Welcome everyone to WFHRs playmakers for this February 26th, 2024. Have your host James
J. Mailoff here. I am joined by my partner in sports, Mr. Randy Paul. Are you telling
me that it's almost the end of February? I can't believe it. I know I had the double
check on the date. I'm like, is that right? 26? Is that really March 1st on Friday?
We are here to have some fun and take your phone call 715-424-2600. Call up and join
the conversation. Nobody made a highlight on the sidelines. Call up again in the game, everybody.
We want to hear from you. Great weekend in Wisconsin sports and especially involving
the ice. Randy and I are going to get into that. We've got some local high school stuff
to get into as well from our gymnastics. We want to get you ready for. We also want to
talk a little wrestling from over the weekend as well. And of course, lady royals and
did plenty more. We'll get into our schedule here. And this all leads up to 330-4th period
beginning with GM and head coach of your Wisconsin Rapids River Kings. Paul Peckman
joining us. I cannot wait to talk to coach Paul. I want to be honest with the audience.
All right. As a hockey kid, all I want to do is talk hockey for the next hour. I don't
want to take commercial breaks. I don't want to do. I'm not even sure if I want to talk
over Randy. I've never wanted to do that. My life with you. But there's so much hockey
to talk. The black hawks retired my favorite players. Jersey, the Milwaukee admirals are
breaking records right now. Our women's and men's, Wisconsin badger hockey teams are amazing.
And oh, yeah, our river Kings are the West champs. Like we got a lot to get to cover here.
I don't know that. Yeah, outside of that, where there's no hockey to talk whatsoever. But
let's go ahead and start the show with the way we like to with your calls. Good afternoon,
you're on the air. This is a great week. Just even on the Monday, it's still a great week.
Yeah, it does. Yeah, you got a lot of championships coming up here for high school sports.
Starting when you had it last weekend with the individual state wrestling. You got
Team State Wrestling Gymnastics girls basketball following weekend. Boys basketball for that.
Like this weekend, you have that's about to play off hockey with the Raptors.
And conference championship hockey. I've got it and said it eight dollar bets. What more
I want football. I want football. I don't know what you guys are talking about. I don't
miss football one bit. I did one Sunday. I had one Sunday where I was like, oh, I really miss
football. And I thought, oh, the NBA All-Star Gable changed that. And they played it like in the
scores. The high, the score was almost like a football score at one point in that game. And I got
a board of that. And then I was like, oh, well, you know what? Hockey. We always got hockey. We'll
talk a little baseball too. We've got spring training going on. And we want to get in some
brewery talking everything. But hockey doesn't get its day very often. And here in Wisconsin,
this is one of those days where not only am I excited to talk about the things you just mentioned,
sir. But I want and I will never get off this hill. I want Wisconsin to have a professional hockey
team. And I want to know if I'm alone on that. I want to know what the listeners think. Would you
or Randy think about that? I will keep bringing it up. I feel like it's almost part of my
responsibility as a hockey fan to do this. Las Vegas has a team. Florida has three teams. I'll stop.
I'll stop. But more than anything, this is what we love about sports, right? When it comes to
the high school level. And even our local level with our river kings here in town and some of that.
Shout out to all the other city teams here, your admirals, your badgers and everything. But locally,
when we're talking about our high school basketball teams, what they're doing right now playoff-wise,
what is going on with the wrestling teams and certainly with our river kinks. There's a lot of
excitement. This is what we love about sports. Yeah, I mean, it is really cool. I mean,
it's springtime. I mean, you don't have it to me in the fall. I mean, it's great to have,
you know, got football and everything. But you don't have as many championships stuff going on.
Like you do in the spring from all the winter sports because of the hockey and basketball and the
wrestling and gymnastics and all that. I mean, it just is and then the start of baseball season.
I mean, it just springtime is just a culmination to this point. But, you know, this weekend,
I mean, I'm going to be full of hockey because I'm going to try to get to the river king game Friday night.
I would love to go Saturday, but I'm going to be down in Madison.
That could be because if Wisconsin went Friday night, Saturday could be the championship,
right there. Yeah. Yeah. And it couldn't happen. I think it's also very noteworthy. And the
symmetry of this is amazing to me with the sea that Chris Chalios gets his number retired,
one of the all-time great Wisconsin Badgers. And this is happening at the same time consecutively.
There are no coincidences. There are no coincidences. And it would be kind of fun to do it again,
Spardy too, wouldn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, like I said, this weekend is going to be a fun weekend.
Like I said, I mean, when I got tickets, I mean, I just recently got in a couple of weeks ago, I was like,
oh, this is filling up fast. And I can't imagine what it's going to be. I mean,
it's going to be a nut house down there by states tree. With hockey going on,
plus you got the team state wrestling going on down there at the same time.
And then what better place to have everything be chaotic is in Madison. Come on. I mean,
it's Madtown. Madtown. Come on. It's in the name. Yes. I'm very excited. Very excited.
And then throw into the mix. You've got the girls sectional finals and the boys regional starting.
I mean, it all progresses into state the following weeks. Tell me, what football? Well, I don't know
what to talk. What football? I don't even remember the NFL now. I don't remember. Of course,
I'm a very bad. So it's very good for years. It's more of my brain protecting me from the pain
that I experienced, but that's a whole other. Is there anything you could take a deep rut,
though, James, this week, here's the combine. Yeah. Yeah. Football. We will. And I certainly,
I'd be remiss if I didn't, if I was honest with the audience and that half my brain is over there,
Indiana fell draft and at the combine in Indiana. I got the chance to, we got the chance to talk
to my Clemens on Friday. That was great. And I've talked to Mike on air off air a bit and really
appreciate him joining us and everything. But what on air and off air, Mike, is that has no
problem. Give me a hard time about how much of a nerd I am about the draft and how much she
could care less about the combine, I should say. And a lot of old school guys are that way about
the draft. I look forward to getting into that stuff and more and more of that. But when it comes
to these big things that you, Randy and I have already mentioned, is there one that stands out to
you that you're more excited for, that you're looking more forward to or have more of your,
let's be honest, have more of your sports heartened and invested in.
