Chris 0:15

Well, hello everybody, and welcome once again to another edition of Lightning Talks, the weekly podcast, of course, where we talk everything lifestacked Miln King's Lightning. And once again, this week I'm really happy to say on the call with me, I've got Harrison. How are you doing, mate?

Harrison 0:30

Doing all right, thank you.

Chris 0:31

Yourself? Yeah, all good. Thank you. All good. So um another good weekend for Lightning. Um, cracking weekend, albeit you know, not without a few bumps here and there, but uh good results.

Harrison 0:43

No, of course. I mean, you can never say bad thing about a four-point weekend, really. Um, top of the league at the end of it, still the only unbeaten team left. I think there's a lot of positives that you can take from that. There is obviously some things that I think will get ironed out as the season goes on as well. It's still early doors. A lot of the players from every team, not just Lightning, have only been together for what, a month at most. So there's gonna be cracks shown, and there are gonna be times that um will be will get easier as the season goes on. But you can start to see from a lot of teams that the clicking is starting to happen.

Chris 1:18

Yeah, and I know, you know, when we say unbeaten and top of the league, I know we're not gonna be able to say that forever. It would be nice if we could, but you know, let's let the Milton Kings Lightning fans enjoy it whilst it's there. I know a few of them have been uh enjoying themselves on a few of the social media groups over the last couple of days, but let's enjoy it whilst it's whilst it's still there. Long may it continue, though. But yeah, um, some things to iron out, like you as you rightly say, but at the end of the day, four points is four points, and that started on Saturday with um quite a tough game against uh Sean Easton's Romford Raiders.

Harrison 1:50

Yeah, it really was a tough game in as a whole. And I mean Romford coming at the off the back of three wins as well, uh to uh sorry, two wins, it was um Lightning and Raiders, both unbeaten at that point. So one team was gonna have to lose its winning streak. Um, and Raiders came in with the same full strength side that they had um the previous weekend against Bristol. So it was their imports that stood out again. Lightning um came into that weekend, still without Jared Whale, um, Max Stewart off on Belfast Duty and Jordan County who missed out on Sunday against Telford. So a couple players not icing for Lightning. Um, but it does seem that the lines are sort of almost set, even without those players. Like, how do you fit them back in?

Chris 2:41

Yeah, it's it's it's gonna be a big question, I think, for um for Pete when you know when they are available to him again and you know what does he do, how's he do it? But I think you know, one thing I've I'm starting to notice is that you know, even when you've got the game sheet, you know, prior to a game when we when we started doing the prep for games and so on and so forth, you know, I think Pete's got the right versatility in this squad, but he can maybe switch those lines around, you know, and and players can move up and they can move around and they can move. I don't want to say move up and down because it's almost like we're playing in a lot of leagues, all three lines would be line one, you know. Um, such is the quality through this lightning squad. And I don't want to big them up too much because you know that there's enough expectation on them already, but that's the standard that we've got here in Milton Keynes right now.

Harrison 3:27

Yeah, and Pete has always been the sort of manager that would try to even that ice time out across, and you see it when he's coaching GB as well. Um, he very much wants to play four-line hockey that you your fourth liners um by name will still get a good 10, maybe even 15 minutes of ice time because they are just rolling out each line, and obviously a couple four was missing for lightning, so it's more three-line hockey with a spare, but again, it's not that there's still a rotation in that that is comfortable, everyone's getting a good amount of ice time, and I mean it seems to have worked because it does seem that the third period is where lightning are at their best, yeah.

Chris 4:11

And uh again, going back to to Pete, he's mentioned on a couple of occasions now post-game interviews, and you know, the the game, the after the game on Saturday, and and with you the week before, he was talking about building the fitness into the guys and getting the game legs into them as well. And that may not be there yet. Um, and you could see it on Saturday, and you could see it to an extent yesterday in you know, um uh down in Bristol, that they lightning did slow down a little bit. Now, whether that was by design or whether that was just a little bit of tide that's creeping in, um, I don't know. But you you know, you can't take anything away from certainly Romford on Saturday because they played it, they came out with it initially with a very, very high fore check, and it wasn't it wasn't a slow four check, they had pace all the way through that and couldn't kind of you know almost took lightning by surprise a little bit. But Bristol did the same thing in the second period yesterday, you know, came back a little bit. But yeah, Romford on Saturday came back and Sean Easton had them firing. There was a lot of pace in that squad.

Harrison 5:11

Yeah, there certainly was, and I mean it started off that um Lightning got uh the the first goals. It was Carter Hamill with quite a fortuitous bounce against um his leg, I think it was that took it past uh Cece, who had a very good night in net as well and uh deservedly got mad of the match for the Raiders, in my opinion, anyway. Um but the Lightning were made to work for their win on Saturday because by the end of the first they'd conceded a couple goals that one was a bit fortuitous and one was a mistake that Lightning would probably want back. And suddenly Lightning for the first time this season were going into a period trailing, yeah, and it's then a question of how do you respond and how does Pete then get the most out of this Lightning side? And I think we said it on comms as well. I don't think either side, either Lightning or Raiders, were at their best really that whole night.

Chris 6:09

I think yeah, and and I think a lot of that was to do with the fact that maybe, you know, maybe yes, it's early in the season, we could say that, and you know, guys are pick still picking up their fitness, or albeit if you look at a lot of them, you you start to wonder how much how much quicker can they actually be? Because if they can get quicker, it's going to be quite scary. Um, but also I think they cancelled each other out, you know, um a fair bit. Certainly, certainly in the neutral zone, I think um there was a little bit, a little bit of that, or just you know, either side of that neutral zone, very, very fine passageways of play through through there that that both teams, I think some they made, some they didn't.

Harrison 6:49

Yeah, and I mean it was in that second period, it was a little bit more. There are a couple opportunities really where we were saying it on comms, it was just like shoot, you need to shoot, yeah, or pass, you should have passed. Um, but it is one of those that I think once um Brady Johnson got the the equalizer, uh or not Brady, um Liam Struett got the equalizer uh with quite a lucky bounce off of his uh was it his is his thigh or was it his shin? I'm not sure what it bounced off.

Chris 7:22

I think it was yeah, it was his thigh, if not higher. I don't want to say it came off his backside because that would do him a complete injustice, but yeah, you know what? He's he's he's in the right place at the right time, you know. It came off something, so you know he'll he'll he'll take that. But yeah, and that kind of settled the game a little bit, didn't it?

Harrison 7:40

Yeah, it was at a point really where Lightning didn't I wouldn't say that it didn't look like scoring, but there weren't many like golden opportunities really for Lightning in that um second period until uh Danny Waite had that um one-on-one. Um, and then we got the equaliser, and it almost seemed that we started to settle down a little bit and get more into the game. Um, and then just after that Danny Waite chance, Brady Johnson goes through in a similar fashion and then fires it quite comfortably, but it was at a quite tight angle in the end. Having watched the replay back, he had to really squeeze it between the the pad and the uh glove side of Cole Ceci. But from a 2-1 down, lightning going to that second period break 3-2 up, and suddenly it's an all different game.

