BENCHES CLEAR AT MSG! OLD TIME HOCKEY ft. Ken Daniels & Rob Ray – Winged Wheel Podcast – Nov. 16th

BENCHES CLEAR AT MSG! OLD TIME HOCKEY ft. Ken Daniels & Rob Ray – Winged Wheel Podcast – Nov. 16th

is what happens when You don’t show up, Evan. You know, you let me and Brad out on our own and then everything collapses. You got to stop with the pathetic excuses. Oh, my newborn son just came home after 10 weeks in the NICU, you know, had to be there for my family. Like, buddy, there’s a 4-1 lead to protect, and that’s fully on you. Brad and I took some heat. I was like, no, no, I’m deflecting this to Evan. Absolutely not. Are Brad and I taking the heat on this again? So truthfully, I fell asleep when it was 42 and then I woke up and the game was over and the first thing I see are you two dumb asses on the jumbotron and it literally says 42 the score and then the game finished 54 Buffalo. So hey, this is this is not my fault. It it’s my fault that I was not there. All I heard there was when Evan’s attention was on the game, things were going well and Evan fell asleep and stopped watching the game and things went off the rails. I’m just saying. Yeah. Oh, you’re a new father. You can’t get any sleep. You have to catch up on games afterwards. Grow up, dude. It’s not, you know, the the boots on the ground I thought would be able to try and rally and secure the win. I didn’t think it was going to be up to me, but my god, we had to do our coaching for bubble hockey. We couldn’t we didn’t have time to worry about actual hockey. Well, I saw that Brad, your strategy was applied immediately because I saw the one guy just run past the puck on the faceoff and deck someone on the other team. Not not enough though, because that’s what Brad and I thought was really the issue with the blown lead was the Winged Wheel podcast listener threeon-ree bubble hockey, which is why we were on the ice at intermission. And shout out to the Red Wings for having us. That was awesome. That threeon-ree game, Brad and I said to them, set the tone, take the body, don’t worry about scoring. And yeah, they started off a little physical, but then they were worried about making plays and, you know, pretty puck movement and everyone wanted to get points on the board and no one was finishing their checks or playing the fundamentals and it was terrible. And lo and behold, what did the Red Wings in I was about to say, are we talking about bubble hockey or the Detroit Red Wings? That’s what I’m saying. So, next time you’re out there for Wing Wheel podcast bubble hockey on the LCA ice at intermission, you set the tone. You take the body. I don’t want to see your foot hit that giant black duct tape puck deck people the way Brad did to Evan when we did this what was it 8 years ago Brad 7 2018 jeez anyhow Evan congratulations on being conscious again folks this is going to be a weird episode of the Wayne Wheel podcast it’s going to be a little bit of a different mix so right now Brad Evan and I are recording remotely right after the Rangers game ended did I mean after Jonathan Quick extended the end of the Rangers game and then we are going to cover all three games go to break when we come back you’re going to hear the live recording the wind wheel podcast from before the Buffalo game which includes a couple really great interviews so we’ll do those and then it’s going to be a bit of a different show so you’re not going to get the traditional overtime that you usually do because it is currently 10:30 at night and so to our patrons will make it up to you at a later date but for uh we just wanted to make sure we got the episode out to you as soon as possible for for the regular schedule. So without further ado, welcome to this remote episode of the Wing Wheel podcast after dark. I’m one of your hosts, Ryan Hannah. I’m Brad Krisco. And I’m Evan. This episode of the Wing Wheel podcast is presented by Greenlight Lending. Red Lights are meant for lighting the lamp at the rink, not your home ownership goals. Head to go greenlight lending.com today for creative mortgage solutions with flexible closing cost options. License only in Michigan, NMLS 2676683 and equal housing opportunity lender. So, like I said, we are going to be covering first the Anaheim game, then the Buffalo game, and then the Rangers game that just ended. We’ll go to break. You’ll hear the live recording of the Wing Wheel podcast at Little Caesars Arena from before the Buffalo game. And we’ll wrap up the show. There’s so much to catch up on, especially in the world of the NHL, wacky stories with Jack Hughes cutting open his hand, Kempy’s contract, more story lines from the Red Wings, things like that. But we’ll get to that in our midweek episode. But for now, we want to to jump into this very quickly. patreon.com/wingwheelodcast. If you don’t support the show, you get access to benefits like our bonus overtime episodes, our Patreon exclusive Discord, and you’re automatically entered into all of our giveaways. We give away two tickets to every Detroit Red Wings home game directly to our Patreon supporters. All of that and lots more. So again, patreon.com/wingpodcast. Let’s jump into it. the Anaheim game. Coming off the losing streak, coming off of I mean, we talked the last two episodes before that about how terrible things were going for the Red Wings. I was not looking at that Anaheim game with a lot of confidence. Anaheim, one of the hottest teams in the league. High-flying. They they play the kind of game that Detroit was having a problem with and had beat them previously. Not that I was, you know, scheduling a loss. This one was in Detroit this time, but it was going to have to be a game where Detroit showed up and matched their tempo and their effort and their kind of controlled chaos they put out there. And to Detroit’s credit, they did. 63. Took them a couple minutes to to get up to speed, but by and large, I thought that was a really good change of pace game where they heard Mlen’s message. They got to the net, they played physical, they created chaos, got in lanes, and by and large, one of the better Red Wings games we’ve seen in a little while here. Well, the negative comes with the positive because the conversation previous episode was all around how does this team look this unmotivated this consistently, but then whenever Mlen seems to go off, they respond. You would like them to not have to need that kick in the ass so many times, but they do respond. And Mlullen was making a point of, you know, get to the dirty areas, get traffic to the net. And what was it? Three or four goals came off of screens essentially or rebounds. Like they were just crashing the net and doing exactly what the coach has been begging them to do and lo and behold, it worked to the tune of six goals. So again, I wish they wouldn’t need the kick in the ass so often, but it’s good to see that when they get it, they actually respond. It’s pretty nervous going into this game, right? Because the Red Wings, I think, were probably at the low of the low so far this season. Just ruerless, no real motivation to win, coming off all the losses. And then you have Anaheim coming in, one of the best teams in the league, incredibly efficient offensively. And the Red Wings for the first few minutes looked a little rough. Like Anaheim looked welloiled. They were controlling play. They were getting line changes in the Red Wings zone. I was like, “Oh gosh, here we go again.” But they kind of settled it down and they’re able to play their game. And I I thought it was a really good win. You know, there was obviously still lots of mistakes, lots of things you want to see turn around, but you know, the power play was 50%. They the penalty kill was perfect. you know, this is a great way to get sort of back on track. Yeah, I think you’re completely right in terms of it it took them a minute and I I think we’ve seen a lot of this from the Red Wings where they kind of play up and down to their opponent, which is sometimes good but often bad as we saw with Buffalo. But it’s almost good that it was this opponent after the message that Todd Mlullen had to send because, you know, Anaheim wasn’t going to come and do anything other than, you know, play that physical high-flying game. And they had to get the gears going. It was like a cold diesel start, but they did get going eventually and they were able to to match it physicality wise. They they got through the first period, I think, with some really good physicality, really good moments in the game. I like the tone that they had set. Survived with a 000 game and then they actually kicked off scoring suicide on the power play. Anaheim almost immediately after just within a within a couple minutes, Michael Rasmusen with a middle finger to everyone with that goal. That’s one of the sickest goals I’ve seen him score in his career. Stops up and rips one and it was just like I think everyone said, “What on earth was that from Michael Rasmmanson?” It almost made me more angry knowing he has that in his tool belt. You know what I mean? Like do that all the time, man. Credit to him. Like he’s obviously worked on what he’s been told. And not to say that it was like a 100% redemption and one goal fixes everything. But yeah, that was his non-reaction, too. He’s like, “Yeah, yeah, I needed to do that. Absolutely.” That was to go up 2-1. And then they scored within just about a couple minutes again to tie it 2-2. After that, Axel Sandine Pelica, who had probably one of the worst games of his year so far with the Red Wings. Actually, his puck got through to the net for his second goal of the season. De Brink on the power play, scores number five. And then Larkin scores his 10th goal of the year after Granlin brought Anaheim within one. And Alex Debrink again on the empty net. And Detroit ends up winning 6-3. pretty much everyone but that second line I think had a great game and you can look into the matchups and things like that and we’ve talked about why the second line might continue to struggle based on who Detroit has to deploy at center right now and where but overall yeah just the tone of that game and how they responded to Todd’s message and they they overcame some kind of rough moments I think again Axel Sand Pel didn’t have himself a good game played only three shifts to start the third and then got benched for the rest of the game mullen confirmed as a coach’s decision, but that didn’t do them in. It’s not like those three goals from Anaheim did them in either. And and Detroit walked away with a huge, much, much needed win. So headed into Buffalo, Wing Wheel Podcast night at the LCA, a 4-3 and one record to protect at Wing Wheel Podcast night. I don’t want to hear, you know, the moment the Red Wings are are a phenomenal team and this record is bad, then I’ll hear the whole Jinx thing. But, you know, it was a it’s a positive points percentage and I was like, “Okay, you know, it’s important that this thing continues to go well.” Positive points percentage. When we started these things in the height of the rebuild. Oh, yeah. They We didn’t even get fringy Red Wings playoff teams. When we started this, it was they’re going for the basement and we still have a positive points percentage. It was Adam Ernie season when we were doing these things. This is the glory years. So, and the vibes were high. Like Detroit comes into this game and not that Buffalo is an easy win. Like Buffalo had their way with Detroit pretty embarrassingly I’d say earlier in Buffalo. And so this was redemption time for Detroit. And I mean through two periods things were looking great. Detroit was scoring. Patrick King got on the board. De Brinka scored twice. Dylan Lurin got another one in there. Josh Don scored to make it 4-2 before the end of the the second. But still, Detroit had a 4-1 lead at one point and everything was going real well. I thought it wasn’t a perfect game. There’s absolutely mistakes across the board, which really kind of amplified and piled up as the the game went on in the third, but Detroit was in control of this one. And I mean, we’ll talk about how they lost, but just to get ahead of it, I don’t see this as a game that Buffalo took over and won. I see this as a game that the Red Wings threw away up and down the lineup from their best players to their goalie to their their death players. Everyone choked this one away. I can’t even say their best players. I I really did like what I saw from the first line that game. Mo Cider had a shocker. That was one of the worst games I’ve seen him play in a long time. Yeah, he had bad moments though and they were unfortunately rather than blips they were real bad. Yeah, like the one on the power play was egregious. Beyond that, yeah, it was not one of his shining games, but I don’t think he was near the top of the list for reasons they lost that game. I the stunning part to me, and again coming from the three of us, me saying this is going to be the, you know, we’re in the upside down thing. A lot of things went wrong for the Red Wings that game. And especially seeing it in person, it made a lot of the things even more apparent. I don’t think the defense was the issue that game. I thought the D by and large as a collective had a solid game. Obviously, it’s weird saying that with five goals, but a couple of those could have been stopped. And the Red Wings, this was the most apparent thing to me, and this isn’t a new problem, but