Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Tommy Wheeldon Jr. & Jason Ribeiro Join The Show | FN Barn Burner - August 1st, 2024

Episode Date: August 1, 2024

FlamesNation Barn Burner with Boomer, Pinder & WarrenerTODAY'S GUESTSTommy Wheeldon Jr. | Cavalry FC Head CoachJason Ribeiro | Calgary Surge President TIMESTAMPS- Tommy Joins The Show (1:00)- Soccer In Calgary (3:00)- Tough Start (5:00)- Turning The Season Around (10:00)- Copa America (11:00)- Summer 2026 (12:15)- BREAK (13:45 - 16:15)- Jesse Marsh (16:30)- Success Stories (21:00)- Marvel Super Hero Game (27:00)- BREAK (30:45 - 33:30)- Jason Ribeiro Joins The Show (33:00)- Turning Around The Season (33:45)- Target Score (37:30)- Surge Experience (41:30)- Tomorrow's Game (47:00)BARN BURNER BLONDEhttps://originbrewing.myshopify.com/products/barn-burner-473mlFLAMESNATION MERCHhttps://nationgear.ca/collections/flamesnationBARN BURNER CLIPShttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-cW2DHEDZ6dEO5ePDmlhZc9SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 McLEOD LAW https://www.mcleod-law.com👍🏼 VILLAGE HONDA https://www.villagehonda.com👍🏼 OUTDOOR DENTAL https://www.outdoor.dental👍🏼 GRETA BAR https://www.gretabar.com/locations/ca👍🏼 ORIGIN BREWING https://originbrewing.ca👍🏼 BeAroused https://www.bearoused.ca/👍🏼 SPRING FINANCIAL: http://SpringFinancial.ca/barn👍🏼 Pro Skate Service Calgary: https://www.psscalgary.com/💻 Website: https://flamesnation.ca🐦 Follow on twitter: @FlamesNation @BarnburnerFN @960boomer @PinderReport @warrener44📺 Subscribe on Youtube: @Flames_Nation💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.comFollow us on Instagram @flamesnationdotcaFollow us on Twitter @flamesnation @barnburnerfnFollow us on Facebook @FlamesNationReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Barnburner. It is another summer special. And today, a glimpse into two of the newer sports properties in Calgary and two smashing successes in the Calgary sports scene. Summer's always been a little slow around here for sports. Sure, you got your three down football, but it's only every other week that they're at home. And then there's the three buys. and well, we'll just vacation and golf and do hang on. Then Calvary arrives. Then the surge are here. Today we're checking in with two of the visionaries of the Calgary summer sports scene. Later in the show, it'll be Jason Ribeiro, the vice chairman and president of the Calgary surge.

But we kick off the program with Tommy Wilden Jr., the head coach and general manager of Calvary FC. We've been doing this since the foothills, the good old days. I can't, I can't tell you how proud of you and your crew, including obviously. the ownership and Ian Allison and the folks at Spruce Meadows, but from ideas that felt very like, yeah, that's ambitious to now year six and the incredible crowds you've continued to grow the last couple seasons coming out of COVID. I know we'll get micro, but macro take us back to, I think there was a press conference

with some dope MC where you unveiled a logo. Could you imagine this being where it's at now? Well, especially, I don't think we, Ian Allison says it a lot, we didn't have a pandemic in the risk matrix when you're trying to start a new business. So to be able to have survived that and now thrive, I think our season tickets, our game day tickets were up about 20% in growth from last year. So now we're getting back to a place where, okay, we're growing. The league is becoming more established. But we've got to make sure that this stays around for years to come so that our kids, the next generation, that's all they'll ever know in this city, that they've got professional homes. They've got professional soccer. They've got professional basketball and it's, you know, that's got to be part of our legacy.

Yeah, for sure. I think you've done a great job of that. I know you just did in the last few weeks your Calgary minor soccer game. And it's always great to see the crowds. I know with some of the major, major sports, the ticket price doesn't allow many young kids to get in. That isn't the case with you guys nor the surge. And just to see, we know participation is huge in soccer. for boys and girls and adults in this country. It's greater than hockey. Now there's finally a place where everyone can say, yeah, like, I do love the sport I played. Here's where we go hang. And you guys have done a good job of creating that in probably the most unique atmosphere in the league

with what Spruce Meadows already had and the natural pitch and just the history that comes with that turf. Yeah, and what Linda and the Southern family have done with Spruce Meadows is spectacular. And every year you walk through it now, and it's something new, like they've just built a new stage for outdoor concerts. You know, there's a restaurant coming for the 50th birthday next year. I mean, there's just every time you go in there, there's a brand new idea.

And that family is just incredible in terms of creating a community. And then when you walk through the gates to come to a cavalry game, depending on what experience you want, you can basically get it. If you want to stand with the foot soldiers or go to a pregame at Kildes or ship an anchor and come in, and hang with them and have the flares and the songs and what I've used. But if you want to sit with your family in the grandstand, if you want to have a higher class experience and be in the offices club or the 1975 club,

that's for the corporate crew. You can do that. So, you know, my family sit in the 408s and they enjoy it. I mean, on this time of year, they're getting their sun tan because the sun hit you.

But it's part of a lifestyle that we've created for this city. And it's, it's enjoyable to watch. and, you know, just got gifted Scott Strasser's book. Have you heard about it? Here come the cavalry. Yes, that's right. Yeah.

