Assumption Lady Royals Edition

Afternoon, Wisconsin. Welcome to WFHR's Playmakers.

Good afternoon, everybody. Hope you're having a great Friday night out there.

We want to welcome you to not only a great hour of talking sports,

but some fun. You got your host James behind the mic. I'm joined by Seth Habhager.

Good afternoon, everybody.

That was hilarious with that right foot. We couldn't have time that better.

No, that was pretty good. That was perfect.

We appreciate you hanging out with us. We want to send a big thank you to quality plus printing family, natural food,

sponsoring this hour, giving us a chance to hang out with you and talk sports.

Wrap up the week talking sports. It's been a great week of Playmakers. We've been having a lot of fun over here.

We want to take your calls. We're wide open. Hit us in the numbers. 715-424-2600.

Seth and I are of course going to talk opening day. I've got some fun stats involving that.

We'll get to a couple of other interesting stories as well.

At 530, it's the fourth period. We will talk to GM Head Coach.

If your Wisconsin Rapids, River King, Coach Paul is going to join us looking forward to that.

Very nice back in town. Yeah.

Have to start certainly with opening day. We understand that we are a day late on this.

But there's too much to talk about with it.

And too many interesting stats to go along with it.

To me, and something that I didn't get a chance to touch on this morning on the show that I wanted to mention.

I completely admit that my family and I are very biased when it comes to Christian Yelich.

He took a moment and passed a ball to my nephew Mason.

He instantly, whether Mr. Yelich knows it or not, he is a mail-off.

He is part of the family now.

If he ever needs a place to stay, you know, just get away a little bit or something.

My brother's house is beautiful. Hang up.

Hey out. Hey. Christian, good fun.

Well, and if that wasn't enough, he came to opening day in style.

He dressed in a all-pled suit on opening day as an homage to Bob Euker.

And one thing I'll say.

Now, Bob Euker, for all we can say about him and everything, I always thought was a good dresser.

He had his own style. I'm not saying he was going to walk the runway in Paris.

But I thought he dressed well.

Harry Carey was a bit different. Harry just kind of showed up.

Like, you know, there's certain guys that did that.

There's certain guys that just kind of, you know, didn't just, you know, dusted himself off from wherever he was, you know, laying out.

Probably probably probably from across the street to be honest.

Let's be honest, probably I just walked from the goat and just came out over.

Whereas Euker greeted, he had a respect for this job.

That's the thing that nobody gets talks about with him.

How much he respected this game.

How much he loved it. You know, because not only did he know his stuff,

but you can't be the prankster if you don't know your stuff.

That's right.

You have to be able to do both and he was so good at it.

I thought he had some style, but he didn't make it look like this does.

Christian Yellen's like, that's the only difference here.

Like it fits. It's very stylish. He looks great.

Wow, that was going around the league this year.

There were so many guys showing up like really styling to opening day.

I don't remember that being that big of a thing with players, but all of a sudden they're like really dressing to the nines.

Football and baseball and even hockey players have realized why do basketball players get all the fun?

Yeah, you know, I got this money. I might as well buy a nice suit.

It helps promote the game.

If it helps promote the game, it keeps the game going, and that's a good thing for everybody.

We have some serious talk to do today, Seth, but I do want to get one thing out of the way.

I have to do this, and this is a safe place.

A little bit later, we're going to go into some things we learned about every MLB team in spring training.

We'll focus on our local teams and our teams that you and I look at and everything.

So I actually do have one positive thing at the very least about the White Sox among a couple of things.

I defeated, but yes, right.

Last year, the Chicago White Sox lost 121 games, which was a modern era record for most losses in the season.

That dates back to 1901.

And coming into this season, their roster could be even worse by some projections.

In fact, according to the projected modules on Polly Market, a White Sox championship this year

is even less likely than the second coming of Jesus Christ.

I'm not being blasphemous. I'm not exaggerating.

This is an actual stat I'm looking at right now.

They had the chances of Jesus showing up this year at 3% compared to White Sox chances of winning anything at 1%.

This is what it is to be a fan of this team.

Yes, this is what you've done, Jerry Rydstorm.

I hope you're happy.

I hope you're happy.

Well, Jerry Rydstorm will never die because he's made a deal.

Yes, absolutely.

But it's just so right about that.

With the other guys.

So in other words, if the White Sox win anything this year.

That was good. That was good.

There's a beat off.

White Sox win this year.

Expect the end to be coming soon.

In other words, that's what it is.

That's what you're telling me.

So I can't root for a good season.

Oh, not if I care about humanity.

I'm sorry, everybody.

We're not a big of a fan.

No, to be fair to the White Sox.

Okay.

To be fair to the White Sox.

Last year, they had a lot of bad luck, too.

You don't lose that many games without some horrible luck.

And they did.

Their projections, actually, the ones I've seen this year are a lot better.