just finding a way to articulate it better. And why I almost give the top line a bit of a pass. It is really hard for the defense and I’ll even give Gibson a little bit of grace on this one when any of the other three lines are on the ice for the Red Wings and they cannot maintain puck possession. They cannot maintain ozone time. It’s, you know, they were breaking it out of their zone just fine and they were able to get the puck to the Sabres blue line routinely just fine and then they get the ozone and it was an immediate turnover, a dump and chase with a lost battle or a chance from distance that no rebound is collected on. It’s it’s all the things we’ve been talking about with the Red Wings, but when you cannot hold on to the puck, that puts so much stress on the defense and the goalie because it’s constantly coming right back in your direction because there’s no sustained time. And Lark and Raymond and Debrink would get the ozone routinely. They were able to pass the puck around, maintain a cycle, get some chances, and at least alleviate the time spent in the defensive zone by keeping the puck in the other end. And you know, it’s this game was almost the perfect microcosm of you can only maintain that so long before the dam is going to break. And yeah, the Red Wings got goals from all their big boys. Kane had a goal, the Brink had two, Larkin had one. Like they did their job. you get four goals from your big guys, you should win the game. And eventually it just all fell apart and everything we were so happy they fixed against Anaheim looked like it went right back to what it was against Buffalo in the second half of that game where you have a 4-1 lead. How do you look that disinterested? And it’s not even the guys you would think. I I thought the one guy in the bottom nine forwards who looked like he actually had some give a [ __ ] was Brennan. And I don’t think he was particularly impactful that game, but like you noticed him at least a couple times, finished a couple checks. I think he had more hits than Rasmus in that game. Although Rasmuson did kill a guy, which I deeply appreciated, but yeah, it was just the same problems over and over again. And it gets exacerbated in situations like that. I think where I differ a little bit is I don’t think the defense had a particular like I I look at moments where Cider had that puck taken off him at the blue line on the power play and it goes down for a short-handed goal to tie the game. I look at and Mlullen did obviously point this out afterwards, but Edinson letting Dbrinka take the Tage Thompson ISO coming down the ice where it’s like Dbrink is so strong for his size, but at the end of the day, Tage Thompson is Tage Thompson and that’s just a a physics equation at that point. Like I it was mistakes to me up and down the lineup and you can say moments. Yeah, sure. But at the same time, like I also look at overtime and I see kind of weird puck decisions and and miscues from from Larkin or whoever else. I see. Not that he’s expected to be Detroit’s one of the best players, but Axel Sandine Pelica in a really weird spot on the the overtime goal for Buffalo where they won it after De Brinka got absolutely trucked by Ta Thompson. The thing that you always say about Gibson, Brad, is I think the story on him right now, which is he’s he goes as the game goes. Like the game script dictates what happens with Gibson. He’s not really moving the needle. is barring that one period against Tampa Bay. He’s not saving the game for you. He’ll make some big saves. He’ll let in some soft goals, but by and large when you’re like, “Okay, it’s not his fault that a guy was coming down Broadway unopposed with the shot. So, you can’t expect him to make the save, but it would be nice if he just did it once in a while.” And you’re not really getting that from Gibson. I don’t think, you know, you’re getting the the stats show that he hasn’t been good so far. Like, just to put it lightly. I’m I’m saying this very generously about him. Yeah, the the big guys scored their goals, too. And at the same time, like they were also part of why it fell apart. I think Mlen harping on game management and instead of everyone trying to like get their points on the board and and make the pretty plays and think you’re going to run up the score, like you have to understand how to secure the game and get to the fundamentals and make sure that you don’t lose sight of the task at hand, which is just 20 more minutes of hockey where you don’t get beat by any more than a goal in that period. That’s all they had to do was only get outsc scored by one goal. And they got away from those fundamentals by a team that was at the time last place in the East. It’s a tight conference. I get it. But still, a lot of this is the rawness that comes from being a young team. Some of this is came from veterans who’ve been on this team a while. It’s not like it was a terrible game top to bottom, but you know, I heard from I mean, we heard from the fans. It was crazy how much the energy in that arena changed after that OT winner came in. Completely unsurprisingly, this was not a popular moment for for the Red Wings brass like that. This was there was a lot of anger after this game and for good reason. The team had a meeting this morning in New York to talk about it, to go over tape, to to understand what they were doing wrong. Part of this is a process of maturing as a team, but they they need to understand how to close these things down and play solid fundamental hockey. Yeah, I agree with both you guys. Like it’s it’s systematic issues. It’s fixable issues, but from my observation, attention to detail and for a lack of a better term, they the give a [ __ ] meter. Like you’ve got a team, you’ve got them up 4-2 at home, you know, you got to close that game out. Good teams find ways to close those games. They don’t even entertain the thought of a team like Buffalo coming back. Yeah, it’s, you know, these are part of the growing pains of a of a younger team. You know, you’d hope some of the veterans would be able to coach them a little bit more easily through this, but yeah, it obviously it sucks giving up a game like that, especially on Wing Wheel podcast night. But I I wasn’t as doom and gloom as everybody else was. Like, yeah, it’s awful. It feels We got a glimpse into what it feels like to be a Toronto Maple Leaf fan for a night, but I don’t think it was that bad. I don’t know. I don’t know. Like, I get it. They walked away from from the weekend with five or six points. So, you’re right in the grand scheme of things. They just needed to win 24 hours later. It was different in the building, man. Like, the energy was completely Did the Did the Boobirds come around? I I didn’t obviously miss that part. Yeah. I think people were more just shocked than anything. Like, they kind of We couldn’t believe what we were watching. And Detroit even had a power play at the end of the game, too. And the second unit was just like completely flaccid. like it was pathetic to watch. And you know, Buffalo had some zone time in the few seconds after the power play ended before regulation ended where I think everyone in the building was waiting for for the Buffalo Puck to go in Detroit tonight. I was kind of surprised they even walked away with the the one point the Red Wings grand scheme. Yeah. Like the the very level-headed approach from someone who’s looking at the big picture in life, which is if you can sleep two consecutive hours right now, that’s the real win in the day. And so, you know, the the newborn that you’re keeping alive is probably where where the big battles are. Absolutely. But, you know, small scale, I don’t think it’s wrong to look at that game and say if you want to be taken seriously as a team, you have to stop doing that. Once is fine, twice is is too many. you do it any more than that, then you’re just not a serious contender for a playoff spot if you can’t shake this. I think the source of frustration with everybody, obviously, you blow a 4-1 lead, there’s going to be frustration. I think the source of frustration was how predictable it was. Like, it’s we we talked about how great it was to see them bounce back from in the Anaheim game, but then and Evan used the perfect phrase for it, the give a [ __ ] meter was not there. You’re watching way too many guys on this team in key moments in the third period not finish checks, not applying enough pressure on the four check, losing focus, blowing assignments, and again, as Evan pointed out, missing the details. It’s just like it’s almost unfathomable that this is still happening with the same guys over and over and over. And I’m not singing one out cuz this isn’t a one, two, or three guy problem. This is becoming a little too routine for a lot of guys. I I think that’s what it was. If if the bottom six had all four goals and Larkin’s line had an off night and was like a dash three, I honestly don’t think the reaction would have been the same. There would have been disappointment and anger, but everybody would have been like, “It happens. It was it was something new to the script. This wasn’t something we had seen a hundred times before, but it was the exact frigin script. The Red Wings have written a thousand times, the top line does their job. Again, as far as this season goes, the defense was okay. Couldn’t get a key save when you need it. Bottom seven, eight, nine forwards did jack all. Like again, I think that was what was frustrating people more than anything else. Well, like we mentioned, the only way to heal this would be a hilarious turnaround where you’re on a backto-back with travel going into another team’s barn. Granted, I think statistically still the worst home team in the NHL this season in the Rangers. But they did just, you know, put up six goals at home, I think it was against the the Predators, and still one of the hottest teams in the league right now. And they won. they got two regulation points or I don’t know if you pulled Red Wings fans immediately after that Buffalo game I think you would have had 65% of people saying that was going to be a regulation loss despite you know the the home record for the Rangers but between games like we mentioned Todd Mlullen let the team hear it he told the media no doubt he told the team they had meetings this morning that was a mental loss where Detroit threw it away against Buffalo it was lapses from individual guys. It was the team overall. As Brad said, that win was within their control. 100% it was. Talbot was in net, so things felt a little bit steadier for the Red Wings in net, it seems. I know the stats are very much the same or very similar right now, but to put it quite honestly, things do look more comfortable with Cam Talbot and Net. And I mean, Detroit put up how many shots was it by the end of the game? 42 shots. It was the 41st one that went in or something like that. And Detroit wins 2-1. It was Alex Debrink and with air quotes Alex De Brinket scoring the first goal of the game on the power play in the second period. It was Lucas Raymond’s shot that went through. Alex Dbrinket instinctually and correctly swiped at it because you know you don’t know. And he actually got to a puck that was already going in Rocket League style. Stole his teammates goal. So Raymond ends up with the assist. Dinka gets his ninth of the season. Saban Jad scores on the power play, you know, two and a half minutes later or so. And it was stupid. Like I have to take a minute to talk about this. It was stupid. Moster puts the puck out and the refs confer for a while and they decide it’s a delay game penalty. And you look at the replay and you’re like, he was moving into his own zone, but he wasn’t in his own zone yet when he put the puck out. The puck was kind of rolling and he just smacked it out of play. And you’re like, they got that call wrong. Mickey clarifies later, no, the ruling that they used was that they think he put the puck out intentionally. And if that’s true, like that’s not just them trying to save face because they got the actual call wrong. That’s also in my mind completely BS. Like you look at that play, I don’t see how you can determine on such a subjective call on that play with with Cider like turning around and firing a you know rolling puck like that as intentional. That was a stupid incorrect call and and the refs botched that one and everyone knows what was going to happen next. Mika Zabanagad scores to tie the game and that one was annoying as hell. There’s some moments in the Buffalo game where they I think they got an icing call wrong and you know they blew a play dead where Detroit had a scoring chance. Whatever. That one was annoying as hell against the Rangers. Murphy’s law. It when you trip a guy on a breakaway to save a goal, you kill that penalty a 100 out of a hundred times. It feels like Yeah. Right. You go to set the tone and you throw a big hit and maybe your elbow accidentally rides up a little high. You kill that penalty out of 100 100 times. Too many men in the ice. Incorrect call from the the dumb, stupid, ticky tacky ones are always the one that immediately end up in the back of your net. I know there are probably no stats to back this up, but I think we don’t need stats on this one. The vibes will confirm. And I’ll tell you, how good were the vibes after just from Lucas Raymond alone? went in the third period late in the game under four minutes