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[00:00:18] Speaker C: Now here's your host, Daily Gazette sports editor Ken shot. Thank you, Scott Kesey, and welcome to the Parting Shots podcast, available wherever you get your podcast. Subscribe today. Thanks for joining me from the parting Shots podcast studio in Schenectady, New York. We're back in our location in the Gazette building after it was at the New York State Hockey hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Hilton Garden Inn in Troy, New York on Saturday night was a great time. We had a chance to listen to my interviews with Dennis Pothen, Ed Westfall, Sam Rosen and Mike Garruzzioni. If not, you can find it on the parting shots page on the dailyGazette.com dot. Well, it's mid July. Hard to believe it's mid July. The summer's going fast. And I, of course, it's been hot outside and not only here in the capital region, but across the country as well. But we're going to have some hot sports topics to talk about. We're going to talk course racing. First, my gazette colleague Mike McGadam will be on for his weekly at the track with Mac segment. We'll look back at the opening week of Saratoga racing at Racecourse there. And then we'll look ahead to week two. Greg Faron, a 2020 Schenectady high school graduate, an outstanding pitcher for the Patriots back in the day, just finished up his college career with the University of Alabama. He was selected in the 7th round of the Major League Baseball draft on Monday by the San Francisco Giants. I spoke with Ferrone on Tuesday. You'll hear that interview. And of course, the story is up
[email protected]. and in Wednesday's print edition. And then I talked with Associate Press NHL writer Stephen Wino. Of course, Stephen and I are both graduates of Holy Ghost Prep in Ben Salem, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia a few years apartheid. Stephen was up in Saratoga this past weekend. And before he gets to the summer lynxes, which we'll talk about, we'll talk to NHL and talked about a little horse racing as well. And so that'll be a nice discussion there. So stay tuned for that. But first up, it's Mike McGaddam with his at the track with Max segment. You're listening to the Parting Shots podcast.
[00:02:22] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Rick Marshall from the Daily Gazette's martial arts podcast. In each episode, I interview artists from around the region from musicians and comedians to dancers, sculptors, even video game designers. After you finish the latest episode of the parting Shots podcast, I hope you'll give martial arts a try.
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[00:02:53] Speaker A: Hi, this is Colgate men's hockey coach Mike Harder. You're listening to the parting shots podcast with Daily Gazette sports editor Ken shot.
[00:03:03] Speaker B: Welcome back to the podcast. It's rainy Wednesday as we tape this at the track with Max Saban and Mike McAdam is warm and dry and is at the track with Mac studio somewhere in the Capital Region. Mike, how's it going?
[00:03:17] Speaker D: It's raining, that's how it's going.
Yeah, I didn't really actually have to write anything today, so I was thinking of going up there and just being a degenerate for a little while and doing some gambling. And then I looked at the weather report and it said, I think I'll stay home.
[00:03:31] Speaker B: Well, speaking of the weather, what happened? The storms that rolled through the Capital region Tuesday, late Tuesday afternoon into the evening affected Wednesday's card. We don't have a steeple chase in the turf races or moved off the turf.
[00:03:44] Speaker D: Yeah, a little bit of same old, same old. At Saratoga, we saw the same thing on opening day. It didn't rain the day of the races, but it did enough the night before where they took all five turf races off and put them on the main track. So today you had the added dimension of a grade one steeplechase stakes race that got postponed. Actually, they did reschedule it for Sunday, so we should see it soon.
But that was a bugaboo last year at Saratoga. They had 65 turf races reined onto the main track, which a lot of people believe is why the handle was down. The betting handle was down a little bit.
So opening day, we got a taste of it. Day one of the first full week of racing, we're getting it, getting a full fledged blast of it. There wasn't any real serious damage up there, but there's huge puddles left over from last night, and there's a bunch of big tree branches down and stuff like that.
But then they checked the turf condition this morning and it wasn't a, wasn't safe. And I think the turf courses kind of get ripped up, too, when, when they're soft and you rope you know, you race over them, so it made sense to, to move them all to the main dirt tracks.
[00:05:03] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, let's look back in the opening four days of the 2024 meet, the numbers were pretty comparable to last year, with the betting handle showing the most significant change and increase from last year. What do you attribute to that? If the attendance was slightly. I saw some numbers. The tennis is slightly down, but the handles up. How did you, how does that go?
[00:05:22] Speaker D: I don't know from a handle standpoint, other than the fact that, well, I mean, like I already mentioned, it's probably attributable to, you know, the turf races getting rained off. What happens there is now you've got a field of horses running on the surface that they weren't meant to when the, when the card was drawn. But also, you know, you get a lot of scratches that way, too. So, you know, you got very short fields running on a muddy track when they were supposed to be up, you know, sizable field running on the turf that. Those aren't very good betting prospects. So, for instance, last year, the first four days of the meet, they had eleven turf races scheduled, and eight of them were rained off this year.
This can't be right. I'm looking at. I looked this up earlier. Well, the point is, the large percentage of the turf races were rained off during the first four days of the meet, whereas we only had opening day. You know, the other three days were, you know, the turf conditions were in good shapes, which, you know, that's got to be a direct correlation to why the handle was up 18%, by the way, which is nothing to sniff at. They took $82 million in betting handle last year during the first four days total, all sources. And then it was 97 million for the four days, Thursday through Sunday last week.
So that, that explains the betting handle aspect of it, the attendance. I mean, the difference was negligible. It was down 1.5%, which is like. I mean, it's almost identical paid admission numbers. So. But when you look at the betting handle, it's clearly the correlation is because of the turf races being rained off to a higher degree last year than this year.
[00:07:08] Speaker B: From a racing standpoint. Mike? Opening week produced a three ring circus in the Scuylerville, one by 44 to one, bomb the queen's mg. And to revise the Ben Franklin quote, the only. Only three things that could be certain. Death, taxes, and Chad Brown went into gray one. Diana?
[00:07:26] Speaker D: Correct. We'll go back to the Schuylerville first, which was the opening day stakes. They had eleven two year old Phillies. And I'll just kind of walk you through the sequence. A couple of them got a little naughty in the starting gate. It takes a while to, to load eleven two year old fillies into a gate. And then one of them, complexion, who's one of the more highly regarded, actually was kind of fractious in the gate twice. And the second time, jockey John Velazquez had to get off and they had to back her out of the starting gate. And meanwhile, the rest of them are just sitting in there waiting and waiting and waiting. There's this big long delay.
And then they finally got her back in the gate with John V on her back, and they opened the gate almost instantaneously, which point, what in the literal, who we saw win the Astoria during Belmont Stakes Racing Festival in June, took a really bad stumble and almost went face first into the dirt and dumped Javier Castellano. So her race is over. One step out of the starting gate, so that horse takes off without a rider. They wound up catching her then, meanwhile, a filly named slang jockey Ricardo Santana. You know, she seemed kind of funky in the back, so he pulled her up, eased her and pulled her up on the turn. So the race is over. And of course, the 44 to one bomb wins this race because that's the only logical conclusion we, that's the only logical ending to this thing. But actually, it wasn't over because what in the literals, trainer Jenna Antonucci actually brought her into the winner's circle before the horses came back after crossing the finish line because she wanted to kind of get her out of traffic and have a safe place to hose her off and get her settled down. So I'm watching that. Then all of a sudden, I see the floor, which was slang, go by with no rider. I'm like, what? Now?
[00:09:22] Speaker A: What?
