When The Game Ends

Great chatting with Mike Commito, Sudbury, Ontario based hockey writer and historian, Mike is a great follow on Twitter as he puts out daily info about the history of the game, if you love hockey history, Mike is a great person to follow! He joined Fred Pletsch and I to chat about his road to becoming the team historian for the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), and his role as a writer and historian for the Los Angeles Kings, he's also the Director of Applied Research at Cambrian College in Ontario. Mike wrote a book, "Hockey 365: Daily Stories From The Ice", it was released in September 2018, he talked with us about that and some of the stories from it. One story that is a must hear is his 1 interview with The Great One, Wayne Gretzky, very cool and unique how Mike's interview with Gretzky happened!! We also chatted with Mike about his role as the Team Historian for the Sudbury Wolves, and some of the top all time players to play for the Wolves and to come out of Sudbury, Ontario, really enjoyed chatting with Mike, enjoy the interview!!

Great time chatting with friend & co-worker Michael Frank, we've worked on the Army Football package the last 2 seasons together, Michael is our TV director on the package. Over the last couple years, we've had several opportunities to chat sports and I'm always blown away about the stories Michael would share with me of his years in the business. He grew up in New York and at young age his dreams were to become a radio announcer. He attended UCLA and then began his journey in the world of Television Sports Broadcasting & he worked in my opinion, the greatest era of Sports Television, he was fortunate to work with Pat Summerall and John Madden, working in a couple of different roles, he tells several outstanding stories about his time working with Pat and John, amazing stuff. He's also worked with TV legends, Dick Stockton & Gary Bender & many others in his career. He's also worked several Masters golf tournaments in Augusta, GA, he tells some awesome stories about his time working those tournaments, including one in particular where he got to interview Jack Nicklaus after The Golden Bear finished his round, and a story about the 1988 NBA All-Star game involving a young Michael Jordan, great stuff!! Michael and I are both massive Seinfeld fans as well, so we chatted a little about that as well, enjoy!!

Luke was back in the host seat today, always great to sit next to my son for these, been a lot of fun!! Today we talked about a few different topics, we started off with some news that Luke had about the Pro Supercross series, they will start racing again in late May in Utah. We also talked some about golf being back on TV on Sunday, we also talked some NBA. Now that "The Last Dance" is over, the 10 part documentary on Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, Sunday night the 9th and 10th episodes aired and we weighed in with some thoughts a variety of topics about it, including thoughts on MJ, Pippen, Phil Jackson, Dennis Rodman and Steve Kerr, was fun as always with my son!!

Excellent conversation with former UCF guard & CBS Sports Network College Basketball Analyst Mike O'Donnell in this episode. Mike and I have worked games together a few times over the last few seasons, always enjoy working with Mike, and catching up with him in this forum was fun as well! We talked about Mike's career path on the court, he's from Largo, Florida, he talked with me about his development as a player and how N.C. State first came calling, and how he decided to attend the school and play hoops for 1 season, before transferring back to his home state of Florida, where he attended UCF for the remainder of his college career. Mike talked with me about some of the best players he played with, some of his greatest memories as a college player, and who he idolized as a player. We also discussed the NBA and the possible return of the league, including what Mike thinks about the possibility of the league choosing Orlando, FL as a potential destination to start playing again. We also chatted about "The Last Dance", the 10 part documentary on MIchael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, and much more in this episode of hoops discussion! 

Great chatting with Joe Bertagna in this episode as he joined Fred Pletsch and I to talk hockey, with some great stories his days as a commissioner, player, and goalie coach! Before we jumped into the hockey talk, Joe shared with us how he and 3 members of his family had COVID-19 earlier this year, he's recovered and doing well now. The 2019-20 season was Joe's final season as commissioner of Hockey East, he spent 23 years leading that conference, 15 before his Hockey East days leading the ECAC, he leaves NCAA hockey as the longest running conference commissioner in NCAA Hockey history. We discussed his days as a goalie, including his time playing at Harvard, and later in his career, coaching the Women's hockey team at Harvard. We also heard some great stories from Joe involving his playing, coaching and days as a commissioner, one of which was about the late, great Badger Bob Johnson, and another about his good friend Ben Smith, who also had COVID-19 earlier this season. Joe also talked with us about the great Bobby Orr and something he did for Orr for years as the commissioner of Hockey East. We also talked about Jerry York of Boston College, no coach in the history of the sport has more wins than York. Great stories and great time catching up with Joe in this episode!!

