[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:03] Speaker B: The following program is brought to.
[00:00:05] Speaker C: You in living color on elliot gazette.com or wherever you get your podcast.
The Gazette News Group presents the Parting Shots Podcast.
[00:00:17] Speaker B: Now here's your host, Gazette News Group.
[00:00:20] Speaker C: Sports Editor Ken Shot. Thank you Scott Geezy, 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. Have another great show for you. A lot of guests on this edition of the podcast, the last one for October.
We'll preview the Union men's hockey games against RPI this weekend as the both teams begin ECAC hockey play. Friday's game is at MNT Bank center at 7 o' clock and Saturday's game is at Houston Field House at 4pm you heard from Union men's head coach Josh Hausee on Wednesday's podcast.
We spoke with on Tuesday Union players Nick Young, Parker Lindauer and Colby McArthur. I spoke with Eric Lang by phone on Tuesday. You'll hear what he had to say about his team and his first time in the Union RPI rivalry of the new head coach of the engineers.
Well, after 10 straight home games to start the season, the Union women are hitting the road for the first time. They'll head to Quinnipiac and and Princeton this weekend. The game at Friday at Quinnipac is at MNT bank arena, so it's the unofficial start of the M and T Bank cup series between Union and Quinnipac. I'm having that anyway, maybe somebody from M and T Bank publicity or marketing can figure out maybe a way to get this done. So but take give me some credit, won't you? But on Tuesday spoke to head coach Tony Macy, Stephanie Bork, the defenseman and Ford Carry and and Engelbert. So you'll hear what they have to say about hitting the road for the first time. Then we're going to have three straight Gazette My colleagues will be on talking sports. Drew Wempar, our new high school writer, who will talk about the Section 2 football playoffs for Class A and C getting underway this weekend. Mike McAdam talks Breeders cup of course, the big news on Wednesday.
Sovereignty was expected to be the favorite in in the Breeders Cup Classic, scratched on Wednesday because of a fever.
So that changes things for the Classic on Saturday and then Will Spring said we'll talk Union college football. Big win for the Garner Chargers at Ithaca last Saturday and they take on Hilbert, a team that they should be able to beat. And it's in Hilbert's a new team in Liberty League football. They lost to our paddock. They gave it up 69 points last Saturday. So Union should be able to hold on to their share of first place with rpi, which could lead to a couple weeks with showdown for Liberty League bragging rights. Not only that but the Dutchman's shoes. So we'll keep an eye on that as well.
So well coming up we're going to talk Union men's hockey with for the rivalry coming games coming up against rpi. We'll talk about that as we head into break. We remember Soft Sells Dave Ball, who passed away recently.
Of course Soft Sell had the big hit back in 1981 with Tainted Love. It's a redo of the Gloria Jones song back from 1964 and I didn't realize that was a cover version that Soft Sell did until a few years ago when I first heard the Gloria Jones version.
I played that song a lot when I was in College on WVYC AM640. That song spent 43 weeks on the Billboard chart. That's incredible. Of course, the merger of where do our love go backing that Soft cells chain of love. But let's play a little bit as we head into break and rest in.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: Peace Dave Ball Sometimes I feel I've got to run away I've got to get away from the pain you drive into the army the love we seems.
[00:04:18] Speaker C: To go nowhere and I've lost my.
[00:04:23] Speaker D: Light for I toss and turn I.
[00:04:26] Speaker B: Can'T sleep at night Once I ran to you Now I run from you this tainted love you've given I give you all a boy could give you.
[00:04:41] Speaker D: Take my tears and that's not me oh tainted love.
How can you measure the value of education based athletics? Well, the value is in what makes it invaluable. That's because school sports aren't just about winning, they're about learning and growing. School sports aren't just about gaining trophies and accolades. They're about learning life lessons, bringing a whole community together, developing character and integrity, having coaches who mentor you and team.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: Teammates who become lifelong friends.
[00:05:16] Speaker D: And you can't put a price on any of that. That's what makes education based athletics invaluable.
Of course, when you participate in school sports, you want to win and become a better athlete, but the purpose is so much greater. Becoming a better person.
[00:05:33] Speaker B: Support your local school sports programs and.
[00:05:36] Speaker D: If you have a student, encourage them to get involved.
[00:05:40] Speaker C: This message presented by NSFA and the New York State Athletic Administrators association welcome back to the podcast Big Hockey Weekend in the Capital Region as the Union men and RPI men face off for the first time this season in the renewal of their Capital region rivalry.
Game one is Friday night at MT Bank center at 7 o' clock and the rematch Saturday at 4pm at Houston Fieldhouse. Union, off to a 4011 start, averaging 46.6 shots per game, have a streak of 40 or more shots on goal in, as I said, four games in a row, including that 55 shot on goal effort against Niagara in the 6 nothing victory on October 18th. Meanwhile, RPI under new head coach Eric Language 06 to start the season. And if you can hear my voice, it's still battling a little bit of the coffees here, but we'll plow through this. But RPI has been outscored 26 to 8.
Last three games have been against nationally ranked teams, Boston College, Providence and two last weekend at Minnesota, Minnesota State. So we'll get the Union side of things first. Of course you heard from Josh Haugy, the Union head coach over on Wednesday's podcast. Let's hear from Union players Nick Young, Parker Lindauer and Colby MacArthur.
Guys, after the week off, you open conference play this weekend at the home and home against rpi. I mean, how excited are you guys starting with Nick?
[00:07:15] Speaker E: Oh yeah, I mean we're super excited.
[00:07:17] Speaker F: We've been waiting to start ECAC play.
[00:07:19] Speaker B: For a while now and it gives.
[00:07:20] Speaker E: Us a chance to start out on a good note with the league. So we're super pumped.
[00:07:24] Speaker C: Parker?
[00:07:25] Speaker E: Yeah, same thing. First game in conference for us. So we obviously want to get off to a good start in the standings as well. So super excited about that opportunity and just also RPI like the hype around this rivalry is awesome and can't wait to start playing Colby.
[00:07:42] Speaker F: Yeah, same as these guys.
[00:07:43] Speaker C: We love playing rpi, big rivalry and hopefully get a couple wins this weekend. Let me ask you about coming back off the week off. You guys had so much momentum after the Niagara game. Four straight games of shooting, getting 40 or more shots and goal, including the 55 in the Saturday game.
Any concern about the rust going into this game? No, I don't think so.
[00:08:03] Speaker F: Our practice habits, we just keep them.
[00:08:05] Speaker C: High and you know we got a.
[00:08:07] Speaker E: Couple guys from get a.
[00:08:09] Speaker C: They had some bumps so they're all healthy now.
[00:08:11] Speaker E: So yeah, we should be good.
[00:08:14] Speaker F: Our pace in practice is high this week, so yeah, we'll be ready. Parker.
[00:08:18] Speaker E: Yeah, I mean I think we're just having fun out there at this point right now. Like everybody loves shooting the pucks, so obviously we're going to keep doing that and hopefully put up a lot of shots against RPI this week, too, and put them in the back of the net.
[00:08:31] Speaker G: Yeah.
[00:08:31] Speaker E: I mean, it's given us a chance to, like we said last week, focus.
[00:08:34] Speaker B: On the things that we need to.
[00:08:36] Speaker E: Work on, things we need to clean up.
[00:08:37] Speaker C: So I've been happy with how it's.
[00:08:39] Speaker E: Looked on the ice, and we got a week to keep it going into the weekend.
[00:08:42] Speaker C: Nick, is it a little different with RPI having so many new guys? Let's say maybe some of the old.
[00:08:47] Speaker B: Relationships you might have had on the.
[00:08:49] Speaker E: Ice with some of the. It's a little different being so new with them.
[00:08:52] Speaker G: Yeah.
[00:08:52] Speaker B: I mean, it's always going to be a little different year in, year out.
[00:08:54] Speaker E: But, you know, that rivalry is always.
[00:08:56] Speaker F: Going to dig deep and still be.
[00:08:58] Speaker B: There no matter who's wearing that jersey.
[00:09:00] Speaker E: It's, you know, union versus RPI all the way. So.