And they'll be better this year for sure than they were last year.

I mean, well, you really can't be much worse than that.

Right.

But I mean, no, they'll be better this year.

They're not going anywhere.

But they'll be better.

By the law of averages, you almost can't be that bad.

That's the way that baseball usually works.

Just like you couldn't expect the Mariners to repeat having 120 some way under 16 game win seasons.

Right.

Exactly.

That's an aberration.

It goes both ways.

But still, it's going to be a rough year.

Let's take a phone call.

Good afternoon.

You're in the game.

Hey, I'll take that back.

And can I parlay that into a Viking Super Bowl win?

You know, I mean, the odds.

I don't know.

Well, if they both happen, then the end is surely coming.

Well, I mean, we're breaking all rules on betting and biblical reasons.

So it's not frogs falling from the sky.

Right.

Yeah.

It's not for horsemen.

It's the minutes sort of like he's winning the Super Bowl.

And the white socks finishing what over 500.

Yeah.

We'll just say that.

Oh, my God.

That's our sides.

Those are our sides.

Yeah.

Well, at least we know now.

At least we know.

I mean, that's good to know.

Something about the Cleveland Browns.

We've got already mixed in there.

Oh, yeah.

Probably.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, there you go.

Yeah.

That'll be it too.

Because we got to include the rest of the world.

We're being very selfish here.

We're just America.

If the Toronto Maple Leafs win a Stanley Cup.

Like, oh, how about this?

Any Canadian team winning a Stanley Cup.

Like that might be another sum of bonus one each closer.

The atomic scientists clock will tick one second.

LeBron James have some self-awareness.

I mean, you know, there's just a number of things.

They just reset the clocks.

They already know that.

Yeah, that's true.

They do that.

Yeah.

Do you have anything?

Okay.

Have a good one, bud.

Have a good one.

Appreciate you.

715-424-2600.

Just a touch of two-way on the Civic Media app.

Be sure to hit us up, everybody.

Seth, did you have anything or any notes just from, you know,

spring training, the season we haven't gotten to hang out in a while?

I know.

No, not really.

No.

I mean, spring.

I'm one of those.

Spring training doesn't mean much.

This guy's getting ready for the season.

And I know people tend to, if your team is doing

does has a really great spring, you tend to take too much from it.

And if you have a really bad spring, you're like, oh, no.

What's going to happen, you know?

No.

No.

Don't worry about it.

It's not going to really dictate anything.

I'm with you.

Outside of injuries, I don't really pay much attention.

Exactly.

No, I would say I will admit if I was there, like in Florida or in Arizona

or something like that, I think I'd be very locked in.

I think I'd be really into it just because it seems like it's kind of fun.

Yeah.

There's parts of it I like.

Yeah.

Well, there's just a couple of fun stats I wanted to get to.

Like, by now, everybody has heard about Baltimore's Tyler O'Neill,

extending his own record by hitting a Homer in six consecutive opening days.

Which is just, that's such a cool record, man.

Yeah.

He may, I mean, who knows where the rest of his career will be?

But he's got this really cool opening day record.

Some of my favorite records are opening day ones.

And that's interesting.

You're saying that?

No.

That's where we're going with this.

I, you know, and what is just as just as interesting to me about him in that story is

it's so much of the stories of baseball.

I got, I got stats here on Ted Williams and Hank Aaron.

I also got stats of guys I never heard of before.

Right.

It's just fun about baseball that way.

It can be the randomness of this game.

And you're right about O'Neill.

He ain't going to be a Hall of Famer more than like.

No.

And he's done this on multiple teams.

It's just so much more interesting to me.

That does make it a lot more interesting and fascinating.

Why does he suddenly get better on opening day?

Why, you know, that's one of those things.

As much as we all love opening day, maybe nobody loved opening day more than Teddy Ball Game.

Teddy Williams was a 449 hitter in openers.

He wanted the season to start, man.

Three home runs and 14 runs batted in during 14 games.

14, a run a game he averaged at that opening day.

Also boasted at least one hit in every opening day game he appeared in.

Everyone 18 years, however long he played.

You have to remember Ted Williams was like singularly focused on hitting.

I mean, he was not a guy.

He wasn't a great all-around ball player and it wasn't because he was a bad fielder.

It's because he was distracted.

Apparently people would say, you know, he was sitting in left field in Fenway Park

and he was swinging in imaginary bat.

He didn't even care what was going on around him.

Because he wanted to hit.

That's all he wanted to do, which is why he was so good.

But that totally makes sense to me.

It's like the season starts.

All right, let's go.

So many of these guys, this is what they did.

You know, they may have had other jobs, especially back then,

having to have day jobs or other season jobs and some of those things.

Once they got the opportunity to hit that field, yeah.

And another noteworthy thing.

Williams' first opening day, April 20th, 1939, was especially noteworthy

as he was facing rival New York Yankees Lou Gehrig, who was playing

in his 213rd consecutive game.