I would have to see Saturday. Yeah. Yeah. I had to bad your game. I think that's, I mean, that's
what my son and I are going down with his girlfriend and my girlfriend and we're going to go
down and have a good time. I mean, this is a yearly thing to him and I try to get down to Madison
Ockie and and but and then have it to where it's going to be a championship hopefully Saturday.
I mean, that's what I'm probably looking forward more to is that because especially after this,
the last couple seasons that the badgers have had where they're, you know, they just couldn't
get over that hump and you know, new culture comes in and now they're over that hump and
and it's just been, it's been fun watching them on TV when you get a chance, you know, and luckily
I've had some friends that have the had the big 10 plus so we can actually watch the hockey game.
So that just teed me a perfect man because I was going to say if you if you're a hockey head,
especially a college fan of hockey, it's hard to find coverage. It's hard to find news in everything.
The big 10 does an amazing job. The big 10 knows, oh, you know, takes care of its audience. They
know their audience and they take, they cover hockey very, very well. Good reporting by them.
But outside of that, it's really hard to find national coverage on this sport. But it's a shame
because what happened with the badgers team is first off, the badgers may be the biggest, if not one
of the, they are certainly one of the biggest top five biggest hockey blue bloods in college sports
period. Like there's not getting around that. And for them to have some dips here and there,
I think that's not worthy of no different than in football if Alabama or Georgia does or something.
Well, that's the same level. And to to to that point, the coaching transition that's happened
and the, the keeping of the culture, the keeping of the same vibe there in Madison is amazing
what's happened. It is really like, that's as noteworthy as the wins and loss records right now.
Yeah. And it is. And then it, I mean, it just, it's fun. I mean, I mean, I've always enjoyed
badger hockey going on there. The students are awesome when it comes to bad, when it comes to the
hockey games, they're in it's right, all the time. I especially want to get that Minnesota rivalry
come in. I mean, that's, that's a different, it's a whole different animal down there. Yeah.
Before we let you go, one of them makes sure to touch on the river kinks as well because I know
that I've seen you had some games. I know how much you enjoy this team. And we've been supporting
this team in this community for 10 plus years. And we've really enjoyed it. We've had some winning
teams. We've had some fun. And I still talk with coach quarters and everything. It's still
appreciate his work with this team and what he helped you. This can, this team do. We're not here
without those early days there. But this is, we've never experienced anything like this. I don't
think. Not, not so much the, just the winning, but the, the attitude and the feeling that this team
is given. For one, it's something that can only happen with time. You know, you can't just have a,
I mean, look at what the Los Angeles chargers are going through and stuff. And, you know, even
even Los Angeles Rams, they want to title make it a hard time filling that stadium. It takes time.
It takes time to build a fan base. It takes time to build culture and to build things that we love
and believe about a team and learn a team and learn the colors and all this other stuff.
We've gotten to that point in time. And just as that's coinciding with a winning team, a team that
it's not far fetched to say we could be hoisting a championship. It's not far fetched to say
these guys. This is what's been on their mind from day one. I talked to literally every player in
the franchise to start the season. I talked to all the players. I talked to the coaches. We
interviewed all of them. And every one of them was talking championship. And in my head, I'm like,
well, that's, that's, that's sports. That's what these athletes do. That's the way that their
approach has to be. But it wasn't like they were just, it wasn't just like they're reading a
cue card. It's in their heart. It's in their DNA. It's in their brain. And now to see this,
getting this, to this level, they're the least surprised of anybody I bet.
It's, it's a pretty fun. It's pretty fun right now, huh? Oh, right. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome.
And you just, you just think about how we've talked about this. I think before how spoiled we are.
Yes. We got Packers. We got Bucks. We got Brewers. We got Badgers. And new name sports. Now we
got Marquette on top of it, right? And all of our local teams that are doing so I'll tell you
they're probably not too many places in the entire country that can do what we are doing right now.
Sports wise. I got friends of Miami that are jealous. That are jealous of this. And I'll
say out of the weather, which that isn't even really, but I do shoot this with this winter.
I'm glad you mentioned basketball, Randy, because I do want to send a shout out to the Moaki
Bucks and a great weekend of basketball from them. And, and what I, if you, I've been saying this,
if you wanted to sell your stock and dock rivers in this team, I will buy it. I have no problem
buying that stock. I, I'm not saying I'm right. I'm saying that the stats are right. If you
followed Doc's career, if you followed this Bucks team, this was telling you it was going in this
direction. If you looked at their standings and defense in the league, they started before Doc
got there 25 or 30. They're at 11 or 13 now, I believe, or something. This is just going to keep
going. I'm not saying they're going to keep moving up in the standings necessarily. You're
always going to have to outscore the team. But defense is so vital, especially come playoffs.
And I do think that they're learning how to play defensively together.
Yeah. I think you need to go ahead. Yeah. I mean, the viewers, I heard a stat this morning
that they were like, what, 30th and league or ruled at the bottom of the league in defense.
The first half of the season, and now since Doc rivers has been there, they're like up to six
or whatever. They're, you know, since he then told you they'd be sick.
I just said there to talk to him and I told him, let's let's just play hard
it. Let's just play hard boys. Please stop interviewing Doc rivers. I like, I'll be honest
here. I'm a fan of Doc rivers. I like the guy. All right. And I've been a fan of his since he
was a player, but he's been talking that way his whole career. Please just leave him a break,
let him, let him rest his voice for a little while. It's going to be fun to see what happens
with this Bucks team as we get in the second half of the season. And it's going to be so much
fun because we get to play it right here on WFHR. We're very excited about that. Do you have any
other notes to our fifth member of the team who doesn't get paid before we let you go, Matt?
Yeah. Yeah. One more thing that I said, you know, you know, it was kind of on the radio a
little bit. It was some of the other talking that is the whole sports storming. Oh, good.