Chris 8:26

Yeah, and and you know, props to Brady Johnson actually, because he's he's rapidly big, he's going to become a very, very big fans favourite here in Milton Kings because you know he's playing, he's he's playing very, very quickly at both ends of the ice, as a lot of them are actually. You know, that um that's that's one of the big differences I've seen, I've seen this season so far. They've you know, lightning will start quite deep and they'll build and they've they've if they can utilize that neutral zone possession, um, it starts to move through pretty quickly. A couple of moves on Saturday didn't quite work, it it just came off the heel of the stick and it was just slightly out of reach. But on another night, that could have been a completely different story. But yeah, that that goal definitely sort of you know turned things a lot.

Harrison 9:07

Yeah, for sure. And I think the one thing that Pete's gonna be quite happy about is there was still a good amount of shots on net. I mean, 36 um shots on Cole Ceci, which um he did quite well for a lot of them. I mean, one of them he wasn't in net for, obviously, Carter Hamill scoring the empty netter um in the last couple minutes of the game, which settled the nerves in that final five minutes where the Raiders were looking a lot more dangerous, but there was still never real any clear-cut opportunities. Lightley did very well to stop them from coming through the centre and making sure that Headley had a clear sight of every shot. Um, and then Carter Hamill. I mean, we've got to talk about Carter Hamill this last like two weeks, especially. I mean, he had a three-point night on Saturday, he had a three-point night on Sunday, he had a three-point night last weekend. He is he's like his top point score at the moment, and he's on fire.

Chris 10:11

It's it's essentially his birthday weekend, isn't it? Because his birthday's Monday, you know, the pair of them um celebrate their birthdays. Uh and what a way to go out and celebrate it. Yeah, I think um Pete describes him as a soldier. He's always there, you know, he's always there, Johnny on the spot. Um, you know, some would say it's luck, but eventually it's a bit like you know, Stewie's goal. You know, you've got to be there in the first place, you know, to be able to score those goals. But you're going back to what you were saying about the you know, the probably the last 10 minutes against Romford on Saturday, that was a very, very good defensive, you know, uh time for lightning that that last 10 minutes. Jordan Hendley pulled off a couple of absolutely cracking saves, but you know, everybody defensively they were channeling the puck. Heads could see it when the shots came through. And you know, we say time and time again as netbinders, you know, if you can see it, you you there's a chance you can get something on it. Um and Heads came up big in that in that last 10 minutes.

Harrison 11:07

I mean, Heads has been pretty unreal, really, at this entire start of the season. He's it's kind of had to be. I mean, when you brought in Jared Whale, you had that sort of freedom, but with no Jared Whale recently, Jordan Hedley's had to step up and solidify between the pipes on his own, and he's done an incredible job at it. And Whale's gonna have to fight for his spot.

Chris 11:32

Yeah, most definitely. And and and and that's what he was expecting when he first came in. I obviously he wasn't expecting to sit out as many games as he as he has. He's been unlucky in that in that respect, but he's got a big competition. But you know, down to Bristol last night, Heads did it again. He you know, it came up big when when he was needed. Um Paul Hodson cracking saves.

Harrison 11:52

Yeah, um, it was that same squad that iced on the Saturday that iced on the Sunday, so a lot of familiar out familiarity um in that lightning roster as well. The lines were the same as as the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Yeah, just keep going. You might as well keep the train rolling, and they did that. It started off with uh David Thompson getting his first goal of the season, and I mean, yeah, he's I think if he needed that after Saturday night's penalty shot miss, he needed that just to settle any nerves or like just get the confidence back.

Chris 12:28

You could see that as well. Um you could you know uh you could almost see the weight lifted off his shoulders. There was I mean, he's he's obviously his own, you know, his own biggest critic. Um, and it was almost like a huge sigh of relief. And you could almost see the it almost freed him up the way he played uh after that. And he came quite early as well, didn't he? Well like 3.28 or something, it's quite early in the game. Um, and you could see it loosening him up straight away.

Harrison 12:56

Yeah, for sure. And I think the the funny thing was about going into that Sunday um game was that Lightning fans after the trials and tribulations of last season were going into that Bristol game worried, and it was one of those things that even I think we even said it as well, is that it would just be a lightning way to to make hard work of it. And but in the end, I I wouldn't say it was that Lightning made hard work of the win. I think Bristol made hard work for Lightning, they made it a difficult game, and I mean Bristol had everything really to play for. They were they had a really tough night on Friday um at their rivals in Swindon, um, getting shut out by quite a heavy margin in 9-0. They were going to want to bounce back in front of their home fans on a on a themed night as well, it was country night at the pound as well. They were going to want to bounce back, and they've got a lot of quality in that lineup that probably doesn't get the justice that it deserves. I mean, you look at their imports. Dylan Stewart was unbelievable for Solway last year, John Dunbar. No, we know what he can offer in this league. Jake Brecknell, unbelievable at Swindon and 100 points last season with Bristol as well. And then you've also got Tanner Butler as well, that again very familiar now to both Bristol fans and this league, and then Robbie Fisher coming in as well, just to solidify it. They've got a lot of quality there that they are going to damage a lot of teams, and especially once they get going. Again, it's early doors, though, you've got to you've got to let them sort of like settle. Um, I think the loss of Padlec early uh in the offseason was less than ideal, probably.

Chris 14:46

That's gonna unsettle.

Harrison 14:48

Yeah, that's that's not helped for sure. Um, but they came out and they gave Lightland a very good game.

Chris 14:54

They gave, and it's like you say, they've got they've got quality right way through it. And I I've seen stuff written this week before the game about John Dunbar around, you know, maybe since he's dropped down from elite, he's given up because he was a Guilford, he was a clan, and so on and so forth. But that guy is not giving up. I was watching that on the stream last night, and he's he's still putting it out all out on the ice. And I think you underrate Bristol, underestimate Bristol at your peril. Pete alluded to it in the in the uh the post-game interview on Saturday. They're gonna beat someone this season. Um, you know, and and teams like that across this league, they could be the difference between the winners of the league and the losers of the league. Does that make sense? They could dictate the destination this this season, but I think also one of those.

Harrison 15:40

I think Romford are also gonna be one of those that they'll also obviously be battling for that playoff spot as well. But they are gonna be a side that I mean they were a uh they were a thorn in the side of Basenstoke on Sunday, um, as well. So we'll go through the scores once we've finished covering this. But again, there's a lot of those teams that that that might finish at the lower end of the side of the table, they're gonna pick points off of the top six, and they're gonna pick points that you might not expect them to. But if those teams don't expect greatness from the likes of your Bristols and the Solway, maybe you're gonna get undone. Yeah.

Chris 16:21

You go to any barn, any of those barns this this season as a team, you've got to be rated, you've you've got to be ready to play from from minute one to minute 60 and beyond if if necessary. So let's have a look around the leagues at the um at the scores then, Harrison. So Saturday night, what happened there? Because we were all over the shop on Saturday night, weren't we? We were we were trying to predict scores, and that was that was gone way out.