Published the history of the professional soccer in Calgary. So it started off with, you know, how we got here. But then he went back and, you know, went into the kickers, the Mustangs, the storm and all the owners and the iterations and the people before that have been, you know, that laid the groundwork. And now, and I said to him, that's brilliant. And I'll probably read this at the end of the season because right now you're in business mode and you don't get to take it in. But when you say questions like that about where we

started to where we are, it is humbling. It's awesome. Let's get to the micro. It seems like you're building some nice momentum here. You had a really heated, as always, and great match. It seems like you and Forge bring the best out of each other. You want to do regional rivalries. Oh, this is going to be the team you have a rivalry with. Where the cities are is almost secondary. It's how competitive the teams are. And if there's actually that little bit of hate or towards each other. And Right from season one of the CPL, it was you guys in Forge. There was no rivalry with Edmonton. You beat them every time you played them, it seemed.

Something about Forge and you guys bring the best out in each other. You've been the two best clubs in the league since its inception. And you get a nice draw there, a win in Vancouver last week. You say it's time to climb. What does that mean? Well, we got a bit of a tough start, really, with the draws. But it was, again, when you put context about missing our golden boot winner, in Maya Bevan, who obviously left for personal reasons.

Ali Mousie, you know, wasn't fully fit going into the season, at a niggle and preseason. Only played four games. And then, you know, did a high ankle sprain against a white cap. So we've missed him now for, you know, 10, 12 games. Sergio Camargo had a good run, but then was out. And then Willie Akio out for the season. And at this time last year, we signed in midseason when we sold Gote and Tigney.

And he scored five goals in 10 games. So when you take that productivity out, and I think I said to you before the show, it's like, you know, taking out Goodrow and Kachuk. How do you replace that right away? And fortunately, in Tobias Walshefsky, he's been a great sign. Good unreal. He's been class. And, you know, he's carried a lot of the load.

Fraser Ed's had a good season with contributions and goals. And then what we've asked now is everyone to chip in. So that's what we put up in the locker room is let's share the wealth in terms of the goals. But the exciting thing is now is Sergio's fit again. You know, we just signed Lowell Wright that gives us another attacker. Ali Moosey's back, right? So he'll be back in the 18, which is great news. And it's like getting a new sign.

And so if he has the same impact, Willie Akeo did that they're at the back end of the season, and we've signed the players player of last year, what a great sign in that is for the back end. Brad Camden's coming back in. Eric Cobbs is coming back in. And young Mile Henry is one of the most exciting players I've worked with. So they're the things that excite us for the running.

And I see these guys every day in training. I see what they can do. And now you add that little bit of a final act. It's going to be exciting running. Had to be some frustration. I know last year, what was it, five draws in a row or something like that early on? And you're like, these guys can't buy a break. It feels like, but you got over it, you got through it. You had a great year. This year, it felt like the run of draws was even more prominent, which leads me to believe it would be even more frustrating, given all the other things that were happening to you. Like, I know where you're at now. And I know you're an ultra-positive

guy. And I like all the arrows in terms of you're getting healthier, you're playing better, you're coming off a really strong performance. But there had to be some moments a month ago or so or two months ago where you're just like, man, like, how can we be out playing teams and still in and up withdraws seemingly every week? Yeah, I think I remember Stephen Hart, former Halifax and Canadian men's national team coach saying football is a lie. And sometimes it can be. And I say this to my son who's, you know, turning 15 here shortly, is sometimes you don't always get what you deserve in the game. Sometimes it takes a mistake.

Sometimes it's a bit of magic. And sometimes you blow the doors off and totally destroy an opponent. I think with this, honestly, it's been the toughest challenge other than the pandemic. I think that was the greatest thing that, you know, coming through as a coach and a general manager, this has been a toughest challenge because what you're trying to do is still teach the way you want to play. Because we could have changed and been a bit more pragmatic and said, right, we'll have a low block and counter. that's not our style we've evolved and we've become more of the protagonist versus the antagonist

there's times and places like we went to bc place and had to be more of the antagonist and it got as a result there that's against teams with bigger better weapons we just needed our attack back and i know having witnessed this we've won two three if you include the the pandemic year of regular seasons we know how to do the marathon because things come good but all that really matters is if you win the last game of the season. And Forge, have done that four times. That's something we want. And last year, when you talk about that,

unbelievable performance, but it was two bits of magic from them in extra time that took the trophy out of our hands. And that stings, but it also reminds you that just concentrate on being in the playoffs and finishing strong. And I think with the players we have, nobody will want to players. We've only lost three games.

We've got the fewest goals conceded. You know, if I'm a manager on the other team, I would not want to play us, of that. And I think we've shown resilience through tough stretches. And that's the sign of a strong club. It really is to be a team that's on the front foot that has the possession, but also allows the least. That's a formula where if you just get a little more finish, you should be, you know, one of the more feared opponents in the league, if not the mix in the experience. You have a victory over the white caps this year again, which is incredible. You played Orlando in a two-legged

matchup. I mean, there's been some big moments this year. I know it's not top of the table. this point, but this is a group that probably has some experiential things that could contribute later in the season when you're into some more single game showdowny type situations. We're always strong on the running. And I think that's, that's what I like now is we're in that top four. We've got Ottawa coming up this week that, you know, at their place, we, this time last or just at the end of last year, we'd never won there. That was kind of like a bit of a bogey team. And we had that famous victory in late goals that Willie Keel scored in injury time. But we've played.

well there over and over. They've just kind of had that, you know, just a moment. And they're very good. And they're typical like their parent club, Athletical Madrid, where they can suck the life out of games. But this year, they've gone a little bit more attacking, which is interesting to see. But they're leading. And I know, I've led the league in many times, you're expected to win.

And then the tiredness comes. And then when you don't get a result, like they just lost four on to York. Suddenly now, question marks appear, whereas we've had question marks all season. It's different for us. We're climbing up versus actually going down. And I quite like this matchup coming up this weekend. I love it. How much fun was Euro and Copa America for you?