They were, you know, some of them are talking, you know, trying to stop them. I, I was at that
bad. Your game is when you played this, you didn't have the 90s. They had that that everybody
get trampled. Yeah. Yeah. They're going to go. You've got to have a lot of players. You can't stop them.
But I know you've probably got other ideas, but if you get here, drop by like right through.
I just find it. It's my first bookmark on my, on my, on my tablet here. It's my first bookmark
is store, store, store, storming. I wanted to start, I wanted to get on to that too. The only
problem is I can't say it. Apparently. So I'll work on that. And I, thanks for setting us up,
man, and for the great call. You have a good week. All right, guys. You guys have a great week.
And I'll go over and, and managers. Yeah. Yeah. I'm Wisconsin, and I'm River Kings.
So, Randy, I do want to talk about store, uh, court storming.
Geez, man. That's a tough one. It's been a long day. Yeah. I've been talking a lot
to you now. Um, this is, this is certainly, I say, as their call, they're just touched on
there. This is something that's being talked about that this in the, um, and as a sports show,
it's kind of our responsibility to cover big nationwide stories when we can. Um, we're only on
once a week so we can only do so much when it comes to that. But this is a big issue. Um, by now,
everybody's had opinions on this and everybody's heard about just about every taking every opinion
on this. I, from my money, um, one, I, I hate that it's come to this. I love this about college
sports. I love that there is this part of college sports. Um, I also, uh, and, um, a realist.
And, and I understand that this has been an issue for quite some time. And whether it is a
Duke player or Caitlin Clark or somebody getting hurt or, or bumped into or anything like that,
um, it's gonna, it's only gonna, it's not as if, well, that's the last time that would happen.
Or, oh, it's never gonna happen again or anything. The, the, it's not a matter of, uh, if but when,
we've been fortunate that we've gotten this far without anything too, too heavy. And that's,
and I'm not, I'm not making light of the young man. And I'm not a Duke fan. But that doesn't
matter right now into the people that are bringing that up. You're child. You're, you act like a,
you're not, you act like a child and you're just as bad as the Duke fans that you are making
fun of and that you don't want to talk about. I am, I can't stand Duke. But that has nothing to do
with the conversation. Um, no more than if this, uh, Kyle kid who got injured and may have had
his season end that they're saying that he may have been egging in on. I don't care. That's his
place of business. That's his court. That's, that's all these players. That's the one place
they're supposed to feel safe. The, how can you do your job if you're not feeling safe?
If I'm looking out the door for the whole hour and this next hour, I'm not gonna do the same show.
Like that's ridiculous. And we don't allow this in professional sports. Imagine if you tried to,
the Green Bay Packers when the NFC title game and you try to, uh, Lambo, and you try to rush the,
the field. Good luck. Good luck with that. Um, it, so in college sports to have this and you
want to stop this, there's only one way in my mind that you're going to be able to make this
happen. If you truly do want to stop this for one, and I, one thing I've only heard one or two
people mention, where's the security team? Like where, where is that? I'm not saying that this should
be on them. I'm not, there's no one finger to point here at one direction. This is everybody's fault
that is involved in that situation outside of the players and coaches that were on the court trying
to do their jobs. Um, but when it comes to stopping this, one, I don't think you're ever going to,
two, if you want to, you've got to get heavy. You, you, you've already tried to soft blow this,
miss me with the, uh, well, the team's going to forfeit a win or you're going to have two home games
next season or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. None of that matters. We got to, you, the only
way to affect things is to do it in the moment and to do it immediate impact. So you feel it.
So I say that you have grown adults. These are college kids that are 18, 19 plus years old.
All right. And today's day and age, we got cameras everywhere. So you, you go ahead and you,
you give these people, um, uh, you know, um, citations, you give them, you give them fines.
I'm not even opposed to locking them up overnight. Like, it, it, it, it, it's home. Is it
too serious? Is it too heavy? Absolutely. I, I wholeheartedly admit that it is. But what else
you're going to do? Uh, I say you have, you can also include, uh, in extreme cases suspension
from school. How about you lose scholarships? Like the, I'm not saying that any of this I want.
But if you're talking about change, let's, let's hit this really, let's be honest about this.
It, no soft blow is going to do it. Well, I think right now what they have is they've got,
they find a school. If it happens like the different levels of fines at the SEC is a hundred thousand
dollars water. Well, for your student, what do you care? What do you care? Um, I, I guess
there's, there's only maybe two ways. It's, it's interesting. I was watching a little bit of the
immaculate reception. Some highlights and of the, of the packers when they won the ice bolt. There's
guys storming on the field then. Yeah. I mean, you don't even see that now because, of course,
they would be arrested. Um, I, I think you don't see hockey people rushing on to the ice. Yeah,
because there's barriers. Oh, go got that be hilarious. I think see a bunch of citizens hit that
ice. I think, and I think that's maybe the number one way to stop it. You'd have to, you'd have to
put barriers all the way around between the court. And that's going to, let's be honest, that's
going to suck. It is. But, but you're right, though, because the other way, you know, if I'm one of
20, not 20, let's say 15,000 people at the basketball game, I'm going to take my chances.
They're not going to catch me at 15,000, 8,000 storm the court. You know, people are excited.
They want to go. They want to celebrate. But I think barriers are about the only way to do it
because everything else, I think they'll just, it won't work. I feel I, I do feel bad. And I admit
my getting older, you know, card here when I say this, but I think the first thing I thought of
with all this in the conversation of this stopping, it's not college sports. And maybe it's,
it's spending half my life in this state, but it's Hank Aaron rounding third and, and, and these
guys coming up and saying, you know, patting them on the back and all that. And we know how
dangerous that is. And especially at that point in time in history and everything, and what that
could have been and everything. But it's such a beautiful moment. It's one of the first things I
think of when I think of Hank Aaron is that, that smile, not so much smile on his face. Hank
was really that, but his, he, I mean, even without a smile on his face and even a grainy video,
you see a pretty happy guy with some really excited fans. And that's the part that I would be sad
that would go away because, you know, like what do you see a football? Those guys are, some of
those are classmates that they know. Yeah. And they're celebrating with them all there and
having a great time. It's just always a couple that have to ruin it for everybody. That's a problem.
