[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 Giesy, 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 where it's time for our weekly visit with Union men's head coach, hockey head coach Josh. How did you. Josh, welcome back. And how are things?
Well, turn your mic up. Let me do that first.
[00:00:44] Speaker B: Things are great. How about yourself?
[00:00:45] Speaker A: I'm hanging in or can't complain? Can't complain. So let's get into business here. The Garden Chargers had a tough weekend last weekend against Alaska Fairbanks. In Friday's game, Union saw a three nothing lead disappear in the third period and it settled for a three three tie. And then on Saturday, the Nanooks jumped out to a 3 nothing lead in the first and held on for a 64 victory. Let's start with Friday's game. A Union takes a 1 nothing lead midway through the first period on an 8 Hanley goal. I mean, 13 seconds into the second period, freshman forward Riley Bruik scored his first collegiate goal. And with 830 left in the second, Brandon Burr scores to make it 3 nothing. I mean, it looked like it was a comfortable lead, but I saw some signs that this was not going to be easy. I think the last two minutes of the first period was played in the union zone as the Nanooks had control. In the second, Alaska Fairbanks held unions of 24 shots on goal. And then what was the level of concern like in the locker room after the second period?
[00:01:41] Speaker B: I mean, yeah, we were up, you know, three nothing. And you know, I think we only had like you said four shots, but I think they had six or seven. It wasn't like, you know, they really were dominant or anything, but I didn't like just the energy that we had throughout the night. So it was more so just trying to simplify and you know, not play selfish hockey. And you know, I just, it was just trying to, you know, get through it at that point.
[00:02:07] Speaker A: Yeah. But then it came the third period and Alaska Fairbanks thoroughly outplayed Union. They were winning battles for pucks. They were generating scoring chances while limiting unions opportunities. And then looks out shot. The Garner charges 18 to 2 in the third. They broke through with 840 on one left on the in the third on a goal By Anton Rootsov. You challenge the goal for an offside. You already have already used your timeout. So if the challenge doesn't go your way, it would be a delayed game penalty. And after a few minutes the goal stood. Did the officials get the call wrong? Because we heard some talk that they couldn't see the puck along the blue line of the stick. And then how disappointing was it to lose the challenge?
[00:02:45] Speaker B: You know, it's one of those things like, you know, a lot of times we don't have the ability to like we're not allowed to have technology on the bench. So we have people that are watching it and, you know, they felt like it was. And it's tough to tell again on the video, but, you know, put your trust in the people that, you know, you put in those spots and they've been great for us all season. And you know, unfortunately, it went, it didn't go our way. They were pretty confident and, you know, we even, you know, it's, hey, if it's a hundred, it has to be 100% in your eyes if we're going to do this because, but, you know, at the end it falls on me and I made the decision to go with it and it was wrong. So we had to kill that penalty off.
[00:03:26] Speaker A: What. Why doesn't the NCAA allow technology here?
[00:03:29] Speaker B: You're not. Yeah, you're not allowed to have.
[00:03:31] Speaker A: I mean, in this day and age, though, we see it in the NHL. I mean, Adam Schindler just had a story about Union College football using some technology for calling plays. And it seems like we're in a day and age where video is prevalent. We see it all around. Maybe it's time for the NCAA to loosen up. Of course, the ncaas and some other issues there, but maybe it's not low on the priority list right now, but it seemed smart to be able to have video on the bench.
[00:04:03] Speaker B: Well, and it's one of those things where, you know, there's big time decisions that have to be made and I want the pressure of making those decisions. I want to have all the, I want to have all the information I can and then make the decision. And if it's wrong, it follows on me and I'm comfortable with that. But it is, it's tough when you got to, you know, have someone that's, you know, in another room watching and make that call and they got to make it in under 10 seconds and, you know, they see something and they're pretty confident. But I think the NCAA is, viewing of it is, is that it just costs, you know, some schools more money and you know, some schools can't, you know, are having a hard time making it, to be honest. And you know, it's just, it's just the way they have it right now.
