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00:00to be morbid or anything but you did you made it you made it to the end of another drought
00:07we we lived through two record droughts look at us yeah i'm gonna cross the street without looking
00:14later you know when i get home that's the first thing i'm doing is i'm just gonna walk in the
00:18street two droughts i only wish just for i don't know selfishly for our own sake the show's sake
00:28that we had started in the 2000 season right after music city miracle as a show because then we
00:35would have spanned the life of two uh you know these ridiculous droughts whereas we started you
00:41know three years into were you on for that game you were uh home run throwback yeah you were right
00:46i did post post game i was sitting on a couch in rochester watching the game didn't work then
00:53i worked during the week not so don't judge me but i didn't have any sort of game responsibilities
00:59and i just remember sitting there like you could see like this is this real not of course having any
01:07idea that it would be 17 years before they would make the playoffs again and lose 10 to 3 and
01:13that
01:13was good yeah when they lost 10 to 3 in a playoff game that was like huge progress that was
01:18momentous
01:19not only did i work but we were ben had the rights to the bills games from nine that's how
01:26i
01:26started working there so i knew they were getting the rights and i thought maybe an internship could
01:30turn into a job and i was right so 94 95 96 97 the games are on wben they go
01:36back to i think they went
01:38to fm i think 97 rock maybe starts then um and so i'm still doing you know just like we'll
01:45do here if
01:45we don't have the games anymore uh you know i'm we're still doing all the usual stuff right we're
01:50still the sports station uh or we're competing with gr to be that whatever so i'm doing post game
01:56and i think it's one of these deals where you know we didn't have the games and like get on
02:03there and
02:03start talking about what's happening with this this review kind of thing like really okay i like i have
02:11memories of watching you know the referee and being on the air trying to decipher like what's
02:16going to happen here and that was like six months after no goal yeah wasn't it yes june 99 to
02:23january
02:24yeah thoughts double thoughts yeah uh anyway yeah not not you know whatever we don't need to dwell
02:30on drought memories or no we shouldn't droughts uh well it's incredible that the fan base has been
02:35through 17 seasons of football and 14 seasons of hockey and to have this hockey thing end the way
02:44it did with you know them being in last place in december and going you know not just squeezing in
02:52not just getting in because andy dalton completed a pass i mean they they went and won the division
02:57there's no there's no truck beeping backup noise happening here at all i mean they just did it
03:04that's right but apologies if i want at least one more day of can we just appreciate this before
03:12it turns bad like i i don't know i looked at the odds today excitedly i tweeted it you might
03:20have
03:20seen i saw it you know ottawa is a shorter bet to win the stanley cup than the sabers i
03:27mean i've you're
03:27in my head that ottawa was so good yeah but you're not alone no no i i think that they
03:33are they're a
03:35team i mean how do you want to do the odds right i mean you're going to look at the
03:38records but i
03:39think you're also going to consider like what team's strengths and weaknesses are and look at all the data
03:44and that's such a team that i would bet yeah if you replace the sabers with like the capitals
03:50okay i'd be like oh ottawa is the bet yeah because they they have had a year they've had a
03:56year where
03:57they did almost everything well except get saves and now and now getting more getting more saves and
04:04they've been hot and they're you know they're the one team here in this group of teams um no i
04:11shouldn't say it that way that's not exactly right montreal's the hottest team in the in the division
04:14eight and two in their last ten everybody else is like five three and two ish here uh getting to
04:20the wire but um they're they're just a team that should to me should be considered dangerous if you
04:25consider goaltending volatile which i think you probably should um there's every reason to think
04:31they'll get saves and that the rest of it will come together for them so i think they're they're a
04:37real threat i i really want ball i mean now that we're there we got two choices and uh go
04:42bruins
04:42tonight playing the devils boy i put a poll up last night boston or ottawa you you made a point
04:51last week just how the bruins represent a certain i guess fear based on their reputation or their
05:01image or their history or their history with the sabers like you know big bad boston 89 percent
05:07of people who voted in my poll would rather the sabers play boston than ottawa i mean is this the
05:15betting market are we the betting market like we're just are we ottawa freaked here like boston okay
05:22go bees that's tonight against jersey they're a slight favorite against jersey at home nobody respects
05:28them this is what 15 years of not having this to talk about will do to a fan base there's
05:33literally
