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Episode 1 - Officiating in Sports
39 Plays6 months ago
Two sides of the game, one incredible conversation.
Join hosts Leo Ernewein and Landan Semenok as they bridge the gap between the field and the booth.
From officiating insights you've never heard to Hall of Fame venue shenanigans and timely sports debates, they aim to deliver fresh perspectives on Calgary sports and beyond.
Where the whistle meets the microphone.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Background
00:00:07
Speaker
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Leo and Lando show. I'm Leo Ernewein alongside my co-host Landon Semonok and we've lived this game just like you. From long nights at the rink to weekends on the field, we've been in the thick of it. Blowing whistles, arguing calls and soaking in every crazy moment that sports will throw at you.
00:00:27
Speaker
Now we're taking those stories, lessons and a few laughs in the studio. Whether it's behind-the-scenes officiating talk, heated debates, or the stuff that you only hear in locker rooms, we're here to keep it real, straight out of Calgary and straight from experience.
00:00:44
Speaker
So, Landon Semenok, tell him a little bit about yourself. Well, first of all, Leo, I just want to say, when you asked me to join you on this podcast, I was flattered. I i was going through my head and I was like, okay, why did he ask me first of all?
00:01:01
Speaker
And then I started thinking, you know what, this would be a great opportunity. So I said yes to you. And one of the reasons why I said yes to you is... This has been a lifelong dream of mine to do anything to do with radio.
00:01:17
Speaker
um When I was a kid, that was a dream. Every time I listened to the radio and I heard sports talk, I heard um radio DJs, I always, always wanted to be that person. And now this is a dream come true. So My background is I'm a referee.
00:01:39
Speaker
I used to ref hockey. I did a lot of... ah Lines in junior and junior A. I did a ton of junior B. I did Alberta winter games. I've done a ton of stuff in hockey, countless finals in minor hockey.
00:01:56
Speaker
And I transferred that over into the basketball court. I am a referee in basketball. I also refed football back in the day when I was younger. So i I've seen pretty much every single season.
00:02:08
Speaker
angle on the field, the court and the hockey. And that's my background. And i am so thrilled to be part of this podcast with you. i I could not wait to do this with you.
00:02:20
Speaker
So thank you very, very much for for doing that. Hey, man, it's my pleasure. You know, like you have a have a great voice and, you know,
00:02:31
Speaker
I just feel like you got some cool stories to share uh, why not you and I both take the time and bond our love for sports and, and do something positive with it. Right. So let, let them hear the story. So Landon and I grew up both in the bow Valley here and we both of course grew up playing sports and, um,
00:02:52
Speaker
and Landon, uh, officiating sports as well, often for our games among playing them too. And, uh, so that's kind of how we, we met each other and stuff like that.
Challenges in Officiating
00:03:03
Speaker
And, uh, Landon, I just wanted to ask, you know, stuff about officiating and how it's, how it's changed, how you see stuff throughout the game that, uh,
00:03:17
Speaker
whether it's parents or the pressure put on officials, because you practically would have refereed or officiated all of our games, ah hockey, most, if not all of our games, you and or your father and basketball as well, as you mentioned too. I remember ah you even did some of your game our games by your yourself.
00:03:39
Speaker
um Am I correct? You are correct there. Yeah, I i do remember that. Yeah. So some stuff I wanted to ask you, yeah to start here would be like what really sticks out do you have like a crazy story right away that you want to get off or so off the bat here that uh that our listeners might want to hear good or bad good or bad or just bad or just good or both Just whatever you you feel. Yeah, both. We could do both.
00:04:11
Speaker
Or I see you got a good one and a bad one. it It depends on, I guess, the ah the the way you want to steer this conversation. So do you want to steer it towards a different topic that's good? Or do you want to steer towards a topic that's bad? it It's your call, man. And I'll let you take it from the hip here.
00:04:30
Speaker
Well, the the good part the good part about reffing is just like... just like being on a team, you know, you're you're, you're in the dressing room, you're with the guys, you're with your partner, you're talking about the game, you're talking about life and, you know, and that's, that's the ah fun part about reffing is being part of, of a group,
00:04:53
Speaker
that cares about each other, will look out for each other. just like a team It's just like a team. And when we go out on the ice, we have each other's backs. And that's the cool part about reffing.