[00:09:23] Speaker D: Apparently, whoever had grabbed her after Santana pulled her up lost hold of the reins, and she takes off. She's going around the clubhouse turn with being chased by two outriders. So I'm like, oh, my gosh, this is getting nuts. But it ain't over till it's over. And the next thing, I'm watching her and I hear this big motion behind me, and there's this huge crowd of people there in the winter circle. I turn around and Danny Gargan, the trainer of complexion, is absolutely going ballistic on the phone to the stewards upstairs on the third floor where their stand is. And his complaint was that they didn't let complexion settle in the starting gate after all that monkey business. They opened the gate as soon as she stepped in there. And he felt like that compromised her chances. And so he, I mean, very profanely, angrily, loudly, he's screaming into this phone, slams the phone down, said, this is a debacle. And Naira president and CEO Dave O'Rourke was just randomly just standing right there, and Danny Gargan turns around and sees him and people need to be fired for this. And storms off. And it was like quite the scene, but everything finally got settled down. The good news is none of the jockeys got hurt, none of the horses got hurt, everybody was fine. It was just like this chaotic craziness that I was like, oh, is this how it's going to be for the next 40, 39 racing days? I hope not, because it was absolutely nuts.
[00:10:52] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:55] Speaker D: As far as Chad Brown.
[00:10:58] Speaker A: He won.
[00:10:59] Speaker D: The grade one Diana for the 9th time and the 8th time in the last.
8th time in the last nine years and nine times total.
And the twist this year was that he actually the same horse who won it last year, white beam won it this year. That's the second time that he's had back to back with the same horse winning the Diana from year to year, which is pretty remarkable. She kind of got away with a slow pace on the front end and had enough gas left to hold everybody off at the starting line. By the way, he had five of the ten horses entered in the field this year, so chances were pretty good that he was going to kind of keep his streak going.
I just wanted to mention earlier in the card in the Kelso, the wonderfully named Carl Spackler, also trained by Chad Brown, won the Kelso to kind of get back on the winning track. So maybe we'll see him in one of the big mile turf races later in the meet.
[00:11:54] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, look, let's look ahead to this weekend. The three year old males duke it out on two fronts at the Curlin at Saratoga on Friday, and a very tough field in Haskell at Monmouth on Saturday. And meanwhile, Saratoga fans will have the privilege of seeing torpedo Anna, perhaps the best three year old male or female, in the grade one coaching club, American Oaks on Saturday.
[00:12:15] Speaker D: Yeah, we'll start with the curling on Friday.
This grace drew. Let's see, what do we got here? Six horses. The one I'm really looking forward to is named unmatched wisdom. Very lightly. Race again for Chad Brown. It's only run two times, but he's won by a combined twelve and a twelve lengths, a maiden race and an allowance race, four or five favorite. And the reason I bring him up is when I was talking to Chad Brown before the meet about Sierra Leone, he just unprompted. He brought up this horse's name and on two occasions said, this is a nice horse. So I'm looking forward. You know, he's very lightly raised, but he's won impressively both times. And if he wins the curling impressively, it's on to the Travers on August 24. Then on Saturday, we have a great one, $1 million Haskell. It's short field.
Eight are entered, but only seven of them may run because Ted Fletcher has fierceness. Entered in the Haskell on Saturday at Monmouth park in New Jersey, but kind of also, the alternate plan is to run in the gym dandy next weekend. So if he doesn't run on Saturday in the Haskell, I won't be surprised. Otherwise, it's three long shots and four very solid horses. We've got Belmont Stakes winner Dornock.
We've got Tusken sky from Fletcher, who won the Pegasus at Monmouth park, which is sort of like the lead in, I think they call it Haskell Preview Day. A month ago, we got Belmont runner up mineframe, also from Pletcher. And then shipping in from Kentucky is Timberlake, who's coming off a 15 week layoff. So we'll be interested to see what he has. He finished fourth in the Arkansas derby, last time for trainer Brad Cox. So it's kind of a short field, but there's four, you know, heavy hitters in there, three long shots, and then naturally the winner and maybe the second place finisher. Whoever runs well, will also point toward the Travers on August 24 at Saratoga. Torpedo Anna, though, I mean, she's so good that trainer Kenny McPeek was thinking of running her in the Belmont against males, which is kind of a move he's done before with horses like swiss skydiver, who won the Preakness during the, during the pandemic year for Petey, when it's just going to be a privilege to watch her running the coaching club American Oaks on Saturday. She's the one to two favorite for a reason. She's won the grade one Kentucky. She's won three straight graded races, including the Kentucky Oaks and the Acorn, on Belmont Stakes weekend by open lancs. Every time.
The only reason he kept her out of the Belmont, really, was because Kentucky Derby mystic Dan, who McPeek also trains, was entered in the, in the Belmont. He doesn't want to run the two of them, his colt, his good colt and Philly, in the same race. So I mean, if she wins this thing for fun on Saturday, she's supposed to go to the Alabama assuming Mystic Dan, who's kind of getting a little bit of a breather right now, runs in the Travers. But if he doesn't, don't be surprised to see a filly in the Travers this year. And it would be torpedo Anna. So that'll be something to keep an eye on after Saturday.
[00:15:35] Speaker B: Yeah. Before we started taping this segment, the Haskell draw took place. What do we know about that?
[00:15:43] Speaker D: Just the four horses that I mentioned and then the long shot, C Street. Just step on it. Jasper's pride are also in the seven horse field. And then fierceness. Actually, Tom Clutcher said it'll be up to owner Mike Rapoli whether fierceness runs in the Haskell or waits for the Jim Dandy. I was trying to call up the draw was supposed to be on Facebook Live, and I couldn't find it. I don't have the actual post positions or the odds right now, but it's going to be a seven horse field unless Mike Rapoli decides that fierceness should go in the Haskell. The things you weigh between the Haskell and the Jim Dandy are you're talking about a grade one worth a million dollars, as opposed to the grade two Jim Dandy, which is worth half that.
The pro on the side of the Jim Dandy is if you want to run the traverse and your horse has never run at Saratoga, you can get a gauge of whether he likes the track or not by running in the Jim Dandy instead of the Haskell.
So those are kind of the things that people are weighing when they decide between these two races. But either way, anybody running in these races is going to be under strong consideration for the Travers later.
[00:16:49] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a big hockey weekend last Saturday, in fact, in the capital Region. Of course, our buddy Steve Wynnum from the Associated Press was in town up at Saratoga. We will have him on a little bit later. Talking about the NHL. I was at the New York State Hockey hall of Fame induction ceremony, got a chance to talk with Dennis Potvin, Ed Westfall, Sam Rosen, Mike Carusioni, and you, being a Bruins fan, got to see Jeremy Swayman at Saratoga on Saturday, and his horse won. Talk about that.