It was two monster international tournaments. And, man, I know there was some ticketing and venue issues, but if I'm the South American Football Association, don't you want North America's involvement every year? It just felt like the tournament scale and scope was bigger. Now, we're in North America, so obviously that's biased. But to include Canada, Mexico, USA, and three other Conccaf teams just made a bigger higher profile tournament, right?

It did. I looked in and I thought because I was talking to Oliver Minnetel, who's obviously just recently left, but Brazilian. And, you know, he always said, like, the Copa was obviously a good thing to a great competition, but you'd always get the same three or four teams. This year kind of added a little bit more with the inclusion of the Conquer Calf teams. And it made for a bigger, better tournament. I know there was some frustrations, you know, you heard Bielsa from Uruguay, like,

going on about the stadiums. I think even Jesse Marsh had a bit of a pop at it. But I think it's a dress rehearsal for the World Cup coming up. Totally. Right? So not that that's the right thing to do, but they've learned from that now as a country. And for us, even, you've seen the rumors we'd love at Spruce Meadows to host a World Cup training venue.

Sure. So there's plans, like I said, you know, Linda and the Southern family, they invest in things. We'd love to host teams here as a World Cup training venue. So real quick, we know that it's 2026 summer. We're talking the biggest World Cup ever, Canada, USA, Mexico, all co-hosting. The idea being a country like, let's say it's Belgium or Morocco or Japan, someone could come over and make Calgary their home base and train at Spruce Meadows at your pitch. Yeah, I mean, listen, there's obviously permission you've got to get from the government

and the city to be able to host this, but why not? How cool would that be to say, right, you've got Belgium. camped out here in Calgary. There's great altitude training here. We've got grass pitches and you're at an international airport that can get to the games in Vancouver, Seattle, in California. So why not? And I think that's the big thing with this is we're trying to grow the infrastructure of the game. You know, the Canadian Premier League's trying to create all these stadiums across. But the next layer to that is training venues, high performance centers. And then underneath that is your league one that's now the filter into it. And then your youth divisions coming through.

I think we're kind of finally getting there. You include a youth sports into that. But this training venue, it's started with an idea when we first talked about, you know, what's coming up. I do believe, regardless of whether we host a team or not, once 2026 hits our shores, the ripple effect, you're seeing it in the States now. It's 1994, how the MLS has grown. And it took them, you know, 10 years to get healthy.

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I know you chatted with the soccer Canada, as did a few other CPL coaches about the position, which is great because I think you need to look at your internal candidates. But it was a very unique resume for Marsh who has come up through some progressive organizations in Europe and also seemed to have a big chip on his shoulder about how he's treated by soccer USA, which I don't mind as well. I think most Canadians can kind of be like, yeah, I don't mind that. The guy's got a little, he wants to stick it to the big neighbors.

Tactically, there were questions about whether the team could play his style of play, which is a really pressing high line. Fast techs. You have to run, right? And I think when you'd watched how they qualified for the World Cup under John Hurdman, maybe in hindsight, he didn't use the athletes he had as much as he could have in terms of making them run more as athletes. What did you like from Jesse March? What did you expect?

And how do you think we see this team evolve now? Because it was Herdman to qualify for the World Cup, fell flat with some flashes of good play. Then it's this unstable middle period. He takes over. You have two friendlies in Europe against two of the best clubs in the world. Then straight into an Argentina game. I think a lot of people were thinking if you get a result and not even get out of the group, that'd be an okay tournament given he'd only been there a month or so.

Instead, they run all the way to a third place game where you outplay Europe. I like that's an incredible run. Yeah, listen, I was humbled to be considered as a Canadian to lead the men's national team. And then when you're looking at it and the reality is I'd literally just sign my new three-year deal with the Cavs and get the call from our president saying that we've given permission for Kevin Blue and Canada soccer to approach you and got to the final stages. But in the grand scheme of things, I think they got the right person. I think Jesse Marsh should add he's had high level experience.

he's also now going into it, having had a year to sharpen his axe. And I think that makes a difference. When you've got to go into a tournament, they need everything from you. And they're draining. You know, so, you know, I talk to Nick Ledgerud who's being, you know, in these international places.

It's short and sharp. John Hurdman has taken Canada soccer to a place it's not been to, especially on the men's side now, you know, for a long time, you know, since what was it, the 86 World Cup. I made them competitive and probably the most adaptive. team and sometimes there'd be a mid-block, sometimes a high press, sometimes build out, sometimes direct, which made them tough to play against in the environments you're playing. I think what we've got with Jesse Marsh is you know what you're going to get and it's going

to be hell. Yeah. Right? It's, you know, 90 minutes to hell. And I think we kind of had a very similar philosophy in 2019 when we wore that jersey. But his is high-tempo football. And I think this is the most athletic group of Canadians that the fact was, when you get Argentina talking about they're physical, they're strong to Uruguay that they're going to hurt to, what was it? Was it the Peru coach that said or Chile coach that said, you know, we're going to expect violence and if we have to use our fists, so be it. They already won that game in the press conference. Before it even started.

Because suddenly, guess what, they're thrown out headbuts. They're violent in their tackles. So tick to Canada. So for these more established countries to start fearing what Canada could bring, I like it. And I said, you now we've got the new. partnership of Cornelius and Bombito, that's a great athlete. I think Cropot, and we've played against Cropos and Cornelius, you know, and to see how well he played, he kept them in that, right? And you need goal scores and goalkeepers. And then a bit of a mix of everyone in between.