left. He scores a gorgeous goal where he takes the puck behind the net, controls, waits, waits, waits, waits out Jonathan Quick, who is aging backwards and is just so annoying to play against and fires home the game winner. And you saw his reaction when he scored that goal. He needed that. He knew the team needed that. That was a massive moment. Ends up being the game-winning goal for the Red Wings. And Lucas Raymond, what is it? goal and seven assists in his past four games. Playing at two point a game pace lately. It looks like he’s pretty well back. I don’t know if anything’s still nagging him with his shoulder, but he has been absolutely on fire for the Red Wings. Yeah, it was good to see the Raymond’s goal like just a hardworking effort. Kind of reminded me of Larkin’s goal the other night against Anaheim. You know, just outworked Senica, got it to the net and they ended up putting it home. But this it was kind of the same. Like Raymond just kept his feet moving, you know, made it difficult to see when he was going to release the shot and basically had a wide open net. No, everyone thought he was going to release it the first time. He he took a look at the net. So yeah, Lucas Raymond starting to come alive here. It’s it’s really good to see and at a really important time for the Red Wings and to end you think that would be the end of the game. You know, the Red Wings win. It’s a huge moment. They bounce back. They don’t let the Buffalo collapse to find their next little streak going forward. But no, no, no. As play runs out, pretty much as the horn goes, Mason Appleton is is along the right side boards and is firing home a shot that goes in the net after the horn goes, but you know, it was close enough where you’re like, “Yeah, that was, you know, he was just playing through the play.” And it goes into the empty net. Jonathan Quick comes off the bench at the end of the game. And good thing Dylan Lin was hanging around Appleton. kind of understood what happened right away and was immediately looking around to say like, “All right, who’s coming after Mason for this one?” Turns out it is the kamicazi goalie from the bench and intercepts Jonathan Quick who is furious at Appleton and the benches clear and Detroit was wearing their Centennials. The Rangers were wearing their old school like it was just an old school hockey beautiful throwback moment. I was more happy for Mickey Redmond than anything. And right now Brad is holding up the fact that Art But Sports took a picture of the brawl and did their their wizardry with that. That was just beautiful. I can’t you can’t even be mad at that. Oh, Jonathan Quick’s a crybaby and that was stupid. Yeah, 100%. But that was gorgeous and I think we’re all happy to have watched it. Kind of reminded me of like a baseball altercation where like the guys come running from the the bullpin like 200 feet away or 300 ft away and they’re just doing the Hey, how are you? Yeah, it was awesome. It was awesome to see. I love that stuff. That’s the best. Thank you, Jonathan Quick, for being incredibly I mean, insane as goalies are, you have to understand that’s that’s how they’re going to be. I mean, it’s it’s an automatic suspension, right? Like he came off the bench to start a fight. Certainly, the NHL would never not follow through on on, you know, penalizing somebody automatically for starting a fight late in a game. Yep. Two minutes for unsportsmanlike. Got a 10-minute misconduct. Yeah. like we should be hearing from the Department of Player Safety. It’s pretty cut and dry. Oh, I’m I’m sure they’re going to be pulling an overnighter to make sure that this ruling is out by morning. No doubt about that. Detroit wins five or six points. What are your takes on how this kind of controls their own narrative after the, you know, juxiposition of the heartbreak against Buffalo in Detroit the night before? So, I was just looking at it because again, big sky is falling vibes for the last couple weeks and obviously five of six points. You take that in a three-game stretch 100 out of 100 times. The Red Wings sit second in the Atlantic and they are one point behind Boston for first with a game in hand. Now, Montreal has two games in hand on Boston, one game in hand on Detroit. So, they could pass both of them. But there’s a reality where in a couple days the Red Wings are in first in the Atlantic. Now it’s tight because they’re also like one point of being away from being out of the playoffs, but they’re second in the Atlantic and have games in hand to jump into first if Montreal does not also do the same. Yeah, it’s this one’s really hard right now, right? Like it doesn’t to me it doesn’t feel like a team that’s second in the Atlantic. you know, they’re 655 points percentage. Like, so I don’t know if I should be concerned or I should be optimistic because they’re second place, but you could see so much more could be done to this team to make them better. So, I don’t know how I feel. You know what? I’ll just be optimistic about it because it’s been 10 years plus of pain. We’ll take what we can get for now. There’s overarching questions that need to be asked. I think, you know, again, next episode we’ll when we’re in person again and recovered a little bit from the Wing Wheel podcast, Night Mayhem, or you know, Evan in his neverending war that he’s losing against a literal infant right now. But you look at the whole Gibson Talbet tandem and right now statistically at least before tonight’s game was I think Jay Fresh’s post had them as the two worst goalies in the NHL for goals saved above expected. There’s Axel Sandine Pelico where you’re watching him play and you’re like yes he belongs on these Red Wings but that right now I think that’s more a testament to the fact there’s no one else who can take that spot. he could benefit a lot from a stint in Grand Rapids is what I’m sensing more and more every game and does a lot of things right, but there’s a lot of things where you’re like, “Yeah, you need to go home that down in the AHL.” But Detroit doesn’t necessarily have that luxury. And yeah, the the woes of their depth where if you know, Moider has a shocker of a night or the the big guys don’t score or whatever it is, the help generally isn’t coming unless Michael Rasmson makes a habit of scoring unreal Adam style goals. Detroit has to kind of figure these things out. But by and large, Evan, I don’t think your optimism is misplaced because we have seen this team kind of do this multiple times this year where they lose in a preventable way or they play a completely terrible game that is so far removed from what we know they can play, but then not long after they’ll they’ll bounce back and have a really solid game when the circumstances are stacked against them. So, I think that is still a good sign. And again, it all goes back to this is a maturing team, new systems, new coach, a lot of new players, and they’re very young. So they have to figure this out individually and as a team over time. It’s just the reality of the situation that they’re in. Doesn’t excuse them from the lows. But if you can walk away from a terrible no good weekend and say, “Yeah, well I was 20 and one and it’s five out of six points, so how terrible could it have been?” Way better than years past. Way better than years past. All right. Plenty to come in future episodes. For now, what we’re going to do is take a quick break to hear from the sponsors of the Wing Wheel podcast. And when we’re back, you’re going to hear a couple interviews from our Wing Wheel podcast tonight at the LCA live show. The first one you’re going to hear is featuring Kyle Culps and Zack Freeland, the designers of the Centennial jersey, that entire process. Incredibly cool interview. Really amazing to hear what went into that. The late nights, the inspiration, the ideas that didn’t didn’t make it onto the jersey, the whole Centennial logo and everything. Like that was a re one of the coolest interviews we’ve ever done. and those guys were awesome. So, hear from those two. And then we’re joined by Ken Daniels and from the Buffalo side of things, Rob Ray, not just from his commentary, but of course from all of his 900 games of his NHL career. He was incredible. Hilarious interview. And unfortunately, Evan, I couldn’t convince him to punch Brad in the face as hard as he could, but he did look close at some point. He did. He was kind of looking at Brad like, I wonder if I could kill this man with one punch. He’s he started uh doing the right hand left hand trivia and he’s like maybe I should just punch this guy with both hands. That question did come up. Ryan and I shook this guy’s hand. I I can’t even call it a hand. It was a lunch tail at the end of a tree branch. If he punched any of us, we would turn to dust like Thanos snapped us. It is unbelievable that there are human beings on the face of the earth. Rob has punched in the head and they have survived. None of us have small heads and he could line us up front to back and like a collateral in Call of Duty, he would hit one of us and the shock wave through the rest of our heads would just take us all out and do you all a favor. But no, he was awesome and and so we hope you enjoy these interviews. We do our best with the audio quality, so apologies if it’s not the best, but enjoy this and we will be back afterwards just to wrap up. But again, next episode we’ll be back in studio as normal. So for now, a word from our sponsors and then Wingo podcast night at the LCA. We got risers this time around, but it’s uh still not enough for Brad and I. So, all right, everyone. Welcome to the ninth edition of Winged Wheel Podcast tonight at the LCA, including the live recording. the podcast. Someone in the back asked me, they’re like, “Is this like is this normal for you now to see this many people?” And I was like, “Absolutely not. We are so eternally grateful that you guys always come out and and show up so well to support the Jamie Daniels Foundation and grab the sweet merch.” Shout out to the Red Wings for putting together these centennial themed co-branded blankets. These are awesome. But without further ado, welcome to the show. I’m one of your hosts, Ryan Hannah. I’m Brad Krisco. And I’m Evan. Evan Lobinger. Un. Actually, I shouldn’t say his last name. That’s his government name. Evan isn’t here this time. He didn’t get co during Mast’s weekend like last time. Their newborn baby boy, Sullivan, they are just taking their time at home and enjoying his uh his return or his his coming home after spending the first 10 weeks in the the NICU. So, our thoughts are uh I mean, he’s doing great. He’s just not sleeping. Evan would want you to pray for him right now. I just got a message from the person who runs everything. This is not Evan. This is Pashant Ayer for those who can’t see. I didn’t realize that I didn’t introduce you. Regular contributor to the Wingville podcast universe and one of the hosts of Expected by Whom. We can talk a lot about the Red Wings, but I think one of the coolest things to see here today, you see the Centennial themed blankets. You see the Centennial jerseys. And what better way to jump into that than to welcome the designers of the Centennial jerseys. So, welcome. That’s right. Joining us today on the stage are Zach and Kyle. And boy, do we have a lot to thank you guys for. So tell us a little bit about first off what you do or what you did with the team and then we’ll jump right in. I think you brought some show and tell today with some prototypes. So yeah, like I mean how did all of this come about? Okay, so yeah, my name is Zach. Hi everyone. Um I was a graphic designer for the Red Red Wings for about a year and a half. uh did a obviously worked on the Centennial jersey. Worked on some other graphic design projects. This is sort of uh my pride and joy was the uh Centennial jersey and I worked with Kyle here. Yeah, I’m Kyle. I’m still with the organization. I’m the art director for the Red Wings. Uh yeah, Zach was here for like a year and a half and came in, designed a Centennial jersey and left. So that was like quite the tenure here. So nice work. So it’s a big task. original six organization. The other original six teams have kind of taken their turn. And not that their Centennial logos were bad by any means, but I think everyone agrees ours is by far the best one. And from what I’ve heard, there was a lot of eyes from the organization on this process. And obviously, it’s something that they want to get right. And not that this was some wild departure in a direction that that wasn’t Red Wings, but this was a big change from what we’ve seen in the past. So what was that process like in terms of of taking that leap away from what people are used to? Yeah. I mean so first thing is like our ownership is super involved. So everything we do on this level especially obviously the jerseys but even the logo it goes all the way up to to Chris. So I mean it’s yeah there like you said there’s a lot of eyes on it and uh our whole department I just want to say like Zach and I are here but we have a whole department of you know amazing graphic designers. We’ve got motion designers. We’ve got video guys. So there’s a ton of people that were involved that are not here today. But I mean, yeah. So it starts off there’s, you know, countless iterations of of concepts, logos. We were actually in this room for one of the first critiques we did. Like that