Burnin’ 8s and More!

Welcome, everyone to WFHRs Playmakers, proudly brought to you by friends from the

Quality Plus printing, getting your words out here in Wisconsin Rapids.

Playmakers, 304 in the clock, 4th of March, your host James J here joined by my partner

in Sports Randy Paul.

Good afternoon, March, huh?

Yeah, I had to remind myself that it was March.

I'll completely be completely honest with everybody.

It's maddening.

It's really not nice.

Yeah, we got the fourth period coming up at 330, head coach and GM, viewer Wisconsin

Rapids, River King's coach Paul Peckman, going to be joining us.

You're victorious.

Yeah, that's nicely done, yes, victorious.

We got high school sports to get to with Randy in a little bit, but we're going to kick

off our show with our good friend Ross Provost and Burnin' Aits joining us for Ross.

How you doing?

Good, guys.

It's been a little while.

I'm just going to be back talking with you.

It has been too long.

Ross, I imagine that you're, you know, you and the kids, everybody a lot older now, things

have, no, no.

It hasn't been that long.

But it has been a while.

We appreciate you joining us, man.

How have things been with you guys?

I want to talk to you about the Wisconsin Musky Expo.

I was talking with Randy before, heard that you just were able to upload a new video.

Let's hear how things have been with you all.

Yeah, so we obviously, well with the nice weather, especially this past weekend, it kind

of put us into the itch of, you know, open water season, which is, you know, it's like

you said, just said, it's, it's March, but boy, it seems a little closer than we actually

are.

But either way, we, you know, we made it through the winter seasons here.

We didn't upload quite as many videos as we normally do, just just because we've been

so busy, kind of just doing life in general, and kind of catching up on things.

But Musky season was a little on the tougher side for us.

We put it in a decent amount of hours, maybe not as much as we always have past years,

but the fish didn't get quite at the net as often as we would have liked, so we still

didn't have you highlight up in northern Minnesota.

We did really well up there towards the end of July.

That was a fun time.

We had a couple big fish at the net there.

One was 49.5, so we were still kicking out videos as much as we can, but we're hoping

to kind of wrap that up a little bit more, going into the upcoming Musky season here,

which kind of leads us into the Wisconsin Musky Expo, which is coming up in just a little

of our week here in Central Wisconsin.

So it's kind of the kind of show season is the fun time where you get ready for a new

season.

You're buying new baits.

You're looking at new gear, and you just get to talk muskies with people that you can

tell stories and stories and stories of big fish.

So that's always fun.

Yeah, Ross, we've really been enjoying what you guys have been able to upload.

It's been some great work as always, but I don't know how, but in the years we've been

talking, you seem to somehow get better and better with these videos and the coverage.

I hear the audio much better.

There's a couple of videos I listened to.

I would say right in the beginning of fall, I think it was somewhere around there where

I felt like I was on the water with y'all.

It was really great.

It was awesome.

For those of us that don't get the fish as much as we'd like to, I live vicariously

through your team over there.

With the Expo coming up on the 17th, we'll get more details about that in a moment.

What are some of the things we always look forward to these getting to see people you don't

get to see all the time, the communication contacts you make?

Are there some headlines for you and your team that you're looking at for this Expo in

particular?

You know, I think like the biggest thing for us is just getting in touch with the fans

with people that are watching our videos and obviously we've kind of heard a resounding

pay where you guys've been.

We haven't uploaded it much, which obviously it's good to know, you know, people are looking

for you and you still have that fan base.

So I think that it'll be nice to get in front, like a headline for us, we just get in touch

with the fans that, you know, they want more videos and we can kind of just talk real

life with them as far as what we did experience, what they experienced.

We're like here in their stories too, which is, you know, it's fun to hear how their season

went or a certain new bait was successful for them and a lot of times, you know, we've

heard from some viewers that they bought baits at the prior Expo that they've seen on

our show that worked for us and they caught, you know, big fish on it.

So it's like, that's a great success story for us to hear, you know, people that they're

seeing things on our shows, getting ideas, learning some things and it's putting fish

on the net for them.

So I mean, ultimately that's kind of one of our big goals is, you know, one of our biggest

goals is just to help people catch more fish.

Show them why, you know, we do the sports whether it might be, you know, whether it's

musky fish and it'll be hunting or, you know, bow hunting for deer.

So I mean, there's people out, aspect, you know, the neat thing there, Ross is listening

to the conversation with Rich on your latest video, which was very well done, by the way,

just looking at all of the different baits that he was going through and showing and some

of the baits that you guys are going to have as well.

Plus, I think he was also talking about some of the line that can be used and the necessity

of having good line because he said, it's the only thing between you and the fish and

you don't want to be lose line.

That's good.

