Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: The following program is brought to you in living color on dailyGazette.com or wherever you get your podcast.
The Daily Gazette Company presents the parting Shots podcast. Now here's your host, Daily Gazette sports editor Ken shot. Thank you, Scott Kesey, and welcome to the Parting Shots podcast, available wherever you get your podcast. Subscribe today. Thanks for joining me from the parting Shots podcast studio in Schenectady, New York. It's another great show for you. It's the start of the Saratoga horse racing season, and that means our weekly saving with Michael Gaddam. Our esteemed colleague here at the La Gazette who covers horse racing, does a great job with the at the track with the Mac at the track with Mac segment we'll be starting up. We'll talk with Mike about the opening of the race car to Sarasota. Of course, the track was open last month for the Belmont Steaks Festival, so it's little continuation of horse racing at Saratoga. And we'll talk to Mike about the races coming up, the opening day and the Belmont, the impact of the Belmont at Saratoga. So we'll talk with him about that then. Coming up, Courtney Burke, who is an Albany native who played college hockey at Wisconsin.
She's getting inducted into the New York State Hockey hall of Fame on Saturday in Troy at the Hilton Garden Inn. I spoke with her last week and we'll talk about her induction, her life in hockey. So coming up, Mike Buchanam and Saratoga race course talk with at the track with Mac. You're listening to the farting shots podcast.
[00:01:38] Speaker B: Hi, I'm Rick Marshall from the Daily Gazette's martial arts podcast. In each episode, I interview artists from around the region, from musicians and comedians to dancers, sculptors, even video game designers. After you finish the latest episode of the parting Shots podcast, I hope you'll give martial arts a try.
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[00:02:10] Speaker C: Hi, this is Joe Watson, two time Stanley cup champion with the Philadelphia Flyers. You're listening to parting shots podcast with Daily Gazette sports editor in upstate New York.
[00:02:22] Speaker A: Number one, fly back to the podcast and once again, it's time for horse racing at Saratoga Racecourse. The season gets underway on Thursday and our man Mike McGadam at the track with Mac. While the weekly saving during the entire Saratoga meet, Mike is actually in the parting shots podcast studio here as we tape on Tuesday, two days before the meet. Mike, how much excitement is there for this meet coming off the Belmont Stakes?
[00:02:48] Speaker C: Same old, same old. You know, people get fired up for this meet every year. It's the best racing for two months in North America. Almost two months.
All the stars in the game are going to be here. And you mentioned the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, which was held at Saratoga this year for the first time ever because they blew up Belmont park and they're rebuilding it from the ground up. So they held the Belmont Stakes in the whole week of stuff here back June 6 through 9th. And a lot of those same horses that you saw that fans were able to see firsthand during that week are going to be back and shooting for whatever the next step is for them on their road to glory.
[00:03:30] Speaker A: Before we get into Saratoga, you've mentioned Belmont, Belmont Park. I think there was some news about that recently, about the winter meet.
[00:03:37] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, yeah.
I mean, it's a little on the inside baseball side of things. Basically, they decided that the winter meet, the 30 days of racing during the winter meet, will all take place on the Tapeda artificial surface there. So they're not going to attempt to screw around by running races on the main track, which they could if they wanted to. So they kind of made a decision. They got some backlash on that because some people, like, some betters, don't like artificial stuff because it's nothing widely used. So it's hard to determine what kind of form a horse might have on the artificial surfaces.
But lacking a completely winterized main dirt track, they kind of made this move so that, you know, the artificial surface is, you know, you can accommodate racing during the winter time. And so I. That's kind of the move they made there.
[00:04:33] Speaker A: When's that going to be?
[00:04:35] Speaker C: That'll be like the winter meet.
It's only it's very compressed, like 30 days of actual racing. So it'll just be like from December to February or something like that. Don't quote me on the months, but generally that's. It's literally, it's the wintertime later this year starting. Yeah, it'll start at the end of. At the beginning of this year's winter.
[00:04:55] Speaker A: Okay, well, the fifties 156 Saratoga race court week race course meet kicks off Thursday with an eleven race card that includes the Skylerville for two year old phillies. And of course, one of the interesting things, Mike, about the Saratoga meet every year are the baby races like the Skylarville, because you get to see the stars of tomorrow when they're just starting to make a name for themselves. Yeah.
