Wedgewood Pulled Mid-Shootout in Bizarre Sequence Last Night – Jared Bednar with ML&K

Wedgewood Pulled Mid-Shootout in Bizarre Sequence Last Night – Jared Bednar with ML&K

right now brought to you by Mr. Rooter Plumbing, proudly rooting for Colorado's hockey team. We welcome Jared Bedar to the show. And coach, before I turn you over to Moj, uh [clears throat] I don't know if you know this, but he just updated his resume. And I don't know if you can technically put Garage Band on your resume, but he and Kefir and Connor and Riker, they all did it. This was a a little taste of their new single. And I understand that coming off a loss last night, probably not the best time, but because it was just released, I figured I give you a little taste, a little taste, but save you from the worst parts of it. >> Colorado wagons. [music and singing] Wagon. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Yikes. [laughter] >> Yeah, the pause says it all. >> Yeah, coach. Honestly, when we pause >> we were laying that down, I I felt the same way to be honest with you. I felt the exact same way. >> Yikes. >> Yeah. At least you got I did see the album covers and at least you guys looked like a band, >> right? [laughter] >> Sound like one. But you look like one. >> Well, with all the music technology, you should be able to sound like one, too. [laughter] >> Yeah. >> Right. >> Yeah. If they if they can make Jessica Simpson sound good, they can make us sound good. Hey, uh, coach, uh, last night, um, when I look at the numbers and and again, I don't dive too deep into the geekness of everything, but I I I there are patterns with your team that I look at, and I know when you're playing well and when you're not, all indications are to me with the numbers that I looked at last night and possession time and so on that you played a pretty damn good hockey game, you just couldn't win in the shootout. How do you view it? Yeah, I I liked uh large portions of the game. I'd say we had a couple extended shifts that they got pretty dangerous on um in the third period, but I liked our first and I thought we got even better and more dangerous in the second. Uh you we had a tough time tracking down some loose pucks, rebounds, you know, like we're a step early at the net one time, a step late the next. were three feet off it. It just, you know, it was just one of those nights where I felt like we had good traffic and lots of pucks to the net and doing a lot of good things and then just couldn't sort of find the loose pucks and and scoring opportunities we needed or we if we found them, [snorts] you know, they were just not right on our tape and it was uh it was a little bit of work to create high quality scoring chances. But they can do that to you right now because they're really um their games really sort of picked up over the last 10 games since we played them last time and uh they were a handful for us again last night. >> Coach, uh not to get all big picture, but I'm not a fan. I I'm I'm over the shootout. It was fun and novel at first. Yeah. Yeah. How would you decide a tie game after regulation? What your ideal situation? How would you get it done? I don't know. I guess I get I feel the same way about like three on three, but I think you can play it. I I wouldn't want to keep extending the games longer and longer for the reason, you know, one of the reasons being like look at the start time last night and we're going to play another what three minutes of overtime or something like that. It doesn't it's just more taxing on more of your top top guys and you know, so I don't know. I I I don't love the shootout either, you know? Like I I don't know. I I I You could You could go to a three-point system and make it more important to try and finish in regulation. I I just I'm just not sure how you do it. But I The shootout is what it is. It's There isn't any in the playoffs. I don't, you know, we're experimenting with new guys and different guys and trying to go back to some of the guys that have had recent success for us in the past, but it's not easy to do either some nights. So, it's um some some years you got guys that are just automatic and then, you know, then our guys have kind of gone cold here a little bit, but I got to keep focusing on our game and like we'll take the point last night because it was I I'm glad we stuck with it. found a way at the end of the game to get a big goal six on four and uh our guys did a nice job with that and using the whole clock and and staying with it and trying to dig in and find a way and and they did that. So I'm proud of him for that, you know, and now you just got to move on. And it sucks to lose that point like quite often here this year because uh could be difference making by the time the whole season's over, but I I don't know how you solve it. >> Jared Bedar joins us on the Ramos Law hotline. Car accident, you need Ramos Law, medical doctor and attorney. Ramosaw.com. Coach, I just curious of your evaluation of your goalending over this road trip. Wedgie nicked up a little bit last week. You start Blackwood in a backtoback, you know, I think overall performs pretty well and then you do get Wedgewood back last night after it took a little while for McKenzie to kind of get his rhythm coming back off that injury. How do you