The NHL Wildcard Race Is Drunk

Summary

Empty Netters Podcast — Episode: "The NHL Wildcard Race Is Drunk"

Date: March 24, 2026
Host: Dan Powers, Chris Powers, Evan "Dr." Watkins
Description: The Powers brothers and their pal Evan bring their irreverent, inside-the-rink banter to dissect the hilariously unpredictable NHL playoff wildcard race, swap old hockey war stories, break down college hockey's Frozen Four, revisit '90s nostalgia and trends, and field an unforgettably gross Beer League Hotline call.

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on the current state of the NHL wildcard playoff races, which the hosts describe as "absolutely drunk." The crew analyzes which teams are surging and which are choking at the worst moment, dissects the chaos and heartbreak in each conference, shares personal takes and wild conversation detours, and connects the state of pro hockey to college action and wider hockey culture. The tone is energetic, comedic, and full of inside jokes and passionate hockey takes.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Opening Banter and Movie Talk

• (00:00–09:12)
• The crew opens with classic riffing on Chris's intense "commitment issues" with new things, segueing to fitness habits, and a detailed, enthusiastic rundown of seeing the movie "Project Hail Mary."
• Collective appreciation for Ryan Gosling's versatility:
  • “When Gosling shows his comedy chops, I think he’s at his best.” — Dan Powers (07:10)
• Acknowledge internet's tendency to overhype blockbusters, but celebrate that sometimes the hunger for a fun, big movie just wins out.

2. The NHL Wildcard Race Is “Absolutely Drunk”

• (09:12–13:57)
• Dan sets the table for hockey talk, declaring: “The wildcard race is absolutely insane... totally drunk!" (09:21)
• Presented by division:
  • Atlantic Division: Major logjam; Habs, Bruins, Red Wings, Senators all jockeying with only a few-point margin.
    • “The Sens are not dead. Everyone thinks they're dead, but they are not dead.” — Chris Powers (09:39)
  • Metropolitan: Similar bloodbath; Penguins, Columbus, Islanders, Flyers, Caps.
  • Pacific: Described as a “bubble bath” (Evan, 10:58) and “pillow fight.” Kings, Kraken, Oilers, Knights, Sharks, all with negative or barely positive goal differentials.
  • Central largely locked but Jets embarrassing; debate if anyone can steal a spot.

3. Who Are the Biggest “Shitheads” If They Miss? (Eastern Conference Edition)

• (13:57–22:19)
• Fun, playful framing: which team would be the most ridiculous failures if they miss playoffs?
  • Montreal Canadiens: Tops the “shithead” list — their strong season, if squandered, would be a disaster. “If the Montreal Canadiens fall out of the playoffs, you go, bruh. That is crazy.” — Chris (15:30)
  • Detroit Red Wings: Also in danger of blowing it; recent performance (big win, then loss) dissects their fragile state.
  • Arguments for Pitt, Boston not being shitheads if they fall short, given their overachievement and resets in progress.

4. Biggest Heartbreaks, Most Fun Teams

• (18:48–24:58)
• Heartbreak: “If Pittsburgh fell out after how fun this has been, it would be heartbreaking.” — Dan (19:31)
• Islanders are “devastation” contender due to their new core and expectations (20:26).
• Most fun if they get in: Unanimous on Columbus Blue Jackets.
  • “The Columbus Blue Jackets doing what they’re doing is just such an amazing thing for those fans and some of the best fans in the league… People forget they sell out every single game.” — Chris (24:58)

5. Western Conference Chaos

• (25:08–31:10)
• Who would be the biggest flop?
  • Vegas Golden Knights & Edmonton Oilers: Both are “catastrophic” misses if they choke — despite injuries, the pressure is massive.
    • “It's the Edmonton Oilers. You have Connor. You can’t miss the playoffs.” — Dan (25:55)
  • LA Kings: Only entered for their paper roster-over-performance mismatch.
• Biggest heartbreak:
  • Utah: Emerging strong but might get squeezed out, despite a positive goal diff; debate if missing would be heartbreaking for Sharks or Predators.
• Most fun: Sharks unanimously voted as the “most fun” team to sneak in.

6. Predators’ Late-Season Surge — Fun Story, or Overhyped?

• (31:10–38:24)
• Chris basks in Nashville's last-minute playoff schizophrenia, tracing their wild ride from U2 concert bans to previous spring surges and a huge influx of talent.
  • “If this Predators team, after all the bullshit going all the way back to the U2 show, goes on a heater… that is a fucking awesome story.” — Chris (33:44)
• Dan plays the “grinch,” questioning how fun a potential first-round sweep is for an “old” anchovy squad.
• Ultimately, grudging consensus: “If they make it, they’ll have earned it. So many of these teams are talking about, like, 'Hey, assholes, win games down the stretch.'" — Dan (38:12)

7. NCAA Frozen Four Preview

• (39:40–46:48)
• Brackets set for Frozen Four in Vegas! Dartmouth highlighted for first NCAA berth since 1980.
• Merrimack’s insane underdog run ("lowest seed ever," 41:25) dissected.
• Rapid-fire regional matchups preview: Denver–Cornell, Duluth–Penn State, Dartmouth–Wisconsin spotlighted as “big tilts.”
• Critique of certain Boston schools (BC/BU) for choking with “insane rosters.”
• Bracket picks to come next episode.

8. Tribute: Remembering Jesse Pierce

• (46:48–49:48)
• Heartfelt memorial of journalist Jesse Pierce and her children’s tragic death in a house fire.
  • “We just want to add onto that and make people in the hockey community aware of this... It’s rallying together that makes [tragedies] a little easier.” — Dan (48:24)
• Information on the fundraising campaign for her family is shared.

9. Not Ice / 90s Nostalgia Goes Off The Rails

• (53:24–78:10)
• Wild, hilarious segment swapping memories of '90s trends, games, and toys:
  • Baggy jeans, the Pokémon craze ("Pokemon is back," 55:00), and speculation on which childhood phenomena are making a comeback.
  • Rabbit hole on Pogs, yo-yos, playplaces, Nickelodeon game shows.
  • Deep dive on “tycoon” video games (Roller Coaster Tycoon, The Sims, city-builders) — debate why simulation games were/are so fun and whether they'll return.
  • “We’re living in a simulation, distracted from our simulation with another simulation.” — Evan (70:42)

10. Beer League Hotline: The Skid Mark Jock Incident

• (78:15–88:32)
• Listener writes in: what to do about a teammate who always has skid marks in his hockey jock?
  • Dan goes full medical examiner: “If you are not washing the thing that goes directly on your ball sack and dick, you are a fucking pig person.” (82:46)
  • The real advice: call your teammate in, but be helpful, not cruel; possibly introduce him to wet wipes and basic hygiene.
  • “If you have poop in your underwear every day, something is wrong and we need to help fix the issue.” — Dan (87:06)

11. Bauer Blind Rankings: Playoff Odds (East Bubble)

• (88:32–90:50)
• The five bubble teams blindly ranked for best playoff odds:
  1. Bruins
  2. Penguins
  3. Islanders
  4. Kings
  5. Kraken
• “That is the first time in a while that that has really come home.” — Chris (90:45)