Interestingly, I think it was Tuesday night. Cropos had 16 saves in MLS, which I didn't know was a thing that you could do in soccer. There was a, anyway, it's quite impressive. There was a lot of emerging stars. Mombito for sure. Krapo was great. And I think St. Clair was probably a nice little piece as well, though you only saw him in the third place game. Shaffelberg from Nashville off the left side at the front. Dynamic. And then up the middle, like Ishmael Kone might have been your breakout star because he literally ran through one of the best midfields in the world. Yeah. Well, what like about this, and that's why Canada's pathway is just so diverse because he was recognized late going into Montreal. I think he was 17, 18. And wasn't with there. And he was

their academy coming through. What was Moise Bombito coming out? 23. It was continued to be said by. We tried to sign them at Cavs. Oh, man. Coming through NCAA, because we know that PDL NCAA. Canadian, we came across.

We had conversations with him. He's like, listen, I'm just going to wait to get drafted. But there was all, and I'm like, who, that'd have been a really good sign. But there's players out there. I firmly believe I get excited trying to discover the next Mofazis, Arab and Pepples, Victor Lottori's, Gote, Antigmies. Canada, if that's just the quarter that we know, Yeah. My goodness. What's in Ontario and Quebec is like there's some unearthed gems there that if you've only got one pro club in there that can only take an X amount of kids in a certain age group. I believe in the late blooms and I think there's more to come.

So we just need a bigger funnel and you talked about it before it was there wasn't a pathway. You have all these young kids and by the time they're 16 they either like, well, I got to move to Europe and change my life or it's just like there isn't really spots for me to play and develop at a professional. way. The CPL solved that problem. You've added another layer in League One around the country. You sports, I'd add that in two, right? And which has been around, but what we're seeing is the funnel gets bigger. And so you have a chance to develop more athletes. And to be fair, 10, 15 years ago, stark in contrast. Absolutely. And what I see is it's like, you know, and I was a technical director of youth. I remember having conversations where players would say, well, we're losing players, whether at the time would be to white caps or over to Europe. And like coaches with Bermona, I'm like, that's our job.

Well done you. You know, that's our biggest success stories is the players and the people we move on. And I tried to, actually I said to our youth coach, I used to use an analogy. I said, it's not going to be the trophies that define if you're a successful youth coach. It's in 10 years time or 15 years time that you get invited to their wedding. Because it's their most important people. And if you've impacted a human being's life and they're invited to a wedding, then you know. And we kind of just changed it and trying to move on.

But the great thing about now the ecosystem is it can loop around. So the players are like a Garris Smith Doyle of last year that played for us. You know, he's back playing in League One with Calgary foothills. We had Mo Al Ghandor as a draft. He's back in playing for Calgary Blizzards. So they come back around as players come back through. And it heightens the level of competition for that underbellary. Yeah.

Yeah. So it's the high time. The ecosystem. All boats, right? Yeah, absolutely. If you wanted to, if someone's like, okay, so like, who played for cavalry that's moved along? What are the great success stories of the organization? Like talk about through the first five seasons, this being six now, where you've sent some

young Canadian players and graduated talent. Because I know you've had multiple players go to national team camps. I know even your current keeper, Marco, got a sniff a few years ago under John Herdman. But there's been, it isn't like, Who are these guys where are they going? Like you're starting to see former cavalry former cavalry players on really, really big stages, including the Copa America we just watched.

Yeah, so Joel Waterman got to go, you know, he was our first sale after year one. Montreal, you captained them last night against San Luis in the League's Cup. You look at him, you look at Mo Farsi now, who won the MLS Shield with Columbus crew. He's flying. He was part of our system.

Arab and Pebble, Luton Town, Victor Latory, Ross County in Scotland. So England and Scotland, your last two, yeah. Yeah, and Gote and Tigny, we sold him for, well, it's undisclosed, but it was a, and still is a league record to FC Anisee in France. And we've had sniffs of a few players here and there, like of late, but that's the exciting young Canadians are obviously that's what people are buying. Yeah, that's amazing.

It's super exciting. and with 2026, not that far away, what's a reasonable expectation? Where do you want the program to be when that tournament starts? Because after watching Copa America and those two exhibitions and understanding how early those days were under a new head coach, trying to implement a new system, working with people that only known for weeks, not months and years,

without a huge opportunity to, you know, create a culture, is it crazy to suggest you should be a top 20 team in the world heading into that tournament? Is the talent level acceptable to expect that? well what are we now 40 or something i saw recently yeah that that's got to be the next one but it's also results in tournament so i think the copers certainly done you know favors for for rankings um how we do now leading up into the world cup is it is important but it's with the players we have i love the fact when you see coney being sold from watford to marce and especially under deserbie who i think

is a phenomenal coach that his games all about a double pivot in front of the back line right and they're almost like point guards that played just in front of the centerbacks that provoke the play. He plays a double pivot for Canada alongside Oostakio. Perfect. And if he can get that into his game in that type of league, brilliant. Then we've got to need, right, who's the underbelly. So if one of them's injured or suspended or you need freshness because it's high energy, we've got to develop that.

If Moise Bombito now goes to, there's a lot of league on sides interest in him, that'd be phenomenal if he sold from Colorado because you're putting them in. And John Urban used to say that in tier one leagues. Yeah, one of those big five in Europe is huge. You get them there, then they're going to grow because Canadians always, you know, and any of the Canadians like your Martin Nash and Nick Ledgewood that went over there, it's always like, well, and you guys are hockey country. Now that narrative is changing because of Alfonso Davies,

because of Jonathan David that are going to these leagues and not just playing well, playing for big clubs. And playing for buying the best of their position in certain leagues, right? Real Madrid, you know, was supposedly after Alfonso. So you start looking at that. It'll be interesting to see where Jonathan David goes next, but even Kyle Larence scoring in La Liga. These are big deals.