Yeah, I mean, I just look at the front of their jersey. I don't really care who the new guys are if they have new coach. Like, I still want to beat them every time I play them. And obviously growing up, like, we all played junior hockey somewhere, so we play with guys that may have already played against RPI this year. So we're doing our research on them, too, and I can't wait to get on the ice and take it to them.
Yeah, I know.
[00:09:26] Speaker F: Parker said it perfectly.
[00:09:28] Speaker E: It's the front of the jersey. We're union, they're rpi.
[00:09:30] Speaker C: We don't like them.
Yeah.
[00:09:33] Speaker E: So we're going to give it all this weekend.
[00:09:35] Speaker C: Being able to take the skates last.
[00:09:37] Speaker E: Year and sweep the weekend, just how motivating is that? To have that feeling in the back of your mind of what that was like and what. Want to do it again?
[00:09:44] Speaker B: No. Yeah. I mean, that was. That was our first time being able to take that. So I think that was something that.
[00:09:48] Speaker E: Was really special to our group, and.
[00:09:50] Speaker B: That'S something that we're not going to.
[00:09:51] Speaker E: Easily hand away and something we want to keep for many years to come. So that's. That's something of utmost importance this weekend.
[00:09:59] Speaker C: Good question.
[00:10:00] Speaker E: Yeah, I mean, same thing. We got the skates here right now, and I would really hate to give it back to them. So I'm going to do everything I can do, and I'm sure these guys are too, and. And we're just going to keep them here in this rink for us.
Yeah.
[00:10:12] Speaker C: We go into weekends not looking for one win.
[00:10:14] Speaker F: We look for both.
[00:10:15] Speaker C: So yeah, that's what our goal is this weekend. Parker, how important is to get off to a good start in ECAC play this weekend?
[00:10:22] Speaker E: Yeah, I mean, we kind of talk about it as a team and coach kind of preached it this week for us that, like, we don't want to be chasing anybody at the end of the year trying to catch up on points or like, finish in a good spot in the standings. We want to be the team that people are chasing.
So for us to have these first two games in conference and maybe get ahead of everybody else, they're going to be chasing after us and we're not going to be looking back at who's following us. We're just going to keep going forward and extend that gap, I guess.
[00:10:52] Speaker F: Yeah, I mean, same thing.
[00:10:53] Speaker E: It's just trying to start off the way that we want to finish or start off, you know, trying to get those points right away, stay at that number one and never let it go.
[00:11:01] Speaker A: So.
[00:11:04] Speaker C: Now let's hear from RPI head coach Eric Lang, whose teams, as I mentioned earlier, off to an 0 and 6 start. Lang in his first season with the Engineers and really a revamping of the program. 20 new players on this team. Eric depended a lot on the transfer portal. So let's hear from what. From what Eric Lang has to say about his team here early in the season.
Well, Eric, you're going to get your first taste of the Union RPI rivalry this weekend with the game Friday at M and T Bank center and Saturday's game at Houston Field House. How much are you looking forward to this?
[00:11:40] Speaker A: Yeah, this is great. Anytime in your season, you have games that grab extra special attention. I think it's great. I think it's great for both schools. I think it's great for recruiting. The rivalry has proved as good as any in college hockey. Union opening up a brand new facility really, really adds to the excitement of it. And, you know, this will be, you know, I had players come in on Monday and say, hey, this week is different. So as I'm going through it for the first time as well, really excited.
[00:12:09] Speaker C: What have you heard about the rivalry?
[00:12:13] Speaker A: You know, what?
Just the. The emotion of it, obviously, the proximity of the institutions and, you know, we've said here before, we can talk about being one of the top teams in the ecac. We need to be one of the best teams in town. And, you know, Union has, for better or for worse, they've kind of had their way with this rivalry. And, you know, for us to make it a rivalry, we've Got to win some games as well here, so really looking forward to seeing what it feels like inside of it. You know, I had a little bit of it at Army Air Force, which I thought was one of the more unique rivalries in college hockey.
At aic this was something we were missing and I'm really, really excited for the weekend and I'm excited to get back in league play to be honest.
[00:12:56] Speaker C: Yeah, your first go around here on ECAC hockey play, you're off to a little bit of a tough start. 06Last couple weeks you played nationally ranked teams. How would you characterize your start? So far.
[00:13:12] Speaker A: We haven't played our best hockey.
Saturday was as good as we've played. We, you know, we held our opponent maybe to 15 on 5 scoring chance against. We played really, really well Saturday. That wasn't a coulda won game, that was a should have won game. They have a, you know, the Tracy kid for Mankato, one of the top goalies in the country. I loved us on Saturday.
I think we've been intermittently good inside of our other games.
Probably intermittently good because Providence and Boston College and Now Miami's proven they're 6 0, right?
We've probably been intermittently good quite honestly because the other our opponent is just better than us at this juncture of where we are in transition.
[00:13:52] Speaker C: How much in playing those teams as help you set up maybe for this weekend?
[00:14:00] Speaker A: You know, I guess we'll look after the weekend. It's hard to determine because we are looking for traction.
We are, you know, we're trying to make plays with the. We don't, we just don't have the puck enough right now.
And the reason, part of the reason we don't have the puck enough right now is because our opponents, you know, you know, their, their 12 forwards are really deep and really good and they some National Hockey League talent on these rosters.
So it's kind of tough to gauge the one thing because we've been defending a lot in these games. I feel like our structure is where it needs to be.
We've done a lot of video in this area and now our, you know, we need some other aspects of our game that kind of come around and we'll be healthy for the first time this year as well, which will help. We're just not deep enough where we can have two of our top nine forwards out and then we're moving guys and we got guys in areas where, you know, we didn't project them to perform. So we're excited. We're Getting healthy and again, we'll know more after the weekend in terms of where we are in the ecac because I think Union is as good a team as there is in the league. I think they're a top two, top three team. They return a ton of scoring. They did as good a job in the transfer portal as any team in our league.
They're big goaltender there. He looks the part. They really added some good pieces.
You know, Union finishing in the top two or three of our league would not surprise me one bit.
[00:15:35] Speaker C: I don't know if you had a chance to look in a taper Union, but now they've been really carrying the offense a lot, averaging over 45, 46 shots a game. They've had 40 shots or more in the last four games, including 55 and the six nothing win over Niagara. What do you have to do to stop that offensive attack?
[00:15:55] Speaker A: Yeah, you know what?
And they are a volume team. They put a lot of pucks towards the net, but they could also beat in transition. There isn't one, you know, we can't give any short ice opportunities. So we, you know, they look very scary in transition. They, you know, in their ozone. There's a lot of low to high and funneling pucks and players at the net. And you know, for us it's, it's, you know, we have to contest the blue lines so they can't get easy access into our zone. We've got to get battles stopped early in our D zone. And really probably the most important is we need to take care of the puck because if we don't and we give Union, you know, too much opportunities in transition, we're going to be chasing.
[00:16:33] Speaker C: This game and a power play. They scored four goals over the Niagara weekend, including three in the six nothing game. What do you have to do to prevent that?
[00:16:43] Speaker A: Yeah, we need to stay out of the box. We're struggling to kill them right now. If you can't kill them, you can't take them. It's actually one of the areas of our game we've been really happy with is our discipline. You know, we've only, you know, we're taking two or three penalties a night and our penalty kill has struggled a little bit. I think it coincides, you know, we need better from everybody, including our goaltenders right now.
[00:17:07] Speaker C: Is there any aspect of the team's game right now that you're really pleased about?
[00:17:15] Speaker A: I think we're trending in the right direction.
We're not anywhere where we think we can be. We're off To a slow start. I think it's opponent predicated. I think it's a little bit of guys getting acclimated to how we want to play here and how we need to compete for 60 minutes.
I would give us C's across the board right now. But the good news is, you know, we've got a long season ahead of us and, you know, if we can bottle Saturday night's effort, we will have some success.
[00:17:48] Speaker C: Here is a matter of just being patient right now with the process.