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Notable Quotes

• On NHL Wildcard Insanity:
  “The wildcard race is absolutely insane... it’s fucking drunk.” — Dan Powers (09:21)
• On People Overhyping Blockbusters:
  “When someone just sees a great blockbuster and they haven’t seen a great blockbuster in a while, and then they talk about it like it’s the best movie they’ve ever seen, they’re just being like, I loved it.” — Dan Powers (04:38)
• On Negative Goal Differentials in the Pacific:
  “This division is so bad — tragedy.” — Chris Powers (26:27)
• On the Predators' Surge:
  “The Preds were dead, dude. They were fucking dead... Now Stammer's got 33 fucking goals and the Preds are in a wild card.” — Chris Powers (33:44)
• On The Columbus Surge:
  “The [Columbus Blue Jackets] after a super late free fall last year... is such an amazing thing for those fans and some of the best fans in the league.” — Chris Powers (24:55)
• On Skid Mark Inquiry:
  “If you are not washing the thing that goes directly on your ball sack and dick, you are a fucking pig person.” — Dan Powers (82:46)
• On Hockey Community Spirit:
  “The best thing about the hockey community is everyone always steps up in these moments of tragedy and we want to be a part of that.” — Dan Powers (48:30)
• On 90s Nostalgia:
  “We're living in a simulation, distracted from our simulation with another simulation.” — Evan Dr. Watkins (70:42)
• On NHL Teams Down the Stretch:
  “So many of these teams we're talking about, like—hey, assholes, win games down the stretch here... No one is doing it except [the Predators].” — Dan Powers (38:12)

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Important Timestamps

• Wildcard Race Deep-Dive: 09:12–13:57
• “Shithead/Heartbreak/Fun” Bubble Teams Segments: 13:57–24:58
• Western Conference Bubble & Predators Debate: 25:08–38:24
• Frozen Four Bracket & College Hockey: 39:40–46:48
• Jesse Pierce Tribute: 46:48–49:48
• '90s Nostalgia/Not Ice: 53:24–78:10
• Beer League Hotline (Skid Mark Incident): 78:15–88:32
• Bauer Blind Rankings: 88:32–90:50

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Memorable Moments

• Chris’s rant about never using new things because “then they're not new anymore” (01:21)
• The team’s agreement that if Vegas or Edmonton misses, there will be “catastrophic” fallout (25:08)
• The hosts openly bickering over who is grosser about washing their hockey jock (80:07–83:08)
• Laughter about trying to revive POGS and weird '90s collectibles (71:15–72:10)

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Listener Utility

• This episode delivers a minute-by-minute, division-by-division update for any NHL fan looking to catch up quickly on playoff scenarios, with passionate, sometimes absurd opinions and playful debates.
• The college hockey updates, particularly on the Frozen Four, deliver concise, energetic insights and call-outs for teams over- (and under-) performing heading into the NCAA tournament.
• Nostalgia and side banter supply total entertainment value, with surprising coherence tied to current trends, and the Beer League Hotline always delivers the locker room reality check.

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For full playoff odds, predictions, more Beer League debauchery, and the next round of NCAA picks, tune in Thursday, or catch the Empty Netters’ Utah game live content. And—skate hard!

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 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

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

taken a body check.

[Chris Powers]

That's kind of nice.

[Dan Powers]

So we are back. We are horned up and we are going deep. Finished tonight with some chicken fingers and a few Guinnesses.

[Chris Powers]

Ran into you guys.

[Dan Powers]

And 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. I am your host, Dan Powers. Over here on the sticks, we got Evan, Dr. Watkins.

[Chris Powers]

Hello.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Hello.

[Dan Powers]

He's got a great Mario Lemieux statue on his mic.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

My little totem, and a great Iron Maiden shirt. Thank you.

[Dan Powers]

I've been listening to a lot of classic rock lately in the gym.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Oh, yeah, it's really nice. Iron Maiden's great for working out. Cause his songs are like eight minutes long and they're all fucking metal as hell.

[Dan Powers]

I can't remember the last time I worked out to classic rock. And it's. It's like firing me up. I'm like doing. Doing this in between sets, like Bill and Ted.

[Chris Powers]

It's pretty great.

[Dan Powers]

Then over here to my left. This guy's commitment issues are so intense that even when he buys new things, he doesn't use them for six months. Chris Powers, as always. Why do you think you do that?

[Chris Powers]

Because then they're not new anymore.

[Dan Powers]

That is such a. A fair reason.

[Chris Powers]

Because they're brand new. Their potential.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Do you keep, like, things in their packaging as long as possible?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

He also does the. You get a new laptop, for example, and it has that, like, piece of, like, film on it. He'll just leave that on forever.

[Chris Powers]

Cause then eventually I go, yeah, and it's brand new.

[Dan Powers]

We had a really funny situation in our old house that we lived in. We moved in. And in the kitchen, all of the drawers and cabinets had this see through blue tape on it. Yeah, yeah, they were white cabinets.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I know exactly what you're talking about.

[Dan Powers]

And when we first moved in, we were like, whoa, look at these blue drawers and cabinets. And then, you know, day three, we were like, opening drawers and they were, like, kind of peeling. And I was like, oh, we gotta peel this stuff off. And Chris was like, what? But peel it off.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Cause then the first time you make pasta and it Gets all over the place. You don't have to clean it up. You just whip that off.

[Chris Powers]

It's incredible. I would put new ones on every, every day if I could.

[Dan Powers]

What's funny is you're not a clean freak at all. But this is all lending itself to you and your older life. Being the old man who has the plastic cover on his couch.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, dude, I don't even. They say the new car depreciates the second you drive it off the lot. I buy a new car, leave it on the lot, don't use it. Bike everywhere they go. Do you have a car? I go, yeah, go to Marina Toyota. It's sitting right there, baby.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

They sell it for brand new.

[Dan Powers]

You know what's funny, Chris? I feel like you've been in the market for a new car for a while. And I am terrified of the day he buys his new car. Cause I don't think he'll drive it.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Do you want to buy my Chevy Nova, maybe?

[Dan Powers]

Does it have a leak still?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

No, the leak is fixed.

[Dan Powers]

You got a great opportunity.

[Chris Powers]

You're never going to fill a tank up again.

[Dan Powers]

Do you think you'll ever actually buy a new car?

[Chris Powers]

No.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, out of fear of, like, you're going to ruin it.

[Chris Powers]

Correct. I will only buy a car that's on its last legs.

[Dan Powers]

That's. I mean, you should get.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

You should lease, then. You should be a lease guy.

[Dan Powers]

You're a lease guy. You got a lease and then every two years.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, boom.

[Dan Powers]

So what I did. Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

But then they.

[Dan Powers]

Fuck you, these prices, man. Yeah, I just had to buy my car. I was like, the chart, the prices they were giving me for the new lease. I was like, get fucked. I'm gonna just buy this car out,

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

get a recumbent bike.

[Dan Powers]

Hey, now we're talking. We've got a great episode for you folks. We got a lot of hot ice to get into. The wild card race is out of control. The preds are surging. We got the Frozen four matchups going and we got some fun games. Before we jump into that though, can we just really quick, Evan, have you seen Project Harold? Larry?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah, we saw it Thursday night at like 9:45, which. I never go to a movie that late anymore and it was fucking great.

[Chris Powers]

Was Gosling there? I saw he was surprising people on Thursday. New York. Yeah, I saw that too.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah, we saw an IMAX though, so it was like he was right in.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, that's true.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

It was awesome.

[Dan Powers]

You watched the movie with him. I loved it.

[Chris Powers]

I loved it.

[Dan Powers]

I was actually Just talking to our pal Jerry, one of our great editors, and I. I'm seeing a lot online. A lot of people online are going nuts for this movie, Right? And then, of course, that is being met with the people who didn't love it, who have the reaction to be like, dude, that movie's not fucking great at all.