That was a good line right there.

Yeah.

Maybe we can talk a little bit about what's going to be there and I think he talked about

the vendors as far as maybe being full this year.

Yeah, that's one thing that was neat to hear, just talking to Rich as far as the owner

and he runs, it was kind of some muskie expo, they really tried to expand this year and

bring in more vendors than they have over previous years, which I mean, it's been

a full show for my vendors point.

For the past, I think we've been there, this will be our fifth year as a vendor and seeing

that plus I've been there, even before we were vendors and it's just like, there's a ton

of already, there's a ton of booths there with baits and everything to look at.

Well, now they've really expanded and I think they're kind of pushing their limits, but

they just wanted to open the fourth and more to get more of these small batch manufacturers.

That might not be selling thousands and thousands of baits, industry wide with the muskie,

but they're still making nice quality baits that are catching fish and get those on front

of people.

And that's kind of where people get hands on with new baits, new colors, and colors is a

big thing.

You know that people, they kind of come up with show colors just to get new colors that

people can add to their arsenal and that's a kind of a fun thing just to see what people

are coming up with, new colors, new designs and that's, when you hear that it's bigger

and better than ever, that's always a good thing as far as what they're hoping for for

this year's show.

I know one of the things you were talking about on the video was the different colors

and you mentioned fire tagger, which is one of my favorites that I always like to use.

And then you mentioned that you and Jake also designed something color wise and you were

talking with Rich about that as well.

Yeah, so we've, like, we kind of decided that, you know, well, we figured out colors

obviously over the years that have worked well for us while they're being stained water,

clear water, just certain colors that kind of pop more and catch the fish's attention.

So we've kind of tried to implement, obviously, we designed some of those colors and now

we're basically offering them to viewers and fans, you know, through our website or,

you know, at the show, it's the same concept that they can get their hands on baits that

are working for us and colors that are working for us.

And we're hoping to kind of just lessen that gap of them trying to, you know, come up

with colors or whatever it's kind of, you know, this is what works.

You know, they can see it in action in our videos and they can go right to, you know,

the expo or to even our site and just buy what's working for us.

And that's kind of, it's kind of, it's a fun thing, I think, for us to come up with

different color combinations and then see them work.

You know, because we fish in different, different color water, whether it might be clear,

more stain. So maybe if some of more stain water, you're pulling in brighter colors.

Some of that stands out a little bit more, that catches that fish's attention.

And that's always fun when it, you know, a plan comes together, as they say, as far as colors.

So Ross, Provost and Bert and AIDS joining us.

Ross, I think we'd be a great idea that after the expo sometime, when you guys have time,

join us again, let us know how the expo went.

And we can get people ready for the next season and everything.

Absolutely, yeah, we got turkey season coming up here in, you know, a few months.

And that's all like the fun time to, yeah, we're looking forward to the expo.

And I think that it was gone to Muskie expo.

It's always just a fun atmosphere for us too.

It's kind of a, it's family friendly.

And you know, it's not just Muskie Bates there too.

I mean, there's, there's people selling meat, there's people selling crafts,

there's artwork, so it's the wide range of things that people can actually come there and enjoy.

So I know you guys even sell clothing, don't you?

We do. Yeah, we have some apparel there.

And there's plenty of other people selling apparel too, which is, I think, you know,

we go to some other Muskie expo just as spectators just walk around and just look at the Bates

and talk to people there too.

But there's always a nice feel to this one.

And it's like I said, it's kind of family friendly.

And you see, you know, people of all ages there enjoying all sorts of different

aspects of kind of Wisconsin in general.

Join the team from Burnin' Nates at the 2023 Wisconsin Muskie Expo March 17 through the 19th.

Actually, 15 through the 17th.

Did I say, what did I say?

And I say, oh, okay, oh, is it?

Oh, I got to say, no, that's all right, good to know.

I want to make sure to get it right.

I want to show it up and there's nobody there.

Ross, we appreciate you.

I got encouraged people as well.

Check out the YouTube page for Burnin' Nates.

Just type it in your search bar, Burnin' Nates.

It's a great YouTube page to subscribe to.

And subscribe to their mailing list as well at Burnin' Nates.com.

Check out some of that apparel Randy was talking about in those lures that Ross was.

Ross, thanks again for the time, man.

Yeah, well, it's good to talk to you guys and we'll catch up soon.

Thanks for having me.

Sounds good.

Yeah, take care.

Again, burnin' Nates.com.

Be sure to bookmark that page, everybody.

Sign up for that newsletter.

You're not going to be disappointed.

I tell people this all the time, Randy, when I'm talking about Ross and his team over there.

Even if it's been a while since you fished or you don't get a chance to fish that often,

or maybe you're not into fishing.