[00:17:19] Speaker D: I didn't actually get to see him. That was one of the, like, great teases. I found out in the middle of the afternoon that he was there, and by then the horse. And he doesn't own any horses. In fact, he's never been to Saratoga, but he was there as a guest of Don Little, junior, who's the president of Centennial Farms, one of the prominent ownership groups, and it's based in Boston. And Don was a polo player and is from Boston, and he's friends with Jeremy Jacobs, the Bruins owner. So, you know, one thing led to another. Suman was supposed to be at Saratoga, and Don said, well, you gotta sit in the box with us. They had a nice horse named the luminaire running in the fourth race. And the horse, a three year old running against older horses and kind of outbattled this grizzled veteran to win. So maybe we'll see him, the Alan Jerkins, later. But when I got this text in the middle of the afternoon saying that Suyman was there, I was like, okay, I have my mission now. I need to find him. And I know Don little. I've talked to him before. So I easily found him in his box seat. But at the time, Jeremy was not there. He was wandering around somewhere. And the more I think about it, I think he may have already left by then. So I don't know that I actually even had a chance to interview him. But it would have been kind of a thrill for me as a Boston Bruins fans since probably 1970 to interview their current goalie. But anyway, I talked to Don and he gave me some good stuff, like, jeremy's up for contract negotiations after going arbitration route last year, and he decided not to do that this year. And he told Don, hey, can you put a good word in with the boss, Jeremy Jacobs, since you pals. And Don's great quote was that you don't need any help from me, you're going to get a big number no matter what. So. But it was, it was. It was a missed opportunity, but still a fun, fun story to write. And you see a lot of hockey connections to thoroughbred racing. Eddie Olczyk, of course, texted Don little right after the race, as a matter of fact, congratulating him on Illuminaire's win. And so it'll be kind of interesting to see if Jeremy, like kind of Jeremy Swamon. We got two. Jeremy's in the story kind of continues his.
His interest in the sport, and he, he certainly got a good introduction to it. Randomly. And by mere coincidence, our photographer, Erica Miller actually got a great photo of Suman coming down the steps, celebrating with his arms up in the air. She didn't know who he was. She was just randomly shooting that race. And so she was going through her stuff and she goes, is this him? I go, that's him. So we got lucky on the photo and unlucky on the interview. But all in all, it turned out to be a pretty fun story to write.
[00:19:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:00] Speaker B: He had an adult beverage in his hand, I believe.
[00:20:02] Speaker D: No, no, no. He should have, but actually, it was a Saratoga water, from what I saw. One of those blue glass bottles that you see everywhere. So he had a Saratoga water. I don't know if anything was in it, extra, but we'll let his reputation remain unsullied.
[00:20:18] Speaker B: Will we get to see the Stanley cup at Saratoga?
[00:20:21] Speaker D: I swear to God, I firmly believe that we will. It's just a matter of when. And that's because Vinny Viola, who owns the Florida Panthers, just won the Stanley cup, of course, is heavily involved in a lot of big name horses and wants to win races, et cetera, Saratoga. I mean, I would actually be kind of stunned if we don't see it at some point, because he's here all the time, especially on the weekends. And like I said, he's. He's in on a lot of big horses. You know, he'll probably have some. Maybe something in the Travers, even. And I asked on little that because he's good friends with Vinny Viola as well, and he said, I don't know, it makes sense. But I didn't really ask him that, so I'm sure it's that light bulb went on at some point, and if we don't see it at the meet, I'm going to be really surprised.
[00:21:09] Speaker B: Of course, on Friday, the 2014 Union college national championship men's hockey team will be honored. It's a celebration weekend. A lot of events going on. One of the events will be up at Saratoga. The fourth race will be named after them. So you'll get to see some of the. Some of the great players that won the national championship for union.
[00:21:27] Speaker D: Yeah, I remember those guys. You and I were in on that. Both fists.
Yeah. And they're going to have, like, a meet and greet thing by the jockeys silks room where they'll. They can, fans can get autographs and shoot the breeze with these guys a little bit, so that'll be kind of a cool thing. I know they're all over the place, but they'll be up at the track, I believe, with the national championship trophy as well. And there's like a half a dozen of them or so. I know gossips, Bear and Matt bodies names were mentioned in the press release, so kind of the key guys, but that'll be kind of cool. And again, I know they're, those guys are going to be, you know, really doing a lot of reunion stuff. And I think it's 230 or something like that in the middle of the afternoon where they'll be at the track.
[00:22:10] Speaker B: So. Yeah. Well, good stuff, Mac. Appreciate it. We'll do this again next week.
[00:22:14] Speaker E: Sure.
[00:22:15] Speaker D: All right.
Talk to you next week, Ken. Thanks.
[00:22:18] Speaker B: All right. That's Mike. We got him. Coming up, I'll speak with Schenectady High school graduate Greg Ferrone, who is selected in the 7th round of the major league baseball draft by the San Francisco Giants. You're listening to the parting shots podcast.
[00:22:43] Speaker F: I've got a math question for you. When you add tolerance, subtract prejudice and multiply efforts to treat one another with respect, what do you get? Less division and school sports have it down to a science. Looking for an example of what can happen when we realize there's more that unites us than divides us. Look no further than high school sports in New York.
[00:23:06] Speaker A: This message presented by the New York State Public High School Athletic association and the New York State Athletic Administrators association.
[00:23:13] Speaker D: Hi, this is four time Stanley cup champion at New York State Hockey hall of Famer John Tenelli. You're listening to the parting shots podcast.
[00:23:23] Speaker A: With Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Schott.
[00:23:27] Speaker C: Welcome back to the podcast. Greg Farone is a 2020 Schenectady High school graduate and outstanding player for their baseball team. Back in the day, he just finished his career at the University of Alabama, and on Monday he was selected in the 7th round of the Major League Baseball draft by the San Francisco Giants. Greg Farrone had a four and three record this past season for the Crimson tie with a 5.02 earned run average. He struck out 68, walked 24, and the opposing hitters batted 267 against him. The highlight of his season came against Ole Miss on April 25. He allowed six hits, struck out six and walk none in the Crimson tights. Twelve nothing, seven inning road win. A chance to talk with Greg on Tuesday, and as I mentioned at the top of the show, I have a story
[email protected]. and in Wednesday's print edition, here is the newest member of the San Francisco Giants organization, Greg Farone.
[00:24:24] Speaker B: Well, Greg, first of all, congratulations on the selection. Mean, how thrilled. Where were you when you found out?
[00:24:31] Speaker E: I was actually at home in Schenectady, hanging out with my family and everything, and it was just, everything happened so fast. It was just crazy. I'm just soaking it all up with all of them and enjoying it.
[00:24:41] Speaker B: What was the phone call like with the Giants?
[00:24:44] Speaker E: They called me up and they pretty much told me, we're going to take you with the next pick. And like, that's how I felt about that. And I said, let's get it done, and it just took off from there.
[00:24:53] Speaker B: Yeah, they talked, talk to you about what they want to do with you. They want to sign you and send you to one of their minor league affiliates.
[00:25:02] Speaker E: I'm still waiting for that information currently, but I'm sure they're going to send me out to Arizona and do all that physical stuff and just see where I'm at from this past year of how much I've thrown and everything, and then decide on what, where to go and what to do.
[00:25:15] Speaker B: Looking at your height, six six. I mean, how important is that for a pitcher to be that tall? I mean, it's almost Randy Johnson esque.
[00:25:23] Speaker E: Yeah. Nowadays you see a lot of, there's a lot of heights for pitchers and everything, but I think just being taller gives me a lot, a lot more leverage down the mound and everything. It just creates deception and all that stuff.
[00:25:34] Speaker B: Obviously, being in Schenectady, did you, were you, you're not, you probably weren't a fan of the San Francisco Giants. What do you know about the organization?
[00:25:44] Speaker E: I just know they have a lot of history there, obviously. Oracle park is a beautiful place. McCovey cove out in red field. I mean, I believe the fan base is really good. I mean, they were in the World Series multiple times about probably like five, six years ago, I believe, and it just seems like a great organization.
[00:26:02] Speaker B: What was it like pitching at Alabama this year?