[00:04:44] Speaker A: Well, I'm still on the hashtag Mike. The refs, when they don't, you know, we don't know what they're challenging but we obviously saw when the linesman goes and we kind of have an idea. But I digress. Well, that's. You did kill a penalty but you know, still having Alaska Ferris still continue to control the play. Nanook Scully and Nicholas Grabco was pulled for an extra two with about four minutes left and it paid off twice. Rupsov scored with 227 left and then Matt Ricker tied it with 20.5 seconds left. There were some clears by Union during the time that Grabco was out, but several icings. You were never able to really get a good shot at the open net. I mean how frustrating was that?
[00:05:23] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it's, it was, it was tough. I mean we, you know, had opportunities where the puck was on our stick and we had time and we, you know, at times got maybe a little panicky with it and we always, it was one of our first times we'd be putting under fire with that and we failed at it. And it's a good learning opportunity for the group and we spent some time with it on practice again today and we were much better. But it's one of those things that until you're really put into to put the line of fire, you got to see how you respond. And some of the seniors that we had last year were great in those situations and we'll have guys that are going to grow into it and be great for us moving forward.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: The five minute overtime was wild. Union out shot at Alaska Fairbanks. 52 Grapco and Union goalie Kyle Chavet stopped breakaways within seconds. I mean, how crazy was that overtime?
[00:06:09] Speaker B: Well, the first I think minute and a half was pretty boring and then all of a sudden it was just back and forth and you know, we took some unnecessary chances to give them the one breakaway. When you have a breakaway you don't need both guys going for the rebound. And we did that and you know, Kyle made a huge save for us.
[00:06:24] Speaker A: Well, the end of overtime should have been it. Everybody should go on back to the locker rooms and get ready for Saturday's game. But instead we had a three round shootout that Union won two to one. My question is why did we need a shootout in a non conference game? There weren't any standing points on the line. It seemed like really a waste of time.
[00:06:41] Speaker B: Yeah, it's, you know, in all reality it kind of is. I think, you know, it's a situation where you get some, you know, guys into those spots. You almost wonder as a coaching staff if you're, you know, should we, you know, we typically use, you know, Carter Korpi, you know, Nate Hanley. Those are guys that have historically went, do we try to give someone else a chance? But you know, with just kind of the way, the way the game ended, we wanted to, you know, try to find a way to win it and you know, obviously we did, but it meant nothing.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: Yep. Well, let's hear the thoughts of union defenseman and team captain Cullen Ferguson following Friday's game.
[00:07:18] Speaker C: Colin, he had a 3 nothing lead, but it seemed like Alaska Fairmax had the better of the play most of the night. What happened and how frustrating is it to come out with a tie?
[00:07:27] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, it's frustrating. We're not, we're not satisfied with that. We wanted to win, but you know, these things happen in hockey. I think it's anybody's game at any point in time and we let up on the gas and they push forward. So we just need to move on.
[00:07:44] Speaker C: Especially at third period. Man, they just dominate you guys. You only had two shots on goal in that third period and of course they scored to three. Two of them extra attacker goals, me, which is what they just 2 over 2 overwhelming to stop or they just. How dominant were they?
[00:07:58] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, I think they're just a team that doesn't quit. They did the same thing against Clarkson. So we need to just go back to the drawing board, look at the film and regroup.
[00:08:09] Speaker C: What happened on those extra tackles? You guys weren't able to get the puck out?
[00:08:12] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, we were able to.
[00:08:13] Speaker D: Get the puck out. It was just ice. We iced it. And I mean that's what you're supposed to do. I mean, you get the puck out no matter what. It doesn't matter if it's an icing.
I think, you know, at that point, like they were just hunting us relentlessly and we needed to have a little bit more poise. But yeah, we'll work on that for tomorrow.
[00:08:30] Speaker C: What do you have to do for Saturday's game?
[00:08:33] Speaker D: Just flip the page and just get back to how we play.
[00:08:36] Speaker C: Why are we doing shootouts in non conference games?
[00:08:38] Speaker D: I'm not sure. I think it's just important. To probably have a winner, you know.
