2026 Milan Olympics Were A Dream w/ Hampus Lindholm and Nikolaj Ehlers

Summary

Empty Netters Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode Title: 2026 Milan Olympics Were A Dream w/ Hampus Lindholm and Nikolaj Ehlers

Podcast: Empty Netters – Almost Friday Media
Date: February 26, 2026
Hosts: Chris Powers & Dan Powers
Guests: Hampus Lindholm (Team Sweden, Boston Bruins), Nikolaj Ehlers (Team Denmark, Carolina Hurricanes)

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Overview

This special post-Olympics episode finds Chris and Dan Powers recording from the Italian Alps, fresh off covering the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics. They share instant reactions, hockey news, and in-depth interviews with two international hockey stars: Hampus Lindholm and Nikolaj Ehlers. The hosts reflect on the atmosphere of the Olympics, their behind-the-scenes experiences, and the significance of the tournaments for both players and nations. The show captures the raw emotion, camaraderie, and wild stories that make the Olympics unforgettable for both athletes and fans.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

A. Olympic and NHL Catch-Up

• Sidney Crosby Injury (02:19)
  • Dan and Chris react to the devastating news: Crosby is on IR, out up to 4 weeks post-Olympics.
  • Chris: "This is not a sustainable injury for this Penguins team, period… If they just lose a bunch of games and fall out of a playoff spot, I don’t know what I’ll do." (05:22)
• Panarin’s Move to LA Kings (07:11)
  • Artemi Panarin’s debut with the Kings, wearing #72 after a "Rolex bribe" to mascot Bailey.
  • The hosts riff on mascot numbers, coach numbers, and sports traditions with their classic comedic banter.

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B. Interview: Hampus Lindholm (Team Sweden & Boston Bruins)

Dreams Realized & Swift Olympic Turnaround

• Making the Olympic Roster (11:52)

  • "Getting the call was obviously a nice feeling… All the work you put in the summer, that’s kind of got paid off, man." – Hampus Lindholm

• Olympic Experience and Swedish Culture (13:43)

  • "Representing your country… speaking your own language in the locker room… all those little things, it’s just such a fun experience."
  • Discusses the unique dynamic of returning to Swedish language and customs after years in the NHL.
  • Fun language moment: “Sometimes saying hockey stuff in Swedish sounds so soft, like a schoolboy.” (15:04)

• Missing Out on Vacation Plans (16:39)

  • With travel insurance and the possibility of being called, Hampus smartly covered canceled Bahamas plans at the last minute for the Olympics.

• Olympic vs. Other International Tournaments (17:17)

  • "Olympics is… almost more for everyone else around you. As a country, every fourth year, it means so much... It’s so special." (17:17)

• Olympic Village Shenanigans (34:32)

  • Describes pranks with Italian cell phones, veterans pulling fast ones on rookies, and the general vibe in the Swedish team dorm.

• Tournament Analysis & Emotions (20:43, 27:25)

  • Detailed musings on Sweden’s unique tie-breaker scenario, the intensity of knockout games, and the “chess with only queens” feel of coaching elite teams.
  • On OT loss: "You’re just kind of left empty… It’s quiet, but proud that we played our best hockey in the last few games." (28:58)

• Representing Sweden — Emotional Reflection (33:15)

  • On learning to use adversity: "Over the years, I’ve learned how to put it into words… to use it as motivation."

• Best Off-Ice Moments in Milan (34:20)

  • Praises pasta vongole, lemon pasta, and hilarious rebuffs from Italian waiters ("You drink red wine in Italy!")
  • Stories about Italian food culture and the cross-sport Olympic camaraderie.

Notable Quotes:

• "When you put the best on best, everyone’s such a good pro… It’s almost like playing chess with only queens." (22:39 – Hampus Lindholm)
• “There weren’t many guys that would be like, I would think that in a tournament like that really stood out... It kind of levels out. Who works hardest.” (24:22 – Lindholm on playing ‘best on best’)

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C. Interview: Nikolaj Ehlers (Team Denmark & Carolina Hurricanes)

Denmark’s Underdog Spirit: Family and Country

• Olympic Debut – Historic for Denmark (41:53)

  • "Finally getting the chance to play for Denmark at the Olympics was obviously a dream come true… I got to do it with Freddy [Andersen], my cousin, and family there."
  • Unique that Denmark’s NHLers feel like outsiders joining national team regulars pre-tournament (44:11)

• Team Culture and Tight Knit Bond (44:43)

  • "For a small country like Denmark, that’s not really a hockey country, [success] makes it so much more special."
  • Happy to chirp NHL guys: “I got one guy, Blake [Felt], he’s definitely got some comments once in a while. 'I'm done with you guys.'” (46:30)

• Tournament Recap, Big Games, and Format (50:19)

  • "Germany game, I thought we played really well… Latvia has been a team we’ve had trouble with… You get in three days before, you’re trying to scramble the power play together.”
  • On Denmark’s progress: "Denmark has been in the top group in the World Championship since 2002 or 2003… It’s pretty impressive." (49:13)

• Family Ties and Inspirational Moments (55:39)

  • Describes playing on the same Olympic line with cousin Alex — and their fathers played on the Danish national team together decades earlier.
  • "The Olympics, scoring a goal and you’re celebrating with your cousin, right? It’s pretty sick." (57:09)

• Inside the Village: Ping Pong Wars & Food! (59:53)

  • Candid takes on “cafeteria food fatigue” ("I've had enough of the pasta-meat sauce at the Village"), sneaking out for real Italian pizza, and wild ping pong punishment rituals (“We were taking shots at each other… shirt off, five marks on the back!”) (63:14)
  • Best: Ehlers refuses to give the ping pong crown to his buddy, “He knows who it is, but I’m not gonna say it.” (65:05)

• Camaraderie with Freddie Andersen & Looking Toward NHL Playoffs (58:10, 66:27)

  • How sharing both a new team and Olympic experience with another Dane elevated the year.

Notable Quotes:

• "To be able to play in these big tournaments like the Olympics… with how many hockey rinks we have in Denmark and how many players we have… It’s pretty impressive." (49:13 – Nikolaj Ehlers)
• “The Olympics, scoring a goal and you’re celebrating with your cousin, right? It’s pretty sick.” (57:09 – Ehlers)

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D. Women’s Hockey & U.S. Team Support (68:08)

• Both hosts passionately champion the U.S. Women's National Team and women's hockey, calling on fans to appreciate both the men's and women's gold medal runs.
• “If you are not supporting women’s hockey, this women’s team, you have a dump in your pants. It’s that simple. Facts.” (70:20 – Chris Powers)
• Express their hope the moment is remembered for unified U.S. Olympic success.

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E. Personal Reflections: Behind-the-Scenes in Milan (74:09)

Italy Observations & Life Abroad

• Longform storytelling about Milanese quirks: dogs, dining hours ("mid-afternoon siesta" issues), bar bathrooms (foot flushes!), rink customs, and the lawlessness of entering seats mid-game.
• Amusing reflections on parking on sidewalks and cars driving on tram tracks.

Favorite Moments & Parties

• Warm recollections of Olympic parties, mingling with both U.S. and Canadian hockey families, Bauer and NBC parties, and the “epic” post-gold medal celebrations:

  • On seeing Jeremy Swayman put his medal around Dan’s neck: "I was like, wait, this isn’t the Cup, I’m okay with this." (96:22)
  • “There were some epic moments with Rizzo. Michael Eruzione was there… That’s an incredible moment, seeing him hold the gold medal.” (99:09)

• Deep appreciation for getting to witness and celebrate lifelong dreams:

  • “Seeing the sisters and the brothers and witnessing their family members, their sons... experiencing the lifelong dream… That was so heartwarming.” (97:42)

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F. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Let him fly. Don’t make him be a flightless bird.” (05:40 – Dan Powers, on Sidney Crosby)
• “It’s almost like playing chess with only queens.” (22:39 – Lindholm, on elite Olympic teams)
• "One of our guys answered a fake call about failing a drug test… Walked out to find two teammates giggling in the hall." (35:07 – Lindholm on Olympic village prank)
• “Literally, you score that goal and you look over and he jumps into your arms and you’re like, holy—Yeah, this is all time.” (57:14 - Chris Powers on Ehlers/cousin Olympic moment)
• “We’re in Italy. Pizza… For me, it’s a regular [meal].” (62:40 – Ehlers on Olympic village food fatigue)
• “Put your fork down. Just changes the entire flow of dinner.” (80:40 – Chris Powers on Italian dining pacing)
• “There were a lot of big, shaggy dogs… it was some dire wolf stuff going on here.” (76:08 – Dan Powers, on dogs in Italy)
• “The US Women and the US Men went over to Italy for the Olympic Games and they both came home with gold. And that is something truly incredible and worth celebrating.” (99:50 – Dan Powers)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Sidney Crosby Injury News – 02:19 to 05:22
• Artemi Panarin to LA Kings – 07:11 to 09:46
• Hampus Lindholm Interview – 10:04 to 39:33
  • Olympic call & Swedish pride – 11:52
  • Locker room language – 15:04
  • Village prank – 34:32
  • Pasta/wine culture stories – 36:46
• Nikolaj Ehlers Interview – 41:16 to 66:27
  • Denmark family history – 55:39
  • Village ping pong & food – 59:53
• Women’s Hockey support discussion – 68:08 to 73:14
• Italy Observations and Milan Reflections – 74:09 onward
• Olympic gold medal parties & closing thoughts – 93:20 to end

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Conclusion

With raw post-Olympic energy, this episode delivers unique insight into the player experience (on and off the ice), the emotional weight of international play, and the joy of being part of the Olympic community. Crammed with banter, deep hockey analysis, wild stories, gratitude, and a celebration of the game’s unifying power, it’s a travel diary and hockey show in one—a must-listen for fans craving authentic inside access to hockey’s biggest stage.

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End with:

“Do what the US Women and the US Men do. Oh yeah. Skate hard.” (100:39 – Chris Powers)

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Transcript

[Dan Powers]

Welcome to the Empty Netters podcast.

[Chris Powers]

Can you believe what this has become? There's a full 48 hours where I

[Dan Powers]

felt like I was like literally Superman. Jumbo loves playing Fortnite so he gets on the sticks. Did TR show you the sauna cycle or was that already.

[Chris Powers]

No, I invented that.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Almost a year now that I haven't

[Nikolai Ehlers]

taken a body check.

[Hampus Lindholm]

That's kind of nice.

[Dan Powers]

So we are back. We are horned up and we are going deep.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Finished tonight with some chicken fingers and a few Guinnesses.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Ran into you guys. And that's where this pod came to life.

[Dan Powers]

Ice is ready. And we are back with another episode of the Empty Netters podcast, brought to you by BetMGM. I'm your host, Dan Powers, joined with me by the man who I cannot wait to get away from. This is how I always feel after a long trip. Chris Powers. Say hello to the people as always. We are currently in the Dolomites in the Alps. CP and I tried to take a two day vacation for the first time maybe since the beginning of the show. We truly unplugged from everything, from all the social media, from all the, you know, we didn't do an episode. We just, we, we thought it was going to be a long, long trip over the Olympics, which it was. It was a ton of fun, ton of work and we thought we'll just take a quick break. We'll unplug from socials, we'll unplug from the Internet and good God almighty. So apparently we can never take a vacation again, Chris, because we are not allowed.

[Hampus Lindholm]

This is what happens.

[Chris Powers]

This is what happens.

[Dan Powers]

So folks, we've got an awesome episode here for you. Like, I mean, like I said, we're, we're sitting here. I'm. I'm in like the dining room of this Alps restaurant because.

[Chris Powers]

Incredible establishment.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, it really is. But we had to get an episode out for you babes. We got tons of fun stuff to get into. The NHL is back today. The time of recording quick hitters. On that we've got an unbelievable interview from the Olympics with Hampus Lindholm of team Sweden and the Boston Bruins and Nikolai Ehlers of team Denmark and the Carolina Hurricanes. You're going to hear from both of them. We're going to get into to the news with USA Hockey this week that has really exploded. And we are going to talk about our Milan adventures. Some of our favorite parts. Forgive any of the background noise that you might be hearing from me. I got a lovely, lovely party in the next room just having a Great time. So if you can hear some laughter, that's what's going on. Playing.

[Chris Powers]

They're playing cards.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, they sure are. They're playing everything. It's unbelievable. So by the time you're listening to this, it will have been day one night one of the NHL back. So the things we're gonna. Or at least one of the things that we're about to talk about will have happened. Like we said, not a lot going. We are usually a bad news first type of gang. Rip the band aid off. So we've got to rip the band aid off. Of the entire city of Pittsburgh. Coming back from the Olympics after missing the semifinals and missing the final, Sidney Crosby is. Has been put on IR and will be out for up to four weeks for the Penguins. Cp, how are you doing?

