Bruins Lightning Stadium Series Was The GREATEST Outdoor Game Ever

Summary

Empty Netters Podcast Episode Summary

Podcast: Empty Netters
Hosts: Dan Powers, Chris Powers, Evan Watkins
Episode: Bruins Lightning Stadium Series Was The GREATEST Outdoor Game Ever
Date: February 3, 2026

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Main Theme & Overview

This episode dives into the hosts’ experience at the Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Boston Bruins Stadium Series—a game they herald as "probably the greatest outdoor game of all time." The episode is rich with stories from the event, analysis of the spectacle, NHL news (notably Barry Trotz stepping down as Predators GM), and their trademark entertaining banter. The hosts also dig into the importance of pageantry in hockey, creativity in sports culture, and field questions from the "beer league" community, all while keeping the energy light and camaraderie high.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Host Introductions & Banter

• Evan Watkins is formally introduced as the new Empty Netters team member—a Penguins fan and “an absolute riot.”
• Classic brotherly ribbing sets the energetic, irreverent tone.
  • Chris’s snoring and Dan's playful mockery kick things off (00:54 – 01:31).

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2. Groundhog Day Tangent & Weather Talk

• The trio mock the Groundhog Day tradition, riffing on its absurdity and the regional “weather-predicting rodents.”
  • "When you leave weather, which living in Southern California, you like, say goodbye to weather. You're like, who gives a fuck what's going on in Punk Satani." – Evan (03:45)
  • "We've got just droves of rodents and marsupials getting jobs predicting how much more winter we're gonna get." – Dan (05:32)
• Sets the stage for talk about the uncharacteristically cold weather in Tampa during the Stadium Series (07:22).

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3. Breaking NHL News: Barry Trotz Resigns

• Barry Trotz announced he’s stepping down as the Nashville Predators’ GM to focus on family.
• Hosts discuss whether it's genuine or a forced exit.
  • Chris reads Trotz' quote about work-life balance and feeling he is missing too much family time (08:40).
  • "If my man wants to go kick it with the fam, I am going to support that." – Dan (10:15)
• They reflect on Nashville’s recent resurgence and speculate on the team’s future approach.

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4. The Stadium Series: Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Boston Bruins

a. Weather, Pageantry & Execution

• The cold Florida weather is a plot twist (ice needed to be heated!).
• Absolute praise for the NHL’s recent run of successful outdoor games.
  • "Gary [Bettman] is on the biggest heater I have ever seen." – Dan (16:30)
  • Florida’s pirate festival, Gasparilla, layered the event with unique pageantry and citywide party vibes.
• The Lightning organization praised for embracing the event theme: pirate ships, costumes, and pre-game spectacle.
  • "The Lightning franchise leaned in harder than almost any team they've ever worked with on one of these." – Chris (25:01)
• Suggestion: the NHL and cities should add more themed games and public festivities to boost engagement.

b. The Game Itself: Electric Moments

• Norcain NHL Watch Launch:

  • The hosts collaborated with Norcain during the event, unveiling an NHL-specific watch made with ground-up pucks; shout-out to the Norcain team for heightened experience (26:57 – 28:12).

• Game Highlights:

  • Lightning’s Brandon Hagel scores 11 seconds in—ignites crowd (28:56).
  • Star performances from Kucherov, Hagel, Geekie, Pastrnak, Swayman, and Vasilevskiy.

• Notable Quote:

  • "That was the most fun I've ever had in an outdoor game." – Dan (16:08)

c. The Swayman–Vasilevskiy Goalie Fight

• The episode’s centerpiece: a rare, crowd-exploding goalie fight.
  • "When I tell you, I almost fell out of the suite because I ran so fast to the edge of the window." – Dan (31:06)
  • "I've never seen a goalie fight live. That was an all time, you know, remember it forever moment." – Chris (33:09)
• Both goalies enjoyed the moment, smiling and sharing a mutual respect.

d. Officiating Drama: The 8-Minute 5-on-3

• Seven straight penalties against Boston led to a prolonged 5-on-3 for the Lightning.
  • "There is that element of a game where... what are we doing here?" – Dan (34:13)
  • Post-game frustration visible from Bruins’ players.

e. Final Thoughts & “Greatest Game” Assertions

• Despite controversy, both hosts agree: best outdoor game they’ve attended.
  • “Best outdoor game of all time possibly. It's certainly up there. It's certainly the best one I've ever been to.” – Dan (42:23)

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5. Broader Reflections: Sports Pageantry & City Festivals

• The hosts advocate for more theme nights, citywide celebrations (drawing inspiration from Gasparilla) across North America.
  • "Think about the NHL doing more pageantry... I think once a week we needed a... pageant game." – Dan (18:55)
  • Fun riff on inventing new, city-specific theme weekends.

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6. College Hockey Segment: Netters College Puck Drop (43:50)

• Recap of the Penn State–Michigan State outdoor doubleheader (MSU dominates, big weekend for college hockey pageantry).
• Discussion of other key college matchups; shift in power rankings, with Michigan and MSU topping the list.
• Preview: “Game of the Week” is No. 2 Michigan State vs. No. 1 Michigan.
  • "If you are going to watch college hockey ever in your fucking life, watch Michigan, Michigan State..." – Chris (55:02)

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7. Sports Time Zone Debate (59:09)

• The hosts and Evan have a thoughtful debate about the best U.S. time zone for watching sports.
  • Evan stuns by stumping for Mountain Time as the "Goldilocks" choice.
  • "Mountain time zone is the Goldilocks of sports watching time zones." – Dan (66:22)
  • They highlight both the pros and cons of every region for catching live games.

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8. Beer League Hotline: Locker Room Drama (70:30)

• Listener scenario: A new woman added as a sub ("good in the room and on the ice") brings her boyfriend, but another player's girlfriend takes issue, causing her partner to quit.
  • "This gal is a... absolutely... she's an angel. We got to keep." – Chris (76:13)
  • Suggested solutions: support women in the sport, encourage team/family integration; "double date" or even "wife swap" humorously proposed.
  • "This is an at home problem." – Dan (73:59)

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9. Bauer Blind Ranking: Most Electric In-Game NHL Moments (76:59)

• The hosts do a "blind ranking" of in-arena moments:
  1. Goalie Fight
  2. Game-Tying Goal with Goalie Pulled
  3. Hat Trick (hats on the ice)
  4. Mid-game Penalty Shot
  5. Overtime Winner
• They defend the sometimes-controversial order with anecdotes and logic.
  • "A goalie fight is... I think a goalie fight's better than a goalie goal." – Dan (79:24)
  • "You're high fiving strangers when [a tying goal] happens." – Chris (80:11)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [03:45] Evan Watkins on Groundhog Day (and SoCal living):

  • "When you leave weather, which living in Southern California, you like, say goodbye to weather. You're like, who gives a fuck what's going on in Punk Satani."

• [16:30] Dan on Commissioner Bettman:

  • "Gary [Bettman] is on the biggest heater I have ever seen."

• [25:01] Chris on the Lightning:

  • "The Lightning franchise leaned in harder than almost any team they've ever worked with on one of these."

• [31:06] Dan on the Goalie Fight Moment:

  • "When I tell you, I almost fell out of the suite because I ran so fast to the edge of the window..."

• [33:09] Chris on witnessing a Goalie Fight live:

  • "I've never seen a goalie fight live. That was an all time, you know, remember it forever moment..."

• [42:23] Dan wraps the Stadium Series:

  • "Best outdoor game of all time possibly. It's certainly up there. It's certainly the best one I've ever been to..."

• [66:22] Dan, on time zones for sports:

  • "Mountain time zone is the Goldilocks of sports watching time zones."

• [76:13] Chris, on the “Beer League Hotline” scenario:

  • "This gal is a... absolutely... she's an angel. We got to keep..."

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:54 – Evan Watkins joins the pod
• 03:14 – 07:35 – Groundhog Day/weather riff
• 07:48 – 13:22 – Barry Trotz/Nashville news, discussion
• 14:44 – 42:23 – Stadium Series recap, pageantry, game drama, Swayman-Vasilevskiy fight
• 43:50 – 55:02 – College Hockey (Netters College Puck Drop)
• 59:09 – 67:37 – U.S. Time Zone debate for sports watching
• 70:30 – 76:21 – Beer League Hotline: Team drama and suggested solutions
• 76:59 – 82:39 – Bauer Blind Ranking: Most electric NHL live moments

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Episode Tone

• Language: Casual, irreverent, and brotherly—filled with inside jokes and non-stop banter.
• Energy: High, enthusiastic, and fun with occasional detours into sentimental and sincere appreciation for the hockey world.

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For New Listeners

This episode perfectly captures the Empty Netters vibe: smart hockey analysis, infectious fun, strong opinions softened by humor, and a passion for growing the sport’s fun factor—on the ice, in the stands, and at the community level. You'll walk away feeling like you just hung out with your hockey friends for two hours.

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.

[Evan Watkins]

Felt like I was like literally Superman.

[Dan Powers]

Jumbo loves playing Fortnite, so he gets on the sticks. Did TR show you the sauna cycle or was that already. No, I invented that.

[Chris Powers]

Almost a year now that I haven't taken a body check. That's kind of nice.

[Dan Powers]

Finished tonight with some chicken fingers and a few Guinnesses.

[Chris Powers]

Ran into you guys.

[Dan Powers]

That's where this pod came to life. Ice is ready. And we are back with another episode of the Empty Netters podcast, brought to you by BetMGM. We are remote. We are blown away. Cause a lot of stuff is going on right now. I'm your host, Dan Powers. And over here, the newest member of the Empty Netters team. He's a Penguins fan. He's an absolute riot. He's going to become your new best friend as fast as he did ours. Evan Watkins. Welcome to the bench, buddy.

[Evan Watkins]

How we feeling, boys? How was the flight back?

[Dan Powers]

The flight back was actually not bad at all. Agreed. We'll. We'll get into it. Before we get into it, we'll get into this guy over here. He's fully decked out. He's also so old and he's snoring so bad these days that he had to buy a special anti snoring pillow. The guy's deteriorating before your eyes, Chris Powers, as always.

[Chris Powers]

Also doesn't work.

[Dan Powers]

Also, I thought it did work.

[Chris Powers]

No, doesn't work at all. Doesn't work at all. And I don't think I'm deteriorating though, according to you, Dan? Because I was like, oh, I think I snore now and then. You were like, no, you always snort when we were on the road. And I was like, oh, that's actually.

[Dan Powers]

That's actually no deterioration. That is fair. Like it's. You do snore and it's bad. But there is the reality that we're just like, oh, he always did that. Ev. I. Listen, guys, we. We got some great stuff to get into. We're gonna get all into the stadium series. Spoiler alert. Probably the greatest outdoor game of all time. Certainly the best one that we've ever been to. Cannot wait to talk about it. You asked about the flight and I just gotta say, just a quick shout out. Quick plug. I know I'm late to the game, but I finally watched Shrinking. I don't know if you've seen that. I ripped through all of season one on the flight and man did pump that dude.

[Chris Powers]

That was crazy.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. I watched the entire season and the second we are done recording this, I am going to get under a blanket and continue watching the show because apparently season four has just come out. I don't know why I'm surprised, because Bill Lawrence is maybe my favorite creator of all time, given how much I love Ted Lasso and everyone in that show is so good and I just absolutely love it. It is so feel good. It's just great. It gave me every feeling that I've ever needed. And high recommend, high recommend to the folks is what I'll say.

[Evan Watkins]

I love Harrison Ford on a TV series is. It's fantastic.

[Chris Powers]

Never, never thought I'd see the day.

[Dan Powers]

Is it.

[Chris Powers]

Was it done? Or like, how far into shrinking are we?

[Dan Powers]

I think season four just came out. So, like, I've got time to grind, baby.

