Welcome back, everyone, to Playmakers here at 105-5-WIRI time for the fourth period.
One of our favorite segments we get to do around here on Playmakers where we cover local
central Wisconsin sports like nobody's business.
Michael and James here with you weren't joined right now, but GM head coach of your Wisconsin
Rapids River Kings coach Paul Peckman with us right now.
Coach, how are you doing?
Doing great, man.
Good to have you with us.
Always love hanging out on these Mondays together, talking about the games from the weekend.
We like to do this chronologically usually, but we run a sports show.
We got to start with the highlights, and Michael, take us back to game two, especially
for those that we're not able to take in the game.
Off the top of my head.
That's the last period.
Yeah, well, oh, I thought you were in the whole game recap, but just the last couple of
months of the game.
Unfortunately, the game started the same way.
The first one started with giving up a goal, just seconds into the game, but the ability
to fight back and battle back and do what you had to do.
That really says something about this team that I know coach talk a little bit off there,
but just knowing coach, not the most thrilled with how some things went.
Four play goals, giving up a few of them, and I think two in both games are one of the
second one.
Excuse me, but boy, you can be getting your butts kicked for 55 minutes and then put together
a good five minutes and still win, and they got the game winner with 4.4 left, I believe,
on the clock.
And I went crazy, the place went crazy, everybody went crazy, you guys went crazy down below.
So it was exciting, I've been doing sports journals for 20 some years, about 20 years
now, and there's been few games that I've seen hockey games come down to the last second.
And this was one of them.
That was a fun one to watch.
The Expresser, very, very good team, they're talented.
They got tough defense, good forwards, good goalie play.
They arguably should have gotten a split, no disrespect to coach.
They probably should have gotten a split on the weekend.
But that just shows the ability to dig deep when they have to for the Kings and got the
job done and took four big points out of the weekend.
Coach, let's go back to that, those final period, that third period right there.
You're going into it, I believe you're 3-1?
You're down?
No, no, no, no.
What was it?
2-1, 2-1, 2-1, sorry, you're down, 2-1 going into that period.
The shots on goal aren't happening, maybe as you'd like.
Some of the breaks aren't being as sweet as you want to shift, all these things that
are happening.
You've got the third period, you're still in this game, you've still got time.
What do you use between that second and third period?
What's the conversation like?
And we are a PG show.
No, no, no, no.
But what's it like?
What's it like?
It's a good thing you said that.
Yeah, it's sort of started there.
Well, listen, it was obviously no secret, right?
I mean, we just came up flat and it was not one of our games that we anticipated coming
into.
For us, it was just trying to regroup and focus on certain things.
We changed up.
In the second game, I went to a different kind of 4-check because of the way they played
in the first game that I really thought that we could capitalize on some turnovers,
which they gave us, but we didn't capitalize on, right?
So it was there.
And then finally, at this point, it just felt like we were out of sorts.
And then Jonathan Jackshaw gets hurt early in the game.
So now you've got to shuffle guys around.
We had one or two other guys that were pretty banged up too.
So it was difficult and we were flat.
We had no energy.
We weren't 4-checking well.
And then I just said at that point, I said, you know what, let's go back to what we
do, right?
Let's go back to this and let's just go 20 minutes, you know, as hard as you can go.
And whatever happens happens, but you got to lay it all out there, right?
Leave it there and then whatever happens happens and, you know, listen, I mean, at the end
of the day, right, there are going to be days like that you had no business running
in the game.
And we didn't.
But credit to the guys because they kept working right down to the buzzer.
And obviously you don't score four seconds left, like giving up, right?
So it's a great place.
The unsung hero who should have got to start a game and I'm going to say this and I've
talked to him afterwards.
Jacob Shavira Alexander just played tremendous down the stretch.
He set up both of those goals as a defense from behind in that.
So it's just like he was all in and we're going to do whatever we got to do to make this
happen.
And I give the kid a lot of credit and the honestly proud of him.
You don't go to this, you've been doing it for a while.
You'd work on a lot in the week, you know, leading up to these games.
There's a lot of things you can prep.
There's a lot of planning.
There's plays, all this different stuff, practicing shift changes, all these things.
And then you're in the middle of live time.
And it's a little bit like one of my favorite phrases in sports history.
You know, everybody's got to plan until they get punched in the mouth, you know, my
Tyson.
You're in that moment and your team is fighting back and they're there.
They're so close to it.
They get it.
They do it in a game like you're saying that nothing is going right and they really
shouldn't have won.
What kind of teaching moment is that?
Because we know how much important it is winning around here and everything.
But I also know how important it is for you, these kids, not just this season but what
they do going out of here and stuff.
And this is one of those things that I think is, I don't mean, I'm not over dramatizing
this at all.
I've experienced it in my own real life.
This is a moment that you could take with you no matter what you do the rest of your
life.
If you're going into construction, you're going to whatever, these kids have this moment
of, I shouldn't have been able to do this and we did it.
Right.
It's so true.
I mean, we definitely talked about it after the game.
What was the time where guys, you know, the first game, the guys played well, Deacon
Shaw probably not one of his better games, right?
We battled through it and it's about, hey, you got to make sure Deacon's taking care
of, right?
So we got to, we got to jump in, we got to block shots, we got to make sure we're doing
this, that and the other thing to get it done because somebody on your team, and we
talk about family a lot in the locker room, right?
And if he's struggling, you got to back him up, you got to pick him up.
Deacon did that for us in the second game, right?
So, and the reason why I went back to him is because he's earned the right and the respect
that, okay, it wasn't your best day.
Today's another day.
Let's shut it down, right?
And the kid did it, right, and we needed him too because nobody else was there.