[Chris Powers]

I am devastated. This was the fear and, dude, it wasn't just sit right? Like. I actually anticipate a lot of announcements coming soon of guys missing significant time. Obviously, Kevin Fiala badly hurt. The Penguins reached a point right before the break of 70 points in 56 games. And if you look at other central team, or, excuse me, Met teams, the Penguin, they built a bit of a gap where it was like, okay, you know, you'd have to stumble pretty solid to come down the stretch here and up this. You saw what happened to team Canada without sit. This is not a sustainable injury for this Penguins team, period. There are a lot of games happen in four weeks of hockey, and now we are staring down the barrel of the nightmare scenario, which is the Penguins just miss, and they didn't miss enough to trade Sid and all that we've rehashed a million times, you know, So I feel terrible for myself. I feel terrible for Sid. I feel terrible for Penguins fans. And the one thing I want to kick back to you, Dan, because I want your thoughts, too, is I get before big game planning, you go, someone's questionable because you're like. You're just trying to smoke and mirrors it. But we. People we know well who have no reason to lie to us, told us that Sid looked great skating before the gold medal game. So I'm like, four weeks. He almost played on Sunday. Like, what the. What happened? You know that Matt Damon scene in. In Contagion. Contagion.

[Dan Powers]

Contagion is what happened.

[Chris Powers]

Like, literally what happened, dude.

[Dan Powers]

I think. I think he probably did look great because I think it's Sid. Like, I. I don't think obviously that they. There were ways for them to do x rays and MRIs in Milan, but I just think he was like, dude, I'm fine. I'm gonna play through this. And they did an assessment and they're like, he looks good, but, like, I don't know if he should play. And then they probably did, because what those people probably didn't see were the MRIs. They probably just saw him skating. Like, he was just skating and his MCL is torn off his body. And they were. And they were like, he still looks great. I won't fault anyone for saying that. He still looks great. He would look great. He would be. He would be the night in Monty Python, Holy Grail with no legs, and he would still be ready to rock.

[Chris Powers]

So, flesh wound.

[Dan Powers]

I don't blame. I don't blame anyone for thinking he looked great still, because he will always look great. But, yeah, I think here we are. I mean, this team is. Is a playoff team again, out of nowhere, and you just, like, you gotta. You gotta make sure he's healthy for this run. And I. After all.

[Chris Powers]

After all the.

[Dan Powers]

The deading of the Penguins, and not in a negative ways as far as, like, we don't like the Penguins. Love the Penguins and love Sid, but it was just like, let. Let him fly. Don't make him be a flightless bird. Let him. Let him grow his wings and fly back into the playoffs. And now all of a sudden, they did it, and I'm like, rights this Penguins team. But at this point, if this. Four weeks, man, without him, if they just lose a bunch of games and fall out of a playoff spot, I don't know what I'll do. I can't even imagine what you will do and what Penguins fans will do, but I don't even know what I'll do. That's how severe.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, right. That's how serious this is.

[Dan Powers]

It's awful.

[Chris Powers]

God damn, dude. Yeah. Brutal. I feel awful for him. And it's.

[Dan Powers]

It's.

[Chris Powers]

That's it. I feel terrible.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. So we're gonna have sharp eyes on the Penguins to see how they go. The other bit of news is we got a debut. Artemi Panarin making his debut for the LA Kings tonight, Wednesday. By the time you're listening to it, it'll have been last night, but exciting times, really, that we've lost Kevin Fiala for the season. I mean, this was a big move by the Kings. Just a great trade. You're adding Panarin to this offensive group, and now you've lost Viola to this for this offensive group. And it's just like, are you kidding me? I would. It's Just. It's. It's devastating times, but either way, exciting times to see this new future king for at least couple few years here. This new future king joining the team. My favorite part about this. I don't know if you saw this CP but Panarin's wearing 72.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, I didn't see that yet.

[Dan Powers]

72 was worn by a very important king by the name of Bailey.

[Chris Powers]

It's my dog. That's my dog.

[Dan Powers]

And we had a. We had a Rolex bribe for. For the number.

[Chris Powers]

That is so awesome, dude.

[Dan Powers]

Panarin there. There's some great photos that the Kings posted. Panarin had to snag a Rolex and give it to Bailey so he could wear 72. I don't know if Bailey's gonna keep wearing 72 because, like, it's not a roster issue. I think he probably will.

[Chris Powers]

I don't know about that, dude. I feel like he can't be wearing that.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, that's kind of what I'm saying. He's part of the team, dude. I've always thought it is the craziest thing in the world how in Major League Baseball, managers wear numbers and they potentially are taking a very significant number from a very good player that could possibly happen. I always think that's nuts, dude.

[Chris Powers]

My Dan, my prep coach on. On at hockey, I wore 13, and then the assistant coach of the hockey team was the head coach of the baseball team. And then I was like, yeah, I'm wearing 13 here, too. And he was like, actually, I wear 13. And I was like, bro, there.

[Dan Powers]

There has got.

[Chris Powers]

He didn't get.

[Dan Powers]

There's got to be nothing more ridiculous on this earth than a high school baseball coach wearing a number and taking

[Chris Powers]

it from a player, bro. I'm like. I'm like, you know, not to be glory days, but it's like, I'm hitting leadoff, playing center field. I'm not like an idiot. I'm like, give me my number.

[Dan Powers]

You can't, dude. He's had that number for decades, and he had.

[Chris Powers]

Honestly, though, he threw us. If we won four games in a row, he would throw us the sickest dinners at his in. Yeah, he's a God at his basement. He can wear whatever number he wants.

[Dan Powers]

That's true. All this Chandler Bing and aside, I love. I am here for mascots wearing numbers and getting gifts from players. Like, if you're a mascot on an NHL team, you got to change your number to something very significant. Like change it to Change it to 19 or, you know, like, just as

[Chris Powers]

soon as it frees up. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Do a quick Google what is the most common number in the NHL. Change it to that and then bang, you're gonna get a. You're gonna get a. Watch out of this pal. That's a no brainer. That's. Dude, this.

[Chris Powers]

It has to be so big though to get around Bailey's wrist.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, that's even better, dude. Now you got a fat daddy. It's gonna have so many links on that thing. Holy. But I'm telling you, I think this is a brilliant move. Mascots out there start picking some significant numbies and you get a gift or.

[Chris Powers]

I love this.

[Dan Powers]

It's just fantastic stuff. All right, like we said folks, that is just going to be some quick hitting news in the NHL. We don't want to waste any time getting into these amazing interviews. So cp let's kick it to Hampus Lindholm. Our boy.

[Chris Powers]

Our boy. And dude, I give. I'm. I was so excited to. To talk to him because Sweden probably had maybe the ch but had had the. But one of the most interesting tournament to me. Yeah, the games you won, the games you lost, the. The draw you got. There's so much to talk about with him and he didn't shy away from any of it. It was just so cool to his to hear his POV as someone who dreamed of putting on that jersey in the Olympics and then the. And then the experience they had and also the shenanigans at the village. I mean Dream dream guest.

[Dan Powers]

Dream dream guest. It's been a long time coming getting a hamp on Met the world to us, you know during while we were there in Milan for him to take take his time as he was getting back to pop on with us. It's amazing. Enjoy. Bruins fans, Sweden fans and just good people fans. Here's Hampus Lindholm at long last because I'm going to be honest Sam, this is the people the people have been asking. We finally got you here on the Empty Netters podcast. Fresh off of the Olympic tournament. You are back in Boston right now which is also. We just talked about a little bit. We'll get more into it. But you got back what yesterday, the day before?

[Hampus Lindholm]

Yeah, it was quick turnaround. We played and then right after the game. Obviously a little sad after losing the way you went down and then just get a text bus leaves at 6:30 in the morning. Five hours later.

[Dan Powers]

Dude, you and you skated today in Boston.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Yeah, I didn't skate. I just came in, did some treatments so Just kind of do a little maintenance day. But yeah, I was back back at the ring today, so it's been a quick turnaround.

[Dan Powers]

God, that's insane. Incredible.

[Chris Powers]

Okay, I actually, I have a question about that plane ride, but we'll get to it in a second. I first want to hear how you got the first call. Like Brodine goes, a couple guys get hurt and you know, they're adding guys. There's no guarantee who it's going to be.

[Dan Powers]

But what, what.

[Chris Powers]

Where were you and what was that. What was that first call like that you were, you were coming?

[Hampus Lindholm]

Yeah, no, that was. That was obviously a nice, nice feeling. Get a call. We were actually playing in New York, so I think I was going in for my getting. Go do my pre game nap there before the game and then he said he wanted to talk to me, the coach there, and called me. So that was really, really nice feeling. Obviously, with everything going down, missing the four nations and world championship last season with my injury and stuff, and then coming back and making the Olympics was. It was a nice, nice feeling. And all the work you put in there in the summer, that's kind of got paid off, man.

[Dan Powers]

It's. It's so funny, Hamp. Like, I. We did our whole preview of like, we picked, you know, our rosters and who would be on what team. And obviously you were on the team that I picked. And it's amazing to see you at in the games. And like Chris said, we'll get into that, but you never want to see injuries, of course. And Jonas is obviously such a good guy, such a good player. But the second he got hurt and it looked like he wasn't going, I texted Alice immediately and I was like, hampus is going to make this team. And when you made it and I messaged you, I was like, holy, let's go. Let's see you in Milan. And you just said, like, it's obviously such a good feeling. But what were the first things going on in your mind as far as like, you know, seeing. Obviously we'll get into the fact that you roamed with Ricard, who's your buddy. You obviously were. Had. Have so many great memories with him and Anaheim, but were there just so many feelings as far as, you know, getting back with a lot of the guys that you used to play with and being able to represent your team. It must have been unbelievable. And it all happened so fast.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Yeah, yeah, no, like you said, it happened fast. And I think obviously we haven't. I haven't been able to play Olympics My whole career, basically. I think my first year in the league when I was like 19, that was a 14, 13, 14 season. That was.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Hampus Lindholm]

So I haven't had a chance to play it. Like, I've been at the. We had like that World Cup 2016, but just like the best on best and being out there on the ice, like, it was really fun feeling to be out there, like, playing against the US and stuff. Just. Just to feel how that is and just kind of show to yourself that it's. You're. You're just as good as all of them. Not that I didn't already know that, but it's like, it just kind of gave you a little extra confidence boost. And I think it's just so. So fun games to play because you play like an mla, like a game like that in like quarterfinals. It's win or lose. It's. It's ups and downs. And I think you learn so much from it. And then representing your country, like you. You speak in your own language in a locker room. Like, I've been in the US now for so long. I remember when I won World Championship there, 2018. It's just the short tournaments would speak in your own language and like, you know, like, it's chatting in the locker room and culture wise, it's a little different. So it's. Overall, it's just such a fun experience.

[Dan Powers]

I love. Okay, I love that you just said that. I mentioned that, Chris, the other day. How, like what. How quick do you realize that? Because obviously, like, Elias, your teammate, is there with you on the team, but how quickly do you realize, like, when you're in the locker, when you're practicing, you're like, oh, we don't have to speak English here. It sounds like it's a small thing, but that must be awesome.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Hampus Lindholm]

No, it's like, I was joking. I think it was for spray. I was joking with it on the bench. It's like sometimes saying some stuff in Swedish that you haven't said on a bench to guys in a while, it sounds so soft. You're like, so true boys. And then you turn into. Swedish is like. Like, I feel like a schoolboy, what I'm saying there. Yes. So, no, it's. But it's.

[Dan Powers]

It's.

[Hampus Lindholm]

It's fun. It's like I said, it's our own language. It's been a while. Too long. But it's. It was fun.

[Chris Powers]

Hamp Camp. Can I hear what is? What is? Let's go in Swedish. Can I hear? Can I hear what you guys are snapping around.

[Hampus Lindholm]

You say in different ways, but it's. It's. Yeah, it's. It's not like the American movies when they're just, like, coming in and you get. Dropping the. Yeah, the hockey words. You know, which ones there.

[Chris Powers]

Which we all know. Yeah, dude, we. Obviously. And I'm gonna ask you about this in a second, too, but childhood dream. You wouldn't have traded this for anything, but I need to know, did you have to sink a vacation to come? Like, so I was.

[Hampus Lindholm]

I was also smart for once. I had some travel insurance on my vacation, so I knew there was a chance. They told me, obviously, when. When I got the call for not making a team. So I was like, I might as well be smart so I don't have to eat that one. So. Yeah, no, I didn't. I didn't have to eat it. I had insurance, luckily.