He had seven left before he left.

Yeah.

What's remarkable?

Opening day in 1940 witnessed one of the most famous pitching events

as Cleveland Ace Bob Feller and White Sock Hurler Eddie Smith went head-to-head.

Smith blanked, but Feller remained in control and tossed the only opening day

no hitter in major league game history.

And still read us day as we've gone through opening day.

Another day, another year, the only one that's ever been.

And you know, I got to try to get to our audience here.

Hammer and Hank Aaron ignited the crowd at Riverfront Stadium

on his first swing of the 1974 season when he tagged Cincinnati Reds

for his 714th career home run to Thai Babe Ruth for the all-time list.

Mm-hmm.

Watch that video.

It's so great.

The crowd in Cincinnati goes absolutely bananas.

Yeah.

Because I'm sure they were convinced they were going to see the record breaker.

Of course, I didn't have them for a couple weeks, but oh man, that's such a...

That's almost...

Okay, now, when he broke the record, that's still one of the best big...

You know, videos of all time watching him break the record.

But that one is a close second because it is really fun and cool.

It's an amazing...

Both of them are great.

There's a YouTube...

I don't know if it's still out there, but there were years ago

there was a YouTube video from back to back where he could watch just

and back to back and it was so cool.

Statistically speaking, how important is opening day to a team

in regard of a championship season?

This is kind of interesting.

The answer is not that much.

No, no, they can't be.

The record for the most consecutive opening day wins by a team

was nine set by the Cincinnati Reds in 83 to 91

and the Tigers won every opening day from 2009 to 2017.

Wow.

Tying the big red machine.

Whoo!

No, that's a good one.

Wow, that's a good one.

I like that.

At the plate, Hall of Famer, Outfielder, Frank Robinson, Future Hall of Famer,

Ken Griffey, Jr.

and two-time All-Star Adam Dunn.

Each hit eight career record-setting home runs on the first day of the season.

Nice.

Wow.

Willie Mays and Eddie Matthews each belted seven opening day round trippers.

Love it.

Just some stats for you.

My favorites.

Yeah.

Just some opening day stats that are kind of fun to go over.

Yeah.

And help us get into the fun of the season.

It is a swing of season.

It's a swing of season.

It's funny because it's got, you know, it's such a long season.

You know?

This is the start of, you know, we'll be done in October everybody.

Yeah.

So this is how it is.

That's why it doesn't matter what happens in opening day, whether you win or not.

Just as long as you're there.

And I said this on Wednesday's show with Michael, and I'll mention it again.

It's part of the reason why I feel very, like I don't think it's a hot take

and I feel very confident saying, I don't think the Dodgers are going to win it all.

No.

I really don't.

I don't know.

I could see them in the World Series.

I could see them making, you know, incredible, like statistical,

it nominally runs this year, like having like a crazy winning streak or something like that.

But this is baseball and baseball is humbling.

Baseball, the thing that they don't tell you when you're your dad or your pop

or whoever it is handing this sport down to you and you're feeling the love of it.

The one thing they don't tell you is there is no other sport that is more heart breaking than baseball.

Only one team gets to feel good at the end of the season.

And they don't tell you that.

They don't tell you that.

No, they don't.

It's a heartbreak.

You've still learned it yourself.

Yes.

Baseball was designed to break your heart.

And that's a famous thank you.

I remember who said it.

But it is because and part of it is because the season is so long.

Yes.

And you get to the end and then can you imagine you're in the World Series and then you lose it.

You've got all this way and you don't even get to celebrate the win.

That's got to no wonder the emotions of so many players comes out because it's like,

we played 60, 162, we have all these playoffs to go through now.

And then we made it to the World Series and we lost.

I thought about this so much with the Edmonton Oilers last year against the Florida Panthers.

Yes.

And the up and down of that incredible emotions of being down three.

And here we are again, another Canadian team that's going to get lost or swept or whatever.

They come back and you have the most dangerous thing in life maybe but especially in sports.

The most dangerous thing in all of sports.

Hope.

You have hope.

And all of a sudden you start thinking you can come back and it comes down to literally the last seconds of the game.

And you lose to get as literally as close as you can get and then lose.

It's the difference of to me what it means to play this game for a living and to play it for love.

Right.

Because if you love the game it can be heartbreaking but you can't help yourself.

You're going to get back out on that ice.

You're going to get back on that dime and you're going to get back on that field.

If it's about the money you can tell usually.

Yes.

You can just tell usually that those teams or those players they don't bounce back.

You don't hear from them ever again almost.

There's some of those things.

With the Edmonton Oilers one thing they have going for them.

I think it is about hard.

I think it is about the game.

Right.

I don't know how big David's going anywhere.

No.

Should be interesting.

There was another one cool article that came across at MLB.com who has some great reporting.

Some of the best.

