs, growing it, you know. Playoffs isn't a couple of weeks, it's three, four days. So you know, he was like, I'm gonna get the playoff mustache. And he came out against ⁓ the Ice Eagles and The mustache might have scored the first two goals 'cause he was buzzin' in that first period against the Ice Eagles. But yeah, the mustache for Chombre is on a playoff period. speaker-0: bubble. You know, Danny, I wanted to give you your spot. You you called this ⁓ to a certain NHL team that ⁓ beat the New York Rangers a number of years ago. Yeah, wrong gear. Wrong gear. Wrong gear. I'm thinking of another one. Yeah, they want copyright. speaker-1: So I in my in my recap article, which ⁓ actually didn't get a post on Instagram, we might have to address that later, guys. So ⁓ I I think just about five people read it outside of me and Kyle. ⁓ speaker-2: Don't worry, I'm opening it right now. speaker-1: I likened this Florida State team who was the final seed in AC D to the twenty twelve LA Kings run where the Kings not only made it all the way to the cup, but man, they were incredibly impressive and ⁓ felt like they could have been the top seed and it was all done on the back of really good defense and strong goaltending and you know, Matt Silliman was the runaway MVP, Jonathan Quick was the runaway MVP that year. So, you know what? I'm I again I overdo the analogies, I know. But I felt like this one was was apropos. Matthew Solomon is a heck of a goalie. Didn't play too too much this year and so his numbers weren't as great. But there there's no mistaking the talent that that guy has. speaker-0: Good stuff, boys. Now, as we get into the late stages of this episode, we want to mention that the woman's side is going to AAU Nationals. Tampa, South Carolina, and Georgia will descend on Jacksonville at the community first Igloo. Now, some of the first round matchups to to highlight here. Guys, Georgia takes on Syracuse, a very, very good team from the New York area. And then South Carolina has Quinnipiac. And I don't see it here, but you know, I'll turn it to you, Danny. 'Cause I know this has had a lot of debate about we haven't exactly seen the marketing come out of AAU and all of these teams we talk about are in the ACHA now. But you know, what are you looking forward to most for the woman's side and, you know, is Tampa the runaway favorites to maybe crack the national championship? speaker-1: ⁓ I in good conscience call them the favorites considering Syracuse is undefeated the past two years and you know, they beat Tampa last year in the national championship. And ⁓ from what it looks like on the score sheets, you know, and that's that's not everything, they look like they're as good as they were last year as well. But I I would have to say all signs point towards those two teams eventually meeting again. ⁓ I don't wanna discount the other teams that'll be a part of it. It it's the largest AAU nationals field for a women's ⁓ division ever. You know, two years ago it was three teams, last year it was four. And Tampa, one of the teams Tampa beat on their way to the championship game last year is Springfield College in a tight one. And ⁓ that's who they'll be facing in the first round. So it's gonna be ⁓ it'll be interesting. ⁓ I think South Carolina will be heard from. They're very, very talented. You know, can they string it enough quality efforts together? You know, we'll see. But you know, I I I do believe it'll come down to Tampa and Syracuse. speaker-0: So good luck to the three teams from College Hockey South down in Jacksonville. And it'd be awesome to be talking about a national champion on our next episode. We've got some awards to highlight from the weekend, and they in sequential orders start. We'll go with the woman's side. MVP to Kahloe Valente from USF, the goaltender of the year, Clara Curek from University of Tampa. She was also the playoff MVP for them. Coach of the year, Jack Rosenhammer from the Auburn Tigers. Wraps up that field. MVP for men's division two was Danny Griffin from the Tampa Spartans. Great to see. Such a nice guy on and off the ice. Really leads by example. Strong, hardy defenseman, scores when he can and well deserved. Goaltender of the year for men's two was Rocco Bruno. He gets the three peat guys. Ever heard of him? Now Rocco's been on one heck of a run. CHS European trip, national champion a season ago. Just a an unbelievable guy. If you've ever had the chance to talk with Ro Rocco, he's just a character. He'll always make you laugh and he works his tail off. And now they've got a really good tandem there. Gunnar Stevens was playoff MVP, but congrats to Rocco winning that award. And Nick Kuzlik from Tampa was the coach of the year, leading them to another Nationals and backed in ACHA in their first year. Great to see from that men's division two side. On ⁓ three, Grant Dietz goes back to back on the MVP. Top scorer in the league, by the way, entering ACHA nationals. He is going to be very, very strong. We hope number 17 for them. BJ Ricardi was the goaltender of the year from FGCU. Had his work cut out for him against that USF team, beat him in overtime, but man, such a phenomenal year. I think he had a point nine three two save percentage. That is off the charts. And JJ Murray from Middle Tennessee State gets coach of the year. He takes the Blue Raiders to nationals as right now a number two seed and they dominated their way through the conference up until they saw Tampa in the playoff. But well deserved for those guys. And wrapping up our awards, MVP for AC DC was Nick Nama from Jacksonville. Goaltender of the year, Connor Rose, also from the Dolphins. And finally, the Jacksonville Icemans longest tenured member, new head coach Derek Lodermeyer, led the Dolphins in their Run to the final. So a sweep in A C D C for a Jacksonville group and Gavin, I know how passionate you are when you talk about them. We've given them their flowers. We expect them to maybe even move up at some point in the future. Great job all around. And you can find the rest of the awards, including all conference team members, on collegehockey south dot com and visit our Instagram page for those graphics. So guys, we've gotten through what was that? Thirty four, thirty five games, something like that. I I'm beat. ⁓ unreal. Just ⁓ so much fun. But on a lighter note, I mean, we talked about some of our favorite moments. What is one thing that you're gonna remember most after this weekend and heading into I guess hopefully next season for both of you? I mean speaker-1: I'm gonna thank