[00:17:54] Speaker A: Yeah, we have to be incredibly patient. Like when you need 20 players in April. Okay. When you need 20 players in April, some would argue that's a rebuild. Some would argue that feels like a startup program. And you know, our program was pillaged. You know, we, we return the least amount of scoring in college hockey. There's, there's just things that for us right now, we have to continue to work through this transition. Again, no parameters on what we can or cannot do this season, you know, but 20 players in April, that's a lot. That's an overhaul. It's like, you know, I know Halloween's coming. That's like trick or treating at 10:30 at night. You know, sometimes the Snickers and the Reese's aren't in the, in the pail anymore. You're down, grabbing some pennies and bit of honey and candy corn and whatever else is left over. And you know, this was the hand that was dealt.
But we have great, great, great kids with high buy in that want to do special things. And what we are, we have to stay patient. This is, you know, this for me is year one AIC all over again. And, you know, we were able to get that thing up and running by year three. And we project the same.
[00:19:11] Speaker C: What would it mean for the, for you and for the team to get maybe at least one win or sweep this weekend?
[00:19:18] Speaker A: Yeah, Our focus right now is Friday night and we, we, you know, this is a zero sum business, right? So you either win or you lose. And we're trying to celebrate small victories to make sure we keep morale high.
At the end of the day, we're in, you know, we're in first place in ECAC right now, so whatever's happened in the past has happened. And Friday night, the first team to put points on the board will be in first place. And that's kind of our focus right now. We're able to turn the PA on our last six games and really look forward to ECAC play. And in actuality, the games that matter most.
[00:19:58] Speaker C: Now let's talk Union Women's Hockey the Garner Chargers, after opening the season with 10 consecutive home games, finally hit the road. They'll go to Quinnipiac on Friday for a 4:30 matchup and then face Princeton on Saturday at 3pm The Garner Chargers have slumping a little bit, lost their last three, and in three of the last four games they struggled in the third period. If you recall the St. Anseline game in the women's icebreaker semifinal on October 17th, they were up 6 nothing in the third period and St. Anseline came back with 4 goals, including 3 goals in a 31 second span, which included 2 goals in an 8 second span. Union was able to hold on 7 5. But last Friday against Clarkson, they played some undisciplined third period. They actually gave up 4 power play goals, including 2 in the third period that steeled Clarkson's 52 win.
And then Saturday, they're up 2 to 1 going into the third period against St. Lawrence, but lost the lead and it was a late goal by the Saints to win it 3 to 2. It's a tough matchup coming up Friday at number 7 Quinnipiac, but the team is excited to finally get away from Schenectady. So let's hear from head coach Tony Macy first I about the chance to get some games on the road.
So Tony, after 10 straight home games, you finally get to hit the road, go to two tough places in Quinnipiac and Princeton. How much, how excited are you to finally get on the road after 10 games?
[00:21:28] Speaker E: Yeah, it's been nice to be at home.
You know, you get used to sleeping in your own bed and getting to the rink here. And obviously with the new rink, it's been been a good start. But you know, get on the road, you get that atmosphere that you don't get. You know, you get the closeness around the team, the players get to hang out together, you get to get away from things.
You know, being in a hotel is not bad either. So, you know, I think we're excited for that. And then being able to play two really good teams in QPAC and Princeton.
Both teams have started out really well, so just excited to get those opportunities.
[00:22:04] Speaker C: Through the last four games, there's been struggles in the third period, you know, obviously this past weekend with the Clarks and St. Lawrence games. What do you got to do to correct that?
[00:22:14] Speaker E: A lot of it, you know, is what we've been talking about. Like we have to fix things on our own end. Like a lot of the things that we're Struggling with right now is stuff that we know is fixable because, you know, it's us either stubbing our toe here and there or, you know, being in the penalty box a little bit too much. So the good thing is those are all easily correctable things. So we just got to be more conscious of it and make sure that we're not giving teams those opportunities.
You guys have had some competitive games against some really good teams and ranked.
[00:22:47] Speaker C: Teams, but what will it take to.
[00:22:49] Speaker E: Kind of get over that hump from.
[00:22:50] Speaker C: Getting, from being competitive in those games.
[00:22:53] Speaker E: To turning those into wins? Yeah, I think the big thing is just those types of teams, they, they've been in it, right. So they've had top 10 teams, they've been there for extended periods of time. So it's a rollover team.
Right. For us, it's more of, we're trying to build that right now. So a lot of it's learning how to win and sometimes you got to go through those losses and those trials and tribulations and come out on the other side and learn how to win. And that's something that we focused on in our meeting yesterday. Coming out of the weekend, something that we've been trying to focus on the last few weeks is how do we take the next step? What is the next step? And you know, I've been there as a coach so trying to guide them along and push them in practice every day because that's where it starts. It's going to start in practice. It's going to start with our details and our habits in practice.
And we all have to realize, like, hey, we might be doing a lot, but we all have to bring more and that's coaches included.
[00:23:56] Speaker C: How important will it be to get some wins and points this weekend, as you know, against two tough teams?
[00:24:02] Speaker E: Yeah, I think right now, I think it's any type of points that you can get at this, at this time are going to be good for your obviously record and for the ecac.
You know, you don't want things to get away from you too quickly.
But at the same time, I'm more focused on how are we playing.
You know, if we're playing the right way and just so happens we come out on the wrong side, so be it. But I want us playing the right way so that by the time the year ends and we're in the playoffs, we're playing at a pace that we know we should.
[00:24:32] Speaker C: The players mentioned, you know, the need.
[00:24:36] Speaker E: To out effort, you know, the opponent and also just make sure that you can Effort can outweigh talent sometimes. So how important is it for this group and especially in those games, games against those really tough teams to make.
[00:24:47] Speaker C: Sure there kind of is no let up at any point and that that.
[00:24:49] Speaker E: Effort stays consistent throughout? Yeah, again, I think that that's one thing that we've really stressed with them. I'm glad they brought it up. So that means they're listening. But effort, something that we can control.
Like we said, there's going to be teams that, hey, you're going to bring an effort and then they're going to bring more. We got to make sure we try to exceed that throughout the games. So the big thing is being consistent with it. If we can be consistent with our effort and make it hard and grittier. You know, we use the word grit a ton. But being a grittier team, it's going to make teams not want to play us and be harder to play against. So that's what we want to have.
[00:25:29] Speaker C: You're facing a Quinnipiac team that just got upset by Brown on Saturday. So they might be an angry team. How do you combat that?
[00:25:36] Speaker E: Well, we're going to look at video and see what Brown did in order to do that because before that Quinnipiac was going really well.
You know, I'm not sure if they've their goaltender played really well or if maybe it was just an off night. So I expect to see the Quinnipiac team that been flying since the start of the year. So we just got to make sure we're playing well defensively. We're playing, you know, protecting our area and then capitalizing on our opportunities.
[00:26:03] Speaker C: Now let's get the thoughts of defenseman the senior Stephanie Bourked and team captain and sophomore forward Kerryanne Engelbert.
Guys, after 10 straight home games, you finally get to go on the road for the first time this season.
Two tough opponents in Quinnipiac on Friday, Princeton on Saturday. How much are you guys looking forward to it? Start with Kerryanne.
[00:26:25] Speaker D: I think it'll be nice. It's a change of environment. You know, we get to go on a road trip. So they're always really fun with your team. A lot of bonding time. You know, it's kind of a chance to get away from school and just focus on hockey. So it'll be fun.
[00:26:37] Speaker C: Stephanie?
[00:26:38] Speaker D: Yeah, definitely. I mean, playing here is really nice. We love this rink, but at the same time it's nice to get on the road for the first time and get the road trip and for the new incomers and the new people just to get that feel for what a road trip actually is, and they'll get to see that. So it's exciting.
[00:26:51] Speaker C: Guys have had a little adversity the last few games. Three of the last four games. You've had struggles in the third period. Penalties were an issue in last weekend's games against Clarkson St. Lawrence. What do you got to do to correct that when you go out on the road this weekend?
[00:27:04] Speaker D: Yeah, we. We worked on it yesterday, and we're going to keep working on it. It's definitely just that effort piece. We want to outwork teams in every aspect of the game and also just keeping our feet moving, not taking those. Those stick penalties that might end up costing us. So making sure that we, we are aggressive, we play within our strength, but also moving our feet all the time.
[00:27:23] Speaker C: Kareem?