[Chris Powers]

And blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[Dan Powers]

I. This is what I think is happening. I think Project Hail Mary is great, and I think we haven't had a great blockbuster in a while. And I think people are really horny for a great blockbuster movie. And talking about from a couple of guys who go to great lengths to exaggerate to make points, I think we sometimes need to acknowledge that when someone just sees a great blockbuster and they haven't seen a great blockbuster in a while, and then they talk about it like it's the best movie they've ever seen, they're just being like, I loved it.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

You know.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, don't get mad at them for overhyping.

[Dan Powers]

Don't get mad.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Okay.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I mean, listen, you're in the afterglow.

[Dan Powers]

We have seen a lot of overhype lately for a lot of things, a lot of content. It happens.

[Chris Powers]

Like, that's called Oscar season, baby.

[Dan Powers]

It is what it is.

[Chris Powers]

They go, this movie's incredible. And I go, literally, all of these movies stink except for F1. Okay.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

But I think you haven't seen Hamnet.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, I haven't seen him.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

You didn't like seeing the child.

[Dan Powers]

If that's how you felt about this year's movies, that. That's totally fine. But I think we also shouldn't do that. We shouldn't overcorrect and say stuff stinks when people are too horny.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I think that the fact that. Well, first of all, it's really good for movie theaters, that an Amazon film made that much money in its opening weekend. So that's part of the reason we went to support it on Thursday. Also, practical effects. That fucking little rock guy was a puppet.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

Amazing.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I'm, like, blown away by that.

[Chris Powers]

That's unreal.

[Dan Powers]

So good.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

So, yeah, I mean, just. And Ryan Gosling, bonafide movie star, just, you know, my generation's. I don't know what you'd call Paul Newman. Maybe.

[Chris Powers]

Ooh.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Like. Like for the millennials. He is the dude that I like when he was in Drive. I was like, all right. Mad respect for him. Loved him in Blade Runner 2049.

[Dan Powers]

Loved him.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I think he's great.

[Dan Powers]

I think he's great, too. I think this is his lane.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Well, he's fallen into this lane now that he's sort of become a person.

[Dan Powers]

Well, I think it's. It's funny because I love.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Wow.

[Dan Powers]

We're getting some Gosling talk on the pod right now. This is awesome. I adore him and his early stuff. We always used to joke in his early days when he was doing Blue Valentine, Lars and the Real Girl, his agent must have been like, fucking Jesus Christ, dude. Will you do a blockbuster movie for

[Chris Powers]

the love of God?

[Dan Powers]

Like, he was in an indie lane for a long time, and he's so great in those things. And then you have drive. You have Blade Runner 2049. I love those movies. But when Gosling shows his comedy chops, I think he's at his best.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Absolutely.

[Dan Powers]

The nice guys fall guy, this. I also think he's one of the best physical comedians alive today. It's unbelievable.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Absolutely.

[Dan Powers]

But the movie is awesome. Go see it. You'll have a great time.

[Chris Powers]

Yes. You'll have a great time. This was, for me. It was one of the first times in a long time. And I loved the book. I loved the book, and I thought they did a great job about what to keep and what. They totally did, but this was one of the first times, and you just forgave them. So I'm not mad at them because I accept your forgiveness preemptively. But this was one of the first times in a long time. Close friends of mine overhyped something to me, I think, because they weren't book readers, so they didn't. They just came in so fresh.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Right.

[Chris Powers]

But the. The reviews I was getting was like, I literally bawled my eyes out the entire time. I was. I was either. I was either howling, laughing, or bawling. Crying is like the most emotional rider. And I was like, oh, my God. And I saw it, and I was like, that was wonderful.

[Dan Powers]

But, yeah, what the fuck, right?

[Chris Powers]

You knew.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Calm down.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I think he's right. People are horny for this.

[Chris Powers]

But I. But I've preemptively forgiven them.

[Dan Powers]

And I. And I think you're right. I think it's just. We were horny. We needed a. You know, it's March. We needed a blockbuster. We haven't had a. I can't even. Let's think off the top of our heads is F1, the last blockbuster we had?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Well, what come out around Christmas time was a blockbuster.

[Dan Powers]

That's what I. That's. But I think Christmas was weird. It was very important. Coded. I think I said that right. The young Kids.

[Chris Powers]

Jesus Christ.

[Dan Powers]

Did you like the.

[Chris Powers]

Had you read the book?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

No, I haven't read the light.

[Chris Powers]

You don't spoil the ending for anyone listening to this pod that hasn't seen it. But did you like the ending on its face?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I felt that the. It felt like too many endings. That was my one critique, is that it's a long movie and it felt like it had a few narrative stops and starts at the end. But like, on the whole, it was so enjoyable that I'll forgive something for not like hitting my exact preference as far as act structure goes.

[Chris Powers]

Okay, we'll discuss after.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, let's jump in to some hockey talk. We got some hot ice going on here. The wild card race is absolutely insane.

[Chris Powers]

Fucking drunk.

[Dan Powers]

It's absolutely drunk. Chris.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

So I'm going to run down some of the wild card races here. And it's. It's every division. Okay. The Atlantic is a bloodbath. We got The Habs with 86 points, the Bruins with 86 points, the Red Wings with 84 points, the Senators with 81 points. The Sens are totally in it.

[Chris Powers]

Yes, they are.

[Dan Powers]

They are totally in it. And credit to you, C.P. you called this like three weeks ago. You were like, the Sens are not dead. Everyone thinks they're dead, but they are not dead. And you're right. So that one is an insane situation. The Met is a bloodbath. We've got Pitt with 86 points, Columbus with 85 points, the Islanders with 85 points, the Flyers with 80 points, and the Caps with 79 points. I included those last two because, like, three game swing.

[Chris Powers]

The Flyers are absolutely in it. The caps are dead. 71, actually.

[Dan Powers]

Great point. The Caps do have two games over

[Chris Powers]

the Flyers and everyone pretty much actually maybe Pittsburgh.

[Dan Powers]

The Islanders have 71 played and Pitt and Columbus are 70. But the Flyers have a nice little edge on the Caps.

[Chris Powers]

The Caps are dead.

[Dan Powers]

And you think the Cap. Are you officially dead in. The Caps.

[Chris Powers]

Caps missed playoffs. And what's crazy, unfortunately, this has happened a few times. The Caps and the Sens. The caps are plus 12. Goldf and the Sens are plus 21. Every other team you named is. Is not every other team, but a lot of these other bubble teams are minus. And I'm like, how are you two? How are the sends? Plus 21. And like, we're going to miss playoffs.

[Dan Powers]

It is so interesting, man. I don't get how it's happening. The. Hold on the Pacific or. Excuse me. Yeah, we had. The Met is. The Pacific is a bubble bath.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

The Knights 78 points.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

A pillow fight, that's what.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, but I was in Bloodbath, so wanted to go.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I just. McDavid called it a pillow.

[Dan Powers]

So funny. The Knights 78 points. Oilers 77 points. Kings 73, Kraken 71, Sharks 70. Are you. Well, are you willing to dead any of them?

[Chris Powers]

I'm. No, you didn't say the Jets.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, the jets are dead.

[Chris Powers]

The jets have 70 points.

[Dan Powers]

The jets are so dead.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

The jets lost in a shootout to my boys, the Penguins, who don't win

[Chris Powers]

shootout because Sid went, I'm enough of this.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah. I got to put an end to this shootout, man.

[Dan Powers]

I apologize to the jets because I included the. Who did.

