Speaker 1:
Are you ready?
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From AMI Central.
Now start playing in the neutral zone.
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36 yards to the win.
This...
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Is this the tiger?
The neutral zone.
God.
Home run.
Good.
This is as good as it gets.
Now here's your host, two-time Paralympian, Brock Richardson.

Brock:
What's going on? It's time for another edition of The Neutral Zone and yes, yes, there is a Claire Buchanan sighting. She is back. Welcome back, Claire. Also joining us is Josh Watson. With that, let's get into our headlines.

Speaker 1:
Neutral Zone headlines, headlines, headlines.

Josh Watson:
Late last season, Damar Hamlin's Safety for the Buffalo Bills went into cardiac arrest on the field during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
As was widely reported, he has slowly recovered. Today we are pleased to be able to bring you the news that he has been cleared to return to all football activities, meaning he will be able to play for the Buffalo Bills next season.
When I first saw this happen, I wasn't sure that we were going to see him survive the trip to the hospital, let alone one day be able to come back and play football.
So congratulations, Damar. Best of luck with the coming season and just we really hope you are doing well.

Brock:
Currently. Nico Ima is 14 years of age, one of the youngest competitors to compete at the Daffy Sportif. He took home the gold medal alongside his father, Patrick Ima.
One of the great things about Nico is that he won this event and he is too young to be part of the national championships and he's going to be given exceptional status in relation to this event and will attend the upcoming nationals this November.
We are pleased to be joined by Nico and his father next week as we'll be talking about his success at this event and one internationally coming up very soon.

Claire Buchanan:
Exciting news out of Calgary, a deal has been done to replace Calgary's Saddledome. The total cost is estimated to be more than just shy of a billion dollars with 800 million going towards a new arena that will be the new home of the Calgary Flames.
The overall cost also includes improvements in parking transit, a new community rink and an enclosed plaza.

Brock:
Those are your headlines for this week and I thought we would spend our time chatting on the headline related to Nico only being 14 years of age and winning the event Daffy and this being the largest in Canada.
I can tell you that when I was at Daffy, I was doing nothing but missing the call room and the call room is something you have to be at in order to participate in the game and my respite worker, her name was Kathy, went up to the lady and said, listen, he's not going to win, let him play.
And she said, "No, no, no, you missed, sorry about your luck." What are your comments related to Nico and how good is this to see him win the event? Claire, let's start with you.

Claire Buchanan:
It's always nice to see athletes not only start sport at a young age like this but to see them excel and compete at the level.
That they're competing at right now just shows the level of maturity that they have as an individual but also the support system that they have around themselves.
Not only staff but family and friends and your family's involved in your sports at that age when you're that young.
I was just getting started in para-sports at 14, so it's remarkable to see not only the athletes like them starting off so well.
But we, at the women's national team as well, we have a handful of 14 and 15-year-olds that are just getting started in sport and it's exciting to see.
It's refreshing to see new faces and a maturity level that they're ready to compete and they're excited.
So it's kudos to them to be able to train and be prepared for a competition like this, but also excel at the way that they have in big moments like the one that they just experienced.

Josh Watson:
I personally don't remember what I was doing at 14, but it certainly was not competing at a large event like this. It takes a certain mindset, a certain inhabitability to compete in sport at a young age and to excel at it.
So to see Nico succeed at 14 when he's not even eligible for a national championship yet is truly remarkable in my opinion.
I had a chance to see some of the Bocce competition at the Parasport games in Whitby, back in the spring, late winter, early spring we'll call it.
Just to see the skill and the thought process that goes into even playing a game of Bocce, let alone to be that proficient at it is just truly remarkable.
I didn't get a chance to see Nico play specifically, but I definitely did get to see some other Bocce players and I mean even they amazed me. So good job Nico, and good luck as you receive your exceptional status, you've earned it.