[00:27:24] Speaker D: Yeah, I think it's just like, you know, being. Being smart on the ice again, like Seth said, moving our feet, you know, not taking those penalties we don't need to take and putting ourselves in, you know, a better spot that we're not chasing the game in the third.
[00:27:36] Speaker E: You guys have had some tough matchups against ranked teams. You know, you were able to play some close, but just how do you.
[00:27:42] Speaker C: Feel like you guys have been able.
[00:27:43] Speaker E: To compete in those games, especially heading into a game with Quinnipiac number seven?
[00:27:47] Speaker D: Yeah, I think we compete well with, with those teams. I think definitely we did have some breakdowns here, here and there, so we know what to do, how to fix it. We know that we. We can't take a period off because it showed that that's what killed us, especially the third period. I think it's good for our confidence at the same time to think that, okay, like, we're right there with these teams. So if you do play like a full 60 minute, I definitely do like our chances, and I think that will. Will make a lot of noise.
Yeah, I mean, I think it goes show we were up, you know, two one on St. Lawrence going into the third. I think 10 minutes left. Like, I think it was our own breakdowns that caused the loss. It wasn't anything that they did to come out and show that they were better than us. I think it was our own doing. And so I think if we can clean that up and like I've said, focus on our effort, focus on our full 60 minutes that we're right in with these teams.
[00:28:36] Speaker E: What do you think it does take.
[00:28:37] Speaker B: To kind of get over that hump.
[00:28:39] Speaker E: To where you're going from competing to beating these teams? Is it just A matter of kind of playing the full 60, as you mentioned.
[00:28:45] Speaker D: Yeah, I definitely do think it's also giving the team that we're playing some respect, but not too much respect that we're watching them kind of skate all around us. It's just being able to stick with them and our effort. I think effort beats talent all the time. So if we can out compete them in every aspect of the game, win special team battles, that's huge for our league. So I think if we correct those things and focus on that, that I think we'll be all set. Yeah, I mean, I think anything can happen on any given day. That's, I think, a really big basis in women's sports. And, you know, the team that's going to show up as a team and put their best effort forward and is going to play hard the whole game, I think is going to come out on top every time. You know, we've seen it last year, we've seen it this year. I think, you know, anything can happen. So it's just a matter of us.
[00:29:30] Speaker C: How important is it to get some wins and some points this weekend?
[00:29:33] Speaker D: I mean, it's huge. You know, you want to get points wherever you can and obviously we want to be coming out with wins every weekend. So I think just again, focusing on not as much the outcome but playing the right way, doing the right thing, I think we'll start to see results.
Yeah, definitely. I think Kerryanne said a lot of good things. I think it's definitely important to get as many points as we can here and there, especially in our league. Anyone can beat anyone on any given night. So it's just a matter of playing our game and doing the right things.
[00:30:01] Speaker C: Coming up, we'll begin a string of three consecutive Daily Gazette sports writers. We'll start with Drew Whipple talking high school football as the Class A and Class C begin playoffs in the Section 2 tournament. You're listening to the Parting Shots podcast.
[00:30:26] Speaker B: It's the most historic conference in college hockey.
[00:30:29] Speaker E: It's a battle night in, in and night out.
[00:30:32] Speaker B: ECAC hockey. An iconic conference, home to 12 of the most prestigious universities and programs in.
[00:30:39] Speaker E: The world and showcasing the best student.
[00:30:41] Speaker B: Athletes in the sport.
Top notch facilities and arenas, incomparable traditions, passionate fans, alumni who go on to.
[00:30:50] Speaker A: Become elite professionals, leaders and champions.
[00:30:53] Speaker B: ECAC hockey. There's no experience like it.
[00:31:09] Speaker C: Welcome back to the podcast. We're going to begin a run of the Gazette reporters here on the podcast. Want to talk some high school Football?
The Section 2 Football Playoff brackets for Class A And Class C were announced on Sunday. And we'll break down some of these games. They'll coming up this weekend with Gazette High School reporter Drew Wemple. Drew, welcome to the podcast.
[00:31:29] Speaker F: Thank you very much for having me.
[00:31:30] Speaker C: Well, let's talk about the Class A games we're looking at on the left side of the bracket. Niskuna hosting South Glens Falls on Friday at 7 o'. Clock and Ball Spot hosting Amsterdam also on Friday at 7 o'. Clock. And the other games, Queensbury takes on Columbia at 7 on Friday and then Troy and Burnhills hook up in Troy at 7 o' clock on Friday. Let's break down some of these games. You know, let's keep it simple. Niskuna, they've been rolling pretty much all year.
Do you expect them to roll over South Glens Falls?
[00:32:03] Speaker F: Yeah, they've looked every bit as good as advertised in their return to Class A. They're out for their third sectional title in the last four years.
They're getting a South Glens Falls team here that I expect them to handle.
They would like to move back on to the semifinals. So I think Niski Yuna is probably the team to be in this classification. Obviously back in Class A after missing.
[00:32:27] Speaker C: The postseason last year in Class AA and Niskiuna. Cam Grasso, what can you say about him?
[00:32:32] Speaker F: Yeah, he's spectacular. Everybody knew he was kind of in for a big senior season after what he'd been building. Obviously all kinds of program records for him.
This should be a good test now that he's senior leader in the postseason of kind of what he can do for this team as they try to hopefully make a run into the state tournament.
[00:32:51] Speaker C: On the outside of the bracket, it's Boston Spies, we said, taking on Amsterdam.
Amsterdam started the last couple games with Boston Spa. What's, how's this match? I mean, could this be a pretty close game?
[00:33:02] Speaker F: Yeah, and this is a rematch from week three.
Boston Spa came to Amsterdam in mid September and that was a six, six game game at halftime. And then in the second half, the Scotties just kind of put their stamp on it. Scored 21 unanswered. You looked up and it was 27 6. And Boston Spa never looked back. So I think that familiarity should bode well for probably both sides, you know, giving them things to correct. Amsterdam lost two in a row down the stretch, obviously last week to Troy. That one was kind of gutting, losing by six at home to miss out on a home playoff game.
So again, a rematch here. Boston Spa, they won their playoff game Last year lost in the semifinals. They'd like to go back there this.
[00:33:42] Speaker C: Year on the right side of the bracket. As we mentioned, Queensbury and Columbia will meet at 7 o' clock on Friday night. Queensbury, first of all, we love Tim Jones, who puts out great information on all the Queensborough sports and that's, I think, an example the other schools should follow. But, yeah, talk about this matchup. It seemed like the, you know, Queensbury should take care of business.
[00:34:05] Speaker F: Yeah. And the big thing Tim had highlighted for us is that Queensbury has won its first divisional title in the grasso since 2019. So they're the top seed here. It feels like them and Niskiuna have kind of widened the gap as the top teams.
Colombia, on the other hand, after a big year last year, took a step back. They're in the playoffs hoping for an upset, but against a Queensberry team that hasn't played in a week. They were off last week and now it's. They're going to get back in action, see if it's rest or rust.
[00:34:35] Speaker C: Yeah. And then Troy and Burn Hills over in Troy on Friday night. Now, do you see this one?
[00:34:39] Speaker F: Yeah. This is a big one for Troy these last two years. For head coach Jordan Canzieri going.08 his first year, 5 and 5. Narrowly missing the playoffs last year. And now they're hosting a playoff game. First time since 2019 when Bob Burns was the head coach.
Burnhill's Boston Lake's been really up and down this year. Obviously a lot of roster turnover, plus some injuries which they don't really have control over. But now they're going on the road. I expect this one to possibly be a not so typical shootout just on the ground and seeing what defense can stand up first.
[00:35:13] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, let's go over to Class C where I think find the Fultonville, probably the class of league. They'll take on Waterville Healy on Friday at 7 o' clock on the left side of that bracket. Granville, Whitehall and Johnstown meet Saturday at 1 at Granville, the right side of bracket. It's at 7 o' clock at Schuylerville. They'll take on Hudson and then Cobble school Richmond. Bill will host Hoosick falls Tamarack at 7 o' clock on Friday. Let's begin with father. Fultonville seems like a powerhouse. I mean, they've been playing pretty well.