[Chris Powers]

Good. Good man.

[Dan Powers]

That's Chris. That's veteran, right?

[Chris Powers]

That is veteran. That is veteran.

[Dan Powers]

You're not going to see that from guys like Jarvey, but you will see it from. Correct. Yeah. Where.

[Chris Powers]

Where were you going, Hamp?

[Hampus Lindholm]

Bahamas.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, my God, dude.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Jesus Christ.

[Chris Powers]

Hey, it was nice here, though, eh? It was okay. It was pretty nice. I thought it was gonna be colder.

[Hampus Lindholm]

The sun came out, so it felt like kind of winter was over. Then you come back to Boston and snow everywhere.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Okay.

[Chris Powers]

So I wanted to ask you this, dude. You. You just brought this up, but you won a world championship gold in 2018. You won a U18 silver in 2012. You've put that jersey on. But this was your first Olympics, and how different was it? Like, how amazing was that feeling where you're like, this is the fucking Olympics, and I'm here in Milan putting this sweater on.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Hampus Lindholm]

No, I think I also played for so long, so it's like, I don't know. Been around the guys, been around the league. I've been fortunate to play in a lot of different scenarios already, so. But Olympics is, like. I think it's everything. It's almost more for everyone else around you. Like, it was so cool to see my parents in the stands after the game, even though we lost. Like, my. Obviously, you just had a baby and Amanda came out. Like, it's just like, as a country, it's like every fourth year, it means so much to your country and to your friends and your family. So as an athlete, like, having the chance to possibly win something at Olympics, it's like, it's so special. Like, it's. It's. It's hard to explain because, like, you, You. You grind with the guys in your. In Boston, like all year. It's like winning Stanley cup would be like. Like nothing. You cannot compare to it because you grind all year together. Like, there. You come in short tournament. But it's. As a country, as a whole, it means so much. And that's for the. You don't play it very often, so it's hard to really put it into words, but it's obviously so special. And all the little things like speaking Swedish coming in, like, you have all the different sports, you can connect with all the different athletes. It's. It's a very unique experience. But the only thing I do wish is that we stayed together with like, the cross country skiers, because I have. I know a few of the guys over there, so. Because that's the one sport that would be fun to go watch live for me as a suite, because we're really good at it, so. But it was overall, like, such a cool experience. I'll never forget.

[Dan Powers]

But that's such a good point, man. It's like, I love the, the dynamic of, you know, you. You play with the guys in Boston for so long and then you come here and I had mentioned earlier, is there an element for you? Like, you're in the Olympic village. You're rooming with Ricard, who's like, you know, just a hot mess, as you've said. And you guys, your beds are like 2ft apart from each other.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

You're speaking Swedish with the boys. You're putting on that jersey. Is there a part of you that kind of. It transports you back to being a kid just playing the game? It's like you're. It's almost like you must have felt for a little bit like you're back in Sweden. You're playing in your youth days. You're playing with the boys you grew up with. How crazy is that feeling?

[Hampus Lindholm]

No. 100 like you. You've been playing against a lot of those Swedes. Like, I mean, fortunate to have a few of them as my teammates, like you said, Ricard and Elias. But you've been playing against each other and battling and, like, being on the same team and then kind of just fighting for something together. Obviously, we have so much in common coming from the same country, so it's. Yeah, it's, It's. It's very unique. It's really. It's really fun. Like, obviously our. Our journey kind of fell a little short. I think we could have gone further, but that's Just the way hockey goes sometimes. It's winning loose in its small, small margins. But it's. It's definitely really cool. Like, all those guys been battling against them forever, and then go and play for the same country and together it's. It's definitely a new experience, but it was really fun. And like you said, it turns me back to being a kid. Like, just go out there and enjoy it. I just try to enjoy that tournament as much as I could and soak it all in.

[Chris Powers]

Dude, did you know on the bench, the tiebreaker in that Slovakia game? Because we were watching on TV and it's like, yeah, that was great. They're celebrating when they score the p. Like, you guys pull the. I'm like, what the is going on? Because in my mind, I didn't realize they didn't count the Italy game. I didn't realize you made, like, the subgroup. And. And obviously your staff knew, which is why you pulled the goalie. But did the players. Did you guys have a sense of what the stakes were in that last group stage game?

[Hampus Lindholm]

Yeah, we knew we. We had to win by four, and then when we. When they scored, we had to score five, so we knew it. Yeah, we were aware of it. It's very unique situation. We put ourselves in it, so we can't really say anything more than that, but it was a very, very unique situation. But if you look at the playoff bracket, it makes a big difference if you end up first or third. So it's like, hu. Huge difference. So it's. Yeah, no, it's. It was definitely weird seeing a team celebrate when they score and you're still winning. Yeah, but we knew it, so, like, we knew how much it meant. So, like, it wasn't weird for us. But, like, I understand. Look, from the outside, it's definitely weird

[Chris Powers]

because it's such a unique bracket.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, go ahead. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Well, I was going to say, Hamp. This. This is kind of an inside baseball question, but it's been a. A very funny topic of conversation inside the hockey world with Hollam being your coach for Sweden, who's a. You know, Sweden not being a North American NHL guy, was that hard at all for the players with, like, you know, coaches that maybe you haven't worked with, that none of the guys really work with kind of that translation of the different styles of games, or was that just easy because it's kind of the similar style that you've grown up with and, like, you've been saying the same language and stuff like that.

[Hampus Lindholm]

I don't know, like, when you get the best on best, like, everyone is such a good pro. Everyone's played for so many different coaches, so that's usually not a problem. Like, you. You throw a system in or you want us to do something. Everyone's there to try to have a chance to win gold for your country. So I think, as a coach, it's not really that hard. You just kind of have to come there and, like, embrace all the talents you have. I think. I think any coach, I guess, a coach, any Olympic team, I think it's probably. I'm not a coach myself, but must be a really fun. Fun experience because you have guys you can put in any situation, basically. So it's more. It's. It's almost like playing chess with only. Only queens, so you get it all in your own hands.

[Chris Powers]

Such a fucking. That is awesome. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And that note, was there any guys, Obviously, there's tons of guys in your own division, in your own conference. Were there any of the guys on the team that, like, you said, you know, since world championships and juniors and things like that, that you were super excited to get back on the ice with on the same team or. Or maybe guys that you've never played with that you were, you know, excited to see what their game's like while playing together?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, I would. I would add Hamp, like, that you were surprised by where you're like, damn, this guy's nasty. I didn't realize how good he was.

[Hampus Lindholm]

I think I. I feel like I know the guy so well, so I wouldn't be true that surprised. For me, personally, it was really fun to be back with Raquel. Obviously, we don't get to hang that much now. Like, we both have kids and, like, he plays in Pittsburgh and. But, like, when we do, it's like, it was like yesterday. Like, we lived together for forever, played together for forever, and we roomed together so much in Anand that we always. We said we saw each other more than a married couple when we played in Anand, So it was. It was a nice throwback to live with him again. And that made the journey even more fun for me. So I'm super, super happy I got to spend that extra time with him. And. But to your point of, like, if I. Players that were better than, like, I expected, I would probably say the opposite. I would say, like, I think playing, like, against a lot of top guys when they're, like, singled out on a team, like, you can have, like, preschool, watch out for this guy because you play the team, but when you put them all, pull them all on team. Like, I. There weren't many guys that would be like that. I would think that in a tournament like, that really stood out. Like, I haven't played against Canada. I think McDavid and those guys, obviously, I think in the tournament so far stood out, but, like, when you put the best on best like that, it's.

[Dan Powers]

It's.

[Hampus Lindholm]

It's the little things.

[Chris Powers]

It's like, it kind of levels out. Yeah, I love that.

[Hampus Lindholm]

It's like when we play the US like, you put a lot of those guys in their own teams, and you play them like you're like, watch out for this guy. But, like, when we play them, I think because we have so many good players on our team, so to just kind of like evens out, so it kind of ends up with who works hardest. It's kind of like, it's kind of evens it all out. So that was a fun, fun experience to feel in the. The. The US Game and the games I. I got to play in, dude.

[Chris Powers]

Well, speaking of that USA game, I feel like you guys, because obviously, I'm sure everyone was pissed after the Finland loss, because even ignoring the group stage ramifications, you just want to be Finland at all times, and I with that. But once it shook out the way it did and you're like, holy, we're getting us in the quarterfinals. It did feel like watching for us. You guys really found your game as. As it continued every game. You were better than the game before. So just tell us a little bit about going into that USA game. What was the attitude in the room and then during the game, because that was a fucking heavyweight tilt, dude. Like, how was that whole experience?

[Hampus Lindholm]

No, we knew they weren't really happy about playing us in the quarterfinals after win, which you understand. And so we came under with a good, good mindset. I think the guys who are hungry were excited to play, and I think it shows in the game we had some good chances. He didn't really get the goals there in the. The first two pairs obviously tied it late, but I think we played a good game. And like I said, the whole term, you look at Canada, Czech 2. I've talked to Pasta today. It's like, it's such a small margins of winning and losing, and it's. It just shows like you. All the little details, they matter so much in a tournament like that. Every little thing you can get get on your side to hopefully win a hockey game, it's going to matter because it's so little that really like changed from team to team. Like it's. Even though you have all the stars, like every team has stars, every team has good players. So it's like you just get that one little balance or you get. Get hot at the right moments. Yeah. That's what makes this tournaments fun too.

[Chris Powers]

Was there? Yeah, go ahead.

[Dan Powers]

Well, here's an interesting thought for you. Is it, you know, you've been in super intense playoff series in your NHL career and you're going to be in more. Is it weird in the middle of the year like this in February to lock in? Because like, there's so much mental preparation in the NHL season that I think a lot of fans don't realize. There's so many games, there's so many ups and downs, there are breaks that you need to prepare for mentally and emotionally. And then all of a sudden here you are, you're about to be in the Bahamas and now you're in Milan, representing your country, playing with some of your best friends, playing with guys haven't played with in years, and you're on the biggest stage, like the game, Game seven Stanley Cup. All of a sudden the Olympics are insane. And now you're in a quarterfinal matchup against the U.S. one of the better teams in the tournament. And it feels like Game 7 Stanley Cup. How crazy is it with that emotional shift of. In a time where usually in the year you're used to taking a break and getting a rest, all of a sudden now you're in one of the biggest games of your life. How crazy is it for. To prepare for that?

[Hampus Lindholm]

Yeah, no, it's, it's definitely pretty crazy. But I think even if someone woke me up in the middle of night and said, I got to go and play a quarter final for Sweden, I'll be. Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Heck, yes. Yes. Where I'm going? Where are you taking me? I'm ready. So, yeah, I think that's, that's at least my mindset around it. I don't know, it's just more excited and try to soak it in and be in the moment and play my best hockey and then that's all I can really control. But yeah, of course it's, it's, it's a high pressure situation. But I think also being a sports fan myself, I know it's, it's worse for the people watching than the guys that are on the ice.

[Chris Powers]

So, so true, dude. Yeah, so true. Can you tell, you know, and don't reveal any inside info, but. What. Just give me the vibe in the Locker room going into overtime. Just kind of like, who's talking? Who.

[Dan Powers]

What's.

[Chris Powers]

What's the. What's the speech like? And then also the vibe after. Is it like everyone's crying or is it everyone being like, hey boys, hell of a moment. Appreciate this. Like, what. What are those two moments like in the locker room?

[Hampus Lindholm]

I think the. The over time, like it happened. Like, it's not that we get a break. We. You sit on the bench.

[Chris Powers]

I know.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Let's go. It's kind of like just go for all.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, right.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Hampus Lindholm]

So you don't really get like the. Like you sit together and talk. In a way. I think I turned around, I think to rest. I said I had a pretty good feeling. I was like, I think I got a good feeling. I felt. Felt good coming in like three on three overtime. I think it's such a. Such a scramble. Like one guy falls, one bounce, one score and chance that way goes the other way.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Hampus Lindholm]

So it's like obviously playing in the shop for so long. I know how three on three works. It's like it's a little bit. Not the coin toss, but it's obviously a little bit more up in the air. So you don't obviously have that kind of like in your head. You're like, let's. I had a good feeling, but like you never know. Right? So. And then obviously losing when we thought that we played a pretty good game and gave him a good effort and it could have gone either way. Yours is kind of like left empty. I think it's quiet and it's. Guys get interviews and stuff. So guys get into the locker room in different times. So that's also makes it a little more quieter. And then. Yeah, it's just. It's just kind of quiet. I think we were proud of that. We played our best hockey in like the last few games, but I. Obviously it wasn't enough, so it's disappointing feeling. Overall, it's a fun experience. I. I learned a ton and I think as a team and as a nation, I think there's a lot of stuff we can take from it moving forward because I think Sweden is a team that should always aim to be in the finals in every tournament. So I think. I think what I take from that tournament is that we. We could definitely be in the finals tomorrow. And what.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, yeah.