[00:05:16] Speaker C: There's no guarantee that any of the horses that win the graded stakes on dirt that are devoted to the two year olds, which is, you know, the Schuylerville for Phillies and the Sanford on opening weekend, that they'll, you know, wind up being Kentucky Derby winners. And in fact, the two year old program is so strong up there with big purses and stuff that sometimes the non graded stakes, baby races, maiden races, what have you wind up being? You know, kind of keep an eye on those horses in the future. I'll give you a couple examples just from last year's meet. So on Travers day, all the excitement is on Travers and the other undercard graded stakes. You know, they got like seven grade ones that day and everything, but there was a baby race, a maiden race, no stakes or anything. A horse named Fierceness won it by eleven and a quarter lengths. It was one of the most impressive two year old performances of the whole meet. All he wound up doing was win the Breeders cup juvenile, who be the two year old male championship champion last year, Eclipse award winner. I'll give you one other example.
On July 29 last summer, a horse named cease the gray beat a horse named Dornock by a length and three quarters again just in one of these nondescript maiden races with a pretty good, oh, what did they do? Cease the gray wound up winning the Preakness this year, and Dornoch just won the Belknot Stakes. So this is two babies in the same race separated by a length of three quarters, you know, almost a year ago, and they come back this year and they win two legs of the Triple Crown. So that's kind of thing you might see. I will note coming up on Saturday, Saturday's card this weekend, there's a horse named Menti running in the Sanford who won very impressively first time out. He's in the Sanford, and he's a full brother to fierceness, so we have to keep an eye on him. And by that I mean same sire, same marriage, everything. So he's a full brother to fierceness.
[00:07:04] Speaker A: As we mentioned, Saratoga hosted the Belmont Stakes for the first time ever in June, which is an end in itself, highlighted by the third leg of the Triple Crown. But it also serves as a preview for the Saratoga meet. Many of the stakes winners that week will be back here this summer. So how exciting is that?
[00:07:20] Speaker C: Yeah, it's really good. I mean, if you were there for the whole week, you know, especially Friday and Saturday, you know, the Sunday of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival was the New York Showcase day, so you're going to see a ton of those horses coming back in the very strong, lucrative New York bred program that they have during the Saratoga meet. But in the meantime, the graded stakes stuff that we saw on Belmont Stakes week, a lot of those stars are going to be coming back, like I already mentioned, for the next step. I'm really looking forward to the Dolphin horses. Trainer Charlie APpLeby they keep their horses at the green tree. It's a private facility right next to the backstretch at Saratoga. It's owned by the Godolphin Racing, which of course is Sheikh Mohammed, his operation, and they just have a ton of great turf horses. It'd be interesting to see how much they challenge Chad Brown for supremacy on the turf Stakes. We already saw measured time and nation's pride finished first and second in the grade one Manhattan on Belmont day. So keep an eye on the turf races with these really good Godolphin horses which are residing right next door. This year they took advantage of that green tree property that they own.
Hopefully we see a randomized, idiomatic rematch in the personal ants in a race like that. Idiomatic was the champion last year, older Philly mare on the dirt, and she got nipped by randomized on Belmont day.
National treasure, who's currently for weeks now, has been the number one ranked horse on the National Thoroughbred Racing association rankings I participate in.
He won the Met mile, very impressively trained by Bob Baffer. Let's see him in the Whitney.
We got baby Yoda. We took a picture. Erica Miller was up there. We happened to catch him when he was going out for a little jog. He'll run in one of the big great stakes sprints. He just won the true north. And then a horse that everybody should really, really be salivating over to see Ronnie in the coaching club American Oaks and or the Alabama's Torpedo Anna, who is clearly the best three year old filly in the country. And she's on the grounds and she's going to be pointing to those two races after winning the grade one acorn during Belmont week. And she also won the Kentucky Oaks on Derby weekend. So torpedo Anna is one you really got to keep an eye on.
[00:09:45] Speaker A: Just this absolute superstar Mike McGaddon joining us with the at the track segment here on the parting shots podcast at the track with Max segment the entire title here.
[00:09:55] Speaker C: Get them all in there.
[00:09:55] Speaker A: That's right. Of course, the big day will be August 24, the Traverse Stakes, the likely pivot point in deciding a three year old male championship, which is currently as wide open as we ever seen it.