I bet you're into conservation.

I bet you're into seeing some of the most beautiful parts of Wisconsin.

You can get all of that with the Burnin' Nates team.

They do such a great job over there.

And that expose, I think I've been there a rear that Ross has been there as well.

And you can walk around.

I know my son gets a two-day pass because he just loves to go back and talk to the different

vendors and see all of the great things that they've got on display.

And some of them have replica mounts of musk, you know, they throw them back,

but they take all the measurements and make their own.

Like he said, there's food, there's a peril, there's just,

it's just, I think everybody's just excited because it's spring.

Yes, yes.

And everybody just wants to get out fishing.

And boy, it's a great time.

So head on up to Ross Child and get over there to the Convention Center

and it's right by the movie theater.

And you get to go to Ross Child.

You know what I mean?

Oh, beautiful area.

Yeah, that's awesome.

It's a great area, great area.

715-424-2600.

We'll open up the phone lines in a moment here.

Randy's got to leave us a little bit earlier today.

So we're going to go right to high school sports,

make sure to put and make him work.

To the point you already had been.

There's a lot to cover here, Randy.

I do want to start with the assumption girls.

I do want to touch on that really quick before you get going

because as the audience knows by now,

I'm sure Albany of 47, assumption 45,

not the way we wanted the season end,

but we never want the season to end.

Even when they win the championship, we wanted to keep playing.

So we're spoiled around here.

And we are because of that great squad,

that great coaching staff,

the families over there that get these kids to the games,

these refs that cover the games for us.

We love our local high school teams

and appreciate them so much,

giving us so much great entertainment.

How many times haven't you and I said that on the air here

that we have got some great coaches,

some great athletic directors,

some great people in this area?

And they always treat us so kindly.

The assumption folks were kind enough

to let us ride on the bus on Thursday

and again on Saturday,

so that we didn't have to go trekking on our own

and just had a great time with them as well.

And yeah, disappointing, but you know,

you lift your heads up and that was the cool part,

you know, after the game that maybe people didn't know,

is that all of the essential people

were up standing and applauding,

even they were applauding Albany Monticello

as they were receiving their award.

Right on.

And they all got together in a circle,

you know, after the game.

Yes.

I mean, that's what high school sports should be like

and that's what it was with them.

That's what it's about.

Yeah, that's what it's about.

We love championships.

Love to host up that gold ball and a silver ball

or anything like that,

but it's all about that right there.

Those kids learning in those moments.

Anybody can smile when you're winning.

Anybody can keep their head up when they're winning.

How are you when you're losing?

And that's something that you can carry with you through life.

Even if you never pick up a basketball again,

you can carry that in life.

That's really cool to hear.

Thank you for sharing that.

And coaches, you know,

Klein, Jake Linsky, Nelson there.

Just go out of their way to help us

and make us feel comfortable.

And we're really appreciative of that.

And we'll just touch on that in just a little bit here.

First, though, there were state championships held

in three sports this past weekend.

Crazy weekend.

First at the field house in Madison,

team wrestling occurred.

And in Division one, Wisconsin Rapids,

won its quarter final match

with a victory over Hartford Union, 41 to 22.

Then in the semi-final, they got past Muskego, 37 to 28.

And in the championship match,

a condom made it four straight championships in a row

as they held off Rapids, 36 to 27.

So we got to give a big congratulations

to coach Bennett's and his squad

and the coaching staff are bringing home a silver ball.

Division two, Luxembourg Casco,

hoist the gold again this year,

defeating St. Croix Falls, 36 to 19.

And in the three,

Fenemore, Clauber's Coleman, 46 to 16 for the title.

The state gymnastics championships were held here

in Wisconsin Rapids.

There were no local teams involved.

However, in Division one,

Franklin Muskego captured first

and Verona Edgewood ended up in second.

While in Division two, Elkhorn area

topped the West Salem Aquinas Bangor Co-op for the title.

And down in Middleton, one girls team

and two boy-squads captured gold and hockey.

For the girls, the Central Wisconsin storm

defeated an 11 team co-op, 11 teams

over the Green Bay area.

They're called the Bay Area Ice Bears.

Whoa, oh, great day, wasn't it?

Four to three was the victory there.

Oh, nicely.

And they were the defending champion,

so I was going to ask.

Yeah, so the Central Wisconsin storm,

usually they are headlined by DC Everest.

Oh, yeah.

For the boys in Division one,

Green Bay Notre Dame won its second straight title,

three to one over the co-op from Brookfield East.

While in Division two,

St. Mary Springs knocked off top seed

and defending champ New Richmond, six to two.

While the girls' sectionals were held

around the state this past Thursday and Saturday,

Division one through four,

there were no area teams still alive.