Harrison 16:42

Yeah, there was no point really predicting the scores after uh on the Sunday after Saturday, but obviously we start back on the Friday. Um, Swindon Wildcats hosting Bristol in the uh first South West Derby of the season, and the Wildcats came out 9-0 victors, shut out for Rennie Ma. Um, and then um you had some bit of controversy in that one as well, which we won't go into, but we'll be interested to see what DOPS come out with. We'll hear from Dops over the next few days, yeah, no doubt. Can imagine um on the Saturday night, um, full five fixtures with uh Bristol being the team that had their night off on the Saturday. Uh Leeds Knights hosted Peterborough Phantoms, and it ended Leeds Knights nine at Peterborough Phantoms two, and that was a score line that most of those goals came in that second period. I don't know what happened to Peterborough in the second, but a four-goal night from Owen Sobchak, and yeah, that that was not a comfortable score line to read for a Phantoms fans, and there was going to be a lot of concern going into the Sunday night after that one, weren't there? Um, then you've got the Bison who came up against the Seahawks in another battle of the unbeaten teams at that point, and it was the Bison that ran out victors. Um, a great solo goal that I saw from Mac Howlett going from one end to the other, um, probably the star of that game. And bison carried their winning form on, and they went three games on the bounce, dismantling a Seahawks team that a lot of people had put at the top.

Chris 18:21

I think, but that's gonna be that that's I that's gonna be the pan now, I think, as we go through. Um, you know, so many teams are gonna we say it every year, every team can take points off every team. Yeah, even more so this season. This this this this season is gonna be real topsy turvy stuff. You really have to strap yourself in for this one.

Harrison 18:40

I mean, we say it every season as well. We said that last season when like Lightning went to Bristol and lost twice. So you you know that anyone can take points off of anyone. And if it wasn't for a late goal from Dylan Lipsy on the Saturday, Solway were gonna take the Wildcats to overtime as well. But a 5-4 victory for the Wildcats away um up in Dumfries, uh a big result for them because Solway are gonna make their barn a very difficult place to go to, you know for a fact. Then what I would probably pick as more of a surprise of the weekend. Telford Tigers six, Sheffield Steel Dogs three. Now, having been in Telford to watch them play Lightning on the previous Sunday, that's not a result I would have picked out. But Telford turned up and they turned over another very strong side in Sheffield and got a very much needed confidence booster, yeah, getting themselves that home win, and then obviously Lightning's 4-2 victory as well. That rounds out the Saturday games. Um, on that one, Swindon completed their four-point weekend as well, being one of only two sides, including the Lightning, um, to get a four-point weekend. On the Sunday, the Sheffield Steel Dogs, after a very topsy-turvy game, um, after being 4-1 down at one point and then scoring four unanswered in quick succession in the second after what I mean needed to be a timeout from um from Slava. So the Steel Dogs ran out 8-6 victors in that one. But I remember looking at the score at one point and seeing Solway 4-1 up at timeout, and I'm thinking, oh, okay, this is not what I was expecting. I'd put my phone down. I look back five minutes later, oh, it's 5-4.

Chris 20:22

What yeah, I have no idea where they all came from. They they they yeah, that was I think I just wonder what hit them.

Harrison 20:29

Yeah, um, and then Lightning obviously taking the victory away at Bristol, five goals to three. Romford Raiders ending the winning streak of the Basinstoke bison, six goals to four, and that was probably a victory that Romford deserved after the way they played on the Saturday night as well. Obviously, can't speak for how the game went um down at the Sapphire, but for the performance that Romford put up against us, you knew it was going to be a tough place for Basinstoke to go to.

Chris 20:57

Yeah, I was I was refreshing the uh the feed. The game I was watching the stream from Bristol and refreshing the the feed on the website um for that. And uh, you know, I could see that I think Romford were two goals to the good, and then you know, Basingstoke pulled one back, and then Basinstone pulled one level, and then Romford took the lead, and that ultimately, you know, that's how it that's how they finished the game. But that looked very, very tight. And as you say, you know, after a performance on like that on Saturday in Milton Keynes, yeah, I think uh uh deserved two points for for the Raiders.

Harrison 21:29

Oh, without a shadow of a doubt. And then two other games, Hull Seahawks shutting out Telford on the Sunday, couple goals from ex-Telford, uh Patrick Brown, probably the story of that one. Another shutout for Haisken. I feel like that's probably going to be a sentence we say a few times this season. Haisken, we know what he can offer, and he's doing very well for the Seahawks um this season already. And the final game, Peterbrook got their revenge at home, um beating the Knights three. And that was a massive result for Ashley Tate after it was a very tough first couple weekend, even in pre-season. I think you said it on the pod a couple weeks back that there were some boos for Ashley Tate in preseason.

Chris 22:16

There were a couple of boos after the lightning game, um, after after the light the preseason lightning game, and from what I gather, only what I read on on a couple of you know uh the social media posts, there were some booze after last week's home game as well. A very, very small pocket, and when I say small pocket in Peterborough, that could be one or two people. Um but it it would have been interesting to see what you know what would have happened had that result not happened last night in Peterborough because um you could see how frustrated Peterborough fans were after after that loss in uh that loss in Leeds. But you know, a win is a win, and you know, that'll give Phantoms and their fans uh much needed confidence now.

Harrison 23:03

100%. I think it was you you'd kind of go into a Leeds Peterborough weekend and you kind of expect it to be a slip split weekend. It's very rare that one of those teams it might have happened a lot and I've just not noticed it, but I very much look at those two sides and go split weekend every time because Peterborough on that home ice, they they play a style that um I think leads struggle with, Ryan Aldridge struggles with that Peterborough ice, and and then Peterborough struggle um at the castle quite a bit as well. So, but yeah, a mixed weekend um for pretty much every team. It was only the Lightning and the Wildcats that came away with a four-point weekend. Um, and that's that's positive for the Wildcats as well, because they struggled in that first weekend, only coming away with one point um after games against Peterborough and Sheffield. Um, they needed to bounce back, especially as the league holders as well. They're gonna have wanted to have bounced back and they bounced back in some style as well, scoring what 14 goals and only conceded four. So positive weekend for them as well. But that that rounds out last weekend. So um, but before that, we've got uh we've got an interview, haven't we?

Chris 24:16

Yeah, so uh very very pleased to welcome on uh on the pod this week's guest, of course. We've got uh a store of Milton Key's Lightning now, um, defenseman James Griffin. So Griff, welcome to the uh podcast. How's things?

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Yeah, good, thanks for having me. We'll see how this goes.

