Two Games, No Salvation w/ Jack Willson

The Phantoms take care of business with a two-game sweep over the Dubuque Fighting Saints. We break down the big weekend, key moments that made the difference, and what it means moving forward. Plus, special guest Jack Willson joins the show to talk his Phantoms legacy, the locker room, and more.

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This recording is the sole view of the members of the Dump & Chase Podcast.  This is a non-commercial fan production. We are not affiliated with or compensated by the Youngstown Phantoms, the United States Hockey League, or any league, club, or team.

© 2026 Dump & Chase Podcast. All Rights Reserved

Transcript

Intro

SPEAKER_05 0:36

Hello, family fans, and welcome to season eight, episode 23 of the Dump and Chase podcast. Coming up in this episode, we look back at a massive two-game sweep of the Dubuque Fighting Saints, as well as look ahead to the start of a five-game road trip to end the regular season, starting with two games with the Chicago Steel. We have an overstuffed mailbag for fan QA. And for this week's edition of Phantom Files, we welcome back to the show Defenseman Jack Wilson. So my name is Sam Olmstead, and joining me as always is Dan Conley.

SPEAKER_07 1:10

They're here.

SPEAKER_05 1:12

And Justin Irwin.

SPEAKER_09 1:14

Just nip the tip. I figured that one would get a reaction.

SPEAKER_05 1:23

Just nip the tip. Gentlemen, how are we doing?

SPEAKER_07 1:28

I'm doing all right. I um I'm giving my liver a rest after this weekend. I had a uh fun, full, full of fun weekend that unfortunately did not include a hockey.

SPEAKER_05 1:39

I couldn't get uh the friend group to go to the game, but well well after you took them the la after you after you took them the last time. We're not falling for this again.

SPEAKER_07 1:49

Yeah, there are plenty of goals this weekend now.

SPEAKER_09 1:53

It was entertaining. We got two ends, and I I kind of needed that.

SPEAKER_05 1:58

I think I think we all needed that. So jumping right into it here. Um, it's that time of year. College uh seasons start to end. Uh we see guys that are uh finishing up their college careers, uh start signing contracts with professional teams. Although, although this was uh this one kind of made the jump from the uh from the amateur ranks. Uh former Phantoms goaltender Kyle Chavet, uh finishing up his uh college career at the University of New Hampshire, was signed to a one, uh believe a one-game ATO with the San Jose Sharks. They were in Boston, uh, they were in need of an e-bug. And uh Kyle got to call up, so got to uh dress with the team, sit on the bench. When when earlier in that day, I believe it was an economics final he had and then had to had to uh jump over uh to Boston uh to play for San Jose, which I believe he said was only about an hour and a half trip when it was all said and done, so not too bad.

SPEAKER_07 2:53

Yeah, right place, right time for him.

SPEAKER_05 2:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 2:55

Um you ever look you ever look to see what an e-bug gets in NHL?

SPEAKER_05 2:58

Nachos?

SPEAKER_07 2:59

Uh couple hundred bucks, I think. Yeah, yeah, it's like 500 bucks, and normally they let you keep like your everything they give you for that day.

SPEAKER_09 3:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 3:07

It's a memorabilia.

SPEAKER_09 3:08

Yeah. So yeah, I mean, obviously an awesome experience. Um, one, you know, once in a lifetime chance for somebody who just finished up NCAA hockey.

SPEAKER_05 3:19

You know, and we we we say this about a lot, you know, especially here in the past like four or five years. I think going beyond that, there is there there was some uh uh bad eggs here and there. We don't really have that issue anymore. You know, we say it a lot about you know, the guys just you know, a lot of them are just you know what just nice human beings they are. But and but quite honestly, I mean, if I had to sit down and make a list of like the nicest players that I've ever met to wear a Phantoms jersey, Kyle Chavette would immediately be at the top of that list. Uh you know, an oddball goalie in that he was an oddball.

SPEAKER_07 3:53

Aren't they all?

SPEAKER_05 3:56

Just just a very nice, a very pleasant, down-to-earth kid. I mean, just you you could not find any better than him. So moving on to uh if we were gonna make a list of our favorite Phantoms names of all time, this guy would be at the top of the list and has been at the top of the list for quite a while now. Uh former Phantoms captain Riley Funk uh finishing up his time at Bemidji State. Uh, he is back in Ohio now. Uh he signed a uh SPC, which is different from an ATO. SPC is just a normal, literally standard player contract. SPC. Not one of these tryout deals and then see what happens the next season. He is a fully rostered, fully paid, whatever that means in the ECHL. Um member of the Toledo walleye. So Riley Funk back in Ohio.

SPEAKER_09 4:46

I think it's pretty much the same as an e-bug. 500 bucks, and they let you keep your gear.

SPEAKER_05 4:55

You gotta start somewhere. So good to know that uh Riley's back a little closer to home now. Our home, not his.

SPEAKER_09 5:02

Yeah, yeah. Well, exactly. Yeah, and again, another one of those great human beings.

SPEAKER_05 5:08

Oh, god, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 5:10

Fun guy to talk to.

SPEAKER_05 5:12

And then uh former fan of Grant Porter, finishing up his time at Kenesius College, he signed an SPC with the Bloomington bison of the ECHL. And as I was putting all of this together for this episode, is when the video came out. Um, his second professional game with Bloomington scores the overtime winner on a two-on uh two-on-one breakaway, finishing it off with a one-timer. That's a hell of a way to start your pro career.

SPEAKER_09 5:40

Yeah, and I mean, uh, considering you were just playing in college, um, again, that's an incredible yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:49

Uh, former Phantom Mike Brown uh finished up with Lake Superior State. Uh, he signed with the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL. And our old friend Kyle Bettons finishing up at Northern Michigan, uh, signing with the Indy Fuel of the not that's to see, that's not right what I put on here. The ECHL. There were several errors on this typed out. Thankfully, we're the only ones that see them, and I caught that one. Uh, the indie fuel is not in the USHL. Yeah, so I mean that that's a nice little haul for uh as far as Phantom's alumni here right off the bat when you really start, you know, when you've reached the point now where these college seasons are ending.

SPEAKER_09 6:27

Yeah, and I mean, I'm sure there there are more to come here, and probably a few at up at higher levels, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 6:34

Yeah, I always thought Kyle Bentons was he was from that 21-22 team, he was my favorite player. I believe super skilled.

SPEAKER_09 6:42

I believe we had an episode titled titled Kyle Bentons is my spirit animal. Yeah, and I I still go with that sometimes.

SPEAKER_05 6:51

All right, uh, so moving back uh to the uh current crop of phantoms, now our weekly look in because now things we're getting down to the end of the season. Things are starting to get a little interesting in the standings. Um, so going through taking a look uh what's going on in the Eastern Conference, uh God, I never get tired of the saying this. Uh, first place in the Eastern Conference with 83 points is the Youngstown Phantoms. Um, we're coming up on it here. Uh, you know, we talked about magic numbers as far as uh just clinching a playoff spot. Magic numbers, uh right now, Youngstown guaranteed their magic number is one to guarantee to be in the top four. The magic number for a first round bye is three, and the magic number for the Eastern Conference Championship is four. And uh a big part of this, and you know, there was kind of really two parts this past weekend getting Youngstown to where they are now. Uh sitting in second place with 71 points and two games in hand on Youngstown is the Green Bay Gamblers. They were swept uh in a two-game series with Cedar Rapids this past weekend. They've now lost four straight. So the combination of Green Bay not only being swept but losing the past four, and then Youngstown sweeping Dubuque has pretty much all but locked up the Eastern Conference. So uh, you know, for the first time in team history, we've you know, very soon here we could be looking at back-to-back conference championships.

SPEAKER_07 8:15

Yeah, I think something else that's kind of happened, you know, Green Bay and Dubuque both getting swept this weekend. Muskegon sweeps Chicago. Muskegon's now just one point away from being in third place. I would love to see Muskegon either in second or third and not in fourth. That way, um, keep them out. We only have to see them like in the conference finals instead of anything before that.

SPEAKER_09 8:35

And I know we talked about this before the show. A lot of this damage done uh to the rest of the Eastern Conference has been by Cedar Rapids. So thank you, Cedar Rapids. We do have to play them twice, so yeah.

SPEAKER_05 8:50

Um, and in third place is Dubuque with 70 points. They currently have three games in hand. Now I know one of the days this week, there's like four or five games uh during the week. So I mean the these are current as of recording. This will some of this will probably change by the time we get into the weekend.