[00:35:44] Speaker F: Yeah. Undefeated.
Everybody wants to see, obviously Fonda and Schuylerville go at it again in the championship. We've got to get there first. I think the big benefit for Fonda is being on the left side of the bracket away from both Schuylerville and Cobleskill Richmondville. They wouldn't have to face either of them until potentially the finals. I think they want to start strong in the quarterfinals. Quarterfinals here against Watervliet Heatley, a team that started hot and then didn't finish so much that way. So this is a chance for Fonda Fultonville to start off the playoffs on a high note.
[00:36:15] Speaker C: And Granville Whitehall hosting Johnstown. It's a Saturday afternoon game. What do we know about Granville Whitehall?
[00:36:22] Speaker F: Yeah, so they're also pretty hot right now.
Both them and Johnstown have won three straight games to end the year.
Granville played a close one against Schuylerville early or against Fonda Fultonville earlier in the year lost 35, 30.
They've got an offense that can put up points, but Johnstown has also shown ways that it can win games different ways. Offensively, they've got a quarterback that played really well along the first two games of their winning streak. And then they had a big run performance last week against Hudson to secure that three seed and avoid Schuylerville. So this is kind of another, you know, offensive test. Which defense is going to stand up first.
[00:37:01] Speaker C: How good is Schuylerville as they take on Hudson?
[00:37:03] Speaker F: Yeah, they're the defending state champs. Haven't seen them yet this year. Obviously knew there was going to be a big, big holes to replace after this talented senior class. They lost, but coach John Bowen can just do it with the best of them. He's rebuilt another powerhouse. They're undefeated now. They're in playoffs. This is where things get tightened up. We'll see how those fresh faces can stand up. Can stand up. But they get a test against Hudson.
[00:37:29] Speaker C: Here and then Coble School Richmond takes on Hoosick Falls, Tamarack and Cobalt Scoville. Richmond had a tough overtime loss, I think Defonda a couple weeks ago, but seemed like a team that will get to the semifinal game against most likely Schuylerville.
[00:37:42] Speaker F: Yeah, and they went last year to the finals, lost to Schuylerville. I'm sure they'd love to make it back there this year. This particular match is a rematch of another Week 3 game when Hoosick falls. Tamarack lost by 1, 27, 26 in overtime. If you didn't catch this one, now you get that one. Now you get another chance, hopefully another thriller between these two teams. Hoosick Falls. Tamarack has won some playoff games in recent history. So this is going to be a challenge for Cobleskill Richmondville to get to that semifinal.
[00:38:10] Speaker C: Of course, the other classes that we did not mention that are still regular season games, we'll talk talk more when they get ready for their playoff games. There'll be semifinal games next week and all the semifinals games in all classes will will be next weekend. Drew will be here to talk about Drew. Appreciate a few minutes.
[00:38:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:25] Speaker F: Good time here.
[00:38:25] Speaker C: All right, that's Drew Wemple. Coming up, Mike McAdam of the Gazette. We'll talk Breeders cup and the effect that Sovereignty's scratching from the Breeders Cup Classic has on the race. You're listening to the Parting Shots podcast.
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welcome back to the podcast. It's Breeders cup weekend on Friday and Saturday out at Del Mar and some big news that happened on Wednesday. And Gazette horse racing rider Mike McGann with his at the Track with Max segment. Join us now. And I guess the big news, you know, we had the 42nd annual Breeders cup taking place on Friday and Saturday, as I said, at Del Mar in Southern California. A lot of people have been saying that this could be the best field ever assembled for the seven million dollar Classic.
But Saturday's race has lost some luster after Wednesday's announcement that favorite Sovereignty Sovereignty was scratched after coming down with a fever Monday night. Does this make the Classic not so classic?
[00:39:51] Speaker B: It's still classic because going back to your first part about it being one of the best fields ever assembled, it's still you can characterize it as such, even without Sovereignty, the ones that are left behind are very accomplished. And it's, it's very evenly matched. Going to be an amazing betting race still. But losing Sovereignty, you're talking about the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, Travers, winner of 2025, 6 to 5 favorite horse has done nothing wrong all year.
It's just kind of really devastating news for the whole sport to not have him in there. I mean, people were just salivating over seeing I mean, and I wasn't necessarily going to even pick him up.
But so you know, it's bad on its face value. It's also the timing of it is bad. Although I will say that this is not the worst last second scratch that I've endured from a media standpoint. That would be 2012, when I'll have another scratch. The day before the Belmont Stakes when he was trying to win the Triple Crown. And that was a mad scramble that day, I gotta tell you. It was kind of unusual because trainer Doug o' Neill announced the news on the Dan Patrick show, which probably devotes about a minute and 30 seconds over the course of a calendar year to horse racing. But somehow he, from a timing standpoint, he got the scoop where Doug o' Neill had just found out about the horse having an injury and scratching. So we were all like in mad scramble mode.
It was there all week and all the reporting is obsolete at that point. It's all based on the context of this horse going for a Triple Crown. But back to sovereignty, phenomenal horse. The other thing that is really discouraging about it is, you know, some horses kind of clunk their way through the season.
They pull back on them, they take them out of training for a little while to give them a little bit of breather. The horse went through the Derby and the Belmont, which is very rigorous. Jim Dandy and the Travers, really.
I asked Bill Mott, the trainer, during the Saratoga meet at one point toward the end there, it was probably right before the Travers or right after it, this horse had a bad day all year. And he said, well, he finished second in the Florida Derby. And he said, but I don't even count that because he ran great that day. So this horse has not had a sniffle or a hiccup or anything all year. So it just drives you crazy that, you know, three, four days or whatever it is before the.
Before the seven million dollar Breeders Cup Classic where he's a six to five favorite. They have to scratch him. Now, the news today being Wednesday, he did respike a fever. So it's not just them being overly cautious. So they, Bill Mott had sent on Tuesday after he showed up with a very slight fever on Monday night, there's a sovereignty.
And then they treated him with some anti inflammatories, took some blood tests and stuff. And he said, you know, knock on wood, we can still make this race as long as nothing else goes wrong. Well, something else did go wrong. And again, he's like one tick over what would be considered a normal temperature.
But you can't compromise the horse by putting him in the race at this point. Even if he's 100% seemingly on Saturday, his chances are compromised by the fact that he's basically done nothing yesterday and today after breezing on Monday at Del Mar.
So that part of it kind of drives you crazy. The horse has been perfect all year. And then the one moment, like couldn't this wait like another a week? We would have been perfect. We would have had the big show. But it's still going to be a great race. I will say, listening to Bill Mott just a little while ago, the question of course came up whether the horse will run again next year. And he left the door open for that to happen. They're going to take him back to Kentucky, which will be his off season home since he spent almost the entire from May until like last week, he was up at Saratoga full time, you know, preparing for the races up there.
But he'll go to Kentucky and then they'll confer. I don't know what the timetable. They don't have to make a big decision right away. You know, surely as a three year old you hope he comes back as a four year old to run again next year. And he would point toward the Breeders Cup Classic next year.
But right now, his retirement and whether he goes to become a stallion instead of racing next year is kind of up in the air. And that's the next step for them.
I will say it does kind of underscore the fact that we're even asking this question, which is natural. How, you know, kind of one of my beefs with racing is that unlike other sports, the breeding side of it has a very forceful component on how things occur and how long horses race and things like that. You know, these days, unfortunately, unlike the old days when they used to race to breed, meaning assemble a racing resume that was good enough to make them attractive in the breeding shed, nowadays they breed to race. I'm sorry, it's backwards. Nowadays they race to breed, meaning they cut them off short after building up a solid. I got it backwards.
It used to be they used to breed to race, which means they would breed a horse with a top notch stallion with a mare and hope that it would turn into a good horse. And if it did, they would just keep racing them and racing them. You get to see them like when they're five, six years old. You know, these great horses nowadays, they race to breed meaning as soon as they get, you know, like some black type, which means graded stakes victories and grade one caliber, they're more than more likely to shut them down at the end of their three year old year because they've done everything they need to to attract a high stud fee.
So we'll see. I mean, Godolphin owns and bred Sovereignty.
They're one of the most powerful outfits on the planet, which means the breeding side of things is very important to them. Too. But they do race their horses.