[00:08:42] Speaker C: It doesn't affect anything. Standings wise, it's an over. So I can understand in conference games there's three points around the line and here's really nothing.
[00:08:51] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, I think it's just for fans and if they do it.
[00:08:55] Speaker B: At the pro level.
[00:08:56] Speaker D: So we should do it in college.
[00:08:58] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, you got the win, but it doesn't feel like a win.
[00:09:00] Speaker D: No, not at all.
[00:09:04] Speaker A: Well, let's move on to Saturday's game. You nearly takes a one nothing lead less than five minutes into the game. But Kaden Villegas, who is looking for his first goal of the season, missed an open net on a rebound of a Nate Hanley shot. Kaden seems to be snake. I wrote about that in Wednesday's paper and it's
[email protected] How do you think he's handling the goal scoring slump?
[00:09:25] Speaker B: Yeah, I think he's probably frustrated with it. I mean he's, you know, he's, he's a guy that's going to score for us and at the end of the season, I think when you look at the standings, he'll be the near the top of not only points but also goals. He's just got to get that first one to kind of, you know, get it going.
[00:09:39] Speaker A: Well, shortly after that, then the nooks take a 1 nothing lead on a Hayden Cruz goal at 506. Less than three minutes later, Matt Koethe scores on the power play to make it 2 nothing. CRU again shortly after that to make it 3 nothing. The nooks had the momentum and control of the game there. Josh?
[00:09:56] Speaker B: Yeah, when they, you know, kind of got the seeing eye shot there to get a one nothing, you know, we, we had felt like we were in complete control in the first five minutes and then all of a sudden, next thing you know, you're down one nothing. And it took us, took us some time to kind of get back on track there and you know, credit to Alaska for finding a way to get a couple.
[00:10:14] Speaker A: Yeah. After Cruz's second goal, you pulled starter Kyle Chauvette and inserted freshman Lucas Massey for his first collegiate game. What was the reasoning behind? Was it a matter of trying to shake up the guys or was it maybe some of the goals of Kyle you thought maybe could have stopped?
[00:10:27] Speaker B: I think trying to, you know, one shake up the guys, you know, two is like at some point you gotta get Lucas going and give him an opportunity and kind of see what he can do as a first year player. So, you know, Being down three nothing, we felt like it was a good opportunity to go with him.
[00:10:41] Speaker A: Yeah. Union got on the board at 8:12 of the second period on a Ben Reuthersbaugh power play goal. But what became a recurring theme in the period? The Nanooks had an answer. Braden Birney scored at 11:44. Brandon Bur responded for Union a minute 11 later. But goals 107 apart by Calum Dick and Brendan Ross gave Alaska Fairbanks a 63 lead. And after Ross's goal, you called your timeout and then replaced Massey with Joe Sharab. I can imagine you weren't happy that you had the US 3 goalie in the game.
[00:11:11] Speaker B: No, it's. I mean, not anything you ever really want to do, but, you know, one to get Lucas in. And then, you know, you look at, like, their fourth goal.
It was. I didn't realize it at the time. I thought it just beat him clean on the ice. And it was deflected, you know, by our defenseman in front of the stick, which I didn't realize until I was able to, you know, watch the video. And then, you know, the fifth and the sixth goal, they're great shots. You gotta, you know, tip your cap, like I thought. You know, there's always something that somebody can do differently and, you know, areas of correction, especially, like, for our goaltenders, they put a ton of weight on themselves and are always blaming themselves, but, you know, sometimes somebody makes a great shot and. And that's what happened, I thought, on the 5th and 6th. So we called our time out. One to settle the guys down and then two. I just. I thought it was the right thing to do when we're going to make the goaltending change and not have to have Massey make that skate over and, like, it was his fault, because it definitely was not.
[00:12:02] Speaker A: And that sixth goal is off of a turnover, too.
[00:12:04] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, and, you know, the fourth goal, too, we had a player that was hurt and was skating off the ice, and it just, you know, unfortunate.