[00:10:07] Speaker C: Yeah, and I just got done filing a story about that. I talked to Todd Pletcher this morning about his three that are pointing to the Travers. Eventually, you know, I'll run through the triple crown horses first. Mystic Daniel ran into Belmont. He ran in all three legs of the triple crown, and he's getting a little breather. So he's going to skip the two stepping stone type races to the Travers, which is the Haskell on July 20, followed by the Jim Dandy at Saratoga on July 27. So he's taking a little bit of break, but sees the grays on the grounds. He just breezed this morning.
He'll probably go to the Haskell instead of the Jim Dandy. I'm not sure who we're going to even see in the Jim Dandy because all three plutchers are, mindframe fierceness, and Tuscan sky are all pointing to the Haskell. So the Haskell is going to be just a parade of three year old males. I don't know who's going to stick around for the Jim dandy, but all the horses in those two races are likely candidates for the Travers.
Nobody in the division right now is really taking the bull by the horns. Everybody's got, like, one nice win, but they haven't backed it up with something else. I mean, you can make a case for Ces de Gray because he won the grade two pat Demile on Derby day to go with his Preakness win, but it's really, really wide open, and that's not that unusual for this time of the year. I mean, we're only into July, barely. And so there's still big races, including the Travers and the Pennsylvania Derby, that are restricted to three year olds that will shake out this division a little more. But I think the Travers probably is going to be pretty bananas if all these Haskell horses and Jim dandy horses wind up in the Travers. And let's not forget, there's a little race called the Curlin, which is ungraded, but it's at the same distance. It's the day before the Haskell. It's at Saratoga. And Chad Brown, who, I forgot to mention Sierra Leone, could still wind up pulling out this championship, even though he finished second in the Derby and third in the Belmonte, is still one of the best out there. And his stable mate, named Unmatched Wisdom. I was talking to Chad Brown last weekend.
He's really high on this horse, and he hasn't even run in a stakes race yet, so he's going to run in the curling as kind of a stepping stone to the traverse. So that unmatched wisdom is another one to keep an eye. I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody. I know. Bob Baffert is lurking out there with Mooth, who was not eligible to run in the Kentucky Derby and actually did not run in any of the Triple Crown legs but is undefeated this year. He could wind up winning this thing. We'll see. If he shows up in the traverse. I suspect he'll be in the Haskell as well.
So there's a lot of. It's a lot of suspects out there, but nobody really has taken the bull by the horn in the division, which just puts extra emphasis on an already huge race which is the traverse grade one one $4 million.
[00:13:00] Speaker A: Yeah, you mentioned Chad Brown, which is your story had last week see the favorite again to win the trainers title. I know they tied last year.
[00:13:07] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a good question for no other reason than it kind of refers to last year and what a nightmare we had with rain. His stable is very reliant on turf racing and they had 65 races rained off the turf onto the main track last year, which had to put a dent in his operation a little bit. And then Linda Rice comes and wins with a horse named Lieutenant Mitchell, wins the last race of 420, whatever races of the meet to tie him at the last second. You talk about a buzzer beater, but you're talking about two different kind of characteristics here. Chad's got.
He's got a ton of stuff and he's got a lot of stuff in the graded stakes races and Linda's at more of the lower levels and so she was able to pile up the quantity and the numbers. Last year. I think Chad's first total was like one and a half million dollars more than hers. But that's, you know, one is. Is operating in one ecosystem and the other and occasionally somebody wins the last race of the meat to tie with. I think they had 35 wins each for the. For the meat title, which is named after Alan Jerkins, but they. They shared it last year. But I fully, fully expect Chad. As long as we don't have another stupid rain.
[00:14:26] Speaker A: I'm going to ask that question. Whether is Tropical Storm borough, which is battered Texas as a hurricane is coming up and there's talk of rain on Thursday.
[00:14:37] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, we'll probably see evidence of it, like through even into the weekend. From something I was reading this morning so, I mean, right off the rip, I'm sure Chad Brown is in a great mood today when he's looking at the National Weather Service, because right off the rip, you know, we're running into it. But it's summertime at Saratoga. Things shift pretty quickly and sometimes very dramatically. And hopefully, I don't think, please, we can't have anything approaching last year, which was, again, just a nightmare. But you have to get ready for it because at some point or other, it's summertime and Saratoga, it's going to rain.
[00:15:13] Speaker A: How much fun is this? I mean, you've put a lot of work in. I know Erica Miller, our photographer who shoots, does great work. I mean, how much fun? But how much work is this?