Division five, however,

the assumption rules defeated Lord's Academy

on Thursday night, that was a great game.

That game was 44 to 44 with like,

645 to go,

and the Royals held Lord's scoreless.

Whoa, rest of the game.

Sarah Shaw had 15 points and a school he ended

with 14 Saturday evening down at Hartford.

Albany Monticello got the game winning layup

with six seconds left

to end the Royals fine season at 47 to 45.

Sarah Shaw had 12 for assumption at Evoller at E11.

Division five, Pitzville.

They popped Athens on Thursday,

45 to 38 as Rescrim poured in 22,

but then on Saturday, Pitzville fell to Lina.

66 to 57.

These got one really good player.

She's like 6-1 and I think she's a D1 recruiter.

So yeah, so Lina will be heading off to state

and as will Albany Monticello.

Also this past week,

the boys began the tournament trail.

Division one has heard on our sister station,

WRI, Chippewa Falls rallied from a 21 point

half-time deficit to defeat Wisconsin Rapids.

69 to 64.

Sean Reinas had 23 while Brody Gilbertson

and Trading Clary added 15 and 14 respectively.

And what's really interesting about that

was it was 39 to 15

and the point guard for Chi-Hi throws up this

half-court shot just before the buzz.

And he bakes it and you're like,

I hope that doesn't come back to him.

No, no, no, no.

Also in Division one, Medford, excuse me,

Marshfield, then beat Chi-Hi 81 to 40

and then knocked off Kimberly 67 to 55.

They will next face Cocona on Thursday.

Steven's point also picked up two W's

as they hammered Holman 69 to 51

and Everest 59 to 44.

They'll take on Nina this Thursday.

Division two, Wasau, East of Sill alive

as they topped Merrill 60 to 52

and survived Roy Slake 55, 53.

That was a thrilling finish too.

They'll face River Falls next.

Meanwhile, Mozini was upset

and eliminated by Fox Valley Lutheran 76 to 61.

We saw Mozini against Rapids.

They had a good squad leader.

So, Fox Valley Lutheran got the upset there.

Division three, the Dells are in two victories.

Both blowouts, 83, 32 over Verolqua

and 79, 35 over River Valley.

Next up is number one Placville on Thursday.

D4, season Acusa season draw to a close.

At point net 54 to 46.

Number one marathon.

They struggled past Colby.

That was a three-point game with just a couple of minutes to go

but they ended up getting it into Mr. Warren

and he finished the deal.

69, 55, but they won handly over Stratford 68 to 41.

They'll now take on Auburn Dale.

That'll be for the third time this year.

They pop Phillips 69 to 42 as Evan Shoal had 26 points

and then the Eagles edged Edgar 62-46

with Shoal again leading the way with 19 points.

Division five, assumption was eliminated

by Elmwood Plum City 74 to 72.

That was also on a buzzer beater.

J.T. Schlafer scored 22 points

while Jack Wiedemeyer had 17

and Logan Eistrom 15 for assumption.

Port Edwards blew out Aliva Strum 68 to 40

as Brendan Beck poured in 26

but the Black Hawks bought out in game two

to Alma Center Lincoln 73 to 49.

Back again led the Hawks with 20 points.

Pitsville lost to Loyal 66 to 36.

Jacob Hartinger had 13 for the Panthers.

Loyal then lost to Columbus Catholic 66-46.

And the Don's then beat Alma Center Lincoln 69 to 43.

And finally Elmwood Bancroft beat Wild Rose 62 to 25

and Tigerton 75 to 30.

The Eagles will now face three lakes

who slip past Pachelli 65 to 63.

And of course we talked a little bit

about coach coming in here shortly.

Of course they had, like we said to them,

come on make this just a two game series.

Don't be going into Sunday.

So you know our wishes they're a command.

Yes I was really nice to team to do that for us.

So they beat them all at six nothing handling.

They outshot Minnesota 51 to 28 on Friday

and then on Saturday.

They were actually down two to one in the second period.

They let one nothing, gave up two goals

and then they got two in the third

and they rallied and they won three to two.

Again out shooting them all at 45 to 24.

And again this weekend Friday and Saturday

we hope not Sunday but if it's necessary

at home against the Minnesota Moose this time.

So beat as many Minnesota teams as we can.

Yes we always love that throughout here.

Oh I would say it was around midnight

maybe a little before that on Saturday

that I got to catch the score of the game

and I've been dying ever since then

to talk River King's hockey.

And I've got to wait another almost 10 minutes here

to coach kids but I appreciate you

covering local sports so well Randy.

Thank you so much for all of that.

We're going to talk hockey with coach in a moment here

but before we do that I want to go back

to the assumption Royals, the season and that game.

I did not like some of our listeners out there.