SPEAKER_09 9:07

Well, I think there's three games on uh St.

SPEAKER_05 9:10

Patty's Day, so yeah, there's like three or four games on a Tuesday, so yeah. Yeah, so we have and and yeah, on Tuesday for yeah, for St. Patrick's Day, and this is gonna be an interesting one as far as talking about the Anderson Cup, um, is Sioux Falls and Fargo.

SPEAKER_09 9:29

Uh yeah, I mean, gonna have to be a Fargo fan for a day. Uh thank god it's St. Patrick's Day, so uh I could get really drunk.

SPEAKER_05 9:38

Sioux Falls has a few tough games coming up, and then they're the remainder of their schedule is fairly pedestrian. So um, as far as any movement of maybe Youngstown getting some distance as far as the Anderson Cup, um, this is gonna be one of those games to kind of keep an out uh keep an eye out for. Dubuque and Waterloo on Tuesday, so of course, keeping an eye on Dubuque there. Uh Cedar Rapids and Des Moines. Yeah, maybe don't not so much need to keep an eye on that one. Anyways, let me see. Uh Muskegon in fourth place with 69 points. They have two games in hand with the Phantoms. Uh, they swept Chicago uh in two games this past weekend. Uh Cedar Rapids in fifth place with 67 points, uh, three games in hand. Uh they swept Green Bay in two games, as we just talked about. Uh Madison in sixth place with 63 points. Uh Chicago in seventh with 58. And the NTDP in last with 31 points. Chicago, they're in on the outside looking in right now. They really started looking like they were, you know, might make a charge at the end of the season here. Uh dropping those two games to Muskegon really hurt them, and now they got two games with Youngstown coming up.

SPEAKER_09 10:49

Yeah, not an envious uh position.

SPEAKER_05 10:52

So uh something you know we'll get into uh later on in the weekend preview, but uh Chicago's gonna be a desperate team this weekend. And once again, reminder that the seventh place team in the Eastern Conference is a completely different animal than the seventh place team in the Western Conference.

SPEAKER_07 11:08

Now, did you say animal on purpose because you're referenced at Chicago?

Weekend Recap

Phantom Files w/ Jack Willson

SPEAKER_05 11:12

No, if if if if he's dropping it, I'm gonna drop it. It has been better lately. All right, so now that we're done with the housekeeping, I mean, honestly, I feel like this is gonna be a little more fun than we've had in the last couple weeks. Let's move on to the weekend recap.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

It's the weekend recap.

SPEAKER_05 11:38

So this past weekend, the Phantoms wrapping up their home schedule of the 2025-2026 regular season with the Dubuque fighting Saints in town. These were two giant wins. I mean, when you're talking about standings and everything else, I mean, these were just two huge wins for the Phantoms.

SPEAKER_09 11:59

Yeah, and I mean, um, you look at kind of uh the point discrepancy between the Phantoms and Dubuque coming into this, and thought, well, you know, this might be not the hardest matchup. Um, Dubuque came to play, at least uh on uh Friday.

SPEAKER_07 12:18

Yeah, and besides like the actual like wins, I think just it was a confident boost from the team who's been going through over the past several weeks, and I think uh finally all put it together for two consistent uh games this past weekend.

SPEAKER_05 12:31

Um, so starting off with the game on Friday, uh, this was a 4-3 overtime win for the Phantoms. Uh how about our guest this week, Jack Wilson, kicking it off on the power play? Just what what one of Justin's favorite goals, just an absolute snipe from the blue line. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 12:48

He looked, he must like play in Debuke. He scored a lot of good goals and had a lot of great performance. Too bad it's only four games he got to play against him so far this year. Seems to like playing against them.

SPEAKER_05 12:57

And then follow that up a few minutes later, Jesse Orloski.

SPEAKER_07 13:01

CD mention him quite a bit.

SPEAKER_05 13:03

This is this is a name that I hoped we could talk more about during the season, but I feel like we're more than making up for it now. Yeah. Um, there there is there there is just this like just supreme confidence in his game right now. You see in every single shift he takes.

SPEAKER_09 13:19

And we should leave it at that because we're gonna be talking about him more as we go on in this episode.

SPEAKER_05 13:25

Um, but yeah, how I mean that I mean, how about this goal by Jesse? Just completely undresses two Dubuque defensemen and then to you know go net front and just wrap it around the goaltender.

SPEAKER_09 13:36

Yeah, I mean, took it straight to the crease.

SPEAKER_07 13:39

Yeah, it's it's hard work, everything coming together, and and we've said it before, it just it feels good. You know, it feels good for him, you know. It had to get that monkey off the you know off his back after several months of just not you know being off this um off the score sheet. And um, it's fun watching him play. Yeah, he's always had a smile, he's always had fun, but now it's fun for everybody. I think not only that, I think everyone on the team is extremely happy for him as well.

SPEAKER_09 14:05

Yeah, and you can tell when he scores, I mean, everyone feels that. I mean, I I guess you know, his enthusiasm afterwards, that kind of primal scream.

SPEAKER_05 14:17

So Youngstown, yeah, Youngstown goes up two to nothing. Um Dubuque picks up a late goal in the first. Uh, so Youngstown holds the two one lead at intermission. Uh Dubuque scoring the only two goals in the second period, going up three to two. By the time we were getting later in the third period, it was it was starting to look a little hairy. But again, it's just one of those this you you just always have that thought in the back of your head, this team's coming back. Yeah, and you know, and Malam Malachi McKinnon. I mean, I mean, the kid has scored some just massive goals this season and added another one here.

SPEAKER_07 14:55

I think that this is a tip that he hit in from Hexall. Yeah, what he he can he is such a good player and he's really rounded out on his game as the season's gone on.

SPEAKER_09 15:04

And I I mean he is just playing such strong overall hockey, all three zones.

SPEAKER_07 15:10

And I'm and I'm sure that anybody who's listening to this podcast probably saw Ryan Ward's post-game interview with with uh voice of the fans Matt, Matt Lipsack, when Lipper asked Wardo what has when the team gave up the two goals in the second period gave up a you know another two-nothing lead, what was the message to the bench? And Wardo said, Don't give up a two-goal lead. I don't know why that made me laugh so hard. It was like that was such like uh a not deep but serious answer. Made me laugh. Yeah, maybe don't do that. Yeah. Good advice.

SPEAKER_05 15:44

Um, and then we go to overtime and somebody who's gonna get multiple mentions in this episode, uh, voice of the phantoms and friend of the show, Matt Lipsack. Um, the article that he uh he put out after um after this game was over, um, he used like one of my favorite phrases ever. It's not something I've really ever had the opportunity to use on here. I don't know. Maybe at some point I'll have to find a way to work it in. Um, Evan Jardine in overtime, uh just a minute nine into overtime, takes an interference penalty, comes out of the penalty box uh when Carter Murphy has possession of the puck. Basically, uh Carter hits the breakout to Jardine. Jardine takes it straight down, takes it straight down, puts it in. Phantoms win four to three in overtime. And as uh Matt put it in the uh post-game recap article, From the Outhouse to the Penthouse. Uh yeah, I I but that's a great, great phrase. I mean, that's one of my favorite phrases of all time. I'm I'm so glad he used it there.

SPEAKER_09 16:47

And and I mean, to be honest, when you saw the uh that play developing, you knew what was coming, right? You knew what was coming.

SPEAKER_05 16:57

I mean, you couldn't see you couldn't see it with the camera work, but you would heard but you had heard Jardine's out of the box, and you know, and you see where everyone is on the ice, Carter has the puck, and you're like, he's down there somewhere.

SPEAKER_09 17:10

Well, for someone who was actually at the game, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:13

I I wasn't I wasn't at the game on Friday.

SPEAKER_09 17:15

Yeah, you saw him come out the box, and you're just like, but uh oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 17:22

That's one of those things, like a lot of times if it's uh regular like five on five, you know, he comes back on and make well it was four on five, he comes back on a lot of times they skate straight to the bench, and it's one of those things that over time being it was uh four on three, that really helped him out. You know, that's probably one of the main reasons. Besides being open, why he didn't skate immediately off or didn't get called off. But that didn't it wasn't like a bottle rocket? Didn't he hit the didn't he hit the bottle on a shot? At least when flying, I know that.