[00:15:22] Speaker C: It's a ton of work, but it's a ton of fun work. It's not always fun. I mean, when you're waiting, for instance, when you go to the barns in the morning and you're chasing down stories and previews and stuff like that, there's no set schedule and people are all over the place. I don't know how many acres the property is, but you got to find these people and wait at their barn. And, you know, this is first world problems of somebody who's very privileged and honored to have this position.
But it is fun because you get to see really spectacular stuff up close. But also the vast array of stories that you run into at the track is something that will continuously fascinate me from the lower rungs of the sport.
It's one of the most democratic places on the planet because everybody has a shot to win a race no matter what their background is, and you just run into a ton of cool stories. I've got my usual long laundry list of stuff that I'm going to try to get to, and my strike rate is probably about a third or 20% of actually getting to those stories. But it's nice to have the list to start off with.
[00:16:24] Speaker A: Yeah. So. Well, of course, we'll have our at the track wrap five days a week, Wednesday through Sunday, of course, on the Monday of the final meet, final day of the meet on Labor Day. And you can read Mike's articles. Teresa Gennaro, she'll have some regular contributor. Yeah. Will Springstad will be also contributing the Q and A's. So we have it all for you. Entries, the picks of our handicappers, pick up the copy of Daily Gazette each day and see what's going on at the track.
[00:16:53] Speaker C: And I always neglect to mention when I do stuff like this. But if you go to the Gazette Dailygazette.com website and call up the sports page, the sports button. There's a pull down menu of the various Sienna high schools, whatever. And at the bottom is at the track. So if you want to just filter out everything and just look at the huge wealth of content that we've been piling up for a long time now, just for horse racing related stuff, there's an easy button to hit and all that stuff will be lined up for you.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: Appreciate it. A few minutes, of course, you'll be joining us from your at the track with Mac studio up at Saratoga, finding a place to have some quiet.
[00:17:29] Speaker C: I got my little hermetically sealed booth that I get so they don't hear me and I don't hear them. But we'll do it again.
[00:17:36] Speaker A: Looking forward to doing this again. It's another great summer and hopefully the weather cooperates.
[00:17:41] Speaker C: I don't expect it to. You take what you can get. But I, it can't be as bad as last year.
[00:17:45] Speaker A: All right. Thanks, Mike. Appreciate it. That's Mike Begatum. Coming up, we're going to talk New York State Hockey hall of Fame induction Courtney Barka, an Albany native who played at the University of Wisconsin, is getting inducted Saturday at the Hilton Garden in Droi. I spoke with her last week and have a story in the Daily Gazette in Wednesday's paper. So we'll talk with her in just a minute. You're listening to the parting shots podcast.
[00:18:25] Speaker B: Where do my friends and other students find their voice?
We find our voice through the performing arts along with millions of other high school students.
By expressing yourself in a role, on stage, through an instrument, or at the debate podium, the performing arts give us freedom to find ourselves, to find our place.
The stage is where I can play, perform and compete with my friends.
Performing arts at your school is where creativity meets courage.
Encourage the students in your life to find their voice through the performing arts.
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[00:19:20] Speaker C: Hey, everybody, this is Don Barnes from 38 special and you're always rocking into the night when you're listening to the.
[00:19:27] Speaker A: Parting Shots podcast with Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Schotteh. Hold on loosely, Ken, just don't ever let go.
Welcome back to the podcast. On Saturday at the Hilton Garden Inn in Troy will be the third edition of the New York State Hockey hall of Fame induction ceremony. Some great names getting inducted. Mike Daruzione, of course, who scored the game winning goal against the Soviet Union in the miracle on ice in 1980 at the Olympics. That was not the gold medal game, by the way. That got them to a chance to play for the gold medal is a different format. Back then they could have lost the gold medal. Russia's Soviet Union could have still won the gold medal, but they did not. USA won the gold medal. He'll be inducted. Dennis Potvin, a four time Stanley cup champion, a hockey hall of famer. He'll be inducted as well as his teammates and also Mike Caruso and his teammates on the Team USA. Ken Morrow, what a 1980 he had, winning a gold medal with Team USA and then winning Stanley cup, then actually four straight Stanley Cups. So he had a great start to his pro career. Also the voice of the New York Rangers on MSG television, Sam Rosen. He'll be inducted as well. And Courtney Burke, Albany native who played for Wisconsin from 2012 to 2016, will also be inducted. She had a tremendous career at with the Badgers. Played three years in the Professional Women's Hockey League, which he was the forerunner, I'm sorry. Was in the North National Women's Hockey League, which is the predecessor of the Professional Women's Hockey League. A chance to talk with Courtney last week story is appearing on Dailygazette.com and Wednesday's print edition. If you get a chance to read it some we talked a lot about her career, how she got started in hockey, and also some other topics did not make the paper, but we have here on the podcast. So here's my interview with the inductee for the New York State Hockey hall of Fame, Courtney Burke.