whole bar was just covered in different logos, options, whatever. Uh I think we did the same thing for the uniforms as well. But I mean, and that was probably right around the same time we started this jersey, which was like close to your first when you first started, right? uh maybe halfway through. Yeah. So, I mean it was I mean these things happen like this was like a two-year process for both of these things and because it all kind of goes together. There’s going to be a patch obviously on the jersey. So, you got to get the logo first and then you can, you know, design the uniform from there. So, um yeah, it’s a long process and a lot of iterations and a lot of like going through approval process and all that stuff. So, it’s it’s I knew you were going to ask this question and it’s not it’s it’s kind of hard to describe it all like concisely because it’s it’s so drawn out and there’s so many like hurry up and wait moments, but uh it’s fun and I’m glad that it’s over. The my favorite feature and I want to get your takes on what yours are too, but my favorite feature is the kind of leather the brown look and it’s very classy. It’s very tastefully done and the patch just for the captain’s letters that was like by far my favorite thing about this entire jersey. So, how did you guys get into like was that seen as a big like a leap? Was there a lot of discussion around that one? Yeah. So, um that was kind of my idea I guess. Um we we we started pretty early on talking about materials that we wanted to include on the jersey. So, we knew Kyle I think right away knew he wanted like the chain stitching and the and the felt. And um obviously we were going through a ton of different iterations of what the jersey could look like. You know, we didn’t end up here right away. Um but as we started honing in on this one, we were trying to think of like, okay, how can we keep going with this? Like how can we really put the icing on the cake? And actually, I was trying to think of a a cool little Easter egg to include on the jersey. And I saw on the inside of a pair of Levis’s, it has like the, you know, Levis has been around for 150 years. Um, you know, it’s a part of American history. Um, and by, you know, by having a pair of Levis’s, you’re you become a part of this history. And I was like, “Oh, that’s so perfect for the Red Wings because the Red Wings have been around for 100 years. And if you, you know, if you’ve been a part of that or you get this jersey, now you’re a part of that 100 years of history, too.” And I just had Levis’s on the brain. It felt sort of Red Wings. It felt similar. I was like, “How can I work this in?” And that’s when I saw the the leather patch on the back of a pair of Levis’s. I was like, “Oh, dang. That would be perfect.” So, at first it came the little uh the little badge on the bottom of the the jersey there. At first, we included that and then we were like, “Could we make the uh the diamond captain’s letters also leather?” And Kyle like I texted Kyle, I think it was like midnight or something. I was like, “Can we do could we do leather?” He’s like, “Dude, yes, go.” Like, so yeah, it all sort of came together bit by bit. Little brown is my favorite color also. So, that had that was that was nice. But no, we had so we had the brown gloves too, which is a whole other story. Like we got a lot of I got myself into some trouble with those brown gloves, but like it was worth it because I mean we didn’t No one’s worn this particular shade of brown before. We wanted it to match the leather and so it was a whole process. Like they make that stuff in like Vietnam. So it takes it’s a lot. And uh Paul Boyer, if if anyone knows who Paul Boyer is, he’s our equipment manager. I’ve had some calls with him where he wasn’t too happy with me, but like he’s he’s happy now. He he he agrees that it looks great. So yeah, it all it was it was worth it. There was some struggles there, but yeah. Yeah. One day Zach just texted me and was like, “What about brown?” I was like, “Yes.” And cuz we already had the glove, so like the brown just to tie it in. And for me too, like back in I know there’s a lot of comparisons to the 14 jersey, which we wanted to make sure this was different enough from that where it didn’t feel like we were just like copy and pasting. But I remember about that winter classic like Jimmy Howard looked incredible in his setup and he just had that brown and red combination that looks so good and it’s like how can we take that and put it on the entire team and not just the goalies. So this was the way where they’ve got the gloves, they’ve got the patches and it just it kind of gives it that a little extra the league like like I said they haven’t done this. It’s kind of a faux leather and they hadn’t done it before. So, there’s a few calls where they were like, “Could we just do it in the same off-white fell?” And I was like, “No, we have to do this.” Like, this is the thing that kind of puts it over the top for us. So, we kind of like were willing to die on that hill. And we did. And luckily, I mean, so I’ve got two prototypes here. The first one, the leather’s not even on there. The stripes are a little bit spread out and stuff, but the leather, it took a while to like get it right cuz they do all these wash tests and stuff like that, but again, like it was worth it. It was it was something that we really felt strongly about. So, it made it to the the final, which was great. So, you have the tag, you have the leather letters, you have the leather gloves. Did you stop short of pushing for the leather pants, too? There were some iterations that uh nope. I think Nick might have had some early on where there was brown pants. Uh the one thing that we had that didn’t make it was like could this could the straps of the helmet be leather as well? Could maybe like are the are the lace ups leather? But we didn’t want to push it too hard. So yeah, we have that the captaincy patches. We’ve got the the jock strap it’s called or the jock the jock tag uh on the front. Not the jock leather jock strap would be a little inside baseball for you. You guys can’t you guys can’t see it but their jock strap. It is getting pretty dark in here. So uh and then the back like the little hem loop it’s called the guy in the back. It’s like we made it brown. We tried to match it as close as possible but to make that leather was just going to be too much. So, we also knew that like the goalies always get the assignment when it comes to design cuz they already have the mass with design and they can customize their pads and stuff. We knew the goalies were going to, you know, go go above and beyond and they did. They nailed it. Both their setups look incredible for their Centennial stuff. Yeah. It’s such a classic look. Did you guys know the whole time that the Centennial logo and the logo on the jersey would be different? Yeah. Oh, yeah. You mean like were we ever going to put the Centennial logo on the crest? No, that was never going to I don’t think that was ever going to happen. So you had to nail it twice then for the logo kind I mean it is the same wing wheel but for a logo you kind of want it to be a little simpler so it works in small sizes and things like that. So it is the same wing wheel but like all the chain stitching with like the negative space it kind of goes away on the logo just to keep it cleaner. I remember I did see some comments when the logo came out that was like what are with these like what’s what’s going on with all these little squiggles and stuff. And now I think once the jersey came out it kind of it help explains where that came from. So it’s just a simplified version. It’s the same wing wheel. I took like a photo that I found that like the best photo I could find of that first wing wheel that was on our jersey and I like traced it on a light table with a Sharpie, scanned it in, cleaned it up a little bit, but I mean it was like as true as we could get to that original wing wheel cuz there is a lot floating around out there on apparel and stuff like that. But it’s not actually that accurate. So I feel like I really wanted to make sure we had as close to what was on their jerseys as possible. Yeah. To be clear, Kyle traced an existing photo of like an old player wearing this chain stitched winged wheel and it’s pretty much one to one like true throwback. Yeah, it’s really cool. Was that also at midnight? Like are we seeing the manifestations? Yeah. Oh yeah, I have a picture of it. Everything was at midnight. Yeah. A lot of times we luckily like I I’m crazy. I like delete everything. But Zach had all of our conversations from this process and I like had him send me some screenshots afterwards because it was cool to like go back and see where that stuff came from. But a lot of it was just like random text to Zach being like, “Hey, what?” I sent him a picture of the the vintage Meer logo and was like, “Helmet.” That’s all I said. And he was just like, “Good. I don’t know. Maybe I don’t know if they’d go for it, but like we’ll see.” And uh so it’s just cool to like get a little bit of that, you know, now to look back on. Who was the first player reaction that you got and what were those like to to see the players finally get the reveal? I think a lot of them were Well, let me let me think about what to say here. I think so. Don’t don’t think, just say. No. So, so the ones that I saw when we got them on video and all that, like uh they were all good. Like the guys sometimes it’s weird like you have a camera pointed at you and you know, we’re obviously trying to get content. Um but yeah, they all were really happy with it. I think media day was the first time they actually all were wearing the jersey and it was cool cuz Zach came back for that and he got to be there which was I feel like we had to have Zach there. Um and they were all giving us like a few of them had come to our station. and we do the photo station and they were all so nice about it. Like they were all kind of talking about the jersey a little bit and they had heard I don’t know who told them but someone told them that some of us had worked on it. So they’re yeah they like it. They like the logo. They like the jerseys that they’re happy. I think it’s one of those like look good feel good play good things. So yeah, Kyle would send me like text and be like Patrick Kane saw the jersey. He likes it. And I’m like not there. And I’m like oh I’m so mad at you right now. But uh the the actually the the reaction that sort of meant the most to me was DMac. There was like a reaction video and he’s like, “Oh, it’s sick.” And I was like, “Oh my god, Dmac.” Yeah. We were both at opening night, too. And like I brought my kids. They have their own custom jerseys and stuff like that. And that was like the coolest day of all cuz Zach and I are just like you guys. Like we are the biggest fans. Like we grew up Red Wings fans. We’re dieh hard Red Wings fans. So it was awesome. Like Mario Mallooich is our creative director and like I want to give him credit too because we’ve never had a chance to design a uniform before, but he was able to kind of like make that connection and like this is a Centennial uniform. We really need to do this in house. And uh so he he opened up that opportunity for us, but it was like yes, this is awesome. But then as it sinks in, you’re like oh no, like this is like everyone in this room I’m sure has like very strong opinions about these jerseys as do we? And it’s like we feel like this is the way to go, but is everyone else going to feel that way? So, it’s awesome and it’s also terrifying at the same time. How locked in were you guys to social media the day that they went public? Uh, entirely. It was refreshing. Just like, oh my god, totally ignored my job. Like, I had all these responsibilities. I was like, no, I’m just refreshing Twitter over and over again. And I knew it was good when I I went on the the Reddit thread and the top two comments were a Leafs fan and a Senator’s fan, both praising it and I was like, “Okay, I think I think we nailed it.” Also, yeah, we both watched the review you guys did. Like we both saw that we were sending it to each other like, “This is insane.” And then like Zach showed us we both showed our parents. Zach’s parents cried. Yeah, Evan getting a slow clap out of Evan laughing. Oh my god. I’ve never seen anything like it before. My parents were balling. Yeah, it was awesome. There is a real edit started like there is a real edit from the past. I think it was when we were doing when they did those reverse retro jerseys and we did a segment on it and this didn’t make it to the show. Evan cut us off. Brad and I were talking about it. He’s like, “Why are we talking about this? This doesn’t matter. Who cares about jerseys?” And you got a slow clap out of the same human being who said that. That should be what made your parents cry. Zach is a Patreon member, which I feel terrible for. like I don’t know how to like subjected to it. All us sickos have the same disease paying for these guys. It’s good community. The the like you look at the response we when we say things there’s never unanimous support among the crowd and that’s good like there shouldn’t be based on what comes out of our mouth but as you were talking about like you know we hope people like it. You look around people giving you thumbs up like clapping like this. I’ve never seen such a universally praised