Some great reporters there.

They do.

It feels like where so many other sports have lost some of the great writers.

And especially now Peter King's left the football and everything he's retired.

And congratulations to him.

He's earned it.

Right.

Baseball they stick around man and some of them have even migrated to baseball.

Just full time and everything.

Right.

So great article over at MLB.com that I thought was kind of fun to go over.

Sarah Langs put this one out here.

She does.

All the great Sarah Langs.

Oh my gosh.

She's good.

She's great.

Ten players vying for record books in 2025.

She knows all of this stuff by the way.

She is like a savant when it comes to these records.

I am.

I feel a little bit dangerous saying this but she is so much the mean of kinds of baseball.

She is so smart about this stuff.

She loves it as much as she is a nerd about the sport.

She also really knows her stuff but can be so passionate while also articulate.

Yes.

That is one of the most difficult things to do.

Right.

I hear every day in sports media all over the dial and radio and on TV.

These people like Stephen A Smith or even locally like Michael's and everything.

They get so angry or passionate and they get loud.

And they can't articulate their thoughts because you can't do that when you are angry.

And you say you generalize and you say grando things and stuff.

Or you talk about stuff you probably shouldn't be talking about because you don't know enough about it.

Her mean of kinds they are able to do that.

They are able to be passionate, very engaged while also articulate.

They actually get their point across and not just sound like an idiot.

And with Sarah Langs it is also dealing with ALS at the same time which is remarkable.

It is just incredible.

Bobby Whit Jr. is going for a third consecutive 30-30 season.

Man.

That is insane.

Oh my god.

He is insane.

Man, he has been like a shot of going to the smaller market, Kansas City, helping bring them to the playoffs last year.

Man, this guy is the limit for that guy.

And the only thing, the spectre of injury is always there for players of any sport.

But he is one of those guys that man, I hope we get to see him.

At the fullest of his talents for as long as we can.

Because he's got a, he's real special.

Speaking of 30-30, Shohei Ohtani, they are predicting 43 homers, 34 stolen bases, and 141 pitching strikeouts.

And not that you need me to tell you this, but nobody has done that before.

No.

But it would be him tying a record of a consecutive 30-30 season, similar with Bobby Whit Jr.

Right.

And none of that is normal.

What I just said.

That's very weird.

That's not normal.

We kind of normalized it.

We have.

We have.

I didn't realize that no players done it three years in a row.

I didn't realize that.

Yeah.

Wow.

I never thought about that.

No.

I will admit, I was always, I was a sucker as a kid.

I got locked into that red 2020-30-30 club.

I know it doesn't matter.

I know they're just stats.

But I thought it was cool as a kid.

Right.

Speed and power.

You know, one of the two most important things in baseball right there.

Right.

It's the same thing in football to me about being able to, the Marshall Falks.

It could go a thousand yards rushing and receiving.

Yeah.

I guess the modern equivalent is a Lamar Jackson who can go a thousand yards rushing and pass

and 4,000 passes fast.

It's incredible.

Yeah.

Paul Schien's MLB leader in ERA and strikeouts.

I don't know about anybody else.

But with Paul Schien's, the only thing I care about is games played.

I just want them to have a complete season.

Yes, me too.

He goes on the DL for 15 games.

Fine.

That's our 15 days.

That's fine.

I just don't want any career ending injuries.

I don't want any T.J.

I don't want T.J.

No.

Just let them have complete, not complete games, just games played.

Yeah.

You know, all of his 33 starts in.

Yeah.

That kind of thing.

We, I say we as baseball fans, all of us and everything are in dire need of starting pitching.

We want to see someone like him, especially succeed.

Yeah.

Nothing against him.

He was a fine closer last year.

Not just dropped his name.

The new starting pitcher, opening day starting pitcher for the Mets.

He was a closer last year.

Oh, no, you're right.

Was it Clay Holmes?

No.

No.

But anyway, for starting pitching, that's what we're doing here.

You know?

I don't know.

Aaron Judd, leading the league in home runs again.

And not just that, but 46.

That would be, you know, just 10 players.

And MLB history have had four such seasons.

Wow.

10, that's, that is good company, my friend.

And Luis Sonoriza, our guy.

I feel like we're just in his fan club.

It was one of those throwback players.

Fourth consecutive batting title.

He's looking for a fourth consecutive batting title.

When was the last time that happened?

Does that, I don't know if it's got it in there.

I'm thinking, boy, I'm going to see if I can guess on this one.

Yeah.

I don't know if it was Wade Boggs, because battingly had one in there.

Was it Rod Crew?

Hmm.

Hmm.

You mean the last one or did you do it?

Oh, the most recent.

The most recent.

Not the most recent, but you are right about Kuru.

Oh, yeah.

You are right about Kuru.

Just six players in MLB history have one, four or more straight batting titles.

Yes.

And this is Pearl Ellis.