Tejohn-Bucannon signing for Into Milan. These are big deals. It would be interesting now how Jacob Schaffelberg does. Yeah. Because he's different. He was great in Copeland. Totally different. And he came in on form and he was great in Copa.

And if he's playing well, there's also the link now people see Jesse Marsh that has a name and go, actually, I like the look at that guy. Let's bring him in. Yeah. Interesting. You've got lots of action coming up. In Ottawa this weekend, you noted they've been a thorn in your side, but I think your last few outings have been better against them.

You have your home on the 10th, I believe it's Halifax for Marvel Superhero Game. I think that's a Saturday afternoon. That's going to be a banger. It is. Actually, this, because I ask the players, always try and provoke something with them. I say, if you could have any superpower, what would be, and why? This is a superpower. I don't know.

maybe to shut my mouth a little more time i don't know that's that that's definitely was not something i was preparing for today uh what would yours be teleportation teleportation because you think about now we live in a big country so pop i'm in i'm in i'm in auto bank i'm home you save time also go visit family like for me so so it'd be like last call in calgary but i can transport to hawai and i've got another like three four hours before now he's thinking a time travel that'd be fun would you though it's it's weird one that you want to go back and change it and the butterfly effect or go forward it's funny isn't it's always tough with time travel you're like you can't uh you know back to the future i think captured

it very poignantly like once you've changed history the future is never the same the butterfly effect indeed it's it's it's a it's a thinker august 10 we'll get to try on some some of your uh your viewers about that because it is an interesting question what would your superpower be i think dean's boomer is not here today i think he would pick uh just absolute like infinity gravy. You never run out of gravy. He loves gravy. Rat would be not aging because he just moans about how sore his shoulders are and it's to reminisce about the good old days. It's a good question though. You know, we can't complain about the hair, Tommy. We got this going on. There's now a little bit more salt than there is. Wisdom we call it. But we get it right. Seasons by the wisdom in here.

See that? Seasoning. There you are. A little salt in there. What's something? What's the rest of August look like for you? I mean, you're Ottawa this week. Yes. That's an important game. Actually,

it's an important month for us because like said, it's, it is time to climb. And we've got to make sure we're in that top four and then start pulling teams closer to us. So we get that opportunity this weekend against Ottawa.

Next weekend we're at home. We've got to start putting more wins on the board because I think we won 10 at home last year. We only lost once. We only won twice. So the rest of them have been ties. So I think now we're getting healthy. And the pitch is getting back

a little bit better than what it was. That's not really helped us at all this year. But then beyond that, we're at York. And York have had a good run under their new manager, Benjamin Moore. But again, we get to bring them back to us. So you always want to go and play the teams that are above you because you can drag them in. And when you play the teams like Halifax, take care of business.

Yeah, you've got to take care of business and keep your insurance because you don't want them to get in the mix. So it is a good month ahead for us. usually about this summertime we do go on a bit of a run. I called it, you know, even before the forge game, I said to the players with the fitness coming back and I could sense something in them. This is our time of year. This is, this is time to go on a run. It's also the best time of year to get out and check out the games.

The weather in the summer, the venue. Phenomenal. I mean, you're not sitting in a 30,000 CFL Stadium with turf. You are in the trees and historic spruce meadows on turf. I love the stadium. I love the different. You can go to sit in four different places and four different, totally different game day experiences

around Atco Field and you guys have done a great job building that. We look forward to seeing you out there this summer. Best of luck, keep her going. I know we'll have playoffs to talk about again as we always do as you're rolling to the fall. Sounds good. Thanks, mate. Tickets of Ticketmaster and Cavsfc.com.

Hey guys, it's Pinder. All throughout the year, Village Honda, brings you the Pinder Report. For the latest in what's happening in the sports world and maybe the odd crocodile and snake. But today we are at your dealership for life in the Northwest Auto Mall. Let's see what's happening at Village Honda. Now, this is one of my personal favorites.

This is the 2025 Honda Pilot Trail Sport Edition. Sexy. A woven in the headrest, third row. It's a mid-sized SUV that's totally built for adventures in Western Canada. Village Honda, your dealership for life, online at VillageHonda.com and in the Northwest Automall. As always a big shout out to one of our big sponsors, McLeod Law, great people. We talk about it on the show, Shane King and Peter Klein and Austin and everybody there. What it is is there are Calgary people taking care of Calgary people.

You're not getting when you reach out to McLeod Law, they're not sending you to Toronto or Vancouver someplace. They don't know who you are. These are Calgary folks. They're proud of those Calgary routes. They are here every single day. It's a big part of their longstanding client relationships. They get the way things work and they want to help you. whatever your challenge is, business or personal,

just to click away, McLeod-law.com is the website. The very best. Good people making a difference. McLeod Law. Hey, guys, it's Pinder with the brand new location of professional skates. One of the original hockey institutions of Calgary. We're just on 42nd Avenue Southeast off Blackfoot Trail. Let's check it out.

Okay, guys, we're here. If you remember the old location, everything was great. but everything here is just better. Check it out. We're talking about four stories of pads for the goalie in your life. All colors, all makes, all models, gloves for days.

I don't know that the Cincinnati Reds have this many gloves in their locker room. This is unbelievable. Beyond all the goalie gear, you see the masks, the pads. We've got our figure skating area here. In 1972, when Pro Skate originally opened, it was just that, a figure skating shop.

