Talking Turkey with Ian Furness
Happy Thanksgiving! Join hosts Piper Shaw and Ian Furness as they dive into the latest Kraken updates and indulge in some Thanksgiving-themed discussions. They explore some of the players' favorite family meal traditions and reflect on the team's performance as the holidays approach. Piper, Ian, and Grant also answer a few listener questions.
Transcript
Calling all college students. Experience the Deep and save on Kraken tickets with Student Rush.
egister by texting student to: Piper Shaw:Hello, everyone, and welcome to another transmission from Signals from the Deep, the official podcast of your Seattle Kraken. My name is Piper Shaw and we've got our lovely producer extraordinaire, Grant Beery here. Grant, how we doing?
Grant Beery:I'm doing well, joining you from Arizona today as I am on my Thanksgiving holiday, but that's not going to get in the way of another episode of the show. So happy early Thanksgiving as we're recording this.
Piper Shaw:Absolutely. And maybe happy post Turkey day. Depending on when you are listening to this, we'll have a little bit of crack and hockey gratitude.
At the end of the show, we will be talking about with the players. I went around the room and asked some of them about their Thanksgiving meals, their ideal foods, if they had to cook, what they would cook.
There's some. There's some good answers in there, particularly from one Will Borgen and one Brandon Montour.
So anyway, with all of that out of the way, our co host this week is the one and only Ian Furness. Hi, Ian, thank you for joining us.
Ian Furness:Hi Piper. This is awesome. Grant, by the way, Grant's more than just a producer and co host, man. This guy's like, he's like the do it all, every business.
I'm so, I'm learning people, you know, being now in a cracking employee. Every business has people that are like the mvp, the unsung heroes of this. I don't know what Grant doesn't do.
Maybe, I don't know, maybe he's not part of the training staff with everybody. But outside of that, this dude does it all, man. He does it all.
Grant Beery:Thank you, Ian. Those are very kind words. I just try and make sure that I'm not bored.
Piper Shaw:Not bored, but very busy.
Ian Furness:Yes, exactly. And now I'm hungry. Thinking about Thanksgiving and post Thanksgiving giving and all that. Whenever people listen to this. Now I'm getting hungry.
Oh, man.
Piper Shaw:Okay, well, you got a show to do later, so hopefully we can. Yeah, you got time to eat. Time to quench that hunger. But Ian, you know, it's.
It's been absolutely awesome to have you as part of the Kraken Hockey network. You have been so great to work with.
You're doing a fabulous job and you know, you have Kind of a unique perspective because you really carried the water for hockey in Seattle for so many years in the sports media landscape.
So I wanted to talk a little bit about where your love for hockey came from, why it was important to you to support this sport even before there was an NHL team.
Ian Furness:Well, first of all, I appreciate the kind words and it's been awesome for me. Like I.
This, you know, and I think what Kraken fans need to know before, you know, Ian stuff is it, is that the people that put these broadcasts together and what's now called the Kraken Hockey Network, the people that, you know, you see, the people you see, John and Edzo, J.T. piper, Allison, myself. But the people behind the scenes are unbelievable. Like, I've worked in television for a long, long time, Piper.
And the broadcast crew on site, the play by play crew, they have a producer named Ryan Schaber who's second to none. The director, Patrick Brown is the same. The passion is great. And then Alison and I work with a guy named Scott Malone, who's our producer. Who's the.
Who's the voice in my ear during all these broadcasts. And I say this with all due love. Scott is like a savant. Like, he's nuts. He's Rain Man. He's just. He's crazy.
He knows more about hockey and television combined than most people know about one of those two things that are so called experts. This guy's crazy, but he's awesome. Yeah. And Allison's a rock star. We all know that. She's just unbelievable. So it's.
For me, this has been so much fun to be a part to like, I'm the new guy, you know, like, I'm the new. Like everyone else has been here for three, four years. I'm the new person.
So, you know, I came in with a little bit of trepidation and like, you know, how can I fit in? But you guys have made it easy. The producers and the on air talent, I mean, it's just so much fun and I hope it comes across.
This is our first year of the Kraken Hockey Network, and I think people need to know that we're just scratching the surface. Like we're an expansion team in broadcast, right, Piper? I mean, we're just kind of. It's going to get better and better.
Not that I don't think it's already as good as there is in the league, but it's been awesome for me. But for me, yeah. My love for hockey came from my probably just growing up, my mom was born.
And this isn't like you hear this from the movie Slap Shot, Moose Shot. She was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
Piper Shaw:Period.
Ian Furness:End of story. That's where she was born. Yeah. My mom was born in Moose Jaw. She's a Prairie girl. She was a competitive figure skater growing up.
My grandfather, her dad was a. He was a semi pro hockey player. Probably now would be the equivalent of like the East Coast League or something that level back then.
But he was a great hockey player. And so that's kind of where I got my love of the sport. I grew up in Seattle and my father was a television news anchor in Seattle.
And so we had what was called cable TV from day one. Like this. As early as I can remember living in Seattle.
Piper Shaw:I love that you do the air quotes. Sorry, but he did air quotes over cable tv. What a concept.
Ian Furness:I know. Well, but two things. Because cable was new then. Then. Now people are cutting the cords. Not me because I'm old, but because my dad was in the business.
He had. We had what was called and cable TV back in Seattle then. People that old enough remember this.
Basically you got the local channels which were only three or four at the time. Fox 13 didn't exist. It was KSTW and then like the PBS station and then we got two stations from Canada. Check TV out of Victoria or BCTV and cbc.
So our Saturday nights. Growing up every Saturday night in my house was nutrition. We would watch Hockey night in Canada and that's. That's what we would do.
We would watch Hockey night in Canada. And back then it was only one game. Started at 5:00 and every week it was either Toronto or Montreal or both together. The odd occasion.
We would get a Vancouver game. There was no Edmonton. That was wha. Days and. Or Calgary. They were. Calgary came in later and then moved. But it was. That was.
That's how I kind of grew up watching hockey. I went to Totems games, Breakers slash Thunderbird games. And you know, I grew up with a love of hockey because of. Because that.
All my relatives are Canadian. So yeah, that's. That's kind of where I first got the love of the game.
Piper Shaw:Did you have an NHL team that you followed or is it just kind of whoever.