05:33i'm sure fans who really watch hockey who have no idea that the bruins have been a nuisance to us
05:40it's this it's a it's two generations ago it's also not one completely one-sided that's right
05:4893 99 i mean the sabers have playoff series wins yep against boston 93 is famous to us
05:552010 i mean who could expect to be able to handle miro shatan in a playoff series so we lost
06:03well anybody who wants to jump in it's a day for celebration the playoffs will be here by the
06:11weekend and we'll have that and we'll all bite our fingernails down to the quicks but for now
06:19raise a glass what is the most amazing aspect of this or unexpected surprising to you like what
06:29what what is the most hard to understand piece of this season 803 05 50 is the number were you
06:39ever
06:39nervous last night um no no i i i might have had a moment where i just thought i don't
06:53want to deal
06:53with you guys losing this game but like more of like for just right now like what what talking
06:59today would feel like oh you know whatever i i no i i really wasn't worried um you know it
07:07might
07:07have created a more a greater sense of urgency about wednesday and it's awfully nice to have the
07:11opportunity to i don't know if we'll argue about or debate or whatever like what to do with the
07:16lineup i mean i don't really care what they do i just rest as many guys as you can is
07:20my advice
07:21you mean tomorrow tomorrow yeah oh yeah call up you know whatever you gotta i i meant to look i
07:25didn't look i don't know what rochester's schedule is like like i don't want to you know wreak havoc
07:31on them they're in a you know playoff chase of their own it's one night um but still i would
07:36yeah
07:36i would i would call up you know you know one thought i had was you know it's a nice
07:40touch here
07:41i know you know the dad's a friend of mine i don't really know the kid but like coon tower
07:45got one
07:46game in seattle get him up here and play a game at home really you know what the hell
07:51if it's you know if if the roster is you know you can just take anybody you want you know
07:55i
07:55don't know what kind of cap room they got um just get just get some guys in and just get
08:00through
08:01tomorrow night they're off this week okay friday so i mean cap room logistics like shouldn't be a
08:06big deal um i don't know if there's three four guys like that you can call up and put in
08:11the
08:11lineup i mean paul was talking last night about not even having lucan in dress tomorrow get levi up
08:17here let him make shoot i don't know you know probably don't want to dance on ellis so like
08:21let him ellis play but let levi come up and dress um so i'm i'm filling out i'm filling out
08:28an ahl
08:28as as much of an ahl lineup as i can tomorrow night i think that wouldn't even happen in the
08:33drought
08:33years no that's right it's it's ironic in that way um you know the i think if you i mean
08:43the whole
08:43thing is just so incredible that it happened um you know there's always someone out there
08:48in the midst of these seasons and i'm sure that somebody like this was out there in late november
08:54early december you know the blues did that you know the blues did this a couple years ago you know
09:00whatever somebody's always there to remind you and and but that that's what it takes it takes
09:04a turnaround that you think is really unfathomable and like here we are um so there's all kinds of
09:12moments and like favorite parts or most unexpected i i think there has been in my opinion nothing
09:21more unexpected about them this season than matthias samuelson okay i think good start i think he is
09:29singularly an incredible story like if he had just stabilized his game and became a reliable top four
09:38d-man on a team that was scratching and clawing to get to the playoffs he might be the story
09:44of their
09:44season but they're so good and they've got other guys that mean more you know to both ends of the
09:51ice
09:51and all that but samuelson giving them really his breaking through the way he did this year and becoming
10:00again a reliable top pair partner for dalene kept you from having your season derailed by
10:07the michael kesselring trade that didn't work out because of health or play style or whatever
10:12like the plan was dalene and byram power and kesselring samuelson i guess third pair like that at
10:19least for me going into the year because i just did not trust samuelson to be a top a top
10:25line player
10:25anymore or the sabers fourth ever best sniper right so he's martin ray shepherd samuelson he he
10:36and and it's not just that he suddenly produced points because i don't know how sticky that's going
10:43to be moving forward you know i don't know i don't know that i want to count on him for
10:4640 or fit
10:47whatever no um okay but if he can remain the defender he's become and even i mean he moves
10:55around the ice better than i think i don't know if he's talked about what he worked on but his
11:01whole
11:01game from top to bottom just improved in in every positive way possible he was pillared for not being
11:11a big physical presence quintessentially when thompson got leveled against the new jersey devils
11:17last february and samuelson was on the ice and seemingly utterly clueless i mean i dragged him over that
11:24lots of fans did endlessly to the point where you thought he was when kevin adams like refused to