[00:26:05] Speaker E: It was amazing. It was, it was something that every kid dreams of. I've dreamed of pitching in the SEC, but it was just a great place. The fan base came out every night no matter what. It was a midweek or a weekend series, and the support was just amazing.
[00:26:19] Speaker B: Looking at your stats from the season, look like your best game was on April 25 against Ole Miss. You went seven innings of shutout ball. You gave it six hits, struck out six, walk none. What do you remember about that game?
[00:26:32] Speaker E: I remember actually before the game in the hotel, I told my coach that I wasn't going to come out of the game at all tonight and kind of offense kind of helped me out with that. Putting, giving us, giving me a lot of run support and everything. Just from the jump was I was very locked in and everything felt really good. So it was a great night.
[00:26:49] Speaker B: What are your best pitches? What do you, what do you throw?
[00:26:53] Speaker E: I throw a four seam fastball, slider, a curveball, and a change up.
[00:26:56] Speaker B: Yeah. What's, what do you think your most effective pitch is?
[00:27:00] Speaker E: Probably the fastball.
[00:27:01] Speaker B: Yeah.
I mean, what are the average wise as far as throwing? What, miles per hour? Have they told you what your average is?
[00:27:09] Speaker E: Yeah, this past, this past year I was around like 91 to 94. I've been up to 95 to 90. I touched 95. 97.
[00:27:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
Reading your bio on the Alabama website, it says you worked as a midweek starter at a reliever before earning a spot in the weekend rotation. Maybe talk to what does that mean to earn a spot in the weekend rotation? Because me, obviously that's when most of the games are played, but I want for was to work your way in, especially transferring in from Louisville.
[00:27:37] Speaker E: Yeah. I mean, as a kid in a baseball player, I mean, obviously you want the ball kind of on the weekends here just because those are more important. Not saying that the midweek isn't important, but I think just being one of the newer guys going in there and just trusting the coaching staff, trusting what I do and working hard and just proving to everybody that I have what it takes to go out there on the weekend and give us a shot to win.
[00:27:58] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I mentioned you spent a year in Louisville. What was the like there at Louisville in 2023?
[00:28:05] Speaker E: It was a good experience. I mean, I feel like I've been around the, around the globe a little bit here and there these last few years, just going from place to place. But it was a good experience there too, as well.
[00:28:14] Speaker B: What was the reason to transfer to Alabama?
[00:28:18] Speaker E: My family and I just thought maybe a change of scenery after having a not so good year, we wanted to see what else was out there. After the year at Louisville and Alabama reached out and everything clicked. The coaching staff was great.
[00:28:30] Speaker B: So, yeah, of course, two years ago you had a great run with Herkimer College winning the NJCAA division three national championship. What do you remember about that?
[00:28:40] Speaker E: I remember probably everything about that year. I mean, we knew, the team knew going into that year that we were going to do something special and being able to do that and celebrate that with the guys that I played with for the two years I was there. It was just a great moment and I really enjoyed it. Those two years went by way too quick.
[00:28:57] Speaker B: Yeah, I made. Unfortunately, this past spring, the Schenectady high school did not have a varsity baseball team. I don't know if you knew about that, but what do you think about that? Because what does it mean to also mean to be able to represent Schenectady and maybe the people in the youth in Schenectady see you getting drafted? Maybe they want to try out for baseball.
[00:29:19] Speaker E: Yeah. That's great. I mean, I hope that people, when they see this and, like, see what happened and everything, they can just kind of, like, chase their dreams as well with baseball or in any sport, kind of just not giving up. But it's connected as a whole. I mean, I've been here. I've lived here my whole life, and to be able to be known as one of the people that I've got drafted to a professional sport, or whatever the case may be, is just something cool. And I hope that inspires kids.
[00:29:44] Speaker B: Yeah, I was. You looking forward to be a pro baseball player?
[00:29:48] Speaker E: I mean, I've been dreaming about this moment my whole life, so I've been. I've been waiting for this for a long time.
[00:29:53] Speaker B: Yeah. Who did you root for growing up?
[00:29:55] Speaker E: The Red Sox, actually.
[00:29:59] Speaker B: Why the Red Sox and not the Yankees? I mean. I mean, did you get a lot of grief when you're growing up being a Red Sox? Of course. They won more World Series in your lifetime. The Yankees have.
[00:30:08] Speaker E: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, I got to enjoy a lot more World Series as a Red Sox family, Yankee family this past these 22 years, obviously. But I don't know. I grew up watching, like, David Ortiz and Chris sale in there on the Sox and just fell in love with the team, I guess, and just always followed him.
[00:30:23] Speaker B: You mentioned Sal. He's a lefty like you do. Did you pick anything up from him, watching him?
[00:30:30] Speaker E: I mean, kind of here and there. I watch a lot of big league arms throw just to try to see what they're doing and how they attack guys in the box and everything.
[00:30:38] Speaker B: Is there any specific picture that you really style yourself after?
[00:30:44] Speaker E: I mean, I like Cole Roggins from Kansas City.
I like Blake Snell. He's actually with the Giants, which is pretty funny. But probably those two guys is because they're both left handed. It's a lot easier to pick stuff up.
[00:30:56] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I appreciate a few minutes and congratulations and good luck out there in San Francisco. We'll follow you your career as you go on.
[00:31:04] Speaker E: Thank you. I appreciate it.
[00:31:07] Speaker C: Coming up, the Associate Press NHL writer Stephen Wyno joins me. We'll talk hockey in horse racing, one of his favorite topics to cover. You're listening to the parting shots podcast.
[00:31:31] Speaker G: We are the NFHs that stands for the National Federation of State High School association.
But really what we stand for together with NISFA are the 369,000 high school sports students in New York and so we stand. We stand for the runners, soccer and basketball players. We stand for their coaches, administrators and officials. We stand for the swimmers, football players and wrestlers. We stand for the golfer, softball and volleyball players. We stand as the national leader and advocate for high school athletics and all who participate in them and make them possible because it is our purpose to ensure that high school students get to play, perform and compete together.
To learn more about who we are and what we stand for, visit nfhs.org dot.
[00:32:31] Speaker D: Hi, this is Andrew Catalan of CB's sports and formerly of news Channel 13 WNYT. You're listening to the parting shots podcast with Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Shin.
[00:32:44] Speaker B: Welcome back to the podcast. My next guest has probably racked up more frequent front wire miles between Edmonton and sunrise, Florida that he'll never have to play pay for an airplane flight again. He covered the Stanley cup final, of course, he wondez worked alongside Tim Reynolds down Sunrise, Florida. Our friend from the Associated Press, it's Stephen Wino, who covers the NHL for the AP. And Stephen, you're in town at Saratoga. How are things up there at the racetrack?
[00:33:06] Speaker A: Things are great. Opening day was not good for me, betting wise, but great weather, great company. There's no place in the world I'd rather be on opening day in Saratoga than the track.
[00:33:18] Speaker B: You're not that far from where Tim Reynolds grew up. Did you think about driving up there?
[00:33:23] Speaker A: No, I did not. I spent enough time with, with him and, you know, we loved him during the cup final in Florida that unless he wants to come and visit me at the track, I'm not going to, I'm not going to go to the Tim Reynolds museum.
[00:33:35] Speaker B: Did he remember what a basketball looked like compared to a hockey puck?
[00:33:39] Speaker A: No. And I will be seeing Tim next in Paris at the Olympics. He'll be in Lille doing basketball until the, I guess the semifinals and the final in Paris. But I'm sure we'll have a chance to, to have a glass of wine and chat about Panthers Stanley cup run when we're in Paris.
