Happy Monday, beautiful people! Welcome to Episode 4 of the From Center Ice Cozy Cast! We only have 2 NHL games to talk about today. And one Game 7 to look forward to.

I spent some time on the AHL going over some prospect point leaders in the Calder Cup Playoffs as well. It's always good to keep an eye on what the kids are up to!

So, let's chat!

Full Podcast Transcript:

00:10

Welcome to From Center Ice the podcast and because it is Monday, this is From Center Ice the Cozy Cast. 

00:17

Once again fueled by Dunkin, and once again, not sponsored by Dunkin. I have a nice Sunrise Blend Coffee. 

00:26

Look at that I hit record and here comes my cat. He has left me alone for the past hour or so that I had been making notes. But I hit record and I start talking and he's got something to say. 

00:38

What do you have to say, buddy? Do you want to say hello to your fans? Come on.

00:54

No? He's gonna stare at me from down there. Is it more comfortable on the floor rubbing on my cords? As per usual.

01:38

Just gonna rub on the cords cool. This, this is great.

01:54

Oh my gosh. Okay. 

01:56

Anyways, guys, this is the Cozy Cast. And of course, my cat has to interrupt me while I'm trying to record that. But I do have an iced coffee from Dunkin today, because if you order ahead on Mondays in the app, you get a bonus 100 points. And those points add up toward free beverages. But again, this is not sponsored by Dunkin at all. I just live right down the street from one so I tend to go there pretty often.

02:44

I was just rather exhausted. I don't know if it was the nonstop playoff hockey for so many days straight or what but I just could not get myself up and motivated to do anything. So I decided to take the weekend off, reset my brain a little bit. And now I am back here to record the Cozy Cast today. 

03:05

And there's a game on tonight. So we did not have a hockey game on last night which was very strange. There was one Friday and one Saturday but nothing on Sunday. Very weird. So I watched some shows and movies on Netflix. 

03:22

I have not watched the new season of Stranger Things yet. I'm actually very behind on Stranger Things. I have only watched the first season. I know. I know. I don't want to see your hate in the comments. I liked the first season a lot. I have my reasons. But one of these days I will get caught up. Although I did hear that they are waiting until July to put out the final two episodes, I want to say, of this season, which is kind of strange. So I mean Stranger Things haha. 

03:57

But maybe I will wait till it's all released. And then I will catch up. I also haven't watched the new season of Ozark yet. Because I heard that they were delaying posting the final episode or whatever of that as well. I don't know if that's been released yet or not. But I have caught up on that up until the new season that was released. I just haven't watched the newest season yet. 

04:24

But we've had playoff hockey, so I can't get caught up on a whole lot yet until that's over. So we'll see what happens once hockey season's over. I'll have to get caught up on everything going on in the Netflix and other streaming services world. But it is still playoff time. So how about we jump into talking about some hockey?

04:49

The first series on the list, I don't change the order of the series. So it's kind of funny that the first one up is the only one that has not gotten final yet. 

05:01

And that is the Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Rangers. They play game seven tonight. That is in Carolina. So, Game Six was in New York, of course, and the Rangers won that game 5-2. Because when the Rangers are at home, they can score goals and Igor Shesterkin looks amazing. And when the Carolina Hurricanes are on the road, they look very average and pedestrian and Antti Raanta couldn't stop a beach ball on Saturday, which was interesting. He's been very good throughout the playoffs so far. But I mean, I guess throughout a long playoff run, your goalie is bound to have a bad performance or two.

05:55

Unfortunately, that led to the Rangers extending the series pushing it to seven. I say unfortunately for the Canes. Of course, I've been rooting for the Rangers in this series. So fortunately for myself and for the Rangers, but it's unfortunate for Carolina. But

06:13

Tyler Motte opened the scoring in that game. And in his celebration, he pointed to the sky. And after the game, I believe it was Emily Kaplan, asked him what that celebration was about. And he said that his fiance's grandmother had passed away a few days prior to the game and they had been with family and going to the service and whatnot. So he said he felt like he had some help there on that goal, which was very sweet and perhaps made me a little bit emotional as I was listening, listening to that postgame interview between Tyler Motte and Emily Kaplan. I want to say it was Emily. I'm sorry if it wasn't.

07:04

But now they come in to tonight. And Carolina has not lost on home ice yet. They have won every single game in Carolina, and they have a game seven winning streak going, which is, I think, the longest in the NHL. If I am not mistaken, I had this stat on, I don't know if it was a Cozy Cast or a Happy Hour, but after they won game seven against the Boston Bruins. We went over that. I believe they have the longest streak going in the NHL. 

07:41

So they have both of those things going for them. They are in Carolina, and they have a game seven winning streak going. 