Brock:
There was absolutely zero doubt that we knew that he would be a great player in Canada and I think for him to go to Duffy and really put on a show really cemented the provincial program and to say, listen, we need to put him here.
And so we congratulate Nico and we look forward to having him and his father join us next week. With that, if you want to get ahold of us... With that, if you want to get ahold of us on Twitter, here's how you can do it.

Speaker 5:
And welcome back to the Neutral Zone AMI broadcast booth and we are set to get this ballgame underway. The first pitch brought to you by Rock Richard Sims Twitter account at Neutral Zone BR.
First pitch strike and hey gang, why not strike up a Twitter chat with Clair Buchanan for the Neutral Zone. Find her at NeutralZoneCB.
There's a swing and a chopper out to second base right at Claire. She picks up the ball, throws it over to first base for a routine out and fans there is nothing routine about connecting with Cam and Josh from the Neutral Zone.
At Neutral Zone Cam J and at J Watson 200. Now that's a winning combination and this interview is brought to you by AMI Audio on Twitter, get in touch with the Neutral Zone type in at AMIaudio.

Brock:
We've been releasing these interviews for you that I did at the Canadian Paralympic Committee Summit and today we're going to release another one of those interviews and we're going to speak with Iulian Ciobanu from Montreal, Quebec.
He recently competed at the Montreal World Bacce Cup and here are his results. They're very simple. In individual, he won gold and teams in Paris, he won gold.
The rest of the team had three total medals and five in the additional top eight. Please enjoy this interview with Iulian. Iulian, you burst onto the scene in 2015 and it happened very quickly and you made the national team.
What was it about what you did that made you pick up this game at such a high level very quickly?

Iulian Ciobanu:
I think the passion because I like what I'm doing so I was very, very interested about to succeed in what I'm doing and in my life, it's the same thing.
I'm a perfectionist so when I'm starting to do something, I want to do it well and also because of Marco Dispaltro that he was there when he was second I think in the world ranking.
Second place, so he was a top athlete so he helped me a lot to give me advice and also equipment. Why not? He gave me balls and he helped me to quit to get involved in the Bocce.

Brock:
Some people, the biggest criticism of Boccia, if we can call it that, is it's a slow-moving game and when you first see Boccia, you kind of look at it from the outside and you say, I don't know if I want to get involved in this.
I don't know what's going to happen here. Did you ever have that moment where it's like, are you sure you want to get involved or was it pretty much No, no I like this and we're going to move forward?

Iulian Ciobanu:
Yeah, I think it's a slow game because when you are watching it from the side, but when you are playing it's not a slow game at all because a lot of things, it's happening in your head and you need to rest, connect and to play because when my opponent is playing, I'm playing too at that moment.
I'm not off of the game. So it's a nonstop game for me. But I understand that the people who... You need to try it to understand, to feel it and then you get more connected to with this game, when you are watching this game.

Brock:
People say that Bocce is 90% mental and 10% physical. It seems kind of like a weird ratio to put out there, but can you explain that?
You kind of led into it with, you're playing all the time, but can you elaborate just a little bit?

Iulian Ciobanu:
You see if I will say the can you play a sport without mental, without your mental, it's impossible to play something without thinking.
So of course it's a lot of mental game in Bocce and because like BC three players, they are not physically implicated in the game.
Of course we can't say that it's a hundred percentage mental game because they ask the assistants, their assistant play, they move the ramp and that they do all for them.
They just push the ball. But of course from this point of view, if we're watching, yes, yeah, I can say it's a hundred percentage mental game.

Brock:
You and Allison have had a bunch of success over the last little while. Can you talk about why you've had a bunch of success and why it's become so good? The pairing and even adding Marco Dispaltro a little bit into that mix.