[00:33:56] Speaker B: What are you going to be covering in Paris?
[00:33:58] Speaker A: I will be doing badminton, field hockey and weightlifting.
[00:34:01] Speaker B: Wow. Good.
[00:34:02] Speaker A: That's an interesting mix of sports, but the schedules generally work out pretty well.
[00:34:08] Speaker B: Talk about the travel. The longest distance between Stanley cup finalists in NHL history. It was a great series. We knew it. But just talk about what was like traveling.
[00:34:18] Speaker A: It was, it was a lot. And then this is, this is not the sound of the complaint because I know there are people who would mow me down for the chance to have my job. There's, there's no complaining about doing this. It was an honor to be able to cover the Stanley cup final. I did six of the seven games. I stayed in Edmonton between four and six. Let's him cover game five down in sunrise. But there were some adventures and the way from Florida to Edmonton was long. But easy is a probably a 1213 hours travel day on the way back for game seven. We were on a tight budget and the flights were disappearing and then becoming cost prohibitive.
I got family in Florida. I know about the bright line train that runs from Orlando down to Fort Lauderdale. So I decided in my infinite wisdom to fly from Edmonton to Ottawa and then got to Leighton Ottawa, Ottawa to Orlando and take the Brightline train. Except for the delay cost me the Brightline train leaving and missing it and then going on an adventure with my friend Tommy. Tommy the Finn where we want to try to rent a car from Fox to rent a car in Orlando. We get to the place and there's a 50 person line to get a car at 10:00 on Saturday night. So that's not going to work for a three hour drive. And so we wound up going back basically venmoing our Uber driver. Can you please get us back to the airport? Got back to the airport, got in a budget rent a car, drove the three plus hours with a stop of Wawa. Of course, that's on brand for me. I got to show my finished, my finished friend his first experience at Wawa and we got there, dropped him off his hotel, got there, Panthers practiced the next morning or this practice the next morning and then game seven was the next night. It was an adventure all around. Some people had it worse. Another finished colleagues got stuck in San Francisco for a night when his red eye got overbooked. My colleague Josh Clipperton, canadian press, got stuck in Minnesota for a night when he missed his connection. A lot of people had it worse than me, but yeah, no, it was, it was an adventure getting back and forth.
[00:36:18] Speaker B: Yeah, it was a hell of a final two. I mean, it looked like Florida is going to sweep up, going up, winning the first three games. Then all of a sudden Edmonton found something and they won the next three. And also we're thinking, we're talking maybe the biggest collapse in Santa cup final history since the Maples beat the Red Wings in 42.
How much?
When you look at that series at the start when it was a three nothing, you think, oh, we're done. I mean, were you surprised that Edmonton came back the way they did?
[00:36:48] Speaker A: Of course. I mean, we're all surprised. And it was one of those where the Oilers coach Chris Knobloch said that the day of game four, he's like, yeah, I'm preparing for the next ten days of the series, and we all kind of rolled our eyes and sound delusional, but he was prophetic more than anything else about having that. And at the time, it felt like it was what would have been one of the worst collapses in sports history. Looking back, it was more an impressive comeback than it was a collapse from the Oilers and probably show that the Oilers are going to win the Stanley cup at some point in the next couple of years that this team has it.
They know, they learn the lesson, like the Panthers did last year against Vegas, of what it takes to lose is part of what it takes to win. And when we see this with teams all the time of whatever round of the playoffs, the Capitals was always the second round, and they run into the Penguins and then they beat the Penguins, win the Stanley Cup. I think you saw more out of the Oilers of what they knew it took to win, and it would have been impossible for the Panthers to come back from blowing a 30 lead and losing that series. If Florida loses that series, I don't know what happens to Palm Reese. I don't know what happens to the Panthers core.
Those are really good gm, so I don't think he would have blown the whole thing up, but it would have been impossible for that team in the short term to come back from, from that. So for that franchise's kind of history and future to good thing didn't blow that series.
[00:38:12] Speaker B: I look back at games, the third period of game three, yes, the Panthers won, but the way the Panthers had been shutting teams down in a third period, the fact that the Oilers scored twice in that third period, I think that woke them up and said, oh, we could score on this team. And, you know, they blew them out in game four, win game five and then game six, and they made it a series. I think that really turned the series.
[00:38:34] Speaker A: It did. And there was a goal that Kzach Holmes scored in game four that was kind of a really a soft goal in Bobrovski. That was the first goal the world scored in the series. I thought that was going to change the side of things. I thought, like, they would realize that dam's going to burst and we can beat this guy sort of thing. It didn't happen. The Panthers came back, roared back and won game two, and Stuart Skinner did not have a very good game three. Gave the puck away, had some mistakes happen in front of him. But you're right. And that third period really was kind of one of the questions we were asking Euler's guys after that game was like, does that, does that help? Does that make you think you can. You can do this? And not realistically, no one working that series thought they were going to come back from down three o to win it. But there was certainly evidence during that game three that, hey, there's something there. And then game four, you win eight one, or whatever it was, and show you can actually hit that, blow out this team. And I did not expect them to win game five either, but I was able to. I watched it at a bar at West Edmonton Mall doing a radio show with my colleague Tom Gonzalez. And that town was believed. There was something about the energy in that town believing this actually could happen. And then it was just like zero six. They losing game seven.
[00:39:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
What is. First two questions here. First of all, what does this cup win mean for the Panthers? A franchise that best known for Scott Mellon be killing a rat. And that became a symbol of the franchise. But then this team struggled to attract fans and maybe they've been up and down. We've been talking about maybe relocation, but what does it mean that it seems like the momentum there now in sunrise for this team and especially with what Tampa Bay has done over the years, it seems like the Panthers that are legitimate and hockey is really legitimate in the state of Florida.
[00:40:24] Speaker A: Yeah, there's a really rapid Panthers fan base. And I know Tim and some of the locals down there like to make fun of people saying, oh, they only have six fans. And all this.
You could tell the difference between Edmonton, where everybody in the city was wearing oiler stuff, in south Florida, which is based on the market, and where the arena is, it's more difficult. Right? Like the arena's out in sunrise, right by the Everglades.
Fort Lauderdale is a half hour, 45 minutes, if you're lucky, drive away. But no, this is a franchise that has built up a loyal fan base over the years, 30 years of history. I mean, it's not a new team anymore. Came about same year as the Ducks in the early nineties. And yeah, they had the early run of the cup final in 96, I guess it was, and then got swept by the Avalanche and over in with Vinny Viola buying the team have stabilized. And that's one of the things there's no one in NHL circles who were brought up in the last 510 years moving that team because Vinny Viola's ownership has been the difference. And he's a guy who we know from horse racing up here and certainly now in hockey circles, being one of the more stable owners. And I think that's one of the reasons why I. This means a lot. I mean, talking to George Richards and Tim Reynolds and the folks who cover this team for a long time, and you look at what Vinny Viola has done, you look at what Bill Zeno has done, kind of basically rebuilding this team. There are only three guys on that team who were drafted by the Panthers. And so you take, give a little bit of credit to Dale Callan for building sort of the core of drafting Aaron EcBlad, drafting Alexander Barkov, drafting Anton Lundell. But the rest of this was put together over the last five to seven years, signing Sergey Bobrovsky to a contract that many people thought was insane when it happened.