Well, Courtney, first of all, congratulations on being selected for the New York State Hockey hall of Fame. When you got the announcement, what was your reaction?
[00:21:39] Speaker D: I was pretty surprised. Honestly, I wasn't expecting it at all cause nobody had even mentioned it to me. So honestly, I was shocked. But I was super thrilled and honestly honored. It was awesome.
[00:21:49] Speaker A: Yeah. How much are you looking forward to this on next Saturday or, I'm sorry, July 13.
[00:21:57] Speaker D: I'm excited. I honestly haven't been up to Albany in quite some time, so it'll be good to get up there, see some family, and obviously enjoy the event and everything like that.
[00:22:07] Speaker A: Where you at right now?
[00:22:09] Speaker D: I actually live in Orlando, Florida.
[00:22:11] Speaker A: Okay. Okay.
[00:22:12] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:22:14] Speaker A: When you were growing up in Albany, what got you interested in hockey?
[00:22:20] Speaker D: So originally my brother actually played, so I was kind of getting dragged to the rink and, you know, stuff like that. My mom was like, do you want to try it? You know, my parents kept saying, do you want to try hockey? Do you want to try it? You want to do what your brother's doing? Kind of thing?
And I just kept saying no, and I kept saying no. And then my mom was like, well, do you want to try figure skating? Like, I do that here, too. And I was like, no. And then eventually I think I just was like, born at the rank and I'm like, if I'm going to be here, I might as well play, too. So I ended up picking it up from there.
[00:22:52] Speaker A: Did it come naturally, you know, when you first started?
[00:22:56] Speaker D: Yeah, honestly, like, because I had my brother's two years older than me, so we always played around outside playing different sports and everything like that. So, you know, I was always out and about and playing things and stuff like that, so it was good.
[00:23:09] Speaker A: What's your brother's name?
[00:23:10] Speaker D: Patrick.
[00:23:11] Speaker A: Patrick.
Where would you have gone to high school if you were. If you didn't go out to Shattuck?
[00:23:17] Speaker D: St. Mary's Academy of the Holy names. I went there for middle school, and then I went to public school for elementary school.
[00:23:25] Speaker A: Yeah. Because obviously when you were growing up there, really, I don't think there was much out there for girls hockey. I mean, if anybody, I think, still situation where girls are still playing with the boys, but what was it like trying to play around here?
[00:23:40] Speaker D: Yeah, so I played.
I don't think they're a thing anymore, but it was the cd selects, the Toyota CD select. So I grew up playing with them, and then as I kind of got into, like, my banham year, I was playing with the CD select still full time, and then I would help out with the Troy Albany Ice Cats, which I'm not even sure if that's even a thing anymore in the capital district, but that was the girls team. So I played about 1010 or so games with them so that I could help them out at states and stuff like that.
But I mainly played boys up until Bantam and went to Shattuck.
[00:24:19] Speaker A: How did you get noticed to go to Shaq? Obviously, Shattuck St. Mary's is reputation for junior hockey is well known.
[00:24:29] Speaker D: Yeah. So my coach was actually for the cd selects was Ben Barr.
Yeah. Yeah. So Ben, then, he was my coach, and, you know, obviously he's getting the Banhams, and then it turns into, you know, midget and everything like that. And it gets to the point where, you know, the boys are. I have to. I have to separate and go, you know, the girls route. And he was like, why don't you take a look at shadow? He's like, that's where I went. My parents live out there.
I think it'd be an awesome spot for you and, you know, that kinds of stuff.
So I went to the summer camp.
So then I went to summer camp and basically was like, where they could be able to look at me because I was playing boys hockey, so they weren't really, like, paying attention to boys hockey for, you know, girls tunes at Shattuck St. Mary's. So ended up going out there, falling in love with it, and then going from there.