jersey. And you’re right, like it’s not just Red Wings fans. Hockey fans across the board are like, “Oh, wow. Yeah, that is as 10 out of 10 as a jersey gets.” So, kudos to you guys. Thank you. Now, we’re hoping we’re hoping that the year these sweet jerseys are released are also the year that, you know, that the we get some playoff games at the LCA and and Yeah, I’ve been like every game. So, I’m trying to go to all the games in person when they’re wearing them and we’re one and three right now in the jerseys. Don’t don’t count that. Don’t count that. I’m just like, we got to get another win cuz I don’t want to start seeing like, oh, we can’t wear these anymore. They’re cursed or anything. So, we got to start winning these jerseys. Like, you know what jerseys we’ve lost in plenty for the last 10 years is the normal one. So, you’re fine. You know what I think will be cool though is like you get the individual moments like the rookies making their debut in that jersey forever. You’re going to see that. Please let Patrick Kane get like 500 in there. That’d be Patrick Kane’s 500th. Yeah, that’ be amazing. I hope so. Danielson. Yeah, like Danielson debuted in it. It’s it Patrick Kane getting his 500th in that jersey would just be That’d be amazing. Absolutely perfect. So, what was the weirdest idea you had for these jerseys that didn’t make it into the final product? Uh, the weirdest idea there so many ideas like at some point, like at the beginning, like I said, the whole creative department was working on ideas. We had we had these tabletops like flooded with 11 by7 papers and there was a lot of good stuff that didn’t make it in that you know Zach and I we were going back and forth like before we knew how many we were doing. It’s like do you know we had like lineups of jerseys that we felt really strongly about and then what happened was like this jersey that we ended up with is kind of like it was probably like two or three different jerseys whittleled down into one. So man, we but in terms of weirdest idea like I mean there’s never So there’s always like I think even as a joke I think I’ve made like purple jerseys before like with a giant octopus on the front but it’s just it’s just we have talked about it not as a joke. That was going to be my next question is how am I crazy? Yeah. So that was our only actually last year with that stadium series that was our first taste of like being involved was the stadium the little the octopus eyes like we did contribute that piece. That was Kyle. He’s being modest. We didn’t do anything. He did it. I thought that was really cool. So it that was like a big leap because I’m it’s like I think some people know, not everyone knows, but like the octopus the reason he hasn’t been around lately is cuz we haven’t been in the playoffs lately. So he’s kind of reserved like once once we hit the playoff mark like he’s he’ll be back. But like I have to be always like the one cuz I’m the art director. So people will constantly be like, “Can we do the octopus here? Can we do it there?” And I’m trying to like hold back and restrain people because I feel like when it’s time it’ll make it that much better when he comes back. So yeah, that’s part of my job is just being like we ah I really don’t want to I don’t want to use them right now. It’ll be once once we get back it’ll be worth it. Yeah. I think early on we knew we were going to be a going to do like a throwback probably off-white vintage logos and stuff like that. So I was exploring a lot of things that were a little bit more modern um that I’m glad didn’t make the cut, but I was exploring some things with like silver in it. That’s really the weirdest thing. There was a lot of silver, a lot of like glitter and silver and stuff like that. not just from our team but even like Fanatics and uh I think it was just it wasn’t right like we wanted again like we wanted to go with the fel the old school offight stuff the brown yeah it’s every decision you made again you’re going to have to teach us your ways because we don’t know how to do this but every decision you made ended up with this so I know you have some show and tell is this going to be for people to view afterwards if you want yeah if anyone wants to come up and see it I mean it’s kind of we had other you know like there’s there’s other prototypes and stuff but nothing I don’t know if we should necessarily like throw it out there. But this one, I mean, it’s minor details, but like, you know, I just figured I’d bring some prototypes so people could see like a little bit of the process. We only had, I think, three made. One of them is here. It’s just the stripes are a little bit more fanned out. I had to like literally take a ruler, send them a photo, and be like, “Can we tighten this up just a little bit so it’s more accurate to our mock-ups?” And then the second one is actually just like the one that we said, “Yep, this is good. Good to go.” So, it’s funny cuz it just says like player 25 on the back. Um, does he shoot right? Brad would know, I think. Yeah, Brad wouldn’t know. The 25 McCarti he did. It was crazy cuz like I think at the time I felt bad cuz by the time we started getting this stuff, Zach was gone. So, he was back in Philadelphia and it was like, man, you know, he he did all this work and then the I think it was like this the first prototype we got was like right when he left. So, I’m sending him photos and stuff and he’s like, “Oh man, I just missed it. Just missed seeing this stuff.” But yeah, Kyle had a very important job of like getting this over the finish line, which is a very hard thing to do when there’s so many cooks in the kitchen and there’s materials that you’re playing with and stuff like that. So Kyle did a great job of like, for example, just the stripes, like seeing that and having the intuition to know like, okay, this isn’t quite right and it seems like a small change to make, but I think those small details are what make this jersey especially in particular. Um, so he did a great job, like I said, putting getting it over the finish line and keeping me in the loop, thankfully, because I’ve had extreme FOMO like I’ve never had before. Um, so it’s nice to me and Zach are usually like so mean to each other. We just mess with each other too much. So, this is crazy. Like listening to Zach say nice things, it’s nice. We had to pay him quite a bit. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, we’re going to have fun watching these all season. Can’t thank you guys enough for coming out today. can’t thank you enough for bringing this design to the the the world of Hockey Town fandom. Like I think we are just like everyone in here. So appreciative. We’re loving it. So shout out to you guys and I hope you get to watch Kainer’s 500 jersey. Let’s fingers crossed. Thank you. Our next set of special guests are here. Please put your hands together for Rob Ray and Ken Daniels. So, we’ve had Aussie up here, but I don’t know that Aussie has 3200 penalty minutes. So, this is probably the most collective pins we’ve ever had up on stage. I don’t know who Aussie is, but yeah, I had zero. They’re all yours. Chris Ozgood, you know. Oh, Chris Ozgood. Yeah. Well, yeah. I don’t know the nicknames from your team. I’m sorry. He fought. No, Aussie had penalty minutes. Yeah, but not 3200. We wish he did. That’d be pretty cool. We did. And I got to tell you, we have Rob Ray here and I spent this afternoon and uh all of you should later if you have time to uh Blue and Gold Productions in it, right? And uh it’s it’s doy versus Ray. They fought 13 times and it is incredible. And I don’t know if you guys know, but the tie down rule where you have a strap in the back to keep your sweater down. It was this guy who started it in 96. It became the robbery rule. Right. Actually, actually we shot 14 times. 14 times. 13 in the NHL, one in our hotel room the the day we were getting drafted. We were roommates and I smashed his head off the nightstand. I cut him over the eye and I’m like, we were panicking then because we had to get it fixed because the draft was the next day. So, we got it taken care of. And that was the only time in those 14 fights I ever cut him. Really? Cuz his head was his head was like this. Yeah. Yeah. I It’s big now, too. If you haven’t seen him, it’s huge. There’s no nightstands on the ice for you to use. I know. Yeah. We got drafted the same day and all that was good after that and shook hands when we got home and fought the next time we seen each other. And why did you for the team for for Why did you Why did it become a thing Doy versus Ray? Um, I I think we both had a lot of respect for each other and understood what our roles were and it really didn’t matter whether he was in Winnipeg or New York or Toronto that when things had to happen in a game, I knew that if my team was not doing well and I needed a little spark that I could go to Tai and say, “Hey, let’s get something going here. No problem.” And vice versa. You know, that happened an awful lot because you were kind of looked at to maybe give a spark, to maybe change momentum, to whatever it may be that we had enough respect for each other that there was no hesitation. Absolutely. Let’s do it because the next time it could have been him needing it or myself. So, we but it was fun after a while. Like before like after a while it was like I don’t think we ever really heard each other. We went at it. There were good fights all the time and but people got so excited for it like it would be morning of a game. We’d be playing Toronto especially because you know going back and forth with them and Pavl Fontaine and all those guys would have no median in front of them and I’d be sitting there with 20 people asking about when are you guys going to go? Are you going to fight tonight? It’s like that’s what it came to though. People wanted to see it. Could you sleep in the afternoon knowing what you had to do at night? Depends on who you had to fight. Who kept you up playing you guys? You never got much sleep because it was just like frig. You know it’s like so no certain nights. No, you know, it was fine. And and as you got older, it was a little better. I think it was more when you were younger than the anticipation of things building up. It was hard because you knew that at some point it was going to happen. Um sometime I tried to take the approach that if I had to go to bed every afternoon thinking I had to score a goal that night, I think it would be way more pressure. But knowing that I’m going to get in a fight with whomever it may be the next night, it was like, okay, okay, you get it. You don’t sleep. and you try to get it over with as quick as possible. Get it over with, set the stone, whatever it may be, and and then it’s done and then you can continue to play. If it happens again, fine. But no, there was there was there was a lot of times when especially leading up to to games and certain nights that it would be like and knowing that it was going to happen, there was there was a lot of tension. A lot of tension. Proby. Proby, you know what? I never really got the chance to play against Proby a whole lot. Uh because when we started you guys were in the west and so you never but I do remember one night I was young and Kevin Magguire was still on our team and Mag’s sitting there beside me on the bench and probies lined up in front of us and he’s like proby proy and he’s like what and he goes see this kid he’s going to kill you and I’m like I didn’t know what to do and I was like thank god you guys were so good I never get on the ice too much so I never But no, that was that was not a good feeling at that point because that that I was like and I was not really a fighter coming up like I fought in junior we all did but that was with kids like uh my first year in the American League I had 446 minutes and 46 fighting majors and I I don’t think I could see through my eyes from October till June but it was like that’s what they wanted you to do. So is if they said you weren’t going to make it there on just your skill alone, then you had to bring something else. And I was like, John Boxmir was my coach. And I’m like, Boxy, I don’t know you that well, but I hear you’ve never really been to fight and you’re the one that’s going to teach me how to do this. I’m not feeling really comfortable. Like it’s not. So it was a long season, but you you you you did what you had to do and and got your chance the following year. So I to do it again. Hell yeah. I’d do it over again a second. Tony Twist. I was going to say the Twister. The Twister. That’s a hell of a fight if you look that one up. Well, for him for him. Yeah. He hit me right here with a punch. Well, what I’ll tell you the backstory. Our trainer was Jim Pitatelli and he we called him the fight doctor and he was this little Italian guy that, you know, full of energy and all this. So, he was over there in their dressing room. He was in St. Louis telling Twister that I was coming after him. And I had known Twister a little bit because he used to do his motorcycle rides and that and I helped him out with him and that and and but he was just fired up as soon as you know we were lining up he’d come over and his eyes were crossed and he was I’m like so we fight we go at it and he ends up hitting me right here and the pressure of that punch pushed my eyeball through orbital bone here and the whole side of my face filled full of