Chris 24:35

So um I guess we'll start off by um let's have a look at last weekend's games, first of all, because obviously, you know, lightning, another four point four-point weekend. I I know what all of you are like, you're not gonna get ahead of yourselves or anything like that, but you know, only unbeaten team in the league as of this as of this evening.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

Yeah, um, I think personally it's stages. Um, every weekend we take each game as it comes. Don't look too far yourself, you know, it can change very quickly. So just play every team as it comes, do the right things and work on the right habits, and hopefully, after all, we will do the you know, get to the achievement we want to get to.

Chris 25:16

I mean, obviously, there's been a number of new players coming at the beginning of the season, and you've you've been together probably what three, four weeks now. Uh, how would you say? I mean, it looks like the guys are gelling on and off the ice. I mean, has that been a process that's happened quite quickly?

SPEAKER_00 25:32

Um, yeah, I would say so. Like the guys are hanging out a lot together, um, obviously off the ice, but on the ice means more important. But um, I think I've got nothing bad to say anyone in that room. You know, really good group. Uh, Pete's put together a really good group of lads. Um, everyone clicks, everyone gets on. That's what you want. Everyone's wants to drive the same way, you want to go on the same boat the same way. So as much from that point, you can't you can't really fault it.

Harrison 25:58

I suppose you've also got a lot of lads that have come back from previous years at Lightning as well, so that probably makes it a bit easier as well.

SPEAKER_00 26:05

Yeah, like you still like they talk about having the foundations and the players, you know, like you forget like Max Stewart's the Hammels, you know, Stewie, like there's still a bit of heritage coming back through. It's not like we've just wiped, well, we sort of did, but like, you know, it's still guys coming through from the history, and it's still bringing the old MKL, bringing with the new. I feel like it's a bit of a hybrid now. Like we're keeping things that we think work, but as well, we need to adapt to the new, you know, new way of playing.

Chris 27:04

Oh, one thing about the um, I guess I was gonna use the terminology that the Pete Russell teams of old, but the team, the Pete Russell teams of, you know, previously that obviously you were involved in back in the or the UPI AHL as it was then. Um, it was always a very, very quick, very, very dynamic, fast attack inside. And and you could see that as soon as the selections were coming through during the summer. That was a similar style of play. Have you found over the years that's the kind of style of play that you're more accustomed to? Because you've always been a very, very, very, very quick skater from you know, both ends of the ice, 200 feet.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

Um, it's it's whatever coach. Obviously, we've had so many coaches over the years. We we it it's more the players adapting to the coaches and the coaches adapt to the players. Like, obviously, um, most coaches will will go with what they believe in, and that's you know, they're they're the they're the one pushing the shit the right way. So we have to follow what they believe in. And once you have players that don't believe in that motto, then you you have serious problems. So um, from a fast point, I do like that way. I like the way we play. Like at the minute, I really love the way we play. It's it's it's quite simple, but it's not, it's obviously every broke, everything's broken down through Pete's way. So, but we all know where we we need to go and how we do it, and it's accountability, so yeah, it's it's really good.

Chris 28:24

And I think the one biggest thing about this squad as well, and and I'll talk about the depth of squad in a little while, is the fact that you know, when you look at a game sheet on any given night, for example, over the weekend you were missing um County and you were missing Max Stewart, obviously. You know, the pace there. But you know, when you get you see the game sheet and you've got the lines there, there's no real defined line one, two, three. I know they're there on on game sheet, but Pete's got a squad where you've got that versatility to be able to switch, haven't you, on the fly, which I think is maybe hasn't happened before.

SPEAKER_00 28:58

I think it's just the fact that we want to roll four lines, three lines, four lines all night, and it doesn't really matter who you play. So we we don't really line match. Um, it's who you play, who you go out against, and everyone can play, and everyone does the right job, everyone is on the same wave. If you get out there with certain people, you get out of a different line, you know what you're doing. So I think that circumstance is not really, it's just you know, everyone's trying to do the right thing, everyone's trying to buy in. I think the biggest word is buying. Everyone buys in, everyone does what the team wanted to do, and then at the end the outcome is what you want it to be. So yeah, it's just buying in.

Chris 29:35

It's a totally random question. How did it actually feel for once to actually score the first goal in a season? I actually that's never happened before.

SPEAKER_00 29:42

I actually scored it two years ago.

Chris 29:45

Did you really?

SPEAKER_00 29:46

Yeah. You know what?

Chris 29:47

I was looking through all the records and I couldn't 16 seconds in.

SPEAKER_00 29:51

People thought it was Timmy, it was actually me. He didn't touch it, so it was me. So two years ago, I actually I mean two or three years ago, it was one of them.

Harrison 29:58

I remember that now.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

It was the year I didn't score any, I didn't score much. I one year I scored 11, and then next year I scored 16 seconds in, and then I couldn't I couldn't score for the rest of the year.

Chris 30:09

I just I couldn't find a record of that. I could not I could not see that on any records.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

Wow, I don't think I don't think I I think I got put down for it a bit. I don't think on the lightning stream, I don't think it came up as me. I think it was they put it to Tim, but it was actually me. So yeah. Weirdly, yeah, I've done it every other year. Yeah, every other yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chris 30:31

I haven't got to wait till Christmas for for people like Lisa and Scott to go and conger now.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

Yeah, yeah, well, we've we've had that problem.

Chris 30:40

So talk to talk to me about you know, the last this is your 12th season in a lightning shirt, you know, in in a in various leagues in various guises and everything else. You know, um, I can still I can still remember your very your very first game in a in a lightning shirt, and we were very excited to get you. But over the years, how has your outlook changed? I mean, obviously, off ice circumstances have changed a hell of a lot from you know personal family point of view. I mean, you know, you've got your own, you've almost got your own line mate. Line mate sat in the house with you right now. But what how's your outlook changed over the years? How's your game changed? Do you think?

SPEAKER_00 31:15

Uh, I think outlook when I came to Milton Kings, I I obviously left Coventry, I didn't know what I was gonna do. I was looking for other teams, and obviously Pete rang me, and then I wish they would actually explain to players without knowing what Milton Keynes is, because obviously Milton Keynes to me is family now, like family is it's a place I've got the weekend, it's people that I see and I love, and you know, and I don't think I haven't bought like built that over the years without knowing the people and knowing the place and knowing you know how what the club means to people and what it means to me. Um, so obviously over the years it's just grew and grew and grew, and more people I met and more people you know I do stuff with. So um, I think that's from that stage, and then playing like from playing wise, um, obviously my role's changed. Um, obviously, when I was when I came in, I think I was 22 when I came in. Um, I think that was a lot quicker, a lot more physical. I think obviously it's reasonable for me to slow down, it's reasonable for me to get less physical. I think the way that I've got to look at it is play through the dots, be a defenseman, and try and play the position instead of trying to keep up with 18-year-olds. That's it's a losing battle sometimes. Um, I can keep up for so long, but it does get to a point where you go, right, just just get your ground and you know, meet them on the other side.

Chris 32:33

So yeah, you are you are getting on a bit, even though you probably hate to admit it.