Ian Furness:All right. I wish. This is going to be bad. People aren't going to. Okay. I had two, Montreal was one.
And my grandfather and I would bet like a soda every week on Montreal or Toronto. He was a trauma. He couldn't understand why a guy that, you know.
Okay, again my grandfather, like my Mom, Prairie people, okay, they're from Western Canada. How can you vote? How can you root for a team from Quebec, you know, the French Canadians?
And, you know, there's still that little divide right in that country. And so he couldn't understand that. But I loved Yvonne Cornwall, Ken Dryden. I mean, those. Those teams were just so much fun.
Obviously, the flower watching Guy LaFleur and guys like that. But Vancouver was my other one, so don't. I got to kind of keep that quiet nowadays. But Vancouver was my other one. I grew up a big Canucks fan.
And the Totems, for people who remember, they were up and they left when I was like, in third or second or third grade. But the totems were. They were Vancouver's affiliate. They were there. They were their minor league affiliate. So that was kind of a natural connection.
And so those were my teams growing up. And I finally had to. I filed the divorce papers with the Canucks probably in the last 12 or 18 months. I'm done with them now, so.
Because now I'm a cracking. Because now I work for the Kraken. So we're done. We're done with the Canucks.
Piper Shaw:I also think. I mean, it's not really news to anybody.
I think there's been a lot of Canucks fans in Seattle before there was an NHL team in Seattle in Washington, like, that was the closest team to go see an NHL game. So I feel like in Seattle, Vancouver, different, but similar in many ways. You know, I feel like that that's not an abnormal thing.
Ian Furness:It's not. You know, when.
Canucks went to the finals in:And yeah, a lot of people grew up with the Canuck, and this is. It's. I kind of bristle when I hear people say, oh, it's a new hockey market. Or it's that. It's a new NHL market.
But we've had some form of hockey here. I mean, heck, there's a banner in the. In the arena, you know, for the Metropolitans. I'm. I'm old, but not quite that old. Don't remember that one.
But that. But, but, but, you know, from the Totems to the breakers, and then the Thunderbirds really were. The breakers turned into Thunderbirds.
They've been around forever. And then the Tips came into existence. The Portland Buckaroos, the old. They were the rival for the Totems.
And then they got the junior team a year before Seattle did. And so there's been hockey here forever. And the Canucks were kind of our connection.
You know, we've done some stuff on the radio and some other things, but yeah, we've, we've had hockey. And so there is that natural connection with us in Vancouver. We need a playoff series between the two desperately.
And if that ever happens, it's going to be out and it'll change like that. What we're, what we're talking about in terms of rivalries.
Piper Shaw:Oh my gosh. That would be off the charts. Oh my gosh.
Speaking of both the Canucks, people who are longtime hockey fans in Seattle and the Canucks and also work on our broadcast crew. I don't know how familiar you are with jj. He works.
He's one of our associate producers and he used to travel with us, but he's been, he does most of our graphics and stuff. But he is a die hard Thunderbirds fan and has been for a very long time. And he played hockey like when he was growing up and everything.
But then he was a Canucks fan. I think he maybe is still a little. I think he's both a crack and fan and a Canucks fan because it was just so ingrained.
But that's like another perfect example of somebody who's like always been a Seattle hockey fan before there was NHL, Seattle hockey.
Ian Furness:That's, that's what you have. Yeah, well.
And you know what's cool is, you know what I love, guys, is when you go to a cracking game CPA and you see you still, you see a lot of Thunderbird jerseys there, you know, and you'll see the odd tips one and other things like that. I love the fact that our, the Kraken Hockey Network is in all the markets the WHL has teams in.
I think that's really important for us to have those connections. Heck, on Monday in Anaheim, it was like the, the Everett Silver Tips reunion.
I mean, Zell Wigger, that knucklehead Gutis and, and then of course Mike and Al in the radio booth. So, yeah, it's, it's, there's a lot of connections here. It's fun to see.
Piper Shaw:And then kind of on that note, but more talking about you.
Ian Furness:Yes.
Piper Shaw:What does it mean to you, Ian, to like now kind of be part of this operation?
And I know that this was an opportunity that, you know, you were really excited about to be part of this Crew and to be calling hockey with this team as you should be.
Ian Furness:Yeah, it. It was awesome.
You know, when I was growing up and we were talking about, you know, watching the Canucks and being a hockey fan and, you know, that wasn't a cool thing to do for kids. I mean, I was a sports fan for everything. I mean, Mariners and Seahawks and Sonic Sonics were kind of my team.
That's always like, kind of my first sports memories is going to. Going to Sonic games, you know, So I was a Seattle sports fan growing up and. But always, you know, loved the sport of hockey.
We just didn't have our own team. I also knew early on that I wasn't an athlete or going to be athletic enough to do anything.
I was a good soccer player, good enough, but realized I was the only guy on my high school team that had been drafted by the old Sounders in the old nasl. And I'm like, okay, well, I guess that's not going to happen either. So what do I want to do? I want to be a broadcaster.
And growing up watching Hockey Night in Canada or even listening to Canucks games with Jim Robson, the great Jim Robson on the radio. But Danny Galvin and that crew, obviously, you know, Bob Cole on Hockey Night Canada, I wanted to do that. And so I got lucky. I took a.
pay cut in:It was about $35,000 pay cut. I left Como TV as a sports producer. I'd done that for a long time and worked in that business.
And to do Thunderbird games, to do the play by play for the Thunderbirds, making about 75 bucks a game. And luckily I had.
Piper Shaw:You were even being paid $35,000 working in local TV news, Piper.
Ian Furness:As a producer. That's how much things have changed. I don't know if we pay reporters that anymore, but I did not.
Piper Shaw:I made 27 when I was a news reporter.
Ian Furness:Yeah, it was crazy.
Piper Shaw:In Madison, Wisconsin, market 80.
Ian Furness:Yeah, I was market 12. And I made really good money as a producer and I left. But I was engaged my wife to be still my 31 years later, I took a.
I took a swing at it and I said, I need to do this. I have to do this. And I. And I groveled and oh, my God, I'll have to find the tape and play it for you sometime. So I. I did Rich Waltz.
Who's now on CBS Sports Network and does a bunch of college basketball and stuff. Rich was kind of the part time play by play guy for the Thunderbirds.