00:05:04
Speaker
The other cool part about reffing is seeing your potential out on the ice, out on the basketball court, or out on the field. um that's That's the cool part about reffing, is being part of that group.
00:05:19
Speaker
The other part is your the reward ah the reward of watching kids go from you know little guys to almost adults and seeing them grow as as athletes is another cool part about reffing, seeing these kids grow and hopefully they they take their sports to wherever they need to go.
00:05:41
Speaker
That's the other cool part about reffing. And the other part, the bad part ah about reffing is the abuse factor and and how much abuse we take, how much people actually don't know how much time this actually takes.
00:05:58
Speaker
um out of our day to actually ref. The other thing that I think a lot of people don't understand is that um we have to go through ah rigorous background check.
00:06:10
Speaker
We also have to learn um a massive amount of rules in books and we have to learn them. We write tests. We do all these sort of, we do all these sort of things to, ah to learn, to learn about the game and also so that we can implement the rules as needed out on the ice, the basketball court or the field.
00:06:30
Speaker
And that's what I think a lot of people don't understand. But, The main part that I think that's not fun is get every call you make, you seem to get ridiculed on one side or the other. And that's, that's the hard part about roughing is, is you get that background noise from coaches and fans and players. And that's, that's the, not the fun part.
00:06:54
Speaker
I see. So I like that you mentioned more so that, um, you know, the the fun part about it, the really cool part you see in a lot of kids and stuff like that, they go through the ranks of whether it's Adam, novice, you know, all those sort of stuff, Bantam up to to whatever yeah is nowadays and stuff like that.
00:07:14
Speaker
So you see them get sort of sometimes scholarships and go and play hockey for a living and earn some money doing it, whether it's semi pro or pro or wherever.
00:07:26
Speaker
It's really cool to see people kind of take that step and and and grow along those ways. And I'm sure, yeah, you've mentioned that you see those people as you ahic as your officiating career grows too, right? and And then we go to the bad part here, the abuse, the pressure from parents, the the impact of parental pressure on youth sports officials, just in general, is like, where do where do we draw the line?
00:07:50
Speaker
Have you had people in your referee career where you've had to either toss them out or had, if you were assistant refereeing, had, had your senior official toss them out.
00:08:05
Speaker
Yep. Lots. I've, I think in my career of reffing, I think I've tossed, I think about 20 coaches in my lifetime, 20, 20, 20. twenty one t twenty And I've only thrown out five fans in my lifetime.
00:08:22
Speaker
Um, um, And that's okay. That's very small compared, but yeah, 20 coaches I've tossed 20 coaches I've tossed.
00:08:33
Speaker
So about a a afford four to one ratio yeah for coaches getting tossed compared to fans. Yeah. and You know, one of one of the things that i've I think I've noticed with hockey and in sports in general, that we've but especially hockey.
00:08:51
Speaker
Hockey's got this culture... For whatever reason, and it's gotten worse within, i would say, within the last, I would say the last eight years, that it's okay to yell at people who are taking their time away from their lives to so their kids can play sports.
00:09:09
Speaker
And that it's okay to yell at officials when you don't get your way. It's okay to yell at officials when you don't like something. Or I have an opinion how things should be called. And that's, I think the culture the culture of hockey has gotten worse over the years. And I think we've allowed it as society to to continue.
00:09:30
Speaker
Or how how should I say this? How they they've allowed, hockey culture has allowed players this to happen instead of putting a stamp on it and and tossing these people out of the game so that the game could be better i see so you think sometimes that those people should be banned for verbally abusing officials and stuff like that is does it ever get physical too No, you know what? i've never I've never seen in my lifetime, I've never seen um somebody get ah physically abused as an official.
00:10:05
Speaker
and Parents are unofficial or coaches are unofficial. um I have seen um or have heard, I've seen one time when I was doing a game that a player shoved a referee.
00:10:17
Speaker
But i I've heard more of referees getting shoved by players. And and but that's what's in hockey. That's called what's match on official. That is the most hard-nosed penalty that somebody could get is on a match on official in hockey.
00:10:33
Speaker
You can't touch an official. You can't push an official. You can't do any of that stuff. So anyways, yeah. So that's where... um I think I've never seen anybody really get seriously, seriously hurt. Although, we just like you know, we've seen lots of YouTube videos where there have been total full-on brawls in Quebec, in Ontario. We've seen it in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick.