They are, of course, Ty Cobb from 1907 and 1915.

So, nine of them.

Yeah.

That was Ty Cobb.

I don't know how, but somehow, I feel like Roger Hornsby always gets forgotten.

He does.

1920 to 25.

Six.

An amazing, right?

Probably one of the greatest red handed editors of all time.

Yeah.

Incredible stats about him.

Then one of my favorites, Tony Gwyn from 94 and 97.

Yeah.

Wade Boggs from 85 to 88.

So he did have a stretch of four years.

Yeah.

Okay.

All right.

And then Kuru from 72 to 75.

Okay.

And Honest Wagner from 1906 to 09.

All right.

Cobb's big rival.

Yeah.

It has been done.

It has been done.

But that's not easy.

No.

And in this day and age when batting average is not the thing it was when we were kids or even

before that, where people don't care about batting average really much anymore, like they

used to, that's something.

That is something.

Yeah.

I got to say.

It's pretty cool.

Yeah.

Nester Cortes is getting comfortable in the Milwaukee dugout and getting comfortable with

the city, the players, the team.

I've seen a lot of that being embraced on both sides, both being really happy about him

being there.

Bruce Pitchingcoach, Chris Hook actually thought he was a superhero.

He's just a different athlete.

Just a different athlete, different size, and especially even at 30, what they're looking

at with him and everything and the possibilities with him and everything.

Hey.

Who, you know, has an opportunity to really rewrite his story.

He does.

He absolutely does.

And I hope.

I mean, yesterday because the opening game in New York, I mean, the press was all over

him.

I mean, he like apparently answered questions like 35 minutes from New York reporters, because

you know, they want to know about the new surroundings and being there.

He had a big impact when he was in New York.

So yeah, me too.

I want to see him get back to the basics and I really am really looking forward to see

how he does.

He's a father to be and that's all playing into this a lot too, where he's just really

happy about his child being able to, you know, be born in Milwaukee and all that and go

to those things.

And, you know, something that we're going to talk about and see throughout the season,

this is a funky guy.

He is bringing the funk to Milwaukee and he is proud of it and the team is loving it.

The team is going to see.

A personality.

He's got a personality.

Yeah.

Let's freak flag fly.

Exactly.

And baseball is made of these kind of, we love these guys in baseball.

I also see him bringing out the personality and Jackson and some of these other players.

You know, it's going to be a fun season, I think, all around.

I'm really curious about other people's storylines too, what other things you're looking

forward to this season.

You know, sir, there's a number of rookies I really am looking forward to seeing playing.

Rookies are always fun.

Calm down.

Brewers fans.

Jackson, Jackson Cheerio is not going to strike out five times in a game, but that's a

rarity.

The old horse collar is the used to call it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's rough.

He'll bounce back.

He'll be fine.

We will, not only he'll be fine, but we'll be back with more.

You are coming back with the fourth period, everybody.

We are going to be back with GM and coach of your Wisconsin's Rapids River Kings coach

Paul going to be joining us in a few right here on Playmakers, probably brought you by

Quadipo's printing and family natural foods.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Welcome back to Playmakers here at WFHR.

It's time for the fourth period.

Thanks so much for joining us, everybody.

Hope you're having a great Friday afternoon.

Seth and James here.

And we are joined by head coach GM of your Wisconsin Rapids River Kings coach Paul is with

us right now.

Coach, good to see you.

How you been, man?

I'm doing great.

How are you?

Doing good.

I actually talked to my dad about this and then I talked to Seth because I wanted to

text you immediately after seeing the score of the last game and both of them told me

you leave that man alone.

You leave him alone?

No.

We're certainly going to rip band-aid off and get right into it.

We're talking about the season and I'm just talking to Seth about how heartbreaking baseball

can be.

And really, that's part of what it is about being a sports fan.

Everybody understands the agreement we all make whether we realize it or not is that

only one team gets to end the season happy.

And it's so much about the journey.

If you let it be, you know, every individual fan is different.

But I think that one of the things that if you're lucky you learn early on is that while

only one team may get to win, everybody can enjoy the season.

Everybody can take wins from the season.

Everybody can find things to be proud of in the season.

And I would like to think at this level especially that there are so many more wins than

just winning a division or a natty and I don't want to make light of winning those things

because they certainly mean a lot to us and I know to you especially.

But when I look at the season, like I've heard team say this before and everything.

I remember Yana sent it to Kupo.

He got done saying at the end of the season, well, we still had, we accomplished this,

this and this and people jumped on him or you didn't want a championship.

You know, that's all that matters.

What kind of culture is that?

I don't want to be that kind of sports fan.

I mean, for one, I'm a Chicago fan.

It's a very horrible existence for me.

But more and more to have never had that conversation.

But more to the point, it just seems like a waste, like a waste of time almost because

there's no guarantees in any of this.