We had some great ratings for that game

as we do always for high school sports.

But I was over the catch the beginning of the game.

I wasn't able to catch the last couple of minutes.

Was this game a game that could be had by either team

because it felt like from the box score and everything

that all of any kind of had this one and that for me

that the lady Royals giving a valid effort all season long

but at a certain point you run out of bodies.

It felt a lot like that for me.

Is that what you how it came across to you?

Yeah, when the ball was out in the open court

and there was some bumping going on,

the fouls were called and then underneath

they're letting them bang but that's the way they called it.

They made the adjustment.

There was a stretch there where the Royals were down

at half time by five.

It could have been worse.

Elvin he had the ball up by eight.

They hit a two or a three.

They could have been a double digit lead

but instead the Royals got it down to five at half

and then they started the second half

on a 11 nothing run.

So then the Royals were up by six at that point

and it was kind of like that until about the 745 mark

and then all of a sudden it was 34 to 29,

I believe if I remember correctly, maybe 36 to 29.

I think it was 36, 29.

And then Albany just kind of chipped away

and a couple of minutes later there's a time out

and now it's down to like 45, 41.

And then they played a couple more minutes

and now it's all of a sudden tied up, right?

And so now assumptions got the ball

with a couple of minutes left

and they worked the ball around.

Got a good look at it from the top of the key it didn't go

and there's one point in there

where the Royals hit a three pointer

and it got wiped out because they got called for a blocking fall.

And that kind of changed momentum a little bit

and then Albany just put it in the hands of their senior

and she just took a length of the court

and laid it in with six seconds to go

and that was your difference.

With especially sports in general

or especially at the high school level,

future, we got some young players on this team.

And these players, future them

are gonna be really thankful for this experience.

You mentioned that Albany put it in the hands of their senior.

They're gonna be that senior one day.

And so this stuff may hurt right now,

but that's so motivational and that's data

that you can only experience in the moment like this.

You can't simulate this stuff.

It's gotta be done in real time.

And for somebody that always looks at silver linings

in these situations, in almost anything.

To me, I hope that's something that they're taking from it.

I know that the coaching staff is,

they're too good, they're too smart

and too good of what they do to not be doing that.

I'm sure that they're taking notes on that too

of, hey, this is experience.

There's no such thing as bad data.

It's all stuff you can learn from.

I come back to maybe my favorite quote,

my last 10 years of my life or whatever.

I never lose.

I either win or I learn, you know?

And that's what they did there.

They learned a lot there.

And they can take that in the next year.

And you're right.

You know, we talked about putting hands in the seniors.

Well, Lydia Smith was the only senior that was able to play

because Kendall Dillman hurt herself,

became injured not herself,

but she became injured on the court,

part of the court of the way through the year.

So they let one senior playing for them.

So they have all sophomores and juniors.

They've got a couple of sophomores

that are gonna help them out again next year as well.

So yeah, you hope you learn from it, right?

And we're looking forward from there.

And we're looking forward to spring high school sports

coming up and everything that's right around the corner

as the next week they're gonna start throwing the ball around.

It's crazy, yeah, yeah.

We have got, certainly we've got a lot of fun to talk

as far as River King's Goaks.

We'll be doing that in about less than 10 minutes.

We'll have the fourth period beginning here.

Looking forward to it.

But before we go to break Randy,

I did want to take a moment to,

I don't know how to rightly word these things.

But over the weekend we lost a legend in Chris Mortensen.

And I think for my generation,

for yours to a degree,

and that we're so eternally thankful

to the Chris Mortensen's out there,

the John Clayton's, the Peter Kings,

the people that covered this sport so well.

And before pre-internet,

when if I wanted to know news,

well, I just jump on this app or that app

or whatever or go on to this.

At that time, if you were somebody that loved football

and loved the sport and you were dying for information,

there was a time and age where his football did take a break.

It did go away for a couple of months.

I know this is far fetched to some people out there.

It sounds like science fiction,

but it was actually a thing.

These guys kept it around for you.

And for me, like John Clayton was my guy.

I love John Clayton.

As soon as he was must see TV to me,

Chris Mortensen was right there with it.

And while I greatly appreciate all that,

what I appreciate even more about Chris Mortensen

and his legacy is the people that he helped build up.

All we heard over the last couple of days

is the Adam Shafters, the people coming out and saying,

Mort was my reference to get this job.

Chris Mortensen at the age of 50,

I heard a great interview with Adam Shafter

where he's talking about this.

Adam Shafter right now is the age Chris Mortensen was

when he hired Adam Shafter.

And for in your mid fifties in that industry,

the last thing you're doing is helping out people

that are coming up.

That's what you're taught and all that.

That's sports.

You're not supposed to do that, never they.