[00:25:25] Speaker A: Yeah, I know Ben from his days playing at RPI and union assistant coach because I cover union. And now, of course, he's doing a good job at me. So then you're on the Wisconsin. Meaning, how did that come about?
[00:25:41] Speaker D: Just the recruiting process. And then also my coach, Dan Cook at Shattuck. He actually had come over to Shattuck for a couple of years and was my coach for a season.
He ended up going back to Wisconsin, where he was before and was the assistant coach there. And honestly, like, when I went to the school and everything like that, I just fell in love with it. The people, like, the facilities, the coaching, like, everything just felt, like, so natural and it felt like home that I ended up just committing there and end up going there for four years.
[00:26:16] Speaker A: And you play for a coach who, of course, won a gold medal on the miracle on ice.
What was it like to play for Mark then? Did he ever talk about that?
[00:26:26] Speaker D: Not that much. He's a super humble guy, so it wasn't like something that he always preached upon. He was always more worried about the people around him than himself, which was, you know, super awesome to play for.
He loved developing his players and getting them to their, their top potential and everything like that. But no, he really didn't talk that much about it at all, if, if really at all.
You know, he was. It just always seems like he was more worried about other people and getting them where they want to go than, you know, himself.
[00:26:59] Speaker A: Yeah. What was he like to play for?
[00:27:01] Speaker D: He was awesome. I mean, he just has it down to a science, you know, and he's so great. He's such a players coach.
He gets it, you know what I mean? Like, he's been there. He's been through it.
I absolutely love playing for him. And the staff there, they're top notch and they run it like it's super professional. And, you know, the product, it shows on the ice, too. You know what I mean? Like, when people buy in and love what they're. Who they're working with and playing with, you know, things turn out usually pretty well for them, so. Yeah.
[00:27:35] Speaker A: And you had. You had a good career at Wisconsin. You ended up being the captain your senior year. I mean, how much of an honor was that to be named captain in your senior year?
[00:27:43] Speaker D: Yeah, it was super awesome. But I had people before me, too, that, you know, kind of paved the way for me, you know, and I was able to see my freshman year, Brandon Decker was like. We had, like, mentors when we first get there, and she was mine, and she obviously was the captain. So seeing her and seeing, you know, the people in front of me, you know, that some of the older girls who was. It was. It was a good. I guess it was good to see other people doing it, and then it made it way easier for me to do. And it was such an honor to be named the captain, too.
[00:28:17] Speaker A: You ended up playing pro and for three years, and what was then the forerunner of the PWHL, the national women's Hockey League. I mean, compared to when you played and what we see now. And the PWHL just completed its first year, had an amazing final round between Minnesota and Boston.
How important is it to see a professional women's hockey league for women?
[00:28:44] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, it's awesome. It's good for, you know, young girls, too, you know, growing up and something to look forward to, you know, something to look up to, because, I mean, you can only have 20 something people on an Olympic team, right. That was always the goal when you're younger, as I was growing up. But now you have something more to look forward to, you know, and I think it's great that they're pushing the league forward and, you know, being shell blazers in that aspect.
[00:29:08] Speaker A: Would you like to see more than six teams in the league?
[00:29:11] Speaker D: Yeah, I think it'll grow. You know, it takes time, right? You gotta build it from the ground up, essentially. It doesn't happen overnight. And I think what they did this year was really great. I mean, they had great attendance. People paid attention. They got the social media following, and, you know, it's little steps. You know, they took the big leap, and now it's little steps to get it where they, you know, where they can make it a bigger. A bigger thing for themselves.
[00:29:34] Speaker A: Yeah. Cause we see the WNBA has been growing. Of course, now Caitlin Clark's has made it really attractive. I mean, does this, the PWHL need a Caitlin Clark type player to really get even more attention?
[00:29:47] Speaker D: You know, I just feel like she's, like, once in a generation talent, and, like, she just hooked all everybody somehow, you know what I mean? Like, just with her playing and her presence and stuff, you know, that's not. That's just gotta come naturally, right. To say that they need it. I don't think they need it. Would it be helpful? Sure. But I think they got enough girls there that, you know, do catch the spotlight and, you know, do attract, you know, viewers and stuff like that, that, you know, maybe some. Somebody will come along where it's like that. But I think WNBA might be, you know, a couple steps ahead. I mean, they've been around for a lot longer, right?