SPEAKER_09 17:48

So I mean in my mind it was one of those goals, so yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:52

So I'm now see now I'm doing because I wasn't there, now I'm doing logistics. So when when Carter started that break that breakout pass, that would have been right in front of us. Yep, wouldn't it? Yeah, that would yeah, that yeah, where he where he sent that pass from. Yeah, that would have been right in front of us.

SPEAKER_09 18:06

And you're seeing that you're seeing the the the the player come out of the box, you know, and you're just in your mind, you you see that play developing, and you're like, you can't write it any better.

SPEAKER_05 18:20

Yeah, Tobiosh Trayball in this game. I thought to I thought Tobiash had a great game, and it kind of feels like something he needed. I mean, he hasn't been giving up a ton of goals. Um, kind of feels like there's just been like one here or there that he would, you know, he would like to have back. I mean, gave up three in this game, but all in all, um, I thought it's been, you know, probably one of his better performances in the past few weeks. Only only only topped by Saturday.

SPEAKER_07 18:45

Yeah, let's see. The goalie played the entire weekend for both teams. Uh yeah, Voittek Kambalak, I thought was also very good. Excellent, yeah, excellent. That might gray ball was great both games. It was uh it's exactly what we figured it was gonna be this weekend.

SPEAKER_09 18:59

Yeah, and I mean to be fair, uh, you know, the goalie gives up uh three goals in the first game. The coach taps him for the second game. So I mean, I think the confidence is high there that we can ride him down the line.

SPEAKER_05 19:15

Alrighty, so moving on to the game on Saturday. This was a 4-1 win for the Phantoms. Again, we keep bringing this name up. Jesse Orloski just funny story again.

SPEAKER_07 19:25

His bill dad was not, he was on the concourse again. So two out of his last three goals, he was not there. So it's it's sorry, sorry, Jerry, you cannot watch the game from your seat anymore.

SPEAKER_05 19:38

Do you know how many times over the years, like between first and second intermission, I get stuck in the concession line, and by the time I get back to my seat, like five minutes have already gone in the second period, and you're standing there at the concession line and you hear the goal horn go off and everybody starts screaming, and then like a minute later, you hear the goal horn go off and you hear everybody screaming.

SPEAKER_07 19:56

Yeah, you're quickly checking USHL apps, you hear that.

SPEAKER_05 19:58

And then you finally get your food or whatever, and then you walk back to your seat and sit down, and everybody that sits around like turns and looks at you and says, Go away. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 20:09

That is a truthful thing.

SPEAKER_05 20:12

I feel like that's happened to me way more than it should have over the years. Um, so yeah, Youngstown takes a one-nothing lead uh late in the first period there, no scoring in the second period. Uh Lenny Boos, who's somebody that we're seeing his comfort level on this team and in this league just kind of growing game by game, gets on the board for Youngstown. Uh Dubuque, halfway through the period on the power play, gets it back to two to one, and that was as close as they would get. Youngstown closing it out with a couple of empty netters there at the end of the game. Um, but at the at the same time, it's Dubuque's performance in this game, I put it more on Hambleck than I would the team so much. I I I know I saw one Dubuque fan saying, you know, all this was you know, this was essentially a two-to-one game. This was, you know, regardless irregardless of what the final score, this was a two-to-one game. Um, no, this was a four-to-one game to me. Um Youngstown just did not give Dubuque room to breathe in this game. I mean, other other other than the odd power play, I mean, Dubuque did not have I mean, they were not getting sustained offense. It was a nightmare for them trying to get through the neutral zone. And they just were not generating much of anything. Um, I like I said, save for Hamble at kind of keeping him in this game. Um, the guys in front of him were not doing him any favors.

SPEAKER_07 21:43

I I think I think the three of us can tap ourselves on the back. I think we did a pretty good job with the scattering report talking about, you know, we know Debut can score, but can they defend and and the fan of just like you said, the best defense is don't give the buck up when you're on offense. And Dubuque's always been a quick uh

SPEAKER_09 22:00

um you know transition team and again the fans just uh just ate those lanes up and uh it's always so much pressure like you said sam they they their fore check was great they cycled the puck great they kept the puck in the zone um yeah they really kept the buke on their on their on their heels and not only that I don't think it the lack of offensive pressure really never let Dubuque kind of get into their game they never got settled in they were always on the back you know on the back heel the entire game trying to figure out a way to get the puck forward but when when the buke's flying and making those quick transitions they they can hurt you and the Phantom just completely completely limit eliminated that this weekend yeah I mean they averaged two goals per game i you know that was the the you know league's best offense yeah a team that a team that averages around four and a half goals per game and at one point during this season was up over five goals a game yeah yeah um and I mean you know say what you want about you know what competition they're facing I think they play more of the Western conference than we do but that's I mean they have put up some impressive numbers and we know they have a very high powered offense.

SPEAKER_05 23:07

Mm-hmm so to kind of wrap up this uh season series with Dubuque so four games uh played between these two teams this year um for the first time in Phantoms history swept Dubuque in the regular season uh Youngstown winning all four games outscoring him in these games 17 to 10. So Justin again going back to what you said the highest scoring offense in the league and Youngstown held him to two and a half goals per game over that four over that four game stretch. Yeah uh Dubuque never getting more than three goals in any of these games.

SPEAKER_09 23:41

And if you look at the you know offense that we know the Phantoms are capable of if you hold a team to two and a half goals you're gonna beat them uh apparently four out of four. I mean you know it it seems to be simple math.

SPEAKER_07 23:57

Um Dubuque was able to manage one power play goal in each game they ended up uh going fourth for 16 so youngstown killing 12 out of 16 uh penalty kill at 12 percent a little brighter side of that uh youngstown was seven for nineteen on the power play against Dubuque this season 36.8 percent same right that's pretty good I I would take those numbers I mean again you look at the offense of these teams um power plays are gonna be pretty the power plays are gonna be pretty pretty impressive yeah um and honestly for youngstown to only hold them to one per game um yeah I mean I'll tell yeah uh tell me that before the game that they're gonna do this but you're gonna win yeah I'll take that yeah you know what was a little bit disappointing was the social media comments on the buke's I like when they won when the fans won the game on Saturday I mean they went to the social media post for the final score expecting like to get some like fireworks in the comments and they weren't there there was a couple but yeah it wasn't anything like that when the Phantom swapped them in Dubuque that was that was cool it wasn't the doom and gloom and yeah well there was one chirp it was like ask youngstown what happened to him last year in the playoffs yeah and it's like okay ask the buke what's happened the last 11 years that they've made the playoffs and have nothing to show for it and one last thing I want to say about this is that empty net goal that Sasaki scored is there any player you'd rather see chasing down a puck in the foot race to try to get there I yeah you felt so confident he was gonna score that goal he wanted that puck bad I'll I'll tell you what on the first uh empty net goal I don't know if he would have managed to beat it out if it didn't hit but Jesse Orloski was definitely in the race for that puck if it missed yeah El Sasaki was a uh assist away from Gordi Al hatch trick as well yeah Justin I Justin I apologize I think this phrase is horribly overused and it needs to go away but I did not have Cosmos Asaki in a fight on my bingo card.

SPEAKER_09 26:02

Yeah um Sam yeah overly used but I believe I said the exact same thing at the game I I I know I know that's one of your favorite ones to use but it it's had its time it needs to go away it's not COVID anymore.

SPEAKER_05 26:18

It's like the it's like the one thing from the COVID era that just won't go away besides this persistent cough. For me it's the brain fogs yeah all righty so with that it is now time for the Dumpin' Chase podcast three stars of the week kicking it off with the third star. Third star of the week Evan Jardine one goal and two assists the second star of the week is Tobyash Trayball stopping 38 of 42 over his two wins this weekend again versus the highest scoring team in the league and a point I forgot to bring up earlier uh Youngstown going four and oh against Dubuque this season uh all four of those games were started by Tobias Trayball. So four and oh against Dubuque this season.

SPEAKER_09 27:03

Uh first star of the week Jesse Orlowski uh two goals and I believe that is three goals in his last four games. Yep.

SPEAKER_05 27:11

All right so with that we're gonna take a short break Phantom Files with Jack Wilson is up next right here on the Dump and Chase podcast.

SPEAKER_00 27:49

So tune into all things stalker for the top coaches, players and teams in the area for more information go to steelvalliestalker.com and we're back with the Dumpin's Chase podcast.