Iulian Ciobanu:
Hard workspace off. So it's something that it's coming when you are working every day, you're training to get results and you get it because it's like about we're training together about eight years, we are together.
So the results was expected to come and now we are starting to have regularly good results on the international scene. I played with Marco, in Paris for example.
I played with the Allison in Paris too and we had times when, if you remember that, if you saw in bocce, two years ago... The coach was able to change the players in the game.
Now today it's not allowed to do it. Now you have two players on the court, so two play from the beginning to the finish of the game. There's two players.
So when I start to play with Marco and Allison. Our coach was... How to say, has this opportunity to change the players but at the same time was a challenge.
When you change a player, of course, this has an impact in the momentum of the game and sometimes can be a positive or a negative impact on the game.
But today you play with two players that must play from the beginning to the end and I think you learn a little bit more together with your teammate to manage the energy, the dynamic of the game.

Brock:
You guys have had a recent, let's call it a coaching shuffle. Mario Delisle is the high-performance director for Bocce Canada and now César Nicolai is the head coach.
For you guys, he was primarily your on-court coach anyways. Have you seen a change in style or is it pretty much status quo? The same is the same.

Iulian Ciobanu:
Yes, we feel it. I feel it. The change because now Cesar is busy, more busy than in the past. So the transition was fast but because of course of our experience and we can say that we are so autonomous players.
I can say it was like a fast transition and we accept that change and we are good now. But of course it was a change that I didn't expect the impact of this change.
But then with our mental... But that we have a mental psychologist that he's working with us so he helped us to pass this transition.

Brock:
Okay, I love it. You have muscular dystrophy as your disability and muscular dystrophy is the type of disability that changes over time.
It's an ever-changing disability, it's degenerative. How do you manage to play the game and yet still manage your body changing all at the same time?

Iulian Ciobanu:
The progression of my illness is quite slow. So you have time to adapt to your physical limits, but now I will be honest, we need to be prepared for the future.
I'm in the process to change my manual chair to a motorized chair power because I'm losing a lot of energy when I'm training on the court to push my chair.
So it's something that we are thinking about and we did already some research to find the power chair to help me to keep the energy to play and not to push me because I can say 15 percentage of energy that I spend on training, it's to push my chair.
So you need to be very... You need to, how to say, sorry...

Brock:
Prepare?

Iulian Ciobanu:
No, you need to monitor the progression of your illness because I'm using my power in my limbs, so it's difficult, you have neck pain because of that, my trapezes are getting weak.
So it's difficult to get some, I have regularly I can say have a pain in my trapezes because of that.
It's all because of my illness because I'm playing like I played five years ago. But the pain, it's coming often, it's progressing.
So you need to be, and of course, we have people that he's working with us, we have a physiotherapist and other specialist with whom we speak about that and they give us...

Brock:
Strategies.

Iulian Ciobanu:
Yeah, strategies, how to do it, to not to get injured by the time. It's complex, you know, need to consider that. Yes, you need to consider that your illness is impacting your game.

Brock:
One of the beautiful things about Bocce is that there's categories for everybody. So when you lose that muscle capacity, you can transition into A, B, C, three category where they use a ramp.
How long, if I can say, do you foresee this where I can play as a BC four and yet still we might have to be talking about at some point, listen, I have to make a transition and it's that simple.

Iulian Ciobanu:
It also questions the classifications too. You need to be classified. If you are able to throw a ball 10 meters, I don't think you can be a classified BC three.
But it's coming with... It's depending on your physical condition when you decide to do it and the classifiers need to note it that you are not more able to play as a BC four and you want to change the category.
But it's really fast I think because already you know the sports and how it works, watching on the court.
It's just the decision... I think to take this decision takes more time than the transition I think.

Brock:
One final one for you. You are a father of girls and I think a lot of people don't realize the challenges of being a family guy as well as competing at a high level.
Can you talk about your relationship between Bocce and your home life and what that's like and how you're able to make the balance?