And Dennis Beyak, who ended up being a longtime NHL play by play announcer, was the assistant GM and he did some play by play for Teebirds. They kind of split it up. Rich was doing baseball too.
pen and my resume tape was in:I did, I did the final, I did the final game on KVI radio in Seattle because Dennis said, you know what you're going to do this. Seattle got knocked out the night before. All the boys went out and had a fun time as I was with them as well.
I was doing kind of color and kind of filling in, doing stuff, just whatever I could. I did play by play. That was my resume tape. And the Thunderbirds, I remember pushing it to them, saying please hire me, please hire me.
They knew me, I was doing stuff. I was working as a sports producer. It's the worst resume tape you've ever heard in your life. No, no, it's bad. Like it's not good.
And like I, like I went, but they gave me the job, took the pay cut. My wife supported me, my fiance at the time supported me for a year and I did, I did Thunderbirds play by play for a year.
Then I got hired by KVI to do both and ended up going to Tri Cities to do radio and TV for the Americans. When Dennis got hired there as a gm, we had some unbelievable players like Brian Boucher, the crazy nut that is Terry Ryan now on social media.
Damon Lancow. We had five first round picks the first year I was there. We had, I think we ended up having 20 odd guys made the NHL.
We, yeah, it was an incredible experience, great time and I said I'm going to chase this dream and do hockey play by play. I've never been so happy in my life as doing juniors.
Went to, went to the IHL/HL in Utah and did it for five years there and then, you know, never sent a resume tape out to the NHL because I learned early that like unless you know somebody, you ain't getting hired. Doesn't matter how good you are or not, but. And then kind of gave up the dream of the NHL and started doing sports radio and Back to TV reporting.
And lo and behold, we get an NHL team in Seattle. And here we are.
Piper Shaw:And here we are. Okay, I have two things I want to follow up on. One, what's the price on releasing this tape publicly? About 35k. Or.
Ian Furness:I'll find it. I'll find it. You don't like Piper, you're probably the same way. Because, like those of us in this dumb business, we keep everything.
We're like hoarders. We're like audio. Now you're in the digital age, so it's a little better. I've got, like, cassette tapes everywhere and, like, in our garage.
And my wife's like, can we get rid of this? Like, no. Do you can even play it anymore?
Well, I think I have a cassette recorder somewhere, so I want to keep it because I've got tapes from Seattle, Tri Cities and Utah. But I think that that original one's around somewhere. I'll try to find it someday, and we can have a beer and a laugh over it because it's.
It's pretty funny. And we'll. Maybe we'll release it on the pod just for giggles, because it was a long way from doing that to, like.
And I was so thrilled for Mike Benton on Monday this week, knowing the grind that you have in juniors riding a bus.
I mean, until you've ridden a bus to Brandon and Regina and Prince Albert in the can and all those places, until you've done that, you don't know what it's like. So Mike did that for years, and I did it for years.
And so when I got a call, a handful of games, the expansion year filling in forever, it was, like, massively emotional. I'm sure Mike was that way last night or on Monday. Piper, you were with him. But it was a dream come true.
And to do that, Mike had a better experience. Mine was bad because everyone's got Covid. I'm there. Not because I earned it necessarily, just because I could. I didn't have Covid, but, yeah, it was.
It was pretty wild. Pretty wild.
Piper Shaw:Well, Mike, I think he was definitely, like, the best day of his life. But I will say his energy was very locked in. Like, he was very much like, I need to do an excellent job.
And I couldn't hear it because obviously I'm on the TV broadcast. Like, from what everyone said, like, it went well and everything. But I think he.
Ian Furness:I heard he bombed energy. I heard he was awful.
Grant Beery:No, no, it was great.
Ian Furness:I'm kidding, I'm kidding.
Grant Beery:I was able to list. Listen, since I'M out of town. I didn't watch the TV broadcast. I was like.
But I use it as an opportunity to listen to Mike, and especially with those two quick goals in the third period to put us ahead. High energy from Mike. It was a great listen.
Ian Furness:Well, you got to work with Al, which is great because Al did color for him forever. Forever, too. So that was kind of cool.
I mean, I thought that was kind of the cooler part of it is those two guys were doing a game together for, like, the first. First game they did to get. First game Mike did together was without, which is pretty cool.
Grant Beery:Oh, very cool. Full circle.
Piper Shaw:Ian, I also wanted to.
You were talking about when, you know, you were first getting opportunities with the Thunderbirds and all of that and how it meant so much to you to be asked to do those things.
I just wanted to say I was never able to do it, but it meant a lot to me when you asked me a couple of times if I might be interested in trying my hand at color on a game with you before, like a Thunderbirds game. And unfortunately, we had cracking games. Fortunately. Unfortunately, you know, I couldn't.
But the fact that you even thought of me and wanted to try to support me in a different kind of role, I thought was. I still. That meant a lot to me, and it still means a lot to me.
Ian Furness:Well, I think.
I think the cool thing about, you know, where we're at today in broadcasting and, like, doors have been knocked down and, you know, what used to be, you know, the way it was, like, if you're a female, you wouldn't be thought of doing color or an analyst role like Alison does. And I think we've. Thankfully, we've kind of got past that. And you're great at what you do, and I think there's a lot more there, too.
And, you know, same thing with Allison. Working with her every day. I mean, I go in every day and work with her, and I learn something. It's crazy.
But, you know, people like Cassie Campbell, you know, Jennifer Botterill and others that have just done a great job and have said, you know, they've knocked down the door and said, you don't have to be a male, you know, and so it's. I. You know, that was. Yeah, because we still. I don't. I don't. I did a handful of. A handful of T Bird.
Well, the T Birds have a contract deal with Everett, or not Everett, with Portland, so they do a handful of TV games a year. So the last couple years, I've. I've done one or two. I kind of got out of it.
Kind of lost the vigor until this year for hockey just because everything has gone on. But I was like, you know what? If I'm doing a game, who do they ask me? Who do you want to have do color? And I thought of you right away.
The funny thing was, the only reason I was doing it is because Mike does that most of the time.
Piper Shaw:Right.
Ian Furness:Of course, you guys all had games, so I was hoping it was a national game, but. Piper, never say never. You never know. Maybe we'll find one down the road and have a. Have a broadcast together before.
Piper Shaw:Absolutely. That would be fun someday. And it's like the good. It's a good kind of, you know, opportunity for somebody like me who's not.