07:51

But the Rangers have just seemed to kind of bully their way to success in the postseason so far. And perhaps throughout the year, I didn't realize that they had finished second in their division. That was a bit shocking to me. I thought maybe they would have been third, which isn't that big of a difference. It's only one spot, but they weren't. I feel like they weren't expected to be that good so soon, because they were just in a rebuild. So it'll be very interesting to see which storylines come into play in that game tonight. 

08:34

The Rangers won game seven against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but they were at Madison Square Garden. So they've been able to win at home. And I think they have a home winning streak going but now they are on the road. And can they pull together and get their game rolling while they're away? I guess we will have to see. Or does Carolina keep their streak going? I guess we will have to see that as well. It's just truly baffling to me how Carolina can look so good at home and then it's like they are a completely different team on the road. 

09:13

It's like they dress different guys on the road and just send them out there and all of the same jerseys. So you think it's the same players, but it's basically just their AHL squad. Although their AHL squad is still in the playoffs, that being the Chicago Wolves, so I guess maybe their ECHL squad.

09:39

I don't know. It's just really weird to me that they haven't won a single game on the road yet in the playoffs.

09:49

And yet they are challenging to go to the Eastern Conference Final. It's very odd but seeing as they have home ice, I guess it works out for them. 

10:02

So the other series out east was the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning, of course, Tampa Bay swept the Panthers. And we talked about this on the Happy Hour. So that one has been done for about a week now. And I saw that Brayden Point is progressing. So maybe he comes back for the third round. I guess we will have to see, of course, he suffered an injury in game seven, against Toronto. Was it game seven? Or was it Game Six?

10:42

Sorry, I think maybe game seven. Now I'm forgetting. But he didn't play the whole series against the Panthers, and they still swept, which was crazy. 

10:53

But then we move out West and the Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues. This series had not gone final when we had the Happy Hour on Friday, because they had game six that night. 

11:07

And Colorado came out in that game, and they proved they did not want to go seven games.

11:17

Which I was more than okay with I didn't want to suffer through a game seven in that series. And perhaps an odd bounce or two here or there doesn't go in their favor, and suddenly they're eliminated. But that was not the case. TJ Compher came out with a two goal performance. In that game, the St. Louis Blues scored first. So everything seemed to be right in the universe. Because through the first four games of the series, St. Louis had scored first. And in three of those four games, Colorado had won. And then in game five, Colorado came out Nathan MacKinnon scored the first goal of the game, which of course, had my superstitious self going, Oh, no, this wasn't going to go well. And it didn't go well, because St. Louis took it to overtime after tying it in the final minute of the third period. And then they won, pushing the series to six games back to St. Louis. 

12:21

So once St. Louis scored first, in that game six, I felt better, which is kind of funny to say, because usually you don't feel good about the opposing team scoring. But I did. St. Louis scored and I was like, Oh, thank God. There is only a few times I have ever rooted for the St. Louis Blues to score goals. That was one of them. And thankfully, they did. So

12:49

TJ Compher came out and he tied the game up at one St. Louis scored again. So it was two to one. And that was when I took the jersey off. I started the game wearing the Avs jersey and then St. Louis took that second lead and I said nope, time for the jersey to come off for the night. And then TJ Compher came out again and tied up the game, which I mean good for him. My goodness, we always talk about how depth will win you series. And this game definitely proved that. And then with about seven seconds to go in the third period, Darren Helm just winds up for a shot in the offensive zone and just blows it past Ville Husso. And for the first time in 20 years, the Colorado Avalanche advanced to the Western Conference Final. Yes, the first time in 20 years, the last time they were in the conference final was 2002. So exactly 20 years. And it came off of two goals by TJ Compher and one goal by Darren Helm. So Jesus, it's just

14:09

it's crazy, but it was such a good game.

14:14

I want to see how much time exactly was left here in the game when he scored.

14:24

And of course, it's JT Compher not TJ Compher. I can't read correctly. So I apologize, JT.

14:35

It is not TJ, my bad. 

14:37

But let's see, nine[teen] minutes and 54 seconds into the third period. So six seconds and change left. And Logan O'Connor

14:57

And they advance.

15:00

And of course, I wasn't rooting for the St. Louis Blues there because why would I ever root for the St. Louis Blues as a Chicago Blackhawks fan. And you know, just a human being? Sorry Blues fans if there are any of you listening to this, which I highly doubt, but maybe there are a few stragglers who are fans of the Blues and are decent people who tune into From Center Ice.

15:29

But yeah, I would never root for the St. Louis Blues. I haven't had many good experiences involving the Blues. Either the team or their fans. So, go Colorado. 

15:41

But now they face the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Final, and that series should be a good one.

15:52

The high flying Colorado Avalanche. The high flying Edmonton Oilers, with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Who can't stop scoring for anything.