Iulian Ciobanu:
Because I became a father and a sportsman at the same time, I can say that I progressively, I integrate these two roles in my life by the time.
Today my family's used to with the fact that I must go compete three, four times by year and not to be at home.
They are used to but more they start to understand my daughters. It's a little bit more complex now because I think just my daughters and my coaches wants medals because when I'm coming home, daddy, daddy, you win a medal?
For them going to competition is bring the medal. It's something absolutely normal. So they are missing. I miss my family when I'm going in competitions.
But the fact that I start to do this sport and to be a sportsman, at the same time when I become a father, I can say that the transition of I, sorry, I integrate this two roles in my life progressively, so I didn't feel it.
It not comes when I was already a father, you know? See what I'm saying? And my wife, she's actually Corrina, she's actually my assistant and partner. In Montreal, she's coming with me in each training.
But to go to the competition, international competitions I have, Serene is my partner since four years now that we are going together to competitions and my wife, she used to that to do it, assist me in Montreal but not coming with me with competition because she need to stay with the girls at the home.
Now school, because of the school she can't assist me and come with me. But you see, we've accepted. We've accepted and we're okay with that.

Brock:
You spoke about it just a minute ago about your support assistant being your wife at times in training and you have one that is with you and has been with you for four years.
I think the audience might be saying to me, I want you to ask this question and this question is how do you pick the "perfect sport assistant"?
And I put it in quotes because there isn't a perfect sport assistant, but how do you, Iulian, decide this is the one that needs to do this with me and this is going to work for me?

Iulian Ciobanu:
It's actually... Personally I'm okay with everybody because and it's a process. The person who I'm choosing to assist me will come to me in a competition. It's very simple.
The person who is coming with me I think in generally a person who is assisting an athlete must be very flexible because they need to be at attention and at the same time they need to be connected with what's happening and to be there for you each competition.
So their role is quite, I don't know, I will say this, it's mutual. You develop a dynamics with different partners, you will develop a different dynamic with him.
It's not the same thing. For example, for me, I'm not searching... If I will tomorrow I will search someone else. I will not search a copy of someone that I have had already in the past.
I will accept my next assistant, my next partner like he is and he will accept I think things on me and I will accept him like he or she is.

Brock:
Love it. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. We greatly appreciate it.

Iulian Ciobanu:
You're Welcome. Thank you.

Brock:
That was Iulian Ciobanu from Montreal Quebec Bocce athlete who again recently competed at the Montreal Bocce World Cup.
Thank you very much to him and congratulations on his success at the recent event. If you want to get in touch with us on the program, here's how you can do it by voicemail.

Speaker 1:
Hey, if you want to leave a message for the Neutral Zone, call now 1-866-509-4545. And don't forget to give us permission to use your message on the air. Let's get ready to leave a voicemail.

Brock:
Something that I want to get you in the loop for is an event that's taking place in Ottawa, Ontario this coming weekend, May the 5th to the 7th.
It is the Goalball National Championships that are taking place. If you are not in the Ottawa area this weekend, that's okay.
You can go to the Canadian Blind Sports Association website and you can catch the live feed that they will do throughout the weekend.
We're hoping to have some of the participants on in the weeks coming and so we can get you some of the results, but you'll probably hear in our headline next week who won the medals at that event.
So good luck to everyone involved and enjoy the city of Ottawa. I say that guys, enjoy the city of Ottawa knowing there's no enjoying of the city of Ottawa as athletes, you do nothing but play, eat, sleep, transport back and forth to the event.
But I'll say it anyways, enjoy the city of Ottawa. It's always a good time. One of the things that came out of the interview with Iulian was the fact that he is a family man.
He has a couple of children in his life and he was talking about the work-life balance and I thought we could use a conversation here regarding work-life balance.
We're going to take it in a couple of different directions because we all have different scenarios of how we've had to balance our life and work.
And when I refer to work, I'm referring to work as an athlete. Just to give some context there. Claire, I want to start with you.
You are a mother of a little boy who's a wonderful bundle of joy and I know you have a challenge sometimes balancing play and sport and being a mother.
Can you talk a little bit for us to kick this conversation off on what that's like in relation to your sporting career?