SPEAKER_05 28:09

So for this week's edition of Phantom Files we welcome back to the show an Alaska Fairbanks commit who is wrapping up his fourth season in a Phantom sweater. He is the final remaining member of the 23 Clark Cup team and is looking to bookend a remarkable junior career. He already holds the franchise record for games played he is currently tied with Andrew Strathman for most points all time by a Phantoms defenseman and is one point shy of tying Trey Taylor's record for most points by a defenseman in a season. And quite honestly this introduction could go on for several more minutes and honestly every bit of it would be well earned and deserved but let's talk to the man instead. He is Phantoms defenseman Jack Wilson uh Jack welcome back to the show bud yes thank you so I mean right off the bat um you know two really good games with Dubuque uh picking up two wins uh the final little homestand of the season uh there at Cavelli I mean how are you guys feeling coming out of the weekend?

SPEAKER_06 29:06

Yeah um just to get those two games uh get on the like the right pace for going into playoffs just uh playing the right hockey right now playing our hardest you know playing our identity and then finish these last five games out on the right pace you know playing the right hockey is gonna be big going into playoffs just playing the right hockey is the most important part you know you being around for four years now and it's you know Youngstown's kind of notorious for these slow starts at the beginning of the season and like this season you guys really didn't have that I mean to you does this feel like the most consistent Phantoms roster you've been a part of yeah a hundred percent I think we got every piece we need to to win this um or to win it this year you know everyone's bonding everyone's clicking we got a great locker room uh great staff everything's just clicking right now it's the closest the teams felt in a while so I think uh we got a good chance this year for sure I mean obviously we want to look forward and everything else but you're you know obviously the most qualified to answer this question um you know what what similarities do you see between the roster this year and then going back four years to the cup team kind of like what I just said like how close this team is the year we won the Clark Cup that was probably the closest I've ever been with a group of guys and it feels like a lot similar maybe even more close this year so that's a great positive that's something that's similar and then just the skill we have like the skill we have this year is very similar to the skill we had um my first year here um just from the forward defenseman goalie all that stuff you know it feels the same in that way too um I'm I'm gonna throw an oddball one at you here uh we we have our uh QA segment we do every week we got this one last week and none of us were in any way shape or form qualified to uh answer be in a position to answer this question um so we're gonna ask you so the first part of the question is like who on the team has like the craziest curve on their blade oh not yeah I don't know any of that stuff couldn't tell you other than mine the P88 I couldn't tell you what anyone uses so not nothing crazy like they're gonna shoot the puck and it's gonna go end up going behind them instead no okay no all right um the the other part of it is and I I wasn't really sure if they were talking maybe locker room or out on the ice um who on the roster has like the weirdest pregame routine I would probably say Owen Leepak. He uh if he's playing in a game like he doesn't touch his phone one bit like you're not like he doesn't look at his phone whatsoever. Um apparently I heard like if you're in a hotel room with him on game days um like you have to switch his music for him because he doesn't touch his phone which I think is a little weird. Um I can't really think of anyone else that has a odd uh pregame routine.

SPEAKER_05 32:05

Maybe Trayball he does some stuff just some exercise stuff that I've never seen like warming up um but other than that I mean the two goalies of course right now I mean you you no no shots no shots at goalie's just yeah no I mean your time here you've had goalies come in and out is is there kind of a little bit of a dread in the beginning like okay what's this guy's deal gonna be just just be just because like you you know like you said it's yeah there's goalies something about that position. Not really I mean all of our goalies I've had over the years on this team have been awesome great guys just some of their routines are a little bit weird because you know their goalies well I I mean like when they when they first come in you first meet these guys and you're figuring out like what they're all about like is is there ever kind of that sense of dread of like like is this guy going to be like juggling eggs in the locker room beforehand or like what like what what what's his thing going to be yeah no not really um no one that I've played with in the past has had really like weird uh pre-game routines um other than the two I'm playing with right now.

SPEAKER_06 33:10

Two packing traits.

SPEAKER_07 33:11

Yeah. Does anybody have like any weird stick tapes that they do under sticks that you could think of?

SPEAKER_06 33:17

No none are out of the ordinary usually they're just like socks or half tape um some guys don't cover the toe. None of them are like super weird. There was in the beginning of the year and then they changed like Jesse Rulowski he had a weird one in the beginning of the year and then he changed it so not anymore but did he change like a two months ago because if he did that's it it checks out because he's been playing pretty good. No he changed it right in the beginning of the year but yeah Jesse Rulowski has been great recently he's been playing amazing um do you have any advice for young defenseman on how to block shots don't be scared just put your balls on the line we we watch you you eat so many pucks I can't imagine you have like you have stock in like mo tronal for after a game yeah I guess you know Amber's got that our uh athletic trainer she's got that on tab for me yeah I just got bruises everywhere but you know those go away so it is what it is. Now is there like a str sorry is there like a strategy with the goalie like where you where you try to take something away and leave something else with the goalie exactly especially on the PK so I play the flank usually on the PK blocking shots on the flank and what we're what we've been taught for the past four years I've been here is we give up far side and the goalies take short side.

unknown 34:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 34:31

So that's that's our biggest thing. So if if you can't block it you better be giving up short side and goalie's got or no we better be blocking far side goalie has short side. Do you ever regret blocking a shot? Um there are a few that I get like in the inside the thigh those kill the worst because you got you there's no padding there whatsoever and then my whole thigh just bruises up those ones I I regret blocking but I rather hurt for a little bit than lose a game. Any particular players you you see and have a little hesitation. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 35:06

There's a few guys that have good onties on the flank which I'm always like uh I gotta block this one again so it's never fun but you gotta do it so I I know hockey players are kind of notorious with for trying to like hang on to their equipment that they have but do you have to like change your shin pads, your shoulder pads any more often because of the way you how often you block box so the past four years I've been here I haven't got new shin pads, new shoulder pads, new elbow pads.

SPEAKER_06 35:35

The only new stuff I've gotten is skates, helmet, gloves obviously all that stuff I just don't want to break any of that stuff in again. My shin pads are like busted up you know a lot of the places aren't covered with the padding anymore but I I just don't feel like I mean I'm comfortable in that stuff so I don't want to break in anything else. Probably should but yeah my dad's gotten at me a little bit about it but I just want to mess with what's working. Yeah exactly like Sam said you're committed to Alaska Fairbanks any uh what what what drew you there? Yeah um the coaching staff coaching staff is amazing um the assistant coach I kind of knew he was uh assistant coach in Omaha back when I was drafted there so I kind of got to know him head coach is amazing he came out to youngstown we were able to talk go out to lunch um that's what drew me the most location kind of drew me and it kind of didn't like I was hesitant because of location but at the same time it's like I think there'll be a once in a lifetime opportunity to see Alaska experience it so I think that'll be cool.

SPEAKER_09 36:40

Okay so obviously the Phantoms are known for bringing in pieces midseason you see guys like um um Ryan Whiterabbit Mate Tripley brought in um what kind of uh uh power-up have these guys been um there on the blue line yeah those both of them are great defensemen um it just helps having that extra depth you know um both great defensemen great offensively great defensively um it just helps having you know depth on the back end i mean our our decor is amazing from top to bottom so adding those guys and adding it to the depth is just amazing helps the team out a lot uh you've uh got a Clark Cup um now chasing an Anderson cup um uh that'll be yeah yep how much how big is that for you and how much are you focused on the standings there?

SPEAKER_06 37:31

Obviously we're focused on it um obviously we want to get the Anderson cup but you know in the end we just want to play good hockey but yeah I mean it would be awesome to get the Anderson Cup. I don't think maybe we've gotten close the past four years I've been here but not this close so I think it will be a great accomplishment and then just to add on to it we'll I mean going for the Clark Cup this year as well.

SPEAKER_09 37:51

And speaking of uh Clark Cup run um you we're locked in for at least uh a playoff spot a lot of these guys haven't been in uh USHL playoffs before what do you what do you preach to them going into this to get them ready?