air for nine days. Like I could it it all of a sudden I’m sitting there and I could feel the the air pocket right here and when it let go it started moving up my face and I’m like it hit my eye and it went nine days. So and you never and then come to find out Tony came in the room afterwards and he was all concerned and I’m like what was that all about? and he told me the story and I’m like I was livid like I couldn’t see I was crosseyed everything about it and that our trainer had set it all up and he’s like man I’m so sorry I didn’t know he said that I’m like let me in on the joke next time maybe so I’m a little more prepared when it happens I don’t know who’s the who’s the toughest you know fight you’ve had out of guys who where that wasn’t their role like did someone you know grab you wasn’t their role yeah where someone surprised you with how well they hung in there. Toughest fight I ever had was always with Joe Kosher and you guys know what Joe was all about. Joe hit so hard. One night in New York, he hit me and I swear my eye was shut before his hand left my face and it was just like and it’s not a good feeling trying to fight with one eye and you’re like you can’t see anything coming from one side. Um but by far the hardest puncher I ever ever ever ever ever came across. Um, you know what, back then there was always guys that surprised you. You you because the way you played in junior, a lot of these guys, they had to battle coming through. We all did. And like I said, it wasn’t a fighter fighter coming through, but there was so many guys that would would surprise you when you got in a little pushing match and, you know, they were they would hit you with one or two and it’ be like, “What the heck is this?” Like, you’re not supposed to be. And um, you know, for us, we always had Michael Pekka. Pickle Pekka was a guy that was sneaky, sneaky tough and hit hard and uh you know probably the one I got the biggest eye opener with fighting was that Parasi guy in Toronto. Remember big tall forward? Pomeoski thinking this is this is going to be easy. I got this kid and no he put up a good fight and and it he was strong and he you know he did really well and and I was probably that one guy that kind of caught me off guard. Anybody? It was fine at the end, but anybody surprised you lefty righty like you know I never worried about that. No you didn’t. No no no I never did because I couldn’t hurt any people in this room with my left hand. But you could use it as kind of a time buyer. You know just kind of set them up and then they’ll adjust it and then when they adjust come back again. But going into a fight I never really worried. Um like that was always the talk because we didn’t have couldn’t punch it up and this guy’s fights this year you didn’t have access to it so you didn’t know. So, it was like word of mouth. Hey, anybody know this kid? Did anybody was he lefty or righty? And everybody I never never worried. I always went into it trying to make them worry about what I was going to do instead of, you know, maybe worrying of what they were doing. Um, but to stand in there and and throw rights and if they switch, you know, you’re more than comfortable doing that. You know, you weren’t going to hurt them, but you were buying time that you could get back to what you wanted to do and hopefully they would make a mistake. So, are you a little bit like Mick who gets really peeved when teams don’t stand up for one another? And we’ve seen it in the past with with Jack Eel. We saw it with Ryan Miller and Luchich, particularly talking about Buffalo. So, how the game has changed. Does it bother you? Um, it does bother me because I think you have to play the game with an edge and it’s a passionate game and you got sometimes you have to play angry and and you know that that comes together all that emotion on the ice when you when you see things happen. Yeah, it bothers you. But when you step back and think about it, the way the game has changed at the lower levels now, like my kid’s 16, he get in his first fight, he’s suspended for a game. If he gets in another one is three and then six. So these kids aren’t doing it because they don’t want to miss games. You go into junior now in college. You know, you get in your three fights in the season and and you’re done. You’re suspended. So it’s making it harder for them to learn the trait. And so you have to understand when they get to this level, they they’ve not been trained that way. They’ve not been trained that when somebody is cheapshotted or something, and I’m talking across the board, what to do. And maybe understanding that it doesn’t have to be just you, it’s pack mentality. Five guys, screw it. Five guys, go hammer this guy. Just go get him. And then, you know, there’s safety and numbers obviously. But I I I think the thing we have now when you talk to kids that they try to fight and want to fight and but they a they don’t know when to they a lot of them don’t know how to uh you know, time a game using as momentum uh swing. Um but they don’t know they just don’t know when to do it. I hear so many guys now and they’re like, “Oh, I asked such and such to fight and he said he had a sore hand or he said no.” I’m like, “You don’t give them the option.” Like, don’t give him the option. Like, if if if somebody if I went up to somebody and said, it wasn’t, “Do you want to fight?” It was like, “We’re going to fight.” And that’s the way it was then. And so, you knew right off the hop. You don’t give whomever it may be the option to fight or not. And if he does say there’s something wrong with him, then that’s door’s open, car’s blunt, go at him because, you know, don’t give him that. Uh I I think that’s the biggest thing though is is the kids are not brought up playing that way anymore. So even when they do to get this level or any level below it, they’re they’re they’re hesitant on how to do it, when to do it, and don’t understand that part of the game because they’ve never had to play that way. There’s been a lot of talk around a lot of teams this year about lack of fight when something happens. I know it was a big thing in Toronto when Stallars kept getting run and nothing was happening. How does that affect a room when something like that happens in the first period, your goalie gets run, nobody does anything and then everybody walks into the room. Is anything being said? Does it kill the vibe? Like what happens? I think it does. That kills the vibe for the people watching or you know us doing our job or or you know possibly a coach on the bench too. I I I think I just go back to the that they’re not brought up. They’re not they don’t play that way having to play that way. A lot of the times when they’re seeing these things it’s the first time they’ve ever confronted it. So you don’t know how to handle it. And does it affect Absolutely. I can remember when Luch hit Ryan Miller in Boston ran him over and there was no response. And uh but a lot of that had to do with you know a the guys that were on the ice weren’t that type of players and not understanding that hey it’s Luch let’s all five all five guys go get them but it does have a major effect and you know because they start secondguessing should I have done something and you know sometimes the coaches are coming in and saying you should have done something and they’re like how or you know was was it me was it him so it it it it starts putting a lot of doubt maybe in the room so I you know if I had any advice to young kids that it usually everybody go everybody get involved instead of you know expecting the guy besides you to go do it be the first guy in and and hopefully they come in behind and and and I think they’re so worried about maybe looking bad you know like social media now you lose a fight and it’s all over and you know it’s like oh my god it’s embarrassing they have to understand it’s going to I don’t care who you were you lost fights like you lose fights it’s you there’s nobody got a perfect record across the board ever that ever had did this job in the NHL Well, so don’t be afraid of that and don’t be intimidated by it. But I think you could gain an awful lot of clout in your room if you were that guy that went and did it and and helped out. Well, you think you look at a team like Florida and they’re that exact mentality pack mentality. Yeah. they don’t have a a fighter, a designated enforcer, but they go in and if you’re a coach and your team’s missing that, like what’s the daily message to make sure that not to say you play Florida hockey, but for lack of a better word, you play like the Florida Panthers. Yeah. Um I think when you construct a team, you have to understand, you know, the personality of the guys and do they play that way and if you if you have enough of them. Uh I find now that coaching younger kids um you know when you’re talking to scouts and you know whether it’s college whether it’s USHL OHL or other you know all they are concerned about is productive point producing players right so if you look those are the guys that are getting the chance to move on. If you’re a sound defensively, hard-hitting, you know, mix it up kind of kid, you’re not even getting the opportunity anymore. So, for those teams to go find those guys, I think that they’re not getting the opportunity to move from lower levels up to put be put in a place where they get a chance to, you know, trust me, college and and and USHL and that is a totally different world than what the NHL is. you know, things that they want you to do there is totally different than when you get to the NHL. You need to be more complete. But they’re not giving those kids that can be that guy the opportunity anymore. It’s all, hey, this guy’s got 100 points. This guy got we got to he’s must be good. He’s got 100 points. Meanwhile, the guy on the third line’s only got 25 and he’s very sound and he do whatever it takes to to win a hockey game, but he’s not getting the chance because these two kids are going to go because they’re they’re goal scorers or they put big numbers up. That’s my view of it just from experience being around and coaching, you know, younger kids. I got to ask you about your time between the benches where Mickey goes for the third periods. You’ve had a rough go of it, Rob. And if you you’ve never seen a lot quicker than I am. Yeah. Look it up. Tell Tell the story. How many times have you been hit cut by pucks? How many? I’ve been hit in the head twice, hit in the nuts once, hit in the chest three times. And I’m not sure which one was the worst, but my problem with it is back home we had a newspaper camera guy in there, big guy, and he leans over the boards and then at the last second he pulls back and he hides and I’m standing there doing my thing and I can’t see past him and at the last second there it is and you’re getting hit. So I got hit twice within a like a 13 month span and the first time cut all over the nose and eye and everything. the second time up top here and cut the eyebrow and but the fbomb when you get hit. Yeah, but it was perfect. Yeah, but I think I said that Fbomb the second time before the puck even hit me because all of a sudden I looked up and I seen the puck like right here and I’m like, uh, I’m done. And it they hurt so bad. But I’m like, I’m at home both of these. I can’t go off the bench. I can’t leave this bench. And people will look at me going, “Oh, soft.” And I’m like, “Uh, and the second time my eyes were crossed and I was crying and I’m like trying to” and and I was bleeding and I didn’t want to get it on them. I had new white shoes and I didn’t want to screw them up and I was more worried about my shoes. So, it made the trainer both times kind of patch me up quick and and then got taken care of after the game. But, it’s it’s it’s a it’s the best place to be to do our job. But it’s sometimes it can be a little dangerous, but uh I’ve learned to pay a little closer attention to what’s going on on the ice and maybe listen to my boss, the guy in my ears. Yeah, that’s what happened the first time. He’s like, “Write this down.” I’m like, “I’m never going to use it.” He goes, “H, write it down. You need this.” So, I’m writing it down and that’s when I got hit. And it was actually Keserling fired one across that’s with us now. And he hit me square the first time. The great thing is though after he got hit between the benches a few times, then you went as far away as possible to call a game. Well, yeah, I sat up on the 300 level the next game and it was like a Tuesday night against Anaheim, so there the crowd was stingy at best anyways. And I was sitting up there and like I had two full sections to myself and I sat up there with a helmet on and I I did my job. But I had the thing on and and I was sitting there and I’d lift up and I was eating hot dogs and I’m like but it was the best seat in the house. Like he was sitting there and I’m looking straight down. I didn’t have to look around anybody. I didn’t have to had everything right there. It was it was fantastic. But uh yeah, we were at the point sometimes where we were we have to do the entertaining sometimes. So it’s tough because things haven’t been the greatest. But um so you do those little things. But that was that was one of the ones. And then Carolina a few games after that they put a big roll of uh you know that plastic that’s the poppy stuff that you when you get a package a big roll of that so I could