Claire Buchanan:
I would first off say that you can't do it alone. You have to reach out and tap into the resources that you have, whether that be your athletic staff, your teammates, your family, friends.
They are not only there to be your cheerleaders and kind of enjoy your success with you, but they're there to be able to help you get there as well.
So every week that I record this show with you guys, my mom comes in and helps take care of Ash and they get to have a couple hours of hanging out.
That's just one way that I'm able to be here and be present and not have to worry about a five-year-old coming in and out and poking their head in the show.
But you can't do it alone and you got to take it one day at a time because you might be able to plan what you're doing the rest of the week.
I do that. I have many ways of how I schedule. I have a chalk wall and calendars and I talk to my coaches and we set out a plan for the week or the month. I can tell you it never goes exactly according to plan.
Every day is going to be different and you try to plan as much as you can and a lot of the things are in your control, but a lot of them aren't as well.
You got to kind of roll the punches that way and not let it kind of dent your morale or your goals.
Every day is different and at the same time you got to train every day, you got to work every day and you got to be a mom every day.
So there are things that happen every day, but they look different each and every day and every week.

Brock:
Obviously in your situation, and I'm going to try to phrase this as best as I can, when you're dealing with a five-year-old, you have to have different language being used so that they understand what's going on.
But I know for certain that your son is supportive of your career. How do you manage the conversation of, listen, mom's going to be gone away again for sport and she's going to be gone and she's representing the country.
How do you manage that so that he's not like you're missing X, Y, Z again and you don't have to deal with the meltdown and or hand it off to your support system and say, "Sorry guys, I left him in this position and now you deal with it", which is obviously not the ideal situation.

Claire Buchanan:
You never know when a toddler's personality is going to kind of switch and they're going to have bad days just like we do as well.
So I'm lucky that he's now getting used to and actually wanting to FaceTime and chat when I'm away as well.
We've transitioned into this type of schedule with Women's Para Hockey now that most of our camps and stuff are around for three or four days, but our competition schedules are now closer to 10 days.
So it's much longer than both myself and everyone around me has been used to. He's also at the age now that I can have those conversations and really kind explain what's going on and there's a level of understanding.
But I acquired a concussion a couple of weeks ago in Ottawa and he's not at the age yet that he can travel with me and just kind of do his own thing.
So he was home and he got told that I got a concussion and that needed to be quiet and give mom a lot of love and just she needs a lot of rest.
His response, his first response after hearing that I got hurt was, but did she drop her sticks when she got hit. He was really concerned. He was really concerned that I got hit and dropped my sticks.
So having kids around keeps it light and fun and I thoroughly enjoy and really take into account that the moments that I get where he is actually there and able to watch me play or be involved are few and far between right now.
But that'll change the older he gets and the more that I'm able to have him tag along. I mean just like with any human, you never know what's going on with people's lives and how they're feeling that day.
So yes, I do drop him off at my mom's house or whatever sometimes and just he's not having the greatest day and you're just like, okay, I got to go bye.
But yeah, everyone loves having him around and I love being a mom and he loves that I play hockey and this next hockey season he's wanting to get in a side and try it out.
So that's just another thing that I'm going to be able to share it with him.

Brock:
I love it. Josh, I have some different questions related to you, but let's start with explaining your situation because it's a little bit different than your conventional situation.
So if you start with that and then I will bombard you with some specific questions.

Josh Watson:
Fair enough, fair enough. Well, I have been lucky enough to be in a long-distance romantic situation with a beautiful lady from Alberta and it's been going on since Brock and Catherine actually introduced us back in September of 2021 now.
It's a little challenging because I have to carve out parts of my day to say good morning and say goodnight and find out how her day is going and tell her how my day is going and things like that.
When I do have sports going on, it's like, okay, you might not hear from me today for a while because I've got this going on and that going on.
But you know, we've been able to make it work and we've had a couple of brief visits with one another.
One where I went out there last summer and a couple of weeks ago she actually came here for a nice week of meeting friends and family and just relaxing and spending time together. So it was really nice.