[Chris Powers]

I included the Caps.

[Dan Powers]

I included the. Yeah, but. Well, that's different conference.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, well, The Sharks have 70 points. Like they. The jets have 70 points, different games. So for the same reason, the reason

[Dan Powers]

I didn't include the Jets, Chris, is because the three. I didn't include the central. Because the three central spots. The three central spots are completely locked. And Utah has fucking 10 more points than the Jets. The jets are dead.

[Chris Powers]

Well, the only argument is the jets are five points out of the second wild card, which is the only one that matters, and they're not. The people in front of them are all terrible.

[Dan Powers]

They're all. They're all literally all bad hockey. They're all such assholes.

[Chris Powers]

So I'm like, the jets have the second best goal diff of the remaining team.

[Dan Powers]

I know.

[Chris Powers]

The best goalie by a mile, probably. You know, they're. Ross. I was going to say they're stars, but like, there's some stars in the other teams. But like, they can go to like, no joke. In a race to five points. I wouldn't be surprised if the jets finish first team out.

[Dan Powers]

I mean, it's so fair. I think. I think they are my. Your. Who did. You just did The Caps. They are my caps.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

I'm like, you guys are dead. I'm sorry. Go home.

[Chris Powers]

And they. And they have the best record in the last. You know, they're the only team winning of all these teams.

[Dan Powers]

That's true.

[Chris Powers]

They.

[Dan Powers]

I mean, but. But still, like, this is the best stretch of their season. And they're five, three and two. And I'm like, you guys are fucking terrible.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Like, go away.

[Chris Powers]

I'm actually really excited to see the. Where they finish.

[Dan Powers]

I know they're probably going to make playoffs.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

In the Pacific we had that quick, great, great snipe by you. Leon had a quote that was a Little sketchy.

[Chris Powers]

Well, it was sharp action by you, dude. Like, you're the one that was like. They were like, oh, Leon's out for the rest of the regular season. And you were like, I bet it's into playoffs. And I was like, no. And then he. Wow, that was crazy. He said, they go, you're going to be back for playoffs. And he said, I hope so. That's the plan. That's the reason I'm here, because he's in. He's in Germany. The recovery will definitely take a few weeks, that's for sure. I hope we play long enough so I can help out again at some point. And I was like, oh, so you're dead. Like, he's being like, yeah, maybe I can get back in the second or third round.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And I'm like, oh, my God, dude. And that's not a good thing.

[Dan Powers]

It's not good.

[Chris Powers]

That's not good.

[Dan Powers]

Not good. So we've got a crazy situation and we're gonna, like we said at the top, we're gonna get into the Preds because the Preds are doing something special right now. But let's stick to the Eastern Conference for a second here. Chris, who do you think. I wrote down a few things. I said, biggest shithead, biggest heartbreak, and most fun. Who do you think in the east is the biggest shithead if they miss playoffs?

[Chris Powers]

They're. Is an answer that you are going to say. Okay. And I know why you would say it. But I think objectively, if you're looking at this. God. And you know what's fucking crazy is if this happens, this is actually extremely sharp from me.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

But I think objectively, on paper, of the teams that could realistically miss, I think if the Montreal Canadiens fall out of the playoffs, you go, bruh. That is crazy. Now, what is sharp about me? Actually, maybe you too. I can't quite remember is in the preseason previews, I had the Habs, like, fifth in the Atlantic. Yeah. And I was like, they're going to be right there. And then for the majority of the beginning of the season, they were in first place. And everyone was like, nice Habs call, moron. And now I'm like this. They're about to miss playoffs. So, yeah, you're fucking welcome. But just because of the way their season went, I think they would be an actual fuck up.

[Dan Powers]

I think I'm. I hate doing this. I think I'm totally with you.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

Because.

[Chris Powers]

But the fucking runner up is Detroit, which is what I thought you were going to say.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. So Tampa's in. Caroline is obviously in. Pitt, who has been in all. There's an argument to be made. Pitt's been in all year and if they miss now, you're assholes. But I. I don't think that they're shitheads. If they miss, I don't think that's going to happen. But it's also crazy because it's like they are one point ahead of two teams in front of them, behind them.

[Chris Powers]

And I just give them so much credit because they did not get any better in the last few years. They did nothing. And their best players got older.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

They got a new coach.

[Chris Powers]

Except they got a new coach. They got moving and they survived a 10 game Crosby injury. And they survived the blip. They survived blip A which was like they did freefall out of the playoffs for a stretch. Like they were in it. And then they were like, oh, we're dead. And I was like, oh, there you go. Totally. And then they were like, just kidding. We are back.

[Dan Powers]

They. So I. Even if they were to somehow slip down here in the last 12 games of the season and miss, I don't call them shitheads because I'm like, you should have never been in here. You've been overachieving this whole time. It's incredible. Boston, I kind of put in that same category. Like, I think my prediction at the beginning of the year was they're going to be a bubble wild card team all year and they're just barely going to miss and it's all going to be. Everything has looked so great and they have done that wire to wire. They have been like this. They get into third and a couple times. But like, they've been a wild card team all year and I know that if they were to somehow slip and miss, people would be like, are you kidding me? We've been in playoffs all year. But I'd be like, but that's okay at all. Every arrow is pointing up for Boston.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yep.

[Chris Powers]

So.

[Dan Powers]

But obviously they will be pissed if they miss. But I think it's Montreal and I think it's Detroit.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

Detroit is like if you ides of march yourself again. And they had a great. We put them on fraud watch and they had a monster win.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Huge win. And then lost to Boston. Like, that's. I'm not mad at that loss. And Sway played out of his fucking mind.

[Chris Powers]

You just need that game.

[Dan Powers]

You need that game so badly. Like, think about that. That's. That's just a quick swap there. Like, they have 86 points and Boston is 84. So that those two are up there. The Sens are still in this. I mean you're so right. The plus 21 gold F. I'm like, how are you guys down here? It's what's going on. But I do think it's those two teams in the east. If you, if those two teams miss, you are shitheads. And I think we. I know you already deaded them, but like that. How are the Caps not in that category?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, the Caps.

[Dan Powers]

The Caps.

[Chris Powers]

The Caps go into what we talked about last week, whichever day that was with the blind ranking which was like which dudes Monday the biggest jokes. And I think it's like, let's do that real quick. I gotta say Devils my, my, my podium Panthers get a pass. I guess because of the injuries. Even though this is still crazy.

[Dan Powers]

No, I, I, it's total dude. Like you had Kachuk out and everyone was like, that's gonna be a big deal. And then you lose Barkov for the entire season.

[Chris Powers]

That is the biggest team loses your

[Dan Powers]

best and then like Mik out for half the season. Like, dude, that was this, this would have been a miracle if they made it and they didn't make it. So it is what it is.

[Chris Powers]

So I mean my podium is Caps Devil's Leafs of preseason Leafs is so bad, you know, because preseason. There's always one. I always say.

[Dan Powers]

But again, we can't even get into those because they're not in the wild card race. Like this is. This is now like the last 20 games. These are all the teams who have been in this race. Now what is it? Yeah. So who is the biggest? I suppose heartbreak and Shithead are so similar, but I think heartbreak for me, if we're doing this is the, the ones that I, I just mentioned. Like, it would be heartbreaking if Pittsburgh fell out after how fun this has been. It would be heartbreaking if. I think it'd be heartbreaking if Columbus falls out.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, interesting. I think heartbreak's the Islanders 100% agree. Biggest heartbreak is you go, oh, damn it. And dude, it is just heartbreak. Actually it is. What's that expression? Headache. Not a heartache.