Things changed. The Olympics came to town and the skate sharpening service that's famous around Southern Alberta, they were the official skate sharpeners of the 1988 Olympics. I was alive then. Many of you weren't.

Let's go check the hockey game. Feast your eyes on this massive skate wall here at Pro Skate. We're talking one of the largest collection of skates in the country. True, CCM, Bauer, and Bauer's Fit Lab that will literally scan your feet, 3D imaging to find out exactly

what size and skate is best for you. Saturday, August 10th, come check it out with Boomer and I. Live Barnburner right here at the new Pro Proce. skate. We'll see you there. Pleased to welcome in the vice chairman as well as the president of the

Calgary Surge, Jason Ribero. Jason, how we doing, buddy? Big game tomorrow. Friday, 7.30, Sea Bears and Surge. Playoff basketball. Can't ask for anything else. Totally. What a wild season. You guys have the massive I mean, what a roller coaster. You start with

what, 13,000-ish fans at the Scotia Bank Saddle Dome for the home game. That was amazing. Being there, the atmosphere was electric. You can't be more excited about the support the city shows you to kick off your second year. But on the court, it was a rough start to the season. I believe you were 0 and 3, 1 and 4, 2 and 5. How did you turn this thing around where you're actually hosting a playoff game? Yeah, you know, I think, you know, every season's full of these ups and downs and you have to break up the season, right?

We play 20 regular season games and it's fast and furious in the summer. And next year, the league is moving to 24 games. So you'll have more depth than the season. and more story arcs and more ups and downs to navigate. But I think for us, really, it was just about the fact that, you know, we had a similar, you know, trunch of one and four last year. And we still won the Western Conference and went all the way to the championship final. So I think for us, it was it just happened to be that that, you know, one and four start happened to be the start, right?

And I think ever since then we've gone on four game win streaks, five game win streets, really just building the chemistry with largely a new roster. You know, it's funny. I spoke with my GM after our last year, and I asked him, were we one piece away from a championship, a couple baskets short, or do we really need to reinvent who we are in season two? And he had the confidence to say, I think we need to reinvent and we backed him. And, you know, I look at the year-end standings now that the regular season is done.

And, you know, we're one win short of our record last year. So the product hasn't changed for a record perspective. But what has changed is we're a dangerous, dangerous offense. You know, we've got players leading league. categories as a team we lead in three point percentage, the entire league and in total assist. So I'm liking what I'm seeing and it's coming together at the right time. It's funny because watching last year getting to a bunch of games, it felt like you were defense first and you could slow other teams down, but scoring was a bit of an issue.

Early on this year, it was the opposite, but you're feeling this is a more well-balanced team this year? Yeah, I think, I think, you know, from a system's perspective, you're right, defense was our calling card, but this year, it's really been, and I give a lot of credit to coach Tyrell Vernon and our players, it's really been buying into the mentality of, yeah, you know, there's a system perspective to this, but it's also just make every possession or every possession difficult, right? It's the commitment part. It's that conditioning part. And if we can make it difficult for other teams every single time the ball comes up the floor, that's what's going to be the

difference maker if we know we can hit the shot on the other end now, because our offense and struggle last year. So I'm proud of the experiment we've run. I'm proud of the guys for buying into that that mentality really quick. And, you know, it's really basically, you know, playoff basketball, but in the regular season, now we just need to make sure that we're well-seasoned for Friday's game against Winnipeg. Yeah. And it's a foe, you know well. You finish the season with a home and home with Winnipeg and you'll see them again. How do you like that? How does your coach like that? How do you feel about it? It looked like you were, it was a close one in Winnipeg and then you got the best in them at home. I like the way things are trending. Yeah, yeah. I know I think we,

we had their number a little bit last season. I think we're two and one on the season series so far. And we're playing at home right in front of our fans and our barn. And I think that that matters, right? I think it's, you need that sixth man out with you, especially when it comes into target time. And, and, you know, the ball's literally in the game is literally on the line. And you need to bury some shots and put an opponent away. So happy it's at home. Happy that we'll have the opportunity to do what we did the last home game at July 25th that we had here and, you know, hope it's a it's a rowdy, rowdy environment on Friday. I don't know if I've given you this idea yet, but I'm sure it's a good one.

So it obviously has to be one. Why don't you get like little business cards and you just print out how the target score works? Because like, do you get a thousand or two thousand times a game. I know at the beginning everyone's like, huh? But once you see it, you're like, oh, this is way better than just slow, time out, foul, foul, foul, time out. Like it's, I think it's, it's the way basketball should totally be.

And I know the NBA is tinkered with it at some of their lower levels, too. You know, what's funny is, you know, when we, when we first launched this business, it was as much about, yeah, you know, really high quality basketball, pulling in talent from the NCAA, NBA, G League, NBA, and the best leagues in Europe. And so we know the quality of play is really good. But that target score thing, you know, what I, what I've loved about this business is, it's allowed us to, you know, elicit different reactions from fans. You know, when you go to traditional sport games, you know, you know, what's going to happen.

You know, from, you know, half time to the third period to the fourth quarter, you get into a bit of a rhythm. The idea that as we're only in year two, and I remind myself and our staff, you know, we've only been in the market like 14, 15 months. You know, our first game was May 27th. And to do all we've done, especially, you know, over 12,000 in the dome for our season opener has been astounding to us. And it's been because of the community response. But I love the idea, you know, maybe I'm a non-conventional marketer. I love the idea that people come to the surge game for the first time or a CBL game in any market across this country and get the wind knocked out of them at the end of the game to be like, whoa, why is the clock stopping?