16:13

Darcy Kuemper, it seemed as the series against St. Louis wore on, he became less and less reliable. Or maybe I was just less and less comfortable with him in net. He did have one adventure there in game six, where he severely bit on a shot and went sliding with a two pad stack way off to the left side of the net. And Josh Manson had to go down in the butterfly in the net to block a shot. Which I mean, save the year right there, Save of the playoffs, at least. And you had the goal of the playoffs in the game before that by Nathan MacKinnon. 

17:02

So I guess we'll see. It'll be McDavid and Draisaitl up against Darcy Kuemper. Hopefully he can calm himself down and not be all crazy feet like he was in this series against St. Louis. And then MacKinnon and Landeskog and JT Compher against Mike Smith on the other end. So as long as their offense doesn't dry up like Calgary's did, it'll be a very fun series. 

17:38

But we saw that Calgary was even having trouble scoring against Dallas, which all the credit in the world to take . . . take? To Jake Oettinger there, because he played out of his mind as a young goaltender.

17:54

Maybe they lost some scoring confidence there when they couldn't score on the young goalie. But then they came out and they scored nine goals in game one against Edmonton. And I guess maybe they used up all of their goal scoring in game one there. I don't know. It was just a very strange series there in the Battle of Alberta. 

18:16

I was expecting more. We were promised more. And then Edmonton won it and five. That's, I don't think that's what anybody was expecting. But thankfully, Colorado did their job in six, got rid of the St. Louis Blues. And now they go on to face the Edmonton Oilers, which that series starts tomorrow. That should be fun. I hope it's fun.

18:43

It'll probably still be more fun than whatever series we get out east of course, since that is not decided yet. 

18:50

But I'm definitely interested to see it. 

18:55

And that wraps up the NHL playoff news for now since we've only had two games since we last talked and one of those series has not gotten final yet. 

19:05

But seven years ago today, the Blackhawks beat the Anaheim Ducks in game seven in the Western Conference Final to advance to the Stanley Cup final in 2015 where Jonathan Toews had two goals in that game, and I swear he broke Frederik Andersen in that game. He's just never been the same in the playoffs.

19:32

So I guess maybe it's a good thing that Antti Raanta is playing for Carolina, for the fans down there in Raleigh.

19:41

We'll see how he does tonight. But I'm pretty sure Jonathan Toews broke Frederik Andersen. That series was crazy. I didn't think they were going to eventually get by Anaheim. They had to win game six and seven. I believe. We had the famous quote from Ryan Kesler, "No human can withstand that many hits." And then the Blackhawks won in game seven to go on and face Tampa Bay in the Stanley Cup Final, which they won in six games. But seven years ago. That's, that just doesn't seem correct in my brain that it was so long ago since the Blackhawks won a first round series really, unless you count the play in round in the bubble when they beat Edmonton. But, man, seven years, seven years since that 2015 cup. That's absolutely mind boggling. I mean, it's been nine years since the 2013 Cup. Wow. Wow. The the golden years for Blackhawks hockey is certainly over. 

20:56

It'll be an interesting offseason this year to see what happens. But we are not talking about that yet. 

21:04

And we'll move on from the Blackhawks to the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

21:09

And the big piece of news coming out of Leafs Nation this weekend was Jason Spezza announced his retirement from playing. 

21:21

Which I don't know if we all expected would happen. He kind of seemed like one of those players who was just going to play forever and not retire. But he officially announced his retirement this weekend. 

21:36

But he is staying with the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, which I know that I said I hoped would happen and I saw a lot of that same sentiment flying around the Leafs Twitter, which if Spezza retires, hopefully he sticks with the team. 

21:52

And he is he's joining the front office as a special assistant to Kyle Dubas. So whatever that means for his job role, I'm sure it'll be more laid out as time goes on here what Spezza is really going to be doing. But I'm glad he's staying with the Maple Leafs. He's been a very important figure in this organization since he came over from Dallas, even though maybe he didn't put up as many points as he wanted to, or that Leafs fans wanted him to especially in the playoffs. Nobody can deny how big of an acquisition he was for the Maple Leafs and how big of a role he played for this team. 

22:37

So Jason Spezza, he was drafted second overall in 2001 by the Ottawa Senators. He spent 19 seasons in the NHL, 11 of those years with Ottawa. He was given the captaincy his last season there in 2013-14. And then he spent five years with the Dallas Stars. And in his last three seasons in Dallas, he wore an "A". 

23:09

And then he spent three years with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and it's kind of surprising he never wore a letter with Toronto. But we all know how much of a true leader he was. So the optics weren't really necessary. He didn't have to wear a "C" or an "A". We all knew that he was a true leader in that locker room and maybe the true captain of the team, which no respect to John Tavares at all, but Jason Spezza was huge for this Maple Leafs team and I'm sure that his teammates, and the staff are really happy that he is sticking around with the organization. 

23:48

But in his 19 year NHL career, he played 1,248 games in the regular season. He scored 363 goals. He added 632 assists, and he ended up with 995 points. Which I really wish he would have gotten to 1,000. That's only five points. Man.