Take the bread far of angle and that kind of thing.

Not Chris Mortensen.

Chris Mortensen was helping Adam Shafter

with the first person to tell you,

he's not where he is without Chris Mortensen.

And there's so many other people like that.

To me, I don't know if there could be a better legacy

than helping others get up on the ladder,

than reaching out and making sure

that other people get an opportunity.

You got this spot.

So I'm gonna make sure other people can.

It's about, it's about the information.

It's about Chris Mortensen, the reporter.

It's about the information and I'm second.

And in a day and age like this,

I hope to God that we have more journalism

like that going forward.

Certainly in sports, but in all of journalism,

where it is about the story, it is about that article,

it is about the work, the content,

more than the person.

I don't begrudge people, they're fame.

I hope they're grudged people getting paid.

Get your job, man, get your paycheck.

But I love the where Chris Mortensen

and that group of reporters came from,

where they love this stuff as much as we did.

They were fans just like we were.

And they were sharing information.

They were just as excited.

John Clayton was so excited and animated

about some of the things that he did.

He wasn't an animated kind of guy.

Chris Mortensen was the definition of class

and respect in that industry.

He will be missed very much.

You know, speaking like that, it reminds me of just

me being a teacher.

I bet if you talked to any teacher, they'll say,

well, the reason I'm a teacher is because of this teacher

who was before me, I think of my teacher, Mr. Godstick,

I mean, he was our fourth grade teacher.

We just love that man, right?

And we said, we're going to be a teacher too,

because we want to be just like him, right?

And then you think of the relationship

between those two crisses between Chris Berman

and Chris Mortensen, you know, Mort, boomer, right?

Yeah.

And then back and forth, they would go,

and it just would bring a smile to your face.

And they're right now just thinking about it.

Yeah, the interaction they had with each other,

like you said, the respect that they had for one another.

And there's some guys you trust, you know,

we're going to tell you a story.

He was one of those guys, wasn't he?

Damn, to that point, nicely done.

Damn Patrick, I heard just on the way in here

a little bit, he's talking about him,

worked with Chris Mortensen pretty closely over the years.

And there was a time where he's at the anchor desk

and they got to go, they got breaking news.

Mort is reporting on this, they want to go with it.

With the producers, like, well, we got to get,

we got to confirm this.

We have to confirm it before we go to air.

And damn Patrick's like, it's Mort, it's good.

You know, it ended up being good information

and they had to double check it, of course,

you have two nowadays, or even then.

But still, it's to the confidence that they had in him

and everything.

I think that's really a great note to wrap on.

And we look forward to taking your calls.

Fourth period is coming up.

Everybody, GM and head coach,

your hero's constant rabbits, River Kings,

coach Paul Peck, we're going to join us.

As we go to break breaking news, Randy,

Bronco's notified Russell Wilson

that he will be released after the lead year begins March 13th.

Whoa, bomb right there breaking news

as Russell Wilson is going to be a free agent.

Wow, who's he signing with, March 14th?

Oh, yes, yeah, I got to think he's going to be signing

with somebody fast.

That guy is not going to be a backup somewhere.

No, we'll go to break, we'll come back

and have some more fun here on Playmakers.

Brought to you by Quality Plus Printing,

getting your words out right here in Wisconsin Rapids.

Welcome back, everyone.

Playmakers here at WFHR, locally grown radio.

Let's start the fourth period.

It's time for our chance to talk a little bit

of Wisconsin Rapids River Kings hockey

with our GM and head coach and a friend Paul Peckman

joining us right now.

And Paul, we've got to borrow with us.

You're one of your main goalies over there.

Looking forward to talking with you guys.

And I got to be honest, real quick.

All right, my energy is at all out of the high right now.

I got to calm down a little bit.

It was like about 10.30, somewhere between 10.30,

11 o'clock Saturday night.

Crazy Saturday, I check the score

and I see the score of the game from Saturday night

for you guys.

And I have been dying ever since then

to talk to you guys about this game.

Let's cover the basics real quick.

First round of the playoffs.

First game Friday night.

Six-nothing win.

Nice victory right there.

And I want to start off with you, Dobby,

because how was it for you in the net that game?

I have to admit, it was this whole team effort.

Like, defensemen were blocking shots for me

saving my back, holding on for the back doors

and we worked as a team to accomplish that.

It's a game like that.

First off, I should ask, how much experience

do you have like this being in a playoff atmosphere,

bringing it in playoff, get hockey?

This is my third year.

So it all began two years ago when I was playing back

in the European University Hockey League.

And that's when I experienced my first playoffs.

Then last year here with River Kings on this year.

So with that experience going into this one,

did you feel a little more set in the rain,

you know, between the pipes there?

Did you feel a little more or dead nerves?