feel about that position right now? >> Yeah, I I feel good about it. You know, the number one um you know, we'll come home or as of last night, you had two guys healthy again and and playing pretty well. So you you have options and um you know I think like playing a tired goalie on a backto back and and um just being able to win I think I think it's great. It's a good challenge, a good test for uh Brocky and then you got, you know, Wedge who does get danged up who's now healthy and and we've seen like already this year like our goalending when we have two guys healthy and we can play a rested guy and they can sort of feed off one another and push one another. Um, it's kind of when we've been at our our best in the net. Like Wedge did such a good job for a long time when he was the only guy healthy, but when we got them both back, I really liked it and I thought it was really competitive from those guys. So, I I like that moving forward here. And um yeah, I I think that they were both both uh did a good job under the circumstances, you know, because getting dinged up and then, you know, being out a week and then coming in last night is is no easy task either. So, last night, >> I I did want to ask you, coach, about the shootout situation last night. Very bizarre. Not sure I've ever seen it. And clearly, it didn't end up mattering because obviously, unfortunately, you guys lost, but that was bizarre. And the look on your face and the look on Nate's face when the refs skated over to explain the situation. I've never seen that look on your face on a bench before. >> Well, because you knew something was going on. there was no reason for the rest to go over to the uh penalty box. So obvious you know the situation there's a spotter and if the spotter sees something and >> but I mean the spotter was late you know >> like he gets run into then there's another shooter like I don't know how long it takes to decide if you know it. So that that was what was really strange. You know, he gets run into and then he still faces another shooter and then they come to him like when we're shooting and tell him he's got to go off the ice. It just seemed like the timing of it was strange. I I don't think that that's you know you need to pull him out in that situation. um you know it's you you've already left them for one shooter with another shooter if it goes that far and um it's not like horrible situation where you're playing hockey game with a bunch of traffic. You're just in the shootout and but but I understand why they're there and what they do and it's not an easy job and no one's like I'm assuming no one's ever happy when you pull your player off and especially if you know they're good. you know, if they're telling you like our players are so are so aware now that like if something happens or they get hit and they don't feel right, um they're usually going, "Hey, I don't feel right because they're not they're not going to risk it long term or make it worse." So, um I think the spotter is there just for that precaution of in case some like guys around them don't notice that something's wrong and um you know and and the guys a little bit messed up and and can't sort of figure out that something's wrong or or can't communicate it, then they're there for that safety recall and you know, but you just deal with it. Last night, like you said, it didn't matter. So, there's no use raising the big fuss about it. Well, the only way I guess it would have mattered, coach, [clears throat] is that Land standing around his own zone for like six minutes, you know? I mean, Riker Riker seemed to indicate, hey, they're kind of icing the kicker here and and I I [clears throat] don't know if it would have made a difference or not. I don't know if Gabe if he just gets the go-ahead would have scored or not, but uh but you know, he's he's standing around his own zone. >> Yeah. No, I didn't love that either. You know, it's just, you know, I I got bigger fish to fry and [laughter] >> it seems like on a nightly or weekly basis and to worry too much about it, but it was definitely strange. I definitely haven't seen that before. Coach, I did want to ask you about Nate because obviously he's the first to 50 in back-to-back years, but I'm wondering from your perspective, and I know you get asked about him and his work ethic and his skill and his talent, but I'm wondering when you feel he became the best player in the world. How many years ago, how long has this been where he's been at the top now? >> Yeah, like um 2022, I I love this season. I think that that season um like he that I think he hit 99 points the year we won in in 2022 and like his defensive game for me just like it skyrocketed that year and what he was able to do on the defensive side the commitment to to I don't want to say play the right way but it really is playing the right way like being hard defensively being able to you know, shut down other teams top lines while still producing, you know, at a high rate, a higher rate than he had before. Um, but he's continued to improve since then, right? And and um, you know, there's a lot of pressure on those guys to produce every night. The more you produce, the more pressure is on you to produce. So, dealing with that and handling that on a nightly basis is hard enough. Then