[Hampus Lindholm]

What can we learn from. From this tournament to make sure that we're there the next tournament?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, dude. Real quick, Dan, before you ask your question, I will say, Hamp, that the certainly with our page, right. Like we have a massive US Canadian bias in our fan base, right. That follows us and everybody's like, oh, just give me that gold medal game. Give me that gold medal game.

[Dan Powers]

The.

[Chris Powers]

I think the biggest eye opening thing from this tournament for the people that follow us is how much you and Finland put it on US And Canada where it's like, this isn't. This isn't. Some like, haha, let's all laugh till we get to our USA Canada gold medal game. You guys in Finland are right there. Where it's like this could go. That was a coin flip for. For both games. It could go either way. And I thought that was awesome.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Yeah, no, it's. Yeah, like I said, I think we know that though. It's not like. Yeah, I feel like, I feel like in going to the tournament, obviously U.S. and Canada are like favorites, but if you look at past tournaments like Finland and Sweden and even check, check now, like there's a lot of teams that are always in it. So it's like for. Yeah, as a European, I don't look at it that as that way. I think you, as a Canadian, sometimes you guys are causing your. You don't look across the pond that much. But it's. It's okay.

[Chris Powers]

It's all about us, Hamp. It's all about us.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Hey, don't lump me in there.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Yeah,

[Dan Powers]

you're so right though, man. And it's like, you know, you mentioned it earlier, we, the U. S. Fans were petrified to.

[Chris Powers]

To oh my God.

[Dan Powers]

In that quarterfinal. And, and rightfully so. I mean that like you said, I mean, be as cocky as you want. US Fans and US Players. That game could have gone either way. That was a massive tilt and it was such a good game. And I know you'll never do it, so I'm going to do it for you. You are one of the most team guys I've ever met. And that's all you care about is. But if I may. Holy hell, buddy. You played so incredibly well in that. I mean every game you played. But in that, in that quarterfinal game, you were. You were unbelievable. You were just as good as your game gets. And it was just, you know, someone who loves you. It was amazing to see. And I, you know, I. I can't believe the amount of pride that you must feel in. In the boys and in the team and in yourself. But I loved what you said earlier about taking this tournament and the way that you feel playing with these guys, playing in this tournament and then taking it into the rest of the NHL season. I think that's such a veteran and mature way to look at it, because it's. It could be such an exhausting thing. You know, you come here, and I mean that in a positive way. You come here, you're representing your nation, you. You're coming abroad and playing, and it could be you get back and you have three days to get back on the ice, and it's like, oh, Jesus. But the mentality you have of going, I loved the way I played. I love the way that we all played, and now let's take these lessons and put it into the NHL season. Do you think that that's something that comes naturally to you, or is that something that you've learned over the years and. And, you know, how do you kind of instill that in your other teammates, maybe some of the younger guys on the Bruins team? Because it's really remarkable.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Yeah, no, thank you for the compliments, but, no. I think obviously learned over the years working on my mindset, and also I think I've always had a pretty good mindset since I was. As a kid. I've always kind of had that. But I think over the years, I think I've been better of kind of like, putting it to words and putting it to words for yourself to use as motivation. I think I've always had it kind of without understanding it, and I think when I got older, I know how to put it into words and kind of put it to use more. You know what I mean? And use it as fuel for myself. Because like you said, we play so many games seasons up and down, so you need to get yourself ways to motivate yourself, too, every day and find some extra juice where. Where you can find it. And that tournament obviously gave me a lot.

[Dan Powers]

Hell, yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. That's awesome. Okay, I will let you get out here soon. But I just give me. Give me a highlight of, like, something you guys got up to in the off day or something you ate. Like, I just want to hear, like, a great meal you had or some sightseeing you did in Mil.

[Dan Powers]

What.

[Chris Powers]

What was awesome while you were here,

[Dan Powers]

even moments in the Village.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, yeah. What was the Village like?

[Dan Powers]

I feel like all the fans are just so curious about, like, what, you know, not the crazy shit, but, like,

[Chris Powers]

what's going on in the Village. Tell us that later. Tell us that later.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Well, I won't say the names, but it was obviously. We got those Samsung phones.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Hampus Lindholm]

And they gave us, like, an Italian. They gave us, like, an Italian Phone number and, like, data for. I don't know how long it lasted. So there's one of our. There's a few veteran guys in the team that got all that phone pretty early, and there's a guy that had to do drug testing. And then I guess they. They. He got a phone call, and one of the guys were trying to pretend with broken Italian English saying that he needs to come back because there was something wrong with it.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, my God. So, wait, wait, wait. Actually, I. I can't be too.

[Dan Powers]

That is such a good prank.

[Chris Powers]

Yes, it was. That is incredible.

[Dan Powers]

Wait, wait. Was. Was the person who was accused freaking out? Were they, like, freaking out?

[Hampus Lindholm]

Calling. Calling the team doctor call, like, and then he starts walking because we lived in, like, dorms, and then there's, like, a hallway, and so I guess he walked out of his door, and I was gonna go walk down because he, like.

[Chris Powers]

Oh.

[Hampus Lindholm]

And then he sees these two players, like, giggling in the hallway.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

He's, like, prepared to do the walker shake.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And then he's just.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, my God.

[Hampus Lindholm]

I'm odd about me.

[Chris Powers]

How do you. How deep in the. How deep in the tournament was it? Like, what. When did this happen?

[Hampus Lindholm]

That was pretty early because they, like, I said they were early with the phones. Like, so.

[Chris Powers]

So you're like. This guy's like, I missed the whole. I'm out for the whole Olympics now because I failed this job.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Like, he's like, I'm holy.

[Chris Powers]

And like, that.

[Hampus Lindholm]

I can't even imagine myself. Like, that prank is mean. But it's funny because, like, I was

[Chris Powers]

gonna say, you're gonna have to tell me later, because that's up. Like, well, it's.

[Dan Powers]

It's. It's so funny because it's like, you know, you've not done anything. You've not taken anything. But then there's that moment where you're like, how much wine did I drink?

[Hampus Lindholm]

Y shouldn't take that sleep pill last night.

[Chris Powers]

That is incredible.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And what was your favorite dinner? Any. Any awesome dinners out, or were you guys in the village the whole time?

[Hampus Lindholm]

No, I got out. Out a little bit. So we. We had a team dinner where it was really good. I had a really good pasta vongole. And then there was this other. Other place in Milan in the city where I went with my family, which had, like, a lemon pasta that was like, you should always. That's a. If you go to an Italian restaurant in Milan, if they have, like, their signature dish, just a restaurant, you just do it. Just do it.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Yes.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Do It. Whatever it is, do it.

[Chris Powers]

Hamp. We went to a place in that. We asked. I asked the waiter, I said, what's the dish? And it was this pasta dish. It was like a tagliatelle or something. And on the menu, it says. It said tagliatelle with 40 egg yolks. And I was like, 40? And he was like, yeah. I was like, okay. So I got it, and I don't even know. It just looked normal then.

[Dan Powers]

I don't know. We still don't know if the sauce has 40 egg yolks or if Chris's actual portion had 40 egg yolks. But, you know, it was delicious.

[Chris Powers]

It was delicious.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Talents are hilarious. I had a. Yeah, I've been in Milan. Like, I. I have a friend. I used to. Marcus Erickson. He used to drive. So he would drive from the one in Milan. So I was there watching his race. And I've been in south of France, and for people that been to the south of France, you drink a lot. Like, it's more rose and stuff on that coast.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Hampus Lindholm]

And so I was there with one of his buddies, and we're gonna go watch this race here. When we go out, let's grab dinner. One night before the race, we go out, and we're kind of in the French Riviera vibe. It's summer, so, like, let's bottle. Let's order a bottle of rose. The little Italian guy comes walking up. We're like, bottle of rose, please. He looks at us, and he's like. He just walks away.

[Chris Powers]

We're, like, disgusted. Yeah.

[Hampus Lindholm]

He didn't say a word to us. He just walked away. And we were, like, so in shock. And, like, sorry. Yeah, sorry. But he just walked away. No us for minutes, so. And then he comes back with a bottle of reds, puts it down on the table. You drink red wine in Italy?

[Chris Powers]

We're like, yep.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Best bottle of. I had, by the way. So.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Best bottle of my life.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Well, at least. At least he came with a great bottle. He could have come and given you the. And been like, this is all you get.

[Chris Powers]

No, they're pros, Dan. They tell you what to order.

[Dan Powers]

Hamp. We were at a dinner early when we got here, and we were just with, like, you know, one of our American buddies who works in the league, and he ordered a. He was like, do you have chicken parm on the menu? And the waiter just goes. Goes, oh, no.

[Chris Powers]

And just walked away.

[Dan Powers]

And I was like, oh, even I knew that one, you idiot. God damn it.

[Hampus Lindholm]

No, you're gonna love the Italians. They're.

[Chris Powers]

They're correct. It's a vibe here. It's a vibe. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

They're the best. All right, well, Hamp, you're the. I. You're the best in the entire world for hopping on with us. I know it's been like two days since. Yeah, I know you're still probably jet

[Hampus Lindholm]

lagged, but I'm just hanging with aliens, so it's fine.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, no, we'll. We'll let you bounce, but can't thank you enough for popping on. We got to get you on again soon for. For a full property. That is experience. But we just want to say, man, like, unbelievable tournament. Congratulations. And it's just again, as. As big fans of you. It's. It's with. With the injuries and some of the. Over the past couple years, seeing you pop on this team and have such

[Chris Powers]

a great tournament, it's so child's childhood dream, dude.

[Dan Powers]

We're so pumped for you, buddy.

[Hampus Lindholm]

I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on, guys.

[Dan Powers]

Hell yeah, brother. We'll do it again soon.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Sounds good.

[Chris Powers]

Hampus, you are the goat. Massive. Thank you, dude. We are gonna do it again and we're gonna get, as you said, we're gonna get the proper empty Netter's treatment when he comes on for the Real Deal interview. But that was just. We wanted to give you guys a taste of Olympic life from someone on team Sweden. And Hampus delivered as he always does, as always. Incredible stuff. Hampus, you're a legend. Okay, let's take a quick ad break and they'll be right back. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, there is no better place to be during March matchups than Vegas. And think about that. I know the Olympics felt like it was chaos and it lasted a million years, but it lasted almost a full month. And it's already March. It's basically March. And this year, college basketball fans can win a VI trip to the Court of Legends event featuring the Kavinder twins. Simply play sports bets and your position on the leaderboard will determine if you win one of the 25 grand prize packages. It's that easy. So just sign into your BEDMG account, opt into the promotion, and then start placing sports bets of at least 10 bucks to climb the leaderboard. Make this March one to remember by joining the Court of Legends leaderboard and make it legendary.

[Dan Powers]

All right, now it is time to kick it to our next interview with Nikolai Ehlers. Another long time coming situation here, but new member of the Carolina Hurricanes absolutely buzzing. Had an amazing time Playing for Denmark. So pumped for you to hear his experience, getting to play with his family. It's incredible. Nick is incredible. Hope you enjoy this. God, he's the man. Well, I know a lot of Hurricanes fans have been waiting for this one for a bit, but we are thrilled to be here and joined with Nikolai Ehlers, fresh off of the Olympics with Team Denmark here joining us like a legend after being home for, like, 36 hours. How are you, brother? How you feeling?

[Nikolai Ehlers]

I'm doing good. I'm doing good. The jet lag isn't so bad. Coming this way, it was more getting to Milan was a. Was a rough one the first few days, but doing good. Excited to be back and. And. And get this started again.

[Dan Powers]

How is the. The current feeling of just like your first Olympics and we'll get into, you know, we've got all the crazy stats about, like, 20, 22, you maybe could have played, and then you didn't get to go, but now here you are, you've just played in your first Olympic Games with your countrymen, with some of your teammates, as we know. Are you kind of riding a high still? How unbelievable was that?

[Chris Powers]

And Nick, I'll add, before you even answer, obviously, you've put this sweater on. A lot of time we've talked to guys that haven't got to wear that country sweater. Right. Like many World Championship Games, Olympic qualifying Games, even. But was there. Could you feel like a level shift of, like, okay, this is actually the Olympics?