So at that, it's just about family support, right, and taking care of one another and knowing
that you never give up, right?
I don't care how bad things are going, right?
You go until they tell you you can't go no more, and that was the message, really.
And, listen, I mean, some of these guys have never experienced anything at this level,
a guy like Logan Beymann, I mean, this kid just happens to be in the right position all
the time.
How he has seven goals already, I don't even know, he don't even know, right?
But he's always there, and he has wheels of moving, he's pesky open, he's not a big guy,
but he's like a water bug, he's all over the place, and he's always in the right spot,
and he capitalizes, and then you've got a guy like Mateo Ruffalo, it's just the kid
on blue wheels, and he's got good hands.
And just in the right spots, and we talk about it, and then actually listening and starting
to recognize certain scenarios on the ice, and then being there, and that's the end result,
so.
You guys, you guys were in position, obviously trailing, hasn't happened too many times
this year, but then being outshot in both games.
That's something that has maybe happened once this season, I mean, that's a credit
to you guys, your defense, for being able to step up, and Shaw, after having a rough
opening night, to just locking down, yeah, that was, that was the tough part, and we talked
about it too, because first period, we were okay, second period, we were terrible, right?
It was terrible, and they outshot us by a lot, and I remember even, it's like 20 shots
to three, if I remember right?
I even said at one point on the bench, it said, we've had one shot in 10 minutes, and
the first 10 minutes of the second period, I'm like, tough to win in games like that, if
you're not shooting a puck, and you got no offense going, right?
And then we started in the last shift or two of the second period, we actually put some,
we'll met them together, which was okay, okay, one, and then we went to the change, and
we said, all right, let's go, let's go after it, right?
And we dominated the second, or the third period for the most part, and then luckily we
came up with that, right?
Yeah, that's a similar thing, Michael.
My next question for Coach is kind of just, and it's still a pretty, we've had a good
half of the season go on here, of course, already, and stuff, but we still got a lot of
games to play, so there's a lot of data yet to be collected here, but I don't know that
I'm seeing the consistency of shots on goal like we did last year.
Are you seeing that same thing, and is that something that really matters, because we're
also got an amazing record, so what do I know?
I also, real quick, I also know that the box score is not always accurate, you know,
everybody's doing the best they can, but it's not always up to date, or the exact stats.
I'll tell you, I think the shots reflect the teams that we're playing.
Some teams are better than others, and we've been, listen, we're 10 and 2, right?
I mean, it's something to sneeze at, but everybody we've beaten so far is kind of down
the food chain a little bit now, just getting their feet underneath them, right?
The tough ones are coming.
We haven't started.
Squatch, blue ox, blades, you know, in Northwest, I always said from beginning, when Northwest
beat the Squatch in the first game of the season, right, I said, that team's going to give
you headaches, and they always have, and we were fortunate last year in the playoffs,
right?
But this is a team that's got heavy, they're fast, they've got gold, and they're good
at all spots, so that's going to be a team.
You know, you've got the four top teams, and now maybe it's still county being pretty
good.
So now you've got five teams, and it's going to be a bottle every weekend.
Yeah, you get that one seed, you're going to be battling a tough four or five.
Assuming you make it past the eight, and even with the two, you know, you get the two,
well, you've got a six, okay, and a three, three is pretty darn good too.
So whoever comes out of the North is going to be good.
Yeah, I mean, you've got to go through the gauntlet, right?
Yeah, you've got to get to the hash and those you've got, and these guys are playing well,
squat, you're undefeated, right?
The ox only lost once, Northwest is tough, still county's tough.
It is what it is, right?
And that's why we're here.
Really got a two, two, what you guys are saying right before that Thanksgiving break coming
up at the end of November, you've got the mullets, ox and squat, back to back to back
weeks.
So just, yeah, before that though, we've got the fresh coast freeze that are the, our
kings are going to be taking on on Halloween and to kick off November.
I, I don't know, I've never gotten to really perform on Halloween.
I've gotten to do radio, but I've never gotten to act or do with things like that.
I feel like it'd be fun to be able to play a game on that, let alone go into Griff's
ice house, West.
It seems like a great place to play.
What are you expecting out of this weekend from the boys coach?
Well, let's, first off, let's make sure we get guys that are healthy and this is going
to be some juggling around this week in practice and hopefully that creates opportunities
for some guys and see how they respond.
I think fresh coast is a team that's struggling right now.
I mean, they got a well coach organization, you know, Jake a little bit and they're doing
a good job.
They did well last year and, you know, for whatever reason, they're struggling a little
bit.
So hopefully we do there and do our thing and take care of business, come back and take
care of them.
You know, take on the mullets.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What's stack and wins?
You did last year and that's the same principle this year.
Those are four games that hopefully, hopefully you can stack before you go against the
ox and the squash.
But we will also remember last year we're against battle Creek.
You demolish from the first two games and you go over there way different team, which
the freeze would be coming here in February way different team.
You just had a battle there.
So I mean, you got to keep everything in perspective there.
The roster is changing.
Trust me.
It's going to be a little different to come.
Yeah.
So we got a couple guys coming.
We'll have home games of the Kings, both in November and in December, everybody.
Be sure to go to riverkingshockey.com.
Check a look at that schedule and mark on your calendar.
Okay, I will be at the South of Connick's center this day.
I will be here this day and we show every one of these team what home ice advantage truly
is.
Get ready to cheer on your Kings as they build hockey up and down the river.
It's the boys winners time.
It's great time.
God I love this time of year.
Thanks a lot for the time coach.
Oh, thanks for having me.
We will take a quick time out and we'll be back with more show coming up here.
Playmakers probably brought you my quality post printing.