[Chris Powers]

So we're humming along still.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Big time. Big time. Big time. Big time. Speaking of big time, the hot ice is big time. We've got lots to get into, folks, so let's not waste any time. We're going to get into the stadium series in a little bit. But first and foremost had some breaking news.

[Chris Powers]

But even, even before that, Dan. Even before that.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, Hugh, I. I don't even want to do this, dude. You're going to bring up this rat scumbag again?

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

I did this last year.

[Chris Powers]

I know, dude. I just want Evan's take. Evan. Happy Groundhog Day, man. Happy Groundhog Day.

[Evan Watkins]

Oh yeah. That's today.

[Chris Powers]

Yep. And unfortunately Punk Satani Philly saw his shadow, so we're fucked again.

[Dan Powers]

And I love that tone of voice. Evan doesn't give a shit about Groundhog Day.

[Evan Watkins]

When. When you leave weather, which living in Southern California, you like, say goodbye to weather. You're like, who gives a fuck what's going on in punk Satan. I mean, other than the great movie which is.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Watkins]

One of Bill Murray' Harold Ramis and Bill Murray's best films. Yeah, I.

[Dan Powers]

It.

[Evan Watkins]

I like nobody. We all know this is just a hoax, right?

[Dan Powers]

Like it's a hoax, dude. I. This is. I've been saying it for years. Who is this? Who's this other rat bastard that we found out last year? There's another one? Ev. He's like.

[Chris Powers]

Because I. That Phil was described as the world's leading prognosticating rodent. And I was like, is there another one? Is he one of one? Hold on, let me go. Quickly. Look it up.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, it's like some random town. His. His name is ridiculous. Just Google it quick. Chris and Say, who is the other ground groundhog? Because his name is something nuts. I can't believe we're forgetting this. Actually, it makes sense that I'm forgetting it because I have such a disinterest.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, shit. There are a lot of them.

[Dan Powers]

Well, which one? You should remember. You should remember the one.

[Chris Powers]

There's in. There's Staten Island Chuck.

[Dan Powers]

Staten Island Chuck, Buck.

[Chris Powers]

There's Buckeye Chuck in Ohio. In Georgia, there's General Beauregard Lee and.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, where is he? Is he in Ohio?

[Chris Powers]

Georgia.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. I don't like General Beauregard Lee. Sounds too confederate for me.

[Evan Watkins]

Yeah. What's he predicting? It's problematic.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, I agree. We're out on that, dude.

[Chris Powers]

There's Flat Iron Freddy in Colorado. He's a yellow bellied marmot. And that's interesting.

[Dan Powers]

I don't hate him. Do they all predict how much winter we're getting?

[Chris Powers]

I think so.

[Dan Powers]

You're telling me that this is such a. There's a. There's so many jobs. No one can get jobs in this country.

[Chris Powers]

Who's telling the truth, Dan? And who's telling the truth?

[Dan Powers]

We've got just droves of rodents and marsupials getting jobs predicting how much more winter we're gonna get. And it's, it is, it's Staten Island Chuck.

[Chris Powers]

Who's the.

[Dan Powers]

Maybe the biggest rat of all. I'm out on that, dude.

[Chris Powers]

There's a woodchuck. There's a woodchuck in Michigan who also predicts six more weeks of winter. So at least they're, they're aligned.

[Evan Watkins]

They get together and they say, you know, we're going to sink.

[Dan Powers]

I picture, I picture these rats like the. What is it? It's like the Senate in 300. Those like old mutilated weirdos that Leonidas goes to to ask if he can go to war. And they say no because they've been paid off by Xerxes. Yeah, I picture them, they all meet like right after New Year's and they, they huddle around and they munch on wood and they just, they go, we're going to just be scumbags and say there's more winter and depress everyone every year.

[Chris Powers]

Ev, we said last year that right now it goes. If you see, if he doesn't see a shadow, summer's coming sooner. If he does see a shadow, more winter. And we were like, it should be two good things. So it's like, if he doesn't see a shadow, summer's coming. If he does see his shadow, then today's a national Holiday. No. Work, everyone.

[Evan Watkins]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Work off. Sick. Because you're like, dude, who gives a. If you see, I might. I said I would scare him back in. I'd pretend, hey, Phil, you scare him, seize his shadow. And then we all have work off. We get up. Yeah.

[Evan Watkins]

How do we know what the hell he's seeing? What is he doing? It's just.

[Dan Powers]

It. I've also, like, never seen it. Like, I don't know what. I don't. I've never seen it happen.

[Chris Powers]

Good point, Dan. I mean, we got to go to Punk, but. Yeah, you might have to go to Puktani. It was negative 2 degrees in Punxsutawney, by the way. And they all stood out there to watch this. Tell us winter was staying.

[Evan Watkins]

Yeah. Oh, no. Winter still here. Speaking of, it was cold in Tampa, right? Like, surprisingly cold.

[Dan Powers]

Yes, it was very, very cold.

[Evan Watkins]

That's not wild.

[Dan Powers]

Listen, like I said, we're gonna get into Stadium Series. We're gonna get.

[Chris Powers]

We.

[Dan Powers]

We're all off Groundhog Day. We're done. We've done that. We've been there. Let's get into the breaking news before we get into Stadium Series, because we want to give a lot of love to Stadium Series. A lot of love to a lot of people.

[Chris Powers]

The.

[Dan Powers]

The big thing was Barry Trots. Barry Trz is going to be stepping away from his duties as GM of the Nashville Predators. He's staying on board until they find a successor. And had a little bit of a press conference today. Talked about it. Got a little emotional, and that got me emotional because I think Barry Trots is great. Where do you stand on this? Cp?

[Chris Powers]

I think he's great. I think. I just can't tell. Like, when Bill Belichick steps down, I know that he's been fired.

[Dan Powers]

Right.

[Chris Powers]

Like, I know that there's conversations that were had that were like, you can't. We're changing things, and we want you to keep your dignity.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And this wreaked of that. When I first heard this, it was like, Barry Trot stepping down.

[Dan Powers]

I was like, oh, okay.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, that's great. But then I. I put these quotes in here that if anyone didn't see, I just wanted to read this. It says, I've been in pro sports in some shape or form, probably 40 years now. And there comes a time when you realize that a lot of the stuff you've done and you've been immersed, you can't be sometimes present in both places. You can't be present in your job and can't be present at Home. I just felt like there's an end date. There was a responsibility that I feel to my family. I think you see your kids grow up. I'm very proud of my kids now. They're getting married. I've got grandkids now. You're missing a lot of these dates and etc. Etc. And then he goes, when I took this job, I said I didn't want it. I didn't want to do it to a point where I couldn't do the rest of the stuff, have time for the rest of the stuff. In the back of my mind, when I took the job, I was probably being fair and I was upfront with everybody that we'll see where this goes. I wanted, out of respect to the organization and ownership and everybody, we're trying to build something, collecting draft choices. But I wanted to be here to win the Stanley Cup. I don't know how long that long will be. So I wanted to give them a defined date. And it was clear on both sides. So it kind of did strike me a little bit as he was like, I actually just feel that I'm missing too much time with my family. And, like, this job is stressful and this life is stressful, and I've accomplished so much in my career that I just kind of reached a breaking point to the. To the point that I legitimately kind of believe now that he's stepping down on his own accord. I don't know. But rung a little true to me.

[Dan Powers]

I think it totally rings true. I think I saw some, you know, some journo tweets and shit that was like, you know, it. If you're a good player, doesn't mean you're a good coach. If you're a good coach, doesn't mean you're a good gm, this, that the other. And I know a lot of people had a ton of high hopes for Trots when he went there and took that role with Nashville. I did.

[Chris Powers]

Yep. I did same.

[Dan Powers]

But I love this man. The guy wants to spend time with his family. I will believe that as long as I want, because I think Barry Trots is great. I think Nashville is great. It's a great town. It's a great team. And if. If my man wants to go kick it with the fam, I am going to support that. And I can't wait to watch the. The search for the new one and watch Nashville rise back in the ranks. It's going to be exciting times.

[Chris Powers]

Do you think? I mean, I guess you've kind of always Put them out. But I've really enjoyed this resurgence and, and remember, he was like, I need more from these guys.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And they're 19, 11 and 2 since then, they're only four points back in the wild card. I've really enjoyed this run they've been on. That's the only thing that's weird on the timing for me, where I go. Even if you are kind of missing your family, I'm like, dude, don't you just ride this year out and, and like see if you can get the boys in playoffs without any distractions?

[Dan Powers]

No, because he's, he wants to be with the fam dude. Yep. Like that. That's why you, you shouldn't think any of this is sketchy. Yeah, they're, they're starting to buzz and he's like, I got to step away. I got to go be with the fam.

[Chris Powers]

They can focus. They focus on them.

[Dan Powers]

That's when you know it's legit.

[Chris Powers]

Okay, I buy it. I buy it. I'm rooting for Nashville. I'm rooting for him. I hope, I hope he, you know, I know he's going to stay on and like an advisor. He won't, he won't be away from hockey and completely. Yeah, he's too much of a hockey guy. He'll be around.

[Dan Powers]

I think he'll be around and I think the new role will be great. And I'm just excited, man. I'm excited about Smashville getting back on track. The question is, are they going to be sellers? Like, are we going to see a big mix up like we've kind of talked about? Maybe they need that.

[Chris Powers]

I can't tell you. I can't tell you.

[Dan Powers]

Me neither. Me neither. Me neither. Me neither. But listen, I want him to coach his grandkids team.

[Chris Powers]

I want him to go nuclear and become like a serious coach of his grandkids hockey team. Bring them to 10 straight titles and that, that, that will be his new agenda. Now.

[Dan Powers]

Some kicking and screaming, taking over a kids team type thing here. That's, that's pretty interesting. I like it.

[Chris Powers]

I need more from you guys. And they're like, you know, and everybody's.

[Dan Powers]

Like, sir, it is tough. I will give it to Nashville. It's a toug time to try to find a new great gm. You go from a guy like Poil to a guy like Trots and you go, we hit the lottery. And now Trots is like, I gotta go. And it's, you know, we're through 55 games of the season and you're kind of like, what about.

[Chris Powers]

What if they offered it to you, Dan? What if you got an email that said you've been offered the position of GM of the Predators? You know, it's like, how much was trots making? Like, it's millions of dollars a year. And then do you take it or do you go, out of respect to the franchise and my incompetence, I will.

[Dan Powers]

Turn this down, I promise you. Like, I swear to God, I would say, I would pull a Maximus decimus meridius, and I would say with all my heart, no.

[Chris Powers]

Really?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Because I just know that I could listen. I love this stuff, you know? I know stuff. That's why I am woefully underqualified for this type of job. I don't think I could handle the pressure. I don't think I would want the pressure, and I want better for the people of Nashville than me.

[Chris Powers]

I think you'd get. I think you'd get draft aid. I think you'd be the little GM that's, like, everything up. Yeah. You get bullied, you lose all your picks.

[Evan Watkins]

Wow. Draft Day reference, that is.

[Dan Powers]

We're. We. We're going to try to do that every week for the rest of the season.

[Evan Watkins]

Really?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Watkins]

Nice.

[Dan Powers]

So if we can just slide in a very authentic and organic Draft Day reference, that'd be great. I also. I do want to call. I want to sewer Chris. He was watching Draft Day in his hotel room last night before. Before we.

[Chris Powers]

I was. I was, yeah. Oh, yeah. You like that movie a lot.

[Dan Powers]

I like Draft Day.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

I like Draft Day because it feels like I'm playing GM Mode. It's so ridiculous.

[Chris Powers]

It's ridiculous.

[Dan Powers]

You telling me I'm not gonna love some Kevin Costner and some Jen Garner? You're out of your mind.

[Evan Watkins]

Did that movie have all the split screens?