[00:12:11] Speaker A: Well, Muthersburg scored another power play goal late in the second, and John Prokop got Union's third power play tally early in the third. You had plenty of chances to get two goals to tie it, but ended up coming up short. I mean, you said after the game that you liked the way the team played in the last two periods. What did you see in that team's game there? A couple periods, Yeah.
[00:12:30] Speaker B: I thought there was no compete or no lack of compete from us. I thought the guys never felt sorry for themselves. No, Matter what happened, they kept going.
And that's what we're looking for early in the season when things aren't going your way, is that you're going to not quit. And I think we want to have a mentality that union never quits. And. And I think you saw that from their guys, even though it wasn't our night.
[00:12:52] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, you talked last week how Alaska Fairbanks is going to be a tough team, and they showed it. How impressed were you with them?
[00:12:59] Speaker B: I thought they got production from their young guys, which they haven't gotten all season, and they have some older guys that, like, they're men and they work hard and, yeah, I was impressed with them. Coach Largen does a great job. He's got a ton of structure with them, and he's got them really bought in.
[00:13:14] Speaker A: Well, let's hear from John Prokop and Brandon Burr after Saturday's game.
[00:13:21] Speaker C: Well, guys, you had a bad, unfortunately a bad third period last night. It seemed you had cooked up first minutes in the first period, but when they got the three goals in a quick succession, it just seemed like it was Friday night all over again. John, what happened in that first period? And guys couldn't recover from it.
[00:13:39] Speaker E: We started off strong, and then we took a couple penalties and. And, you know, the kill got us going at the end of the period, but, you know, you gotta find a way to kill it all off. And, you know, that momentum kind of shifted in that first period and we weren't able to catch up.
[00:13:54] Speaker C: Brandon?
[00:13:55] Speaker E: Yeah, I'd agree with what John said there. Like, first five minutes, we were feeling pretty good, but we just kind of fell off there.
[00:14:01] Speaker C: It seemed like when you guys were trying to come back in that second period, you guys scored three goals, but unfortunately, last goal also scored three. They always seemed to have an answer for how frustrating was that? Yeah, you think you're building momentum and then they snuff it.
[00:14:14] Speaker E: Yeah, it's definitely not ideal.
[00:14:16] Speaker C: John.
[00:14:17] Speaker E: Yeah, like Brandon said, it's kind of the way that hockey game goes. You know, some balances go your way, some don't.
[00:14:25] Speaker C: How frustrating was this weekend? I mean, I know you guys came in 6, 101, ranked 20th in the country in one of the polls.
To have this happen. I mean, how frustrating is it?
[00:14:35] Speaker E: I mean, the rankings, things don't really matter to us. It's just getting better every weekend. So, I mean, this is a learning experience for us, and we'll be ready to go next weekend.
[00:14:44] Speaker C: Brandon.
[00:14:44] Speaker E: Yeah. Big learning experience. We're going to bounce back next weekend.
[00:14:48] Speaker C: In a weird way, is it better to have this happen in a non conference game than a conference game? Because that way you lose your overall records.
Get a tie in a loss by it doesn't affect the standings.
[00:15:04] Speaker E: It's obviously not. We didn't want to lose but I guess in a way it's probably better. It's not league, but still we'd rather win those games.
[00:15:10] Speaker C: What lessons do you take from this weekend?
[00:15:13] Speaker E: Shut down third period, definitely.
[00:15:15] Speaker C: John?
[00:15:16] Speaker E: Yeah, same thing. We need to learn how to close out games and you know, we're planning to play, you know, as long as we can and it's good to learn right now.
[00:15:25] Speaker C: Let me ask you a question.
What do you learn from this?
[00:15:30] Speaker E: There's a bunch of things to learn from it. We'll go over film Monday and then get back at it and be ready to go on Friday.
[00:15:37] Speaker C: Do you feel bad for your goalies? Josh used all three today. I mean it's. You don't like to see that unless it's an exhibition game.
[00:15:44] Speaker E: Yeah, all three work their butt off in practice.
All three were in there for us tonight and you know, they work their butt off. We gotta be better for them up front.