Yeah. We'll see how, how that develops and appreciate the, the setup for the call there.
Before we go to break, Randy has some local coverage. We wanted to get to and appreciate so much
the work that you do on this Randy. Well, we did have this past weekend, the individual state
tournament for wrestling. And Wisconsin Rapids sent two wrestlers to Madison at 157 pounds in
senior Bennett wideman finished in six place while junior Carter Freeman won the state title at 126
with a thrilling three to one win over Eastern Cooper of DC Everest as he got the two point
takedown with less than 10 seconds to go. So congratulations to both Bennett as well as two
Carter in girls basketball action. We had the regionals last week in the rush to the rush
begins back on Tuesday and it continued on Friday and Saturday. First in division one, Wisconsin
Rapids fell at third seeded Nina 75 to 29. Steven's point one at home over three dubs 46 to 23,
but then was eliminated by Oclair Memorial 52 to 51. So good season for spasch comes to an end.
And Marsfield also won at home over Holman 60 to 44. And then they lost at number two seed
Hudson 50 to 42. Division two, Wassau Eastfell at River Falls 62 to 51. And Mosin knee was
victorious at home 53 to 542 over Hayward before losing to top seed Minamini 61 to 45.
From division three, Adams friendship and the Dells both pick up first round W's before both
falling to number one elk mound. Division four sees an acoustic season draw to a close at
Occio Fairchild 68 to 28. Auburndale whipped White Hall 64 to 46 before getting knocked out by
Nielsville 59 to 26. And so Nielsville, who's number one, will now clash with number two Westfield
and they will meet in Occio on Thursday night. Division five, top seeded assumption picked up three
home wins this week. First over Port Edward 70 to 8. Then on Friday, they crushed River Falls 75 to 43.
And on Saturday, they grew by Randolph 60 to 37. Royals are now scheduled to face number two seed
and sixth ranked Lords Academy on Thursday evening at Ashkash West. And we're planning on
bring it to our sister station WIRI probably around 645, 650. And finally Pitzville, one easily
over ice scan 59 to 28. And it lasted Edgar 56 to 49 before getting past Greenwood 54 to 36.
The Panthers will now take on Athens in a sectional semi on Thursday up in Merrill as the Blue Jays
upset second ranked Pichelli on the road 56 to 52. For the boys, regional action runs from tomorrow
night through Saturday as well. And coming up for a few of our area teams in Division one, Rapids will
host Chi-Hi tomorrow night and we'll be broadcasting again about 650 on our sister station WIRI.
The winter heads over to Marshfield on Friday night to take on the top seeded Panthers.
They await, excuse me, over Marshfield on Friday, yeah.
Division two, the lumberjacks of Wassa East, they get a buy, they'll take on either number
eight Merrill or number nine Ashland. And third seeded Moseyn E will face either number six C
more or number eleven Tomah. Division three will also be the Dells taking on either Verokwa
or Richland Center. Well, number 12 Adams friendship held south to Berlin and that winter hits the
road to take on number four with Tomah. Division four, number nine Nakusa will be at Poinette with
the winter on the road at top seeded Partyville. Top seed, top-ranked Marathon, they get the winter
of Colby and Crandon. Number two Auburndale will host either Phillips or Spencer. Number three,
Edgar gets Ice-Scan or Shawamagan. And number four Stratford takes on Washburn or Evansford.
Kind of cool to see all of these teams from the area here raiding the top seeded in the top four.
And finally, Division five, number five Port Edwards. They host number 12, leave a strum.
Number six Assumption entertains number 11 Plum City Elmwood. Number eight Pitsville is at home
against number nine Loyal. And number one Elmund Bancroft awaits either Wild Roles or Northland
Lutheran. Well, number three Pichelli gets Gresham. And of course, we'll be talking to Coach Peckman
about the River Kings here shortly. Looking forward to that. But want to make the time in the next
half an hour Randy after coach to maybe if we have a chance preview that Assumption Lord is
game. Even if we only have a chance to touch on it for a second or a minute or so,
we'd love to be able to do that with you. We got that coming up in the course of fourth period
is right around the corner everybody. But as we get ready for some hockey talk with GM and head coach
Paul Peckman, I want to touch on this big shout out and thank you to Chris Chelios for an amazing
career and a really fun celebration of that retirement of that number seven that's going to hang in
the United Center for all of time. Chely brought up an interesting point. I thought he's only the
second person in that state to be able to be a hometown guy that had his jersey retired.
The other the other person anybody want to call it but take a guess of what five four two four
twenty six hundred. This is in Illinois. So I don't expect any of you to know this or care.
But I'm not going to stop me from doing it. Any anyone know four two four twenty six hundred
hometown guy that got his jersey retired by his hometown team. I think that's an interesting
fun question. He's a seven one fighter. It's our status show. Statt of the show. Anybody seven one
five four two four twenty six hundred. Let it go for a couple more seconds here. There's a lot of sports,
a lot of players over the years. But the only other one other than Chris Chelios to be born in
the state that you had you are in as far as Illinois goes. Dick Buckis. Ah, Dick Buckis.
That's it. That also speaks to a lack of in state talent or in state talent,
the pleasure state or whatever. But it's it was a cool comment. I thought that he brought up
in his speech just to show how much it meant to him. Um, and of course, obviously I don't have to
tell Wisconsinites played his college ball or college hockey here in state at the UW. That's how
I became a badger fan is because of Chris Chelios and not just me but my dad as well. We followed
his career in high school and we're so excited about him moving on with his career. He had in a heck
of a career with the with not just with the hawks but winning a title with the wings, which I have
to say through gridded teeth, but it's had happened. It's the only decent thing about the red wings
in my opinion. Just me saying because of rivalries actually very, very well run franchise. Have
nothing again. And you're you get to play in Joe Lewis or Joe Lewis Arena. That's pretty cool.