Brock:
For sure. And for those that wonder who Catherine is, Catherine is my attendant that has been with me for about six years.
She comes and takes care of me and has been heavily involved in my life and my career and even a little bit of bocce when I decided to come out of retirement, which was a horrible idea, but she was around for that.
It's good to see all the connections. For you, Josh, you don't yet know your situation yet of where you're going, who's going where, what's happening.
But it's one thing to say, I can pick up a different sports team in a different part of the province. It's another to say I might move and I have to then pick up and move to a whole another place and find another team.
Can you talk about how that process may or may not have started and how easy or difficult that may have been?

Josh Watson:
It's not necessarily easy. I've been a member of Cruiser Sports here in the Greater Toronto Area for a number of years. I started with them approximately 2005.
So to pick up and potentially have to find another team is challenging. Now, luckily enough, as we sit here in three different locations recording this, we do have the internet and it's a wonderful thing.
I have been able to go online and I know the area around where she lives and actually know that the Grande Prairie as a city does actually have a wheelchair sports organization. So I do know that they do offer para ice hockey.
They do also, I believe offer basketball, but don't quote me on that. The one sport that I don't see them offering at this particular time is track and field, which is something that I'm heavily involved with during the summer months.
So that would be a challenge. But I mean it all depends on the situation. If I choose to make that move and it's a decision that's obviously going to be made in tandem with my partner.
Then I'm willing to make that move and I'll do my research and I'll find the clubs that I need to join in order to make those connections and continue to play. But it is certainly more challenging.

Brock:
I really wanted to have this conversation on piggyback of Iulian's conversation because I just wanted to let the audience know and understand how difficult it is to be an athlete.
A lot of people say, you get to travel here, there, and everywhere. And I made the joke and said, with the GoalBall National Championship that's taking place, you're not going to see the city of Ottawa.
I think a lot of people in the general public kind of sit there and say, oh, you got to go visit this and you got to go visit that.
But we forget about these conversations that we have and think, oh yeah, it's not just about being an athlete, it's about making sure that my ducks are in a row, making sure that my family's sorted out, my friends are sorted out, all those things.
So for anyone listening to this conversation, Claire, what are some of the strategies you've used to just make sure that everything is in a row?
What would you say to somebody who looks at their schedule and goes, I have a family, I have friends. Oh my goodness, how am I going to handle this?

Claire Buchanan:
Write everything down. I have a chalk wall, like I said, and I have multiple calendars and multiple shared calendars.
We as the national team have a schedule that's shared with us of not only our national team schedule for camps and competitions, but what other people are doing.
I'm currently not involved in the provincial team with para hockey, but we have their schedule as well because a good number of our girls are on the provincial teams.
Also, we have two athletes that are in the high-performance program under Hockey Canada's Development Program.
So there's a handful of girls that are pretty much doing hockey all year round, most weekends, training every day, going to school, getting jobs.
It's time management is one of the hardest things to learn as a skill, as an athlete. It's easy when you're given, say a strengthening conditioning program, it's just laid out for you, do these things on these days.
You don't really have to think about it, but when you're managing your time of when do I work out and how my day's going to go. You just got to do an outline and really make sure that each day is planned out for the next.
I tell my family and friends this that I won't make plans with anybody and I won't think about making plans any further than a week ahead because my mindset is in this week and I'm going to get this week done and I have these things to do this week and then I can tackle next week.
That's, again, it's nice when you're at a level either provincially or nationally that a lot of it is kind of laid out for you and kind of takes a lot of the guessing out of it.
You just have to kind of cross your Ts, dot your Is and again, lean into your support system. My mom does a great job of reaching out to me and asking, Hey, what do you need help with this week?
That's nice to have of people reaching out to you to say, Hey, I'm checking in to see where I can help you and support you. So again, you can't do it alone.
You need that kind of two-way street of relationships and it's really important to find those quality people that are truly there to support you and wanting to help any way they can.