Since 2005, Brad Schlossman has covered North Dakota and the world of College Hockey for the Grand Forks Herald. Brad joined Fred Pletsch and I recently to chat about a wide variety of topics, first we talked about how he got his start as a journalist with the Herald, he started in 2003 and in 2005 was moved to the North Dakota hockey beat, since then, he's become an outstanding writer covering North Dakota's program extensively and one of the best in the business. We also discussed the man who previously covered North Dakota, Virg Foss, who spent a half century covering the sport, Brad shared with us the impact Virg has had and continues to have on his career. We also talked about one very memorable World Junior Hockey Tournament Brad covered, which featured him having several one on one sit down interviews with a young Alexander Ovechkin! We looked back on North Dakota's impressive 2019-2020 season, the won the NCHC Penrose Cup as the league's regular season champions, plus, some of Brad's most memorable players, coaches and games he's covered, and we also got his thoughts on 3 on 3 hockey in overtime and if oneday we see that excitement of 3 on 3 become universal in College Hockey! 

Luke was back in the host seat today, always a thrill to be next to my son when we do these podcasts, so cool to see him in his element!! Luke wanted to talk about Wednesday nights PLL Draft, he went through it all and broke it down some, love talking lacrosse with my man! We also discussed some NBA topics as well, and we talked about a recent Top 10 list of the greatest players in NBA history, we had some fun with this topic and the entire podcast for that matter!!! 

In this episode, I chat with Tampa Bay Lightning Forward Blake Coleman, who was traded earlier this NHL season from New Jersey to Tampa Bay. Coleman and I go back a few years, he played in the NCHC at MIami (OH) before he embarked on his pro career with the team that drafted him, New Jersey. His last 2 seasons at Miami, Coleman was one of the top players in the NCHC, a rugged, solid, hard working, 2 way player with a knack for the big moment, including in the 2015 NCHC tournament championship game when he scored 3 goals and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. We also discuss his hockey roots, he's from the Dallas area, his time in the USHL, his time in the AHL, his first call up to "The Show", his 1st NHL goal, it came vs. his hometown team, the Dallas Stars. We also discussed the day and moment he was traded from New Jersey to Tampa, very interesting part of his career as his Dad was with him at the time. Plus, we chat about being a girl dad, Coleman and his wife are the proud parents of an infant daughter, plus his nickname "Pickles", great story, and much more in this entertaining episode!! 

In this episode, Fred Pletsch and I catch up and chat with longtime pro hockey goalie, Jason Bacashihua of Dearborn Heights, MI. Cash, as he's known in the hockey world, was a 1st round pick of the Dallas Stars, (26th overall), in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. In his teen years, Cash played for the Chicago Freeze in the NAHL, Fred was the commissioner of the NAHL then, so they had some great conversation about that part of Cash's hockey journey. After 2 seasons in Chicago, Cash then played for 1 season in the OHL with the Plymouth Whalers before he was drafted in the 1st round. In 2001, the year he was drafted, he embarked on his pro career, we discuss that, his 1st NHL call up, some of the players and teams he played with and on, his journey through pro hockey, including his stints with the Lake Erie Monsters of the AHL, a place Cash and I met, I was the team broadcaster there. We also chat with Cash about his journey, that started in 2012, in Europe as a pro, plus, where he was when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out and what it was like for him to get back to the U.S. during that time, and so much more in this episode!!  

Luke and I chat with the always entertaining Trevor Baptiste, now with PLL Atlas, as their Faceoff Man/Midfielder, we started out with Trevor talking about what's he is doing to stay ready for the PLL, which is set to play a tournament style season in July. We also discussed his path from New Jersey to Denver University, where as a senior in the Big East Tournament Semifinals, at the time, set the NCAA record for faceoff wins, as he told us, he was an under recruited player and going to Denver was big in so many ways for Trevor, as a Freshman, he and his teammates won the NCAA title defeating Maryland. After Denver, Trevor was selected as the #1 overall pick of the Boston Cannons of the MLL, where he played part of his rookie season with the Cannons. We also discussed his move to the PLL last season, how his game is evolving as player on the field, some of the things he does off the field, fun stuff here, and playing for Team USA, plus his relationship with faceoff great, Greg Gurenlian, and so much more!!!