SPEAKER_00 32:36

You you know, oh yeah, the guys keep telling me that. Yeah, yeah, I get that in the room. I think I think we worked out the other day that I've played in this league since Conroy's been alive. Oh god, yeah. So I I played I played in this league since I was 16 for Swindon, and I think well Conroy was like 16 or 17. Like we worked out that it was very close that I was in this league before Conroy was even born.

Harrison 33:02

So remind you of that forever.

Chris 33:05

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And and people people watching the pod now are gonna absolutely know that, aren't they? It's gonna be a charming message. So where do you go from here now? You know, carrying on. You you obviously, you know. You still got your legs underneath you, you still got you know, still got plain ears in you. You still got you still got your legs underneath, you still got plain years in you.

SPEAKER_00 33:29

Um yeah, so it's it's every year I I I'm never gonna put a year on it, I'm never gonna put time on it, I'm never gonna go right, it's gonna be five years' time, I'm gonna retire. I'm not gonna do that. Um, I think it's more of the fact is every year I take every year it's how I feel. Um obviously listen to a lot of podcasts and things and hockey podcasts and people talk about it. It's like I think you do get to a point where it's um you know, I think you I think you just know. I think obviously when my kids want to start playing sport, I don't want to be in a in a field or ice rink in the morning and then playing my own games at night. I'd rather go see my kids play their sport. Um, I think the other thing is is you know, it's just how much can you go for, how much love can you go for? Like, you know, I'm still going, obviously, I still really enjoy it, I still love hockey. I love the boys' part, you know, but until you get to the point where you go, right, that's that's it. I think that but I think then the other point you have to look at is so many players retire or give up or quit, and then after they go, they come back or they go join another team. And I'm just like, I I personally I wouldn't want to do that after 12 years. I don't want to go play for another team. I just that's it, that's it. Like, you know, I want to push my life into another chapter, but I'm not there yet. I want to just see how this goes, and then obviously take care as it comes.

Harrison 34:50

I suppose it is one of those things that you do just sort of as you said, you you know when you know, and you have always got you've almost built that love for lightning now that you don't really want to, as you said, just jump ship and then feel like you've regret it.

SPEAKER_00 35:03

Yeah, and obviously, like obviously, my my wife works at a team, and like there's it's part of me that's like I'll never like it's not like I'll go, like if I retired, like I wouldn't go right, I'm never coming back. It's I'm always gonna come watch hockey, like I'm always gonna come down and you know, like chill on the voice, but like it it's it's a lot of time, it's a lot of effort. Like, obviously, I love and it is it is I think the other thing is that I will miss a big chunk of my life. So it's trying to break down like what you do in that time, how you do it, and obviously, I've played hockey since I was seven years old, being ice cream since I was two years old. So for me to go every weekend, you know, leads away and so it at home and train every Tuesday, Thursday, whatever, to go in right full time with dad. What do I do? Parks, like I I don't know to work it out.

Chris 35:52

And I guess it helps obviously you work for you work, you're obviously working for one of the major sponsors of Lightning as well. So that gives you that, you know, working with Scott, I guess, uh uh uh um uh one, two, three, it gives gives you that element of uh flexibility as well.

SPEAKER_00 36:08

Yeah, obviously, well obviously I've been with Scott wanted for internet for I think it's eight years, couple eight years. I actually met Scott at uh first year elite league. I was at university, uh I was shooting pucks, uh I think it was Sarah, was PR lady at the time.

Chris 36:25

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:26

He asked me to take photos with and then started talking to uh Scott and he he basically is like, What do you do? I was like, I'm a graphic designer at uni trying to get a placement. Obviously, a digital marketing agency for a placement was that was it, and then I just never left. So um knowing Scott through all of this, it's been it's been brilliant. Um, it has helped me. Obviously, I do a lot of work behind, I think, as everyone knows, I do a lot of work behind the team. So once again, I I'm I'm so into MK Lightning, obviously, with the low lightner, the logo, the branding, um, how we do obviously the digital marketing for MK Lightning. So a lot of that obviously comes out through me. So it's a lot, it's a lot. Yeah, I am surrounded by MK Lightning.

Chris 37:08

Well, you can tell that because of the you know, with the backdrop as well. Um, yeah, you were talking about the um, you know, in the past the teams have had the team, the previous lightning squads have had roots in Milton Keynes, and you know that, and you were saying that that's when you really get Milton Keynes, that's kind of where you you kind of understand it. And do are you do you get that feeling from from I mean, this year in the squad, a lot of the guys, you know, although they've come back, they genuinely wanted to come back to Milton Keynes. And it it it feels to me like it's almost it's almost like the the early days of you know when people like Grant McPherson came down, Lewis Christie came down, and so on and so on and so forth. And it's almost like some of the I want to call them younger guys are starting to sort of look to base themselves maybe around here or or locally. And there are a couple of other local players as well. I mean, Head's, you know, for example, has lived here pretty much all his life.

SPEAKER_00 38:04

Well, I think it's I think most guys, like I'll say I haven't moved in years, but most of the time the the first thing you do is when you move from a team is you ask your mates. What's it like? What's the organization like? What's the team like, what's the coach like, um, what's living there like, you know, that some of these guys are young, they want to have a bit of fun, like you know, days off. I don't I I don't blame them, obviously, with London being close and you know, they're still being professional, but when they get a bit of fun, they get to go out and be teammates, and that's what they should be doing. Um, I think, yeah, just overall, just Milton Keynes ticks a lot of boxes. It ticks a lot of boxes of people. So obviously being close to London, um, nice place to live. Like Milk Keynes is a nice place to live. Uh amazing fans, like we all know. Like we can bang on to that all you want, but it is like you're not gonna get a fan base like that in the league. Um, it's a nice ring to play out. So, like you just when you go down the list, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, it's an easy choice, it really is. And then most of the time it will come down to money between teams, and then sometimes money's not all the end all. Like, if you want a happier life and you choose the right team, you want to win in the winning way, it's just an obvious choice.

Chris 39:14

I want to come back into the present and talk about. Um, I mean, we talked briefly about last week's games and um, you know, ultimately, you know, scrappy on both nights, but but the right the at the end, the right result as far as lightning were concerned. But it just there just seems to feel now that there it there's a real gelling taking place in the side. I mean, okay, it's not 100% all the time. There may be some passes that are missed that, but in the main, it's like P said after in the you know, in the post-game interview on Saturday, two points is two points, right? You're gonna you're gonna have to grind out some results against some of these teams. Um, but how'd you look, how do you look at last weekend's games and then also looming not in the not too distant future is Leeds Away, which we know is gonna be a tough, tough place to go to, although they had a mixed bag last weekend, um, and Solway come down as well. And they've been pretty good first couple of games of the season.