SPEAKER_06 38:05

Yeah um kind of like I've said earlier on this uh podcast is like the most important part of playoffs is like playing the right hockey playing the hard hockey um playing the right way working your artist is the most important stuff because playoff hockey is just a totally different game um I mean you look at scores from the past years and it's always two one two zero one zero whatever it is you know not many goals are scored so defensively you gotta be great um and then just like I said I mean working hard playing the right hockey playing the right hockey is the most important part because if you're not playing the right hockey that's when that's when you're losing you're leaving you're saying you're done you know you gotta be playing the right hockey you're coming down you got three more road trips in a regular season uh do you have any like movies or shows queued up for the last couple trips here I'm not a big movie or show watcher on the bus. I I usually like to sleep makes the trip go by quicker. But um I was watching Stranger Things finish that my everyone was telling me to watch it so I had to watch it finish that in about a week or two. I just bingished it like crazy. It was pretty good. But um yeah usually I'll just scroll on Netflix whatever catches my eye I'll watch I recommend uh the movie Nurem um Nuremberg Nuremberg yeah I just got uh just got dropped on it was a great movie two and a half hours long so I take a nap in there at what point do the players find out they're they're starting in the game I know there's like a line read up you know lineup read before a game and uh when do goalies find out as well um so you're talking about like who starts in the game or who's getting that night who starts starts um so the goalies will find out in the morning uh one ward will post the lineup whatever goalie is named first is the one that's playing um and then we find out who is starting the game literally three four minutes before we get on the ice some coach will come in pick someone to read the lineup they'll read the lineup and and we'll find out who's playing or to who's starting. Yeah I was wondering if that was like I I know that's I always wonder if that's just like uh for show if the people already know or not so yeah we go always find out in the morning but just because they get they prepare differently like we said goals you know what do you know what goes into who's starting like so how we kind of do it is like I think it like with lines whatever like if our coaches want um a certain defenseman to be against a certain line or a certain force to be against their certain D on the other team I think that might go through or have something to do with it. And then I also think like for example like Cal and White Rabbit or Cal Houston and White Rabbit started on um Friday we won. So they just start Saturday. I think that's how it goes. Sometimes they switch it but I think they usually try keeping the same for when we win.

SPEAKER_05 41:03

Alright um so yeah you um you know obviously this is your final year of junior eligibility you'll be aging out after this season uh so in a way you're one of the ones we don't have to play guessing games about so when it's all I mean obviously the story of this season hasn't been written yet there's still a ways to go here um when your time in Youngstown is done um how would you like youngstown fans to remember you I would like youngstown Phantoms fans to remember me as I don't know a hardworking defenseman that's a tough question.

SPEAKER_07 41:38

Um hardworking defenseman that um has impacted the team over the past four years uh that is always that is always nice and kind to them and that does that has uh impacted the organization uh in a positive way Jack I gotta I gotta step in here real fast I think yeah I think what Stan was trying to allude to is the game that we see playing on the ice is very similar to how the city feels it's tough work tough hardworking gritty you also got skill too but you really exemplify a lot of the things that makes the city what it is so don't sell yourself short.

SPEAKER_06 42:17

Appreciate that thank you very much.

SPEAKER_05 42:20

All right jack so before we let you out of here um is there any uh friends or family anything like that you would like to give a shout out to shout out my friends Cole McGowan Max Anderson Colin Foley Luca Pryor um Nolan Thompson and Eric Martin those are my best buddies can't wait to see them in the summer shout out my family obviously and most importantly my brother Nick Wilson there you go all right so we have been joined by Phantoms defenseman Jack Wilson um Jack I mean I'm on behalf of you know basically all of us um it it's been an absolute joy having you in Youngstown the last four years um we're we're definitely gonna hate to see you go so I implore you to try to stretch this out uh at the end of the season here uh for as long as possible you you remember how much fun the rally was I I'd like to do that again.

SPEAKER_03 43:13

Yeah me too so let's drag this out as long as we can but thank uh stay healthy thanks for coming on the show and uh good luck this weekend in Chicago yeah thank you guys all right so we're gonna take a quick break fan QA and the weekend preview is coming up next right here on the Dumpin' Chase podcast are you tired of switching apps just to catch your favorite shows and live events say hello to the AMD one network app the one stop destination to experience everything that's not all in one place anytime any Demo the free iMedium One Network and I know what's an Android. Unlock the future of sports audio on the phone. Your hand.

SPEAKER_05 44:16

And welcome back to the Dumpin' Chase podcast. Um, so for this week's fan QA of man, you guys really stuffed the mailbag this week. I'm excited. I didn't. I I I believe that was something along the lines of your comment when I sent you the Run G earlier today.

SPEAKER_07 44:33

Christmas has come, is what I said, I think.

SPEAKER_05 44:37

All right. Uh, so diving into this, kicking off with the first question. And gentlemen, we said earlier with the uh pro signings from kids coming out of college, it's also this time of year for this question.

SPEAKER_07 44:50

Our yearly refresher.

SPEAKER_05 44:51

Our yearly refresher. Uh, this question is from Mabel. She asked, Do you guys know who's all coming back next season?

SPEAKER_09 44:58

Um we know four that won't. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:02

Um, so yeah, right right away, the players that are aging out this year, uh Sasaki, Tepley Wilson, and Houston, they're all aging out. They obviously will not be back next year. Um, as far as the rest of them, I will say the same thing I did a year ago. Wait about an hour before the first fall classic game for the roster to come out, and that is when you will know for sure uh who is returning next year.

SPEAKER_09 45:24

I mean, there are so many variables here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:27

Um, again, again, this goes this goes back to, you know, not every player, obviously, because you're only allowed four on a roster, not every player is staying until they're 20 years old and then moving on to college or whatever. I mean, obviously, you know, you're gonna have 17, 18, 19-year-olds that are gonna leave and go to college. Who they are, we don't know. And a lot of in a lot of cases, they don't know.

SPEAKER_09 45:50

Yeah, there are known knowns and there are known unknowns, yeah. But they're also unknown unknowns.

SPEAKER_05 45:57

I think he's done. Go ahead, Dan.

SPEAKER_07 45:59

Yeah, yeah, there are like no secrets to this. It's we've talked to players who kind of did their whole last game on the ice and took it all in thinking it was their last game in juniors, just to see him skating at main camp the next year. Yeah, um, I'd say if you want a good rule of thumb, is anybody who's a forward who's averaging close to about a point a game, chances of them coming back are pretty slim to none. But other than that, even with that being said, that doesn't mean guarantee anything. You just never know.

SPEAKER_09 46:28

I mean, and and the landscape is shifting.

SPEAKER_07 46:31

Yeah, one one thing there is to know is uh if you do turn 21 in the season, which we like Mate Teppley is 21, you do have to be enrolled in online classes at a college in order to um keep your eligibility in juniors. So that's the only caveat. If you're if you're an OA and you're 21 in season, you must be enrolled in an online college to come you know stay prevalent here.

SPEAKER_05 46:55

And I I I know uh this question popped up on the fan page, and there were there was some talk about where everybody was kind of going by ages and everything like that. It's I mean in a in a way you can do it that way, but honestly, it kind of complicates the whole thing. That's why typically you hear players refer you don't hear them referred to as oh, they're 18, they're 19. You hear them referred to by their birth year. You know, they're an 07, they're an 06, they're an 05. This year the 05s are what are considered the overagers. It it's a much simpler way of talking about it. It's a much simpler way of thinking about it.

SPEAKER_07 47:32

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 47:33

So so yeah, if you're if you're an 05 birth year, that is the year you turn 20 years old. Now, you know, you can be you can be you can turn 21 years old on like January 1st, and we have had that before. You know, on January 1st, you know, in the middle, you know, in the middle of the season on January 1st, you can turn 21 on January 1st and you're still eligible for that year because your birth year is you know the year that just ended. You can't turn 21 on December 31st and be eligible. But again, it just it gets into that thing where if you think of it by the actual age of the player, it makes it way more complicated. That's why we always go by birth year. It just it's just a much simpler way of thinking about it. So, but yeah, I mean, we had we had a player last year that was dead certain um they were going to college. That, you know, once Youngstown was knocked out of the playoffs, they were done. And they actually, um and I'm not gonna say who it was, they actually got a phone call on the bus ride back from Muskegon um from their college coach telling them that they wanted them to stay in juniors one more year.

SPEAKER_07 48:41

And that was probably a double whammy.

SPEAKER_05 48:43

Oh god, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Um, I I can promise you this person has more than made the most of it. Yeah, uh, this season. Again, I'm not gonna name names, but I I will say this person has definitely made the most of it this year.

SPEAKER_09 48:55

I I think they have, yeah, taken the the initiative.

SPEAKER_05 48:59

Um, but again, you know, the can you know, the whole Canadian thing kind of throwing a wrench into things, you know, spots that may have been there, you know, as soon as the season's over, that spot may not be there.

SPEAKER_09 49:08

And I mean, even before then, we'd we'd seen it. Yeah, you know, every year.

SPEAKER_05 49:14

You know, some guys from certain, you know, for certain are you know, will be moving on. I think we I mean we've talked about this before. What the league average is, I think, like 75% turnover from season to season.