[00:15:56] Speaker A: Take a break. We'll have another mess of rake memory. We'll Preview this weekend's ECAC hockey games against St. Lawrence at Clarkson at Mesa. And we'll talk about a major change coming to college hockey. You're listening to the Parting Shots podcast.
[00:16:20] Speaker B: It's the most historic conference in college hockey.
[00:16:24] Speaker D: It's a battle night in and night out.
[00:16:27] Speaker A: ECAC hockey. An iconic conference, home to 12 of the most prestigious universities and programs in.
[00:16:33] Speaker D: The world and showcasing the best student.
[00:16:35] Speaker A: Athletes in the sport. Top notch facilities and arenas, incomparable traditions, passionate fans, alumni who go on to become Indian elite, professionals, leaders and champions. ECAC hockey. There's no experience like it.
The Daily Gazette has some great subscription deals happening. Sign up today at www.dailygazette.com. and as always, when credibility matters, trust the Daily Gazette. Hey, pro football fans, it's time again to match witch with other pro football fans and win a prize by playing the Daily Gazette's yous Pick Em football contest. To play, go to dailygazetteprofootball.upickem.net and make your picks before the first game kicks off each week. If you have the most weekly points, you win a $100 Hanniford gift card. Play the Delegazette's you picket football contest today.
[00:17:29] Speaker E: Hi, this is Daniel Champigni. The 2014 National Championship Union College men's hockey team. You're listening to the Parting Shots podcast with Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Shot.
[00:17:39] Speaker A: The Parting Shots podcast presents another Union hockey meserink memory.
[00:17:46] Speaker B: Hi, I'm Tyler Hines. I played for Union College men's hockey from 2015 to 2018. My most vivid memory of playing in Mesa Rink was the first time I walked in there on my recruiting visit and saw the ceiling and saw how unique it was and it just felt like home.
[00:18:03] Speaker A: Welcome back to the welcome to the podcast. I'm your host, Ken Schott and I'm joined by Union men's head hockey coach Josh Algae. He's here for his weekly visit. Well, let's chat about chat about this weekend, Josh. The Garner Chargers have a big test on and off the ice. On the ice. Union host St. Lawrence at 7pm Friday and then takes on clocks at 4pm Saturday. Off the ice. Final exams for the first trimester start Thursday. I thought final exams started at the third week in November. Does it seem like it's earlier this year?
[00:18:31] Speaker B: Yeah, it is and that's typically how it's been. So that's why we have next weekend off. But you know, for us, our guys will have to, you know, fight through it and, you know, it'll be, it'll be some longer nights, but we've tried to make practices a little shorter and a little bit more high intensity.
[00:18:48] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, how have you been balancing the players academically with the practices?
[00:18:52] Speaker B: Well, today is a nice day because they have off from no classes, just a day of studying. So we went earlier today for practice and, you know, went a little bit longer than we did on Monday and Tuesday, Monday and Tuesday we killed, kept it short, you know, 45, 50 minutes. Today we went for about an hour and you know, tomorrow we'll come back with about a 45 minute practice. 40 minutes, get some buck touches and, you know, work on special teams. So practices. If it isn't a direct correlation to what we're trying to do, we have, we've just kind of avoided the drills.
[00:19:19] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, St. Lawrence and Clarkson are playing their first ECAC hockey games of the season this weekend. The Saints are 4 and 5. They won an exhibition game against Simon Frazier last weekend, but in their last game they counted, they lost to Stonehill 4 nothing on November 8th. What do you know about St. Lawrence?
[00:19:34] Speaker B: Well, I think, you know, they're led by two forwards and Thomas Mazura and Greg Lapointe both, I think, have about 11 points.
That's their top line and they Kind of, you know, generate a ton of their offense. They always work hard and they'll be really structured.
I think, you know, that's. I watched that Stonehill game. I thought that wasn't who they are. I think they've played much better in other games, so I would expect to see will get their best version and they're going to be a good opponent.