00:10:59
Speaker
Not that I'm picking on all the eastern provinces, but that's where we've seen a lot of the... There's just more people. Exactly. There's the population's bigger out there. Right. So, and yeah, there's, there's the higher percentage of odds of somebody catching your brawl on film and, and more hockey out there, right? There it's, it's less spread out. So more people, less spread out. You got more teams competing against each other. i could, I could definitely see people getting a little, um,
00:11:31
Speaker
Do you think that star players maybe get preferential treatments from referees? Did did you see that at all in your case? Um, I know I've never seen that. I've, I've a lot of the guys that I've worked with, you know, everybody was treated equally out there.
00:11:50
Speaker
Um, I, I mean, obviously you, you want to protect the star player that's out there for sure. I mean, you obviously could tell which players more above the rest of them, but a lot of the times those star players are just as are way worse.
00:12:06
Speaker
Um, when it comes to, you you know physicality than the other guys are and then they think that well i'm the best player so i should get special treatment uh no that doesn't that's not how that works you're you're you're treated as the same as everybody else now i i'm only speaking for myself and from what i've seen because i only have two eyes and i'm not everywhere but i that's how i treated the game is i do try to protect the best players out there but you know what you're if you do things to other players you don't get you don't get that special treatment um or you don't get the uh the special calls or whatever that you know you have to play through the game that's just how it goes
00:12:53
Speaker
Right, and and you're saying that so if if you see some player do something to somebody ah kind of egregiously and maybe it goes or it slips by people, that player isn't going to get the benefit of your doubt for probably the rest of the game, which is you know like most people, so that's that's ah that's
Impact of Officiating on Personal Life
00:13:13
Speaker
cool.
00:13:13
Speaker
um Also wanted to ask you, like, How you mentioned, or I guess I mentioned this as well, that you and your dad, Irv, would have officiated practically all of our games, hockey, basketball.
00:13:32
Speaker
um You guys even did volleyball when we played against Banff. For reference, I grew up in Canmore and landed in Banff. i was the I was the umpire.
00:13:44
Speaker
There you go. Exactly. ah Exactly. You guys, you guys did everything. Was there ever any burnout for you guys?
00:13:54
Speaker
And talk a little bit about that and how, if there is, there's any solution to it, you know? Well, yeah, therere there was times throughout the the year where my dad and I would be doing five games a weekend because of shortage of officials and or even sometimes six or seven.
00:14:16
Speaker
And by time Monday came around, we were so tired that we didn't really want to do anything. So, I mean... That's a lot of games for somebody to do. So that's sometimes that's one but one or two games on a Friday. That's three games on a Saturday, three games on a Sunday. Or I mean, I could i could throw in a whole bunch of different ratios on per day of of games, but that's a lot of hockey games. I mean, there's times that we did a lot less than that. I mean, it depends on how the schedule worked.
00:14:43
Speaker
But yeah, there was times that my dad and I were really burnt out. And, you know, there's also times that I honestly have to when him and I have chatted about this a lot over the now that we've retired from hockey, that we look back and we've spent a lot of weekends on just going to the rink every weekend that we it took a lot of time away from our family and our friends and.
00:15:08
Speaker
and ah And unfortunately, because those weekends got taken away, we lost a lot of time from seeing my grandma. And I wish, honestly, i could take those back i could take those back because I missed a lot of weekends not being able to go out to Medicine Hat where my grandma lived and to actually go see her and spend some time with her. I really wish I could go back and say I wasn't going to do as much hockey as I did.
00:15:32
Speaker
But unfortunately, like my dad and I have said, uh we that we we as officials we we had to do what we had to do and and honestly we made a lot of money we you know we used it to pay for golfing and all those sort of things so i mean there was some good there was a lot of good that come out it came out of it we also made lots of friends over the years too so there was a lot of good things that came out of it but there's also a lot that part that i told you you guys i'm telling everybody about our about my grandma But yeah, we definitely got burnt out a lot of the times throughout the week up throughout the year and it it it really took a toll on us.
00:16:08
Speaker
And I think that's partly why as years gone on and now that I've retired, that I think that burnout and the being just being tired of all that stuff is just added to it that that forced us to retire. and you know lack of support and things like that, that, that but added to it. So yeah, to answer your question, I know we, I kind of bounced around a little bit to to everybody, but that, that's my, my answer your question is that, yeah, we did get burned out quite a bit throughout the year.