24:20

I wonder if it's more of a bummer for fans than it is for him since he had such a storied career. I'm sure he would have loved to hit 1,000 points. But that really sucks. 

24:33

And he as an average for his whole NHL career, he scored scored .80 points per game. So almost a point per game player. .80. Just crazy. 

24:48

He had 13 playoff appearances, playing 97 games. He scored 28 goals and 48 assists for 76 points. And in his playoff career, he scored .78 points per game. So Jason Spezza was nothing but consistent and a solid player throughout his entire career, a solid human being. Maybe even a better human being than he was hockey player, which, of course, just a fantastic guy there on the ice. 

25:24

So I wish all of the best to Jason Spezza in retirement. I hope Toronto treats you well now that you're not on the player side. Now that you're on the front office side of things. I hope everything goes well, and you enjoy retirement, and maybe you can spend some more time with your family now that you're not in a playing role. 

25:46

So congrats to Jason Spezza. 

25:50

And thank you for everything that you gave to this team out on the ice. You laid it all out there and you will forever be appreciated by Leafs Nation. So thank you, Jason Spezza. And good luck there in the front office. It can't be easy, maybe even a tougher job than being a player out there in Toronto. 

26:12

But moving on to other NHL news, and other front office news actually. I saw an article on The Athletic today out of the Canucks organization that they are transitioning Daniel and Henrik Sedin to a player development roll. It said quote, "Daniel and Henrik will focus on player development with the parent club and their AHL affiliate in Abbotsford." 

26:41

And the Canucks also hired former NHL players Mike Komisarek, and Mikael Samuelsson, and they will work with the prospects. So exciting, possibly, news for the city and twins there. And for the Vancouver Canucks organization. If you are a Canucks fan, let me know how you feel about this. Very interested to know. 

27:04

And then we move to a different Canadian organization and that is the Calgary Flames, where Johnny Gaudreau said he would be interested in staying with Calgary and trying to win a cup there with the Calgary Flames. But he will be meeting with his agent to see what the next steps are. Of course, he is a UFA this summer. And there's been lots of rumors about all different places he could be going. He's been connected to the Flyers to the Devils. He's a New Jersey kid. But he said he wanted to stay with Calgary. We've seen that that doesn't always mean that will happen. Looking at you, Zach Parise. I still hold a grudge, I can hold grudges for a very long time when you were the captain of the Devils and said that you wanted to stay with the Devils and then all of a sudden sign this huge contract with Minnesota. Whatever, that's fine. 

28:03

But yeah, Gaudreau said he would like to stay with Calgary. But of course, we will see what happens when free agency opens up. Or if Calgary gets a deal done with him before then we will just have to wait and see. 

28:15

And then let's shift out East where we got the news that Brad Marchand will be missing the beginning of next season because he had hip surgery. And the expected recovery time is six months there. He had hip arthroscopy and labral repairs on both hips. So that sounds rough. I'm not sure. I'm I don't know what the recovery looks like for that.

28:47

But usually, with these things, they get you up and moving pretty quickly. Which is just crazy to me. It doesn't seem like it should be possible to get up and walk around after you have knee surgery or hip surgery. But that's what modern medicine looks like these days, I guess. So. I hope that healing goes well for Brad out there with the Boston Bruins. 

29:13

nd in other news, the NHL award winners will start being announced on June 1, and they will be randomly announced throughout the remainder of the playoffs. But that begins, I want to say, tomorrow. Let's see. Today is May 30. No there are 31 Days in May. So that will begin on Wednesday. We will start hearing who the NHL award winners are so I will either have one or maybe a couple of those for you on the Happy Hour on Friday. 

29:53

But that is all for NHL news there. 

29:56

Now we will transition to the American Hockey League, and all of the division finals have gone final. So we have the matchups for the conference finals here. And I have the I have the series outcomes for you. And then I have the point leaders for these teams. So we will go through the division finals. I'll tell you who won the series. And then I will give you the point leaders for the team that was eliminated. And then once we talk about the matchups for the conference final I will give you the point leaders for those teams. 

30:39

So if you are a fan of the American Hockey League, or if you want to see what your prospects are doing, I've got some stats for you. 

30:49

So the first series up here is the Springfield Thunderbirds versus the Charlotte checkers. Springfield being the affiliate of the St. Louis Blues, the Charlotte checkers being affiliated with the Seattle Kraken and also the Florida Panthers. Springfield swept that series 3-0 because the first round, second round and third round were best of five, and then the conference final and Calder Cup final are a best of seven. 

31:21

So this next series, we finally transition to a best of seven, but the last rounds were a bust of five. 

31:27

And in game three there, Springfield won 5-1. So how did Charlotte look here? We've got the point leaders for you. 