[00:30:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:25] Speaker D: So they're stepping into the light, right. I think they're still building, and I think eventually somebody will step in and. And kind of be that kind of figure, you know, where hockey's, like, across the board, you know, watched and everything like that, you know?
[00:30:38] Speaker A: Yeah. So what's the post hockey career been for you? What are you doing?
[00:30:42] Speaker D: I am a police officer down here in Orlando. Wow. I've been doing that for about four years.
[00:30:49] Speaker A: Is that something you strive to be when you're growing up?
[00:30:52] Speaker D: Both my parents were, so I was always around. I wouldn't say that I necessarily strive for, but I always thought it was interesting. I thought it was cool. And then when I moved down here, the opportunity presented itself, and, you know, I'm not super good at sitting at a desk and stuff like that, so it was the perfect, I think, transition for me outside of hockey to go into, you know, please work.
[00:31:16] Speaker A: Yeah, I know you're not in the Miami area, but the state of Florida has really been home for hockey.
A team from Florida has been a standing cup final course, Tampa one consecutive years, and now Florida Panthers just winning it a couple weeks ago. What is hockey like in Orlando? I know they have an ECHL team there, in the solar bears there, and what's hockey like? And do you still, you know, try to play once in a while?
[00:31:41] Speaker D: Yeah, honestly, I haven't touched the ice in, like, four years.
When I went to the academy, I didn't want to stand it in just because I didn't want to risk, you know, hurting myself. And then my schedule starts so busy that getting to the ring drinks about 45 minutes from where I live. So, like you said, like, it's not, like, huge down here, but somehow all these Florida teams are winning and making it bigger. But, you know, I honestly, I haven't been skating or anything like that, so I've kind of been disassociated from hockey a little bit, and so all I get is, like, the NHL or whatever is on tv, so. And I've gone to a couple, couple Tampa Bay Lightning versus Ranger games down here.
[00:32:19] Speaker A: So who's your favorite NHL team?
[00:32:22] Speaker D: It's gonna be the Rangers.
[00:32:24] Speaker A: Mike McDowell.
I'm from Philadelphia.
I have other issues with that, so.
Well, Courtney, I appreciate a few minutes. Congratulations again. Look forward to seeing at the induction ceremony and have a safe trip in the opening.
[00:32:40] Speaker D: All right, I appreciate. See you soon.
[00:32:42] Speaker A: Thanks. Take care. Bye bye. We'll be back to wrap up the podcast and have the latest winner in the Daily Gazette's auto racing contest. In just a moment, you're listening to the Parting Shots podcast.
[00:33:09] Speaker E: If you really want to know what's going on in your community, you have to read the Daily Gazette. We don't take a side. We're right down the middle and we're going to get to the truth. Our reporters and photographers are out in the field bringing you updates every minute with trust, accuracy and integrity from the first page to the last page. Independent, probing journalism. We're finding out what's going on in the community where nobody else is covering. It's who we are. It's what we do.
[00:33:40] Speaker C: Hi, this is Daily Gazette reporter Tyler A. McNeil. You're listening to the parting shots podcast with Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Schott.
[00:33:50] Speaker A: Back to wrap up the podcast. The week 20 winner in the Daily Gazette's auto racing contest was Dennis Fuhrman of Hoosick Falls with 35 points. Dennis wins a $50 gift card. Congratulations, Dennis. The vip winner was Dwayne Leach of all season equipment with five points.
I'll announce the auto racing contest winner's name and that winner's name will appear in Saturday's Daily Gazette. To play, go to dailyGazette.com and click on the auto racing contest banner.
Just because Covid-19 mandates are easing, that does not mean you should relax. Be vigilant. If you have not gotten vaccinated or received a booster shot, please do so. Do it for yourself, do it for your family, and do it for your friends.
That wraps up another edition of the Parting Shots podcast. I want to thank Mike Begaddam and Courtney Burke for coming on the show. If you have questions or comments about the podcast, email to me at shot. That's schottailygazette.com. follow me on and threads at Slap Shots the views expressed on the parting Shots podcast are not necessarily those of the Daily Gazette Company. The Parting Shots podcast is a production of the Daily Gazette Company. I am Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Schott thanks for listening, and I'll catch you next time from the parting Shots podcast studio in Schenectady, New York. Good day, good sports.