SPEAKER_00 40:09

They're both two good teams, like soway's imports, I think, come and do pretty good. So until we until you you play in front of what you play against, like are you rich, whatever's in front of you you play against. So it's hard to say, like, for example, uh Bristol got beat last night. Uh, we beat Bristol last night, and I'd say we sort of struggled last night, but they got beat on Friday night, nine 9-0. So it is it's down to the day, it's down how you feel, is who you're playing. It really is down to that. So, but when it comes to the weekends, I think just string 60 minutes together, is it's it sounds easy, isn't it um, you know, the puck bounces differently. Um momentum changes. We we, you know, anything can happen. Penalties can change, you know. One guy's size loses head. I've done it over the years, you know, and then you've got five-minute penalties. Like it happens, it really does happen. So, as much as you'd love to go, right, we're gonna rock paper scissors for it and go, This is what points you're gonna get at the end of the night, you can't do that. So turn up, do your best, try your hardest, stick to the system, play what P wants us to do, and then hopefully we come out on top.

Chris 41:16

Yeah, Harrison and I were when we were on commentary on Saturday night for the um uh uh for the Romford game, we were we were looking in between periods, we were looking around the scores around the league, and you know, the pair of us were sort of we were we were thinking about what what the score is gonna be. I think we got all of them wrong, didn't we, Harrison? It is it is gonna be such a competitive league this season, you know, and and I and I don't think a lot of those results are actually surprising. If you like you say, if you look at the standard of import that has come into the league this season, and the standard of Brit as well, um, you know, across the league, it's gonna be it's always competitive, but for some reason this this season just feels like it's gonna be even tighter.

SPEAKER_00 41:56

You forget though, most of these teams have signed these imports. You you they could have two shots a game. If that import's in the slot, you're giving them a chance, but you're giving them a chance. You know, a lot a lot of these teams will just sit back, sit back, sit back and counterattack, and then if they get a chance, they they they they take full, you know. The Pibras, ex same example, they've got some guys that really can damage you. Like if they if they got any chance in the slot, you're in trouble. So our our goal is to keep them outside the slot and just prevent those shots. But it it this league's got a lot better, it really has. Obviously, having in the fifth import this year, but um it's going back towards last year of uh is it EPL that we've done set? So it went back like Frankie was here and Shemi and all that, and when we won it, I think it it's probably getting to similar levels to that now. I I think because that that was peaking at the time, personally. Yeah.

Chris 42:50

Yeah, it was borderline too much, wasn't it? But it was it, I mean, that was a that was a I mean, yeah, okay, it was a good season because we won it, but you know, at the end of the day, it was you know, you could argue it was it was too much, but the quality of hockey was excellent, and and that's what you've got right now um throughout this league, and you know, through every single team. And I think I was I I said on last week's pod we were looking at socials and people were very dismissive about Bristol, and you know, on Friday night they probably would it would have been even more so after the the swinging result against Bristol. But they came out last night and they gave gave you a game, didn't they?

SPEAKER_00 43:24

Yeah, like I said, like I don't think you're never gonna have a night off, you're never gonna have a night off unless it really is a night off. But like some of these teams, we have to understand that these teams want to beat us, and at the minute we're top of the league. And we used to do it to teams, like if you I think last year when we played Swindon, if you look at the teams that actually beat Swindon last year, we were one of the main ones to beat them because they're the games we turn up for. Like you want to beat, you want to knock them off their horse. But now we're that team, or we're trying to be one of the teams. Like, I'd say there's a couple of teams up there that you know when when teams come into our rink, they want to win. They're not gonna take a day off, they're gonna try the hardest because they know it's gonna be a battle, instead of going down to another team and going, right, we we just play 60 minutes and hopefully we can knock one out today. But that's yeah.

Harrison 44:16

Never an easy league, never an easy league.

Chris 44:20

No, cool. Well, listen, James, I want to thank you very much for joining us tonight. I know you I know you're busy, you know, uh houses full and everything else. I did see. Jill walking around with the tiniest pair of skates on Saturday. Who's been on the ice? Who's been skating?

SPEAKER_00 44:35

Um, no one's had lessons, so no one can skate. No well. To a limit. To a limit. Um, I think he's pretty like he's he's good for how much he's been. Like he's been great. I asked him I took him all the time. Um, Lily takes the little tray skates, and obviously Teddy's just you know crawling, so he's just everywhere. But yeah.

Harrison 44:55

You've got to give Teddy some chance, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:59

He's gonna be a bowling ball, don't worry about him. He's uh pretty rugby for him, just let him run around. Yeah.

Chris 45:06

Certainly sounds like two of you got your hands full. Well, listen, thanks again for joining us. Really do appreciate it, and uh all the best um on uh Saturday night on the road at Lee's, of course, and we'll we'll see you Sunday night down at our barn on uh against Solway on Sunday. Cheers.

SPEAKER_00 45:22

Cheers, thanks for us, guys.

Chris 45:24

Right, so let's have a look, Harrison, at this week's games. Um they come thick and fast, couple of tough games, and now uh well fairly unusual for a Saturday night. The guys are going up the M1 to go and face a very, very good lead side. That's gonna be a toughie.

Harrison 45:46

That's really gonna be difficult. I mean, especially after like they had uh an interesting first weekend, let's put it that way. I mean, it was uh they fell just short um to to Hull on the Friday night on the league opener, um, and then they fell in overtime to us on the Saturday. So it was a tough start to them, but they kind of rekindled it a little bit with that 9-2 victory against Peterborough, um, which we alluded to in the first part. I think that was what they needed just to sort of like kick them going again and just understand.

Chris 46:24

Especially for a home game, especially for a home game, that was the important bit.

Harrison 46:28

Winning that first game at home um after losing the first week to Hull, they needed that. Get the fans on board and get that home train running. Because I mean, we noticed it from I think it was the 23-24 season where we where Lightland only lost one home game and it was their second one, it was against Hull. Um, and I remember that very well, but then after that, it was just a streak, and so leads are gonna want to start that uh have started that streak. Um, they're gonna probably look past the loss in Peterborough, let's be honest.

Chris 47:00

Yeah, they'll they'll know, yeah. I mean, everybody in this league knows that yeah, we've said it time and time again, every team will take points of every team. Yes, they may be a little bit frustrated about it. Um, you know, from what from what I've read, all the reports said that you know Peterborough deserved that win without without a doubt, um, you know, on on Sunday night. So I I I I think Ryan Ryan Aldridge will be okay, it's done. Let's, you know, big one coming up. Let's just let's don't look back, look forward. You know, Lightning are in town on Saturday, they're gonna want that.

Harrison 47:31

Oh, yeah, especially after the overtime winner. I mean, I think it's fair to say that Lightning deserved the win against Leeds last time out, anyway. Um, probably by a lot more than the overtime victory. I think Leeds would have been happy to have come away with that game with a point. Obviously, not before the game, before the game, they probably would have wanted more, but with the way that that game went, they would have been they would have bit your hand off a point. Um, Sam Gospel kept him in it. It's gonna be really interesting to see the sort of hockey that gets played on Saturday at the castle because if either side shows up and the other side doesn't, both have the quality to absolutely tear the other.

Chris 48:14

Yeah.

Harrison 48:16

But if they both show up, then we're gonna be an absolute cracker.