It really is the reward for patience and a lot of hard times in Florida. Honestly, there were times where even. I'll talk about a decade ago when I was covering the Washington Capitals for the Washington Times, where there were 7810 thousand people in that building, there wasn't a whole lot of energy for a regular season game. And players talked about how hard that was for them to kind of summon that. Not anymore. This is, this is a packed building all the time. Playoff energy was insane during the Stanton cup final. I was there for the Rangers Panthers game four as well. And you could, you can just tell whether people have to drive from Fort Lauderdale or whatever to get there. People really care about this team down there.
[00:42:52] Speaker B: Yeah. And then for Paul Maurice, I mean, he walked away from the window Peg jets head coaching job a couple years ago, it looked like he was done and they somehow convinced him to coach this Florida Panthers team. And what does it mean to him?
[00:43:05] Speaker A: And this is the happiest part for me, just personally, having known and covered Paul Maurice for so many years, to see him lift the Stanley cup and finally have this burden off his shoulders is one of the, it's the best story of the Panthers winning to me. And this was going in the cup final. You could unbiased observer of. Many of us were at the end of this, either Conor McDavid or Paul Maurice is going to have a Stanley cup ring out of this. And Conor McDavid certainly has many more years to do it than Paul Maurice does. He really thought he was done when he walked away from the jets. He said, I found peace in, this is my career. This is what I accomplished, coached a lot of games, won a lot of games, lost a lot of games, just like Marty Berger or Gret Farr, where you wound up being the leader in wins and losses and in touchdowns and interceptions. He was through a lot and never knew he would get there. You get to the cup final against Vegas last year and think you're that close to accomplishing a lifelong goal and get pretty much run out of gas. I mean, I don't think anyone thought of the final last year of anything, but Vegas is healthy, Vegas is better, and Florida just ran out of gas. They were too hurt, all these things. But Palmer is a really good coach and he never had the team to get him there. But I think we saw in this playoffs just what he is as a coach in terms of being able to manage personalities, being able to handle situations. Coaching. I know coach gets fired all the time in hockey, but coaching hockey matters mostly in the playoffs. And this was we saw this with the Panthers when they won, when Joel Quinnville took over, and Joel Quinville, who may or may not be back in the NHL soon, had put that team on autopilot with a great system. He resigned in October 2022 when the Blackhawks report got released. Andrew Burnett took that team to a president's trophy and as soon as they got into the second round, they should have lost the Capitals in the first round. Honestly, if Thomas doesn't get hurt in that series, some other things happen, some bad goals allowed by Garcie Kemper, but he got out coached by John Cooper, and Andrew Burnett was going to do better in his second job in Nashville, no doubt, just like we see for so many coaches. But Bill Zito had the courage to say no, we need an experienced coach in here to bring in Palm Reese, and there are times specifically in playoff series where you need someone to be able to make adjustments and make changes and kind of know your team. And Palm Ray certainly did that.
[00:45:27] Speaker B: And where did he get a sense of humor? Because, I mean, I know he's been coaching a long time. He started coaching in his early thirties, but I don't know if he was that funny back. Back when he was coaching at Hartford Whalers. But where did he get this communications?
[00:45:42] Speaker A: He's always been a great quote. I worked a playoff series back in 2015, Ducks jets, when it was Paul Maurice and Bruce Boudreau, and you can't ask for a better series of coaches to talk to in a playoff series. And those two guys and then deduct swept the jets in that series. So maybe Paul Maurice wasn't quite as buoyant as he was during this run or last year's run. But when his son Jake got a job with the Echo Florida Everblades as the sort of the team pr person and broadcaster, he sort of got an appreciation for the other side of it. A little bit of kind of. He's like, well, look, if, if my son had trouble and I was in that spot and I said no to an interview or whatever and it would hurt his job, then he started to see, okay, well, this is what we need. This is what makes our jobs easier. And I think that appreciation allowed him to open up a little bit more. And I don't think it's an act. I don't think, I don't think there's anything about this that is, that is, unless phony or untrue. I just think at a certain point also, like you mentioned, when you walk away from Winnipeg Jets, I think palm race found a very zen approach to this job that you may not have had in Winnipeg or in Toronto or in Carolina, where after being fired and fired and coaching whatever, he just gave up. And I gave up on coaching basic. I'm done at this point. It's gravy. And so I think the combination of Jake working in the EChl on our side of this and kind of his career perspective that happened when he walked away from Winnipeg added up to the palm race. We found. And it's a little not quite in the sort of press conference antics sort of thing, but it reminds me of Barry Trots in 2018 with the Capitals, but he did not have a contract for the next year. And then we know that he left for the Islanders, and all these things happened afterward. But the way he coached that playoffs was different than any other year because he coached like he had nothing to lose. He basically said like, screw it. Like, this is what we're going to do. And I think Paul Maurice, with this job has coached like, hey, what are you going to do? I'm at the end of my career, we're going to do our best here, and if it works out great, and I think there's a certain, in any of our jobs, the balance of you're motivated to do something for your future, you're motivated to do something for your past, for your bosses, whatever. I think Palm Reese being kind of a looser coach helped the Florida Panthers be a better team.
[00:48:02] Speaker B: Yeah. Did the resignation of Ken Holland as the Oilers general manager catch you off guard?
[00:48:08] Speaker A: No.
I was a little surprised at how many people around, at least fans were surprised by that because it seemed like it almost an open secret around the Oilers that he wasn't going to come back. I went over to Ken Holland before game seven and said, if I don't see you after the game, thank you for everything over the years because I expected Ken Holland to retire. We don't know if he's going to resurface somewhere. Maybe running the show in Chicago in some sort of role has been rumored, but it seemed like a given based on a year ago, Jeff Jackson coming in as the CEO of hockey operations at Edmonton Armor Gabe's long time agent and running the show without giving Ken Holland an extension. No matter what kind of either friction or lack thereof between those guys, it certainly seemed like this was the end for Ken Holland. And now Jeff Jackson has taken over basically as the de facto interim GM. And we'll see where Ken Holland ends up.
[00:49:02] Speaker B: Yeah, the free agency started on July 1. I think the biggest surprise team that was spending money were the national predators. I mean, they got Steven Samko.
What was your take on that?
[00:49:15] Speaker A: They went ham and then Sam Coast, Jonathan Marcheso, Brady Shea. They got a backup goaltender, Scott Wedgewood. I think it was an incredible show of sort of effort for Barry Trots as a kind of second year. I guess at this point GM of saying, look, we have the money, we're going to spend it and we're going to make a splash here.
Teams usually don't. Teams that win a Stanley cup usually do it from drafting well. And very rarely do you sign a big free agent or make a big trade at the deadline that winds up winning. It's usually the small moves around the margins, but the Predators spend as much more money than any team of reagencies since the Florida Panthers five years ago. And so the Panthers five years ago signed Sergey Pobroski. They brought in a bunch of players that wound up being part of a sailing cup winning group. And so you can sort of see into the future a little bit that if the Predators are smart about this, if Brady Shea wounds up being a really stable second pair of defense, then if you start to see some of those young players and Philip Forsberg take on roles with Steven, Samkosa, Marcuse and then Ucsar signed to an eight year extension here, that this is a team that is starting to build toward that. Does it guarantee you stay in the cup next year? Of course not. But you can start to see this is a team that's ready to move from a contender, the playoff window to a contender Stanley cup window.
[00:50:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
Obviously, San Jose had the number one pick and they pick Macklin Celebrini. Is he a franchise changer for the Sharks who have been really down in the dumps the last few years?