Brock:
Absolutely. Josh, before we close the show with a little bit of mainstream sports chat, do you have any specific strategies that you've used that you can offer out there to the listening audience or watching?

Josh Watson:
Sure. For me, calendar, calendar, calendar, calendar, put everything no matter how small in your calendar. I have got friends who just would be a lot more organized if they used their calendar.
It's the only thing that has kept me straight and it seems silly to put in things like call my girlfriend or this show is coming on, I really want to see it.
So it goes in the calendar, practice is here, game is here, training camp is over here, work schedule. These are the times I'm working, this client from my small business needs my support, so I need to fit that in here.
Without a calendar, you're lost. You're absolutely lost. So no matter how small, make sure it goes in your calendar.

Brock:
These group of people that I get to work with are the busiest bunch of people that I know. So when they tell you, get a calendar, get a calendar and use it.
I just briefly, I'll tell you that when I got in my relationship with my now wife, I was overloaded and I had to step back and say to myself, okay, you've spent 15 years in this sport. What is it you want to do?
Do you want to focus on broadcasting and relationship or do you want to focus on sport and relationship? Which do you want to do? I did not think I could do three all at the same time.
So for me, I chose relationship and broadcasting, which are the things that you have to really come to and say, well, what are we going to do?
And at some point you do get to the crossroads and you say, which way am I turning? I have three options, sometimes four, which way am I picking?
And that roadmap of the calendar is really, really helpful and telling you where to go.
I hope that was a little bit of an interesting conversation in regards to in the minds of athletes, as you heard from Iulian, a little bit of his scheduling and I really enjoyed that conversation.
The conversation I'm really going to enjoy now to close out the show is to talk a little bit about the NHL playoffs. I have a couple of stats for you guys that I'm curious what your thoughts are on both of them.
I'll tell you that we know that Edmonton and Vegas will play each other. We know that Dallas and Seattle will play each other and we know that after a 19-year curse, the Toronto Maple Leafs have entered into a territory that they have not seen in 19 years.
By the way, their streak can literally drink now. That's how long it has been. So this is good. I want to get your thoughts here. Let's start here. Road wins.
In the first round of the playoffs, as we record and sit here, they were 11 and three. So Seattle recorded the opening goal in every game against Colorado.
Who do you guys think is the last team to do this and do you care to take a stab? Claire, start with you.

Claire Buchanan:
Yeah, it's been an interesting first round to say the least. There's obviously a couple of teams that we didn't think that would be here right now.
It's mostly because of road wins and it's an interesting thought to go on the road in a playoff situation and close out a series.
For example, Florida just did. Boston was up three-one and us as Leafs fans, we know how that feels and we know how that can go.
So to see a turnaround like that and it happened in road wins, it shows that teams are pushing a little harder when they're not in their rank.
I hope that streak continues because that's where the winds kind of need to come from. You kind of expect home wins to happen and you want to win in your arena, but those road wins are going to be the big ones to grab a hold of.
I hope that the Leafs can do it. Obviously, I hope that we can go into Florida, well not Leaf fans because they're banning Leaf fans.
But I hope that the Leafs can go into Florida and put on a show just like they did in Tampa. So I'm putting my money on the Leafs. Let's go.

Brock:
Fair enough. Any quick stab at who you think the last team was to score in every game in a series? The first goal in every game as the Seattle Kraken did Claire?

Claire Buchanan:
My guess is Boston.

Brock:
Nope. Josh, do you want to take a stab?

Josh Watson:
Well, I'm going to be honest here, Brock. I feel like I'm cheating a little bit because I did listen to your hits on Now with Dave Brown and on Kelly and Romie this afternoon, so I'm pretty sure I heard you say it's the Toronto Maple Leafs, but I might be wrong.