SPEAKER_07 49:25

Call college coaches, their turnover rates high when a college coach leaves to another program, his class, his incoming fresh and class is kind of left in flux with what their plans were gonna be to what's gonna actually happen with the new coach coming in. So there's so many variables to it.

SPEAKER_05 49:38

And and as we say every time this comes up at this point in the season, and just enjoy what's going on right now. Like we still have three weeks left in the season. We still have the playoffs. You know, fingers crossed, knock on wood. We're hoping for a very long playoff run here. Enjoy what we have now. Don't worry about three, four, five months down the road. Just enjoy what's going on right now. All right, so the next question is who is someone you would want to get on this podcast?

SPEAKER_07 50:07

I went with like a realistic uh I mean it's not realistic, but something that could happen. And I don't think I'm saying anything I shouldn't say, but there's a player on his team whose dad is well was uh NHL GM, and I think that'd be pretty sweet to pick his brain and see what things are going on. Those are my favorite kind of conversations to have with that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_09 50:29

Interesting.

SPEAKER_05 50:31

Honestly, I would say because we we've had people on here that played like ECHL, AHL, you know, that have played pro hockey, you know. We've had people on the show like that in the past. We've we've never had somebody on this show with where you can attach an NHL tag to their name. That's like the one thing we haven't got yet. And I not even just name someone specific, just somebody with that tag.

SPEAKER_09 50:54

I know who you're hoping for, and I know who I'm hoping for.

SPEAKER_05 50:58

I didn't, yeah, I figured you guys were gonna have the same answer for that. But it's I mean, I mean, I'm not gonna I'm not I'm not gonna name any names, but it's just yeah, I mean you you you have ideas of who you would like to be the first one, but just overall in general, we have not had somebody on this show yet with like the NHL tag to their name.

SPEAKER_09 51:16

And uh at some point in time, in a more phantom related role, um, Matt Geika.

SPEAKER_05 51:24

Yeah, we had Matt on a long time ago, not for the greatest of episode. I mean, not that the episode was terrible, but just kind of the topic of that episode was uh that was the uh that was many years ago. That was the uh passing of uh Ben Politis, who was one of the uh OG Phantoms from back in uh 2009-2010 had passed away. Uh we had Matt Geika on the show to talk about him because Matt was the uh original voice of the Phantoms back then. Um you know, we've always talked about like trying to get him back on at some point, uh you know, hopefully to talk about lighter fare. Yeah. All right, so the next one is if you guys could pick a goal song for the Phantoms, what would it be?

SPEAKER_07 52:04

I like the one we used to have, the the Hey Baby song. I like that one. I don't mind the one we have now, but you guys know like know what the Pittsburgh Penguins goal song is. Oh, party hard. Yeah, I like that. But if I was to pick something like that's not a traditional hockey goal song, it'd probably be like aha take on me during the course of that. I I love I love that song, and I can't help to sing along when it happens. That'd be cool to hear that every time. Score.

SPEAKER_09 52:30

Um, I remember I I can't remember the team, but I remember back in the day there was somebody who had uh Soundgarden outshined as the goal song, and just the way they made it hit, perfect.

SPEAKER_05 52:42

Honestly, I'd think anything by Floggy Molly I could go with. I could I I I my for some reason my first thought went to Flogging Molly, and it's like there's a lot of options there. It'd be hard to pick one, but I I feel like there's quite a few of them that would work very well as a goal song.

SPEAKER_09 52:56

You you just made my mom really happy. What are her favorite bands?

SPEAKER_07 53:02

You know, it'd be also cool if they could figure out a way to incorporate like fan of the opera, like the the pipes in the beginning of that when it comes on, like as soon as a goal horn starts, you're like dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, and then like the song starts in, or something like that. That'd be kind of cool. I don't know how you do it, but that'd be that'd be kind of sweet.

SPEAKER_05 53:18

See, Dan's looking into the production value of this. I like that. Agreed. Next question is from our uh new friend here, AA Ron. He said, It feels so damn good to be here. We go. It feels so damn good to see the Depuke cr Dupuque Crying Saints fan base go home disappointed. Aaron, come on. We're we're a classy bunch here. That that that that that that that's some like Western conference chirping there. We're a class, we're a classy group here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 53:49

Put my pinky up when I drink my beer.

SPEAKER_05 53:50

That's right.

SPEAKER_07 53:51

My bush like we appreciate their patronage.

SPEAKER_09 53:55

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 53:56

Yeah, it's we don't we don't we're so far out on an island, we don't get to see a lot of fans from other teams. I actually I mean I was honestly happy to kind of see a decently sized debut contingent there. And I was equally happy to see him go home disappointed, but I was happy they were there. I hope they were entertained. Yeah. So he asks, anyway, when the Phantoms are not playing or when they have an away game, do you go to different places to watch hockey? I mean, absolute, absolutely. Sometimes I go to the living room, sometimes I go to the office.

SPEAKER_07 54:25

Same, you took my line. I was gonna say that. You know, no, no, I do not.

SPEAKER_05 54:29

Some sometimes like squat and stir, uh, some squat and surf in the bathroom, but I got all sorts of different places. Some squat.

SPEAKER_09 54:36

I'm usually in a bathrobe sitting. Yeah, I'm usually in my bathrobe. Sam's used to this. Wait, what?

SPEAKER_05 54:44

What?

SPEAKER_09 54:45

No, no, no.

SPEAKER_05 54:46

What did I just get implicated in here?

SPEAKER_07 54:47

Can you please expound on that?

SPEAKER_05 54:53

Many times during recording, you've been in your bathrobe. I've not like been over at your house and you're walking around in your bathrobe. Yeah. I feel we need a qualifier here because you're you're put you're putting me in a bad spot.

SPEAKER_07 55:05

What was said is said.

SPEAKER_05 55:08

And in the words of Smitty, you're putting me in a bad spot here and I don't like it. Best quote of the week. We've also shared a hotel room. Yeah, but that one time and one time only. We haven't since that again.

SPEAKER_09 55:35

We don't record a lot in person, and there's probably a reason we don't share small quarters together for a lot.

SPEAKER_05 55:45

We we realized that weekend our relationship wasn't ready for that step.

SPEAKER_07 55:48

Um you guys do you.

SPEAKER_05 55:51

Um I I don't know. Is are there places to go and watch hockey? It's not I'm not I'm not I'm not a big bar person. I don't I don't go to bars anymore or anything like that or sports bars or whatever. I mean, is hockey something they show at these places?

SPEAKER_07 56:04

Or no, there's uh to my knowledge, there's not very many like like penguins bars and stuff like that. But if he was meaning like different websites or different leagues you watch online, I mean I that's what I kind of took it as. There's a site called on hockey, it's like a streaming service thing, it's back-end streaming, but I I watch like anything the SHL, the KHL. That's where I watch my NHL games, or I'll just go to Flow hockey and watch a college game or the OHL, or sometimes the three of us will try to find some like northern Alberta or Northern I love I love some of the random Canadian uh uh junior hockey leagues. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The broadcasters and yeah, if you once in a while you find like some old Inuit that just makes you laugh the whole time, and it's great.

SPEAKER_05 56:49

I mean, I I I watched like the third period and overtime of Lincoln and Omaha last night.

SPEAKER_07 56:55

Did you have that game going to be seven to six?

SPEAKER_05 56:58

Yeah, it's I that's wild. The game would like the game was tied at four, and then Lincoln went up like six to four, and then Omaha got like two quick goals and tied it up. Or no, they got the one goal back right away after they went down six to four, and then it was six to five. They got that one back right away, and then they tied it with like 15 seconds left in the game, and then the game went to overtime and Lincoln wins in overtime seven to six, and they were really happy about it. And honestly, you gave up seven goals that or six goals to Omaha. I'd feel a little ashamed about that.

SPEAKER_07 57:28

Oh, I thought we were gonna get gold in a post-game interview, and we we were I was disappointed.

SPEAKER_05 57:35

Oh, I was yeah, I I I was rooting so hard not for Omaha to win, but I just wanted to hear what that press conference would sound like.

SPEAKER_09 57:42

Yeah. And if we're talking about, you know, just needing that little hockey fixed. Um, if you go on Facebook and look at the um British, uh the UK hockey league, their fight. Very good, very good EIHL.

SPEAKER_07 58:00

EIHL, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 58:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 58:01

Uh some former fans in in the EIHL.