11:30consider the idea of buying him out i thought it was bad form on the gm to not realize how
11:37unpopular
11:38this player had become that's where matthias samuelson's reputation was at not just with me
11:43with the fan base i think at large and he has become i mean he's the season speaks for itself
11:51he's physical he defends teammates he kills plays and he moves around the ice in a way that
11:58it's not like oh who is this guy that can't keep up playing with dalene none of that i thought
12:05a year
12:05ago was in the window so i think he is absolutely emblematic of the turnaround the entire organization
12:13has had because his career i i think was in danger i don't play in plus minus but if you
12:20do he is
12:20plus 41 by far the best on the team sixth in the league if you play on that well i
12:28can't beat that
12:29answer yet let's talk to some fans 8030550 today should be really fun travis yost at four like i
12:36tweeted and i texted travis this doesn't feel complete unless he's on for as i mean have we
12:42talked to travis maybe 50 times all since the sabers have last been in the playoffs i mean all after
12:48that
12:49right so we should have travis if he had time and he does we'll talk to ross tucker today about
12:56samuelson and whether zach benson should be a heart candidate and then also sal will join us
13:03at six no game tonight let's go to mark here hi mark hey guys thanks for taking my call
13:10so mike you asked earlier you know what was the turning point of the year and i'm sure a lot
13:14of
13:14fans are going to say you know just how they flipped the switch out of nowhere and they just became
13:19this
13:20you know there was like no build up no nothing it's like here we are we're good for me i
13:25would say
13:26it's upl um i mean that kid has been in the organization whether he was in you know rochester buffalo
13:32wherever going back and forth three four years ago i wrote him off like yep he's not the guy he's
13:37not the guy and then i don't know what happened this year that's going to be the guy going forward
13:42into these this playoff run i think that's your go-to guy nothing that's no knock on ellis or no
13:48knock on lions i think upl is your guy and then secondly i think the other thing too is lindy
13:53ruff
13:54i mean you know everybody says oh no here we go with the retread retread retread but lindy ruff is
13:59one hell of a coach and he's proven it with this team the talent was there they just needed the
14:05coaching and i think with whoever he brought on to help upl has worked tremendously for this team
14:11and that's why we're in the position we're in okay mark i don't know what ruff did for lukinin
14:18and of course ruff was the coach of this team last year too i get the sense that he's delegating
14:26not that he's irrelevant i'm not going to say that that's a pretty big jump but i think you know
14:32it's it's kind of uncle lindy to me now and you know that's fine it's it's important to be adaptable
14:38to know what you don't know or just sort of what your place is you you have seth appert doing
14:43most
14:43of the talking whenever you see a timeout or anything like that but no no credit taken away from ruff
14:51um i i i think the biggest thing that changed for lukinin is and and i would say this for
14:56any
14:57goalie that has had the kind of improvement he's had in the back half or even two-thirds of this
15:04season um compared to last year is that the team in front of him has learned how to play defense
15:10that is going to help any goalie um so that's not to take credit away from lukinin but and i
15:16don't
15:17know specifically i don't i don't believe there's any i think michael bales is still the goalie coach
15:21i don't i can't speak to what lukinin may or may not have done that would have been different this
15:26offseason than any other um so perhaps there's something lying within within that but i think
15:32mostly this team plays a style that is way more goalie friendly than they were any of the last i
15:40don't
15:40pick a year i mean it's it's it goes back a while i would say that so team defense element
15:47one two
15:51luck i mean two years ago he was really good actually it's not like he's never been on a on
15:58a roll
15:58so there's that and then i think you know confidence right i mean he's at the helm of a team
16:06that has really been rolling and in the last three weeks he's sort of taken charge there and
16:14i i think if it's okay to say it you watch him and he's all over it i mean he's
16:20way out all these
16:21blocker saves and just the glove um getting to the post who was it last night somebody had a look
16:29at him and he was there early and made the save like just he plays like a guy i think
16:34we've seen him
16:35overdo it and get lost but maybe that's not a necessarily a bad sign it might come from
16:42feeling like i know where the puck is going here and i want to be there and then maybe he
16:46gets
16:46sort of caught up but lately when he's good he's there you know you almost are surprised that he's in
16:53position for a save on certain plays so i think it's a combination of things like most things
16:58but he definitely is important and you gotta hope that the bounces go the right way here in the coming
17:07weeks and months if it ends up being months because goaltending is very fickle and if he gets