00:16:41
Speaker
Okay. For solutions to that, do you think it's more about training and development camps and stuff like
Politics and Training in Officiating
00:16:50
Speaker
that? Like, are, are we, training enough of the next generation of referees?
00:16:56
Speaker
I don't think we are doing a very good job of that. And here is why. There's so much politics involved, in and especially in hockey, that, you know, you have to know somebody to get to to be something.
00:17:11
Speaker
You have to, you know, do all these things, just try to get in. Instead of the officials being the best of the best, the politics have had to play... um has to is coming into play and that's the part that's wrong and then I think that's also deterring a lot of officials too like you know if they they're trying to get to the highest point where they can make maybe make career out of it and they can't do it because the politics are always in the way I think that's wrong especially here in Hockey Alberta Hockey Canada that I think those hurdles need to be changed
00:17:45
Speaker
And I also think the reason why development is not happening with young kids moving up too is I think the the money is a problem. The time is a problem.
00:17:56
Speaker
And then I also think when it comes to recruiting and helping these officials go through the ranks and and try to, you know, coach them and mentor them and all that, there's not enough time because ah adults like me are having to cover so many games that we don't have time to, know,
00:18:14
Speaker
develop these officials. And so then when when ah when we do go out and ref with them, a lot of the times they don't know what they're doing. They don't know the rules. They don't know the procedures.
00:18:25
Speaker
And so yeah a lot of the times you're out there, a one-man wrecking crew calling everything where we don't have time to help this person. ah ref hot ref properly. and that's And that's a really big problem that's happening not only and our area, but that's happening all across Canada. I mean, the numbers of officials who have dropped over the years because of abuse, because of lack of recruiting or just time, it's it's astonishing the not that the stats that are and officials are or people are leaving leaving ah as officials throughout the game. So i I don't know how you answer that question. I don't know how you answer the question i don't know where to go where where to go with that when it comes to recruiting because I think –
00:19:12
Speaker
For that to happen a little bit easier, I think the the number of teams and the amount of hockey has to drop too. and i And basketball too. There's just so many teams playing and there's not enough officials.
00:19:24
Speaker
Fair. So often people who end up doing it once or twice on a schedule, other people bail and then you know you get stuck with all the shifts. And then on top of that, people have the nerve to get mad at you too for either A, volunteering or B, which you're you're pretty much volunteering most of the so time to be there because the pay is usually far little compared to what it should be. not Not trying to knock anyone here.
00:19:55
Speaker
um Do you think, I don't know, maybe I'll share this with you that I got my baseball umpire's license when I was like 14 or 15 or something like that.
00:20:10
Speaker
And, uh, and, you know, we did like a three day program out in Cochrane and it was fun and everything. And I, I liked it. And I, I, I think I honestly did it cause I thought it would help me be a better player by flirting every single one of like the niche rules. At least that's what I went into it thinking.
00:20:30
Speaker
And that's it. It's not like we sat there with a baseball rule book and looked up niche rules. They basically taught us where to stand and stuff like that, and positioning and, you know, stand there, you know, they make the right arm calls and stuff like that. And, ah but I was maybe 15 and I'm a lot, I'm 32. Now I was a lot different than 15.
00:20:54
Speaker
I was not very vocal when they would say out and stuff like that. I would say, ah oh You know, I was very timid and shy. There was what kind of umpire is going you. You couldn't even hear him in the roar of the crowd and stuff like that. He would say, you know, is as long as he saw his hands, maybe. But no, it wouldn't have lied. And so um I just I never ended up doing any baseball games myself.
00:21:22
Speaker
And then once I got older, started of playing beer league softball and often played with my dad. And some of those those best years of my life were playing with him, which was a lot of fun. um for sure, we'd we'd end up often umping the whole games we'd play in beer league softball together because most of the people on our team would either A, not want ump or B didn't know the rules well enough to feel comfortable behind the plate of a beer league softball game, which is fair. A lot of people in the Bow Valley are new and stuff like that and are from other countries, maybe don't, haven't grown up with the sport and all that sort of stuff. Totally, totally fair. But when it came to playoffs, it was like nobody ever wanted to do it. It was always like,
00:22:06
Speaker
Most of the time we were expected to do it and that went on for, and that's probably still going on for most people on their beer league softball teams. You know, you'll have to ump at least one playoff game, if not two. And yourre look I've seen posts nowadays where sometimes they allocate some league fees to pay for those umpires and pay for their time to ensure that those guys will show up and do a good job because i think I think that's important for, especially for playoff games, people take those seriously, right? So...