Chris 48:20

It's gonna be an absolute humdinger, isn't it? If you're not making the journey up on the M1, I would strongly urge you to go and get the stream because I think that's gonna be a great game to watch.

Harrison 48:30

But if you can try and make your way up because yeah, it will it will be worth it. I can um you know what? Now we're saying this, it's gonna end like one one or one nil. It's gonna be 20 shots each.

Chris 48:43

We'll we'll pick this up, we'll pick this up next Monday, and hopefully it won't be a well, that was a ball fest, wasn't it?

Harrison 48:48

Yeah, that one. Um but yeah, I mean, I think in terms of I wouldn't say any players massively stood out for the Knights at the start of the season either, really. I mean, Owen Sobchak had a a great weekend, five goals um across the two games. Um, but other than that, in terms of standouts, I mean Colin McLean's got himself five points in four as well. Kieran Brown's had an unusually quiet start to the season.

Chris 49:16

So so far, so far, yeah, it's Kieran Brown.

Harrison 49:19

We know what's gonna happen, but we know what will happen at some point. We'll come back in a few weeks' time, and it'll be top. But yeah, I mean, it's the one thing that sort of stands out to me is that it's the youngsters again. The youngsters have now had that season of settling and finding themselves. And I mean, Jonas Bennett for me is probably one that stands out. Um, Jonas Bennett and Edgers Vengis, the two that really stand out as they made a name for themselves last season, and now they're gonna solidify themselves in this night side. And I mean, yeah, what can you say? That they've got a great setup now with Knights 2 as well.

Chris 50:00

Yeah, and and you know, it's taken them a while, but they've got that depth, and you know, I'm I'm kind of I'm looking at that night setup with Knights 2 and their juniors and everything else now, and I'm kind of I look at what Lightning are doing with with Joe Wilson and Ross Green and you know the guys going out with the the MK Storm Juniors once a week and um you know uh and and all the stuff they're doing, and I'm kind of really excited for that future now because I can see that that pipeline in Milton Keynes, maybe not for another couple of seasons yet. It's gonna take up a few seasons for that to start coming through, yeah. But you know, when you got when you've got people like Louis Lewis Conroy, for example, uh and and you know, let's have more of him coming through. Um, and that's the lightning of the future, isn't it?

Harrison 50:49

Yeah, I mean the Knights are still a few years into their process as well. This is still relatively new to them. Knights 2 didn't come about when Knights came about, Knights 2 are only a few seasons old themselves. Um, obviously the junior has been a little bit older than that, but that whole setup has been still is still very fresh. Um, and they've already brought a good amount of players through. So it is exciting if you're a Leeds fan, especially that even if you look at some of the older players that might end up departing, or like the your the good thing is for them they've got Kieran Brown locked in for another two seasons after this one. So, but even if you look at say other players that might end up moving on, say I don't know, you're you're the likes of your Jordan Griffins, um, Zach Sullivan's obviously made the move uh in the offseason. Um, but with those moving on, but you could still have you've got Jonas Bennett coming in who's gonna probably end up being a top four, um, top four D-man. Um, you've got another couple youngsters as well. You've still got Sam Cooper who's not exactly old either. Liam Hine. Like they've got a lot of youngsters coming through, and they are as much as they are a team for the present, they are still a team for the future as well. They are building.

Chris 52:04

And they've got to, I think they've got to keep building as well, especially now with the thought now that, for example, Manchester, Ultringham Arena is empty. Planet Eyes have already said that they're gonna be playing an NIHL team out of Ultringham from next season. Now, whether that's gonna be NIHL 1, NIHL 2 North, or International, that's gonna be interesting. This is where I think the Leeds Foundation, the Junior Foundation, is really gonna start to pay off because they're gonna run the risk potentially of Manchester slightly diluting that talent pool, a bit like Swindon, Bristol, and Cardiff have done over the years, you know, all in that sort of M4 corridor. Um, yeah, they're gonna need to keep building on that.

Harrison 52:53

Yeah, but I mean they've got the foundations there, um, especially for a new team. They needed that foundation, and with that Manchester news coming out as well, it is quite good timing that leads have started that youth setup as well. So that's the Saturday game. The Saturday game is gonna be highly contested. Do get your tickets for the stream or the game if you can make it up to the castle, it will be a cracker whether you are watching it on the stream. If they've got a good streaming set up as well, so do watch the stream if you can. But onto the home fixture. Um, and it is the Solway Ice Hockey Club. Um, I think first thing first, before we get into it, it's so nice that they are still about because there was a lot of word in the summer, there was a lot of unknowns really going on, and it was quite late before we found out that they were going to be icing a team, and even then we didn't know what they were going to be called, what the logo was going to be, and who was going to be playing for them. That it got to a point where they were releasing a signing every day.

Chris 53:57

Their new their new ownership group, um, the the the group that's taken that club well formed a new club because they haven't taken it the old one over, they've effectively formed a whole new club. Um, you've got to take the hats off to them because what the work they've done is phenomenal. They've had to repair relationships with the local council and so on and so forth. They've made they've had to go and get the ice time, they've had to go and put a squad together on the ice, and that is, you know, we'll go through them in a second. And that's a competitive squad, but not only on top of that, you know, we were talking about they've announced they were announcing a player, a player a day at one point. Over the last week, 10 days, they've done very much the same with local sponsors. So the local community is really brought into this reinvigoration of this club. And like you say, you know, it's it's fantastic to see them in the in the in the league, not because it just provides a little bit of balance, how can you provide balance with 11 teams anyway? But but but also, do you know what? For they have a fantastic set of fans, they've got such a great fan base, and it's always brilliant to see them coming down, um, you know, coming down to to Milton Keynes, and they'll come down again on Sunday in numbers.

Harrison 55:09

Well, yeah, shout out to Billy, who's probably going to turn up in in a kilt with his megaphone, and we're not going to be able to hear ourselves on comms. But I remember even at COF weekend as well, that they made flags that said Solway Lightning on it. Like there seems to be just such a good connection between the two clubs. I know a lot of Lightning fans, including myself, is gutted that there's no double header weekend um up in Dumfries this season. We'll be hoping for one next season. But yeah, I think it all in all, Solway has always been since they came into the league, a very sort of community-driven club. Um, and with everything that went on in the summer, it just reinvigorates that point that Solway are here to stay, and I don't think there's a single person in the league that is unhappy to see them. They are they are a team that everyone seems to have a real soft spot for, their fans are great. Um, the team, the coaching, everything to do with Solway, they've just it's just positivity.

Chris 56:09

Yeah, yeah, it's it's really good to see. And and to be fair, again, they're gonna they're gonna be in the barn on on Sunday, and they're not there to make up numbers either. They've they've played some competitive hockey at the start of the season.