Doesn't usually work in that role and probably never going to just pop into the color analyst role in the Kraken booth. But, like, it's hard to. It's hard to get experience, no matter who you are in this business, especially in different roles.
Like, if you do one thing and you're interested in other things, no matter kind of what that is, it can be challenging to. It's challenging to get any kind of opportunity in this business, as you were saying. So anyways, even just to think of me, that meant a lot to me.
So anyway, I wanted to move into a little bit of cracking hockey time.
Ian Furness:You bet.
Piper Shaw:Um, the.
The old adage, I just heard you say it on the broadcast the other day, and we always talk about this is if you're in a playoff spot at Thanksgiving, you're in good shape. I don't know what the percentage is, but that's usually a very good sign.
Ian Furness:We're not 76%. 76. That's what I'm told right there.
Piper Shaw:But it's such a tight race in Pacific right now. I mean, it's just a couple of points between most of the teams there.
So I just kind of wondered what your feeling is on the trajectory of the team right now, where. What they're building, what you're seeing.
I feel like we're starting to see kind of the results come from that process that it felt like they were grinding through for a while.
Ian Furness:Yeah, I think it's. I think what we see is a team that's a lot like the one that went to the playoffs two years ago. They're going to.
They're going to be successful when they get depth scoring, when everyone chips in. What the blue line is doing this year in terms of offense is through the Roof. And then you have to be.
This team has to be reliant on above average goaltending. Well, Joey's far above average in terms of goals saved, above expected. So he's doing that. He's taken over the number one role.
There's no doubt what they're getting from the back end without Vince done is remarkable. And now we're starting to see some offense from up front, outside of just Jared McCann and that line.
You know, we're seeing some depth scoring, seeing Berkey get a goal the other night. I don't care how it went in, doesn't matter. Hopefully that opens up the floodgates because that's. They need him.
Like, I know fans want to blast and everything like that. I get that. I mean, look, I work in sports radio, the worst, most negative, toxic place in the world.
I know that we always want to rip on people and I get that. And a guy gets paid a lot of money and he's going to be under the microscope and that comes with the territory.
But the reality is, if they're going to be good, he has to score. He has to chip in, as do others along the way. But I like what I see. The consistency is not there, but it's a new system with Biosmart.
But I think, you know, the first year, the expansion year, they were out of it by December last year. Technically they were in it in the spring, but they really kind of weren't. We saw too many blemishes.
This team's hanging around without probably one of their three most. One of their top three most important players in Vince Dunn. And they're right there. So they get him back. I know Ebbs is out for a while, which is.
Which is brutal, but you get Vince Dunn back to this team, oh, boy. I think that they're going to be right there at the end and they're still a high end, high end score away from being where they want to be.
That guy's probably two or three years away. His name's Berkeley Catton.
But I think that I like the trajectory and patience is hard in sports, but they've kind of taken a slow approach, which nobody likes if you're a fan, even media slash fans like myself. But it's also the prudent way to do it.
Piper Shaw:Yeah, it's. It's exactly that. Like trusting the process to hopefully get to the result.
Ian Furness:Right?
Piper Shaw:Yeah. You mentioned Jordan Eberle being out in case anybody listening to this missed it.
Jordan Eberly, the captain, is expected to be out for at least three months. And wife Lauren posted on Instagram that he's not even supposed to be walking for six weeks. Not walking at all. Not even trying to walk for six weeks.
So Kraken will without a doubt be without him for a very long time.
So that not only leaves, you know, a huge hole in the productivity, but it does provide an opportunity, which was something that I talked to coach Bosma about the other day too. He's like, well, I've had guys telling me they want minutes on the power play, they want to be on this line, they want this kind of opportunity.
Here's your chance to prove it and to step up. So I do hope, you know, it's, it's a little early. Only a couple games have we've seen at the time that we're recording this since Jordan's been out.
But I do hope that those guys who claim we don't know who they are, but they want those opportunities, they want those minutes that, that, that starts to come. Because sometimes when you're under pressure and you have to step up, they do, you know, so that's what I'm holding out hope for.
Ian Furness:Yeah, I think, and I listen, it's one thing if you're built, you know, like I just said, they, they are still that one high end guy away, maybe two.
I mean, even, you know, looking at Anaheim on Monday, Anaheim's got some young guys that look to be, I mean, they're going to be scary in a couple of years. It just, it's not going to be fun playing against those guys. But you need like true high end finishers.
And Seattle, you know, is built differently in that regard. But now it's an opportunity. But the good news is you can afford to lose somebody along the way.
Like there's a lot of teams, if they lost a Jordan Eberly caliber player, they would be done. This team is so deep. I mean, literally it's four lines deep. Even with the new coaching staff, that's still the philosophy until it changes.
And so they can maybe absorb that in the meantime. And I think they will, especially when Dunn gets back. That'll. That I don't, I can't emphasize that enough.
I mean, Piper Grant, you guys watch these guys, you know, like Josh Mahura has been a warrior and he's a good player for them.
But all of a sudden if you have three true puck moving defensemen and you're in all three pairs, you're not just a top two, top four, you're top six in terms of Defense, right. You're, you know, you have three pairs that can move the puck. It's going to be awesome when he gets back.
Piper Shaw:And the power play, I mean to, to say that obviously Brandon Montour has been carrying the water on the power and I have no criticism about that player as dynamic as he is. However, Vince has, Vince Dunn has been the quarterback on this power play when it has been successful for, you know, these years to come.
So I think also, you know, his presence is.
Ian Furness:How about Riker back there?
Piper Shaw:How about. Riker has been great. Yeah, yeah.
Ian Furness:I mean like all of a sudden you're going to put like Riker Evans is having a career year and it's, it's. The reality is, is you're going to get bumped down because they got.
And what a great problem to have a guy that's in double digit points for a defenseman at age 22 right now. And you're going to bump him down because that's where Vince. You're right, Piper. Vince goes to PP1 just like that. Or maybe Montour stays there.
I don't even know what PP1 looks like anymore. Maybe you can tell me because I can't. But, but when you have a guy that can bomb it like he did Monday in Anaheim. Whoa. Gotta get him out there.
Piper Shaw:Yeah, definitely. And also kind of going back to the Jordan Eberle thing too.