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Yeah. I mean, like, like you said yourself, like, I've been. I've been trying to get to the Olympics for a very long time. You know, it goes back to 2015 or 16, where we somehow, with the team we had back then, missed out on qualifying and then finally qualified and wasn't allowed to go. And now finally getting the chance to play for Denmark at the Olympics was obviously a dream come true. It was an unreal experience. Obviously, I got to do it with. With. With Freddy, my. My now teammate here, and. And with my cousin who also plays for the team and family down to visit. So all in all, it was. It was incredible. And, you know, it. It's obviously a little different now, coming. Coming back to Raleigh, getting back into that grind. But, yeah, the last two weeks were. Were pretty special, dude.

[Dan Powers]

It's a. It's a super interesting situation with you on this team. And obviously, we'll talk about the fact that you get to go there with Freddy. And I mean, the fact that you're playing with your cousin is, like, so cool thing.

[Hampus Lindholm]

I'VE ever heard of my life. So.

[Chris Powers]

Cool.

[Dan Powers]

But you actually had a bunch of really cool comments, and I'm. I'm curious to hear a little bit deeper in your thoughts. This is an interesting group in that a lot of these guys play together often. You know, they're. They're playing together year. And it's almost like you guys, the NHL guys who come in and join this team, you're almost like the outsiders to this group. Was that. I know from the things that you've said, at least there was no growing pains at all as far as them welcoming you in and meshing with the guys. But is that an interesting feeling of, you know, being in the top league in the world and coming into this group and they already have so much chemistry with each other. What was that like?

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Yeah, I mean, it's always a little different, but I think, you know, I can't speak for the other guys that, that come from over here, but I think for myself, I've been able to play five world championships already and, and I know all the guys so well.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, right.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

So I've played with most of them already. And, you know, we're such a. We're such a tight group. I know every team says that and, you know, I can get a little cliche and stuff like that. But.

[Chris Powers]

But

[Nikolai Ehlers]

the tightness of that group, you know, playing for a small country like Denmark, that's not really a hockey country, makes it so much more special when you put on that sweater and you go out and you can see that in the results that we've been able to make over the last, you know, five, six, six years, beating Sweden and. Yep. I played against Canada twice in my senior career and I've won both times.

[Dan Powers]

What a fun.

[Chris Powers]

How about that stat, dude? How about that stat? Let's go.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

So, you know, there's some, there's some results that we've been able to make with this national team that, you know, may not come from being the best team out there, but playing for each other and really just working our. Our asses off and, And I think when you look at our games, yeah, the other teams, they skate around us sometimes, and that's. We know that, but we work hard and try to make it hard on them and that gives us win some games. So it's, it's always special putting on the red and white jersey and playing for your country and. But yeah, I mean, those guys, they. They do all the small camps during the year. They got the four or five weeks before every world championships, plus The World Championships, and, you know, those guys are. Are really grinding for the national team, and. And that's. You know, I'm proud whenever I put that jersey on.

[Chris Powers]

Dude, do you ever get chirped, like, okay, the NHL guys are here. All right, here we.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

I got. I got one guy, Blake Felt. He's. He's a guy who's. Who's actually played in the NHL as well.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Okay. He's allowed. He's allowed to chirp. Yeah.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Yeah. But he's. He's definitely got some comments once in a while. I'm. I'm done with you guys.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Of you. You know, I. I think, like I said, our group is so tight that, you know, you can. You can chirp and we. And all that, we have a good time and there's no hard feeling. And, you know, they. I love playing for the team, and so do they. It's. It's the same. We. We all play for the same team, so it's. It's pretty fun.

[Dan Powers]

Dude, it's like, you mentioned the cliche comment earlier, and, you know, I think it's good to point those things out, but can you try to put into words how awesome this feeling is? Because it's like, you know, you can make the argument all the time that it's like, even happened last year with four nations, with, you know, the four different countries that were playing in that tournament. It's like, this is us usually your break. There's, you know, it's such a grind of a season with injuries, with time playing every other day, it feels like. And yet you come to this tournament and you guys get so jacked up for this, to play for your country, to put on that red and white jersey, like you said. Can you try to put into words how cool the feeling is and, like, getting out with all these boys again, coming to a different country, like in a city like Milan and playing, it's. It. Does it. Do you feel like you're just like a kid again, ripping around out there?

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Yeah, in a way. I think all these, like, I've always loved going to the world championships and, you know, playing with those guys because, you know, you gotta have fun doing it right. And, like, I think this is. Going to. To tournaments with the national team can be a nice break, too, sometimes to, you know, not saying, just have fun, because we do work. But, you know, we. We try to have a good time together to make those tournaments and the long weeks fun. And, you know, I think that shows up during the games. I think you can See that. I think you could see that during the Olympics as well, that we're a tight group off the ice, and. There's just something about playing for the national team that. That is so special. You're not just playing for each other. You're playing for the whole country. And we're a pretty small country.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

To be able to play in these big tournaments like the Olympics and. And the World championships. I mean, Denmark has been in the top group in. In. In the World Championship since 2002 or. Or three. Right. And you take a deep dive into, you know, how many hockey rings we have in Denmark and how many players we have in Denmark that aren't beer leaguers. It's pretty impressive. So.

[Chris Powers]

Yes, it is.

[Dan Powers]

Is.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

It's. That's why I. I. You know, it's. It's special to me and all the other guys as well.

[Chris Powers]

Dude, the. We talk about the success you guys have had for such a small nation, competing at such a high level. The. And this format was kind of new, right. With the three groups, and it was like, everybody's kind of in, so there's a lot to think about. Right. So I wanted to ask you. And I'm. And. And I don't even mean this as disrespect to Latvia, but if I'm just saying, looking at the odds, like the Vegas odds, the big game for you guys in the group was kind of gonna be that Germany game.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

So was that, like, what. Was that a frustrating night for you? Because you. I know you outshot them so much. You played so well that game. Did you guys feel like this is the big game and it's their first game? We don't even get to ease into the tournament at all. Like, was that. What was that mindset like, kind of going into that big swing game for you guys right away?

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Well, I think Latvia has been a team that we've had trouble with over the last.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Dude.

[Dan Powers]

They're frustrating. They're a frustrating group for sure.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

So I think even if we played them in the first game and we would have lost that. We would have thought the same thing.

[Chris Powers]

Fair? Yeah.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

I think that game against Germany, you know, you get in three days before the tournament starts, and. And, you know, it's the same for them. You're. You're trying to scramble together the power play, and, you know, you're playing with different guys and new guys. And at the end of the day, I thought we played a really good game, and I thought over the full 60 minutes, we probably Deserved more for sure, but, you know, we just weren't able to score on our chances. So to start the tournament out with a loss, it's, it's, you know, if we would have won that game and then we would have won against Latvia, we would have ended up playing against France instead of the Czechs and. Yep, it's. But it's so easy to sit here and. I know, I know, right? And you know, France wouldn't have been easy for us either, so I'm proud of the way that we, we played, you know.

[Dan Powers]

Definitely. Definitely.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Man, we lost three out of four games, but you know, Germany game, I thought we played really well and we deserve more. The USA game. Did we deserve more? I don't. Probably not, but at the same time we were in it for, for a long time and. Oh yeah, it was a chance. The Latvia game, I, I don't want to say we didn't deserve to win, but that was probably a worst game game and we found a way to, to win and then the check game, we worked our asses off and lost.

[Chris Powers]

That might have been your best game. You guys were incredible that night. Yeah.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

So, you know, I'm, I'm proud of, of there's results that, you know, we made even though we lost three out of four.

[Hampus Lindholm]

So.

[Chris Powers]

Dude, is it, is it weird? I mean, you've been in, in Stanley cup playoff games where a power play in a tournament like this in a playoff situation is so intense. Is it weird that in those huge high pressure swing moments, you're kind of like, I've never really practiced with, I barely practice with this power play unit. Like, what a unique thing in such a most important part of the game. Is that, is that a kind of unique thing in this tournament?

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Yeah, absolutely. And I, I mean, it's the same for, for all the countries.

[Dan Powers]

Sure.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

That have, you know, especially the NHL players that have never ever played together to come in and have two days of practice and get your power play figured out. I mean, you got the US and the Canada that figured it out pretty much. Right. And they got some pretty good players.

[Chris Powers]

So yeah, it makes it a little easy.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Not easy because you're trying to figure out where guys are going to be and, you know, kind of what the plays you want to make and, and things like that. And we had three different defensemen on our blue line because one guy got sick right before the game. And so it's, that's not easy. But at the same time, you know, if you want to, if you want to score and get good results in these type of games, you got to have that down. And we weren't fully able to do that on the power play, unfortunately.

[Dan Powers]

Well, I mean, man, I like what you said about, you know, like, we're talking about how awesome these games are and how cool of an experience it is. But I liked what you said earlier about how you're not just here to have fun. And I think that's the coolest part about this tournament. And smaller countries like Denmark, who don't have as many. Not just NHL players, but people who play hockey, period. I mean, it's insane. And the fact that you guys still show up and you're playing balls out, you're competing, you're trying to kill the other guys, and it. And it shows because, you know, obviously, as a competitor, like you said, you know, winning only one of the four games, you're. It's not something you're happy about, but you guys gave people fits and that. I think that's the best feeling. It's like, every game was tough, and I know that those US boys in that game were like, me. I mean, like, just go away. It was. It was. It was a long game.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, that four, three goal.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Holy.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, that I. You're absolutely right. And I'm so happy to hear you say that you're proud of the way you guys played, because you should be. Be. But taking aside the competitive nature of it, and as you mentioned earlier, playing with your cousin Alex, is that just, like, the funniest, coolest thing in the world? Because at this stage in your career, you. You're like, okay, you know, like, I'm in the NHL. He's not here. He's over there now. And we don't. We don't know if we'll ever play again. And with injuries and this, that, and the other, you might not make it to the Olympics. When you guys get to that moment when you got to the Olympic village where you're like, this is fucking awesome.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

I mean, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it's. It's pretty like he's one year younger than me, and. And, you know, our families always went on vacation together, so we have a. We have a pretty good bond and. And both obviously love playing hockey, so to be able to get this experience with him. I've played the world championships with him before, but to be able to get this experience with him was. Was pretty cool. And our families were both there. And, you know, what. What makes it. There's two things that. Two things that makes it a little more special. Too is that my dad and his dad played together on the national team many years ago.

[Chris Powers]

I didn't know that. That's awesome. Yeah, that is awesome.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Plus, my, My. So his dad, Dad's brother played on the national team with so those two. And then my dad, they played together on the national team, so that's pretty cool for us to now be able to do it. And then the other thing is we ended up playing on the same line together for the first three.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Yes.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Dude, you're. You're not going to be the one to gas it up, so I will. That's not pretty cool. That is so cool. Also, that is the greatest family reunion. The family there at the games, they must have been going crazy. Yeah, it's awesome. I love it.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

So the Olympics, scoring a goal and you're celebrating cousin, right? It's. It's pretty sick.

[Chris Powers]

Like, dude, literally you score that goal and you look over and he jumps into your arms and you're like, holy. Yeah, this is, this is all time. And I pray. I'm sure you do, but, like, I'm sure the dads all have a picture together and now you guys do. And like, that has to be. That has to be the collage on every house wall in your entire family from now on.

[Dan Powers]

Definitely.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. It's amazing.

[Dan Powers]

And, and listen, man, Willa, you know, we. We want to. At some point. I know we talked about this. We're. We're going to get you on again and get you the full Empty Netters experience and we'll talk more about it. But this has obviously been a really awesome and exciting year for you with a new team. Real cool experience. Joining a new group.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Group.

[Dan Powers]

And I know Freddie was a big part of you, you know, coming to Carolina. How cool is it, you know, adding to all of these amazing experiences that you got to, you know, join this new team, join a countryman in Raleigh, and then you got to go to Milan together. Did that elevate the experience a ton, being able to do this with him?

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Absolutely. You know, I've known Freddy since the first Olympic qualifiers together in. In. In Belarus 10, 11 years ago. And, you know, it's always been kind of a dream of mine to be able to play with another Danish guy in the NHL and, And, you know, for him to be here as well was, was. Was pretty cool. So to go through a year like this with. With a. Another Danish guy definitely made it more special and, and made it more fun as well. So. So, yeah, it's been, it's been a Different year. A fun year, though.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Yeah.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

So far.

[Chris Powers]

Dude, was he. And, and it actually made perfect sense from a strategy and Olympic standpoint. But was he pissed to not get the USA game? I can picture Freddy, like, give me those. I can take them down. I bet he wanted it, dude. I bet he wanted that game.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Sure, he wanted it too. But at the same time, with the tournament being so compact, like, yeah, he would have played four games in six days with a back to back. I don't know if he would have made it through the check game then. So I'm sure he wanted to, but, you know, I. That's how it works.