Gavin. You you can go with yours first if you have one. speaker-2: I like I said, I mean, it was an honor to get to do this with Lena, my fiance, and Noah Gabrilik, who have kind of really helped me since November. I mean, Florida Southern not having a broadcast was a key point since I've started at the school and I something I've been working on since last year. And Noah messaged me over the summer about hey, if I need someone to do color or play by play to hit ⁓ up. And so it was just kind of like, you know, at first it was just like, ⁓ well, we'll see what happens. And never since November they've been locked in. I mean We drove out to Jacksonville once to go call a game because we wanted to, because we could. And so for them to also get to go down to Fort Lauderdale and Coral Springs at the Panthers Icedon and do this was was absolutely huge. It was kind of a surreal to see one how Lena over the course ⁓ has been doing camera and producing for us just how much she loved being there and then Noah ⁓ called one of his first play by play games. We've always done I'm play by play, he's color, called one of his first games. play by play for ⁓ the women's and he got a comment on one of the YouTube that someone was like this commentator is fired up so that was you know it was just cool to see those moments. Yeah, it it was it was an awesome experience to get both of them to come down. And one, I mean, it it's a gauntlet, exhausted after and having to drive home was kind of just like, Man, this it's suck it's one of those moments it sucks that it's over, but you're like happy that it happened and it was awesome to get to do it with them. And like I said, we started the Southern hockey network in November and For it to end I say end but over the summer trying to find things to do to keep getting reps, but for it to end with CHS playoffs was awesome and for them to get to be there to do it with me it was super speaker-1: Yeah. Well I was thinking along the lines of more funny moments. But yeah, now that you mentioned that, yeah. ⁓ to to have the you know, the kind of help we did and the quality help in in particular, right? It's one thing to just take volunteers and we appreciate everyone that we we get. ⁓ there's there's no questioning that. But I I said it to Noah, Lena and Gavin, ⁓ I believe the last night we were there. It was so it was such a stress reliever to have one of the crews that, you know, we knew personally and ⁓ you know, Gavin's always on the ball with, you know, no matter what it is, whether it's his writing, the podcast stuff, ⁓ you know, broadcast. So that that was awesome. ⁓ and just really proud of all the different people we had in to, you know, represent CHS, man. It it's kind of hard to fathom. Like Gavin said it, ⁓ you know, that that ride back, you know, you you think like, Wow, we we're we're entering into a real a real world again where they have no idea of like who ⁓ Tommy Chunchikov is who's like, man, are you guys like living under a rock or something? And it's like, ⁓ my god, you wouldn't believe it. Florida almost beat Tampa in the semifinals. And they're like, Yeah, cool. These guys, they live under a rock. No, but ⁓ yeah, awesome, awesome weekend. Super glad that we had the group that we did to do it together. And my funny moment, and it's not really a moment, it's just the fact that our fine commissioner who helped put this this whole thing together was wearing the meta glasses the whole weekend and would at random points take phone calls and would just like stare off into space and just like he would start talking to himself. And it it it was so so disorienting the first couple of days. I finally got used to it. But yeah, I mean he's ⁓ he's kinda like Iron Man. I don't know. I called him Batman earlier on in the season because you flash the bat symbol up there and he'll just like show up out of nowhere. That's kind of how he is in our group chats. But he was like Iron Man this past weekend. speaker-0: think try to grasp trying to grasp the group and the the connections and the friendships. You know when something's special when you end it and there's a bit of yeah, exhaustion like you said, Gavin, but it was almost like a like a a sadness. I was like, man, like this is this was a a an unreal time. Like it went by in a flash and there was so much that I mean we could sit here and talk names all day. I'm just grateful for the people that made it so fun. You know, Savannah Prefontaine was at a lack of sleep all week, but she did unbelievable. You know, our assistant commissioner needs so much love. Our great media staff, our great volunteers from Florida Atlantic and Lynn and everybody else that came, our broadcast crew, obviously us here, just incredibly dedicated from our producers, you know, Wit Maxwell coming up from Tennessee with Charlie to Mitch Liswith from Florida Atlantic. So you and Noah, Gavin. I mean, everybody stepped up and pulled their rope. And I think it shows the beauty of this conference among the ACHA, which is always kind of run by volunteers. And you think about too player parents, families, coaches, everybody that tuned into our broadcast and watched this silly podcast that we try to be so serious about every week was an absolute pleasure. I'm gonna miss it like heck, but I I'm also just so glad we got to all be there together and thank you. for attending. Thank you for watching, listening, interacting with us throughout the week, listeners. This has been a collective and we wouldn't love it so much if it wasn't for people supporting, you know, had people coming up like Kyle Stevenson saying, I love the pod, you know, and giving me you know, chirping me about things or two we say on here, right? It's ⁓ it's part of the love of it. Unbelievable time. Just so, so thankful for it all. And yeah, my favorite moment Besides one I I can't speak about Danny. If you know, you know on Saturday. Avery Gugliata singing that anthem was an absolute treat. Man, she she is ⁓ an awesome person for that. So that's gonna do it for our playoff recap. We've been here long enough. We're still gonna be having more episodes. We've got our nationals preview next week for the and ⁓ three teams once we find those brackets finalized, and then we'll talk about some of the AAU results on the woman's side. So for everybody here at College Hockey Yourself, for Gavin Coker, our producer, Danny Bohm, co-host, my name's Devin Serra. Thanks so much for listening to episode twenty-eight of the College Hockey Mouth Podcast. We'll see you next week. Have a great one.