[Dan Powers]

It's a headache, not a heart.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. I almost want to push it to that because if the Islanders fall out, it is like, oh no. But I'm like, dude, who gives a. Oh yeah, your future is fine.

[Dan Powers]

It's not a heartache. However, there's been a lot of beaking.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

You know, like it's been like we own New York and, and as we know I'm an Islanders fan now. You're an Islanders fan now. But like, it would be. It would be a tough look because it has been very like fucking playoff hockey back on the Earl, you know, like coming to the island in an exciting way. We own New York and if they missed, it'd be like, oh, no, that would suck.

[Chris Powers]

There will be. There will be devastation there. And the only reason I think Islanders over Blue Jackets is because the Blue Jackets have just surged and the. I know they did this. They did. Well, actually, they did the Islanders thing last year. Yeah. They did this all year and then fell out. So it would be back to back years of like, me.

[Dan Powers]

Yes.

[Chris Powers]

But the Islanders with just their new toy and they're in the playoffs all year and now you're like, psych. It's an 82 game season and you're out, man.

[Dan Powers]

I think Boston falls in this category too, in heartache. It would be, again, not a heartache. Yeah, I think they're the exact same things because you just said it perfectly. And I was mentioning all arrows are pointing up for Boston. I mean, you're about to get Hagan's and Zellers and Letourneau. I mean, unbelievable. But given that they've been in all year, this is one of the more effective retools we've seen in years in the NHL. They're so fun. McAvoy is playing as good as he ever has. Geeky's unbelievable. Pasta is perfect. Sway is fucking phenomenal. And if all of a sudden they just like slipped out, people would be like, wait, what? What? Like, I truly think fans in Boston would be flabbergasted.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

If they. If they did not make playoffs, they'd be like, wait, what are you talking about? We're not in the playoffs right now.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I also think if Boston got in the playoffs, they would go pretty far.

[Dan Powers]

I love that that's a team.

[Chris Powers]

So. Yeah, dude, I always think this about. And dude, few things would make me happier than to see like a sick Islanders run, a sick Blue Jackets run, whatever. But the teams without the experience usually have that one year of like, okay, we're in and we got popped. Boston I would not want to face at all because they have a finalist, goalie and all the experience on that roster right now.

[Dan Powers]

They'd be playing Buffalo. Yeah, like, and like, dude, if they'd be playing Buffalo and if Boston adds. I think. I don't know what the situation is if Higgins doesn't join this team. That I would. That would be fucking flabbergasting. To me. Good point.

[Chris Powers]

I didn't even think about that.

[Dan Powers]

A lot of flabbergasting going on right now, but if James Higgins does not get inserted into this lineup, I would be shocked. And I think there's legitimately an argument for Letourneau, too. I. It's. Dean Letourneau is such a stereotypical three years at BC guy, and I think he's going right back to BC and he'll have another great or a great junior year, hopefully. But there's an argument for both of them to come. But if you add Hagan's to this group and Buffalo catches them round one, and Buffalo's like, we haven't been in the playoffs in 30 years. And Boston is like, sup? And you have pasta and McAvoy and sway. That is not a fun first round matchup.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

So I completely.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

It's fun for us to watch.

[Chris Powers]

So fun for us to watch.

[Dan Powers]

But I'm so with you, Ev. I'm like, fuck, that's not a fun match.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Every time I see them play, I'm like, they're. They're a good. They look like they're going to do some damage if they get in the

[Chris Powers]

playoffs, if they sneak in.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I'll tell you one thing, too. If. If the Penguins don't get in the playoffs, I think this is the last time you'll see Malk in there.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, I think so, too. And I don't know. How do you feel about that as a Penguins fan?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I mean, look, you got to pull the trigger at some point. You can't keep these guys until they're fucking dusty bones. And I love Geno so much, but I think he rubbed a lot of people the wrong way with that suspension. Especially if they look and they go, wow, we could have maybe won a couple games if you weren't suspended.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, right.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Not that he.

[Dan Powers]

That was crazy. He tried to kill Rasmus Dali.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah. I mean, he plays with passion.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

But I'm just saying, like, Dubas is refusing to nail down what his contract is until after the season, and Geno's agents want to have that conversation now, but they're like, let's see how we do. And I think that's smart because they gotta start thinking about the future.

[Chris Powers]

Would you be devastated if he signs? You know, like, with Florida?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I think he's got one or two years left in him anyway, so I really don't. I. I wish him well. He's done his service to my. My favorite team. So there's. There'd Be no hard feelings whatsoever.

[Chris Powers]

I like that.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, I like that too. Okay. And then the most fun. I think my picks. Columbus.

[Chris Powers]

Me too. 100.

[Dan Powers]

We're saying all the same. Like obviously 100 Red Wings guy I need. But it's like if the Red Wings get in, it's. It's. We are officially at. It's not fun. It's like, thank God.

[Chris Powers]

It's relief.

[Dan Powers]

It's relief. I think the Islanders would still be fun.

[Chris Powers]

Me too.

[Dan Powers]

But it's the Columbus Blue Jays.

[Chris Powers]

And for me, the Penguins are fun. Like I put them in. In heartache or whatever it is. But the. Yeah. Just this Columbus Surge. The super late surge.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

After. Especially after a super late free fall last year.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Is just such an amazing thing for those fans and some of the best fans in the league.

[Dan Powers]

So true.

[Chris Powers]

People forget that they sell out every single game.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Patient fans.

[Dan Powers]

All right, let's kick it to the West Coast Western Conference. Do the same thing. Biggest. If you miss playoffs.

[Chris Powers]

The biggest shitheads Oilers.

[Dan Powers]

The Evan. Okay, the answer. Sorry, no, no, no. The answer is Vegas and Edmonton. Now it'll never happen, but it is the answer.

[Chris Powers]

It's not never, dude.

[Dan Powers]

No, I mean, look, look.

[Chris Powers]

Actually, yeah, I guess it is because

[Dan Powers]

it's not great that Edmonton has lost two in a row with. With Leon out because I mean these fucking clown ass performances in the Pacific is just so crazy. But then again, the Kings have one game in hand and they're only four points back. So if like the Kings win two straight here on this trip of theirs and if Edmonton loses two in a row and you're like. But do you.

[Chris Powers]

Do you say with the dry saddle injury that it's like a similar Panthers argument? Absolutely not.

[Dan Powers]

It's the Edmonton Oilers. Yeah, it's the Edmonton Oilers and you have Connor. And it's this. It's this, you know, this moment.

[Chris Powers]

I mean, it's the Chiefs, right? Like the Chiefs missed the playoffs. And I'm like, you have Patrick Mahomes. I know the super bowl every year, but you certainly need to make the fucking playoffs. Yeah. And the Oilers. I'm like, you have Connor McDavid. You can't miss playoffs if.

[Dan Powers]

If Vegas. I mean, good God.

[Chris Powers]

The answer is Vegas. But they probably.

[Dan Powers]

There are literally only two teams in the Pacific who have a plus goal differential and it's Vegas with plus three and Edmonton with plus. Yes, one. This division is so bad.

[Chris Powers]

Tragedy.

[Dan Powers]

It's crazy. Those two would be catastrophic. And I think the only other one is the LA Kings.