[00:20:04] Speaker A: Clarkson, which visits RPI on Friday at 7pm is coming off a 63 win over Stonehill. We're getting a lot of Stone Hill mentions here. That was last Saturday. The weekend before that, the Golden Knights lost and tied against Alaska Fairbanks. They have a new coach in J.F. houel, who replaced Casey Jones after Jones became the associate head coach and head coach in waiting at Cornell. He'll take over for the retiring Mike Schaefer next season. Hoole is a former star player with Clarkson. He was coaching lav, the Montreal Canadiens AHL team. What does HUL bring to his alma mater?
[00:20:37] Speaker B: Well, he's got the pro experience and the pro presence and, you know, I have limited actually interactions with him. Not you would think I probably have more working there as long. But, you know, he's always, you know, been a great person to deal with and it seems like he's really well respected and liked up there.
[00:20:54] Speaker A: What do you know about Clarkson?
[00:20:56] Speaker B: Huh? I know a fair amount about their team and it's funny because now we're getting to the point where I don't know as many of the players and, you know, or didn't recruit as many. So, you know, I think they definitely have, you know, a strong leadership group and you know, with Ryan Richardson and, you know, Kaylan Taylor and they have a lot of Taylors on that team, but they're, they got some, you know, Ryan Taylor will be difficult to stop offensively. He can really shoot it. They work hard and it looks like they've, you know, had a little bit more offense this year than maybe they have in the previous season.
[00:21:30] Speaker A: You guys are in second place right now in the standings behind three points behind Dartmouth. So how important going into the break here will it be to get six points?
[00:21:40] Speaker B: You know, it's just for us, like when we're at home, we want to make sure we continue to bang points and just how important these are early in the season. And, you know, the points in Games 3 and 4 are just as important in Games 21 and 22. And, you know, we can really set ourselves up if we can, you know, have a good weekend.
[00:21:56] Speaker A: Well, some big news is coming out from NCAA hockey Last Thursday.
And what was that expected situation? I can talk Canadian major junior hockey players are now eligible to play NCAA hockey starting next season. For years, they were not allowed to, but with NCAA players able to make money off their name, image and likeness, it was inevitable that the barrier would come down. What do you think the impact of this is going to be?
[00:22:24] Speaker B: Well, I think it's varying in a lot of different ways and no one really knows what the unintended consequences here are. But I think in the first part, there's a lot of 19 and 20 year olds that are fighting for college scholarships right now. They're going to lose that opportunity just because you're going to see a lot of college teams go into the CHL and take players.
Rightfully so. There's some really talented guys there. And I think in the immediate future here, it just is a huge influx of players that are now available to play. So, you know, you might see some teams, they take huge jumps if they go to the CHL route. And it could be, you know, one of two ways. It could be really, really positive. It also could be really negative. And, you know, it is a little bit different. I've talked to some players already from those leagues and it's funny because, you know, some of them are like, well, if I get an American League deal or I get an NHL deal, I'm going to take that, but I'll commit to you guys right now if you want. So it's a little bit different in just kind of how the recruiting process will work.
[00:23:22] Speaker A: Well, of course, comprised of schools with high academic standards, you have six Ivy League schools of the 12. Will it be tough for schools like Union and the Ivies to recruit these players if they don't have the proper grades?
[00:23:34] Speaker B: Well, yeah, I mean, if they don't have the proper grades, no one's going to be able to get them. And you know, then with that being said, you know, the standards of most teams in the ECAC are a little bit higher than, you know, some other maybe academic institutions. So I do think it'll be a challenge. And with that being said, there's.
There's a lot of really good students up there as well. So there will be some players that will come down and definitely play well.
[00:23:57] Speaker A: Let's say that some of the power hockey schools go after these players. That could leave some talented players who play in the American junior leagues, like the United States Hockey League and North American Hockey League and the Canadian Junior A leagues out maybe available for a school like Union. How big will that be.
[00:24:12] Speaker B: Yeah, I think there's definitely going to be just a lot of, like, integrity put to the test here as far as what people are going to do as well. You know, honoring, you know, commitments and, you know, I think you'll see some people that, you know, walk away from commitments, whether it's a player or the team. And, you know, that could, you know, provide an opportunity for some really good players to come here. And it also could, you know, some guys that maybe were recruiting and fighting with, you know, you know, a different school right now, they may back away because they're going to go after, you know, a player that becomes opener to the chl. So it's. It's going to be a lot of twists and turns. It's. I think, as a coach, you really value consistency. And, you know, we've had a plan on how we're going to build this thing, and it seems like every year we're having to, you know, evaluate and change our plan because everybody's changing the rules all the time.