00:22:35
Speaker
questions I wanted to ask you coming up because you mentioned, you know, that you regret a lot of time, not a lot of, but some time because you would, um like I saw you all the time. So yeah, you would, ummp you would ref, you would official, you would everything. If there was a tournament going in the about Bow Valley, the Seminox were involved.
00:22:58
Speaker
Hence that you could put your money on it. um Do you think that AI is, is, it should be used or is a threat at all? Do you think it would help for relief some pressure? If so, like, is the technology available right now for that to relieve some pressure on some of those umpires or officials out there?
Technology and Officiating
00:23:21
Speaker
Well, I don't know yeah if it would or – don't think it would. and And here's why. Because, I mean, the NHL, the NBA, the NFL, the CFL, MLB, they're having such trouble with their own – stuff with cameras and everything that I don't think that that would help in, in minor hockey or minor sports at all.
00:23:45
Speaker
I, I think what needs to relieve the pressure off officials is that the, the higher ups of, you know, whether it be hockey, Alberta, um, Alberta basketball, hockey Canada, basketball Canada, what they need to do is they need to do some stiffer penalties on a fish on parents and coaches who and players who are verbally abusing officials that are that are doing it.
00:24:14
Speaker
That's what I think would help relieve a lot of pressure on officials. and And that's where I think that's where I think I don't think I don't think having technology right now is going to help anything at all. I really don't. I don't I don't see that being being a thing because I mean, obviously, we've seen what's going on in the NHL as it has a perfect example.
00:24:34
Speaker
the there's such great area even with video review on some of these calls, especially the offsides, the goaltender interferences and all that, that i don't think I don't think that would even help. And then obviously everybody's not happy about the ah but the calls that are being made in the NHL. So I think that's where, I don't think it'll work. I really don't. there real I really don't.
00:24:59
Speaker
i really don't Well, there there is some more of a lighthearted question I could ask you, I guess. Like, mic'd up referees, sometimes we're seeing that on the field now in the pros and the semi-pros and stuff like that. do you Is it a yay or a nay for you?
00:25:18
Speaker
ay I think it's a nay. Yeah? I do. Why is that? I really
00:25:28
Speaker
Um... I... I'm not sure how to how I could say nay. I'm not sure how I can answer nay. I just think it's a nay. i Okay, so they wouldn't have been able to put a mic on you when you were officiating games, right? they if yeah they said If they said, hey, Lando, for my TikTok, real quick, let me just clip this on your shoulder. Let me clip this on your sleeve. let me get that That way I can trash talk you when I skate by. Something like that, right? Yeah.
00:25:57
Speaker
I don't know if anybody would have the cojones to do No, I don't think anybody would. I don't think having mic'd up would it would would work. No, I really don't. I'm still a nail on that one. Gotcha.
00:26:10
Speaker
um And even in professional sports, a you you do you don't like hearing those sound bites of... I do find them funny. I actually... It's kind of neat to actually... see I actually kind of... I find it neat a little bit to hear some of the pro referees, how they trash talk players to back just as much as the players trash back at them.
00:26:31
Speaker
That part is neat, but I think... i I also don't think it's good because then I think players think that that's a good idea in minor sports. said Oh, look at these guys. They're trash talking, so I guess we can do it too.
00:26:44
Speaker
You know what I mean? So I don't think it's good and it's bad. It sets bad example. It sets a very bad example, I think, in a lot of ways. Even though you and I, Leo, I think we like it.
00:26:55
Speaker
um But i really i i really don't think that it it's helping, to be honest with you.
Officiating Challenges: A Listener's Reflection
00:27:04
Speaker
Anything do you want to mention, Lando, before we head to break here and start the second segment?
00:27:11
Speaker
Well, one of the questions that I wanted, I've been playing through this my head through my head this whole time, or the or the whole time that you and I were going to get this started. And I want to ask a whole bunch of all our listeners that how are you at making a split second decision in life?
00:27:30
Speaker
A split second decision in life. how How good are you at it? And I want you to think about that. um Anytime an official makes a call, because honestly, that's what it is.