31:38

Leading the way was Zac Dalpe, who is on a contract with the Florida Panthers. In 7 games, he scored 7 goals and added 1 assist for eight points. Max McCormick, he is on a contract with the Seattle Kraken. He scored 4 goals and 3 assists for 7 points in seven games. Alexander True is also a Seattle guy. He scored 3 goals and 4 assists for 7 points in 7 games played. Aleksi Heponiemi is a product of the Florida Panthers. In 7 games, he scored 1 goal and added 3 assists for 4 points. Connor Carrick is probably, sorry, is a product of the Seattle Kraken he was taken in the Expansion Draft I want to say. And in 7 games, he added 4 assists for 4 points. And then for the goaltender. We have Joey Daccord who is a prospect for the Seattle Kraken. He was also taken in the Expansion Draft from the Ottawa Senators, I want to say. In 7 games, he went 3-4 he had a 3.15 goals against average and an .879 save percentage with 1 shutout. 

33:00

So, sorry for the Charlotte Checkers, but you have been eliminated. 

33:08

I'm going to take a sip of my coffee here before moving on to the next round, or the next series I should say. 

33:18

All right, next up the Rochester Americans versus the Laval rocket. And the Rochester Americans are the affiliates of the Buffalo Sabres, Laval being the affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens. And Laval swept that series 3-0. 

33:38

So the point leaders for Rochester. We have Arttu Ruotsalainen. In six games played he scored 8 goals and added 4 assists for 12 points, so definitely not bad there. Second, we have JJ Peterka. In 10 games played he scored 7 goals and added 5 assists for 12 points. Not bad they're either. Up next is Peyton Krebs. In 10 games played he assisted on 11 goals, so 11 points for him. Next up Mark Jankowski. In 10 games played he scored 6 goals added 1 assist for 7 points. And finally Casey Fitzgerald. In 10 games played he scored 2 goals and added 5 assists for 7 points. So not bad on the point front from the Rochester Americans there but they could not get it done. 

34:40

And so I have the goalie stats for you. Aaron Dell, he started all 10 games. He went 5-5. He had a 3.54 goals against average and an .883 save percentage. Michael Houser saw action in two games. Um, he had a 2.74 goals against average but a .920 save percentage. 

35:07

So I I asked my buddy Sean O'Brien from The Calder Farmstead podcast, definitely go check them out to keep up with the AHL and all things AHL hockey. And I saw that Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen didn't get any games there in the playoffs for Rochester, but apparently he got injured at the end of the regular season there. So he was not available for the playoffs, and Aaron Dell was the best option for them. So, he[Sean] said that he didn't think that the outcome would have been a whole lot different had UPL played in these games. So I guess it's just unfortunate. They ran into a hot team there in Laval. And so I am sorry, Rochester, but you have been eliminated. 

35:58

Up next. 

35:59

The Colorado Eagles versus the Stockton heat. The Colorado Eagles affiliated with the Colorado Avalanche and the Stockton heat affiliated with the Calgary Flames, and Stockton won that series 3-1. So it was not a sweep. The Colorado Eagles did manage to win one game. And that was game three where they won 6-5. And then game four Stockton came out they weren't messing around. They wanted to close out the series and they won 1-0. 

36:36

So the point leaders for the eliminated Colorado Eagles. Up first we have Kiefer Sherwood in 8 games played he scored 4 goals and added 6 assists for 10 points. Up next is Jordan Gross. In 9 games played he scored 1 goal and added 9 assists for 10 points. Third is Jayson Megna. In 9 games played he scored 6 goals and added 3 assists for 9 points. Up next Roland McKeown. In 9 games played he scored 0 goals but added 8 assists for 8 points. And then Jean-Luc Foudy. 9 games played 4 goals 3 assists for 7 points. 

37:22

And then in net we have Justs Annunen, 9 games played he went 6-3, he had a 2.46 goals against average and a .923 save percentage. So not bad for the tendy there in Colorado. And for any Colorado Avalanche fans out there, he is a 22 year old goaltender, so potentially an option for you guys in net as he progresses. 

37:51

Hello, do you have something to say about Justus Annuen? Yeah? What do you have to say about Justus? What are you a goalie fan? Do you think that Justus will be a good option for the Colorado Avalanche in net? You're just gonna breathe loudly at me? Does that mean "Yes"?

38:16

Anyway, he had a record of 24-13-9 in the regular season, but his stats were not super great otherwise. He had a 3.01 goals against average and an .893 save percentage in the regular season. So he was getting it done and winning games but allowing a few goals there in the process. 

38:42

So since Mr. C.C. Hawkley, also of The Calder Farmstead podcast, he covers the Colorado Eagles, so I had to ask him, Why did he think that Colorado didn't put up a bigger fight against Stockton? Or what could they have done differently other than Dustin Wolf, the goaltender for the Stockton Heat - other than him just, you know, disappearing into the void? What could have gone differently for them? 