[Chris Powers]

It was smart. It was smart. Yeah. Yeah. That's so good.

[Dan Powers]

Well, dude, obviously the hockey was unbelievable. But we, we also want to ask quickly about how was experience? Like, was, you know, being in Milan super fun? What were some of the best moments for you guys in the Village or like ripping around the city? Some of the best meals you had? What were your favorite memories?

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Well, I. I've had enough of the pasta. Meat sauce at the. Put it out.

[Chris Powers]

Hey, hey, wait. Can you actually don't have the full picture. Like, what is the eating situation at the Village actually? Like, is it. Is it like a cafeteria buffet thing or what's the situation?

[Nikolai Ehlers]

That's exactly what it is. Open pretty much 27, 24, 24 7. And yeah, it's just a big dining hall and there's always. It's always busy. You kind of just walk up and they, they give you the food, whatever you want. They got the meat station and gluten free station, the salad and yogurt. And like, there's a. There's a bunch of stuff, but.

[Chris Powers]

And there's a meat sauce. There's a meat sauce that.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

You've had enough E station pretty often.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Wait, Nick, are you a creature of habit? Like, are you the same pregame meal every single day?

[Nikolai Ehlers]

I'm the same pregame meal every day, but that doesn't mean I want to eat that for lunch every day and dinner every day. That was more.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, I don't have the same post game meal.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Yeah, it was more of a must.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, it was a necessity. It was literally an element of survival for you.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, my God.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

But no, I mean, it was great. The village was nice. I thought the rooms were good. Obviously those are going to turn into dorm rooms, I think, for students and stuff like that. But, you know, I think when you're going with, you know, 25 friends and you're all on the same floor, right? Like, yeah, and you're, you're in Milan. You're gonna have a good time either way. And, and, you know, we found ways to, to entertain ourselves and, you know, go into the city and walk around and, and go for dinners and stuff like that. So we made it a good time.

[Dan Powers]

Did you have a guy on the squad who is the, the jokester in the Village?

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Not in the Village, but we have some. We have. We have a few guys that, you know, are the class clowns, if you

[Chris Powers]

want to put it.

[Hampus Lindholm]

Out and about.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Out and about.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Okay. Give me, Give me one good meal you had. Doesn't have to be your favorite, but just one good meal you had out of the Village that wasn't meat sauce. Give me one good. Out of the Village and then actually I'll stop there. Tell me that first, then I'll ask my next one. One good meal out of the Village.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Well, I mean, it was pretty easy. Like our. We're. We're in Italy. Pizza.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Oh, you can call it a cheat meal. For me. It's a regular. You know what? I'll have a pizza whenever.

[Chris Powers]

That's just lunch out here, baby.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Yeah, exactly. So I needed a pizza and we were able to find a good spot. Spot for that.

[Chris Powers]

Okay, perfect. And then did you guys. Because we talked to some of the boys and they said they. In the Village, like on the nights that you're just in, they're like playing cards together, you know, whatever. What were you guys doing when you're just kind of in, you know, a chill night before the games, Whatever. What were you guys getting up to?

[Nikolai Ehlers]

I don't have the marks anymore, but we were playing. We were playing pink ping pong.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, sick. That's. I love that. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Wait, who's the guy? Who's the guy on the squad?

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Well, it was. We had like three, four guys that were pretty much like they could beat each other. One guy started off really hot and then he started slowing down. But the thing was like, some guys backs after. After a couple club were first of all drenched in sweat.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Of all. We were taking like shots at each other. Like, whoever lost was ripping was like, like, shirt off.

[Chris Powers]

Shirt off.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Shirt off. Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Dude, that's insane.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

So we had had a few guys that had like 5, 6, 7 marks

[Chris Powers]

on their back, including you. Hey. Because you just said you don't have them anymore, but you got. You took a few. A few.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

I, I took a few?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Nick, I, I love the idea that like, some journalist is like going down through the locker rooms at the end of a game, and it's like, looks like Ehlers has been doing some cupping. Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Treatment, like. No, I just lost five ping pong games last night, actually.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

What a professional guy there, eh?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, yeah. Taking care of his body. Seriously. Hey, if you had to give one guy, if you had to say this guy, top to bottom, was the ping pong champ of the week, who would it be?

[Nikolai Ehlers]

The problem is it's one of my buddies, and I don't want to give it to him.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, I get that. I get that. I get that. He can't hear it.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. You know what, Chris? I. I love that pettiness like that. We got a chance to boost this guy up on the show. Gonna give it to him.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

He started off really well, and then he slowed down, and then, you know, I beat him a few times, so. So it's. He was probably the best. Looking at, like, the full two weeks that we were there. He knows who. Who it is. Yep.

[Chris Powers]

When I'm talking, is he responsible for any of the marks on your back?

[Nikolai Ehlers]

He is responsible for one of. Yeah, But I also got him, so we're kind of.

[Dan Powers]

Okay. All right. Okay. Good, good, good.

[Chris Powers]

That makes you feel good. That makes you feel good, man. That's awesome.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

He's also the class found, so he's okay.

[Chris Powers]

So. He had a hell of a trip, honestly. Yeah. This guy.

[Dan Powers]

This guy had the greatest two weeks of his life.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

I. I spend every summer with him back in Denmark. We. We live in the same. Same city. Best guy ever. Like, he is. He's the fun guy, but, yeah, he ping pong. He's. He was the champion.

[Dan Powers]

Been.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Yeah, I'm proud of him.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

That's amazing. All right, well, Nick, we don't want to take up too much of your time again. We can't thank you enough for popping on, but just to close it out, to pump up the Canes fans, how. How fired up are you to, you know, get back with the boys and, you know, like, get. Obviously, like, Fishy's coming back soon here, and you got Jarvey and Slavo coming back. Like, you must be fired up to get back with the squad and get ripping.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Oh, absolutely. I mean, I'm pretty excited about the season that we've had so far. Obviously, we're in a. In a good spot, but I think there's still a lot of games that, you know, we haven't been happy with, with the way that we played and still somehow found a way to win. And obviously, that's what's most important. But now that you get closer to the playoffs, you, you gotta start dialing it in it more and more and, and, you know, not play as many bad games. But I think the, the way that we've, you know, battled and, and played and, and won games, it's, it's going to be an exciting last 25 games here before the playoffs start, dude.

[Chris Powers]

Mad sprint. Mad sprint. When everyone gets back, it's gonna be.

[Dan Powers]

Hell yeah, I know. Well, it's gonna be exciting, man, and we can't wait to cheer you on for it. But thanks again for popping on, dude. Like again taking the time out while you, you got back like a day and a half ago. You're a legend. Legend. But again, we'll. We'll see you again soon. We'll have you on again soon and get, get the full thing going. But congrats again, man. What an unreal experience. Yeah, it's unbelievable. Huge, Huge. Shout out to Nikolai Ehlers stud for team Denmark and Carolina Hurricanes. Now jumping back on this amazing team, getting ready for a Cup run. Fantastic stuff. What a beauty, dude.

[Chris Powers]

What a beauty. I had a blast with him, dude. He's so funny. Oh my God. And, and same deal.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

Deal.

[Chris Powers]

Same deal. He was, he was so authentic about what went down. You know, telling us the whole ride, start to finish. It was awesome hearing about the pride he has playing for his country and how fired up he's going to be in the Stanley cup playoffs for the

[Dan Powers]

games like CP And I said we took a few days break here after the gold medal game. Needed a, just a quick detox from the huge trip. We logged offline. We got off all the socials, let the algorithms, let all that take care of everything. We took a little reset and obviously we missed some stuff. So here we are to talk about it because we, we hear you all, we see the comments. We know these things are important to everybody and we always want to show care and appreciation with that stuff. We understand that this is super topical in the hockey space right now and it deserves some attention. The thing that comes to mind for us first and foremost is if you don't appreciate respect, support and champion this woman's team and female athletes in general, general. Kick rocks. We got no time for you. And on top of that, and that being something that we've done on this show from the very beginning, that is super important to us and that we're going to keep doing because it's awesome. We believe in our hearts from things that we've Seen things that we've heard, that we've witnessed personally, that this men's team loves and supports this woman's team. And we've seen a bunch of comments already since everything went down from a lot of the guys and I. Hopefully we continue to see more and we continue to see the love and support that they've shown, like going to the games, sharing posts, sharing moments and texts and. And talking to each other, all those stories. That's great. That's what we need more of and that's what we want more of. And we're excited and hopeful to see more of it because that is what import. That's. That is what is important. So again, for us, it's. It's a matter of what these women accomplished is so incredible. And, you know, we were so fortunate to be able to go there and witness that game, be there in person watching these friends and. And people we admire and have had the pleasure to speak to achieve this lifelong dream. And that's something that we just want to see that love and positivity more. And this is an encouragement to everyone.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

It's like, get on board, man. Like, this is what it's all about. Watching these incredible groups of people watching do these remarkable things and championing it. That is. That is of the utmost importance to us.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. If you. If you are not supporting women's hockey, this women's team, you have a dump in your pants. It's that simple facts. We know a ton of these guys personally. I believe that they support this team very much. We support this team very much. It's not a hard concept. And I also want to add, dad and I know we're not doing the politics thing, but just zoom out for a second. If you don't think it's awesome that the US Women and the US Men's hockey team traveled to Milan and both won gold medals together. That is awesome. And I hate to think that it will be tarnished at all for either of those groups, this amazing accomplishment, because that's what it was. We got the lucky privilege and honor of being there. And there are two experiences that I will never forget for the rest of my life. It was exactly.

[Dan Powers]

It was amazing. And you know, we always like to say, the only thing that we can control gang is ourselves, is our actions. It's how we treat people, how we respond to things and how we champion things.

[Chris Powers]

And.

[Dan Powers]

And that is why we are going to continue to boost up these ladies and boost up all of the people that we respect and love and support. And we've been doing that from the start of the show.

[Chris Powers]

Show.

[Dan Powers]

We're gonna keep doing it, and we can't wait to keep doing it because they're awesome. We, We've. We've been reaching out to these girls, getting them on the show soon here, hopefully, so they can tell all their amazing stories and the experience, because that's what people want to hear. So that's the response from us is, is what we can control, is what we do and what we're going to continue to do. And that is boost up these amazing people and keep giving them whatever platform we can to shine, because that's exactly what they do. And, and we encourage everyone to do the exact same thing, and especially the US man, this moment, this opportunity here of, of. Of being in the Olympics, one of the coolest things in the world where sports can bring us all together. Let's learn from this and just let the positivity, let the support, let the love and the championing of all these athletes and absolutely these women rise to the top because that's what's needed and that's what's the best.

[Chris Powers]

That's.

[Dan Powers]

That's the most fun thing that can come from this. This. It's amazing.

[Chris Powers]

Yep. And my closing thought, on a little bit more personal level, it was kind of a wild experience to come back from two days off and feel that we were completely caught up in an Internet controversy. And I just want to urge again for kindness and positivity. I feel that the. Any anger should be placed in one direction and not another in this situation, not touching it, neither here nor there. I encourage us, everybody, just one collective inhale, exhale. Let's all take a breath and move forward in the nicest, most peaceful way possible.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, it's like, let the boys take a couple of days off. Guys, like, you know, we, we. We love and, and appreciate everybody. And it, as we said a million times, like we care, man, like that there's a reason we, we try to respond to everybody and, and, you know, put importance on. On as many things as we can because we do. We care so much. But, you know, I think the boys maybe give us a little bit of grace to take a couple days off after a crazy trip. We got to reset sometimes here, so appreciate everyone who, you know, gave us the, the, the freedom to take a breather. But it's appreciated and as always, we love you guys. And we're just going to keep leading with love and positivity because that's what, that's what this Game is all about, man. Like, we. We got to just keep pushing that stuff. All right, CP now let's get into Milan. Let's close out this episode with just some of our favorite memories, favorite moments, and fun stuff.

[Chris Powers]

Okay. I had a running doc called Italy Observations, because I've never did. You've been to Italy, and, you know, this is my first time, so I was excited about just realizing some shit. Now we have a. We have a combined list.

[Dan Powers]

List.

[Chris Powers]

Do you want me to do one first? We can kind of go back and forth here.

[Dan Powers]

I want you because you got. You put all of my stuff on the. On the list, too, right?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

You're always great at being a Sherpa with this stuff. So just bring up topics, and then let's just chat about them for a few seconds and.

[Chris Powers]

Okay. Okay, first one. And we just. We just saw a incredible black lab at dinner.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, my God, guys, I should send you the picture of this good boy. He was sitting right next to me, and he was standing, staring at the food at the table right next to him. He was so handsome.