00:27:44
Speaker
Officials make split second to calls or split second decisions, excuse me, about making calls, whether it's a, whether it's a a foul, whether it's a flag thrown, the arm goes up in hockey or in volleyball, it's, you know, a carry or it's a not a carry.
00:28:02
Speaker
It doesn't matter what sport it is. Referees have to make a split-second decision. So I want to ask everybody, how are you ah good at making a split-second decision? Because if the answer is...
00:28:15
Speaker
Oh, I'm good at it. Well, I think you're really kidding yourself because i think none of us are perfect making a split second decision. So why are you making referees perfect or asking them to be perfect when they're not?
00:28:31
Speaker
I mean, as soon as a split second decision happens out on the ice, the court, the field, whatever it is, they have to make a split the second decision on that call. And if... whether it is or it isn't.
00:28:43
Speaker
And and i that's where I want to ask the question to everybody is how good are you at making a split second decision? Think about that. when you when you do anything in life or you yell at an official, how good are you at making a split second decision? Because it's very easy to sit on the sidelines and on the bench and make calls because it it is, because you're not you don't you're not in that pressure moment um making the call. making the call so It's easy to look at it at different angles and things like that. So that's where I think
00:29:15
Speaker
people need to really think about is how good are you at making a split second decision? Now I know that I've repeated that question about four or five to 10 times.
00:29:28
Speaker
And and I apologize to everybody, including you, Leo, but I want that question to stick to everybody's mind when, when they're about to yell at a referee, it doesn't matter if it's minor sports or pro, how good are you at making a split second decision when things are coming at you really, really fast? so
00:29:47
Speaker
Well, sounds good. Stick around and we're just getting started. Whether you've been on the field or in the stands or somewhere in between, you'll want to hear what's coming next. Quick break. We'll be right back with more stories.
00:29:59
Speaker
Leo and Lando show.
CFL Discussion: Winnipeg Blue Bombers
00:30:02
Speaker
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Leo and Lando show. I'm your host, Leo Ernawine, alongside co-host Landon Semenok. And Landon, we're talking some CFL here. People across the country are are really harping on what's going on with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
00:30:16
Speaker
I just simply think it's it's called, they've been to five great cups, that's what happens. they're not They're not as good as they used to be, and I think that's what's going on. And Zach Corlaros is not also... ah young pup anymore as well and so I think that's what's going on with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers this year I mean i I simply watched them against Calgary last weekend and when they when they played Calgary you could just see he had nobody to throw to anymore where in years past he had tons of targets and they're become one two way too much one-dimensional and I think that's that's what's going on with Winnipeg
00:30:49
Speaker
And then also their defense. They've had to change a lot of defensive structures over this year. They're yacht younger on the back end. They've also had injuries. So that's where I think Winnipeg is struggling a little bit this year.
00:31:01
Speaker
I mean, they're still top three. and don't har but don't Don't knock them out because Winnipeg has a winning culture and I wouldn't knock them out yeah one bit at ah at all. are is Saskatchewan saskatchen the real deal?
00:31:14
Speaker
I think they are. i think they're pretty darn good. i think i hate to say it because I'm a Stampeders fan. I hate to say it, but I think Saskatchewan is definitely the real deal. I really, really do.
00:31:26
Speaker
Bo Levi Mitchell and the Hamilton Tiger Cats taking on the Saskatchewan Rough Riders this weekend. The seven and one Rough Riders. While the Tiger Cats, they had a six-game win streak snapped last weekend against the BC Lions. They're now 6-3.
00:31:40
Speaker
three you Of course, Rough Riders atop of the West at 7-1. And old Levi Mitchell kind of having a bounce, well, not a bounce back. He's ah sort of found the fountain of youth, as we teased earlier, where he's recently passed Doug Flutie for ninth all time on the CFL passing yards list. And we'll be taking on those riders on Saturday this afternoon.
00:32:02
Speaker
Landon, what do you what you think is something to look forward to in that game there? Well, first of all, think about this. Bo Levi Mitchell is 35 years old. He's healthy, and he's got Kenny Lawler to throw to.
00:32:16
Speaker
Those are two combinations that I think is helping Bo Levi Mitchell this year. Now, Saskatchewan's defense is really, really good. Now, can Bo Levi keep this up? I believe he can. He's got the right protection. He's got the right tools. He's got the right team around him.