You know, that is attractive that side of it as well. So fingers crossed we'll see Sovereignty next year.
[00:45:48] Speaker C: Well, as usual, the fields for the 14 Breeders cup races include a lot of familiar names for Sarazoga Racecourse fans. How much influence, Mike, does Saratoga racing have on this year's Breeders Cup?
[00:45:59] Speaker B: Yeah, I write this story every year and I think next year, like for the first time in four or five years, I need to come up with like an imaginative different lead. I probably plagiarize myself like at least four years in a row now. Just saying the crowd is gone, the leaves are changing and it's quiet at Saratoga.
But you know, if you watch the Breeders cup on Friday and Saturday, you're going to see a lot of familiar names and familiar people and horses.
I did a little stat checking. So of the 166 horses that were entered, and this was a couple days ago on Monday when the actual entries and post positions were drawn, a couple have scratched out of there and this was before Sovereignty News even came out. But of those 166 horses that were officially entered, not counting also eligibles, 50 of them raced at Saratoga and they're represented by 24 winners at the meet out of 33, three races.
That obviously suggesting that some of those 24 winners won multiple times, including Sovereignty, who won three times at Saratoga. Not necessarily during the summer meet because I mean fans really got an extra eyeful of horses at Saratoga this year with not only the Belmont Stakes Racing festival for the second year in a row adding a racing day, but four days of the July 4th festival, which is usually held at Belmont park, would have been held at Aqueduct while they're real rebuilding Belmont.
But it was held up here this year, which means we had nine extra days of racing for a total of 49. So you really got an eyeful of some stuff, especially the Belmont week because there's a ton of big, you know, Belmont Day, there's like seven or eight grade ones and you know, some of those are win and you're in.
I will say it's a no brainer that if you go to Saratoga you're going to see Breeders cup horses because of the 17 win and you're in qualifiers for the Breeders cup that are held in New York. This year, 12 were at Saratoga. So obviously you know, those horses are all getting a free ride, free entry to the Breeders Cup.
I will say that, you know, before Sovereignty Scratch is interesting that like eight of the ten in the Classic ran at Saratoga. The only Two that didn't were Nevada Beach. Bob Baffert's pretty good three year old who's kind of late to the scene but has a pretty good resume. And where's my other one?
Of course I can't find it now after all the research and writing and you know, you can see in the studio here I've got paper all over the place, so I miss it.
Now let's solve this problem. Who is it? Because it's very easy to find.
I can't believe I'm even doing. Oh, Forever Young. Yeah, the Japanese horse, he wasn't even in North America, so he certainly wasn't at Saratoga.
Breeders Cup Distaff is really interesting. I counted seven out of the 13 ran at Saratoga. The three, the three that I'm kind of interested in are Darth Vader, who came up just short against Thorpedo Anna in the personal. Ensign Nitrogen, who won the Alabama is a very interesting horse who was like a turf 3 year old turf Philly star all year. And then trainer Mark Cassie decided to try her on a muddy track when the Wonder again was rained off the turf. And she won by like 15 lengths or something like that. So that planted the seed for him to maybe run in the Alabama and he did on the dirt and she won. So now she's in the distaff running against older horses. And then the other one is Scottish Lassie who won the Coaching Club American Oaks, giving trainer Jorge Abreu the first grade one victory of his career. So those are kind of the three out of the seven that raced at Saratoga that are in the disc staff.
Otherwise there's stuff all up and down the board. As far as you can check the entries if you have the past performances and see who ran at Saratoga.
Certainly served as a springboard for a lot of the horses that are in the Breeders cup this weekend.
So it makes sense. But I just, it's kind of fun every year to sort of like catalog who was at the meet, who we got to see this year. And now they're showing up in like the biggest event of the calendar year and that'll be at Del Mar in California.
[00:49:59] Speaker C: Well, a significant subset of the Breeders cup horses who raced at Saratoga is made up of two year olds who will race on Future Stars Friday, which is a five race spotlight on the juveniles. Who should we look for on Friday?
[00:50:11] Speaker B: Well, the two primary ones, that's an easy question to answer are Ted Knoffey and Tommy Joe.
Before I get to them, I can tell you that between, let's see, when did we start here? It probably goes back. Well, maybe not back to Belmont. See, Saratoga meet every year is traditionally the time of year when the good 2 year olds start to emerge. You don't have a lot of races for them like in, you know, the wintertime or the early spring. They start to emerge a little bit in May at Belmont, but they're just racing for the first time in their life. By the time you get to Saratoga, there's some horses that have like maybe one or two under their belt. And then you line up some pretty good stakes races, even graded ones.
I can tell you that seven horses at the Saratoga meet won their career debut there. Seven different horses are pretty good, including Obliteration, who was, who won the grade three Sanford on opening weekend by ten and a half lengths or that was actually at the tail end of the fourth of July thing.
And he's not even running on the dirt anymore. He's in one of the juvenile turf races.
But going back to Ted Knoffi and Tammy Jones, they're quite a pair. They're both owned by Spendthrift Farm, trained by Todd Pletcher. And they doubled up on closing weekend by winning the Spin Away. That was Tommy Joe, kind of the big grade one for two year old Phillies. And then the next day, closing day, Labor Day, Ted Knoffey romped in the grade one hopeful. So that was kind of interesting to see the same owner, same trainer win the two back to back graded won stakes. And as a matter of fact, Ted Knoffey is the 4 to 5 favorite in the Breeders Cup Juvenile. So he's the lowest price, lowest odds favorite of any of the Breeders cup races out of all 14 of them between Friday and Saturday, which shows you what high regard the odds maker David Aragona has for him. And I will note David Aragona, who I have a lot of respect for, and he's a very good odds maker for the Naira circuit. I believe this is his first year ever doing the Breeders cup and he had a tricky assignment after Sovereignty Scratch because he actually had to revise the line for that, the morning line for the Classic. We'll get to that. But let's get back to the two year olds a little bit.
Ted Nafi deservedly four to five. There was even a scratch in that race. So he's only got to beat like six horses to win it, I believe.
And then Tommy Joe was almost as equally impressive in winning the Spin Away at Saratoga.
[00:52:45] Speaker C: Well, they're not postponing the Classic. The resumes are stacked up in this edition of the main event, how do you see that race playing out?
[00:52:52] Speaker B: Well, removing Sovereignty is a game changer. I'll say this right off the top. I was kind of interested in betting forever young at 6 to 1, the Japanese horse, and Sovereignty scratching kind of blows up that whole strategy because I think he's like the second choice now at seven two. I love him at six one. I don't know if I love him at seven to two.
You lose, Sovereignty. You lose. Of course, a very talented, very accomplished, very good horse. Horse who really was just a freight train in the stretch, like, for instance, in the Travers, he just sort of like, bided his time. And then when he decided, when jockey Junior Alvarado decided on the turn. Okay, let's go. He went and was push button and just was dominant.
The margin of victory was only a length and a half over Bracket Buster, but he could have won by eight if he really wanted to.
So just from a fan appeal standpoint, losing Sovereignty is horrible, but we are left with a really, really solid field of nine.
I'll go through the odds real quick in post position. Order, fierceness, 5 to 2. Favor now Baeza, 10 1. Nevada Beach, 21, contrary to thinking, stuck at 50 to 1 despite the scratch of Sovereignty. We'll get to him forever young, 7 2. Sierra Leone, who won it last year, 7 2, mind frame, 6 to 1. Journalism 51 down from 10 1. And antiquarian jacket Club Gold cup winner at Saratoga is 10 to 1.
So David Aragona had a little bit of a project today, kind of reassigning the odds to the BC Classic horses.
I mentioned Contrary Thinking. He's.
He's trained by Chad Brown, who has Sierra Leone in there. And Contrary Thinking has been a little bit of point of controversy just because he really doesn't belong. I mean, he's allowed to be in the race, but he doesn't belong there. He's. He's an allowance winner. This is supposed to be, you know, the Breeders cup calls itself the Championships. I never kind of use that word. I know it's the proper name for it. Maybe I should.