I mean, I, I personally, based on my conversations with the guys, like, I don't believe that Ellie Tolvin and Oliver Bjork Strand and Andre Burakovsky and even Yanni Gord are particularly thrilled with their productivity, to be honest. So I also, and I don't think that should be a secret, but you, you should be able to get a great deal more out of all of those players.
And even if you get 50% more out of each of those players or one of those players to 75% more, that's a huge difference too in that forward group. Right? In terms of scoring.
Ian Furness:Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's like baseball. They always say play your base, play the back of your card. At some point it does come back to that.
And so at some point 95 and 20 and those guys are going to get to that point, you know, and then Sprung is going to give you probably a dozen or you know, 18 when it's all said and done. And yeah, that, that'll all pick up at some point.
Piper Shaw:Yeah. And then also I just wanted to touch on quick. Shane Wright scratched a couple of games, gets his chance.
They say they want the coaching staff Says they want him upstairs, they want him watching video, he's being a student of the game. They put him back in the lineup in Anaheim and he opens up the scoring right away, big old smile on his face. What have you thought about him lately?
Ian Furness:I, first of all, I always, I do a weekly radio hit with a TV radio show in Vancouver and they like to chirp about that all the time. And Shane Wright, you know, high draft pick, what's going on?
Well, first of all, we all know in the NHL that it's the hardest thing to do is an NHL draft. You're drafting kids that are 17 years old. You don't know how they're going to project. You don't know what's going to happen.
But remember this with Shane Wright, he could still be playing junior hockey. He could still be in the Canadian Hockey League right now in the Ontario League.
Piper Shaw:He can't even buy himself a beer.
Ian Furness:He can't even buy himself a beer. And for him to be where he's at, I've never thought he looked out of place until probably the two weeks before they scratched him.
His first two years getting called up here and there in some spot duty. I thought my eyes told me that this guy looked like he belonged as an 18 and 19 year old captain, Canada's world junior team.
People don't understand that is a big deal. If you do that, the pressure you're under, the face of a country, things that you have to go through, you mature damn quick. And he did that.
And also at the same time playing with Bedard, I mean all the circus that was around. So he's been through a lot in his 20 years and 15 years or so playing hockey and he's just getting started. I love the decision to sit him.
I thought it was a good one because I think the question was do you send him or send him back down to Coachella like that was. It was one of two.
They sent him for three games, they put him back in, into a building an arena and against a team that he's had great success against. I mean last time he was there at multiple point game.
Piper Shaw:Yeah, two goals and assists. I think last time in Anaheim.
Ian Furness:Yeah. And so they put him, they slot him back in there and Myers did a nice job filling in. But like Myers doesn't have the ceiling that Shane does.
Shane's got a higher ceiling. Slot him back in. Put him back in. He looked comfortable on Monday. He looked confident Monday.
And like we talked about it with, with Berkey, sometimes you just need one to go in, doesn't matter how heck. Yani had the same thing like go off your face, who cares? Let it go in and then you're the first through the line.
That changes everything, mindset wise. I love what he did though because Piper, we play the drinking game on the, on television all the time. We're not really drinking on tv. But.
But the, you know, the Ed Zone net front presence comment, right?
Piper Shaw:Oh, yes, 100%.
Ian Furness:Well, what did Shane Wright do? First game back in the lineup, goes in the front of the net, gets a tip. Thanks for coming. I mean how huge was that? How huge was that?
That was just massive. And I think the fact that you see him get that goal and then he wins.
And if you watch the broadcast, face off wins aren't the be all to end all, as my friend will tell us, Allison. But a clean face off win for a one timer from on tour for the game winner. Wow. I mean what a night he had. I love the guy. He can play at both ends.
I think. I think they've handled it perfectly with him.
Piper Shaw:Yeah, definitely. I want to move into some listener questions. Got a bunch of questions. Unless. Do we have any.
Any final thoughts on the state of Kraken hockey at Thanksgiving?
Ian Furness:I think we're on the upward trend right now. I'll just say that. Thankful for the upward trend.
Piper Shaw:We're on grateful. The gratitude of gratitude.
Ian Furness:Yes. Yes.
Piper Shaw:All right. So this question comes from at Schmizzler, which is kind of a baller. I like that. I felt like this was a good one to start with.
The Schmizzler says after 1/4 of the season, who has been your unsung hero for the Kraken?
Ian Furness:Well, I think there's two and I think they're both on the back end. I think Josh Mahura, number one solid player, they signed him as a seventh defenseman.
He's played as a sixth defenseman because he's had to Stanley cup champion veteran Allison mentioned on Monday. I think this is a great point. When you don't talk about a player like that ever. That's a good thing.
And like he's not going to give you a lot of offense but you don't talk about him. Doesn't get beat. Doesn't. Doesn't make mistakes in his own end. Can move the puck.
Piper Shaw:Just reliable.
Ian Furness:Just reliable. And like to step like they weren't equipped to have an injury of that sort of the back in the last three years.
Piper Shaw:Right.
Ian Furness:Josh, you know, do me some Monday. I'm sorry. This guy's just a better player and Maher is number one.
And I would put Riker in there too because you know, Maher is not going to give you her, is not going to give you the offense. Riker has taken this massive leap this year, like a massive leap. And he's such a good, I, I have a soft spot for him. He's such a good story.
He's got celiac.
The challenges he has to have, eating and staying healthy and all those things my daughter has that it's no joke for that guy to stay in shape and to be at play at that high level. Remarkable. And now double digit points, all the things he's doing, I think those are my two unsung heroes.
Piper Shaw:Yeah, I think those are great picks.
I was going to say Yanni Gord, who maybe not like unsung hero, but I'm sure that the, the point productivity he's probably not thrilled with, but Yanni provides so much value to this team in his presence off of the ice, in his presence on the ice. He is a workhorse. The number of. I always, I always love this.
But like every time that we have Yanni for a pregame bench interview, he's notorious for forgetting them. So notorious that we have to like let the other players know. But it's literally because he's so locked in.
Like the PR staff will tell him while he is walking out of the locker room to set foot on the ice. He's on the ice for 15 seconds and it's already left his mind because he's just so committed to being like locked in and into his process.
And that's just like a silly side note.
Ian Furness:That's not what, you know what's funny is that's a good representative of like.
Piper Shaw:Yeah, basically he takes every moment.