[00:25:03] Speaker A: Could this, in a way, help add more college hockey teams?
[00:25:08] Speaker B: You know, it's still. I mean, there's going to be more players available, but I also think just right now, in the landscape of what it costs to put on a hockey team and, you know, the amount of money, you know, there's a lot of programs that are really watching their, you know, their dollars and cents just because it's a lot of money. And, like, schools are having to have to dish out a lot of money for different things, whether it's, you know, the 22 million for the players that they can get for some of the, you know, football and basketball, big schools and. Yeah. So I don't really know right now. We just saw one team. It's going to walk away. So that's the concern as well as, hopefully you don't lose anybody else.
[00:25:50] Speaker A: Let's segue into that, because while we were doing the media availability on Tuesday at Messer Inc. We got word that American International College was downgrading its men's hockey team from Division 1 to Division 2. How shocking was that news?
[00:26:02] Speaker B: It came out of nowhere for us. I think everybody, you know, shares the same sentiment. Sentiment that, like, there's a really, really good hockey coach that, you know, just got put in a really bad spot and, you know, 30 young men that are going to have to look at different opportunities, and it's. It's just. Yeah, you never. You never want to see it. And they've done just a great. Such a great job at aic, the last, you know, five or six seasons to have kind of pulled out from underneath them is tough.
[00:26:31] Speaker A: May have shot. How much of a concern is this?
[00:26:33] Speaker B: I think it's a huge concern. And I think that, you know, I think in all athletics and all sports right now at universities, it's tough. I mean, they keep just wanting to give people more and more and more, and it's very deserving for a lot of people. I mean, a lot of people are doing a lot, but at the same point, you can only spend so much money and you can only invest in so many areas.
[00:26:56] Speaker A: The transfer portal is going to be crazy now just with those players probably when the season ends.
[00:27:01] Speaker B: Yeah, I would guess they're all probably going to go in here within the next couple weeks. I think as soon as you find out your school is changing levels, I think you're able to go into the portal. So I would expect all those guys to go in.
[00:27:13] Speaker A: I don't know what you can say, but is that something you look at maybe their players, or is that something you can really talk about right now?
[00:27:19] Speaker B: Yeah, we look at every player that goes in the portal. We try to watch as much video on them as you can right away.
You know, we're, we're looking to, you know, upgrade our hockey team any way we can. So if it's the transfer portal, chl, North American Hockey League, a player in Russia, wherever, it doesn't matter. We're going to, we're going to look.
[00:27:37] Speaker A: Of course, we always like to take questions from our listeners. We don't have any tonight, but you can always email them to your questions to shot. That's s c h o t t dailygazette.com or post them on Facebook and X so. Well, Josh, appreciate the visit and we'll catch you this weekend with the games against St. Lawrence and Clark Clarkson.
[00:27:54] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:27:54] Speaker A: All right, that's Josh Halje. Coming up on Thursday's podcast, I'll have interviews from the Tuesday's union hockey media availability. On the men's side will be Colin Ferguson, Kaden Villegas and Nate Hanley. For the women, it's head coach Tony Macy and players Marin Friday, Emma Bear and Sophie Matsukas. I'll discuss the impact of the NCAA's ruling to allow Canadian major junior hockey players to play college hockey with ECAC hockey commissioner Doug Christensen and College Hockey Inc. Executive Sean Hogan. I'll preview this Sunday's NHL NFL matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills with John Worrell of the Associated Press. And I'LL talk Mets and Yankees with Tuesday Baseball writer Tim Healey and my Gazette colleague Adam Schindler will join me to Talk Union and UAlbany Football. Of course, Union getting ready for the Dutchman Shoes game against RPI on Saturday, so please tune in. It's going to be a great podcast.
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 hockey.