wrap myself while I’m in there so I didn’t get hit. So there was a lot of people had fun with it and y so you do have to entertain because like Detroit as nine seasons you guys 14 maybe 15 longest stretch without the playoffs in history. So people ask me it’s about entertaining when the team’s not going well. Although better this this year a better year. How do you approach the games? Cuz it can be tough. You got to walk the line, but you got to be honest. Yeah. And and and probably the the best thing I learned from Rick Jenner, our our play-by-play man that was past, his the art of the distraction. And his distraction would he would say something to me and it would be stupid and I would have to comment if you know we’d take a couple minutes. We’d BS about it back and forth and and then he goes, “Then let me get the last word in to make me look good and then I’ll pick up picking and people will forget about what was going on. They’ll be thinking about how dumb we were just talking.” But it’s hard when you like if you’re a national, it’s easy. You can call a spade a spade. When you’re local like us, um, and you’re working for the team, you have to support. You have to be positive. You have to, if somebody makes a bad play and you have to call it out. always been taught back it up with a couple positives. You know, he might have made a mistake there, but you know, he did this and he did this uh to support because you’re around the guys all the time. You can’t hang them out to dry even if it’s there. I it’s but I think you get to a groove that you you understand it a little bit where you learn to maybe just change your wording about something. What happened, you know, instead of being blunt about it, just change your wording about it. Um because you do have to have continue to have credibility. You have to call spade a spade sometimes. But if you do then, you know, you back it up with a few positive things and and and and try to help it out that way. But some nights, man, it’s you know, you’re looking there and you’re praying for no whistles. Don’t blow the whistle cuz I don’t want to have to talk. Just just keep going here. It’s like get me through this. It’s like so yeah, there’s some Yeah. a lot of quiet time at I have a guy that work with that does play byplay and he doesn’t like to shut up anyway. So, it’s perfect for me because he’s got motor mouth and he’ll go and you could stand there and he’ll just go. So, it’s he he covers up a lot for you. Yeah, me too. So, Rob Rob, I want to shift gears a little bit here. Uh, one of the things we do with the podcast here is try to give back to the community and here we do it through the support of the Jamie Daniels Foundation. You yourself have won the King Clancy back in 989 with a lot of the work you’ve done in the Buffalo community. So, I just wanted to see if you would be able to share a little bit about what you’ve done in the Buffalo community and and kind of the impact you’ve been able to have. Well, I think coming, you know, Buffalo’s similar to Detroit that it’s it’s a blue card, hardworking town and and when people need help, then they’re the ones, you know, supporting you. They’re the ones that they’re the reason you have a team. They’re the reasons that uh you know, you you get to do what you do. So, in my eyes, it’s uh you know, any way you give back. I I had good guys when I first got into the game. uh you know uh Mike Felino and Mike Ramsey and these kind of guys very very involved in you the community and everything and and had good conversations with them to establish yourself in the game uh in in the community. And for me I I was I was single till I was 35. I had a lot of time. So you were always kind of looking for things and you always um so I got involved an awful lot and and we still do and and and there’s nothing better than you know putting smiles on your faces like I run our alumni now or president of it and you know every Christmas Eve we go to 50 to 80 families in town delivering food and toys and everything that wouldn’t have with the in conjunction with the Buffalo police they pick the families we go so we still do that and that that one thing right there is probably the best of the year because not only the guys you played with are still coming out, the guys live in town, but it was over time their kids were coming out and helping out, and now their kids and their grandkids are coming out and help out. So, it’s it’s a very tight-knit group of of guys we have and and they still look forward to it every year and we do it. But, you know, I I think it’s just so important uh that you have an opportunity where you are and maybe what you do and what people maybe think of you that if you can give back, do it. It’s it’s simple. It’s easy. It’s uh you know there’s nothing better than you know listening to a story and you know a family that’s going through something whether it’s medical or financial and you know being able to help and put a smile on. And I find myself crying half the time I leave these houses because you know people are like this is the only Christmas they’re going to have like they got something under their tree to open on Christmas morning or else it wouldn’t wouldn’t happen. And not in a selfish way, it’s like I just sit there and I’m like, h how can that be? Like, how can that be the world we live in and you know, we’re very fortunate to do what we do and you stay in fivestar hotels and you got all the food in the world to eat and everything’s good and and then there’s the other side. And I think that guys have to realize there’s another side. We live in a fantasy world. We live in a world that’s, you know, anybody would cut their right arm off to be a part of. So, you have to realize that to make sure that you give as much back as you get and and I think that’s something that I know a lot of teams they do it and I think it’s great and I think it’s the best thing. Our kids get out to the uh the hospitals and and and do things and and so many different things, but you have to you have to and I don’t care if it’s here or LA or New York, you have to be able to do that. And I know sometimes it’s done to make everybody look good. And there’s certain guys over the years I found that did it only because there was a camera there. But that’s not what you want. That’s do it that we have guys at home and they will tell you, “Hey, the other day I went and did this and there’s nobody knew it. Nobody knows about it and they’re not looking for anything for it.” And it’s that’s that’s what’s important. Not doing it when you have to do it. do it because you want to do it and do it on your own and and you know and make try to make the best out of everything. Ken and Rob are I mean they have a job to do tonight. Uh yeah, but I don’t do it very well. That’s neither. I come on the road for the the the meals. Meals. You’re down to watch in a while. Getting away from my wife once in a while. It’s always good. Yeah, sometimes. Not all the time. It’s nice going home. But before we let you go, score prediction for tonight. It’s a rematch after the first game. Ah, you guys are You guys There’s a lot of people who can fight in this room. You guys aren’t that good. Okay. You guys aren’t that good. And we have no injuries. We have no nothing like that. So, we have nothing going against us. So, I’m I’m going to say uh 53 Sabres. Five Well, hey, Dolls is back tonight. He’s fresh. He’s ready to go. So, look out. Yeah. Come right up here and tell him boo say now you can say it. It’s okay. Come on. You know, and you can have numbers. I’m still taking him. Sorry, but I am. Uh I think we’re good until we get back there somewhere. Yeah, we may. The guy’s drinking way at the back. Maybe. Um yeah, he said the Sabres have no injuries. They have tons of them. Uh thankfully they really do. Uh thankfully you’ve won back tonight uh for Raasmus Alene. Very scary for he and his fiance. Yeah. Yeah. That was that was an experience that you pray nobody has to go through. His his fiance had had a heart transplant this summer and uh you know it was it was weighing on Raz and it was time for him to go and spend with time with her and and it was good and I I think it was going to be good for him. But uh yeah, just an experience that you never want anybody to have to go through and you you feel for them and and young man dealing with that. It’s it’s tough tough tough to be a captain of a team, expect to be, you know, a leader of the team, do all the things you have to do with the game and then still have your life on top of it. I think that’s what a lot of fans overlook sometimes that even though you play the game and you’re coming to watch them and they still are normal human beings and they deal with everyday life that we deal with as well. So, it’s it’s tough and and it’s hard sometimes, but you know, you that’s why they’re there such a tight-knit group. I’m not just talking the guys in Sabres room, but everybody across the league. They’re they’re very good to each other and and they support each other and I think that’s fantastic. That’s what’s beautiful about our game. Yeah. All right, Ken Daniels, Rob Ray, thank you so much for joining special. Thank you. Thank you. And uh I know you Evan talked as much today as he does on the pod usually. You guys have to have guests on. Yeah. Because you don’t say anything. Well, they’re scared of you cuz we we volunteered Brad to fight you first and Pashant fights you next. Yeah. Right. So, I just I do want to say uh thank you to all of you and again and to the Wing Wheel guys and Pashant and you and how much you mean to the Jamie Daniels Foundation over the years. I think I don’t know over 125,000 probably over the years uh through Redwing Fans and Money on the Board and everything else you’ve done. And I’m just letting you all know that we are roasting at Motor City Casino uh like we’ve done. It’ll be our fifth one, I believe. Um, August 29th next year. So, hold the date. We’ll have more information March as we go through the season. Not Aussie Osborne, but Chris Ozgood. Aussie. Aussie. Aussie. So, we are roasting Aussie August 29th at Saturday night, Motor City Casino next year, and John Keading is going to host. So, yeah. So, we’re lining up some good guests and uh some good roasters, including Chris Draper and uh others to come. So, it’ll be a fun night. So, please save the date if you can. I know you’ve all contributed in the past and you’ll continue to do so. So, thank you. And this guy, thank you. You are the best. Oh, thank you guys. Thanks for Welcome back again. Thank you all so much for coming out to Wing Wheel Podcast tonight at the LCA. Every one of you who came represents a donation to the Jamie Daniels Foundation. Shout out to the Detroit Red Wings for for always being amazing partners and running those events. And you know, the more we do these, obviously, the more support it it generates for the Jamie Daniels Foundation, but it’s also, you know, incredibly cool for us as well to to come out and just see people on the other side of the mic. And it just energizes us and it just we’re always so humbled by the turnout for this. And it’s always so cool to see you guys pack that space and and sell out the tickets. So again, thank you all so very much. More to come on Red Wings News, NHL News, you know, Wing Wheel podcast night updates and more. But for now, for the sake of our sleep and our recovery, we’re going to wrap up this episode of the Wing Wheel podcast. Patrons, we will make it up to you. For the lack of an overtime this episode, we promise. But for now, we’re going to wrap this one up. Shout out to all of our sponsors and to our Patreon supporters. patreon.com/wingwheelpodcast. If you want to support the show, help Wing Wheel Podcast Nights at the LCA happen and and just be the lifeblood of what we do. And if you want to help us out, but Patreon is not for you, that’s totally okay. You can support us just by subscribing wherever you get your podcast. Be it Spotify, Apple Podcast, YouTube, wherever. Like the the episode, share it with a friend, leave a rating, a review, the hearts, whatever it might be. All of that helps us out a lot. To our name level supporters on Patreon, we could not do this show without you. Arjun Shanker Afer, Martin Norberg, THL champ, Samuel Sodhome, icon Glenn Brabbom, Rain Doa ball hockey goalie, Matthew M. 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Thanks for tuning in to the Wingwheel Podcast. Be sure to visit wingwheelpodcast.com where you’ll find links to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You’ll also find ways to support the show like Patreon, official podcast merchandise, and more. And don’t forget to follow us on X at Wingwheel Pod, at Ryan Hannah WWP, at Brad Krisco, and at Hockeytown Evan, as well as Wing Wheel Podcast on Instagram. This message is brought to you by Greenlight Lending. Are you facing financial red lights on your home ownership journey? Don’t have money for a down payment or closing costs? Struggling with your current mortgage payment or other debt obligations? Or maybe you have a complicated situation like credit challenges or self-employment income. At Greenlight Lending, they turn those red lights green with creative mortgage solutions for purchase and refinance loans. 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OLD TIME HOCKEY IS BACK and it brings a tear to Mickey Redmond’s eye!