Just name itself. But I didn't say any of that. You didn't hear me say any of that.
It pleased God don't let my father know I said that. Oh, man. I just realized that he's probably
listed. I have never going to be allowed. You just get it. Yeah, yeah, just get it. Just get it.
We will come back with the fourth period GM and head coach Paul Peckman joining us from your
Wisconsin Rapids River Kings coming up on playmakers brought to you by quality post printing.
Getting your words out here at WFHR in Wisconsin Rapids.
Welcome back everyone. Time for the fourth period here at Playmakers on WFHR.
Welcome back to the show. Got your host James J here. I am joined by Randy Paul and we are
kicking off the fourth period with head coach and GM of your Wisconsin Rapids River Kings
Paul Peckman coach. Good to see you and right out the gate before even let you talk.
Congratulations, sir. Congratulations to you and your team and that whole entire
organization. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate it. I appreciate you not only being able to take the
time to be with us today, but being awake like just I can't imagine how beat you are, man. How tired
are you? It's been a stressful weekend, but it's worth it. Let's go ahead and break down
the weekend that was and if we can, as we're getting ready to talk Playoff Hockey and get ready
for that, I imagine you and in that building have been talking and focused on Playoff Hockey for
at least a month or so already. Yeah, I mean, that's, listen, starting from a training camp. I mean,
you know, you set your goals and what do we want to achieve this year, right? What are we going to
have during and that's been the approach all year long and that's why we work as hard as we do.
It's the first step on the ladder, right? So, okay, check the box and this is where we're going and
I actually had a team meeting today at one o'clock and talking about it and okay, what are we doing?
Where do we want to go? Right? This is the last week of guaranteed hockey.
Right? Yeah. So for you, oh, three is at a rage and out. How far do you want to go, right?
And then now it's everybody else that supporting cast is you're not doing it just for yourself,
right? You're doing it for your buddy next to you. So we've got to lock our homes and strength
comes in numbers. So we're going to dial it in here and we're going to go hard this week and
get prepared and make sure we take care of business. You're doing anything different to get
ready this week than any other week? No, I just think that the focus has got to be, it's got to be
a little a little more tightened up, right? And there's a lot more at stake, right? So the effort
is something that we talk about all the time, commitment and effort, right? And guys just need to
understand that was the message today was, you know, if you're not going to have it this week,
you're not going to play. Right? We've been going hard for so long and we're a talented group and
so that anybody can play at any given day. And if you're not willing to make the sacrifice
and the commitment, then you don't probably belong here. And that's unfortunately we talk about
the expectations, right? These guys have set the bar pretty high. So now it's about the,
what's expected of you and being able to match that, right? And come weighted every day and make
you sure that that translation to Friday and Saturday. And why did you come here way back, right?
Wasn't it for a moment just like this? This is what you all told me that what you wanted.
I showed you the way what's needed, right? And now you're playing for the front end of Jersey
and the names on the back will reap the rewards, right? So you got to come with it. Yeah.
Right down the corner. Yeah, that's a quote right there. Yeah, we work to then do a sounder.
Might if I use that to mind. Yeah, that's too good. That's too good. Absolutely. So going over
the weekend, the need of these wins for just catching everybody up. If you didn't, if you didn't
catch it yourselves, three, two victory over Hudson on Friday and then on Saturday and not the three,
two victory over there. Nice of you to keep it simple for the people putting these scores out
there and everything. But in those seriousness, it shows the consistency of this team. And with
that, there's the good and there's the rough. There's, I don't want to say bad because we've
been winning too much to be able to really call anything bad necessarily. But you and I and Randy
in the pregame, we've talked about this before, how much you would like to get off to a hot start,
a good start in that first period, the first couple of minutes of the first period, first shifts
or two of the first period. And that doesn't, it hasn't happened that consistently for our team.
It does give a credit to these boys that they are able to get out of those holes. But to get in
those holes, it's got to be kind of frustrating. Speak to that consistency. How do you adjust
with that? And do you go into the games or I'm sorry into practices working on that kind of thing?
Yeah, sometimes, you know, it depends. But we talk about, you know, what kind of team are we?
Right? We're fast, we're physical, right? We need to be relentless and we talk about that energy.
You got to bring it, right? You got to come out of the gate and some guys have that more than
others. So you got to play to the strengths and that's all timing, right? When you put guys out
and that's how you create momentum. And we have certain guys that are more apt to heavy on the
forecheck, right? Get the puck in. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Right? We're going north.
We're going north and we're not bringing it back and inviting trouble. We got to go, right? So
now we work on that part of it with the defense, when the escape ability to be able to go back north
here and find. So you guys got to be where they need to be because it's automatic. You know where
guys are swinging and you know what guys are posting up for support, right? So at this stage,
you get a game. That's what just fine tuning that kind of stuff. But we talk about it a little time.
And again, that's part of the message here is, you know, we have very fast guys, right? We have
some guys that are very physical. We need to play to our strengths and when we start getting away
from that, we get in trouble. And you know, and you know, there's that side where everybody's playing
physical, that's physical. Everybody is playing fast, that's fast. And you're doing everything
absolutely right. And then you run into posts and you run into hot goalies and you're like,
guys, you're doing everything we exactly said, it's just going to change here. You know,
we just got to keep at it, right? You just got to keep going, right? And if you give up,
it's never going to happen, right? So you got to keep going. You got to keep throwing pucks at the
net. You got to get more shots. And that was, you know, when we talked about the last game,
right? I mean, you down, you were down two to one at that point, right? But we're up shots. So we
had 15 in the first period, 13 in the second period here. And I told him, I said, it's two two
after after two periods, right? We need 15 shots, right? So the more you throw the pucks at the net,
the more your chances are, the average is one out of every 10 is going to go in. Yeah, right?
And sure enough, you know, Bryson seems to be hot. Yeah, you know, that gets on fire. So it's
but to give him the buck, right? And now it says about him being around the puck more, right?