And just the same as any other game.

So with the nerves, I do a lot of meditating before games.

So that helps me a lot.

That's something I've came across last year with one of my friends

who studies sports psychology.

So she helped me about it a lot.

But besides that, since I had a little bit of experience

since last year, I was going into net,

just had down knew what I had to do.

I appreciate you should have done that.

That's awesome, man. Thank you for sharing that.

What people don't realize is that he was very, very sick that night

and pitched a shut out, right?

It's all right.

He played tremendous.

It was impressive when I saw the box score,

knowing that makes it just even more impressive.

And of course, the hockey player is not going to share

his information, share that with me coach.

Thank you for sharing that.

But nobody realizes that we didn't practice until Thursday.

The whole team was sick.

Oh, man.

We had optional skates.

We didn't have a goalie in practice until Thursday.

Right?

Huh.

So we had, we practiced Thursday, Thursday night, Friday morning,

and then he pitches a shut out Friday night.

So that's pretty impressive.

Being superstitious sports fans, so that means we're going to be sick

the rest of the player.

No, no.

You guys don't say that.

I'm still kind of happy.

I shouldn't joke about that.

I shouldn't joke about that.

That's incredible.

That's incredible to note, man, especially in every sport,

everything you do, practice reps.

It's all about that.

But in hockey, it is so much more vital than it is in almost any other sport.

To not have that rehearsal and that practice time and everything.

Well, especially fan because he's very regimented.

He wants what he wants to get him prepared, right?

And that's what you want for your goalies is to make sure that they're seen

enough pox, they're feeling it, and they're going through their routine.

And that really threw a monkey wrench into our whole week.

So it was tough to prepare, and hopefully that this is why

what we do during the year, right?

So hopefully prepares you so that when you get hit with something like this,

you still know how to handle it.

You still know what you need to do, and you go out and you get it done.

It's a great way to start the playoffs.

It's a solid way to start the playoffs, man, and it sets the bar.

It sets a tone, not only for you guys, but for the rest of the league,

and everybody you're facing.

When it comes to just looking at the back score real quick,

for Friday's game, shots on goal, 28 from it, so 51 for us.

Now, I want to focus on the 28 for a second there,

because you're ever talking again, that's around,

you're going to get somewhere between there, 35, 40, some shots,

and everything, especially this division.

But I feel like when I'm watching, when I'm looking at River King scores,

and we've talked about this before coach, a lot less shots on goal.

I don't want to make this sound like it's like I'm not,

I give you a million points of credit, brother, for pitching a shutout in that game.

And I appreciate that when I ask you about that,

you immediately push to the team, because that's where I want to go.

I want to ask, how much your defensemen help you in those situations?

I feel like the average shots on goal for the River Kings against us

is a lot less than your average team, in part because of that.

You can only do so much back there, playing goal.

As soon as the puck's coming your way, you got this.

But those defensemen up there, that's your first and only line of defense sometimes.

How much has that helped you this season?

To be honest, more than enough, so defensemen and our captain,

Lucas Whitehead, who's stopped over 80 shots, he blocked them,

helped me out a lot, also with the back checking from our forwards as well,

and that helped us out on the back doors.

They did save my back a few times.

Appreciate that, man. I really do.

And I'm sure that they would say the same thing about you,

that there are times that they were right there for something,

just miss it by a hair, and you've got some save that you made or some,

who, it's been fun watching you play.

It really has been.

I appreciate you being in town.

I have really, really enjoyed just selfishly personally mentioning it.

Let alone for everybody else in his course in Joyce Hockey.

Looking at the Saturday night and touching on this a little bit,

Coach, I want to go to this in between the second and third period,

where just break this down for everybody.

Gaines going, you come in, out of the first period, empty,

come in the second to one, them ahead.

Going into the third period, that spoiler alert, we won.

But going into that, what was your conversation with the boys?

I should ask, it wasn't pretty.

Especially when they scored 12 seconds left in the second period.

That was just not something you wanted to give up.

I think the message for the most part was that we got to go,

we're going north and we're throwing everything that we got,

and it's just constant pressure.

And then they'll go back to your conversation about the shots on goal,

is that there was a sense of urgency.

We're not, this is not going to go to Sunday,

we're going to get this done now.

And we're just going to throw everything we got at the net here,

and we're going to, we changed it for a check,

we went to two hard for checking here,

we got to create a turnover, we got to get shots,

and we would just collapse in front.

So it was just a matter of time.

And I think only two that got the time goal,

which was only a couple of minutes into the period here.

And S.J. will conquer the winner, right?

Yeah.

I think that was the message, right?

Am I missing something?

I think you covered it on this.

The PG version.

Yeah, that's pretty much it.