Ian Furness:That's a good connect the dots thing because there's been a couple times when I've said who's doing the interview with Piper? And before, before pregame. Or it'll say like, because our rundown, I'll say, you know, Piper pregame. I said, who. Who am I tossing?
You know, Piper's with who? And they said hopefully Yanni. I go, hopefully, like, does he blow it off? No, it's just because he's, he is locked in.
Like, it's just like, yeah, it's not because. Because some guys, you say that and they're like, no, they're going to be like some athletes, other sports, not cracking of course can be jerks.
Like just, they don't do it right. He now that Connects the dots for me. That means that he is so locked in. I like it.
Piper Shaw:One time we were on the road last year, and he was so locked in, he was literally standing in the net. In the net with his back to, like, the whole sheet of ice, just tipping random pucks in. There's like four guys left on the ice.
We've been screaming on the bench, like, Jared McCann had to actually go get him, like, skate over and go tap him on the shoulder. And then look on his face, he's just like, no, because he forgot. And he always. So now it's like a running joke.
Ian Furness:But it's that work ethic and that locked in that allows you to be undrafted and play in the coast and have to go through the jungle and all that stuff to get there. Right. That's why he's an NHL player.
Piper Shaw:Absolutely. And yeah, the. The bench interview thing is just like a total aside, but I just think that it's kind of. It kind of speaks a little bit to.
He's so committed. Like, even if the points aren't coming, his effort is always coming.
Ian Furness:I agree.
Piper Shaw:Yeah, Love that one. Let's see. Next question. Grant, this one is for you.
Grant Beery:Okay.
Piper Shaw:This one's from you or for you.
Ian Furness:Okay.
Piper Shaw:This one comes from at. Nordy Jen, Nordygen says hard hitting question. How many takes did you have for your disclaimer at the beginning of the television broadcast?
Grant Beery:Well, Nordy Jen, thank you for noticing that. That's me.
If for anybody who has not watched our television broadcast, there's about 10 seconds for every NHL broadcast where somebody tells you all rights are reserved, don't rebroadcast, don't redistribute, all that fun stuff, or the National Hockey League is going to come down on you. Patrick Brown, our lovely director, comes up to me because, you know, I've. I've done, you know, the podcast. I've. I've. If you call the ice plex, you'll hear my voice telling you, you know, press one, press two.
So he's like, I think Grant can handle this. And so I would say it probably took me about 30 takes, and not because I was tripping over my words or anything like that. It's.
To get that much to say into about 10 seconds is very difficult. So, yeah, I finally got it down to about 10 seconds, and now you hear me before every single game.
Piper Shaw:I love it. I love it. Um, this one I thought would be a phone one for our group.
This one came to me on Instagram from Floraldarling, and I think all three of us can answer this one.
It doesn't maybe have to be Kraken related if you have a different one, but it's, it says what is a moment you had secondhand pride for a team or for a player. Something where it's like you have nothing to do with this process, but you're feeling very proud of them.
The one that, that just came to mind for me was literally this is, this is low hanging fruit. But Shane Wright stepping into the lineup, he gets sat, learns his lesson. He says, I'm going to make a count, scores a goal first period.
Like, to me, I was just like, let's go like that. Just, I just thought that was awesome. I'm like, good for you. You know, maybe not pride has nothing to do with me, but I was happy to see him do that.
Ian Furness:Grant, you got one.
Grant Beery:I would say probably the thing that I always really see an immense amount of pride for is when I see players do things, you know, I would off camera or anything like that, just for the benefit of the fans.
I think one particular thing that comes to mind is pretty early on in our tenure here at the Kraken, we were having as a family skate or something like that with some employees, and Gruby was out there and in, you know, usually any kind of public appearance. You know, it's really tough for hockey players because, you know, they're not the most outgoing, gregarious folks.
But, you know, as soon as he sees kids that want to have fun and that really want to hang out with him, that's all he cares about.
And I always get an immense amount of pride when I see a player, you know, kind of get out of the mindset of, you know, being shy or, you know, being like, well, I'm only doing this because I have to, and instead, you know, just really embracing. All right, we're going to have fun today and we're going to have fun because there are kids here who want to have fun.
Ian Furness:So I will go with along those lines, who a guy that just had a huge goal last week for the Sounders. Jordan Morris, local guy from Mercer Island. Plays for the Sounders. U.S. national team player. In the past. He is a type 1 diabetic.
My son is type 1 diabetic. The work he does away from cameras, away from, like, it.
There's a lot of guys, including a former quarterback in this town that only do stuff when there's a camera. And I think what you mentioned, Grant and others, when Jordan does so much, he meets with a kid after Every Sounders game, home and away.
And, Piper, you know how hard it is for kids when they're away. You, like, get on the bus. Go. Let's go. Go.
Every home and away game, he meets with a type 1 diabetic young athlete that was recently diagnosed with a disease. Does it quietly. Provides gift packets for him that he pays for. The team doesn't.
And just getting to know him over the years, I would put Jordan Morris. That's something. As a father who has to see his son deal with it all the time, that gives me that type of pride.
And I think there's a lot of athletes that do that. I'm sure there's a bunch of cracking players that do stuff away from football.
There's a Seahawk that I'm not allowed to mention, but there's a couple Seahawk players that go to Children's Hospital every week. Don't want cameras there, don't want Seahawks.com there. They just do it on their own. I think that's what's. That.
There's a lot of athletes that do that, and that, I think, is more important than the ones where the cameras are there.
Piper Shaw:Well, now I feel like I should have picked something better than.
Ian Furness:No, no, no, you. I think we hit. I think we hit. I think we hit all of them. Yeah.
Grant Beery:The spectrum. The spectrum of. And I think the theme there is. Is, you know, not having an ego. And there's a. There's an immense amount of pride in the.
In a industry that has a lot of egos to see, you know, players that don't have that.
Ian Furness:That's a great point. That's a great point, Grant. Yep.
Piper Shaw:So I am picking this next question here because it almost relates a little bit to what you've mentioned a couple times here, Ian. So this question comes from Lanka Kitten. I think that is Lanka Kitten or Lanka Kitten. I'm not sure.
Ian Furness:Okay.
Piper Shaw:And it says, when the boys travel, do they all eat all their meals together? Does a chef prepare their meals still? Or is it all room service? Do they get to choose who they room with as women?