[Chris Powers]

Okay, so the Kings. Yes. For all. Like, it's. It's. We were kind of doing shithead in the east because of the season teams have had. Yeah, the season the Kings have had doesn't make them shitheads at all for missing playoffs. They've. They have been this the whole fucking time. But the roster the Kings have and the copy of it makes you the biggest shitheads. If you.

[Dan Powers]

It makes you shitheads. And it also. Chris, it's like you. You just can't have the. Their defense has been good all year. They're just not scoring goals. And a huge part of that was the coaching situation. And you waited until fucking, like, after the deadline to fire Hiller that you're

[Chris Powers]

shitheads for that crazy dude. That was after Olympics. Yeah, right?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Or yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is why we talk. We were like, what. Why didn't.

[Chris Powers]

Why.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

You had two, three weeks to.

[Dan Powers]

And then it's like, I look at. You have these. These performances, man. That's like you. You lose to a surging Buffalo, like, at home. But, like, okay, that's fine. You lose at home to the Flyers in. In a shootout.

[Chris Powers]

Flyers won. The whole west coast swing.

[Dan Powers]

I know.

[Chris Powers]

It's fucking epic.

[Dan Powers]

Great job, Flyers. But, like, the Flyers are not a good team. So, like, that is a shithead loss. A 6, 4 loss to the Devils is a shithead loss.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Dude.

[Dan Powers]

They're just like.

[Chris Powers]

You know, it's funny. You're right, by the way. But I love how the Flyers. And just in this anecdote, The Flyers have 80 points. And we're like, the Flyers are bad. And I'm like, yes. You know who's bad? The Kings. Like, the Flyers.

[Dan Powers]

The Flyers would literally be second in the Pacific.

[Chris Powers]

You know who's bad? The Kraken. You know who's bad? The Sharks. The Jets. The Oilers. Vegas. Like, the Flyers are. Flyers are better than all these teams.

[Dan Powers]

The Kings are minus 26. Gold if. The Sharks are minus 35. Seattle's minus 17. Like, these teams are having a tough go of it. So biggest shitheads gotta be all Pacific teams. Vegas, Edmonton and Kings. Big dude.

[Chris Powers]

If Vegas were to miss. And I don't want that at all. I love the Vegas If.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, dude, it is.

[Chris Powers]

The answer is actually Vegas. Someone is in big trouble if Vegas goes. We have Eichel and Marner. Yeah. And Stone and everybody on this team.

[Dan Powers]

And Hurdle.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And we just traded for Rasmus Anderson. And we have Noah Hannifan.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

But Stone, is he injured?

[Dan Powers]

Jay Theodore. Yeah. Stone's injured. Shocker.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Okay.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Biggest heartbreak.

[Chris Powers]

I'm going to go.

[Dan Powers]

I'm going, Utah. Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, I think that's correct. Because of the play of late. You know, I think the. I think the Sharks fans, similar to the Islanders fans. I would go, God, this is such a heartbreak.

[Dan Powers]

But it's okay.

[Chris Powers]

You're fine, you're fine, you're fine. But I think Sharks fans kind of were like, holy shit, we're doing it. We're fucking. Yeah. And now I'm like, you're gonna miss.

[Dan Powers]

And they're. But they're in that Boston Islanders category of like, the future is so bright. I don't think they ever should have been here in this fight. I look at it from an analytic standpoint. Utah is just. They're a good hockey team.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

They have a plus 25 gold diff. They added weeks. This is like, to me, they have suffered from the fact that the Central is a fucking absolute dog fight every day. But they are a playoff hockey team. And if they didn't sneak in. I don't want to say sneak in. You have a five point cushion at this point. If you don't make it, you'd be like, are you fucking kidding me? What happened?

[Chris Powers]

Right?

[Dan Powers]

So I think that would be heartbreaking for them.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

I'm with you on that. And then most fun. I think the only answer is the Sharks.

[Chris Powers]

The Sharks are the most fun team maybe in the league.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Okay. Vibes, vibes, vibes, Vibes.

[Chris Powers]

Yep. But. And I'm not even going to say, but I guess I'll just kind of go both. Cause you're right about that. But. And I know you disagree with this, but the Nashville Predators doing exactly what Columbus. It's the same answer. It's the same answer where we go. You were long dead. You've been discussed twice all year.

[Dan Powers]

This is a perfect transition. Just get right into the Preds. Chris, talk to the people about what the Preds are doing.

[Chris Powers]

The Nashville Predators also retooled kind of on the fly in a way a couple years ago, and the Preds canceled their U2 concert. And then.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

We've been talking about this for years. Wait, what?

[Dan Powers]

We've been talking about this for years. Dude, that was like three years ago.

[Chris Powers]

The Preds canceled their U2 concert. A few years ago, the Preds were on a road trip and they were supposed to go to U2. And then they were playing bad. And then Trots was like, the U2 concert. The concert's not canceled. You are all canceled. You are not going.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Oh, that's so funny.

[Chris Powers]

And the team was like, What? And they were like legitimately devastated.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Punished them.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. But then they went on an all time heater, got in playoffs, and it was really fun. And they were playing the 1 seed Canucks in the first round, which is like the only time the Canucks have been good in the last fucking decade. But the Canucks were nasty that year and they took them to six games. A lot of us, maybe one of us, I can't remember, picked the Preds to win that series. Cause it looked like they could and they. They kind of should have. Like, they were. I think there was like a couple games in that series where they gave up a game time goal with 10 seconds left and then it would lose in overtime.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Where I was like, that series is right for the taking. So the Preds go on this absolute like, wow, we got really good at the end of the year. And then we took the President's trophy team to the wire that summer. They're like this. We'll also have Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marshall and Shea. Who else did they get that summer? Yeah, Shay Brady, Shea. And everybody was. This is going into last year and everyone's like, oh my God, the Preds are going to win the fucking Central. And then they fucking blow and missed playoffs. And it was crazy this year I was like, I think sometimes you just need a season to get all those new pieces going or whatever.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Chemistry.

[Chris Powers]

So coming into this year, I was like, I think the Preds are going to be back in playoffs and going to be in the mixer here and. And. And Stammer's gonna be all the way back and all this shit. And then to start the year, they sucked. And Turats was like, I'm also. I quit. I was like, oh no, this is terrible. And they were dead, dude. They were fucking dead. And our boy Chris is always texting us like, preds look good. And we will text back like, shut up, dude, the Preds stink. And then Now Stammer's got 33 fucking goals. And the Preds are in a wild card. And certainly not comfortably, obviously, but like with a mini, you look at the east, those guys all have the same amount of points. Like, they have a little gap, there's a little space. They are not comfortable. They have space in a wild card spot. And if this Predators team, after all the bullshit going all the way back to the U2 show, goes on an absolute heater here and makes playoffs again, that is a fucking awesome story.

[Dan Powers]

I completely disagree.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Really?

[Dan Powers]

I think it. I think Chris is absolutely correct in that it is A. It is a fun. It's an awesome story. I love the city of Nashville so much. I love the Predators so much. Their organization, their fans, their barn, everything. If this team steals a playoff spot from one of these teams below just. Just to get fucking buzz sawed by the Colorado Avalanche in the Ryan O'Reilly Bowl, I will go. Cool. That was fun. Thanks a lot, guys. This team has been so mid all year.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

You'd rather see the Kings in there or something?

[Dan Powers]

You know what, As I am obviously biased towards the Kings, but the Kings have been assholes all year as well. I think seeing the Kraken or the Sharks sneak into the playoffs would be objectively fun. It would be fun to see playoffs with those teams even if they also got swept. If this fucking retirement home Nashville Predators team gets into the playoffs.