39:14

And CC said, "In complete transparency, I only saw games one and two. Stockton absolutely owned the neutral zone and game one and the heat coaching staff made Colorado look pedestrian. I think you saw that fight come back for Colorado after getting knocked on their collective ass in game one. Games two through four were much more well fought affairs, but Justin Kirkland and Dustin Wolf have helped Stockton tremendously this series." 

39:45

So there you have it. And Colorado played very well in the series leading up to this one against Stockton, but the Heat have pretty much been a wagon all year long, and it was kind of assumed that they would make it this far. They're gonna have a tough series there in the next round, which we will get to. But Stockton has been very, very good. 

40:18

And their their big brothers up there with the Calgary Flames probably could have used a little bit of that, especially the goaltending in the playoffs. But I don't know if you want to take Dustin Wolf out of his comfortable spot there with the Heat where he was just dominating and then throw him to . . . throw him into the deep end, if you will against the Edmonton Oilers. So the Flames were eliminated, but the Stockton Heat live on. 

40:50

And I am sorry, Colorado - the Eagles, but you have been eliminated. 

40:56

So the final matchup for the Division Finals was in the Central. My home division in the AHL. And that was between the Milwaukee Admirals and the Chicago Wolves. And Chicago Wolves won that series 3-1. The Admirals did come out and win one game when it wasn't looking like they were going to be able to do that. 

41:24

But the Chicago Wolves took game four by a score of 5-1 so they really weren't messing around either.

41:33

So the point leaders for Milwaukee. We have up first Cole Schneider. In 9 games played he scored 4 goals and added 4 assists for 8 points. Second, we have Brayden Burke. In 9 games played he scored 4 goals added 3 assists for 7 points. And then third is Tommy Novak. In 6 games played he scored 1 goal and added 5 assists for 6 points. And then Cody Glass in 7 games played he scored 1 goal 5 assists for 6 points. Last but not least, Jeremy Davies. 9 games played 0 goals but 6 assists for 6 points. 

42:18

And then we have the goaltenders and we'll start with Devin Cooley. They did play two goalies here but we'll start with Devin because he had the most games played with 7. He had a record of 3-2, a 2.96 goals against average and a .926 save percentage. So definitely not bad for Devin Cooley there. Their other goaltender, Connor Ingram, he played 4 games, he went 1-3. 

42:48

And this is where it gets truly baffling. So if you recall, all the way back in the first round of the NHL playoffs, the Stanley Cup playoffs. Connor Ingram was called up to the Nashville Predators because Juuse Saros was out with injury for that first round. And David Rittich got the start in game one, that went horribly for them. So then Connor Ingram was put in. And while he didn't win the game for the Nashville Predators, he played pretty well against the Colorado Avalanche. 

43:28

So he got sent back down to Milwaukee once Nashville was eliminated, and like I said, went 1-3. And had a 5.69 goals against average and an .835. Save percentage. So it didn't go well for Connor Ingram once he was sent back down to Milwaukee. I thought, and I think a lot of people thought, that him being added to the lineup there in Milwaukee would make things a bit better for the Admirals and maybe give them a fighting chance against the Chicago Wolves. 

44:12

But that did not go as planned for them. 

44:17

So I am sorry, Milwaukee, but you have been eliminated. 

44:24

Now for the Conference Final matchups. 

44:27

And again, we shift to seven game series now, instead of a best of five it's the best of seven, if they should go that far. 

44:38

In the Eastern Conference, the two remaining teams are the Springfield Thunderbirds and the Laval Rocket. Springfield, again being affiliated with the St. Louis Blues, Laval being affiliated with the Montreal Canadiens. 

44:54

And in the West, we have the Chicago Wolves versus the Stockton Heat. Chicago being affiliated with the Carolina Hurricanes, Stockton being affiliated with the Calgary Flames. And funny enough, Chicago is the only team that still has their NHL club remaining in the NHL playoffs for now. We shall see if that is the case after tonight's game seven. 

45:21

But let's go over the point leaders for the remaining teams while we still got a little bit of time left here, shall we? 

45:29

And let's start out East and we will start with the Springfield Thunderbirds. They swept both series that they have played so far. The first one was against the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, the affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins. And the second series of course being the Charlotte Checkers, the affiliate of the Seattle Kraken and Florida Panthers. 

45:52

But Springfield, the Blues affiliate, here are their point leaders. Up first we have Sam Anas. In 6 games played he has scored 4 goals and added 9 assists for 13 points. So more than two points per game there for Sam. For Will Bitten, in 6 games played he has 3 goals and 6 assists for 9 points, so an assist per game player there. Third, we have Matthew Peca. In 6 games played he has 2 goals and 7 assists for 9 points. Up next Mackenzie MacEachern. In 6 games played he scored 4 goals and added 2 assists for 6 points. So, point per game, and Nikita Alexandrov. In 6 games, he scored 2 goals and added 4 assists for 6 points, another point per game player. 