Do you and Coach Campbell room together, Piper, first of all, no.
Nobody rooms together unless there's some kind of, like, maybe if somebody was, like, called up at the last minute and they just don't have an extra room, and it's like, something like that. But otherwise, nobody is rooming together. I do.
They might on, like, retreats, because we had on a previous episode where Berkey mentioned that him and Schwartzy were rooming together on their Golf thing. So maybe they. I don't know what that was about, but like on the road, four games. No, they don't room together.
And then when they travel, do they eat all their meals together? Not necessarily. There's food. They call it the Never. The Never Hungry League, the NHL. There's food, like everywhere. So there's food on the plane.
There's like fruit cups on the plane and muffins and sandwiches and sometimes there's like gyozas. There's usually like some kind of like, appetizer thing that's like, hot. And then they have meals, like, catered in.
Usually things like chipotle bowls or stuff like that that's always available after the game, like at the arena. So they have food provided to them. But they're not necessarily all like camping out in like a cafeteria, all eating together.
And some of them prefer to do room service for lunch on a game day or at night and just hang out in the room. Some of them will book big dinner reservations and three of them will go or 12 of them will go at. Really depends. It's.
Yeah, there's food everywhere, but when it comes to how they, like, eat their meals away from the rink, it's pretty much just like a normal person on a work trip is what I would say.
Ian Furness:No rhyme or reason. Yeah, perfect.
Piper Shaw:Yeah.
Ian Furness:And at home. At home, they eat courtesy. The same kitchen crew that does that makes everyone food at the 32 Bar & Grill. Kenny Moriarty in that great group, right?
They're the ones that actually provide all the food at the rink. Yeah, yeah. Chef Brandon, like, it's so like. Like, if you. If you've eaten to the 32 and you know how good it is, that's what the player.
Different menu, obviously, but that's. That's who's cooking for them too. Which tells you how good the food is at 32 Bar & Grill. If it's good enough for pro athletes. Right. Yeah. So, yeah.
Piper Shaw:Yeah, I think they will even.
Ian Furness:That's a shameless plug for you, Kenny Moriarty. That's a shameless plug for my O day friend right there. Huh? There you go. We went to high school together, Kenny.
Piper Shaw:And I. Oh, really?
Ian Furness:Yeah. He's a lot older than me. He's like at least three or four years older than me. But yeah, no, we went to O'Day together. He's no day guy too.
And then Mick McHugh is who is there kind of as well. Ram FX McCrory's people. Remember that forever and ever. And Mick runs around and helps out too mix.
They're all part of the Catholic mafia in Seattle is what they are. So they're great people and they've been in the restaurant business forever and that's why that place is humming. It is such a good spot.
It is awesome. Yeah.
Piper Shaw:Yeah. The food there is so good. I also. We're. We're sidetracked. But I also love that they like, change up the menu quite a bit.
Ian Furness:Yes.
Piper Shaw:So it's sad if there's something you love that like leaves. But because we eat there a lot too, I like the variety and it's always good. They're always stepping it up.
Ian Furness:Yeah.
Piper Shaw:So this next question I thought would be great for you, Ian, as well, because we've kind of talked a little bit about this as well. So this comes from Colin Morris and he says, Piper.
Kind of non Kraken related, but I graduate next November, getting my bachelor's in sports broadcasting. My goal is to work for the Kraken. What advice would you give to someone who's passionate about hockey?
Trying to get where you are, but also, I would assume, where you are, Ian. Even you, Grant?
Ian Furness:Yeah. I think the advice I give people all the time is there's no path. There's like sometimes it used to be in.
Piper, I mentioned when you worked in Madison and like small market TV and you and I've talked and shared stories about that. It's, you know, it used to be like there's a certain path if you're going to get to television or radio or journalism, what have you.
It's changed a lot with non traditional media. You can see I would get involved.
I know our friends say, like Allison Ballard is a young up and coming hockey journalist and works for what, Davy Jones, Right? Yeah. And the Sound of Hockey guys have their own thing. There's a lot of that stuff.
If there's a good established one, I would try to reach out to them first. And then as far as broadcasting, do as much as you can and be willing to go to a small market, be willing to go to a.
You're not going to probably start in the National Hockey League. You're not going to start in the NBA, the NFL, Major League Baseball.
You're going to have to work your way up at some point, but take all paths you can and look at all opportunities you can. And I mean, I'm the weirdest. I was poli sci. Like I want to be a news reporter and now I'm in sports. So.
Yeah, I mean, so there's no real Path other than try to find things to do.
Internships have gone away a little bit, at least in our business and broadcasting, I'm not saying cracking, but for us in, like, big media, it's kind of gone away. Fox 13, when I was there, we got rid of the interim program, and same with iHeartMedia. It's just a.
There's some different things that have happened over the years, and so you have to kind of be a little more creative, but just open the door as much as you can and never say no. Never say no.
Piper Shaw:I agree. I.
I definitely think that sometimes people have a tendency to go into the broadcasting business with one very specific goal in mind, and it's good to be goal oriented, but this business is evolving so much and you really have to just take opportunities where you get them and really work your way up. Ian, you. You totally said it. Like, one thing that I always tell people is I'm like, I hope you're prepared to, like, move to.
To Sioux City, Iowa, because you probably will have to. And like, like I said, like, Susie.
Ian Furness:Is beautiful, by the way. It is.
Piper Shaw:I actually interviewed there. It's maybe not beautiful, but it's Iowa. It's. It's not. It's mountain. It's not bad.
In fact, I had a job interview there and I had an offer from a station there, and they took me up in a helicopter during my interview to try to go work there.
Ian Furness:Let's go.
Piper Shaw:It was crazy. It was very. It was.
Ian Furness:I mean, I left Seattle to go work in Tri Cities, so, I mean, that's what it is.
Piper Shaw:I mean, yeah. I mean, I have most of my friends work in this business and not one of them has ever gotten a job in their hometown.
So anyway, so I would just say take those opportunities where you can get them, work your way up. And it's good to keep a goal in mind, but keep your. Keep your options open. And like Ian said as well, like, the new media thing is also.
Ian Furness:It's big. It's big.
Piper Shaw:It's big. Like, you don't need some executive to tell you anymore that, like, oh, you can go be on tv. You can literally go start your own show.
Ian Furness:That's part of it on YouTube.