Tune into this special (remote) edition of the Winged Wheel Podcast as we record late-night and recover from the Winged Wheel Podcast Night at the LCA festivities.

We start with a recap of the Anaheim Ducks game, including a strong bounce back for Todd McLellan’s squad, with the likes of Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat, Patrick Kane, Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider, and more all contributing, before jumping into the devastating 4-1 blown lead loss to Tage Thompson and the Buffalo Sabres: what went wrong after a hot start, Gibson’s struggles, defensive debate as Seider, Sandin-Pellikka, Edvinsson, and others had miscues this weekend, forward depth woes, & more. After that, a recap of the 2-1 win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, led by Lucas Raymond’s heroics, Alex DeBrincat’s funny stolen goal, and Jonathan Quick inciting one of the most beautiful bench clearing donnybrooks the NHL has ever seen.

Next, Winged Wheel Podcast Night at the LCA live show replays of our interviews with the designers of the Detroit Red Wings Centennial jerseys, Kyle Culps and Zach Freeland, as well as Detroit Red Wings lead announcer Ken Daniels & Buffalo Sabres legend Rob Ray.

All of that & lots more, with a return to regularly scheduled programming next episode!

Intro: 00:00

ANA Game Recap: 5:00

BUF Collapse Recap: 10:30

NYR Game Recap: 23:10

WWP Night Centennial Jersey Designers Interview: 36:10

Ken Daniels & Rob Ray Interview: 57:00

Head over to wingedwheelpodcast.com to find all the ways to listen, how to support the show, and so much more!

This episode is brought to you by Green Light Lending: gogreenlightlending.com #ad

Support the Jamie Daniels Foundation through Wings Money on the Board: https://www.wingedwheelpodcast.com/wingsmotb
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Thank you for making us the biggest Detroit Red Wings podcast on the air! #RedWings #LGRW

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