[Chris Powers]

Yes. Yes. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Tons of split screens, tons of transitions.

[Evan Watkins]

I think that's what. That's what put me off. I don't like that. I'm like, if I want to read a comic book, I'll read the Draft Day comic book. Thank you.

[Chris Powers]

That actually would have slapped. I would have liked that more.

[Dan Powers]

I think people forget this. Shout out, shout out. Our boy RIP Chadwick in that movie, too. Great.

[Chris Powers]

In it soon. Yep.

[Dan Powers]

God fucking love him. All right, well, listen, Nashville, it's. It'll be interesting to see what they do, but I've got high hopes. Got high hopes and all the best to trots, because again, Hockey Guy supreme. Let us dive into the icy tundra of Tampa and Talk about this stadium series, I don't even know where to begin. So, cp, I'm gonna hand you the reins for a minute.

[Chris Powers]

Well, first and foremost, you. I want you to do your. Your Sauron joke or your Sauerman joke because it was so accurate. But just for reference, last year, people were going, you guys.

[Dan Powers]

You guys know this scene when sour, when Sauroman has this, like, crooked little fingers atop that. The. The. The orb that. That Pippin steals, and he's just doing his thing. That was Gary. That was Gary. This year, summoning the winter storms to both Miami and Tampa to somehow bring us unseasonably cold weather for the two outdoor games in Florida to make them both absolute bangers. And I don't know if you saw, they were literally heating the ice because it was too cold. That's how cold it was. You had to heat the ice because for those who don't know, an ice rink, if it gets too cold, it can crack, which is, like, obviously dangerous for the players. But it was that cold in Tampa.

[Chris Powers]

Dude.

[Dan Powers]

Crazy.

[Chris Powers]

This is. We don't even put it on the rundown anymore, usually. But, like in our episode Doc, the title of our news thing is always Hot Ice, because it's from rookie of the year, when he's like, you heat up the ice cubes. It's the best of both worlds. And I could not believe Dan. We were here and they were like this. We are heating up the ice, literally. And I was like, oh, wow, we did it. Hot ice is officially hot ice. The top story in our hot ice is literally hot ice. Yeah. We can end this podcast permanently now.

[Dan Powers]

Unbelievable. Listen, that was the most fun I've ever had in an outdoor game. Yep. And we've been to a bunch. But there are just so many people to shout out. And first and foremost, it's the Norcaine team, and we're going to get all into them. But I do just want to take a quick second to tire pump the NHL.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

And I. I mean this sincerely. Gary is on. Speaking of hot ice, Gary is on the biggest heater I have ever seen.

[Chris Powers]

Humming down.

[Dan Powers]

Gary's on his way out, potentially, maybe that's not. I'm. I'm. I. You know, Gary's an older guy. He's done an amazing job. I imagine he'll retire at some point.

[Evan Watkins]

What if Barry trots takes his job?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

I'm like, there goes your fan. Kiss your fucking family goodbye, dude. See you later. The busiest job on Earth, they've.

[Dan Powers]

Barry replaced Gary. That's crazy. But yeah, Gary Bettman is just on a heater the likes of which we have never seen with. I mean, it goes even further back, but four nations into this, everyone said, you're crazy. The Miami Winter Classic was amazing. Now we've got Tampa Stadium series. The whole shebang was just out of this world. And, you know, we got to spend some time with guys like Keith Washdel, who's just like, the fucking goat. And there are just so many people at the NHL making shit like this happen. And I can't, I can't get over how great the setup was, man. The. And I'm. We're going to get deeper into it, but the, the pageantry of this stadium series with it being during Gasparilla, we're going to like. Let's talk about Gasparilla for a second. But the pirate theme, the, the, the tarp and the, the designs all over the field surrounding the ice. The pirate ship, the cannons, the light show before the game. The whole thing was such an eventized ordeal. And it's got me thinking two things. Number one, we got to be eventizing and putting more pageantry into hockey in general. I. I'm, I'm declaring this. I think once a week we needed a. We need a. We need a pageant game once a week. It can be one random Saturday game, but we need themes. And I'm not talking gimmicks, I'm just talking fun. When the, when the Bees guys rolled out in the Colonial uniforms, the. The Bolts players came out in the Bucks uniforms, that the boys are just having fun, I Black on toques and beanies whipping around in warm ups. Who says we can't do that once a week? I'm not saying I need all this production. I just, I think a little bit of fun, a little bit of pageantry, maybe some costumes, stuff like that just add a little bit of zest into the game more. We need it.

[Chris Powers]

Dan. I would, I would say don't even be so hesitant because Vegas does this every game. Vegas does a literal fucking night slaying dragon show before the game, every game. Literally. And I know if you go to a lot of Vegas games, you're like, oh, yeah, I've seen it, I've seen it. But don't sleep on that shit. That is really fucking cool. I couldn't believe the first time I went to a Vegas game. I was like, this is amazing. And why doesn't every team do that? It shouldn't be just Vegas do something sick before the game every fucking time.

[Dan Powers]

That's what I'm saying, man, I think once a week, we need something like this. And a huge part of how. Fire. You know, Unbelievable. This was ever you aware of Gasparilla.

[Evan Watkins]

Is that it's like a Pirate Fest thing, right? Is that what it is?

[Dan Powers]

It is literally a pirate Fest. Yeah, it is. We showed up, and people were like, hey, it's Gasparilla.

[Chris Powers]

And I.

[Dan Powers]

Obviously, the NHL knew this, and that was part of why all of the pageantry and the design and the costumes were like this. But it was. I didn't know what it was. I thought it was just because they were playing in the Buck Stadium that they were doing a pirate thing. And I'm like, yeah, that makes sense. But now we're out here, we show up to the hotel, and there's yoho and Ahoy, matey banners everywhere. We got people walking around with peg legs and Barretts, left and right.

[Chris Powers]

Eye patches everywhere.

[Dan Powers]

Eye patches. And I was just like, wait, what the hell is going on? So it's like. I was like, is this Mardi Gras? And they're like, it's not quite Mardi Gras. It's more of just like a party. And I'm talking about the NHL doing more pageantry.

[Evan Watkins]

Right.

[Dan Powers]

Is there a world where we as society need more citywide theme weekends on.

[Chris Powers]

A regular basis outside of the NHL? You mean just outside of the NHL.

[Dan Powers]

Just as in the world?

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

Like, you're telling me if us here in Los Angeles, if we. If in the entire city, they go Blank weekend in April is Medieval Times weekend.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

You're telling me that wouldn't be fun.

[Evan Watkins]

We do have Santa Con. They did that. It's. That. Is that Santa Con thing. But you're saying more than just that one.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, Like, I'm saying, let's do. Why don't we do one once a month? Let's just, like, pick themes once a month and just have some fun at.

[Chris Powers]

Specific cities, though, right? Or do you mean, like, across the entire country, it's blank weekend? Because I think it's cool that this is in Tampa. I think it's like, oh, sick. Go to Tampa.

[Dan Powers]

You just. You. You threw me a curveball there that I'm not. I'm not sure I can hit it. But I'll tell you this. There's part of me that loves the idea of they're in specific cities because then you can travel. There's also part of me that thinks it would be pretty sick if it was just a. A nationwide Medieval Times weekend.

[Chris Powers]

You're inventing what you're doing right now, Dan is inventing holidays. You're inventing. You're. You're going. This is. Weekend is Thanksgiving, and one day we.

[Evan Watkins]

Celebrate the birth of Jesus. It's called Return of our Lord's Birthday. I think it's great. I think that they. I think regionality is probably more fun because then you have the chance to delve into, like, the history of.

[Chris Powers]

We're boosting economies, Dan.

[Evan Watkins]

Like, boom. I'm assuming there were pirates in Tampa Bay. Right. They're not just making this up.

[Chris Powers]

See, that's what. I don't know. But they might.

[Dan Powers]

I don't know either. They're like.

[Chris Powers]

They were in. There were rum stores in the bay. You know, they're. Historically.

[Dan Powers]

But I'll tell you what, it's weird, actually. Maybe it's not weird. I was going to say it's weird because Tampa's on the west coast of Florida, but maybe that's exactly why it works. Because they're in the bay and they're in the Gulf.

[Evan Watkins]

Yeah. They're easier to hide that way.

[Dan Powers]

So all those Caribbean Pirates were swinging up in the Gulf, maybe. Is that possible?

[Chris Powers]

That's what I'm thinking, too, because the. Miami's too obvious. They're like, dude, I gotta get. I gotta get around. Get.

[Dan Powers]

Miami's too open. Yeah, there's. There's. It's too open. So there must have been. I. Okay, the regionality and maybe historical context could be more fun. Like, we do Colonial weekend in Boston and everyone dresses like colonial soldiers. And. And that. That could be fun, but not.

[Evan Watkins]

Nothing involving, like a rodent that predicts shit. Because that's just going to say.

[Chris Powers]

I was like, we have that.

[Dan Powers]

Let's not do my own. My only problem with. With every city if, you know, Ideally we get 52 weeks. Not. Ideally, we get 50. We get 52 weeks a year. But I. Let's say Ideally we pick 52 cities and everyone gets a weekend and they get to pick their style. We. The problem is this is too much travel. That's why. That's why I think they need to be. They need to be national weekends so that everyone can enjoy.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. I mean, 52 is a lot. It could be 12 once a month. You know, you're like, oh, sick.

[Dan Powers]

I don't know. This is. But my. My larger point here is Gasparilla. Being a part of this stadium series was so exciting. And I think a huge part of that was because. Remember when we were in school? Remember when you're in college, you got so Fired up for a theme night. Oh, someone was having a theme. Everyone got fired up.

[Chris Powers]

And pirates. A great one. Great.

[Dan Powers]

Why did we stop doing that? So when I'm seeing all these cities, when you got Mardi Gras, you got Southern decadence in. In New Orleans, we were there for bachelor parties. One of the most fun I've ever had in. And now you got Gasparilla. I'm like, this is. This is what I'm talking about. Are they doing this in the south more? Are we dropping the ball in the North?

[Evan Watkins]

I went to school in Savannah, Georgia, and the. The. The St. Patrick's Day there was, like, probably behind Chicago and Boston. Pretty fucking insane.

[Dan Powers]

Really?

[Chris Powers]

I didn't know that. Yeah, that's cool.

[Dan Powers]

Some of our Minnesota listeners, like, Does. Does Minneapolis, St. Paul, Minneapolis, St. Petersburg. Do they have. Do they have, like, a Viking weekend? Do they have. I mean, I know they do midsommar, but, like, midsommars, you know, tons of cities do that because it is a Swedish holiday, and that's great, but, like, they should have a Viking weekend where they just drink out of horns and drink aquavit.

[Chris Powers]

And especially, like, in the summer, Dan, when you're on a boat anyway, you know, like, it should be, like, in the middle of the summer.

[Dan Powers]

Raid. A village. Yeah, village Pillage.

[Chris Powers]

I think this was really cool because 100. This was planned. I felt. It felt like a happy accident. But usually stadium series is a little bit later in the year, but this year, because of the break, I get them being like, oh, we got to move it up also. We want to move it up so there's a chance it's colder in Tampa. And then it just landed on the Pirate Fest weekend, where the stadium you're in is a Pirate mascot, you know, And I was like, oh, this went really well. And I will say the people. Some people at the league told us this weekend that Tampa the Lightning franchise leaned in harder than almost any team they've ever worked with on one of these. And I just got to say, massive tip of the old Pirate cap to them on that, because they took a chance on you, right? Like, the league went, hey, we're gonna throw an outdoor game in Tampa. You never thought you're gonna get that opportunity as the Tampa Bay Lightning. When you get it, go all in. Don't be resistant. Don't be embarrassed about what you know, Just enjoy it. Do the show. And I thought they did that so hard, and I hope they are. I. I hope and know they will be rewarded with much more after that because that was awesome.