I don't think the Dodgers are going to win the World Series with all the money they've

thrown at it.

I mean, so does that mean the season was a waste?

It seems kind of ridiculous to me.

And then again, at this level where it's so much more about just winning than it is about

getting these kids in the next level or helping them chase their dreams or any of these

things, coach.

It's, well, you're exactly right.

I mean, listen, we all want to win, right?

But it's my win and I've been doing this for 16 years now is watching these guys commit

to college, right?

We're using hockey as a vehicle to get to a good school.

Anything they do beyond that, to me, is a bonus.

These kids played their butts off all year long.

There's been so many victories along the way that we've cherished and that's something

that we made sure at the end.

It's a tough, it's an emotional room after losing like that and expecting for us to go

further, right?

And then all of a sudden, you're done.

It's emotional.

But to keep your head up and you have to be proud of everything you've accomplished

to get to that point, right?

And as far as I'm concerned, I don't care about the banners, right?

That's for them that if that happens in 10 years, I did that, right?

You walk in here and you know that you were part of something great.

These guys here, there's a lot of guys that you're going to start seeing committing to NCAA

schools here shortly.

We had a great group of guys.

I mean, this was my best team I've ever assembled, record wise and probably character wise.

These kids were just incredible and I've had some great teams when we were wrong.

But you know, when you're finished 39, 10 and 2, that's not a sneeze act, right?

Not at all.

These kids were just tremendous.

All the more reason why, you know, there's plenty to take from this season and to build

on as this has been a thing that we're building as we not only build hockey up and down the

river, but build up this team and going forward and the consistency with this team can only

help recruiting wise, can only help scouting wise, I imagine, among other things.

What's the start of the next chapter for you guys in the new season and all that?

How does that begin?

It's already started.

Right on.

Right.

Recruiting never ends, right?

So it's, yeah, we've got a couple of guys that are very interested in committing to us

from other programs and so, you know, what you need, right?

And hopefully you get the guys to come back.

So I'm expecting about eight to 10 returners, which is a good number and then you got some

other guys that other programs that see what we do that want to be part of it and some

of them play in teams that we play to play off.

So there's a lot of things that happen, right?

And, you know, I'm having conversations with guys all over the world.

So it begins and it just never ends really well.

We look forward to, you know, getting updates throughout the off season.

We'll be catching up with you and everything and checking in.

But I do want to thank you for joining us, for hanging out with us and everything, being

so candid, so transparent.

There's, I was asking around to wear listeners and stuff.

There's no shows like this.

There's not a lot of coaches doing what you're doing or GM's doing what you're doing,

sharing what you do with us and everything, taking the time to come here to do this and

everything.

We really do appreciate that.

You've given us an insight into that locker room that we would not have otherwise.

And I know that it has helped with fan engagement, it has helped with ticket sales.

It has helped with just love of this team and something that all three of us care so much

about and building hockey and truly keeping the sport relevant alive and well and continuing

on to the next generations and everything.

Well, thank you for giving me the opportunity.

You know, I enjoy being here with you guys.

It's always fun talking to hockey and anything else that's going on.

But for me, I mean, that's even difficult to hear a little bit that nobody else does

that, right?

Yes.

Why wouldn't you?

I mean, you want people to engage.

I want people to understand when I first got here, they considered a professional team

in the ways that some people reacted.

These are kids.

You know, at the end of the day, their kids from 17 to 20 year old that are trying to go

to school.

Right?

And everybody's path is different.

And that's what people, at the beginning, when I was getting settled in here, that was

the hardest thing for them to understand because they got to win.

They got to win.

They got to, you know, this isn't the, the rafters are different.

Right.

Right.

You're at a different level, right?

Right.

These are guys that are trying to get that out of them.

Right.

It's all about teaching.

It's about developing and you're turning boys into men.

Yeah.

And that's hopefully we're doing it, doing that the right way.

And these guys are going on to be successful as well.

Is there anything, any, it's so early in the process and everything, but is there any,

looking, any guys that you're looking at that, we're going to keep, or we know we can

keep, or they, those decisions still got to be made by them and their, their people

and everything.

Yeah, I think we're going to Shaw, Deakin Shaw, the gold ton will be back for sure.

I know Aiden Welch, the local kid here from Rapids, and we're getting ready to sign Eli

Graff, who's from Rapids as well.

Right on.

Right on.

He's been playing out in U18 AAA in New Jersey, and I've been keeping an eye on him.

We've been having conversations all year long, so I was actually just sitting in the baseball

stands behind the rank watching him play baseball at a high school, talking to mom and,

so we're getting ready to bring him on board.

So I think that'll give us a good stable in the net.

Bolivier, Bolduke, and Noah Diamond, McHale Ileon, Felix Alstrand, these have got, yeah,

so we'll have some, we'll have some good core guys back in, and I'm already talking to

the kid from Latvia, Finland, those two guys are very good players, so they would add

some offensive punch, and obviously we've got a lot of stuff to replace, right?