But there's so many good horses around the world, and that's what this is supposed to be. There's tons of European horses and horses from Japan that are really good, but it's, you know, it's not technically a championship. But if you do use that label, a horse like Contrary Thinking has no business being in the Breeders Cup Classic. He's just not accomplished enough. And he's in there for one Reason and one reason alone, which we saw in when he ran a Jockey Club Gold cup with Sierra Leone. He's sort of his speed rabbit buddy, who's in there just to make sure that there's a fast pace at the beginning, which helps. Sierra Leone, who's very usually, I mean, he's in the back of the pack.
Very, very good horse, Sierra Leone.
But, you know, hate to say it, he sort of, I don't know if he needs help to win this race, but they're not leaving no stone unturned to give him his best chance to win it. And by putting contrary thinking in there, they're doing that to make sure that, you know, they don't get off at really slow fractions like 25 seconds for the first quarter or, you know, 49.50 for the first half mile.
So contrary thinking is in there to help Sierra Leone.
We mentioned how good of a field this is. That's based on the fact that we have the top three finishers from last year's BC Classic back in from 2024 back in this year's race. And somebody looked it up back when, I can't remember when, but can't remember the last time this happened. But they're comparing this to like the 1989 race. I mean, you got to go way back. There was one in the 90s where the overall field was really solid. I think you've had other years where like there was a head to head matchup that was really interesting. But this is like top to bottom, contrary thinking notwithstanding, where like, you could go a lot of different ways. So before Sovereignty Scratch, you had easily by far the top three three year olds of 2025 who had separated themselves based on the fact that Sovereignty won the Derby and the Belmont. Journalism finished second in both of those. Baeza finished third in both of those. And then Journalism won the Preakness with Baeza second, or I'm sorry, Baeza did not run in the Preakness, but he was second to Journalism in the Haskell Grade one Haskell. So these three have clearly separated themselves. We lose Sovereignty, but you still have the top three. I mean, Fierceness, Mind Frame, you can go in that direction easily.
Now, Fierceness.
And we need to speak about these two horses because they're very highly regarded from Todd Pletcher, Fierceness, who won the Travers last year, won the Pacific Classic last time out at Del Mar at the same mile and a quarter distance. But if you watch the race, you're gasping at the beginning because at Del Mar, the way a mile and a quarter is set up.
They come out of a chute and then because you're coming out of a chute, there's a gap where the oval kind of runs into the straightaway part of the chute. So there's this big gap there and they have like a temporary plastic little piece of fencing there's to guide the horse who has the number one post which Fierceness had in the Pacific Classic. And he took about four or five strides out of the starting gate under John Velasquez and decided, you know what, I'm going to take a 90 degree turn to the left to go to this open space where this gap is. And Johnny had to wrestle him back. And despite all that coming from the one post, you know, it doesn't affect any other horses because they're not right up against that hole. He wins the thing for fun.
So going into the draw on Monday, it was hilarious. I was watching it on the live stream and I'm keeping track of the post positions and they didn't put the odds out at that time, but the post positions. And they're whittling it down. They're whittling it down. Fierceness name has not come up. The one is still available and of course he gets the one.
So he's stuck in the same spot, Todd Pletcher says. So they took him out on the track this morning, Warning and kind of ran them by there, not on the rail, but just to show it to him again.
And they're, he's saying all the right things about it's not going to be a problem. But if you see Fierceness suddenly deciding he wants to go to the next county instead of staying in the race.
I also heard they did extend the little plastic railing there too, so that the gap is not as big and he won't encounter it as soon as he did last time. Mind Frame had an even crazier adventure. And this all happened on the same weekend in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
Again, very early in the race, there was this chain reaction collision from his outside and he dropped Irad Ortiz. I've never seen anything like this in a race of that caliber before.
Horse was okay. Irad missed a couple days, but obviously he's out of the race. And it just created this whole jumble at the beginning. And Sierra Leone. Leone wound up coming in second. Antiquarian picked up the pieces also for Todd Fletcher and won the Jockey Club Gold cup to make it into this BC Classic. But it started with one horse crashing into one to his inside, who, you know, just started this domino effect and Mind Frame came out of it okay. They decided to train him up to the Breeders Cup Classic. He could be very live because I liked him a lot that day in the Jockey Club Gold cup, you know, never got a chance to show it. So as far as how the race plays out, you're going to see contrary thinking blasting out of there. I don't know who else is going to go with them.
Sierra Leone will be in the back.
Fierceness I'm really interested in, as long as he doesn't do anything stupid at the beginning with that gap and the rail and everything.
If he shows up on his game, he wins this thing.
Mind Frame, I have a little bit of question on the mile and a quarter which was supposed to be answered in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. He never got a chance because he got wiped out. So I think the distance is a little bit of a question. So right now I'm kind of leaning toward Forever Young, who's been off the radar. He's been in Japan. He won The Saudi Cup, 20 million dollar race in the springtime, came in third in this race last year.
Almost won the Kentucky Derby last year and got hit and got banged into by Sierra Leone late.
So right now I'm still leaning toward Forever Young and maybe fierceness a little bit.
Sierra Leone's really good, but, you know, he needs the setup.
You know, he won the same distance on this track last year, so obviously he's highly regarded journalism. I don't know what to do with him, but. So right now I'm just leaning toward fierceness if he shows up with his A game. And Forever Young has just sort of been out there, you know, I'm just disappointed that I ain't getting my six to one.
[01:01:45] Speaker C: Well, enjoy watching Breeders cup this weekend, especially on Saturday. And may your horse come in first.
[01:01:51] Speaker B: Yeah, well, we'll see.
I'll be curious to see what the classic horses go at, go off at odds by, because, like I said, David Aragona is very good at predicting what the better behavior would be. So I think it'll be pretty closely aligned with this revised line, but we won't know until the gates open.
[01:02:11] Speaker C: Well, Mac, appreciate a few minutes and have fun on Saturday.
All right, good luck, Everybody. That's Mike McAdam. We'll continue our run of Gazette reporters. Will Springstead talks Union College football next here on the Parting Shots podcast.
[01:02:39] Speaker B: Man, I loved playing high school sports growing up, and it's fun being a fan. Now, don't get Me wrong. But sitting in the stands feels like I'm missing out on all the action. You know, I wanted to get back in the game, so I signed up.
[01:02:52] Speaker C: To be a high school official.
[01:02:54] Speaker B: It takes me back to my playing days. I'm supporting students and I get paid.
[01:02:58] Speaker F: To make the big calls.
[01:03:00] Speaker B: Do you want to see the game up close? Sign up to become an official in.
[01:03:04] Speaker C: New York at high school officials dot com.
Welcome back to the podcast. A big win for the Union college football team last Saturday, beating Ithaca in a battle of undefeated Liberty league team teams 19 to 14. And Will Springstead, who covers junior college football, back after a couple weeks away. We gave you the bye week off and then we had head coach John Drock on last week and what a way to bring you back on a big win, showing that maybe Union football is back to where they should be and just, just an incredible victory.
And Ithaca team that's been tough to beat in the Liberty League?
[01:03:43] Speaker G: Absolutely. They've been tough to beat for Union, too. I don't have that stat right in front of me, but I know in the preview and in the game notes provided, it's been something like one out of every four tries over the years that they can beat in Ithaca team. So this was huge. And as I said in my preview, there was no denying the significance of it.
You know, someone was going to lose and get a big loss when you consider that RPI still sits there in the league undefeated.
So now we could be looking at a few weeks down the road, a battle for the Dutchman's shoes, not only to determine the league, but the Division 3 berth that goes with it.
[01:04:20] Speaker C: This was a defensive battle. How important was it for Union to keep it a defensive battle, not let Ithaca just run roughshod over them?
[01:04:27] Speaker G: It absolutely was their first couple of drives. They kept Ithaca in check and throughout the whole first half, as we spoke briefly during halftime, and I said I wasn't all that impressed with Ithaca's offense taking nothing away from Union's defense. They had a lot to do with that. And of course, then Ithaca took the opening kickoff of the third corps and drove down the field like it was their job. So.
But I think it was important then for Union to get its back up and, and hold them from there on, which they did.