17:13all mark or swayman that's who he'll get right one of the two and those are two top you know
17:19maybe
17:20second tier goalies in the league if not top tier goalies in the league i don't think i could say
17:24top
17:24tier they were a top tier tandem in boston together and then all mark left and went to ottawa and
17:29it's
17:29been pretty bumpy for him uh you know himself he's had a rough year but but that's the thing where
17:35the series is going to be set by tomorrow night if not by tonight and people are going to have
17:41you know boxes to check and we're going to lose goaltending every time unless you know you look
17:47at all mark this year yeah yeah and his playoff history which is not good all right well i don't
17:53need
17:53that but some people want that that's right will you what do you think of all mark right now i
17:58don't
17:58know that i'd be comfortable saying ottawa's got an advantage in goal okay i think boston absolutely
18:04does okay with swayman i don't think there's any my opinion no question there how this how the bruins
18:10beat the sabers starts with swayman yes i believe so maybe not same for ottawa right all right thanks
18:17mark let's go to dave here hi dave hey guys i'll tell you a quick story and when i'm done
18:23you can
18:24thank me uh i've i've been a season ticket holder since 1971 i held the tickets until a combination
18:32of galisano and the lockout caused me to drop my tickets in 2005 as you might recall i then had
18:40to
18:40watch from my living room as the sabers went to the conference finals uh 10 years ensued and when
18:49they drafted eiko i got tickets again and over the last 10 years i've managed to move my seats
18:55gradually till now we sit in the center ice front row of the balcony great seats well last year after
19:04a
19:04combination of let's just say disgust and uh not wishing to make the 40 minute drive each way from
19:12clarence to go to the games i dropped my tickets again so clearly you can thank me you are yeah
19:19i
19:20told i told the boys when i dropped them i said hey in 2005 they went to the conference finals
19:26this
19:26time i think we're going to win the cup maybe you get in there dave well done dave yeah so
19:32i hope you
19:33find your way to uh although i don't know maybe you just shouldn't be there at all yeah stay away
19:39see the whole board dave at this point yeah 1971 what would that have been like pretty exciting yeah
19:49i i like your i like your idea do you think the majority of the fan base knows what thank
19:55you i mean
19:56obviously you thank you sabers i saw you tweet last night thank you sabers is called for tomorrow night
20:00and i couldn't agree more um i mean i i don't know how to go about getting something like that
20:06going i'm not going to be in the building i don't have a drum three words uh but it's not
20:10hard i mean
20:11i really hope that happens three words adam krautwurst he's your guy for this oh yeah okay i'll be in
20:20there with him oh you're okay right you're going all right good yeah he could do it i'm not doing
20:24it
20:25all right i would never but you know i hope somebody else does i really hope it happens 73 for
20:30the
20:30those that don't know i only thought i don't remember this from 73 i don't really remember the
20:3573 playoffs i remember the the game in montreal that preceded the elimination game the sabers lost
20:40at home in the odd with the pads being measured and all that stuff but i don't remember thank you
20:46sabers but the sabers lose game six to get eliminated first time ever in the playoffs in the
20:51spring of 73 and the crowd starts cheering thank you sabers as the final you know seconds are ticking
20:57off the clock i found out about that on the b side yes of the record we're gonna win that
21:04cup
21:04sung by donna mcdaniel which made the rounds in the spring of 75 when the sabers were well in the
21:10finals or going to the finals and the b side of that is a bunch of highlights and the last
21:15bit on
21:16that b side is thank you sabers echoing and i i remember hearing it as a as a 10 year
21:22old just being
21:22like wow this is so cool i think it's perfect for tomorrow yeah it is because like the playoffs will
21:28be the playoffs just like that year that was their first time ever making it yep and that was the
21:33end
21:33of the playoff run we're not there but just i did an interview today and we talked about a lot
21:39of
21:39having perspective on all this just like to have them be relevant again like this and that's an
21:43understatement yeah for the current moment um fans have to be really grateful and some will be just
21:51focused on well it doesn't really mean anything if you don't win it but i don't know i just can't
21:55i
21:56can't do that i'm gonna enjoy this week i think they'll probably play saturday if not saturday sunday
22:01i'm gonna enjoy every minute before it starts because it just was like yep almost a given that
22:09they wouldn't make it by the way the season started and what had happened here before
22:14tremendous 8030550 thank you dave thank you dave he might have been in there for thank you sabers
22:21in 1973 if he had tickets mike show up in the bulldog here thanks for listening some football with
22:27ross tucker and sal capaccio as we go through the day the draft is what nine days away
22:32you
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