He's got that European style and I'm still trying it. You know, you want the puck? Yeah,
I want the puck. And then you got to get closer to it. You got to move your feet, right? Because
this kid is dynamic. He's got tremendous speed and strength and a shot is just a bullet. So
and as you see, this kid scores goals, right? It's got great eye vision too. He's got great vision
of the whole whole ring. Like I really value that night. Like there's, there's some great players
that have great skills. And then there's guys like that that can use those skills and like make
other players better because they see the whole life. I think good thing too is now he's starting
it. He's starting to reap the rewards where we're getting phone calls from high level juniors,
you know, hey, what about this kid and what about, you know, how's he and this and now we're
interested in tendering him or drafting him or whatever it may be, right? So he's starting to get
that acknowledgement, which is, you know, I'm very proud and I'm proud of him for, you know, listen,
we did a little bit of this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's because I want him to succeed because
there is a lot of talent there and we just need to bring it out. Yeah. And I think we're starting
to see that now. And I think that's one of the fun things as a coach too, because you can use
somebody like that with your other players and say, look at the level we look that we're going to
take him to now. Or if they do get to that level, say, this is what can happen with you as well.
So that's something that you can share with the other kids and encourage them, right? Yeah.
Well, and I think that at any level you look at, I don't care if it's pop-warner or it's
professional, you see in great coaching, I see a consistency in all sports. And it's not so much
the coach that goes in there and says, it's my way or the highway, we do things this way, no
matter who you are, your skill set is or whatever. It is, and I talk about this all the time,
the Andy Reed method. And it's not just Andy Reads, but just as an example, the audience would know
of, hey, I've got this guy and he's good at this. I'm going to work it with that and work my system
with him. And in the same way of in coaching players too, there's guys who just coach everybody
the same. You and coaches like this where it's individual. This guy gets motivated this way.
This guy gets motivated that way. That guy I don't got any worry about. Like the break it down
like that, it can't be easy to do, but that's where good coaching comes in. That's where you get
championship hockey and championship sports. Right. It's, yeah, I mean, it's not cookie cutter,
right? Everybody is on their own path and they handle things in certain ways. And in this day
and age, it's not, you know, it's not what's the name for Indiana, the coach day. It's not that way
anymore. So you have to adjust and you got to know who you're talking to. And what I do,
probably different to most is that one-on-one player meetings every week, when we're going through
videos, I can talk like this to a kid and get your message. That's pretty clear. So you don't need
to end on that. And then when you go out on the ice, it may be a different volume or a different
tone, different ways, but they get the message, you know, and they understand at the end of the day,
I'm going to be the first guy to get my hug and I'll be the first guy to smack them outside the
head. Right. So if they do something stupid. So they know that I care enough that I'm going to
put in just as much work as they will. Yeah. Right. So you got that respect so that when you cross
the line, good or bad, we'll be there and we'll figure it out and we keep going forward. Right.
So at the end of the day, that's what makes this thing much more special. And when you win
something like that together, going through this all year long, that's why I'm proud of them,
because they didn't give up. Right. Yeah. That's important. And because of that, we are Midwest
West Division champions. And I did say we, I didn't need to do that, but I did say we.
With that going into the playoffs coach, and I know this is something you and I have touched on
before as much as we love this team, love talking hockey, also feel a bit of a responsibility
to those out there that may not understand the game that much to kind of explain and help them
get this game a little more stronger. So we can keep the fan base growing and all that and
get younger and younger fans into this. So when it comes to the playoffs set up for the USPHL
in this particular league, I first round we're going against the mullets. That game will be Friday
through Sunday, this coming weekend, seven o'clock puck drop for those and it's a best of three
series. I get everything right there. Where are these games taking place? Are they going to be in
Minnesota? Are they going to hear here right here? All three right here. I know this, but I just
want to hear you say, God, that feels good. It's only two this weekend, right? Two out of three.
So it's only two. Two out of three. And you know, provide, we take care of business and we come
back and do it again next week. That's right. Right. Two is enough. That's right. Coach, any,
less thoughts on this game's maybe on the regular season or if you want on this weekend?
No, I mean, obviously, you know, the more people that come out and support the more
energy you guys feed off of, right? They love playing here. So, you know, if we put on show,
let's show them what home ice advantages everybody. Let's make sure that Minnesota, we are in
their nightmares. We are in their heads all week long and certainly this weekend. Thank you
again, coach. Not only for the time hanging out with Randy and I, like you do a week and
week out and everything, but you brought to the city, which brought to this franchise and we know
that we appreciate you say hi to that team for us. Okay. Thank you. We'll talk soon. We'll be back
with more playmakers right here at WFHR locally grown radio. Welcome back to playmakers here at WFHR,
locally grown radio. Playmakers, of course, brought to you probably by quality plus printing,
getting your words out here in Wisconsin. Rapids, big thank you to all the gang over there.
Be listening this Wednesday to the morning show. Let's say around 845-ish,
Phil Hartley from Quality Plus. We'll join us with our wicked awesome word of Wednesday.
And we have got a new promotion idea that we're doing with our friends over there.
We guys want to hear about it. It's going to be a lot of fun. Look forward to it.
You know, we'd be remiss if all the fun things that are taking place right now sports wise,
if we didn't mention golf courses have been opening up. Yes, yes, you're right. You're right.
We should mention golfing in February and Wisconsin. That's like a headline.
Have you ever seen that in your life? I don't think I've ever seen that.
I don't, I'm sure that I have. I just off the top of my head.
Certainly. Can't remember. Not in Central Wisconsin. I can recall.
Yeah, and definitely not like this consistently, like a week and after weekend,
we've seen a bit of it. Never. They open nice Thursday. They can be open today
into marks crazy. It's crazy to think that pictures and catchers are porting and people
golfing. Like that's weird to be. It doesn't add up. Yeah, yeah. It's spring training.
We've got a lot of time to talk about brewers, but I'm a game for it. If you guys are 424-2600,
feel free to call up and join the conversation. We'll talk whatever you guys want to talk about.