Why are the scores locking in? What do you mean you add nine to the winning team score? And what do you mean it's going to end on a game winner no matter what happens? Like I love that moment of confusion. Like even at the dome game, you know, I saw that I don't know if it was A.C. Milan. I think it was AC Milan that did it this past weekend. Like we changed our jerseys at halftime. And I remember people being like, what's happening?

And we happened to pay homage to the Calgary 88s. We came out in our surge uniforms and, you know, we came out at halftime as the Calgary 88s, the last, you know, basketball team to play in the Saddle Dome. You know, that moment of confusion, that moment of, hey, this is different. I like that. So, you know, maybe business cards, but maybe, you know,

we just have people like you telling people and saying, hey, the way these games end is the way that it should end, not on stretching out the clock and a bunch of fouls to end a game so that you can leave and get to your car park. No, this is about staying right to the last basket and you know it's going to be a hell of a basket. Yeah, and look, if your team's up by 15, let's watch the winner and get out of here. Whereas in the NBA, it's like, geez, there's eight minutes left. This is my life. I'm never getting back, right?

Well, I'll tell you a funny story. It was our second game ever. And look, I'm a basketball pure. So when I first heard about the target score, I've been familiar because the NBA All-Star game had been doing it for a while in the G-League. but I was like, yeah, I don't know if I'm sold on this. And then I saw our first game. And I was like, okay, I can get behind this. Second game ever, it was May 28th or 29th in Edmonton,

sitting next to Mayor Sohey. And we're the only surge people in the building, right? Like it's me, my general manager, my VP, a full, you know, sort of Barna Stingers fans. And we're down 16 heading into the target. And it's exactly like you think. It's like, okay, you know, cut our losses. it is what it is. We ended up winning that game. It was the largest target score

comeback in league history and it might be the largest target score comeback ever. So by game two ever of surge history, I was convinced that you know, you could have any lead. But in that target time, knowing that you've got to bury a shot, it puts an added pressure that I think is mentally, I think draining, but it also gets the crowd riled up and then you're going to have to compete against home fans. So yeah, no lead is safe in target time. Yeah, to watch someone carry the ball up the floor where if a basket is made the game's over or like you win yay or you lose like oh my gosh we these guys better defend their asses off like that's that's a pretty powerful thing because it doesn't happen in basketball i mean rarely do you get the last possession tied or down by one need to

make it like that's that formula that when it ever arises feels so incredible you guys will literally baked that into every game it's pretty cool um if if people haven't been to win sport and have heard about the surges like hang on like we have basketball and cavalry yeah i think I heard about this. Like, how would you describe the experience and the event, you know, from pulling into wind sport to the final buzzer? How would you sort of explain what you guys have built, as you noted, in less than a year and a half, which is incredible?

Yeah, no, thank you. I think for us, it's about culture, right? It's about entertainment, live events, and culture in the summer. Like, that's something that we've been missing just because of the way the other seasons and the other sports properties in this town work. And look, if you haven't heard of the surge, it's, probably by design, right? Like we don't traditionally market.

You're not going to see a bunch of, you know, bus bench ads and a bunch of different things because our fundamental belief, and we play to an, you know, an arena size of 3,200 at Winsport, Canada Olympic Park is that we're going to get there because of the grassroots support of the community. And that's probably going to be the best business decision to make, but it's also going to be the best from a fandom perspective,

because you're going to need to know someone who's a season ticket holder, someone who's really a big fan, and they're going to drag you to this game. And that's how we build, I think, the sustainable fan base. But, you know, we have an outdoor plaza at every game with food trucks and beer gardens and games and basketball nets. And then inside, we've created almost a stage for different artists. So it's not like it's just the anthem singer. You know, we have halftime shows.

We had fire performers and, you know, super dogs and a bunch of different things going on. But it's the other part of it that I think is really important is, you know, that age old question in Calgary, especially in the summer when the weather is good, what are you going to do on a Thursday night? What are you going to do on a Saturday night? And to go to the surge game, you know, I see people dressing up and coming proper with the right kicks and the right gear. And, you know, hopefully we've done a good job of making this, I think, a cool offering that we can have in Calgary, not just great sports, but something that's a little bit deeper

from a culture perspective. That's what you can expect when you come to a surge game. And, you know, the net promoter very, you know, proud to say it's in the 90th percent, all of our season ticket holders, everyone's renewed, every sponsor's back. So we've been overwhelmed by how people have. quickly people have taken to basketball in calgary yeah it's funny sometimes you don't know what you were missing until you have it and i remember going to the first game like geez like how did like it's been ages since like i was a child when the 88s were here and and they frankly just didn't

nail the culture thing like you had nor did they have a venue like you had and you have at mark mcfail arena at winsport uh it's been unbelievable you're uh i guess what remind me was it the final game of the 2022 season you guys hosted an edmonton game yeah 2023 arena conflict in Edmonton. And so that was sort of the kickoff to you guys bringing a team in the next year. I mean, walk us through the beginnings of this. This is we're not even done the second full season of the surge. But at some point, this was just a crazy idea that a lot of people probably told, yeah,

I don't know if that's going to work. Yeah, no, it's, it's, you know, typical Calgary entrepreneur story. You know, I remember seeing a press release that, you know, as the CEDL is growing in, we're proud, you know, it's the largest domestic pro sports league now, 10, 10 different teams in 10 different cities, all of which are scaling and growing faster, we're on TSN. But it was really, you know, the league was growing. And they were moving the team from a small market in Guelph to Calgary because the business

case made sense, but they didn't have a, you know, private ownership group. And I remember, you know, looking at that press release on Twitter, screenshoting it, texting my friend and said, are we doing this? Question mark. It wasn't for sale. But we thought we would kick tires on it and ask. And for both of us, both Usman and I, it really was. We've come to this realization in Calgary that this is again what it was missing.