[Dan Powers]

Definitely. It was awesome. So getting into the game, like we said at the top, we. We got linked up with the Norain team and we had this whole unbelievable watch unveiling their NHL specific watch. 1,917 of them made for the founding year of the NHL. All the details. If you didn't see it on our story, check out Norcain's page. Check out all the stuff that we did with them. But they literally have ground up pucks in the band of this watch. There are so many hockey elements to all of the things, like things on the bezel on the second hand. It's all just unbelievable. They're. This is if you haven't seen the rollout that Norcain has done with the NHL, with the hockey world working with guys like Sid. JJ Moser was down there, which was awesome because he's obviously playing for Tampa. He's a Swiss guy. They've got so much cool stuff going on. So we got linked up with them and just a massive shout out to.

[Chris Powers]

To.

[Dan Powers]

To Ben, to Matthew, to Emanuel, to. To Mark, straight to Ty, like the whole team.

[Chris Powers]

The.

[Dan Powers]

When we said at the top, this is the most fun I've ever had at an NHL event. It is, I would say, 99% to them because we just had like such a sick crew and then unreal ev.

[Chris Powers]

Like rolling with those guys because the event was incredible. We do a tour before anyone was there. Tour the arena, see the watch. You know, I get to get up close and personal, see the watch, hear the whole speeches and all that stuff. And then like just we ripped like a topgolf day, you know, team dinner team. It just felt like, you know, the crew on the road, it was always.

[Evan Watkins]

On time for everything.

[Chris Powers]

Yes, dude.

[Dan Powers]

Never missed we did I not. Not the official NHL one, but I do have a Norcade on right now and that's easily the best watch I own. It's incredible.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, dude. I was like, I actually need that NHL one. Like I. I will acquire.

[Dan Powers]

I don't deserve it though.

[Evan Watkins]

You guys are watch guys.

[Chris Powers]

I love a watch dude.

[Dan Powers]

Dude. I am a watch guy. And now Chris is trying to be a watch guy because he tries to do everything that I do.

[Chris Powers]

I was a watch guy before Dan ever was because I was a watch guy at birth. I was born with a watch on and my mom said it was brutal, but I had one on.

[Evan Watkins]

Wow.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

If that is true, then I can't. I can't argue this.

[Chris Powers]

That's born with a watch on.

[Dan Powers]

No, but it was it was just so fun. I love that we just said cp. It was just like, felt like we were on the road with the boys, with the team, and it was just, you know, everything we were doing was so fun. And I. I mentioned Keith from the NHL at the top, and we posted one of the stories during the unveiling of the new watch. He was talking about things that the NHL is doing, brands that they're trying to get linked up with, this one being one of them. And it just. This whole thing had such a cool feeling of all the things the league is doing, right? Just fun people that they're teaming with, great people that they're putting together to make awesome stuff happen. That's what this was. And the fact that it then led into one of the most electric games ever was hysterical. Like, we just, like, the game starts.

[Chris Powers]

Boom.

[Dan Powers]

Hagel 11 seconds in goal.

[Chris Powers]

It was incredible, dude.

[Dan Powers]

I was like, what?

[Chris Powers]

The face went nuts. You immediately texted army. You're like, hey, pal, all right, Goodbye.

[Evan Watkins]

Yeah, but that's Winter Classic, though.

[Chris Powers]

That's.

[Evan Watkins]

That's correct category.

[Chris Powers]

He goes, I'm the king. Or what do you say? He goes.

[Dan Powers]

He goes, you're the prince of the stadium series, but I'm still the king of the classics. And he's right. He's right.

[Evan Watkins]

I love that.

[Chris Powers]

That was awesome. But fucking snipe job. Like, that was a nasty goal. Fucking. The place was fired up. That was. It got louder later, as we'll get to. But that was loud. That was really cool, you know, because I was easing into the. I was like, okay, here we go. And then it was like, that was a great one.

[Dan Powers]

It was so loud. And then obviously, yeah, the Bruins go on a flurry of goal scoring, but it was just. Man, when you go to a game like that, there were so many people from Boston who traveled down to Tampa for that game, and then so many Tampa fans. It was really cool, the Norcane team being in that. We were, you know, sitting in the box watching the game, and people were like, damn, Tampa has some fans. Like, they were booing Boston so intensely. So that's just another tire pump for all the fans in Florida of both of these teams. It's amazing, but it's. When you have a game like this, you have that vibe of you want, you want to show, you want. You want the stars to show up. And it was just sick that, like, Cooch had a nasty game and a disgusting. One time ago, Hagel had a nip. Geeky is pumping in goals left and right. Pasta Is dishing pasta and his five star service all over the place. Sway makes 40 plus saves like it was out of control. So Boston starts ringing it up. They get that lead. We get the scrum behind the net. So let's talk about it.

[Chris Powers]

Let's talk. We're going here right now.

[Dan Powers]

Yep. Let's talk about the best moment of our dear friend's life. Jeremy Swayman finally gets his gold.

[Chris Powers]

He's been waking up every morning praying for a fight. Literally, I mean, literally. He wakes up every morning praying for a fight. The second he threw at Hagel and, like, Hagel pops him back, and I see Sway get up. Dan, like, ran to the railing because he was like, oh, I know it's about to happen. And I. When I tell you, watch this, Watch this.

[Dan Powers]

When I tell you. I almost fell out of the suite because I ran so fast to the edge of the window. Like, I truly had to catch myself because I, like, the. The scrum was happening. We were all like, oh, sick, sick, sick. And then, yeah, Sway throws that blocker at Hagel. And then I saw Vassi and I was like, oh, my God. And then saw Sway see him, and I was like, we're getting it. Like, we're gonna get it. It's the stadium series. The refs won't break this one up. He's gonna fucking get it. And then it happened. It was unbelievable.

[Evan Watkins]

They were smiling. They were smiling immediately. Like. Like, kind of during the fight. But, like, right after, they were just like.

[Dan Powers]

There was a.

[Evan Watkins]

You think they just opened their Christmas morning gifts?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

There was a part of me that was like, did they plan this? Like, they looked so happy about it that I was like, was this planned? But definitely not. And it was great how Sway was like, I did not want to fight the fucking biggest and toughest goalie in the NHL for my final fight. But, I mean, there you go. Yeah, but it was fucking great. They both got some good shots in. Vassie got the takedown for sure, but they both got a good. A couple good licks in. That's great.

[Chris Powers]

And. And, dude, it was so good because. Stick text to the refs, because I don't know if this has been publicly said, but it's. It's the facts that they. The league is like, do not let them fight. Do not let the go fight. Break it up every time so they could have and. And quote, unquote, should have broken that up. And they did not. So I actually give them a ton of credit for letting that go. It was a perfect Fight because we got a little taste of it. You really genuinely don't want any of them getting hurt, obviously. So it was not like long enough or violent enough that something bad was going to happen. The crowd went absolutely fucking apeshit. And yeah. Oh my God. Like that was, I've never seen a goalie fight live. That was an all time, you know, remember it forever moment where I was like, oh my God. And the fact that it was Sway made it even cooler. You know, we, well, whatever. It was just so funny talking to him and his family and after. Because just an incredible moment. Dude packed barred 80,000 people, two goalies going at it center ice. Like, what more can you ask for from an outdoor game?

[Dan Powers]

It was truly, truly special stuff, I think, I think the Boston fans would get mad at us if we didn't discuss the 8 minute 5 on 3. Yep, it was. Listen, I, I have zero complaints about that game. I, you know, I, I, I maybe would have loved to see the Bruins win, but all I wanted was a good game and we got the game, best game possible. And I, I, I forget who I saw say maybe it was witness, but someone was like one of those penalties was like a little soft but otherwise like they were normal penalties. Like everyone stopped complaining. And I, I, I, I hand up. I haven't gone back and deeply analyzed every penalty call, which I'm not fucking going to. But I am going to say there is that element of a game where it's like if you've got a five on three and you just keep calling penalties on that team and being like, yeah, we're just going to keep, keep you guys in the box. There is a point where it's like, what are we doing here? And it eventually got to the point where it was seven straight calls against Boston in this outdoor event game that.

[Chris Powers]

Tampa's getting killed in. Yeah, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And it was a. So I get Boston fans being like, what the fuck? But at the same time, I don't know, man. It feels like, you know, both teams got got a point and everyone had seemed to have so much fun. But it was interesting seeing Charlie at the end of the game getting interviewed.

[Chris Powers]

Agree, bro.

[Dan Powers]

And like someone asked him, he was like, when did things change in the game? And he was like, when they had a five on three for eight minutes. Like he was. And that was him being like, fuck off. Like, you know, that was not obvious, right? Yeah, yeah. And I'm kind of like, yeah, fair point. And then I loved pasta. I think it was in overtime when Hampus got Called for that really soft hook or hold or whatever they called pasta. Was like, clapping his stick at the ref and kind of followed him to center ice. And you gotta imagine he wasn't saying the nicest things in the world.

[Chris Powers]

But Dan, that one, that was one of the few we did get a replay on, you know, and we were watching on that tv, and I was like, that looked like a hook. Like that one. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

But it. I. I thought it was a little soft. Like it wasn't egregious. Like it was a tie up. He got. He got in his hands. But at the same time that you called a penalty on Boston in overtime.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, Right.

[Dan Powers]

Which is like, grow up. And then right as they kill it. Well, actually, right before they kill it, McAvoy gets blatantly tripped. No call. And then right as they kill it, he gets blatantly cross checked in the back while he's just, like, in the slot trying to cover defensively. And, like, McAvoy gets up and he's like, are you guys going to fucking call anything? And then Hampus puts his stick anywhere near their hands, and they were like, bang. Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And you're right, Dan, it sucks. Or as a Bruins fan, I was like, oh, it sucks. The Bees lost. But it did feel like at 5:1, because you do the ev. The Winter Classic had the life sucked out of it by the Rangers just pummeling Florida, you know? Right, okay. And it did feel like you were one Bruins one more Bruins goal away from that place emptying and it being a totally, like, forgotten day. And then it was like, goalie fight, lightning comeback, and then it turned into the sickest game ever. So it sucked, but for the Bees. But I was like, well, this was kind of awesome.

[Evan Watkins]

Well, you did get to see them score a lot, so, I mean, at least it wasn't like a three zero, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, and.

[Dan Powers]

And listen, like I said, I clearly, I. I thought some of the calls were. Were interesting, but at the end of the day, the. The Bolts guys have to score still, and they did. And yeah, it was so rockstar that they got that done in the second period because, like, Chris said, everyone would have left. Like, it was cold, it was getting.

[Chris Powers]

Late, Tim McGraw had already played, you know, like, there's nothing else to wait for, dude.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. You know, so I was thrilled that they got that done. And then, yeah, we get to go to ot, we get to get a shootout, and the Bolts get a home ice win. They're 20 and out in outdoor games now. It was just fucking. It was a 15 out of 10 across the board.

[Chris Powers]

Here's some. Here's some highlights for me. The bear claw scratches on the Bruins pants.

[Dan Powers]

Cool.

[Chris Powers]

I thought that was awesome. That looks really sick.

[Evan Watkins]

Look like a monster energy drink.

[Dan Powers]

A little bit. I thought it definitely did.

[Chris Powers]

You know what? I wish you hadn't said that because now I do think that. And before I thought that, but that is.

[Dan Powers]

I once watched a video of a woman at a convention telling people that monster energy drink is satanic. And she like gave all these reasons with like imagery and all this stuff.

[Chris Powers]

Did she make a good case, Dan?

[Dan Powers]

She. Listen, she. She. She said some stuff. And as we know, everything you see on the Internet with zero credibility and proof is true. So you should wholeheartedly and just start going crazy about it. So. Yes, it is. So.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, we correct.