Claire Buchanan:
Wow.

Brock:
So that's fine. That's fine. There's a reason I started with Claire because I was pretty sure that Josh may have heard it through one avenue or another.
Yes, it is in fact true that the last team to score in each of its games in a series was the Toronto Maple Leafs back in 2004 against the Ottawa Senators and you know what took place there.
I want to get some quick reactions from you. Let's start with the Edmonton Oilers, Las Vegas series. Who do you think got that one and why or why not Josh start with you?

Josh Watson:
That one is really tough for me to pick because I haven't seen a lot of Vegas this year. But given that they have Jack Michaels. They have strong goldtending and they've been quite successful.
My heart wants to say Edmonton, I would really like those Oilers to go into the playoffs fairly deeply this year. They've struggled a little bit, but I do think it's going to be Vegas.

Claire Buchanan:
Yeah, I agree with you, Josh. It's got to come down to goaltending, and that's I think where Vegas kind of has the upper hand, on the Oilers is goaltending.
I love Jack Campbell, love him as a hockey player and a human, love watching his press conferences, but I don't think he has reached the point in his career where he's truly consistent, especially at a playoff level.
So yeah, I had and I still have the Oilers going well deep into the playoffs, but it will depend on how well the net is protected.

Brock:
And to your point, the net hasn't been protected by Campbell that well, they had to turn to Stuart Skinner in the playoffs because of that.
Right now, Jack Campbell is one of the more expensive backup goaltenders there is. Stuart Skinner is one of the cheapest starting goaltenders. It's a complete direct contrast.
You talk about Edmonton and the way Edmonton has looked, and we know what's coming up front. We know that they have Connor McDavid, we know that they have Leon Draisaitl, we know that they have Nugent-Hopkins.
We know that. The question is what is the defense going to look like? And I'm sorry, when Vegas got Mark Stone back and he came back to play.
Just him alone having his presence there has been such a difference maker and such an underrated return. It was almost like they got their own trade deadline when they said, Hey, Stone's coming back off of injury.
And everyone went, oh, okay. Stone just came back and scored a couple of goals and all was well. That's just the way it goes. I'm picking Vegas as well. Again, my heart says Edmonton, but my head says Vegas.
Speaking of head versus heart, let's finish on the Florida Panthers who beat the record-setting Boston Bruins in 60 plus wins and 135 points. Who do you got here? Let's start with Claire.

Claire Buchanan:
Again, this is going to come down to goaltending and this last series, last couple of games, Toronto was well defended and I liked what I saw in terms of goaltending and defence and physicality on defence as well.
So if they can keep it up, I have high hopes. Also, from what I see, I think Toronto can pull it out, but they have to be perfect offensively. There's no beating around the bush about that.

Josh Watson:
Yeah, anytime you are a team that can take down the President's Cup Champion, you are a team that has to be reckoned with.
I am also taking our Maple Leafs, but I will say that I do think it is going to go seven games. I don't think Florida is going to go quietly. I think they are a scary, good team.
I think in game seven, you really didn't even see Tkachuk really play a factor. I think you will see him play a factor against the Maple Leafs, but I do think Toronto is strong enough to pull it out.

Brock:
I do think Toronto is strong enough to pull it out as well. I think that the fact that they got the monkey off their back and finally broke that 19-year curse, and I don't care who you are.
If you saw those press conferences, you know that Toronto was feeling the pressure. But I'm picking Toronto to win, but I agree it's going to be a dog fight of a series.
Well, that is the end of our show for this week. I would like to thank Claire Buchanan, Josh Watson. I'd also like to thank technical producer, Mark Aflalo, and I'd like to send a special thank you to Ryan Delehanty, our podcast coordinator.
Tune in next week because you just never know what happens when you enter The Neutral Zone. Be safe. Be well.