46:46

So let's look at the goaltenders. And up first is Joel Hoffer. He has played more of their games with 4 games played. He is 4-0 with a 1.51 goals against average and a .960 to save percentage, which is just absolutely mad. Their second goaltender is Charlie Lindgren. He's played two games he's 1-0, he has a 3.50 goals against average and a .916 save percentage. So I'm assuming Hoffer will get the majority of the games there against Laval. And we will see what his save percentage looks like after that because it's .962 right now, which again is just mad. 

47:34

So moving on to the Laval Rocket, the affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens. They lost two games in the first series that they played in the semi finals to the Syracuse Crunch, the affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning, but then they swept Rochester in the division finals, the affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. So let's look at their point leaders.

47:57

Up first is Danick Martel. In 8 games played, he scored 6 goals and added 2 assists for 8 points. So, point per game there. Up next Sami Niku. In 8 games played he did not score a goal but he added 8 assists for 8 points, another point per game. Up next Jean-Sebastien Dea, in 8 games played he scored 3 goals and added 4 assists for 7 points. And I believe his goal was the game winner in the triple overtime game that ended their series, but I could be mistaken. They're up next Louie Belpedio. In 8 games played he scored 2 goals and added 5 assists for 7 points. And finally Alex Belzile. In 8 games played he scored 4 goals and added 2 assists for 6 points. 

47:58

First up, we have Justin Kirkland, who CC did call out as being one of the biggest contributors for Stockton. In 7 games played he scored 5 goals and added 2 assists for 7 points. Point per game in the playoffs so far. Up 2 . . . up 2? Up at number two, we have Matthew Phillips. In 7 games played he scored 3 goals and added 4 assists for 7 points, also a point per game player in the playoff so far. Number three Jakob Pelltier. In 7 games, he scored 3 goals and added 3 assists for 6 points. Up next Walker Duehr. In 7 games played he scored 3 goals and added 1 assist for 4 points. And last but not least, Emilio Pettersen. In 6 games played he scored 2 goals and added 2 assists for 4 points. 

47:58

And then we move on to the goaltender for the Stockton Heat, and this is their biggest ace right here. 

47:58

Dustin Wolf is having an absolutely fantastic year. He was goaltender of the year for the Calder Farmstead boys. I was really hoping they were going to give it to my Arvid Soderblom. He was a nominee, but Dustin Wolf beat him out which I may never forgive them for. But I do love them. So maybe eventually I will forgive them we will see. 

47:58

Anyway, Dustin Wolf. In 7 games played, he has a 6-1 record with a 1.82 goals against average and a .941 save percentage. So very good there from Dustin Wolf. 

47:58

And I had to ask Sean, of course, again from the Calder Farmstead, one word to describe Dustin Wolf. 

47:58

And he said, "Measured. He rarely makes technical mistakes that I pick up and reads the play in front of him well, rarely overextends or puts himself in bad spots." 

48:48

So those are your skating prospects there for Montreal. Now for the goaltenders. 

48:55

Up first is Cayden Primeau. He played 7 games. He's 6-1. He has a 1.93 goals against average and a .936 save percentage, which is also very, very good. Which I mean, you would expect since they did sweep one series and only lost two games so far. The other goaltender that they have used in only one game is Kevin Poulin. He did not win that game. So he has a record of 0-1. He has a 4.07 goals against average and an .867 save percentage. 

49:35

So before I move out West here, I'm going to take a sip of my coffee. All right. 

49:45

The Stockton heat, the wagon of the West, if you will, or one of them, I guess. They swept Bakersfield, the affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers in the Division Semis. And they only lost one game to Colorado in the Division Finals. Of course, Colorado affiliate of Colorado. They aren't all that simple, but Colorado, thankfully makes it easy for us. Unlike Charlotte, which, you know, whatever. We won't go there again. 

50:18

Anyway, for the Stockton heat, here are their point leaders. 

52:14

So there you have it goaltender for the Stockton Heat. 

52:43

And their opponent is going to be a difficult one, because they are playing the Chicago Wolves who of course, in the Division Semis swept my Rockford IceHogs and then they only lost one game to the Milwaukee Admirals. 

53:02

So their Point leaders here. Number one Josh Leivo. In 7 games played, he scored 6 goals and added 7 assists for 13 points. Damn near a two point per game average there for Josh Leivo. Up next Jack Drury. In 7 games played, he scored 5 goals and added 4 assists for 9 points. Up next, Stefan Noesen. In 7 games, he scored 5 goals and added 4 assists for 9 points. I'm pretty sure he had a hat trick game against Milwaukee. And then the other two goals came against Rockford. Anyway, up next, their captain Andrew Poturalski. In 7 games played, he scored 3 goals and added 6 assists for 9 points. And last but not least, CJ Smith. In 7 games, he scored 3 goals, added 5 assists for 8 points. 