So yeah, and that's the goal is just, and I need this, and I need guys like that, and

you know, these guys set the bar so high, so anything, that's what I'm looking for, you

know.

You know, I wouldn't, as much as I've been around this sport, there's no sport I've

watched more in my lifetime, and you know, feel like I feel closer to.

I also don't pretend to know what I'm talking about, you know, I did just because I watched

the game and everything, and I played a little bit with my dad or something like that

watched him play.

I don't pretend to know, but I would imagine that almost with anything, that you've got

a way of doing things in a way of, you know, the method that works and a consistency with

that and routine with that, but getting to the, you know, the last two seasons and not

hitting where you wanted to, you personally, for this team, for this franchise, do you

get to a point where you look, you read, you kind of look at the blackboard and just

erase it and start over, do you want to do things a little differently, do you find ways

to, you know, find different plays or you're going to coach this way differently or, you

know, what, actually, it's, I need to keep doing this this way, because it's been working,

why would I change it?

I, it's just natural human nature to look at it that way, I would imagine.

How do you approach it?

Well, how are you looking at the off season in that regard?

They tell me about the off season, during the season.

I guess they read both, you know, during the, you know, the, during the season and

I don't know.

Well, the way that I do things is that, for the first, usually until about Christmas time,

nobody plays on the same line.

I mix up the lines every week.

Oh, yeah.

So, I do that for a few reasons.

I don't want guys to come in thinking, I'm the top line, I don't have to do this and

I want to do that.

Right.

Right.

Everybody's, and you, you're playing with other guys and I want to see chemistry.

I want to see, well, okay, well, I know these guys got it, right?

And that'll come into fruition in January when you're making a playoff push.

Right.

Right.

So, I do that.

Guys get hurt, get sick, do stupid stuff.

Right.

So, this constant here, I don't want anybody to get complacent so that when we come to work

every day, we're going to work.

Right.

That'll, to make sure you're in the lineup and then when you're in it, you better do

something.

Right.

Because you might be out tomorrow.

Right.

So, that's, that's my thought process and I've been doing that for, for quite a while now.

And if you look in the last two years, we went 12 and all, going into the playoffs in

one, three more in a row.

So, 15 before we lost the Northwest.

Yeah.

In that game, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

The year before we had to win 10 in a row to win a division by one point.

Uh-huh.

Well, all of a sudden, come January, well, let's, these guys, we got this.

I know I got this.

This is that kind of line and you start building and we have depth, right?

Uh-huh.

Because now you got guys on all lines that can play.

Yeah.

Right.

So, all of a sudden, you start steaming on with four lines.

Most teams don't and they don't know how to do that.

Uh-huh.

And I, and I say that not to disrespect anybody, but I've had many players come to me at

which I'm going through right now to come from other programs and say, Jesus.

We don't have this.

We don't do that.

Yeah.

Right?

How do you do that and this and that and they never had that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, do I change anything?

Listen, it's, it's on a week to week almost day to day, right?

If I have a group and they're not doing something that I think they should be doing, I'll

change.

Yeah.

Sure.

Sure.

Yeah.

I mean, every day, you know, me and Derek will talk after practice.

This one will look good.

This one didn't.

Maybe let's try these two or you're constantly, right?

You're constantly, who's sick and in and out and that kind of thing.

So, it's a chess game.

It's awesome.

Thank you for that.

Because that's interesting and I know that it's not only is it interesting to the listeners

out there, but it's fun to hear this stuff because I also think that there's something

relatable to that for all just about anybody listening to that and anything they're doing

any walk of life or anything.

And it comes right back to again.

Not everything is about being able to hoist up a trophy at the end of the year.

That's not everything that matters in this game.

What I tried, I don't mean to cut you off, but what I do is I tried to tell these guys,

my job is to put you in a position to be successful.

And sometimes that means removing you.

Yeah.

Right.

And that's the part.

That's a tricky part.

That's a hard lesson.

That's a hard lesson to listen.

Listen, we have one of our best goalies like Pod Gurney never played a playoff game this

run.

And I was specifically going to have him play the squash, assuming we won the first game.

Right.

Now after the second period of the game, one, I had to tell this kid, listen, if we don't

win this game, I'm coming back with him because I mean, we went over time, right?

Right.

So Dominic Hyde played lights out and I had no choice to go back to the veteran, right?

And this and I apologize to the kid.

I said, man, I'm sorry, I didn't give you a shot.

I didn't get a chance to, right?

Right.

So there's a lot of things that happen.

Now I had two brothers from Sweden that I was talking to and it goes back to for me anyway.

You got to earn it.

I don't get my father from East Germany.

Nobody gave me anything.

Right.

So you want something.

You got to go get it.

And this kid was making all kinds of demands as he listened to the same thing the right

program for you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, I got my brother and we got, we need to play this money to go somewhere else.