[Chris Powers]

He wasn't begging? He wasn't begging?

[Dan Powers]

No. Nope. He was just locked in. But he was so handsome. He was so shiny. He had such a perfect little box head. God damn it. I. I should go steal him.

[Chris Powers]

So we love a dog. I'll steal a dog anywhere. And this, I presume, was an Italy dog. Maybe not. Maybe Swiss. I don't know. Could have been on vacation.

[Dan Powers]

That's. You know what? That's. That's maybe my favorite part about seeing dogs abroad is remembering that they are from that country, too. To, like, when we're in Italy and we see a dog, I'm like, ciao.

[Chris Powers]

Speaks Italian. Yeah, Bon jono.

[Dan Powers]

Like, it's so funny that he's an Italian dog.

[Chris Powers]

One of my first observations was dogs are weird. In Italy. They were. Every dog was like.

[Dan Powers]

You'd see.

[Chris Powers]

A dog would see on the sidewalk, and you'd come. You'd turn the cord. Sidewalk. And they'd be like. You were like, oh, my God.

[Dan Powers]

I will say dogs were odd.

[Chris Powers]

Dogs were odd.

[Dan Powers]

And really, there were some barky dogs in the park. I like that they had isolated parks in Milan where dogs could just. You go in, take them off leash. They were fenced in. But some of those dogs would then just, like, run up along the fence and bark at people walking by like crazy. Also, do you notice there were a lot of big dogs, Like, I'm talking, like, Beethoven's type. Also, like, big, shaggy dogs. Like, it was some dire wolf stuff going on here.

[Chris Powers]

Yes. So that. Because I, I love a dog, I normally want to go up to every dog I see.

[Dan Powers]

See?

[Chris Powers]

And the dogs in Italy, I was like, yo. And I, it made me wonder. We, we had a whole, we should find this again. We had a whole what country has the most dogs Debate and all this going on after this. But it makes me wonder. Yeah, it's just shocker. But it made me wonder if it's. We really have our own dog culture. I didn't, I didn't process. I thought dogs were dogs in any country, but now I'm like, wow, we actually have our own dog culture. That's interesting. Yeah, I think, I think American dogs meet Italian dogs and they're like, chill, dude.

[Dan Powers]

Well, it depends if they meet. If they meet American big city dogs, like LA and New York dogs, like little yappy dogs, I bet they'd be

[Chris Powers]

like, what are you gluten free? Off? Yeah, off Italian dogs gluten free and

[Dan Powers]

go eat your purina.

[Chris Powers]

Oh my God. Okay. All right, I've got a couple restaurants. I'm going to do that right now. The. We said this in some of our videos, so you probably already heard this, but the mid afternoon siesta, I know that's not Italian, but the, the lunch break, every restaurant in Italy Open 12, very confused. 2:30, closed, and then open again for dinner. That, that threw a monkey wrench in many of our plans.

[Dan Powers]

Let me tell you, when you're in Milan during the Winter Olympics and during like the prelim games and the games, the men's and the women's games, some of them start at 12.

[Chris Powers]

The first ones at 12. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

You don't get out of that rink and back into the city. You got like a little break, like some. There's a four o' clock game. But a lot of it would be like, oh, I'm going to the 7 o' clock game or I'm going to the 9 o' clock game. You get out of that game at 12 and you're still jet lagged. You probably slept till 11. You didn't have time for a nice breakfast and a cappuccino. So you rolled right to the game. You get out of that thing and you just want some food. No, no, no, no, no. You can't get any food because all of these places are closed from like 4 to 7 earlier.

[Chris Powers]

Dude. 233, 233 treat.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, yeah.

[Chris Powers]

See you later. Yep.

[Dan Powers]

So that was a tough window. Based on the game schedule and the Just the ways of Italy. That was a very tough situation for us.

[Chris Powers]

And part of me loved it because I was like, good, let the people go home, see their families, take a nap. But then the. The American in me that needs everything whenever I want it. I was like, go, come back to work. I'll pay your salary. I need lunch. So that was you. That was crazy. And that day I. The other one and this one, I actually am so in on it. It startled me the first few times, but now I'm so in on it. Of course, there are leisurely meals in this country. Of course I knew that coming in. You know, it's a long time. The courses come and, you know, whatever. But, dude, when you're done at most of the restaurants, you just go up to the. To the host and pay. You're like, hey, I'm done. And they go, okay. And then you just pay and leave.

[Dan Powers]

Leave.

[Chris Powers]

And that. At first, it was so confused. We sat at a table for so long at one point being like, is this gonna come and give us the check? This is insane. But once I got used to it, I was like, this is amazing because you just eat and whenever you're done, you're like, all right, let's leave.

[Dan Powers]

It is nice. I will also say they're very not. Not slow in an inattentive way. They're slow in a very relaxed way about bringing your next course or like clearing your plate or whatever. And it just reminded me how bad. And don't cry for me, Argentina. I'm not sitting here complaining. I was just in Milan for three weeks. I just want to go on a actual real vacation sometime soon. Everywhere we go, we're just working. And it's like what we. We just said. It's like you got to get to a game. You got to go to get to record. You got to go get to this meeting. And I feel like we're always Russian and the. The idea of being in Italy with. With people you love and sitting down and having like a four hour dinner, so dope is so nice. And it was also a reminder for me. I don't know if anyone else in the States or in Canada feels this way. We eat too fast. I'm gonna call out. I'm gonna call out Gavin. I'm gonna call out, Gavin. Doctor. This kid inhales food. He. It's like he will. Or I. I will cook him a dinner dinner. I'll cook him a steak, sweet potatoes, broccoli. He's getting better about the greens, but I'll Cook him dinner. He will not speak to me as he just vacuum cleans the plate. And then he goes, dude, that was gas. And I'm like, did you even enjoy it? We gotta just eat slower.

[Chris Powers]

Put your fork down. Hey, it's a good lesson. That's. I got that a long time ago. Take a bite of food.

[Dan Powers]

Put your fork down. Fork down just changes the.

[Chris Powers]

Changes the entire flow of dinner. Put your fork down.

[Dan Powers]

Truly does. Truly does.

[Chris Powers]

Okay, I got two rink things now, Dan. I thought the rink was lovely, by the way. We've said that a million times. The rink was incredible. 1. You know how they do for people that have seen a hockey game before? They, they, they clean the snow off the ice.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, Chris, we. We talked about this last episode, pal. We did a whole segment on power.

[Chris Powers]

Power breaks.

[Dan Powers]

It was hilarious.

[Chris Powers]

Power breaks were ridiculous. Not because they were doing them. It was just like, you gotta call it something different. And then this one, they let you walk to your seat whenever you pleased. Like if you went out for. To the bath or whatever so that you come back into a rink and anyone who's ever been to a hockey. There's a person at the thing with a little stop sign paddle. It's like puck in play.

[Dan Powers]

For those who don't know if the game is going and you're trying to walk back to your seat, they make you wait for a stoppage so you're not walking through the seats trying to get to where yours is while the game's going on and people are trying to watch. They did not do that here.

[Chris Powers]

It was lawless. It's like Canada power play. Like all the boys out there. And then someone's like, excuse me, excuse me. Like walking down the. And I'm like, what, the handful of.

[Dan Powers]

Handful of mini Coronas.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, the clot of mini cr. And I'm like, yo. And what was even funnier, Dan, is when we would come back mid game from the bathroom or wherever. We would stop at the top if the puck was in play. Because we're like, well, we're going to wait because this is the, this is a society. And we would wait and then the ushers would come up to us and go, excuse me, you can't stand here. You got to clear this area. And I'd be like, no, I am trying to help. I am doing your job. Don't tell me to clear out. That was insane. That was. And everybody, all the hockey people were dying about that. That was like the most common chirp I heard in Milan. Okay, all right, now I got some car stuff. Dan.

[Dan Powers]

Okay.

[Chris Powers]

This is the first one. The second one's funnier, but the first one that. That got me when we got there is people just parking on the side sidewalk. They people. There's cars. And then it's like a curve and they would just bump the cars up and then like, you know, parallel, perpendicular, park right down the sidewalk. And then I'd be like, it was trying to walk by and people were like, getting. It was insane.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, but it was great.

[Chris Powers]

I know, I know. We need it in la. He's parking the sidewalk. That blew my mind. And then what actually me up was driving on the trip the train tracks.

[Dan Powers]

Driving on the train tracks was wild. And I think maybe. I think maybe cities that have, like a trolley system are more used to this. I'm not used to it. So it was. It was wild. When you would see, like, you'd be in an Uber and there are train tracks, trolley tracks, subway track, whatever you want to call them in, like the next lane. And your Uber would just like turn into that lane and just rip down it. And I guess it's like, if the lights aren't going, you can drive there. That must be the case. But it was, dude. If you. If you were a few glasses of vino in and your Uber driver went on the track tracks, you felt dangerous. You were like, oh, here we go. I also want to shout out the areas in the city where there was grass growing. The train tracks looked so pretty. It was a cool combination of. It looked almost dystopian, like, I am legend status. Where Felt like the world was on pause for a little while. So grass was growing. But it makes sense that where the. The literal wheels of the train don't go, that grass would grow.

[Chris Powers]

It was nice. Nice. Yeah. Driving. I might start doing that in la, dude. Driving on the train tracks when there's bad traffic.

[Dan Powers]

Just to see, just to see, just to see. So where are their train trips? Oh, buddy, you're talking about the metro.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. This one. We need to steal 100. I got two bar things now. Almost every bar. We went to the bathroom. Italy doesn't love a urinal, by the way. Wouldn't you agree? Like, there's a few. But, like. Yeah, so most bathrooms.

[Dan Powers]

Rooms.

[Chris Powers]

I'm at the toilet. There is literally a. A, like black circle on a. On a wedge. But here's the button that you just press with your foot to flush. And I was like, oh, that is gas, dude.

[Dan Powers]

Foot flush.

[Chris Powers]

The foot flush. How is that not everywhere, dude? That was fun. That's a no brainer right everywhere. Like what? And that can't be that hard, Dan. That would be like one day overhaul.

[Dan Powers]

I kind of agree. It also, I will say it. It takes you a while to find it on your.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

First foot flush experience. You're like, where? How do I flush this?

[Chris Powers]

Dad, I actually didn't even tell you this yet. Red's gonna die when he hears this. In the Canada house, there were two bathrooms and in one bathroom there was a. A flush up here.

[Dan Powers]

Yes.

[Chris Powers]

Yep. So I had been to that one. And then later in the day I went to the other bathroom by the front and I. There's a string here. And I was like, oh my God. But on the side of the wall there's this arrow that says flush me. And it was a press against the wall. So clear. They could not have been more clear. But I just didn't look because I saw the cord. So I just. Boom. Pull the cord and it's. It was like a. I've fallen in emergency cord.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, it was like an emergency. I know.

[Chris Powers]

And dude, the. Then I see the thing, I flush and. But then the. A guy comes like keying into the bathroom because he's like, this dude's going to be upside down on the toilet. And I was like this. Bonjour. No, that's odd beat. Okay. Bars. Incredible. Also at a bar, we had an incredible experience with Haley win family.

[Dan Powers]

Holy hell, man. Huge shout out. If you were unfamiliar with Haley Wynn, familiarize yourself. Absolute stud for this team. And Haley's Haley wins family rolled so deep to these games. I know Fans of the U.S. women's team are going to know all about this situation, but the whole family, I'm talking siblings, I'm talking sibling in laws, mom, dad, all the brothers, everyone was there. They started their own Instagram account. They showed up to every game in costume. They were wearing eagle rubber masks. They had all of their like the just the sickest custom made shirts, hoodies, all this stuff. They were repping at every single game. They were so fun to hang with. But we had one bar night with them. Just like the most straight up good class of people. And they were so funny. They were. Were so impossibly similar to our family. Like Mrs. Wynn was like, I was like mom with so many of the things that she said and they're just like, that was a good American family, man. And like they were all. They were all so sweet and kind and just full of questions and curiosity and compliments and also Fun. Holy.

[Chris Powers]

They can. Absolute blast.

[Dan Powers]

They can throw them back. And it was so funny because they kept talking about it. They were like, God, we've been here for so long. We've been going, I'm so tired. I can't do this anymore. Another round, Negroni. And I was just like, let's go. Wins. Here we go. They were incredible. Had so much fun with them.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, that was electric. That was my. Favorite nights of the trip. Favorite nights of the trip.