[Chris Powers]

They're not that old.

[Dan Powers]

They are, dude.

[Chris Powers]

They're the Penguins, dude. Like Nashville.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I'm not talking about the Penguins.

[Chris Powers]

These guys aren't that old.

[Dan Powers]

You're telling me that Steve Sandler.

[Chris Powers]

They're not that old is what I'm saying.

[Dan Powers]

I don't know.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I think they're excited to go to a YouTube concert.

[Dan Powers]

SAMMER'S what, 34, 36. Yeah. SAMMERS, 36. What is O'Reilly? 36, probably. What is Marcia? So 34, 35.

[Chris Powers]

O'REILLY 35.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

They should put a stat on here where it's average age of the team.

[Dan Powers]

I'm like, what is Yossi? 34,

[Chris Powers]

35.

[Dan Powers]

They're pretty old.

[Chris Powers]

They're pretty old.

[Dan Powers]

So it's just like. I. And again, I love the press. I'm sorry, I don't like being negative and I'm not.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

The average age is 28.3 years.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, I mean like, I, that's. There's a lot of young guy and there's a lot of exciting like we know or huge Evangelista fans. Matthew Wood looks fucking incredible. We love Nick Hague on the back end. I love this team. I just think they've.

[Chris Powers]

I don't know. Yeah, dude, for me, they've just been

[Dan Powers]

the same team all year and they've won four in a row and because literally it's all because the Pacific is so bad that they have like somehow snuck into a wild card spot and I'm like, dude, I refuse to get horned up about this story because like what Columbus is doing. Columbus has 10 more points than them.

[Chris Powers]

I mean, the entire west, except for the three Central teams.

[Dan Powers]

I know, it's insane.

[Chris Powers]

And maybe the Ducks is embarrassing. Yeah. But dude, the reason I, I guess I don't passionately disagree with you, but the reason I disagree is as a. If you're asking me to pick, like, Chris Powers, the King, I would like the Kings to get in because they're all my friends, and I really want this for Kopi. Then I would like the Sharks to get in because they are also my friends, and. And they are a really fun team and an exciting team. But if as an objective hockey fan, like, or just a neutral. I'm just a hockey fan. I'm new to this sport, and I'm curious. The Kings have sucked all year, and I don't need this. I don't need them to. They will also get swept by the apps. So, like, good day. Thanks for coming out. The jets have sucked all year. The Kraken I don't give a fuck about. If I'm just a neutral, I'm like, okay, whatever. The Kraken. The Kraken, dude, have done nothing, ever. They made plants in a really cool thing.

[Dan Powers]

It's literally just the Sharks.

[Chris Powers]

Yes, exactly.

[Dan Powers]

It's just the Sharks because it would be cool. And that is where you're right.

[Chris Powers]

Yes. And so for me, as a neutral, the Sharks would be cool. But then the Preds go, that town fucking loves that Te. Like, you just said all those nice things. The bar in the city, like, Nashville in the playoffs. I'm like, yes. So it's. As an objective.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

It's.

[Chris Powers]

It's pred.

[Dan Powers]

And it's. It's. It's also like, I. Obviously, I love Kopi with all of my heart, and I desperately need them to get into the playoffs for him, but given what we just said, how do I not also feel that way about Stammer O'Reilly, Yosi Marshy. Like, all of these guys are older as well, and I'm like, get him in again. So, yeah, it's. Maybe I'm being too harsh on the Preds, but listen, they're playing great fucking hockey, and if they make it, they'll also have earned it.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

So many of these teams are talking about, like, hey, assholes, win games down the stretch. Here. You have a chance. No one is doing it except this team. So it's like, fucking, hey, yeah, you deserve it.

[Chris Powers]

And it was like, they beat. They beat the Hawk. Well, Hawks are feisty, but they beat the Hawks. But then they beat the Knights, the Spunk, and the Jets. And like we just said about Detroit, it's like, when you play the teams that you are competing with for this last spot, you have to beat them. True. So I'm like, okay, you just play the jets, the Spunk and the Knights. Win, win, win. I'm like, that's how you get it. God, the Preds are back. And we will be right back after this ad break. Do you think you know college basketball? Well, then prove it. Prove it one time. Prove it by predicting which teams will cover the spread in the tournament for a chance to win bonus bets. How do you get this offer, you ask? Well, it's very simple, my friend. There are three easy steps. Number one, you enter the March matchups. 500K, pick them free to play game. Free to play. Do you hear that? It's free to play. 500k. Step two, pick which teams you think will cover the spread in each round of the tournament. Three, if you get the most right that round so you can play right now, you know we're into the sweet 16. You can play that round. If you get the most right that round, you'll win your share of bonus bets. Please make sure to read our full terms and conditions before participating in this promotion. And if you haven't signed up for BETMGM yet, do it right now. Use that promo code, netters. It's N E T T E R S at signup and then you will receive your welcome offer. It's incredible. BETMGM is incredible. Make it legendary.

[Dan Powers]

Let's jump into some college hockey. We've got the bracket set for the Frozen Four, April 9th through 11th in Vegas. It's going to be fucking unbelievable. But we also had some craziness going on with the different conference championships. Started off with Dartmouth.

[Chris Powers]

Dartmouth. You know what, I'm actually so happy for Dartmouth because they are making. They won the ecac, which is an automatic bid, baby. And they get their first tournament appearance since 19 fucking 80. And Cornell was the preseason high favorite on that. You know, they were like 10th in the preseason polls and then they didn't play for so long. It's so funny. The Ivey's just like, don't play. Everyone else is ripping around Dartmouth, I think in memory serves what, 11 and oh to start the.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, they were wagon like that and

[Chris Powers]

it just felt like one of those, man, this could be the. The hot start. And then they cool off a bit and then you get to the tournament and then Cornell waxes you and then they go, thanks for the fun. You're out. So to see them, get to see them just continue it all year and then win the ECAC and get in like that was unreal.

[Dan Powers]

Unreal. Taking a look at the automatic qualifiers for winning their conferences. We've got Bentley winning the. Aha. Absolute joke of a school clown bums. There's like 5,000 foreigners on this team who are 27 years old. Can't wait to watch you get your cheeks clapped by Michigan.

[Chris Powers]

Hey, they're in, buddy.

[Dan Powers]

Fraudulent loser school Bentley. Fuck you, Michigan. Duh. Winning the Big Ten, Minnesota State winning the ccha. Dartmouth, as Chris mentioned, went in the ecac. Meramec. Merrimack winning Hockey east, and Denver winning the nchc. Unbelievable. Merrimack wins its first ever Hockey East. Chip.

[Chris Powers]

Lowest seed to ever do it. Eight seed. Dude, that was an insane run, dude.

[Dan Powers]

Like, they beat Lowell, great. But then you beat number one Providence, number two UMass, and then Yukon. Holy hell.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Yeah. One, two, three, in order is insane. And that final, the goal. That Swedish dude, Lundgren.

[Dan Powers]

Max Lundgren. Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

49 saves in the final. Two one in the final. That's outrageous. That is the fact that. I mean, listen, the. You had the chance all year to be a top seed, and the 1, 2, 3 seeds were the teams Dan just listed. But the BCBU puke job this year is insane. Considering the players on those rosters.

[Dan Powers]

It is pretty tough, man. Like, there. There are some schools not in this tournament that I'm like, yikes.