Yeah.

And he did.

He was here and he went back home after a month because it wasn't the program that he

was looking for.

I said, what do you look for?

These kids just don't understand, right?

That's not here.

We're very structured, right?

This is what's going to happen.

This is what you're going to do.

You're going to get more coaching.

You're going to get more teaching.

You're going to sign more of grass and take more pitches than you ever thought possible.

Right.

It's not like that at all the places.

Yeah.

These kids, when they come here, like they wish they came for another year or the guys

that are aging out, they're sitting in the locker room crying for days.

I, they don't want to leave.

Right.

I still got guys here.

That's all they just don't want to leave.

It's such a...

I can't get rid of them.

Maybe the greatest selling point we have right there.

What you're just saying right there, that maybe the best selling point we have about this

team and something to keep us, you know, excited in the off season here as we're gearing

up for another season, another fun season, where we can't wait for October, right, you

know, getting ready and thinking hockey and, you know, being able to talk with the guys

and everything and look at this new roster and talk about that with you.

We'll be talking throughout the off season as well and everything, not that there is

an off season, as he said, not for him.

I didn't want to touch on one thing before I let you go and I wanted to bring this up

with Seth too.

We started their show earlier in the week with this because I've never seen this in sports

before.

Little onan hockey especially.

The Lady Badgers just won a national championship and congratulations to them.

Some of the most exciting hockey I've seen in a long time on a collegiate level especially

watching the last minutes of that game.

It goes to overtime and they're going around their cameras and the commentators are talking

and they're looking at the Ohio State coach and they pan over to Mark Johnson coach of

the year in hockey and coach of your badgers and you can see him mowling something.

It's not evident what it is but then the commentator jumps in right away and says you saw

coach Johnson say who wants it as far as the penalty shot.

He didn't make the decision.

He literally said to his players who wants it and the young lady steps up and of course

he makes the mix an amazing move right at the you could not stretch that play out longer

and just makes it some amazing hands gets it in there.

I've never seen a coach do something like that with that much like in a regular in a pre-season

game or in a just in a game with my dad and his buddies playing I've never seen anything

like that.

Let alone with everything on the line at that moment.

Have you heard of or seen anything like that before you got you know that Mark Johnson

is at a level all by himself right.

That's true.

I can't imagine I don't know if I would do that I'm not going to lie I don't think that's

amazing.

I don't know if I can do that.

With that kind of experience right and obviously you going back to his game is one

game right yeah yeah experience yeah true that's a good point it's a really good point

yeah yeah it's just a fun moment it's a fun moment and it's part of what we love about

this game I love talking with you coach thanks so much for the time today man we're looking

for it to hang out again real soon have a good off season try to relax try to enjoy some

of it you know if we never get a chance to get with the weather in town right now it's

a harder relax I don't know if I ever mentioned this but we're going to we start the junior

river king so I got try out to you Sunday night all right we've got a little guys coming

in and putting a team together and we're going to go play it in order of a game oh my

oh that was that cool if if if people want to find out more about that if parents want

to find out more about that maybe getting their kids involved or anything like that just

reach out to you on social media or yeah it's also on a website because we have a junior

river king's tab um excellent yeah all the information is right there river kings hockey

dot com is where you can find it everybody and be sure to follow your boys winter up

and down the river as they build hockey up and down it at all their social media parts

and keep an eye out for things here with playmakers will be talking to coach again real

soon in the fourth period we'll be back with more show coming up uh right here playmakers

welcome back everybody playmakers here at WFHR locally grown radio

every single time just gets me set then James hanging out with you thanks so much for being

with us everybody we're going to wrap up the show for the week take you to the top of the hour

get you ready for the birthday boy Pete Shaba Pete Shaba Pete Shaba Shaba Shaba Shaba I had some

Shaba ranks in my head that's what happened there I don't know what that was I apologize to Pete's

birthday today yeah happy birthday to Pete yeah around in the joy a great show everybody great

it's night light and that is a perfect name for it because it is such a cool just ease into your

night kind of show it's it's it's very it's very cool if you've not listened to it check it out

it is a lot of fun big gigantic thank you to GM head coach of your Wisconsin rapist river king

is coach Paul for joining us there man I could talk to that man every day it back to back he

doesn't know how good he is at this man yeah really and and you know the the fact that he is so

forthright with a lot of this stuff I love that he doesn't he's not like you're the professional

coaches in like any sport that like just lie like breathing you know he's honest he tells you

how it is and I love it cannot thank him enough and how much we appreciate him not only on that

level on a personal level and on just a community level yeah and what that team brings to this

to this community in this market look at that he's trying to grow it in our community it's really

really remarkable we had a couple of things to get to before we wrap up one thing I did want to

mention is this Monday on midday magazine at 4.30 we're gonna have assistant GM we have Jake