[00:50:48] Speaker A: Yeah, he's a really, he's a really nice player. He's a. And I think he'll be a great player. But like, let's not put him in the Conor McDavid. There's no Connor McDavid final. There's no Connor McDavid. That's not a thing.
But even. Do we think he's a generational player like Conor Bedard or Austin Matthews? Maybe not, but he's a really, he's a really good player. And it's the building blocks for the Sharks now of having him and Will Smith down the middle and Mike Greer had to kind of tear down in the sudden traded Thomas Hurdle. I don't know what's going to happen to Logan Couture at this point, but this is, you're starting to see that. Just like the Blackhawks did with Jonathan Taze and then Patrick Kane, where you can see the building blocks of a team that 5678 years down the road is going to be really good. And we saw Matthew Breen did in college and there was a little bit of mystery or debate about whether he'd go back for another year. It never really seemed like he was going to do that. But he's going to go to the Sharks. He's going to get play now for Ryan or Sovsky, the youngest coach in hockey now, and start to sort of lead this team into the future. And I have to imagine in the next three or four years Mac and Greenhouse will have the c on his chest like Sydney Crosby and Alex Vetchkin and Gabriel Lanscott did at the young age, too.
[00:52:02] Speaker B: Yeah. Let's talk some regional teams here for our New York fans, starting with the Rangers. I mean, they had a great year, fall short in the conference final, but what's the future for them?
[00:52:15] Speaker A: It's interesting because this is not the offseason that I think Chris Shuri or Rangers fans wanted. There's a lot of talk about Jacob True betrayed potentially to Detroit that never materialize. Some stories about his wife and a residency in New York. And it sure seems like Jacob Trub is going to remain there. And basically what Chris did is said, okay, well, we need a forward and went out and traded for Riley Smith, who's now been traded twice in the last year from Vegas, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, now to New York. And it's almost like the Rangers are a little bit of a standstill. And you look at the rest of Eastern Conference and say, well, the Panthers probably got a little worse. They got rated a little bit as champions. The Lightning got a little bit better, the Leafs got a little bit better.
So where are the Hurricanes? Probably got significantly worse from losing a lot of players, including Jake Pencil, to Tampa. But are the Rangers good enough at what they are to make it to a Stanton cup final to win a championship? With this current roster construction and they're in the mix, there's nothing to believe. This is a team that got to game six of an Eastern Conference final and you allow two fewer goals or take two fewer penalties in that series against Flora and you could easily see them in a ceiling cup final contending for a championship. I think there's still some adjustments that need to be made. If Jacob Troop is around for the rest of the season, it's going to be hard for Chris Jerry to get another forward in here like he wants, and that might mean another year. Matt Rempe, that might mean another year of seeing what's like on the fourth line or some experimentation for Peter Lafayette. But certainly Peter as a coach who's taking three teams to a Stanley cup final, he's won championship with Carolina, you trust him to run this team. They're still a really good team, but it wasn't the offseason I think anybody would want. What about the Islanders also standstill a little bit, too? I mean, this is a team that is got into some cap trouble there, looking right up against it. There are some rumors about trading Anders Lee potentially that never materialized either.
They need to score goals and that's been the Islanders problem for several years, is you need someone to be able to come in and do that for you. And you still, you look at that team and say, where are the goals coming from? A lot of the times, and I think that's the biggest challenge now. We saw Patrick Waugh come in and midseason coaching change and making a big difference. And this is no offense to Lane Lambert, who is a very good assistant coach in the NHL for a long time, working on Barry trots staffs in Nashville and in New York and Washington. But you can see a difference in Patrick was coaching and you have Ilya Sorokin, same thing with the Rangers and versus Turkin. When you have a great goaltender like that, you're going to be in the mix and the Islanders are in that muddy, that muddy middle of where the Penguins are, where the Capitals are a little bit, where they're either in the playoffs, a little bit the Devils, I would throw in that conversation too, because certainly got much better. And you're either probably the 7th team in the Eastern Conference or ten team in the Eastern Conference. And that's the difference between a home playoff round and making money as an organization and not. But I think I can understand if you're frustrated as an islander's fan, you're kind of in the middle here of not necessarily being a championship contender but being. Not being bad enough to kind of sort of rebuild. They're in the middle of this. And Lambrello, at 81 years old, I don't know where the long term future of this organization is going.
[00:55:41] Speaker B: Of course, you and I grew up in the Philadelphia area. I was watching the Flyers and. And they had a surprise season. They faltered at the end, could have made the playoffs, but it was an unexpected season. They're still in a rebuild. What's their future? I mean, they got that russian player coming in that they drafted. I think it was unexpected. He's going to be coming in this year.
[00:56:00] Speaker A: Yeah. Methe Mishkov and in the Flyers themselves were regarding themselves against being too optimistic about this, knowing when they drafted him he had three years left on his contract, that they're sort of building this team. I remember. I'm sure you remember this too, Ken. Like when the Phillies were getting good in the early two thousands, it was just as Citizens bank Park was opening, right? Like they were building that team as the stadium was starting. And you could kind of feel the crescendo of whether it's Jim Tomey and David Bell and those players back then that the Flyers were building this team a little bit to Matthew Mishkov, to when he's going to be here and kind of making this team good when he gets there. And now he's here. And so it'll be fascinating to see how John Tortorella and his organization handles having a young, in theory, future superstar and potential franchise around, sort of learning on the job rather than learning in St. Petersburg, in the KHL and sort of having him figure out the NHL on the fly now with sort of giant expectations on his shoulders, but also knowing they're not trying to be good yet. And that's what you mentioned last season being sort of a bit of a surprise. And I was there. Game 82, Capital beat the Flyers on the Anthony net goal and get into the playoffs, which was a terrific end of the season sort of stretch to see who was going to get in. But this is not a team that was designed to be a playoff contender. Last year. It's even designed to be good this year. But we're now in that spot where Danny Brier and Keith Jones and John Torrella have a potential superstar or future superstar Matthew Mitchkov.
I've talked to friends about why aren't they training for Yarosov Askarov, the Predators goalie prospect now that Ucsaras has been signed? That they think Ivan Fedotov, the six foot eight monster goalie they also brought over after he got sent to a military camp in the Arctic Circle a couple of years ago. And now he's here, too.
There's these very intriguing sort of pieces of the flyers who are coming together right now, both and mischief from Russia, that you sort of sort of look at the rest of this organization and say, are they speeding up this rebuild a little bit? I think there's a level of patience there from Keith Jones, from Danny Greer to know that, okay, this is still a two, three year away process.
[00:58:20] Speaker B: Is John Torturella the right man to coach that team?
[00:58:24] Speaker A: For now? And I can't imagine. And it's is you saw this a little bit with this early Sydney crosby, Penguins, with Ed Alcic or some of these other teams where you need a coach to instill habits. I don't know that if and when the Flyers ever win the Stanley cup, and that's something I obviously, I've not seen in my lifetime and may never see.
[00:58:45] Speaker B: I've had twice.
[00:58:46] Speaker A: You got to see it twice. I've not gotten to see it. I was on 86th birthday, so my mom still tells me that I was on her lap watching game seven of the 87 cup final when they lost to the Edmonton Oilers about being kind of like the moment and she sort of lost faith in sports and all these things, but I just can't. I don't know that I see John Torrella being the coach if and when they win the championship. I think. I think that. I think he's sort of the guy brought in to be the sort of shepherd through a rebuilding process where you instill good habits in young players and you hope that it goes on sort of autopilot after that.