53:02

So that should be a very good series between the Wolves and the Stockton Heat. I'm sure it'll be a very good series out East as well. But the one here out West is a little closer to home for me. 

53:02

But all of that now let's move on to the week ahead and to the schedule that we have. 

53:02

And I don't have a schedule for you for the American Hockey League, because the next round for them starts on Friday. So they don't play at all for the rest of this week here.

53:59

And then their goaltender Alex Lyon. He is 6-1 with 7 games played. He has a 1.87 goals against average and a .926 save percentage. 

54:14

So Chicago can score a lot of points. They do that very well. They like to control the pace of the game and really hold on to the puck and not let their opponent have the puck very much. 

54:28

I'm not sure what kind of game Stockton plays. In the AHL, it's interesting. So the Rockford IceHogs typically only play Central Division teams. Sometimes they will branch out. They played Henderson a couple times this season. They played Tucson a couple of times, but they mostly play Central Division teams. So when it comes to other teams in the American Hockey League from the Pacific or the North or, . . . the Atlantic division? See, I can't even name the Fourth Division out there in the East. But I don't know a whole lot about those teams. And that is why I have to refer to my boys, Sean and CC at the Calder Farmstead Podcast, because they cover the entire AHL. So if you want to keep up better with the American Hockey League, definitely go subscribe to their podcast and give them a follow on Twitter. I listen to their podcast all the time. It's one of the only hockey podcasts that I'm actually caught up on. So I have to shout them out. Definitely, because it's hard for me to keep up with all the American League teams when I'm trying to do the same thing for the NHL. 

55:48

So all of these teams getting a nice week long break pretty much before they start up the conference final. 

55:57

But in the NHL

56:30

Tonight, Monday night, we have game seven between the New York Rangers and the Carolina Hurricanes in Carolina. 

56:41

Can Carolina keep that home winning streak and game seven winning streak going? Or will the New York Rangers come in play spoiler and then head off to face Tampa Bay? I guess we will have to see. 

56:57

But then Tuesday night, we have game one between the Colorado Avalanche and the Edmonton Oilers. So definitely tune in for that one. 

57:08

On Wednesday, that will be the start of the Eastern Conference Final. So it will be Tampa Bay on the road against either the Rangers or the Hurricanes. 

57:19

And then Thursday night, we have game two between the Colorado Avalanche and the Edmonton Oilers. 

57:27

And that is your schedule for the week ahead in the NHL playoffs. 

57:36

Yeah, not a whole lot to report from this weekend. But there are going to be some exciting series coming up here in the conference final for both leagues. So definitely stay tuned for the Happy Hour on Friday, where I will go over what's been going on and the NHL Conference Final. 

57:56

And of course the American League won't have kicked off yet. So you'll have to wait for the Cozy Cast next Monday to see what's going on there in the American League. 

58:08

But I hope y'all are excited for game seven tonight. I am excited, of course hoping that the Rangers can pull this one out. But we will have to see. Carolina has been very good at home. The Rangers haven't been very good on the road. 

58:25

So yeah, it could. It could go either way. 

58:30

But I'm sure most of the people putting their bets down on this game, If you are one of those people who buys into the millions of sports betting ads and commercials that are on every broadcast, which are extremely exhausting. I'm sure the money line favors Carolina there. But who knows. Strange things happen in hockey and that's why we watch the games. That's why we love it. Even though sometimes it's very anxiety inducing to love the sport. We do and we have a lot of fun. 

59:09

But I will be watching that game tonight. I will be live tweeting it. 

59:13

So if you want to tune into that you can follow along on twitter @vfcentericepod. 

59:19

But that'll be all for me in this episode. If you want to hear more from me or From Center Ice, everything is over at fromcenterice.com 

59:29

If you are listening to this on a podcasting app and you would like to watch it, you can it is on youtube.com/c/fromcenterice. If you are watching this on YouTube Hello, you can see my face as I talk. Go ahead and give this video a like and if you are not subscribed yet. Go ahead and do that because every Monday we Cozy Cast. And what's better than just kicking off your Monday with a nice cozy podcast episode about hockey? And every Friday night, we Happy Hour. Talk about what's going on in the hockey world throughout the week. 

1:00:05

And yeah, so subscribe here. If you are listening on a podcasting app, give me a rating and a review. That would make me very happy. We don't have too many reviews. So go ahead and leave, leave one down there and possibly a five star rating. That would be nice. 

1:00:26

Yeah, but other than that, I'm going to go ahead and edit this episode get the transcription done since I'm trying to transcribe all of the podcast episodes for our hearing impaired friends here. To make it more easy for them to tune in and enjoy these podcasts as well. 

1:00:48

And I will see you all either on Twitter or in a YouTube video or Friday for the Happy Hour. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. I really, truly appreciate every single one of you, and I will catch you all in the next episode. 

1:01:04

Bye guys.

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