00:32:31
Speaker
Do I think he can beat the Saskatchewan Ruffers? I absolutely 100% do. But... but Bo has to keep playing the way he is. His offensive line have to keep playing the way he is. And I think they'll beat them. That's where I think that's what I think about Bo Levi Mitchell.
00:32:45
Speaker
And boy, has he been exciting this year. This is the guy that I remember seeing when he was with the Calgary Stampeders.
Coaching Success: Ryan Papuano
00:32:54
Speaker
Okay, switching gears here. We're going to, you know, little bit of a personal hiring for Landon Semenok.
00:33:03
Speaker
Well, not a personal hiring, but a hiring in the ECHL, Wheeling Naylor's new head coach, Ryan Papuano there. Landon, I understand you have a personal connection to him. Take it away.
00:33:15
Speaker
I do. um He was my brother's coach back in, I can't believe it's been 17 years ago that he was the coach. He's been the coach for the Brooks Bandits. And it it is actually astonishing.
00:33:28
Speaker
The record that he's had from 2009 to a winning record 907, 218, 48 out 1,172 games coach. That's unbelievable when you think about, don't even think NHL coach has record like that anywhere that can think of.
00:33:42
Speaker
coach that's on believable when you think about i don't even think ah and nhl coach has a record like that anywhere and i can think of um Right now at this present time, I mean, obviously there's lots of other coaches in the NHL that have better records than that. But he's also won four national championships. He's won nine league championships in the HHL.
00:34:06
Speaker
All 16 seasons, or sorry, 17 seasons, they've made the playoffs every year that he's coached. He's been the top three every season.
00:34:18
Speaker
He just won the BCHL championship last year when Brooks, along with the five other Alberta teams, moved on to the BCHL from the AJHL. last time he lost the playoff series 2017-18 when lost to the Spruce Grove Patriots.
00:34:34
Speaker
when they lost to the spruce grove Saints in the finals and he's got and AGHL record of 52 wins three losses most points 114 longest winning streak 33 and the longest winning streak overlapping within a season is 55.
00:34:54
Speaker
And he has a put perfect home record of 30-0 in 2018 and 19. He's coached Cale McCarr. He's coached Taylor McCarr, who both played for the Colorado Avalanche organization.
00:35:08
Speaker
and And also Parker Foo, who had just got drafted within the last two years. he's also He also coached him. So Ryan's record speaks for itself.
00:35:19
Speaker
Brooks is... the foundation of junior hockey as far as I'm concerned. And I wish Ryan all the best. I know from a personal standpoint for, as a family, he's done a lot of things for my brother and our family. And we want to wish him and his family all the best because I mean, what a great opportunity to be with the wheeling nailers of the Pittsburgh Penguins, uh, ECHO affiliate.
00:35:44
Speaker
Well, it sounds like the East ho East coast hockey league, you've got themselves a jam and it's too bad that, that, uh, Brooks no longer has themselves a gem. Wheeling, of course, will be quite happy.
00:35:58
Speaker
um Good for them, man. Good for him. you know You mentioned thirty and oh between the 2018 and 2019 season at home. that's is That's an incredible home record. It sounds like the the barn over there in Brooks might have been on fire almost literally when he was out there.
00:36:15
Speaker
coaching those bandits really cool, really cool, really well-deserving anything you want to say to the guests Landon before we sign off here today.
Conclusion and Future Outlook
00:36:23
Speaker
I just want to say thank you to everybody for listening.
00:36:26
Speaker
I know that there's a lot of you who are very excited about Leo and I doing this. I hope you guys keep listening. We don't know where this is going to go. We're just going to take this one step at time and we don't know where We don't know where this is going to go. We're excited.
00:36:42
Speaker
This is only episode one, but I also want to say a special shout out to two little listeners who are my cousins who live in Regina. One is 10, one is three. Bronx and Ruger, I want to say hi to you guys and thank you for listening, even though i even though it may be only five minutes.
00:37:02
Speaker
That's so cool. Bronx and Ruger, shout out to you guys. And thanks everybody for listening. That's a wrap for today. Thanks for hanging out with us. If you've been in the game, you probably get it. The wins, the losses, and everything in between. We're just here to tell it sometimes how it is, sometimes how we think it is, really. We'll catch you next time with some more takes, more stories, and probably a few things that we shouldn't say in the mic, but, well, anyways.
00:37:25
Speaker
Until then, keep it honest, keep it up, and keep your head up. Take care, everybody.