[Dan Powers]

Yep. Monster energy drink is satanic. Yes.

[Chris Powers]

Also, I can't believe we've gone this far without talking about this. John Cooper's fit.

[Evan Watkins]

Oh my God, bro.

[Dan Powers]

Thank Christ you did not let us move on without talking about this.

[Chris Powers]

I loved it. I don't know if like, I think this is kind of what the leaning into me was, you know, like the lightning.

[Dan Powers]

We're just.

[Chris Powers]

We're doing it. I loved it. But my. I want your guys take on it and I want your take on this. I feel like Cooper, part of the reason the lightning came back, other than the penalties is Cooper must have said to them, boys, I cannot be wearing this if we are going to get six one. Like, you literally need to come back because I am about to be fudgeing humiliated because I'm wearing this. I guarantee he fudgeing said that.

[Dan Powers]

Like, step literally. It's all he needed to do. Like, it's truly Peter Bretter in forgetting Sarah Marshall. He probably walked into that locker room, just went, I wish I wasn't wearing this shirt.

[Evan Watkins]

And look at this. Yeah, come on.

[Dan Powers]

And then they just went, okay, we got. We gotta step it up for our guy. But it then the. The aura farming that that turned into like, he genuinely looked like the coaching crooner. Just like, like an on the bench when they were getting steamrolled. And then they come back and he looks like the biggest badass of all time. People being like, give him the Jack Adams right now. Yeah, I agree.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, the pics, they had like stogies. Like, oh my God.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Watkins]

The cigar smoke. I was like, wow.

[Dan Powers]

Insane.

[Chris Powers]

Dude, I loved it. Did you guys hate it when you first saw it? Were you like, what the.

[Dan Powers]

No, I Absolutely. Love. I told you. I. I turned around to you because he threw up the rock on shit, too. Yeah, yeah. I'm like, that is another one of those things, man. I'm. I. I started this whole segment talking about how we need more pageantry and we need more fun. And I'm just. I want to. As we've said this year, Danny positivity. I just being butt hurt about stuff is. Is out. Like, I. Let's just like, have fun and be positive and fired up about shit. Like, that was awesome.

[Evan Watkins]

I completely agree. I thought it was fun. And also, he probably planned that before he realized how cold it was going to be, because he was. He was showing some chest.

[Dan Powers]

He sure was.

[Evan Watkins]

He was showing a little.

[Dan Powers]

You know, those. Those benches better have been heated because I don't know how he. He survived back there. I mean, that was fucking.

[Evan Watkins]

Well, they looked like they were on about 10 pounds of cocaine in those.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, yeah. Correct. God, what a fucking flex. That was amazing. And then I just. You had said, Dan, I'd never seen anything like this. And neither had I. That pasta, like, penalty into game winning goal into. Just kidding. We call the penalty. Yeah. He's like one of the craziest sequences I've ever seen in an NHL game. Especially, like, at that. Not that it's just regular season game, but in that quote unquote magnitude of overtime of the greatest outdoor game ever.

[Dan Powers]

I do. I. I'm. I'm. I'm conflicted on that one because. And, yeah, then we'll move off of this game. That was. That was just the strangest play ever. I. People are saying that they didn't hear the whistle because it was so loud. Maybe that's true. But it did just feel like everyone, including the refs, were. Were continuing on with the play. And, you know, some people say that they think the. The. The slash by pasta was like a definite slash. I thought it was. I thought it was a little soft. If you're gonna call that. No T. But like, if you're gonna call it, you're gonna call it. And they called it, and it is what it is, but it was just weird.

[Chris Powers]

It was so crazy because we couldn't hear it either. And I. I have seen one replay where I think it's Cooch who passes it over. Someone gets slashed, and they kind of like, sent it back towards Cooch.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

In that replay, Cooch very visibly stops as soon as the Bruins player picks it up. So, like, they must have blown it. Like, you can see him hear something because he's like, oh, penalty.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

So like 100%. There was a whistle, but we couldn't hear it. So it looked so insane because we were like, oh, nice. Two on one pasta hammer goal. We were like, let's go. And then everybody was like, actually, penalty from fucking eight years ago. And I was like, what?

[Evan Watkins]

Yeah, I mean it. Look, I'm, I'm not one to bash refereeing at all, but it did feel like there was quite a lot stacking against the fruits from their end on this. I mean, just if you look at it in that way. But you know, it's like.

[Dan Powers]

They'Re kind.

[Evan Watkins]

Of like interpretive artists. I mean, if there was an AI referee who literally called every penalty that they could see, the game would be five hours long. Right. So they have to pick and choose. And you know, sometimes you get that they chose.

[Chris Powers]

They sure did.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, they did.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Well, listen, end of the day for me, for my money, best outdoor game of all time possibly. It's certainly up there. It's certainly the best one I've ever been to. And just massive, massive pat on the back stick. Taps to the NHL, to Gary the wizard, and most importantly to the Norcaine team. Just so much love for those guys. You're gonna, you're gonna be seeing a lot more of the Norqaine brand and the team with stuff with us couldn't be happier to be linked up with those guys, but just truly amazing stuff. Let's take a quick ad break, then let's get into some college hockey.

[Chris Powers]

Okay, I would like you to picture this for a second. You bet on your favorite player in the big game to score the first touchdown, but his teammate scores instead. Devastating. But unless. Unless with BetMGM's second chance promotion, you get your stake back if your first touchdown score scores second instead. Unreal. Bet on any player to score the first touchdown in the big game. And if you're right, you win. Bang. What a bet. And if your player scores second, you get your stake back in cash. That's a joke. How do you not take them up on this opportunity? If you haven't joined the BetMGM family yet, use bonus code NETTERS. That's NE T T E R S when you sign up. And you'll enjoy up to 1500 bucks in a new player offer on your first wager. So enjoy the Super Bowl. Bet on all that. Bet on the first touchdown. Have the time of your life. Use that promo code. Netters. Get the first bet offer. It's incredible Bet mgm. Make it legendary.

[Dan Powers]

We Are back and it is time for netters college puck drop. We had an absolutely insane weekend. Headlined of course, by the Penn State Michigan State outdoor double header. The Chiclets boys were there and the coverage was off the charts. What G and the gang are doing with. With Chiclets, you. And just the coverage of the college game is so huge for the growth. And they looked like they had a blast. Had Gavin McKenna on. If you haven't checked that out, go check out that interview right now. But things did not go well for The Nittany Lion. C.P. oh, man.

[Chris Powers]

Dude, Michigan State. Don't forget Michigan State beat them early in the year twice at home. And that was kind of a big swing when we were all like, oh, Penn State's kind of falling down a little bit, falling down the rankings. So this was such a moment to punch back, especially with that environment. And Michigan State beats him 63 on Friday. And it went bad right away, Dan. Like Michigan State goes up three nothing in the first period. You just want to get ahead in those outdoor games, give the fans something to cheer about. Michigan State 3 Nothing first. Penn State ended up pulling it back to 43 at one point, but that was as close as they got. But then you still get Saturday. You still get Saturday to try to figure it out, and they end up dumping that 1 to 54 and overtime. McKenna was buzzing early in that game, had a goal and two assists. Penn State's up three two. He's got three points looking incredible. Penn State even went up four three and then Michigan State tied in the third and then couldn't be denied in overtime. So statement. Statement wins by Michigan State because I am like, they might be fucking. Just like they might be the best team in the world.

[Dan Powers]

They're so good. And listen, I hate it. I feel bad for Penn State because they, they put on a great show there with their outdoor game. And you always want to see at least the home team get one. Yeah, but listen, we talked about the fact that Michigan State had a little, you know, they had their slip ups. They. They swapped in the rankings with Michigan and they're trying to get back on the horse. And at the same time, Penn State and Gavin McKenna have been surging back up the charts like a fucking freight train. And this was an immovable object and an unstoppable force hitting each other. And Michigan State was just the bigger donkey and they fucking rolled on him. And getting two wins like that, with all, with all the pageantry as we've been talking about, the pageantry that, that's that's big stuff. So if I'm Michigan, I'm a little scared. I'm a little scared about Michigan State right now because those are two monster wins and Michigan and we just said number one team in the country. They, they had Ohio State. They beat him 6, 4 on Friday, 32 and ot Saturday in Columbus. That's great. But again, Ohio State an unranked team. I know it's rivalry stuff, but if you're in Michigan State, my point is you're licking your chops a little bit. You're licking your chops being right on the boys heels.

[Chris Powers]

Totally agree, Dan. Remember, it was a weekend of great rivalry. So we had BC number 13 BC. They went to BU on Friday, beat him 4:1. We've said enough about BU's challenges this year. I love this BC team and they look really great. There's going to be a very fun game right now happening. A couple fun games tonight we'll get to in a second. But we've seen that turn a Boston season around before and hopefully it does again. And then 11, number 11, Denver had number seven, Duluth at home and Denver beat them four three on Friday and one nothing in overtime on Saturday. Those are two great games. But Dan, for the first time all year, for the first time since like week two or three of the college season, I am wondering if Duluth got overhyped. They surged so early and I was ready to be like, oh my God, they are sneaky. One of the best top three teams in the country. Now I'm like, actually, you might not be. You might be there.

[Dan Powers]

You're the biggest Denver guy there is though. Like, you're, you can't, you can't say that a couple losses to Denver is making you think that.

[Chris Powers]

Agree. But they've slipped the last two weekends. They've. I think they've been like split, split. And then a tough place to play. Denver's nasty, but I'm just like, yeah, you want to be the big dog, you got to be winning all these games.

[Dan Powers]

It's tough to go in what needs to be a bounce back weekend. It's tough to go into Denver.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

And try to beat them. That, that's, that's brutal. But, you know. All right, Duluth, Duluth. Maybe I'm trouble.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Maybe. On fraud watch, we got number 10, Cornell. They go up against a good Yale team. Beat them 5 to 2 at Yale on Friday and they beat Brown 42 at Brown on Saturday. So a nice little ivy road trip for the Cornell boys. They get two big wins you love to see it. And number six, Quinnipiac beat St. Lawrence 70 on the road on Friday. They tied Clarkson 33 on the road on Saturday. You know, I'm gonna say it.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

I was waiting for this fucking Clarkson, man. This Clarkson is the biggest trap game in the country, dude. Trap. Trap city. When you play Clarkson, it's incredible.

[Chris Powers]

I've been loving that, dude. That's like a flag on my notifications out every time. Like, who's Clarkson got?

[Dan Powers]

Truly.

[Chris Powers]

Number three, Western Michigan. My Broncos, they beat Omaha 52 on Friday at home, but then they lost 41 at home on Saturday. Nothing to worry about, but first stumble in a long time.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

For Western Michigan, they've been on an absolute scorcher. It happens.

[Dan Powers]

It does. And I don't think I'm gonna PP whack them that bad because it's like, you know, it's. It not. Not a good loss. Again, unranked team, but I'm not gonna go too hard on him. Dartmouth team we really liked who's been slipping recently. They got a nice win against Union 4 2. Then they beat Rensselaer 31 on Saturday. Dartmouth kind of getting back in it. And then Min State, Mankato, they beat Ferris State 61 on the road on Friday and 43 on Saturday. There. I. I won't rule them out pretty much ever.