SPEAKER_05 58:05

Yeah. Um, I'll I'll tell you what, if you if you ever really want to try something interesting, and you can find them on YouTube, but you can find like clips of NHL games from back in the 50s, back when they first started like televising hockey games.

SPEAKER_07 58:19

Such a different game.

SPEAKER_05 58:20

And they'll and I mean you you'll find videos that are maybe only a couple minutes long, like you'll find you'll find videos of an entire period, and every once in a while, I mean, you'll find an entire beginning to end game. But like just these old clips from back in the 50s.

SPEAKER_09 58:33

Guys like skating perfectly upright and yeah, no helmets and the goalies just for the goalies.

SPEAKER_07 58:41

The goalies more of a suggestion than uh it's crazy how much the equipment has changed in that time for you. Just equipment alone takes up like two-thirds of the goal right now.

SPEAKER_05 58:53

But that but that but then you're like, oh, I can't like I can't believe the goalies didn't wear helmets back then. And then you watch these games and realize the puck never went like more than six inches off the ice. So they weren't in a lot of they weren't they weren't in that much danger. The sticks were perfectly flat. Yeah. There wasn't a lot of bar down back in the 50s. Like knee down, maybe, but not bar down.

SPEAKER_09 59:19

Good flow, good flow.

SPEAKER_05 59:21

All right. Um, so we had somebody send in uh going on last week, sending in a would you rather question. So this one is there's no name attached. Uh, would you rather have a song stuck in your head forever or constantly feel like you forgot something important? I feel like this happens both at the same time. Yeah, I I yeah, I kind of live with both of these. My short-term memory is terrible.

SPEAKER_07 59:45

No, I I don't, I just always feel like I'm forgetting something, whether I do or not. All like when I go on vacation and we're driving, I have for the entirety of the 12-hour drive to the beach, I feel like I'm forgetting something. And luckily it's not a kid, but yeah, it's nothing. But if I had to pick one forever, I would give me a song. If I get to pick the song, I would take that.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:05

See, I honestly what song? Yeah, I I mean I I would I would go like constantly feel like you forgot something important because I already live that way, anyways. Uh I'm I'm with you, Sam. And I'm somebody when a song gets stuck in my head, it's in there for like days to the point that by the time I finally get it out of my head, I'm sick of that song and I don't listen to it for two years. But then again, when you get it out of your head, then it's replaced by something else. Uh it's peanut butter, jelly time, peanut butter, jelly time.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:34

I'm gonna say something.

SPEAKER_09 1:00:36

I want to dance with somebody.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:39

I'm gonna say something. I'm opening myself up here to future torment. But when I was younger, like stupid kid nursery rhymes were got stuck in my head, and like you, I'm gonna say this is I'm I'm gonna screw myself trying to go to bed tonight. But like, you poor little kittens, you've lost your mittens. That one I'm not kidding you. That was stuck in my head for months, and I'm like, I was in school beating my head with like the my big binder trying to get that out of my head, and it's probably gonna think of it when I go to bed nonstop. But that for whatever reason, that nurse room nursery room right there, just as an earwig, I could not get out of my brain, and I can't believe I just said that.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:16

I see when I was a kid, I liked to use to do I used to like learn like tongue twisters and stuff like that, and then like see how fast I could say them. That was like just my own little personal challenge when I was a kid. I I I think I think Peter Piper's the only one I can still do.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:32

Yeah, Peter Piper picked a pack of pickle peppers, a pack of pickle peppers, Peter Piper picked a Peter Piper picked a pack of pickle peppers, where's the pack of pickle peppers, Peter Piper picked?

SPEAKER_09 1:01:38

I don't have enough teeth for that.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:45

All right, and the last question here. This is me moving on as fast as possible. Since you like to throw out movie quotes and references frequently, well, thank you for noticing. What are your top three favorite movies? I don't do favorite lists. I don't either, but I very clearly have three, so this was actually easy for me. I don't like making lists, but it took me two seconds to think of this.

SPEAKER_09 1:02:11

So I I have one that's gonna be on the list, but okay.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:15

No, I have two that are my favorite of all time, and my third like kind of rotates to whatever I've seen recently. But my all-time favorite movie, Saving Prabhupada Ryan. Good one. My my second favorite movie is Science. I love that movie. M Knight Shamalan movie with Melbourne. Not with you on that one. And um, I'd say like I love the Patriot, but I think like right now, you guys, I I really like Sinners. I the newish movie that just won the uh some Oscars, but I I really like the movie Sinners a lot, and I had no idea what this what the movie was about when I went to go see it, so I was really in for a treat.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:49

And anything you would want to throw out, Justin?

SPEAKER_09 1:02:52

No particular order or well, obviously The Princess Bride. Um, Pan's Labyrinth. Okay, and then it's a toss-up between several Hayao Miyazaki movies.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_09 1:03:06

I'm gonna go with Princess Mononoki right now, but that's gonna rotate. And again, I don't do favorite lists because these things change for me so frequently that it's really stupid. Only the Princess Bride is probably really solid on there.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:21

My would be at the top of my list, and like I said, it I don't like ranking things, but this is anytime I ever hear anything like this, it's yeah, there's only one, but uh so yeah, my top movie would be The Wizard of Oz. Number number two would uh number two on the list, I would say Princess. Yeah, mine would be Princess Bride. And the third one, even though it's a holiday movie, a Christmas story.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:42

Surprise by all three of those movies a lot.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:47

Um, and if you're somebody who has never gone up to the Christmas story house, if you're a fan of the movie and you've never been to the Christmas story house in Cleveland, I very highly recommend going. The parking is terrible because it's as it is in the movie, it's just on a street where people live. There's no giant parking lot or anything like that. It's literally a house on the street. But if you have not been to it, I highly recommend going.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:10

Sam, you don't like the movie signs?

SPEAKER_05 1:04:12

I felt like that was one of those ones like you can watch it once and it's good, but anytime you watch it after that, and it's kind of eh.

SPEAKER_09 1:04:18

If you've seen one M. D. Shamala movie, I I I think I think he's done better.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:26

Like there's like the foreshadowing in that movie.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:28

Like the si the Sixth Sense was a phenomenal movie to watch the first time. Anytime after that, you already know how all the strings and everything connect together and how this is that and everything else, and the what you know, blah blah blah. But it's like I think at watching it the second time it's a lot less enjoyable.

SPEAKER_09 1:04:45

I mean, if we're gonna throw that out, I'll throw out Jacob's ladder. No, I don't mean that seriously.

Weekend Preview

SPEAKER_05 1:04:50

Uh what if Jacob needs it? Are you just throwing it out or is he like climbing up? Is he like up on something and needs the ladder to get down? Because then you're a prick. Justin, justin, Justin is not accepting the premise of any of this. Alrighty. So once again, everybody, thank you for sending the questions in. Really, I I think six is our record. I think that's the most we've done. I think I think at the interest of time, we might be in a little more trouble if we go any further than that. Um, so with that out of the way, uh coming down to the end of the episode here. Let's get into the weekend preview.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:32

Weekend preview. We're almost done.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:41

So this weekend, the Phantoms will be at the start of this five game road trip that will end out the regular season. Uh, two games here at Fox Valley Ice Arena with the Chicago Steel. Barring Chicago somehow getting into the playoffs, these might be the Phantoms' last two games at Fox Valley. Uh, they're moving into the Uh new arena. And I that's in downtown Chicago, I believe, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. And kind of the early reports say the parking is terrible. So that'll be interesting to see how that goes. Terrible. I'm sorry, terrible and expensive.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:14

Expensive is terrible alone. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 1:06:16

Well, I I don't know. I mean, I have a parking pass for the Covelli, but I've seen what they pay for events.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:23