Harrison 56:22

They really have, and it's been the story of the imports, really. Um, but also there's been one player that I wanted to mention, and we could go through Jonathan Yansis, Alex Johnston, and Owen Cole, who are the three top point scorers, all the three imports, eight points, six points, six points. But the real star, Harry Campbell in net, picked up Dershawn Stewart picked up an injury early on in that first game, and Harry Campbell has stepped in uh basically his first real season getting a significant amount of ice time and has done incredibly well um to keep games very tight, and he's not looked like he's not been in the league at all. I mean, he managed to hold on for the rest of the game against Sheffield to get them the victory in their opening game. Um, they did struggle away to Hull, but I mean Hull are one of the top teams in the league. I mean, Solway's start to the season has not been easy to say the least. They had Sheffield Hull the first weekend, um, then Swindon Sheffield, um, and this weekend, it's a double-away weekend for Solway, travelling down to Swindon, the league champions, and then up to Lightning uh on the Sunday. Like, it does not get easier for them. That is a tough weekend.

Chris 57:48

Yeah, but from a lightning perspective, selfishly, I hope they're really tired after Swindon on Saturday night.

Harrison 57:54

Yeah, yeah. We're gonna go on a selfish standpoint. It's one of those that, like, obviously, we're a lightning podcast, we're we're gonna be very pro-Lightning, but you have got to look at it and go, that's really tough for Solway at the start of the season. Or you look at it as get those games done and dusted and out the way. They've showed up, they got a victory on board early doors. Um, they showed a lot of spirit against Hull, who they battled back against as well. They battled hard against Swindon, they took a three-goal advantage against Sheffield away. They're not gonna be a pushover, they've shown three of the top sides in the league early on this season. They're not here to make up numbers.

Chris 58:32

Oh no, they're coming into play, definitely coming into play. That's gonna be a very, very tight weekend.

Harrison 58:37

Yeah, it's gonna be tough, but they are going to have to, they've got a lot of youngsters on that squad. The one player that they are going to be missing heavily because it's an away fixture is Matt Haywood, who has been the real star of the show at home for them. Um, three points in the two games. I mean, he what? He had a season off, but he doesn't he doesn't look like he's had any time off at all. I mean, you don't lose it, do you?

Chris 58:59

No, no, no, no, no. I think you know, and that was it, that was another major coup for them, wasn't it, in the summer? Uh albeit okay, he's not gonna he's not gonna travel to the uh you know to the far away away games. Um he's gonna play predominantly at home, but he's like you say, he's he's already started putting up points and potentially could be a game changer for them.

Harrison 59:18

Oh yeah, and I mean goals have not been difficult for Solway uh this season. I mean, Jansis, Johnston, and Cole have got 10 between them. Uh Duncan Spears has got himself a couple as well, so they've got a good Brit core, really, as well. I mean, you look at that, Duncan Spears. Um, the youngster Torren Anderson's got himself a couple points as well. He's looked quite good. Liam Stenton, a real core of that team, a real stalwart of this Solway squad. Um, they've brought in Joe Lynch on a two-way with Edinburgh, who spent some time at the Steel Dogs last season. Um, Callum McGill, who's been in the league for a while. Um, Josh Saunders, obviously well known to the Lightning Faithful from last season, and hasn't iced for them since opening night, but Jordan Boisa as well. These those last three games have not had him.

Chris 1:00:12

Yeah, that I think I did he pick up an injury or an illness. I can't remember, I can't exactly remember, but that's yeah, well, again, once he's back, that that adds to their their strength in depth. So again, goes back to their owners. They did a phenomenal job to you know to to get them back to to where they probably need to be, and maybe even a step, slight step forward from where they were last season. It's worth mentioning, of course, both games this weekend are both League and Cup, aren't they?

Harrison 1:00:39

They are, and that's a that's a real important one. I mean, that's gonna be a tough one for Lightning on the Saturday going to Leeds for their cup game. But the Lightning game against Bristol at the weekend was also a cup game. So Lightning have already got their first two points on the board when it comes to the cup. Um Solway have had three games already in the cup, and the unfortunate thing for them was the only game they won was not a cup game. So it's not that's not ideal for them in terms of going trying to because the cup is a real good one. If you can start your season well, you could have any team in that top five. I mean, Romford made it to the final um and then struggled in playoffs. So it anyone can make that top four. Um at the moment, Swindon, Hull, and Romford, two cup games, two cup wins, um, and lightning, Phantoms, and Sheffield are one cup game, one cup win. So you are looking now at a sum total of six teams who have play have won all of their cup games as of now.

Chris 1:01:48

Yeah, yeah, somebody's always gone miss out, and and and and that's that's the way with the cup every year, isn't it? It's it becomes a little bit of a lottery. Um, you know, uh and you know, it's like uh you know, uh it's like Griff was saying earlier, you've got to go, you've got to go into every game looking looking to win, be your best, best best version of yourself.

Harrison 1:02:11

Yeah, but uh as you said, it'll be tough, but uh there's a lightning side that have got to go through adversity if they want to win trophies this season. And it's uh you don't win by playing easy hockey, yeah, yeah. You you don't win by coasting every night. You're gonna have difficult nights. I think Romford on Saturday was quite a difficult night. I can envisage that Saturday night in Leeds is gonna be incredibly difficult. Um and then Sunday won't be any easier against the Solway side that have made Swindon, Sheffield and Hull look a little bit a bit close to losing those games. So yeah, it's gonna be a good weekend. Um, two very different types of hockey games, I think we'll see um from a lightning standpoint. But if you haven't got your tickets for that game on the Sunday, um 5 30 face off. So Brett, good time if you want to bring the family. Um, no skating after the game. The amount of people that will ask that question, it's a Sunday.

Chris 1:03:13

There is not there is yeah, there is no skating, it's a Sunday, there is no skating after the game, but don't be late, 5.30, because I think on commentary I can call it as 5 45 the other day.

Harrison 1:03:23

Yes, and I I there was a moment of silence where I was looking at you guys. Yeah, you would take it 5 30, but no, yeah, it is a 5 30 face off, doors open at 4 30. Um, so make sure you get there with plenty of time. Um, still some decent tickets available as well. So um see if you can get yourself a good seat as well. Because Sunday games don't seem to be as popular as the Saturday games. There's less people that go. Yeah, so but it'll be a fun one either way. Do make sure you get your tickets, mk-lightning.co.uk if you want to get your tickets.

Chris 1:03:59

Brilliant. Well, thanks, Harrison. Um, yeah, it's been a really good pod again. Many thanks to you for spending the time with us again, and thanks, of course, to uh James Griffin for popping on to talk to us as well. Um, one other thing as well, um, over the last couple of days or the next couple of days, a raffle will go live, and the opportunity there is to win uh one of the uh limited edition shirts that the guys will be wearing on the 10th of October, which is the uh country and western night. So your opportunity to go and win them. For more information on that, of course, just go to the website which Harrison uh has just mentioned, the Lightning website, or go to the Supporters Club group on Facebook. That's dead easy to find as well. You'll find details on there. But don't forget, grab your tickets for Sunday if you haven't got them already. 5 30 face off against the Salt Way Ice Hockey Club. And we'll see you on the pod next week. Thanks, Harrison. Have yourselves a great week.