We'll make sure to touch on our schedule before we wrap up. A little bit of a news breaking
before we went on the air with Sequan Barkley, Josh Jacobs, and Derek Henry, not receiving
franchise tags, making them unrestricted, making them free agents. I'm sorry, just free agents.
There's some big names out in the market. Then, of course, in Green Bay, there's a lot of hard
decisions that are going to be made with Darnel Savage, Nixon, a couple of key free agents.
Are you going to rework the Aaron Jones contract going forward? I almost think that you have to
make that work. It's amazing. He took a pay cut last year already. He's 30 years old,
and I think he likes what's going on here. We can see what a difference he has if he's healthy.
I think it'd be just great if they could get another running back. I love AJ Dillon. Don't
get me wrong. He's the mayor of Dorkony. He loves Wisconsin. Now, you got Sequan Barkley available,
you got Derek Henry available. Can you imagine Derek Henry in that backfield along with Aaron Jones?
Well, and if I can now, I mean to cut you off, but I'm so excited about this idea that you
mentioned that because I thought I was the only one seeing this, but with Derek Henry in that
backfield, and don't think that's far fetched, everybody, because not only is there some underwire
talk about it, but LaFour has a connection with Henry. He's coached him before, and Henry has
talked very highly of LaFour. So it wouldn't be far fetched to see him in Green Bay, Aaron Jones and
him tag team in that ball. On part because Derek Henry is also one of the smarter athletes we've
seen, both at Alabama and as a pro. I followed him real closely. I just, he's one of those running
backs that I love that kind of running back. And I growing up that we got spoiled with, you know,
Christian, a Koei and Ward or Ward, Barry, they're running, they're two in Kansas City for a while
there. They were just the Nigerian nightmares. They were awesome. And seeing running backs like
that, like the guys that could be playing linebacker basically for playing running back. I thought
we had seen the last of that and then Derek Henry comes out. And I was so worried in college that
Sabon was going to run his legs off. And he came out of college with like a billion carries.
So I don't know how his career is going to go in his first couple of years. Don't go that good.
It's so cool to see where his career has gone. And I hope, I hope he's not a ghost next year.
I hope we can at least see him somewhere where he's got able to save his legs a little bit and
use them more in the third and fourth quarter. He'd be a perfect fit in Green Bay.
You know, I think when he walked off the field after that last game and thanking everyone,
you know that his time was up there and right away you're thinking to yourself, is it money
right now or is it championship? Yeah. Yeah. And if you will see that young roster,
and it's nice to sprinkle in just a few veterans here and there with that young roster.
When we were talking earlier too about all the fun things coming up, you know, and I know the draft
is a couple months away yet. But it's going to be interesting to see how what's a good word.
I don't want to say dumb, but that the packers are when they pick because it's always like,
why would you pick that guy? Why would you do that? And as you do, now as you look back and you go,
wow, we only had eight starters out of 10 guys. Yeah, right. And all of a sudden he's a brilliant,
you know, GM has good and coast. And so they'll say, why would you, why would you pick Jordan,
love when you got here in Rogers? Well, we found out last year, right? Right. And they just,
I don't, we don't know what the future is going to be for Jordan. Love. I mean, it could fall apart
in a heartbeat, right? But yeah, but it sure looked like it was on the episode in the last half
of the year. That's for sure. And now you add those extra little pieces in there. You know,
just just to have thunder and lightning in your backfield, right? Oh my goodness. How fun would that be?
The packers are slightly over their projected salary cap for this, this season, but could free
up some space with 40 million if they moved on from tackled David Batiari, which a lot of people
are saying is going to happen. He may even retire. Linebacker Devandre Campbell and outside
lap back or Preston Smith, depending on the timing, they do this before June 1st. Smith seems the
most likely to return from what we're hearing. And it seems like from his camp, he wants to,
you know, there is no offseason in the NFL anymore. So as far as covering these things,
we're going to continue to and everything. And of course, give building up to the NFL draft,
we will. And we'll talk about whatever you guys want. So feel free to call up if you want to
join the conversation and shift it to that. As long as we are talking football a little bit,
though, Randy, I didn't want to mention one thing. With all the Super Bowl talk and there's
a lot of big or a lot of cool stories. I think they get lost in the shuffle. One that I thought
was pretty unique, Chief Stephens Accordinator Steve Spagnolium, who I am on record as saying,
and I will stand by, I think you can make the argument, he is the greatest assistant coordinator ever ever.
Like anything, I'm not talking defense. I'm not saying all offense defense, whatever you want to
talk about. Steve Pagnolium to me is the greatest coordinator I've ever seen. I would put mouse
Davis up there as well as far as special teams go and the work that in the law and another guy
who we coached alongside in that Super Bowl in Davis and everything. Another one of the greats.
But Steve Spagnolium did something that I thought was pretty cool. And he didn't, the only reason we
found out about is because he was in an interview. And the interviewer asked him about Brock Perty's
game in Spagnolium. Spacks is talking about the last three, four quarterbacks they faced in
Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen and all this. And like, oh, Brock Perty comes in. We're going to get a
break as far as the legs go. And then in that game against, you know, he goes out and uses his
legs to basically get into the Super Bowl. And the respect that he had for Brock Perty,
in the way that his approach to Brock Perty was no different than Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen,
we got to make sure this guy doesn't beat us. And how do I do that? And of course, the game
inside the game and the scheming that he does and just a great coach. The thing that came up of
all this though, he's like, so I had to text him after the game. And then like, wait a minute,
like you texted him after the game? Yeah, he wanted to tell him what a great game it was. And now
he had to prep for him and everything and to hang in there that he'll probably get one someday
and all this. When does the last time you heard of that? Like, maybe you hear players doing that
a little bit, but a defensive coordinator on the other team texting, not an email, a text,
a personal thing to another athlete on the other team that you could very well face again someday
in complementing them and telling them, hey, you made me earn that. Hey, great game right there.