[Dan Powers]

Gotta shout at another bar while we're at it.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Football pub. We told a fun story about the football club in our first USA game experience. Trying to walk, watch. We hosted our little meetup at the football pub. Went to watch a Chelsea game. The Chelsea game was not on. So instead we watched an Ireland. England. Rugby.

[Chris Powers]

Rugby. Six nations.

[Dan Powers]

Awesome people.

[Chris Powers]

Six nations.

[Dan Powers]

That was the most eclectic meetup of all time. People from all over, friends of friends, which was shocking. We had some students abroad. We had some local Italians. We had some. We had a ton of A paradox.

[Chris Powers]

A paradox Beerleaguer on the road.

[Dan Powers]

Road. That's right. We had a ton of Slovakians there. A few. A couple of French fans. Could not believe. There were a couple French fans who listen to netters, but a couple awesome homies. But it was a great spot in the football pub. Really came through for us. So that was huge.

[Chris Powers]

Massive shout out. Okay. Three Airbnb things. Incredible Airbnb, by the way. Probably the best we've ever had on the road. Right?

[Dan Powers]

That was a home away from home. I loved that spot.

[Chris Powers]

They. There was. You know, there's always like, a few things in the Airbnb we were going through. They had had, like, six full packages of those cookies that you get on Delta flights.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, Biscoffs, dude. Biscoffs. And, hey, we think it's called.

[Chris Powers]

We made quick work of them, buddy.

[Dan Powers]

I think it's called a Lotus cookie. So, like, for. For everyone listening. So this Airbnb was stocked. Stocked with paper towels. There were some good spices there. Had all the, you know, know, plates, knives, glasses. We had a laundry detergent dish. Detergent. Like, it was. It was fully stocked. But food, no, there. There was like some olive oil and ball and. And vinegar. And that's to be expected in Italy. But we open one cabinet and they've got a army ration supply of Nespresso cappuccino pods. Yeah, Red. Red. Probably had nine of those a day. And then they also had a massive container filled with those Biscoff Lotus cookies. Like, sleeves of them. Dude, buddy, I Was deleting those things.

[Chris Powers]

I get home late night.

[Dan Powers]

See, late night. It was just like the couple of nights off that we had. I would make cups of tea and I. I must have eaten 12 of those in a sitting. It was unbelievable.

[Chris Powers]

You had to get them away from me.

[Dan Powers]

I know. I'm gonna stock my house with those. It was amazing. The two other Airbnb stories that I have have one. We had a washer dryer in our place, which.

[Chris Powers]

Do red first. Do red first. Because this is.

[Dan Powers]

Do red first. Yeah, I think the red one is funnier.

[Chris Powers]

Okay. Okay.

[Dan Powers]

That. For the. For the end. We have a washer dryer in our place, which is rare in Italy. And we're in this beautiful little, like, plaza of different apartments, and we're. It's. It's probably 3pm in one afternoon, one of our few afternoons off, and we're doing some laundry because again, we were there for, like, three weeks. Weeks. We're sitting there watching how to Lose a guy in 10 days, and there's a knock on our window.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, the window broke.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, yeah. And I go over and I open the window, and it's this lovely Italian man. He's looking at me and he's gesturing. He's being an Italian man. Gesturing. Yeah. And I was like, oh, I'm sorry.

[Chris Powers]

Just.

[Dan Powers]

Just English. Excus. Excusa. Just English. And he goes, what is this noise? And I was like, oh, the. We're washing clothes. And he was like, it's all night, all day. Ba boom, ba boom, ba boom. Can you move it? And I was like, can I move the washer dryer? What do you think this is, dude? A vacuum?

[Chris Powers]

I. I couldn't believe the. Do you know how dryers work?

[Dan Powers]

Clearly not, because no one has them in Italy. It was so funny. I was like. I go, no, I can turn it off. Do you want me to turn it off? It's 3:00pm on, like, a Saturday. And you have. Was like, please. And I was like, okay. So we turned it off, But I was like, when would you like me to use the washer dryer, my friend? And also, it just wasn't that loud, so I could barely hear it in the house.

[Chris Powers]

He was in another house.

[Dan Powers]

It took me a second to figure out what he was talking about. That's how quiet it was. It must be like, can you move it? What a fun, funny experience with our Italian neighbor. But that goes perfectly into this issue, because clearly the wall walls in this apartment complex are paper thin, because God bless him, man. Redmond, our. Our Boy on the road. You all know. Hopefully you all know Red at this point. Red is Red. Sleeps like three hours a night. He's a vampire. I don't know what the. His deal is, but he wakes up so early and he is truly the greatest roommate house guest you could ever imagine.

[Chris Powers]

Because, like, he just cleanse.

[Dan Powers]

He wakes up. He wakes up and he cleans. He's a house elf. And he's also. Also on it with the dishwasher. Like, he. He is putting in that dishwasher every five seconds. He is a. He is a stubborn American dad's nightmare. Wasting the. Or running up the water bill with how much he runs that dishwasher. But he runs it every night and for God knows what reason, because given the fact that he runs it every night, he's washing like three glasses and two plates a day. There are plenty of mugs, glasses, whatever he may need. But he wakes. He would wake up every morning and the kitchen, which was connected to my bedroom, he would then proceed to unload the dishwasher and stack the plates and glasses as loud as humanly possible and wake me up every single morning. And because he was doing something so great for us, I never said a word. But every morning when I woke up to hearing the clanking and clunking of plates and cups, I was like, could you do it at any other time? Literally, at any other time, could you do this? And again, I probably should have said something. I didn't because he was doing a great thing. And I wanted to be appreciative, but it was hysterical. I was like, what is happening right now? It was so good.

[Chris Powers]

Absolutely amazing. Okay. After the fine, after the final, we had a hell of a night celebrating with the team.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Well, first and foremost, you know, before we tell this and close up here, here, huge shout out to Hockey Canada, Ice Palazzo, everyone there who made us feel so welcome. You know, we're a couple of Yanks and they, they welcomed us in, showed us a great time. They were so hospitable and so amazing. So, so much love to everyone there. And then so much love to everyone at Winter House, the USA House, that obviously let us in a number of times to watch some games. And then at this post game celebration, just like the best people in the world. And it's, it just goes to show how, how, how great the game is right now with all these amazing people in Hockey Canada and then USA Hockey. It's just so cool.

[Chris Powers]

Two more I was gonna do. Thank you at the end, but since you started them Two more NHL and NBC hosted an incredible party, invited us to that.

[Dan Powers]

And that was some of the best food I ever had. Ever.

[Chris Powers]

There was lot. Dan. We are lobster snobs. There was incredible lobster at that point.

[Dan Powers]

It was very good lobster.

[Chris Powers]

And that venue was sick. Like, I don't even. That was like some sanctuary.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. And they, like, walked us down this cool path. It was a kind of secret. It felt. Yeah, it was pretty.

[Chris Powers]

Pretty. And then our friends at Bauer. The Bauer event was. Was also in a palace where Napoleon lived. We do. We actually. We actually stole Napoleon. But huge thank you.

[Dan Powers]

Power.

[Chris Powers]

That was amazing.

[Dan Powers]

You're so dumb. Why would you ever.

[Chris Powers]

You.

[Dan Powers]

You think Napoleon doesn't have guys still?

[Chris Powers]

You think he doesn't gotta hear still?

[Dan Powers]

You're an idiot. God.

[Chris Powers]

Okay. Huge, Huge thank you to Bauer. Huge thank you to NHL NBC. Okay, do start the boys thing. I have the boys thing. And then a couple skiing things.

[Dan Powers]

Well, no, save the skiing stuff. And I want this in the pod. Save the skiing stuff because topic. Next week we're going to tell some skiing stories because I have some to say.

[Chris Powers]

Okay.

[Nikolai Ehlers]

I'm gonna.

[Chris Powers]

I'm gonna. I'm gonna highlight these in. Move them.

[Dan Powers]

Highlight.

[Chris Powers]

So do I, bro.

[Dan Powers]

Ski talk. Ski talk is for next week's episode.

[Chris Powers]

Okay. Okay.

[Dan Powers]

First. First. Listen. It was just. It was so amazing. Being a young kid playing hockey, you always think about these moments. And being from the U.S. i've never lived through this, guys. I. Obviously, I've been blessed to see the women win gold num. A number of times. Times. We've not seen the men ever win. So in our lifetime. So to see that moment and to share it with. With people that we call friends and people we have so much love for was very, very special. And I'm very appreciative of that. And I know some people have seen it, but we walked in to that place and walking in the door and seeing Sway and just like, immediate, like, tears in both of our eyes and seeing his. His family and. And you know, he put that gold medal around my neck immediately. And it was funny because as he was doing it, I was prepared to be like, no, what are you doing? Then I was like, wait, this isn't the cup. I'm okay with this.

[Chris Powers]

That thing is heavy as hell, dude. It was so heavy, bro. And it was funny because I had the same reaction where I'm like, I don't want to. I don't want to touch the cup. Or at least at the ones we've been to. Like, if Sway wins The Kings win, you know, but if these moments, I'm like, no, no, this is yours. I didn't do anything for that. But he was like, yo, you want to hold this gold battle? And I was like, yes, I want to hold. That was awesome.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, it was really cool. Again, like, we, we, you know, we're going to keep most things in how just from like, it was, you know, special moments, they. They should remain there. But we just had a bunch of moments with. With the. The Hughes boys. Matthew and Brady, obviously stars of the show at all times. There was a moment with Larks. He took his gold medal off and put it around me, me. But it was tangled with his, like, credential. So we were just like, connected and like, fully lady. And the trapping, like, we were like kind of like spitting, like, trying to figure it out. And then we just started dying laughing. That was amazing.

[Chris Powers]

When he had the boombox up and he was put, you know, he was on the ox for a while and at one point he goes, I got a great one next. And just put on the national anthem. And it was at one point like, nobody would, like, the party was kind of rocket. And then everyone was like, oh, anthem. And then him and I were just kind of standing there arm and army, like, belting the national anthem till everyone got on board. It's like perfect. No notes, sweetest.

[Dan Powers]

But for me, man, like, you know, not to get too soft, as I always do, it was so incredible seeing all the families, specifically the moms, like, seeing Ellen and, And you know, getting to obviously, like Sway's stepmom and seeing Charlie's parents and, And Big Walt and just like the pride and. And tears of joy in all of their eyes. Seeing the sisters and the brothers and witnessing their family members, their. Their sons, their. Their brothers, whatever, experiencing the, the lifelong dream. Like, I know these guys, they dream of winning a Stanley cup. But I truly, man, I think many of us, when you start playing in the driveway, you think about playing for Team USA and seeing all the families, seeing them experience that. That. That was so heartwarming. Again, I just think about our mom, like, waking up at five in the morning driving us to practice every single day, and now she has to watch her two idiot sons on a podcast, God bless her. But seeing. Seeing these parents looking at their kids and it was, again, it was the same with. With. With the women, seeing them celebrate and all their, like, we just talked about the. The Wynn family, like, seeing all of those parents, like, looking at their kids. Kids and looking like kids because, like, they were all just like celebrating. So happy. That was so cool, so special.

[Chris Powers]

There were some epic moments with Rizzo. Michael Ruzioni was there. Seeing him talk to Jack Hughes and just being like, wow, you know. Yeah, that's an incredible moment seeing him get hold the gold medal. Like they, I think maybe it was larks like put it in Rizzo's hand. And Rizzo, I was right there and he caught, he tailed and he like was like, it's heavier than ours was. And I was like, oh my God, dude. It's so sick. So just like really special moments like that. And then on a personal level, dude, I got to talk to Kyle Connor, who I've never met but have loved from afar for so long. And I, I told. I actually was like fan girl. Like, I wouldn't talk to him. And then finally he walked by me one more time and I was like, kyle, sorry, just wanted to say what's up? Huge fan. He was. He couldn't have been nicer. Couldn't have been nicer. We'll get him on someday.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, that was special stuff. But listen, we'll obviously get, get more content and posts going, but what a, what an amazing trip. Again, we'll, we'll, we'll tell more stories and talk more about it, but end of the day, folks, the US Women and the US Men went over to Italy for the Olympic Games and they both came home with gold. And that is something truly incredible and, and worth celebrating. And we're fired up for them both. It's fantastic. So that will wrap it up for this episode. C.P. and I got to catch a couple of trains and then a few planes to get back so we can get in studio to keep ripping it up for all of you guys. Have an amazing, safe, fun and happy weekend. Enjoy some hockey. The NHL is back. The PDUB is back soon. Consume it all, love it all. And until we see you next episode,

[Chris Powers]

do what the US Women and the US Men do. Oh, yeah. Skate hard.

[Dan Powers]

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[Chris Powers]

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