[Chris Powers]

Okay, I like that. Okay, then we go to Wisconsin. Number eight, Wisconsin. They lost. What? Oh, yeah, dude. They lost in Minnesota in mini 41 on Friday and 84 on Saturday. This one is crazy to me, Dan, because it's a tough place to play, obviously, but Minnesota is now. Now makes me sad because they puked the beginning of the year away. I thought they were coming back, and I was watching us tracking them and Arizona State to be like, oh, you're gonna save your season? Then the last two weekends, I'm like, never mind. Your season is dead. Leave me alone, please. Then you do this to Wisconsin, and I'm like, just pick one. Pick a lane. Minnesota. And then also I'm now like, Wisconsin tricked me too, because Wisconsin, for a stretch there, I was wanting to get. Trying to get in the two seed, and now I'm like, wait, dude, you just get dummied by Minnesota twice?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Not even close games, really. So that's. That's a. That's a. An alarming weekend for me.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Not a big fan. Here's some of my favorite sleeper games. So we got number 20. I'm going to roll through a bunch of these, Chris, because I love all These teams, number 20, St. Cloud, lost to Miami Ohio 21 at home on Friday and 31 on Saturday. So, like, St. Cloud, this team that was kind of creeping up, I'm like, oh, there goes.

[Chris Powers]

That top 20 ranking. See you later.

[Dan Powers]

And then my. My little Cinderella, St. Thomas, number 15 in the country, they beat number 19, Michigan Tech, 42 at home on Friday, but Michigan Tech then won 43 on Saturday.

[Chris Powers]

That's just a good weekend. That's a good weekend.

[Dan Powers]

Probably. Probably not a lot of movement there. And then 16 Augustana wins at home against Lake Superior, 61 on Friday, 41 on Saturday. And I'm like, these. I love it. Like, Augustana, St. Cloud, and St. Thomas. I'm just like, these sleeper teams, like, in the top 20. Like, no one's paying attention to them, but they're just stacking up wins, dude. Stacking up the games that you gotta win.

[Chris Powers]

It's absolutely amazing to see because those. I like when those teams just go to war and, you know, they're like, in the. They're in the top. The back half of the top 20 rankings. But it's just fun to watch because it's two good squads and you want. I love a split, dude. I love a split in college hockey because everyone goes home happy, and it's a good battle. Yeah. Okay. And then last one, we had number nine Maine beat number seven. Or number nine, Providence, beat number 17, Maine, three two in overtime on Saturday at Maine. That's a gritty win. Very hard to play up there. Providence, very good team.

[Dan Powers]

I'm very gritty. Okay, let's get into our rankings.

[Chris Powers]

Yep. They have to stay the same.

[Dan Powers]

One two is going to stay the same. Michigan. Michigan State. Now it gets tricky.

[Chris Powers]

I'm willing to put no DAC up.

[Dan Powers]

Okay.

[Chris Powers]

Because. But I want Western Michigan still four.

[Dan Powers]

I. All right. That. That's the current ranking. The current actual ranking is Michigan. Michigan State Nodd. Western Michigan. Do you want the exact same? Because I kind of want to give Quinnipiac a boost. Like, I want to put Quinnipiac top four.

[Chris Powers]

Quinnipiac tied.

[Dan Powers]

Clarkson. Yeah. Clarkson is literally the biggest trap game in the country. Dude, you're lucky to come out of Clarkson alive.

[Chris Powers]

I can't believe you. Well, I guess Western Michigan did lose.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, Both of the teams that you're talking about lost. No, North Dakota or North Dakota didn't lose. Sorry.

[Chris Powers]

Fine, Quinnipiac. Because I guess you don't want to reward Penn State.

[Dan Powers]

So we'll go no DAC three. We're going to go Quinnipiac for Western Michigan. Five.

[Chris Powers]

Five.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Then.

[Dan Powers]

Is, is a double loss in an outdoor game hosting weekend against the number two team in the country going to drop you lower than six for you?

[Chris Powers]

Maybe.

[Dan Powers]

Because like. No, the question is, do you think, do you think providence, Denver, Cornell, B.C. are better than Penn State? Do you think any of those teams are better than Penn State?

[Chris Powers]

No.

[Dan Powers]

Duluth. Like where's Duluth? Yeah, I think Duluth's PP whacked here. They might be out of the top 10.

[Chris Powers]

Correct. Let's go Penn State there. What are we at? 6? 6. Let's go Penn State at 6. Okay, but then I could go, I could go Providence there.

[Dan Powers]

I like Providence here, I like Denver here. I, I, I personally I love this Providence team. I think I have to, I think I would pick Denver over Providence.

[Chris Powers]

Let's go Denver. Providence.

[Dan Powers]

Okay.

[Chris Powers]

Penn State 6, Denver 7, Providence 8. Okay, but then I'll tell you what I'm going. BC is in this.

[Dan Powers]

I agree. I want BC at 10, so I'm near 9 and I think I want to go Cornell. Duluth deserves a little bit of a face wash here.

[Chris Powers]

All the way out.

[Dan Powers]

Duluth's out.

[Chris Powers]

Interesting. Okay, Cornell is out. Cornell 9, BC 10.

[Dan Powers]

Boom.

[Chris Powers]

Maybe BC 9, Cornell 10. BC is better than them. Yeah, BC is better than them.

[Dan Powers]

Will you just relax?

[Chris Powers]

BC 9, Cornell in your life.

[Dan Powers]

All right, tell everybody about the game of the week.

[Chris Powers]

Game of the week. Well, this is actually a really fun time in college hockey because right now, as we speak, it is round one of the bean pot. The first round is Harvard versus Boston College and Northeastern versus Boston University. The winners of the winners play, the losers play and the winners will be crowned the bean pot champion. So if you are listening to this, you've already missed tonight's game, but I hope you're watching because you'll hear this on Tuesday morning, but they're playing right now. Then on Friday this weekend we have number two Michigan State and number one Michigan. On Friday it is in in Arbor. And then on Saturday it is the duel in the D at Little Caesars. So an all time 1 vs 2 absolute numby session in college hockey that is going to be incredible. Appointment television. And then the following Monday you get the bean pot final, which is such an iconic event in the sport and a appointment television thing. If you are from Boston and you heard Cole Wiseman say that it turned their entire season around. So. Oh my God, if you are going to watch college hockey ever in your fucking life, watch Michigan, Michigan State, Friday, Saturday, and then watch the beanpod final on Monday.

[Dan Powers]

Unbelievable. That wraps up Netters college punch drop. We're going to take a quick ad break and then come on back. I'm here to talk to you about Bauer and this is not an ad. This is straight up just me telling you about one of the greatest things that has ever happened. Bauer has been changing the game for almost 100 years and they are now about to change the game in a way that you could never imagine. I don't care what type of hockey you play. I don't care if you are a high schooler, a college player, a beer leaguer, a pro, doesn't matter. The Bauer Pro Sharp Advantage manage is truly one of the greatest things that has ever happened to any hockey player on planet Earth. Getting your skate sharpened is like the most important thing in the world when you're playing hockey and when you're playing on a big team with a big, you know, you got a great trainer and you get to just leave your, your, your wheels in your locker and some comes and sharpens them. That's amazing. But if you don't have that luxury, you are constantly thinking about when you're going to get your skate sharpened. Check this out. Not anymore. The Pro Sharp Advantage is an unbelievable skate sharpening machine that you have in your house, in your apartment, in your office, wherever you want it. This thing is giving you pro level precision at the touch of a single button. It's fully automated, it's factory calibrated with auto height adjustments. They have player and goalie settings. It's fast, consistent and it's accurate. Every single time I swear I use this thing every single time I sharpen my skates. Now every single player on my beer league team asks me to take their skates home and sharpen them so they don't have to deal with the cost of getting your skate sharpened at this pro shop. The lines that you find in the pro shop and then also just finding the time to getting it done. So you can use this thing sharpen anywhere in your home, your office, your garage, wherever you want to put this thing. It is so easy to use. It has WiFi, Bluetooth and a mobile app for connectivity. It is unbelievable. You can track your sharpening, you can track what day you sharpen them. You can save your preferences so you can just stay dialed in. I can't begin to tell you how badly you need this thing. So many people when we've posted about it have been like is this thing worth it? Do you actually use it? Yes. I do not sharpen my skates unless I am using the Pro Sharp Advantage. You should be doing it too. So go to Bauer.com you are going to check out all of their amazing stuff. You've heard me talk about it at length. But this Pro Sharp Advantage is the thing that should be top of the list because it's going to make your life so much easier.

[Chris Powers]

Check it out. Today I got to talk to you guys about one of the sponsors of this episode and that is Liquid iv. Sometimes you just need to be on for an entire day. Dan and I were just at stadium series and these trips are marathons. Up early for events, arena tours, interviews, all kinds of stuff all the way through the day into the night of the game. And sometimes it's struggling to try to stay hydrated. And that's where Liquid IV comes in. Because I reach for one the soonest. I see those first signs of dehydration and I know you know them. It's brain fog, fatigue, irritability, yellow pee. You're just feeling thirsty. This is when this comes in. Liquid IV is the only sugar free hydration product on the market clinically demonstrated to hydrate faster, faster than water alone. And Liquid IV's hydration multiplier, sugar free is designed to help you stay hydrated through these marathon days. And right now, if you go to liquidiv.com for 20% off, you just use promo code netters at checkout. All right? It's that simple. These things are amazing because you can. I can bring it on. My carry on. My carry on. We flew to Tampa. My carry on was packed full of these because I knew I had a long trip, four day trip. And these were going to come through for me every single day. And you can tell the feeling when you go from dehydrated to rehydrated. One of my favorite fantasy books I've been reading is Will of the Many. And you get this willow shot into you and now I'm super strong again. That is literally what I feel like when I'm reading that book. I think about just pumping hydration back into my body. And Liquid IV is so key in that. Okay. Because it is. And it comes in so clutch. Brain fog, 2pm Boom. Time to hydrate. These are the times when I go, oh, I know exactly what to do. I grab my Liquid IV and I'm amazing. So if you want to show up and start to finish with hydration from Liquid iv Hydration Multiplier, Sugar free. You tear, you pour, you live more. You go to liquidiv.com and get 20% off. Your first order with code netters, that's N E T T E R S at checkout. That's 20% off. Your first order with code [e-mail]. welcome back, everybody. And we are going to get into a little bit of not ice because we had a heated, heated debate at the bar.

[Dan Powers]

This was the least heated debate of all time.

[Chris Powers]

It was actually a complete. You know what I was about to say. It was complete agreement. It also wasn't that, but it was a.

[Dan Powers]

It was, it was a lovely. Yeah, it was a lovely discussion.

[Chris Powers]

Discussion. Yeah, lovely discussion, Evan, where. What is the best time zone in the United. In the continental United States for sports?

[Evan Watkins]

Watching mountain time.

[Dan Powers]

This guy goes mountain time on us. I didn't even know. I didn't even know mountain time was in the running. That just blew my mind.

[Evan Watkins]

I think it is crazy.

[Chris Powers]

He might be right. He might be right.

[Dan Powers]

So, so hold on, hold on. So Mountain time is so like, if it's, if it's 5pm here in Pacific Time Zone, it's 6pm in Mountain. Yes, yes, correct. And then it's 7pm in Central and it's 8pm in Eastern.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, he might be right.

[Dan Powers]

Here's. Here's you, you slick son of a. You might be right.

[Chris Powers]

Have you ever lived in mountain time, Evan?

[Evan Watkins]

Absolutely not.

[Chris Powers]

So you've only done Eastern and Pacific?

[Evan Watkins]

Yeah, generally in my life. Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Yep. Up. I, you know, you too. I grew up in Eastern and I thought, you know, that's. That's the way the world works, dude. And, and this is sports watching only. But certainly part of the actual debate is, is it is the way the world works is Eastern time. Like, when you wake up here in California, the entire universe has happened before. You wake up and you're like, jesus Christ. So growing up in Eastern time zone, I was like, this is when sports are on. Like, you do your day and you eat dinner and. Or you like, you know, like you come home from work and whatever and then the games begin. And so it made so much sense to me and it took me a long time to adjust to Pacific. But then when you do, you get really addicted to that. Because I want that. I start itching at 4 o' clock when I'm home now in Maine. I'm like, where's the Bruins game? And my dad's like, oh, buddy, you got three.