[00:59:24] Speaker B: Of course, I've seen more Flyer cup losses than cup wins.
[00:59:26] Speaker A: I. But you know what? I talked to at least before 2018 friends who grew up watching Capitals fans, and they say, look, at least your team has gotten that far. Like the Capitals had one run to the cup final in 1998, and that is it. I don't know if it's better or worse to see your team go that far and lose all the time or just never be in the mix.
[00:59:47] Speaker B: Finally, some history was made. On July 3, Seattle Kraken hired Jessica Campbell to be an assistant coach. She'll be the first woman to work on the bench of an NHL franchise. What does this mean for the league?
[01:00:00] Speaker A: It's another step forward and the capital sort of, I don't want to say started this, but they got Emily Angelnatsky as a video coach. She was the first full time assistant in any shape, but Justin Campbell to be the first on bench assistant is a good progression in the game. And we're seeing this across sports where I we're going to see a woman be an NHL general manager in the next five years, certainly. And Jessica Campbell is certainly in contention to be the first woman to be a head coach. There's like Becky Hammond in the NBA has been discussed so many times that she's on the front lines of this and give credit to the crack. And they've always been sort of on the front lines of being progressive and thinking outside the box with these sort of things. And Jessica Campbell being on Dan Baus with staff in the AHL immediately when Dan Bausma was, was the choice one. My CL colleague sent me a note saying this could mean Jessica Campbell like he was. He was, he was on this. Tim Booth was on this right away because this is very much how the Kraken think as an organization and sort of think forward thinking of what could be good for us, what could be good for the sport and credit Ron Francis and Dan Bosnia for making the move to give Jessica Campbell the chance.
[01:01:13] Speaker B: When are we going to see women on the officials?
[01:01:17] Speaker A: Yeah, and there was a very subtle change made in the NHL last year going from linesman to lines persons, and that wasn't a coincidence. And we're seeing a few in the AHL right now and who will be in the NHL sooner than later. I think this is something we've seen in the NFL very recently, Major League Baseball and spring training this year, and certainly in the NBA.
I would expect within the next season or so there will be. There will be women who are lying.
[01:01:50] Speaker B: One last question. Utah now in the NHL league's finally out of Arizona. Is this a good move?
[01:01:56] Speaker A: Yeah, good.
[01:01:59] Speaker D: Good.
[01:01:59] Speaker A: Is a tough one here because I think losing the Arizona market, losing the Phoenix market is tough. And no one in the NHL wanted to abandon that market. Given the population size, given sort of the impact that having the Coyotes there has had on youth hockey in that region. We wouldn't have Austin Matthews in the league if the Arizona Coyotes didn't exist, but it was a stalemate. There was nothing to be done there. Alex Morello and the Coyotes got kicked out of Gila River arena. They're playing in a 5000 seat college rank. That was frankly, I went there as a fan in February. It's cool to see and also complete embarrassment to the league that an NHL team is playing in a 5000 seat college rank for an entire season and multiple seasons. So something had to give and it was at the cup final in 2023 last year in Vegas where Gary Bevin and Bill Daley first made reference to Ryan Smith over the Utah Jazz calling the league about potentially having a team. And then they came out with, oh, we're interested in expansion team. It wasn't a coincidence that it came right around the time that there were some questions about what's going to happen in the Coyotes and middle of the season and Gary Ben needed an answer, the NHLP needed an answer on what was going to happen for the future of the Coyotes and Mueller arena or where they were going to play. And when we didn't have an answer and all of a sudden Utah was there, you put the pieces together of this was going to happen and the NHL made it happen in quick order to get a team there. It's going to be, it's going to be a good hockey market. It's fast. It'll be interesting to see how they, how the organization sort of treats players and brings people in. There's certainly an interesting, as a sports town from jazz fans and sports fans there to have a team. It stinks for Arizona. I have a buddy who has a friend who has kids in hockey in Arizona and it's heartbreaking to see that team lose to that market, lose that team. But there was no way forward with that ownership in that market without an arena that it had to happen. I do hope that hockey returns to the valley in Arizona in the next three to five years with some sort of new ownership group, who knows what's going to happen there. But Salt Lake City is with it with arena renovations, with a lot of sort of work coming to the downtown area seems very primed and ready for hockey team.
[01:04:16] Speaker B: But my goodness, get a nickname.
[01:04:17] Speaker C: Hockey club doesn't cut it for me.
[01:04:19] Speaker A: Yeah, but they're doing the right thing of taking a year of figuring this out and we've seen this with, we saw this with Washington. Commanders was a terrible name and I still think that's going to get changed again with Josh Harris as the owner. But they're taking the time to say we're going to be Utah for a year, we're going to figure this out, and then by the end of next season we're going to have a name, we're going to have an identity. It might wind up being Utah hockey club. I think Yeti is probably the front runner at this point. But Ryan Smith, who made his money a lot on surveys and the data from that, has made a survey and a poll for fans to vote on this. So fans really do have an input on this. Remember back when the Flyers came into existence, there was a naming pole and whatever, and it came from Ed Snyder's wife, I believe, where the name came from. But Ryan Smith is certainly giving stands in, in that market and around hockey a chance to have an input on what the team event long term going to be called.
[01:05:12] Speaker B: Well, Steven appreciates talking hockey. Enjoy your time in Saratoga and enjoy Paris hanging out with Tim Reynolds.
[01:05:20] Speaker A: Thanks, Ken. Talk to you soon.
[01:05:21] Speaker B: All right, that's Stephen Weinl.
[01:05:22] Speaker C: Be back to wrap up the podcast.
[01:05:23] Speaker B: And have the latest winner in the Daily Gazettes auto racing contest in just a moment.
[01:05:52] Speaker H: If you really want to know what's going on in your community, you have to read the Daily Gazette. We don't take a side. We're right down the middle and we're going to get to the truth. Our reporters and photographers are out in the field bringing you updates every minute with trust, accuracy and integrity from the first page to the last page. Independent, pro probing journalism. We're finding out what's going on in the community where nobody else is covering. It's who we are. It's what we do.
[01:06:24] Speaker D: Hi, this is Tri City Valley cats general manager Matt Callahan. You're listening to the parting shots podcast with Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Schott.
[01:06:32] Speaker C: Back to wrap up the podcast. The week 21 winner in the Daily Gazette's auto racing contest was Lenora Chamura of Schenectady with 45 points. Lenora wins a $50 gift card. Congratulations, Lenora. The vip winner was me with 35 points. How the heck did that happen? I've had an awful year but got lucky. That happens. I'll announce the autoration contest winner's name and that winner's name will appear in Saturday's Daily Gazette. To play, go to dailyGazette.com and click on the auto racing contest banner.
Just because Covid-19 mandates are easing that does not mean you should relax, be vigilante. If you have not gotten vaccinated or received a booster shot, please do so. Do it for yourself. Do it for your family and do it for your friends. That wraps up another edition of the parting chat podcast. I want to thank Mike McGaddy, Greg Faron, and Stephen Wyno for coming on the show. If you have questions or comments about the podcast, email them to me at shot. That's sch o t tailygazette.com dot follow me on x and the views expressed on the parting shots podcast are not necessarily those of the Daily Gazette Company. The parting Shots podcast is a production of the Daily Gazette Company. I am Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Schott. Thanks for listening, and I'll catch you next time from the parting Shots podcast studio in Schenectady, New York. Good day. Good sports.