I prepped for you the way I did for Brady. That's that's pretty cool. Like, I just think that
that's a cool story. And I thought that was awesome that he did that. Especially when it's Mr.
Arrelvin. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I saw Jordan Love on a podcast with Parsons from
Danielis. And he was just talking about the calls that they have to make and stuff. And so
Parsons says, hey, why don't you just write down a call and then I'll read it. And it's like,
I would say, 15, 16 words long. And it's just like, he says, some of these we've got on a wrist
spans the longer ones, but other ones, we just got them memorized. And what I always found interesting
too is that one of those designations, you know, like K3 or whatever they might say, well,
that's just your position. That's what the wide receiver has to do. And this this call is for
the line and this call is for the running backs. Right. So that's all it's all designated.
And I always remember looking at both Aaron Rogers and Brett fire because they had a call
this whole play, right? Yeah. And you got this little bit as a wide receiver and you be lined up
on the wrong side. And you could just see this look at his face like, I've got to remember every
position. You can't remember one look. Come on. Come on. Just one thing. Right.
I do want to take a note or take him as a moment too to not only compliment the
the Wisconsin Badger men and women's teams and then the weekend they had and the week coming
up and and rooting for them on Wisconsin. But as we continue talking the hockey theme for this
hour, shout out to the Milwaukee admirals. Shout out to the Milwaukee admirals because while I
talk a good bit about getting on my soap. So how Wisconsin should have a pro professional team
and everything. There's a lot of people in this state that like shut up. But we're good.
We got the badgers. We got the admirals. We got, you know, local teams like our river kinks and
stuff. We're good. We don't need the NHL. And so what do I know? You know, honestly, that's why I
want to hear from you guys. I tell me I don't I'm not saying this like I know what I'm talking about.
I only say it as a lifetime hockey fan and as a kid who honestly grew up hearing rumors and
stories of how the black hawks were kind of blocking Wisconsin from getting a pro team and that
never sat well with me. And I'm a diehard black hawk fan. But that don't sit right with me. And
I know Wisconsinites and I've spent half my life here. And I think the state loves hockey. I know
they love it a lot more than they do in Nashville. A lot more than they do in air in Phoenix. Like
as far as other cities that have an NHL team, I don't see why, you know, why they don't. So it's
never made sense to me. So I just can't stop saying that. But to shut up to the admirals and
accredit them, the streak started on January 5th with a victory over Colorado. And they've gone on
to just beating over the weekend, beating the Chicago wolves and continuing on my dad's old team.
And just think you know high school too. That's that's coming up sectionals here enough
and the state's just around the corner as well. And tell you what, you would have fun some fun time
sometime and you go to a sectional hockey final for the high school kids. That is a blast. And I
know every once in a while when Coach Mack and I see each other, you know, we're just like remember
those days when we go over to Analaska and just get all, because there's to me, I don't care,
it's basketball with Taki, that that sectional final is unbelievable because they're smaller arenas,
you know, it's their jam packed because because next week you get to go to state if you win, right?
Yeah. And getting to state sometimes is just as good as winning the state. It's just because you
got that whole week of rivalry. And you can feel it in the arena in the whole stadium. In the whole
town, you feel it when they come back, right? Oh, there's nothing like that. You come back and you
get the parade with a fire dress in the bus. Yeah. Let's preview this assumption game coming up
this Thursday, Randy. We got the assumption royals taking on the Lordess Academy at Oshkosh West
and sectionals. You're going to be covering this one. What should people be listening for,
what should be, what stands out to you in this game? Well, you know, the royals got Senator
Shawback, which was huge because the the game against Port Edwards, they were victorious.
And then the next game they played against her or false. So we're like, you know, this team,
they're like one or two games over 500, but they've played some pretty good teams and they play
them very closely, right? And Sarah comes in and scores, she scores like 24 points. And it's just like
and she's just so quick on the defense. And you know, we were talking to Claire Nelson post game show
on the our post game interview and and she's just talking about how everybody just plays better,
you know, it's just the way they pass the ball, you know, it's almost like a three man weave when
they go down court, when they steal, it's just incredible. And then she followed it up and she only
had like 10, the other night or 11 and and yet all the assists that she had, the turnovers that she
forced, she just got the quick hand, she's just fast. So that makes a difference as well.
You go into this game against Lord's Academy. Well, if they don't move the the game,
it's right in their city. You know, Lord's is in Oshkosh. Yeah, yeah, this game's at Oshkosh West.
I wonder about that. So, you know, but the the royal fans, they're going to they're going to
bring over a ring contingency to as well. So I don't know that home court's going to be that big
as far as for Lord's, but they are, you know, they are what they are, right? And they're number two
seed and they're number two seed for a reason. They're number six in the state as well.
This whole sectional. It's just loaded really. I think they got four of the top 10 teams in
the sectional. Well, number two Pichelli's already gone down, right? Well, let me tell you,
at Athens team, they are big and powerful and good as well. And they would be another team that's
on the other side, the other sectional, but there's just a lot of good division five teams and it's
it's a lot of fun to watch. And we're going to want to call it on Thursday and bring it to you so
that it says if you were there and see it. Looking forward to it. Tomorrow, we've got Badger basketball
on the radio at five o'clock Badger's versus Indiana on WIRI at 650 boys basketball Lincoln High
School Host and Chip Wolf Hall's regionals. Randy and Michael and don't don't put that
too lightly because it falls as one, two of their last three and they just destroyed a really
good superior team about two games ago. So that's going to be rap's going to have their hands
full tomorrow night. That'll be a good one as well. Thursday will a Bucks basketball here on WFHR530
and on WIRI at 650. Assumption girls against Lordes Randy on the call in the shadow to Sethra
covering the board as well and Michael and all the work that you guys do. Get your River King's
tickets folks and get ready for hockey. Play off hockey this weekend right here at the South
of County Rec Center. Get your tickets at riverkingshockey.com. Great show, Randy. Thank you.
Wonderful. Thanks for the calls. Everybody, we'll be back next week here from 3 to 4 at WFHR,
locally grown radio.