I think that was it, was like,

whatever happened to happen in Stomach,

this is what we got to deal with,

and this is how we're going to deal with it,

and it's going to be full core pressure.

The second round is upon us.

It kicks off this weekend,

of course, got more home ice.

We got these games right here in town,

as we're taking on the Minnesota mullets.

Moose.

Moose, did I say mullets?

I meant moose.

I'm sorry.

Those Minnesota teams, you know.

But the mullets.

With the experience,

we talk about this in playoffs all the time.

You and I even, I think, last week talked about this.

You start the playoffs, records are zero, zero.

And none of the previous season,

none of the previous data matters.

We say that.

And it's certainly true to a degree.

But you do have experience with these teams.

You have played them a bit.

How much is that help or hurt going forward going into it?

Because you don't want to make assumptions either about these squads.

No, it's, you know.

It's good to know who they are and what they're all about, right?

But, you know, the roster has changed so dramatically,

during the course.

Look at ours, right?

It's changed dramatically.

So, we know who they are.

We've watched them right now.

We watched.

And our job this week is to do our homework

and watch a couple of games recently.

How they're playing and who's doing what?

And just be prepared.

I mean, it really doesn't matter at this point.

How many times they want against us?

Or we want against them?

It doesn't matter, right?

Zero, zero.

And go out and let's go play.

And hopefully we'll be prepared.

When it comes to the shots on goal,

I want to wrap up on there.

But on our side of the, of the ice.

And I did say, oh, I shouldn't do that.

There's a note, you're a listening integrity here.

You shouldn't, absolutely.

When it comes to that, again, I notice a huge difference

on our team.

One of the things I was talking to my dad about,

he had a coach that used to tell him in his wings.

Look for the great shot.

Look for the right shot in that.

And he always, for him, he felt like,

if I see any daylight, I'm taking that shot.

You just don't know.

Is that more of your philosophy, pepper the net?

It's more of that than looking for a perfect shot

that may or may not come.

I do say that a lot, right?

I mean, I want pucks at the net.

I want guys crashing the net.

You got to get in front of goalies.

Golees at this stage, their careers are pretty good.

So if you don't get in front of their eyesight,

you're never going to score.

So I want to get as much and keep them as busy as possible.

Listen, when you're up four or five or six goals,

then you can get a little fancy.

But until then, you can't waste golden opportunities.

And we have a tendency of doing that sometimes,

which is why you win six-nothing,

and now you're losing two to one going to third period, right?

Because we get comfortable, right?

So my job, mainly on the bench,

is you got to keep that sense of urgency here, right?

It's zero-zero.

It may be in a second period.

It's zero-zero.

You got to win a period, right?

How do we win a period?

You got to have more momentum, more tempo, more energy, right?

You got to bring it.

And because each shift could be their last,

if things don't go the way that we need them to go.

Right, right.

So that's the mentality and that's the way I coach.

And so far, so good.

Right on.

Bora, again, thank you for the time.

I appreciate you being here, man.

Thanks so much.

And have a great, well week here of rehearsed practice.

Enjoy yourself this weekend, and you guys have fun out there, okay?

Thank you for having me.

Thank you.

Coach, always good to talk to you.

Thank you so much for the time.

We are going to be building up that home ice advantage all week long.

Every more, every show, every time I'm on the air,

we're going to be telling people to get to that rink.

Get your tickets.

Make sure that you are showing this team how much you appreciate them.

Because you mentioned that about the players.

It's like that for us as fans, too.

We never know what might be our last quarter or last period here or something like this.

We want to get down to that rink and appreciate every second of River King Hockey we have.

Most of this audience, I talked to some people over the weekend.

We can remember some years where it wasn't like this, where we didn't have a playoff run.

We weren't playing hockey right now.

We're spoiled.

We're lucky to be having this right now.

We're going to appreciate every second of it, man.

I should let the audience know because this is an audio medium.

I am in my Sandy Kofax Brooklyn Dodgers uniform today.

I wanted to remember River King stuff.

I'm wearing it on the weekend to get ready for the momentum for the weekend and stuff.

But coach, you are a New Yorker if I got that right, right?

So I'm trying to represent a little bit of New York here for you.

I'm trying to cover a little bit of it.

It's a close like a get-man, I'm sorry.

But we do appreciate you.

I'd appreciate the time for you guys.

Thanks again.

Thanks, buddy.

Appreciate it.

Find out more and spotlight your River King's all over social media, wherever you have social media.

Be sure to follow them and bookmark the web page RiverKingsHockey.com.

Get your tickets right there and find out more information.

We'll be back with more playmakers right here on WFHR.

Welcome back, everybody.

Two playmakers here at WFHR, locally grown radio.

Hope you're having a good, good Monday out there.

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