[Dan Powers]

Three hours. Yeah, yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Jesus Christ. Talk. Okay, Talk to me about mountain time, Evan. What are the. What, What State your case.

[Evan Watkins]

Okay? Here, this is the evidence. I'm going to Put out. And this is mostly for weekdays because I feel like on the weekends, hopefully you can kind of make anything work. And game times get crazy. 4 o' clock for, for me to watch a hockey game is kind of hard because I'm still doing work and I'm like, even if I'm not doing work work, I'm like wrapping shit up. I'm doing whatever. If that game comes on at five my time, like sometimes you're off work, hey, it's five o'. Clock. Maybe you're, maybe you're going out for happy hour drink also. You can miss the first hour or two, right?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Watkins]

Games on it.

[Dan Powers]

Four.

[Evan Watkins]

I don't know, man. There's a good chance I'm not going to get to that till like the last period, the last little bit of it. And then the issue is on the east coast, if you, if you're watching it directly after work at 7 or 8 or whatever and you want to catch a West coast game, you got to be up till 1 2am Which I used to do when I was a kid and that was awesome. But now I'm like, you know, I'm in my 30s and I can't fucking stay awake past 11:30 anymore no matter what. So I think mountain time is ideal because you get the best of both worlds, should you choose to, to, to go with that. You know. The only problem is, I don't know. Colorado's cool.

[Chris Powers]

Oh yeah.

[Evan Watkins]

There's not a whole lot else living like, where, where are you gonna live? You know what I mean? Okay, I guess Arizona.

[Dan Powers]

You know, I think, me, I think he's on to something here because I. My entire model, my entire stance in this area on this topic is based on the reality that I think anything that is too late is just sucks. You want more. Don't we all just want more time in this life? That's what we all want. It's the, it's, it's the, it's the.

[Chris Powers]

One elastic variable, Dan.

[Dan Powers]

It is the one thing that you can never get enough of. To quote Howard Stark, no amount of money ever bought a second of time. And that is true. So whether it be a dinner, if you come at me with an 8:30pm dinner reservation, I say, how dare you, Count Dracula. Why are you staying up so late? I want to eat dinner at 5:30. Because then we've got so much time left. We've got the rest of the night. There's an evening still left to be had. I love a matinee. We're going to the movies. Give me a matinee, give me a 6pm movie time. Because then we get out and you can, you know, get home. You have time to do stuff. So I was prepared to be like, pacific time zone is the answer. Because just everything is on earlier. We talk about football. When you wake up on Sunday and football starts at 10am and. And you just get to watch football right away. You get to watch it all day long. And then Sunday night football starts at 5:30pm and it's over at 8:30. Like you. You have a night, you can watch a movie after that. Sunday night football on the east coast is ending at midnight on a Sunday. Yeah. That is insane. That's like. It's actually crazy.

[Evan Watkins]

Why do we do this to ourselves?

[Chris Powers]

It's.

[Dan Powers]

It's insane, Evan. So I was prepared to be like, Pacific is the goat. But I kind of forgot about little old mountain time.

[Chris Powers]

Yes, Hiding. Hiding in plain sight.

[Dan Powers]

I do think Central is still. Central's great, but Central's clown show.

[Chris Powers]

Central is. Central is for clowns, dude.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, Central just feels a little too much like, you know, for example, Sunday Night Football, Central's like, oh, it ends at 11:00pm I'm like, that's still too late, dude. Like, you got. You are. You guys are not fully committing one way or the other.

[Evan Watkins]

What if you have ot?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, right.

[Dan Powers]

You're dead. Call out.

[Evan Watkins]

Not even gonna watch the most exciting part of the game. Cause you're like, I gotta go to bed.

[Dan Powers]

Yep, exactly. So I'm thinking Mountain might be the winner because of what Evan said. It's like, yeah, hockey Games starting at 4pm on in the weekdays. It's a little crazy when you're at work. Like, there's oftentimes you're like, wait, are the games on already?

[Evan Watkins]

I'm missing a game. I'm missing a game right now. There's a Pens game on right now and I've already missed an hour.

[Dan Powers]

And there you go.

[Chris Powers]

I. I do think that Pacific with weekday games like the 4 o' clock and 10 o' clock football, I know I'm a clown and still stay up way too late on Saturdays, which makes Sunday mornings harder. But both of those things, they. They come too quickly. Like, there's no time for me to do anything. Like when we are home on the East Coast, I don't mind at all that the Pats are on at one and I wake up and not early, but have plenty of time to accomplish tasks before it's like, football's on. Go drink with people. You know, Here you wake up and they're like, where are we going? To booze for the football game. And I'm like, jesus Christ, dude. Just woke up. God damn it. You're in it quick. In the Pacific time zone.

[Evan Watkins]

Yeah, that's true. You're asleep by the time the nighttime game comes on. Because.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, the daytime.

[Evan Watkins]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

I think ev is right here. Because, yeah, you Pacific. There's too many. There are. There are too many examples where you can make the argument that Pacific is too early. But you're. I don't think you're hearing that in the mountains.

[Chris Powers]

No, agree. Five o'. Clock, dude, it's five o'.

[Dan Powers]

Clock.

[Chris Powers]

That's the universal quitting time.

[Dan Powers]

I think the mountain drop is the go. Mountain time zone is the Goldilocks of sports watching time zones.

[Chris Powers]

That's really interesting because, man, the. The one thing that I find really frustrating is when there's no thing. Put it this way. College football. Dan. I kind of liked when it was like the. The. There's something on late. You know, it's like the eight. It's eight o', clock, and then there's like a sick game on. And sometimes your game would end here. And then you're like, what? So what's happening? Nothing's on. Like, it's all over. We're the last run of sports on the west coast, you know, so it's like by the time of the games here are over, which are on normal time, there's just nothing on. I liked that about the east coast, where I could always find something on till 2am when I'm insomnia. Ing. But you made a comment at the bar last night when we were sitting there, and it's like one. It's like 1am and the ducks are on Ducks Vegas. And you're like, imagine if you are a Ducks fan who grew up there and then moved to the east coast for a job. So you're like, the Ducks, my favorite team. And I'm like, you just have to sit up till 130 watching Ducks games 82 times. And I'm like, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Yes.

[Chris Powers]

That is fucking vampire.

[Evan Watkins]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

You're literally, hello, Count Dracula crazy. Oh, absolutely nuts.

[Chris Powers]

Mountain time.

[Dan Powers]

Mountain time. Mountain time's the winner.

[Evan Watkins]

It's mountain time.

[Dan Powers]

All right, let's take another quick ad break, and then let's wrap things up, guys, with a beer league hotline and a blind ranking. Time for some movie talk. From the completely unhinged mind of Gore Verbinski comes this year's must see film. Good luck. Have fun. Don't die. When a man from the future arrives at a Los Angeles diner, chaos ensues as he recruits a group of unlikely heroes on a one night quest to save humanity. What happens along the way will keep you guessing until the mind blowing end. Starring Sam Rockwell. Critics are calling it absolute chaotic perfection and ridiculously entertaining.

[Chris Powers]

Good luck.

[Dan Powers]

Have fun. Don't die. Rated R. Under 17. Not admitted. Admitted without a parent. In theaters February 13th. Tickets are on sale now. Could I be more fired up to talk about an original, exciting, amazing movie starring one of my favorite actors from the chaotic mind of Gore Verbinski? Pirates of the Caribbean, the Ring, Rango. I mean, give me a break. This is as good as it gets.

[Chris Powers]

Dude. Gore Pirates. Pirates is sneaky. One of my favorite movies of all time. And then also, dude, Sam Rockwell. You know, Dan, you and I both said this, but he is the most underrated actor ever. Who guess, I guess is maybe now finally rated finding properly. But dude, Sam Rockwell in the way way back, just lives right here. Lives here permanently in my brain. And that's what he brings to the. To the screen every time he's on it. And this is one of those movies that, you know, I don't watch trailers that much anymore because I just try to go in cold. But sometimes you're like, I don't know what this is about, and I just want to find out. This one of those movies where I was like, what is this? Maybe I should watch the trailer. And like 20 seconds into the trailer immediately shut it off because I realized how sick this was going to be. And I didn't want to spoil another frame of the movie because I was like, oh, my God, dude, this is a perfect premise with a perfect actor.

[Dan Powers]

I am telling you folks, if you miss going to the movies, this is exactly why you do it. It's. It's not another sequel, another reboot, a superhero movie. It's an original story with an amazing cast. If you're a fan of things like Ted Lasso, Atlanta, any prestige tv, you're going to love the cast of this movie. If you love Sam Rockwell like we do, you're gonna love this movie. It's just incredible. Think about a. Just a ragtag guy coming back to say that this would be like if the state of the hockey world was in jeopardy, and instead of sending Macklin Celebrini from the future to save it, they sent me.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

So, you know, it's just going to be as chaotic as humanly possible. So good luck, have fun, don't die in theaters February 13th. Get tickets now because this is going to be sold out everywhere. It will be the most fun you have in the theater in 2026. I promise you.

[Chris Powers]

Okay, now it is time for everybody's favorite segment, the beer league hotline. Ev, I hope we got a doozy today. Let it rip.

[Evan Watkins]

Been having attendance issues and one night we only had seven skaters. Someone on the team invited a woman to play with us. She's good. Since then, we ended up adding her boyfriend to the team full time. She is still in the group chat for subs. Sometimes she comes to the games and hangs in the locker room even when she's not playing. She even tied her boyfriend skates once. The problem is one of our other guys can't play anymore because his girlfriend has an issue with the other gal being in the chat. And the locker room has made him quit the team. How do we handle?

[Dan Powers]

Jesus, there are so many layers here. Okay, what the hell? There are so many layers here. All right, first of all, I'm about to disappear from the screen because I'm going to get down on a knee and put propose to this girl.

[Chris Powers]

Agree completely.

[Dan Powers]

We. We. This is like. I feel like this is. This is two of the last three or four weeks here where we've just had hall of fame ladies in. In. In these beer league stories. So this gal is the. I'm a little disappointed in the team for adding her boyfriend. Why didn't you just add her? Like what the fair she showed up for you. I don't give a. At them both.

[Chris Powers]

She is for.

[Dan Powers]

Dude.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Watkins]

Fair.

[Dan Powers]

You're in a. You're in a time of need and this gal shows up and she's great.

[Chris Powers]

Dude, you had seven. Seven is to be fair.

[Evan Watkins]

It says she's good specifically in this.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, right.

[Dan Powers]

Well, that's good enough for me though.

[Evan Watkins]

You know it's a beer league, right?

[Dan Powers]

Come on. Yeah, yeah, yeah, she's good. And also if she's showing up and hanging in the locker room, even on games where she's not playing, we always say when it comes to beer league, you need to be good at something. You need to be good on the ice or you need to be good in the room. It sounds like she's good at both. So what in the world are you not putting her on the roster automatic? So that's. That's step number one. Bump this. Bump this gal up from rotation to on the permanent roster. Her boyfriend can be on the roster too. That's fine. That's my number one thing. My number Two thing I need can. We need the ladies to support the ladies. Why is. Why is one of the other girlfriends upset that this. This girl is on the team? You got to support your ladies here.

[Chris Powers]

Especially Dan, because the sub gal's boyfriend is on the team. Like if sub gal was single and they were like, I'm pissed, I still wouldn't like it. But I would hear the logic of I'm pissed that there's this single lady who loves hockey who's in the locker room and on the chat. I don't like this. I don't like you being around that. I don't agree with that decision, but I see the logic. This girl is spoken for and he's on the team and he's at friends with everybody. Like what? Nothing. Not well, we've seen crazier things happen, but there's should be nothing crazy happening in that situation because everyone is spoken for, is present.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Jealousy is such a terrible, disgusting thing. We've got to work on getting it out, getting it out of our lives. This. What I'm seeing here is a family. I'm seeing a family and a squad and a unit and everyone needs to be supporting each other.