you got the coaching staff yelling at him all the time to check harder and do the right things and track back and be more physical and and really when it's main focus is probably to, you know, continue to try to help produce. So there's a balance there. Um, but he's been he's been so good at that for us this year and again now scoring at a at a higher rate than than maybe ever before. And it's just I I just find it remarkable what some of those top guys are able to do and how they're able to push their game forward from year to year, month to month, or whatever it is to try and help their teams have success. It just seems like those guys are um they, you know, leading the way. It's just on a whole different planet. >> Coach, >> are you ready to go home? Are you ready to go home, coach? If this road trip has only been four games, but it feels like it's been 20. I don't know why. You know, we've been out before for like 12 days and it it just skips by, but this one feels long to me. >> Yeah. I think it's some of the quiet time and time off in in these like in these road trips. Like the first few days it went quick. I like when we go out on the road and especially when we're going east coast and we're playing a bunch of games like instead of just going out for one or two and coming home. I feel like this year we've been home and gone. Home and gone a lot. like we haven't settled in on the road or home. So, when we get out here, if we're rested, especially early in it, I like those back to backs and hammering out games. It was nice to get some afternoon games in there. But, I mean, we've only been in Nashville for a couple days and it feels like we've been here for a week because we got in >> had the evening after and then the day off and then yesterday being the late game and then because it's so late, we got to stay over before we go home. It just it feels long for sure. Coach, last one for me. Um, and this is more of a philosophical question. So, when you're playing golf and you're playing against a guy that um, you want to beat and you're making pars and birdies and that dude's making pars and birdies, you're like, man, what do I got to do here? And then you look at the NHL standings and you're kicking butt and right behind you is Dallas. They're kicking butt. Does part of you say, "Hey, man, it's okay that someone is chasing us. This makes us sharper." Or does that even matter to you? Yeah, I think it can. I mean, that's certainly the mentality that you want your team to have, right? the the last thing you want for your team to do and you know there's going to be es and flows to the season but the last thing you want your team to do is you know have all this success and then get complacent and your habits get poor and and because then you're not really you know even though you're sitting pretty in the standing at the current time you're not really you know getting your team to the point that you want it to be that for the playoffs, right? The longer you can play with good habits, the right intentions, the commitment, the, you know, competitiveness that you need, the more you're kind of honing those skills. And every game's going to give you a different challenge. You got to find ways like last night to, you know, get it to overtime. And if that's playoffs and you're playing five on five again and may the best team win, you know. Um, and but I just keep going back to like we we don't control Dallas. We we control us. So, we just got to do everything we can do and let the chips fall where they may. We're going to give it everything we got and and I'm happy with the way our team is playing and what we're doing and the results we're getting and, you know, so there's no use stressing out over Dallas. Um, you know, they're they're definitely a good hockey team and and they're definitely doing very similar to what we're doing. So, it's going to be tight and we know that. But we control what we do and that's all we need to worry about. Everything else is just uh you know, it's just a distraction. >> Coach, I should I should have given you a better analogy because I don't remember ever playing golf with you when you were making a bunch of pars and birdies. So, my bad. >> I was going to say that. I've never done [laughter] that. >> Yeah, my bad. If you have said, Nate, when you're making a bunch of bogeies, [laughter] the other the other guys may also make a bunch of bogeies. I'd have been like, "Yeah, yeah, I know that feeling." >> I was I was wondering why you walked that back because I like the parolf and, you know, Dallas just just staying right there and just got to focus on yourself. Well, we appreciate your time as always, coach. Get home safe and uh uh enjoy that sleep in your own bed tonight. >> All right. Appreciate it, guys. Thanks. >> That is Jared Bedar, the head coach of the >> Colorado Wagon.

Jared Bednar isn’t a fan of shootouts. How would he change the NHL OT format if he could?

Also, has Coach ever seen a goalie pulled mid-shootout by the concussion spotter…after facing an additional shot? What a bizarre sequence of events in Nashville last night.

Catch Coach Bednar every Wednesday morning at 8am MT with Moser, Lombardi and Kane exclusively on Altitude Sports Radio 92.5!

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