It's not just the basketball part because that's key. You know, we'd had a Raptors exhibition game here that did 16,000, 17,000 at the dome a few years ago. We know what that championship run was like in Calgary doing watch parties all over the place. But it really was that drawing fan bases from all four corners of the city, this idea that it unlocks community in a really different way. And by the time we were standing up at Winsport launching the team, it was October 2020. played our first game, May 27th, but the Genesis really was, youth in Calgary needed this. You know, we're the third most diverse city in Calgary,

and that's one of the biggest populations that plays basketball. The fact that we haven't had a team that spoke to those communities, spoke to them in different languages, you know, when you walk into sports, there's a huge sign that says, welcome home. And it says welcome home in all the most commonly spoken languages in Calgary. And that's not because we thought that that was a, you know, acute, you know, sort of trendy thing to do from an inclusivity perspective. It's like, hey, you know, you speak different languages at home.

I want you to feel at home. Come home. And I think that's been resonating with people who have just been waiting for something, whether it be a basketball team, whether it be an arts and culture entity, or whether it be the surge in its current melding of those two worlds, they've taken to it. And so it's been a huge, huge whirlwind for the past couple of years, but couldn't be more grateful for the fans' support. And couldn't be more grateful for the hundreds and hundreds of day one surge fans.

We all gave our season ticket holders day one surge fans shirt so that we know in our arena who they are. And the hundreds and hundreds of them that bought season tickets sight unseen never saw a game before. And all of which who have renewed, we have nothing to say but thank you. And it's going to keep getting better going into season three. But we got some business to take care of. And that's a playoff and a championship first. So Friday's the playoff game 730 at WinSport, Calgary against Winnipeg. If you win that, what happens?

If you lose it, is everything over or are there multiple permutations? Because I know there's, it's not just a straight bracket. That's not how this works. There's sort of like a host city and I don't know if there's right where, but it's a different playoff format. Yeah, no, no. I think it's, you know, it's usually conference weighted, right? So for the next couple of years, we'll still have that host model in place.

So in the east, Montreal is the host. So they'll get a buy to championship weekend. In ours, it's, there is no buy. So really it's, this is the plan. You know, the winner goes on to play. in Edmonton on Sunday. So if we win another Battle of Alberta, you know,

a venue I'm trying to get back to. I know our players are. The last game we were there, I think we held them to a franchise low 58 points total. The last time we were in their barn. So, and then you win that game and then you're in championship weekend. And I think for our team to be able to make two appearances in our first two years,

you know, versus Edmonton who's, you know, been a team for six years now. I think it really sets that bar of excellence that, yes, we've done, you know, fantastic things, I think, in the community, fantastic things from a ticket sales perspective in terms of league attendance records with record sponsorships.

But really the key for me is that basketball excellence. And I give a lot of credit to our guys, a lot of credit to our basketball ops staffs and athletic therapists who've gotten these guys ready. So hopefully we can win two games, be in Montreal starting on August 7. And bigger pitcher, you are less than two years into the venture. Should we expect to see another dome game to open up next season? Is it too soon to say? how do you top year two when you start with nearly 13,000?

I think you do it by 13,001. No, like, I think that's math. Come on. But look, I think for us, it's really more, right? As much as this is a franchise and there's a model to play, you know, we're in a newer league. You know, it's year six and we've been amazing things in six years. I couldn't be more proud to be part of the CBL. But for us, it's year too.

And I couldn't be more proud of what the staff have accomplished and our team has accomplished in just two years. but it's still finding all of these new opportunities and new things. We did our first school day game exhibition this past year. We did a slam fest with University of Calgary where we did a dunk contest, three point competition. We had an experience center at Chinook Mall for six months where we had a space with basketball nets and apparel and all of these different things.

For me, it's really the work in the offseason of discovering what those new opportunities are, but I think it's safe to say, look, that dome game worked. And so I think the more opportunities we have to go to the dome, I think fans can expect that we'll be back. Fans can expect that we'll be back at Winsport in some capacity as well. I like that blend of going big and then going really, you know, sort of tight and narrow to our existing fan base. But I think you can expect to see us out in the community. It may not be in the conventional ways because I'm still need to be convinced that some of the more traditional things work at this stage of the business.

But I think for us, we're going to earn every ticket buy, every sponsorship by being out in community, touching the flesh, kissing babies. you know what I mean? Like, you know, that's the old school retail of this. But even the stuff that we're doing with you guys, right? Like the ability to come on here promo and recognize an emerging sort of media market as well that you've cultivated. That's where we feel comfortable. And I think the rest will come over time. But more, more, more is what people can expect in season three. I love it.

Tickets at Ticketmaster Friday, 7.30 tomorrow. Winnipeg, Sea Bears, Cod, Surge, third game in a row. Winner moves on to the conference final. Anything else we should throw out there or we touched it all? No, no, and this is the last home game. So if you're thinking about a game or you haven't just kind of, you know, been able to jig your schedule around for it, this is the one. And we'll need you.

We'll need your support. Last year, we had a, you know, a sellout and it was crazy, crazy atmosphere and difficult for Redmondton to come in. So to replicate that again would be phenomenal. So, you know, try us out, come on out. And then if not, we'll see you again next season, probably with a bang like we did this with this here at the dome. It'll be buzzing.

It gets rowdy in there, even when it's not playoffs. and it is into full sellout. So I think you'll be off the scales for the big one this weekend. Thanks, Jason. Best of luck. We'll see you again soon. Appreciate you, Pender. Thank you.