Yeah. Um, this will be uh the final meetings with Chicago this season, of course. This will be the uh sixth and seventh time these teams have played each other this season. Uh Youngstown so far in five games uh leads the season series four to one. Uh these teams last played on January 30th in Chicago, uh, with Youngstown winning four to three. Uh that one uh that was an overtime game for the Phantoms. That was uh Mate Tepley uh with the game-winning goal. Or no, that I'm sorry, that wasn't a power, that wasn't an overtime game. Mate Tepley getting his first goal as a Phantom, which ended up being the game-winning goal with 321 left with the Phantoms on the power play. Um, last weekend, uh, we talked about earlier Chicago swept my mis swept by Miskegon, losing four to one on Friday and losing three to two on Saturday. So Chicago is coming into the weekend with a record of 25-22-6-2. That gives them 58 points. They are seventh in the Eastern Conference. They trail Madison by five points uh for the final playoff spot in the East. They are uh Chicago is 5'4-1 in their last 10. Youngstown coming into the weekend with a record of 39-13-3-2, again, giving them 83 points and still first place in the Eastern Conference and first in the USHL. The Phantoms are 7-2-0-1 in their last 10. Uh, Chicago is led by Ohio State Commit, Jackson Crowder. Uh, 20 goals, 24 assists on the season. Uh, so I'll like them next year. Uh they are appears currently led in goal by Drummondville, uh, Quebec Canada native. That is pronunciation guide, Louis Felique Shira. Thank you, Chicago Steel pronunciation guide. Um, he is coming in with a record of 10, 13, 0, and 1 with a 3.5 goals against average and a.888 save percentage. Question we could uh we we don't know if we will. He wasn't uh dressed last weekend. Could also see goaltender uh V. T. Louivara, uh, did not play last weekend, was not listed, was listed as a scratch, was not listed as injured or illness or anything else. Uh, he had won his last three starts uh previous to that weekend. So uh I guess we'll see uh if there'll be some combination of the two of them this weekend.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:43

Yeah, it's interesting. You know, Chicago cannot afford to lose any more games this year, and if they do, they're gonna be right out find themselves outside of the playoffs. So, yeah, points are coming at a premium for them. Not starting their, you know, as bad as Chicago's been this year. Uh Louis Vara, and that's 11 and 4. So he's been a very big bright spot for them and really kept them in games and got them wins that they probably wouldn't get otherwise. But um, you know, Jackson Crowder, I think as of late, I think he's got like 13 points his last 10 games. He's got seven goals, six assists. So he's coming on playing very well. And she got Chicago, they made more transactions than anybody. They they traded off a lot of assets this this uh this year, and the people they brought in, they're you know, they're playing with pride and they're uh they're they're playing hard. I expect, like I said earlier, they they uh they cannot drop any more games, otherwise they're gonna be out of playoffs. So I'm expecting to see a a scrappy, a very scrappy Chicago Steel side this weekend.

SPEAKER_09 1:09:35

Yeah, the word I'm I want to use is desperate.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:38

That was that was exactly what I was about to say. That's the the biggest difference between the first five games and these two are there's gonna be a lot of desperation on Chicago's side, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 1:09:47

And I I I think the Phantoms sticking to their game plan and especially making sure you're ready to play at Puck Drop is gonna play a lot into this. Do not let them get anything early.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:02

Yeah, it's ship Chicago is coming into this weekend playing playoff hockey, yeah. Um, Youngstown is gonna have to rise up to meet that. Because, like you say, they go in, they play their game. You would think they should be fine. But this is also a scenario where if you go in and you don't have that mindset, you could get steamrolled.

SPEAKER_09 1:10:20

Yeah. And I I think the the very early game play for the Phantoms is critical.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:27

Yeah, I think if they go out and get a big one on Friday and couple that with like a Madison win, that could spend that could spell the end of Chicago's like playoff wishes. Uh that would make that Saturday game very interesting to see what the what Chicago rolls out with. But it's a good chance to get four points for the Phantoms. We gotta come out and do it. Chicago plays they played the Phantoms tough this year. That's a good opportunity to get to keep going the right direction here for for the Phantoms.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:54

Yeah, Madison will be playing uh Muskegon this weekend. Uh those games will be in Muskegon. Wow, Madison and Muskegon have only played twice this year. Uh let's see, so Madison is 1-0-0 and 1 in those games. So I mean, yeah, I mean, it it it it's within the within the realm of possibility that Madison could take care of their business. Because not only is Madison holding on to that sixth seed and trying to hold off Chicago, you know, maybe wanting to try to take a run at Cedar Rapids, even though Cedar Rapids has been on a pretty good run here lately, maybe trying to keep pace with them and move up another spot. So yeah, I mean it's I I mean Youngstown's in a good spot right now compared to a lot of these other teams. You have, you know, eight, you know, second through sixth place is separated by eight points. Yeah, you go down further, you know, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth is only separated by seven points. So I mean, there it you're you're gonna see some really interesting games come up here in the next few weeks. You're gonna see a lot of playoff atmosphere type hockey in these next few weeks, uh, with these teams jockeying for position.

SPEAKER_09 1:12:05

And I I guess fortunately for the Phantoms, none of these teams are really head-to-head against teams we're fighting against.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:14

And none of them are playing the 17s. The uh 17 the 17s are in Omaha this weekend, so oh that's oh that'll be a that's uh that'll be some must-watch viewing right there.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:28

You have to pay people for that to go to that game.

Outro

SPEAKER_05 1:12:31

Hey, I mean Omaha shows up to their games. Oh, they do. I gotta hand it to their fans. They've they're not they they they haven't left Dodge, they're still there. Alrighty, so uh the games this weekend, the games on the game on Friday, that is at 8.05 puck drop. That is local time here, and the game on Saturday is a 7.05 puck drop. Again, that is local time. Uh the games will be available on Flow Hockey, and I believe Chicago still does the uh free audio broadcast on the Mixler app. Um, so if you feel so inclined to do so, you can download the Mixler app and then just search for uh Chicago Steel on there for their game broadcasts. So with that, I mean that's pretty much gonna wrap it up for this episode. Uh next week we'll be uh re again recapping these two games in Chicago. The next weekend, uh the Phantoms only have one game uh with the U17s. Uh that'll be taking place up in Plymouth. So and we don't really recap, we don't really uh preview the 17s anymore, so it might be a short episode next week.

SPEAKER_09 1:13:32

Uh I hope the interview goes long.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:34

Uh yeah, definitely. I mean, not only having Jack Wilson for this episode, we've got two really good ones coming up uh to finish off the regular season. It's it's typically the policy um that we adhere to that once the playoffs start, we don't do player we don't do player interviews during the playoffs. So uh these next two will be the last one of the season. Unless we get to have another cup rally, then we'll make sure to get some on that. But but that's that's a long, that's that's a long way, that's a long way away, and that's wishful thinking. So but yeah, we've got next couple episodes, we've got some really, really good interviews coming up. So you can listen to this show and all episodes of this show on your favorite podcatcher, be it uh Apple Podcasts, be it Spotify, wherever it is you listen to your favorite podcast. You can find us on social media, on Instagram and Facebook. So before we get out of here, to my co-hosts Dan Conley and Justin Irwin, any final thoughts?

SPEAKER_09 1:14:30

The Phantoms are kind of in their own driver's seat right now. Uh, you know, they control their destiny. These last couple games are gonna be really kind of hard to watch, I think, on flow hockey.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:44

With that, I uh overunder for how soon in the game on Friday it's brought up about Jack Wilson having the same name as the Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson. Right? Like less than five minutes is gonna get mentioned.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:59

Citron's a Pittsburgh guy, and yeah, yeah, and honestly, back then Jack Wilson was one of my favorite pirates.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:04

So jumping Jack Wilson.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:06

I actually actually got to meet him post-game a couple times. Very nice guy. He's I feel I believe I believe he's coaching college now, and this means absolutely nothing to anybody, but I believe he's coaching college now. I think his son plays for the Padres.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:18

Oakland Athletics. Oh, whatever the athletics are now, if they're Las Vegas or whatever now.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:23

No, that what no, they're playing in like a minor league park in Sacramento or something like that. Good for them. Good for them. All right, so as always, hockey is a sport played on ice with sticks in a puck, and our podcast is a thing you just listened to. See ya.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:38

I think we could watch you guys talk about Princess Bride. I like the movie, but I know you two know it know way more about it than I do. That'd be a good that'd be a good listen along to hear you guys uh I'm pretty sure between the two of us we could sit down and like re like rewrite the script word for word.

SPEAKER_09 1:15:55

I was gonna I was gonna say we could do like a script reading.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:59

Could you guys recreate the scene where with the poison and the drink? And it's like a thought process of going through that.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:07

One of one of uh Walla Wallace Sean's finer moments in cinematic history. I don't know, but if if I have to hear Robin Wright tell that story one more time of Andre the Giant covering her head with covering her head with his hand to keep her warm.

SPEAKER_09 1:16:23

No, I I think it's the the stories about him getting drunk and like passing out in the hotel lobby, or and they and they couldn't move him, so they just threw like a piano cover over him and left him there.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:37

He was the original Snorlax. What?

SPEAKER_02 1:16:41

Welcome to the goal.