Piper Shaw:So anyway, I think that's going to do it for this episode.
Ian Furness:Super.
Piper Shaw:From the deep. We do have some player interviews about Thanksgiving that we will roll out with. But for now, Grant, Ian, thank you so much for your time.
Thank you for being here. I'm very thankful for you, too. As colleagues.
Ian Furness:I'm thankful for you Guys, it's been great to get to know everybody. What a great organization, and thank you so much. Thanks for having me on. I'd love to do it again.
Grant Beery:Very, very thankful to have both you and always thankful to do this every. Every couple of weeks. So. So we'll see you all next week when I'm back in town.
Piper Shaw:Yeah. All right, well, we will definitely have you back and thank you to everybody listening.
We're very grateful for the wonderful Kraken fan base as well and everybody tuning into Signals from the Deep. We will see you next time. Will what is your dream Thanksgiving plate look like?
Will Borgen:The dark turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, a couple dinner rolls, maybe some green beans.
Piper Shaw:What does a holiday look like with your family in your household?
Will Borgen:Thanksgiving is usually over at my grandparents and everybody brings stuff and I don't know, all the aunts and moms and grandma make everything.
Piper Shaw:I know that you don't fancy yourself much of a cook, but if you were going to try to cook some kind of Thanksgiving side or item, what would you. What would you do?
Will Borgen:Just run to KFC and grab the mashed potatoes?
Piper Shaw:No, you gotta cook it yourself.
Will Borgen:I don't know. I don't. The green beans or something. I could do that. What are you cooking for Thanksgiving? I don't know how to cook a turkey.
Matty Beniers:Do you?
Piper Shaw:Oh, well, turkey is like the hardest thing, I think.
Will Borgen:The mashed potatoes.
Piper Shaw:The mashed potatoes, yeah.
Will Borgen:Are they good? KFC is dialed.
Piper Shaw:If you. Or what is your dream Thanksgiving plate look like?
Brandon Montour:Oh, my dream turkey. Yeah, turkey. The white turkey. I like the mix. Mix, mixed turkey.
A little bit of white, a little bit of dark potatoes, a little bit of stuffing, some green beans and like, what is that? Sweet potato. But like mixed in with, like some scent. What they call it cinnamon and, you.
Piper Shaw:Know, like the marshmallows. No, no. Some people put marshmallows.
Brandon Montour:Really?
Will Borgen:I don't put marshmallows, but like, just kind of that sweet and maybe like a nice. Yeah, that's pretty good.
Piper Shaw:What was a holiday like growing up in your family? Thanksgiving specifically, but Christmas, if that was more relevant.
Brandon Montour:Yeah, no, everyone just kind of got together, picked the house, whoever was hosting that year, and cousins, obviously, grandparents, everyone kind of went to the one specific place and got together and hung out.
Piper Shaw:If you had to bring a Thanksgiving food item and you had to cook it yourself, you can't go to kfc like.
Ian Furness:Well, yeah, I'm not.
Brandon Montour:I'm capable of cooking, so I'll Do a nice cake, nice turkey.
Piper Shaw:A nice turkey.
Brandon Montour:Yeah. I'll bring the turkey.
Piper Shaw:Do you. Have you ever cooked a turkey before?
Brandon Montour:Yeah.
Piper Shaw:Oh, okay.
Brandon Montour:No, I think it's just you look it up and you learn, and it's pretty easy, I think.
Piper Shaw:I agree. There are a few things in life.
Brandon Montour:You stress a little too much on, you know, making a turkey. I think it's a little straightforward.
Piper Shaw:Yeah, I agree. All right. Thank you. Maddie, what does your dream Thanksgiving plate look like? Your ideal Thanksgiving plate?
Matty Beniers:I like stuffed mushrooms. Oh, clams casino. I usually. We usually do, like, steak. We'll do, like, I don't know, we switch it up. Sometimes we do ham.
Sometimes we do, like, filet, but usually the One of those, too. And then we'll do some turkey, but I don't really eat turkey, so I'll do lasagna.
Piper Shaw:We don't do turkey.
Matty Beniers:It's like a weird, weird Thanksgiving dinner because no one really likes turkey in my family, so we just do, like, stuff we like. So it's like, we'll do lasagna, steak, stuffed mushrooms, clams casino. We'll do usually, like, a. What is it? Sweet potatoes. But they're, like, candied.
Piper Shaw:Yeah, like with the. With the marshmallows on top. No, no, no, not that kind.
Matty Beniers:No, with, like, it's like butter brown sugar.
Piper Shaw:Okay. Yeah, yeah. And it's really good.
Matty Beniers:And then we have jello mold, which is really good.
Piper Shaw:Like, just jello in a mold or is it a kind of dish?
Matty Beniers:It's called. Yeah, it's shell in a mold. But it's like a. I don't know. My grandma makes it. It's really good.
Piper Shaw:If you had to contribute a dish to a Thanksgiving table and you had to cook it yourself, Will said he's going to go to KFC and buy chicken. I said that's not allowed. What would you cook?
Matty Beniers:Garlic bread. That's my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner.
Piper Shaw:Did you see? You guys never really did like mashed potatoes and, like, that kind of traditional things.
Matty Beniers:Sometimes. Yeah, I think they'll switch. Like, we'll switch it up between mashed potatoes and, like. And sweet potatoes. And we'll have stuffing, too.
But, like, usually the stuffing is used for the stuffed mushrooms.
Piper Shaw:Oh, interesting.
Matty Beniers:Yeah. Have you ever had a stuffed mushroom?
Piper Shaw:I actually don't like mushrooms. It's like, the ones I don't.
Matty Beniers:Okay, okay. Well, a lot of people don't like.
Piper Shaw:You lost me on that.
Matty Beniers:A lot of people don't like mushrooms. You'll like these mushrooms.
Piper Shaw:All right, well, maybe next. Maybe you'll have to maybe some in.
Matty Beniers:I don't want to make them. I'm not good at. My mom makes them awesome.
Piper Shaw:Well, thank you, Maddie.
Matty Beniers:Yep.
Grant Beery:Signals from the Deep is the official podcast of the Seattle Kraken and a proud part of the Kraken Hockey Network. Hosted by Piper Shaw and produced by me, Grant Beery. Music by Benny Drawbars. Have a question for us?
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