[01:05:02] Speaker C: And then the Utica, or I'm sorry, Ithaca was held to 103 rushing yards. Union was only held in 89, but it was in the passing department. 260 for Union, 212 for Ithaca. So Union wins the offensive Battle.
So the fact that they limited them to 14 points, what does that say about Union's defense compared to where they were last year at this time?
[01:05:23] Speaker G: I think this is the mid to late 70s season coming out party for the defense. This sent a message throughout the Liberty League.
Ithaca can score. They've always had talented players and especially this year. And one of the biggest moments, even though Ithaca did come back to tie it later, Ithaca had a fourth and goal on the two or three and Union held them, didn't even let them sniff the goal line. They stuck them right there and I think that was a huge momentum boost. That said we can do it again or we can do it when we need to. So I think it was the game that Union needed.
[01:06:07] Speaker C: As you said, it sets things up for possibly a Liberty League showdown in the Dutchman's shoes game. Of course RPI still got to play Ithaca yet so and looking at the Union schedule, two of the next three games are at home, which includes the RPI regular season finale November 15th. This Saturday it's Hilbert coming. The first year Liberty League program gave up 69 points to RPI last Saturday.
How important will it be for Union coming off this big win in Ithaca not to have a letdown?
[01:06:38] Speaker G: I'm sure they will not have a major letdown.
I think one would imagine that the starters will do just enough in this game and then it will be left over to the reserves. At this point you want to keep your best players healthy for the upcoming Rochester and RPI games.
Hilbert is being outscored on average 44,8 this year.
I have little doubt that Union's reserves could handle Hilbert easily. So I think that coach John Drock will look for the starters to do their professional best in as short a time as possible and then cheer their teammates on.
[01:07:22] Speaker C: Let's get back to the game a little bit. Talk about how the Ithaca ties it up. Late in the fourth quarter at 14, Union drives down the field and in dramatic fashion, five seconds left, Francisco Piligi kicks the field goal, puts him on top and then a safety as Ithaco is going the pitchy pitchy woo woo as Scott Van Pelt likes to say, ended up throwing it into the end zone.
Surprised that didn't make bad beats on Monday night on ESPN and Scott's Van Pelt's Sports Center. But what do you know about the kicker man? I know he's from Brazil.
[01:07:59] Speaker G: He's from Brazil and he has certainly had the leg. I've seen him warm up. That's obviously not a Game situation, but he's hitting 40 to 45 yarders comfortably. And so when they got within his range, you knew it was a possibility and you knew he had the leg. I should mention, on that last drive, Owen Corrigan made a brilliant catch from a Flach Panigan pass that was a little high, a little difficult, narrow sideline. He brought it down and suddenly they were in field goal range. That was a big moment for Corrigan because unfortunately, on Corrigan's touchdown pass in the third quarter, he got a little too excited and spun the ball and causing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which then caused Pileggi to have a 35 yard extra point. He drilled it. So Pileggi was named the Liberty League Special Teams Player of the Week for good reason.
[01:08:57] Speaker C: Yeah, that's good.
Unfortunately, we have to criticize Union a little bit.
End of the game, unsportsmanlike act, stomping on the Ithaca logo at midfield and caused a little bit of a skirmish between both teams. I mean, win with class. I mean, you.
I didn't see it. But you weren't thrilled with that. I wasn't thrilled when you told me. It's like, I know it's a big win. You beat arrival, but just shake hands and go back to the locker room.
[01:09:27] Speaker G: Shake hands and go back to the locker room. Act like you've done it before.
Exactly as I said.
And the Ithaca broadcasters, and they may have been correct. Who can say?
Union may have still been hot over a play that took place very early in the game. Union, or, excuse me, Ithaca lost its best linebacker to a targeting call on Patch Flanagan. Flanagan only missed three plays, fortunately.
But from there, it started to get a little more physical and then a little more physical and then some chippiness here and there. So with Union winning, unfortunately, they decided to put an exclamation point on it the wrong way.
And again, it probably won't matter much this year, but next year, Ithaca is going to come here and what will be the referees that have those?
[01:10:22] Speaker C: Well, Flanagan ended up completing 18 passes, 260 yards. So apparently the targeting play didn't affect his passing.
[01:10:29] Speaker G: It didn't. And Coach Strock had said in the preview, you know, you can't try to go over the top on them too much because they're a solid defense, which he did not. But he completed several long passes. So maybe Coach Strock was playing a little verbal poker there and saw something in the Ithaca defense. Dan Quinn had one of those lawn receptions, and there are a couple, including Corrigan. So good scouting by The Union coaching staff.
[01:11:00] Speaker C: Well, Ithaca is home this Saturday to Buffalo State and then they go to RPI next Saturday. That's their final Liberty League game.
They play one more game than both RPI and Union. Ithaca closeouts with their annual rivalry game against Cortlandt. So basically, I mean, Union takes care of business this Saturday, then they go to Rochester next Saturday. I think a lot of eyes will be on that RPI Ithaca game because Union wins against Rochester and then RPI loses to Ithaca. Union's in the driver's seat heading into that Dutchman's shoes game.
[01:11:36] Speaker G: Exactly. They're in the driver's seat. And I must confess, I don't know what happens in the event of a three way tie and I'm sure Union doesn't want to find out.
[01:11:45] Speaker C: No, definitely, Definitely. Well, we'll appreciate a few minutes and we'll talk next week after look back at the Hillburg game and hopefully for the Garner charges that it's a romp and then they can relax, rest a lot of their starters and they get ready for the stretch drive here in Liberty League football.
[01:12:04] Speaker G: Sounds good.
[01:12:05] Speaker C: All right, that's Will Springs. They'll be back to wrap up the podcast and have the latest winners in the Daily Gazette's U Picking Football and Auto Racing contest in just a moment.
In school sports, it's easy to see the wins, the moments that make headlines. But there's so much work that goes unseen for any of it to happen.
[01:12:42] Speaker B: My name is Phil Risen and I'm.
[01:12:45] Speaker C: The executive director of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.
Throughout the country, athletic administrators dedicate countless hours to making life changing opportunities possible for student athletes through sports.
[01:13:01] Speaker B: Their sacrifice is fueled by the belief.
[01:13:03] Speaker C: That every student can grow and deserves.
[01:13:06] Speaker B: Their time to shine.
[01:13:08] Speaker C: On behalf of the niaaa, we want to thank every athletic administrator for your.
[01:13:14] Speaker B: Tireless dedication to providing 7.8 million students.
[01:13:18] Speaker C: Across the country a path to a better future.
This message presented by the niaaa, the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.
Back to wrap up the podcast. The Week 8 winner in the Daily Gazette's U Pick' Em football contest was Gary Glinsky of Schenectady. With an 11. 2 record, Gary wins a $100 price chopper market 32 gift card. Congratulations, Gary. The VIP winner was Paul Little of Emerick Sales and Service. With a 10 in the 3 record, I went 8. 5 to improve to 79, 41 and 1. My Gazette colleague Will Springstead also went 8.
[01:13:58] Speaker G: 5.
[01:13:59] Speaker C: He is 73, 47 and 1.
I'll announce the U Pickham football contest winner's name, and that winner's name will appear in Thursday's Daily Gazette. To play, go to dailygazette.com and click on the U Pick' Em Football banner.
The Week 36 winner in the Daily Gazette's auto racing contest was Robert Prusco of Scotia with 45 points. Robert wins a $50 gift card. Congratulations, Robert. The VIP winner was Jerry Peele of Frankenstein's with 30 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. And Sunday is the final race of the season.
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That wraps up another edition of the Parting Shots podcast. I want to thank Nick Young, Parker Lindauer, Colby McArthur, Tony Macy, Stephanie Bourke, Carrie Ann Engelberg, Eric Lang, Drew Wemple, Mike McAdam and Will Springstead for being a part of the show.
If you have questions or comments about the podcast, email to me at shot. That's s c h o dash t
[email protected] follow me on X threads and bluesky Slapshots.
The views expressed in the Parting Shots podcast are not necessarily those of the Gazette News Group. The Parting Shots podcast is a production of the Gazette News Group. I'm the Daily Gazette's Ken Schott. Thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time from the Parting Shots Podcast studio in Connecting New York. Good day, good sports.