[Chris Powers]

So since she isn't though, and she goes, you can't play no more to the dude, what do they do? Because if they keep this girl in the chat, then this guy's off the team permanently. How do they go?

[Evan Watkins]

Is he good or is he.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, right.

[Dan Powers]

That's such a. That is such a wrinkle. But this is where we need to put our morals first, fellas, okay? If we want to be. If we want to be giving out this type of good advice. If we want to. To be a compass for good and for positivity, the. This is. This guy's got to have get this figured out with his galaxy. This is. I'm sorry problem.

[Chris Powers]

This is an at home problem.

[Dan Powers]

This is an at home problem because it sounds like everyone else in the locker room is happy and is loving what's going on. It's a shame that this is an issue for you and your partner, but you guys have to figure out those issues.

[Chris Powers]

Don't bring me. They double date. Maybe they. Maybe we set up a double date. We set up a double date.

[Dan Powers]

Go on a double. You never know. You two might love each other.

[Chris Powers]

Boom, boom.

[Dan Powers]

You might. You might find a new best friend in all this.

[Chris Powers]

Maybe your wife swap. Maybe you set up a wife swap it easy.

[Dan Powers]

What is wrong? You got to relax.

[Chris Powers]

I'm.

[Dan Powers]

I'm slowing things down.

[Chris Powers]

I'm exploring options to keep the team together. Dan. Maybe we wife swap, if that would help.

[Dan Powers]

Let's just do a caveat of, you know, if they. If things get really dire, I mean, let's start slow here. We gotta. You gotta pump the brakes here.

[Chris Powers]

Jesus. So we double date first.

[Dan Powers]

I think.

[Chris Powers]

I think wife swap second.

[Dan Powers]

First of all, I think you go, buddy. This is a. This is a huge bummer. But the facts of the matter are this. This new gal and her boyfriend are great additions. They're great in the room. They're bringing up vibes. They're on the team. This is an issue you got to work out with your partner, and we want you to work it out. Our solutions are. And we lay out the solution to solution one.

[Chris Powers]

You.

[Dan Powers]

Solution one, double date. Solution two, until we come up with a better two, is wife swap.

[Chris Powers]

We'll see if we can beat wife swap. So right now, that's. That's two.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, just a couple.

[Evan Watkins]

Maybe a coffee. Just, you know.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Watkins]

Day date would be.

[Dan Powers]

I think. I think.

[Chris Powers]

I think that feels like we're slotting that in at three. Yeah, that feels like.

[Dan Powers]

Okay. Yeah, that's a. Yeah, I think maybe, like a rotational basis on, you know, maybe you. Maybe you.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, one week.

[Dan Powers]

Maybe they play the other week.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, but she's got to stay in the chat, dude. And she's got to stay in the locker room because she. She bailed you out when you only had seven, and that is. That is an angel. That's. That's a real angel.

[Dan Powers]

Sounds like she's a beauty on and off the ice. You can't lose that.

[Evan Watkins]

That.

[Chris Powers]

Very weird that she tied her boyfriend skates once.

[Evan Watkins]

Yeah, I'm hanging up on that one, too.

[Dan Powers]

I think it's cute as hell. I mean, maybe he was maybe doing. Maybe. Maybe they got there late, and he was gonna miss the start of the game, and he had to tape his stick. So she tied his boots while. While he was taping the stick.

[Chris Powers]

I might have back pain. Go ahead. Back bad. So I shouldn't be playing.

[Dan Powers]

This gal is a. Absolutely.

[Chris Powers]

She's an angel. We got to keep. She's an angel. She's an angel.

[Dan Powers]

Yes. So at the end of the day, we. We see a path here where everyone lives happily ever after. We're going to work on that.

[Chris Powers]

Yep. I'm in. Okay, now we are going to kick it to a Bauer hockey blind ranking. We love a blind ranking just as much as we love our friends at Bauer because they give us incredible tools to make our game Better. They give us a skate sharpener. But Dan, they give us the pulse. They give us the beating pulse of hockey. The greatest stick I've ever used. Go check out a Bauer pulse and enjoy this blind ranking. We today are blind ranking the most exciting moments in an NHL game. So things that get the fans, Dan, like absolutely off their feet, screaming, howling, like, rise as one. You can tell something special is happening. When you were at an NHL game.

[Dan Powers]

Yep, this is, this is EVBOT's inaugural blind ranking too. So let's see how this goes.

[Chris Powers]

Okay, hit us with the first one.

[Evan Watkins]

Mid game penalty shot.

[Dan Powers]

Ooh, great.

[Chris Powers]

Because there's a pause, right? Like there's like a full stop and then the ref goes bang points to the middle and they go, oh, yes, we're getting it. I think that's a factor. I think that's a real factor.

[Dan Powers]

I don't think this is that high for me.

[Chris Powers]

Okay. You're just gonna cut me down. No, no, it's cut me in half.

[Dan Powers]

Dan, listen, it's cool, but I think the mid game is important here.

[Chris Powers]

It's like, well, they're better than penalty shots at the end of the game. No one gives fuck a a about that.

[Dan Powers]

Well, what if it's tied?

[Chris Powers]

No, no, I mean like the penalty shots at the end of the game, like we go to a shootout and there's penalty shots. No one cares about that.

[Dan Powers]

I think a mid game penalty shot is probably more exciting than the shootout after overtime. You're probably right because it's more like.

[Chris Powers]

Oh yeah, it's special. It's a special thing that's happening.

[Dan Powers]

I'm still not going that high. I'm not going to go more than three here. I, I know we hate starting at three. We do it all the time. But that might be.

[Chris Powers]

Do you want to go four? You could talk me into a four here. Honestly.

[Dan Powers]

Well, yeah, I mean I could be talked into it. I feel like, I feel like I'm going to get horny at a lot of these things. So going low doesn't like there's part of me that's like, are we going to hear that many that are that low? Yeah, maybe this one. Maybe this is a good one to go for.

[Chris Powers]

Let's go for. Let's go for.

[Dan Powers]

Let's go.

[Chris Powers]

All right.

[Evan Watkins]

Four hat trick.

[Chris Powers]

Okay. I guess kind of depends on the goal. You know, sometimes. Sometimes like.

[Dan Powers]

Or it's an empty netter.

[Chris Powers]

It's still cool, but it's like, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

You know, is objective but like when hats go on the ice That's.

[Chris Powers]

It's a moment. Yeah, it's a moment.

[Dan Powers]

You know what? You know what I'm trying to do here?

[Chris Powers]

You're right.

[Dan Powers]

You know what I'm trying to do here. Speaking of hats, I'm trying to put on my hat of I'm there if I'm actually. If I'm at a game and I have brought someone who has never been to a hockey game before.

[Chris Powers]

Great, great.

[Dan Powers]

What are the things I would be most fired? I think seeing a hat trick, I'd be like, oh, sick. I'd be like, this is a hat trick.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And then they see all the hats go on the ice and they're like. Like, who. I forget who we were with, but we were recently at a game where hat trick was scored and the hats went on the ice and the person was like, do they get their hats back? And we were like, no. It's like, that's an exciting moment.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. So you actually swung me back around, I think.

[Dan Powers]

Three.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, let's go three with that. Let's go three with that.

[Dan Powers]

Three. Three goals. Three on the list.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Nice.

[Evan Watkins]

Goalie fight.

[Dan Powers]

One.

[Chris Powers]

It has to be one, right? Like, I don't think that there is a single thing that gets the people going, like a provocative goalie fight.

[Dan Powers]

I mean, this is obviously very topical, but I think it's 1. A goalie fight is. I mean, I think. I think a lot of the highest ones here are going to be goalie related, but a goalie fight, like, I think a goalie fight's better than a goalie goal.

[Chris Powers]

Dan. A fight gets people. Like, when there's a fight in an NHL game, the crowd rises like it's one crazy. Yeah. And a goalie fight is insane. Yeah. We gotta go one. We gotta go one.

[Evan Watkins]

Tying gold with the goalie pulled.

[Chris Powers]

Damn, dude, I'm.

[Dan Powers]

When this happens against you, it's the worst thing in the world.

[Chris Powers]

But think about the home crowd. The home crowd down a goal.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And it's like zinging around and that goes in. I think. I actually think that's a comfortable two here, considering what we have left. Because that is such every. You're high fiving strangers when that happens.

[Dan Powers]

I know. I'm terrified now, though, that something electric is about to get the five spot.

[Chris Powers]

But this. But this is something electric. Like, I don't think that is an elect.

[Dan Powers]

That is out of fear. Evan, you. You. You better have your five locked. Don't you dare change. Yeah, as. As in. Like, as in your next one. You better have it locked. You can't change it no matter what we do. Okay, so here's the thing. Either because personally, Chris, if we go to here, I think we currently have a perfect list and then I kind.

[Chris Powers]

Of agree and we might get, we.

[Dan Powers]

Are hoping something not that great comes up or we play it safe and put this five.

[Chris Powers]

We sewer this.

[Dan Powers]

Awesome is coming up. So do we sewer this or do we take the bird in hand perfect list and hope things go.

[Chris Powers]

I think we take the burden hand. Dude, this is such a fun moment. When you tie that game you are like, yes, because you know you're going to win in overtime, which you often don't. But I know, but in that moment I know I will.

[Dan Powers]

I'll let you make the decision.

[Chris Powers]

I just think about some of the game tying ones I've had as a fan and they're fucking all time. I'm going to, I'm going to two. So our five, last five is fuck overtime winner.

[Evan Watkins]

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

[Dan Powers]

You know what though? You know what? If this is like regular season OT winner, it's not guaranteed to be crazy electric.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. But like no penalty shot. It's better than cheeks.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. And OT winner.

[Chris Powers]

And like I just said, the OT winner is worse than the game tying goal. Like the next goal. Like you'd think the OT winner that comes after would be better. Actually, you know what? The game time goal is pretty exciting.

[Dan Powers]

I, I, I truly, honestly, I actually think goalie pulled game tying goal. And like the waiting seconds is more exciting than an OT winner. Yeah, sometimes OT winners are just like, oh, something happened, it's a three on zero and you know, game over.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Fuck.

[Chris Powers]

Not horrible.

[Dan Powers]

Not the worst, not horrible, not the best.

[Evan Watkins]

If you're on the east coast and the game is a west coast game and it's midnight, the OT goes like, fuck. Finally.

[Dan Powers]

And then you just go, yeah, true.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Watkins]

So think of it that way.

[Dan Powers]

We're leaving.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, that's pretty good.

[Dan Powers]

All right. Not, not the worst. Not the worst. Decent little list there. All right, that wraps it up. Great episode. Evan, so pumped to have you on the show officially. This is great, great stuff, folks. We've got some fun guests coming in our third Thursday episode. We're going to be getting some really exciting things. Ramping up to the Olympics here. CP and I are headed out to Italy next week. Also, if you were in the LA area live show this Saturday, 6pm CP, tell them where to, tell them where it is.

[Chris Powers]

West side Comedy Club, 5pm Meet and greet. You come early, you get some merch, you meet the boys, everybody's hanging out, we'll have a few pops and then we'll put on a show for the ages with a lot of laughs, a lot of hockey nonsense.

[Dan Powers]

So, folks, if you're in the LA area, you got some free time on Saturday. Come grab some drinks, get a little pre game with us, Meet and greet, fun little episode. We're gonna have a ton of fun segments. Then we'll take it off to the night and have a great time. We would love to see you there. And until we see you there, until the rest of the chaos of this week, there's one thing to do.

[Chris Powers]

Skate hard.