[Chris Powers]

New main is shocking to me. Yeah. But I'm like, after the season you had last year and some of the guys you brought in and the coach you have. But I was like, you know, whatever, it's competitive division in college hockey. But BCBU with the guys on those

[Dan Powers]

rosters, it is a tough look for

[Chris Powers]

Boston to not even be in the conversation. Like, you didn't. You couldn't make a single run in the hockey. You didn't do anything all regular season.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I know.

[Chris Powers]

You couldn't make a run in the hockey tournament, and now you're not even participating in the national championship.

[Dan Powers]

There's a chance we get some of those Boston guys in the NHL early, though.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

I mean, Cole's already there, but it's crazy. We're going to do our brackets next episode.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. We'll reveal our picks, but for now,

[Dan Powers]

just running through it, we've got in Albany, New York, Michigan against Bentley, Minnesota Duluth against Penn State. Then over in Worcester, Michigan State against UConn, Dartmouth against Wisconsin. Then down in Loveland, Western Michigan against Minnesota State, Denver against Cornell. And then in Sioux Falls, we've got North Dakota against Merrimack and Providence against Quinnipiac. Exciting stuff.

[Chris Powers]

Absolutely.

[Dan Powers]

Juicy matchups there. The.

[Chris Powers]

They start on Thursday. Turn Up. Game starts on Thursday. Pretty early. So two. I mean, like Dan said, next episode will come out before that, so you'll be able to hear our picks. Here's what I got, Dan. Here's what I got for you. I. This is. And this happens in the basketball tournament, too. But I. It's funny just to see where the games land, like, who's playing in which cities, because it can be really unlucky.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And Merrimack, I think. I think there was a dude. It's like, the fuck? I read this. The captain of Merrimack, maybe.

[Dan Powers]

I just get so annoyed with these neutral sites. It's so fucking stupid.

[Chris Powers]

Well, the. The first couple rounds should be home. That'd be cool for the fans.

[Dan Powers]

Yes.

[Chris Powers]

Right. Like, just get the home game, obviously. But the Merrimack captain is like a grad student or something. And he said winning hockeys was the best. He was like, this will be the best moment of my life. So. Point being, they're already happy. They're just happy to be here. But to catch North Dakota in Sioux Falls, like, that is such an easy trail. You're dead.

[Dan Powers]

Poor, poor Mary.

[Chris Powers]

Like, they're good. Like, it's just okay.

[Dan Powers]

I would love nothing more than for Bentley to have to go into Yost and get murdered.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, my God.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Sacrificial land. Yep.

[Chris Powers]

They're going to feel. I mean, Michigan feels good. The two that I'm most excited about are Denver, Cornell, because Cornell is so. Cornell fucks up so many brackets. They always do this. They do this every year. Even when they lose. It's like a dog fight to one. Whatever.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And Denver's been so up and down all year where I go, oh, they're the best team by far. Oh, wow. They might miss the tournament. And then obviously they have an incredible conference run and win that shit. They beat Duluth, I think, in an un. So that's going to be really interesting. Just like, that's unlucky. Or Denver. I go, great, dude. I got Cornell. Yeah. But at least it's a home game. And then Duluth. Penn State. Duluth. Penn State is a fucking tilt. Two teams that at times. Duluth, to be fair to Penn State, I never said they were the best team in the country.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

But at times. Duluth. We were saying that they had the best team in the country.

[Dan Powers]

I think Penn State should fucking wax

[Chris Powers]

them to the Duluth as the guy which is maybe delusion in the country.

[Dan Powers]

I know, I know.

[Chris Powers]

And Penn State, man, when you go to your program's first frozen four and then you spend A shitload of money to bring Gavin McKenna in, who has been great, admittedly, has been great. Especially that last.

[Dan Powers]

Such a funny sentence when you're talking about college sports. Yeah. Spend a shitload of money to bring a player.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

But it's true.

[Chris Powers]

Had a great last third of the season. And we all said, preseason, if you're going to bring In a Gavin McKenna, certainly the expectation is back to a frozen four. You don't have to win the Natty, but you should get back to the frozen four. And now their path is beat Duluth and then Michigan. That's their only hope of getting to the frozen four. I'm like, jesus, dude. Like, you might be dead in the

[Dan Powers]

first round, but it's also such a sick opportunity.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

I almost look at it as, you

[Chris Powers]

got nothing to lose.

[Dan Powers]

You do want to beat Duluth, but if you then go up against Michigan and Michigan chokes again, that is. That's just an amazing story for you. And if you lose that game, you go, yeah, we lost to the number one seed, who was number one seed all season.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

The best team. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

I really love that Dartmouth Wisco game.

[Chris Powers]

Me, too. I'm happy for Dartmouth that it wasn't a horrific bid, because this would be exciting. Wisconsin had beat some big boys this year. There were a few weekends where I was like, holy shit. Yeah. There are also a few bad weekends for Wisconsin, so we got a shot at it. We. And in Worcester. Fuck it.

[Dan Powers]

I know. All right, we'll get into our brackets next episode. More in depth stuff. We want to take a moment quickly to talk about a very, very sad story. Anyone in the Minnesota area is aware of this story, and everyone in hockey should be aware of this story. Really, really tragic story. Jesse Pierce, an amazing writer for NHL.com Huge Minnesota Wild fan, contributed to the Minnesota Wild for years as well. Over 10 years tragically passed along with her children in a house fire this last week, which is absolutely horrific. By all accounts, Jesse was just the embodiment of the hockey community. And hockey people just loved the game so much, loved her family so much. Took every chance she could to brag about her kids to all of her friends and family and coworkers. Was just the biggest fan, brightest light in the game. Every time people said they saw her, she was always smiling, always asking people how they were. And it's been obviously horrific to see such a tragedy happen, but it's been incredibly uplifting seeing all of the community talk about her the way they have, the way people have rushed to just say how much Jesse was an incredible person. Jesse made their day better every time they saw her. It was just really, really lovely to see all of the love being outpoured. And we just want to add onto that and make people in the hockey community aware of this because I think that's the best thing about the hockey community is everyone always steps up in these moments of tragedy and we want to be a part of that and just make sure that everyone in the hockey space knows to show some love to Jessie Pierce, her family, her community, all of the amazing people in Minnesota who are touched by her kindness and her love and her light, we want to just add to that because it's just these things are so heart wrenching, but it's rallying together that makes them a little easier.

[Chris Powers]

Absolutely. I'm. I'm. The amount of texts I got people in that area asking if I knew her, which we didn't, just made me so sad that I didn't get a chance to know her.

[Dan Powers]

I got.

[Chris Powers]

I know the amount of things people said to me in the last few days tells me everything I need to know about what type of person she was. So all of our love to Jesse's family and friends and everyone she was close to.

[Dan Powers]

Jesse was a Iowa State grad, worked in New York, Colorado, obviously Minnesota, all sorts of sports. She could be heard on the bar. Down beauties pod breaking down. The Wild jumped on some vice, Vikings pods. Just love a good Minnesota fan. It's unbelievable. So if you want to check out Jesse's work, hear her voice on that pod, go check it all out. But again, just us extending our love as much as humanly possible. Jesse Pierce and the family, all of our love goes to you.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I also just to chime in, I heard that Shira there is a Kickstarter for her family.

[Chris Powers]

Amazing.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

In case anybody has the ability to give, I can put a link up.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, we'll pop that link up. Thank you, Evan. We'll pop that Kickstarter link up. Yeah. If you can help support the family, that would be amazing. We are now going to jump into ad break and we will be back with some not ice craziness.

[Chris Powers]

All right, listen up. I know it's nice all year round here in California, but for most of you, it's about to be spring, it's about to be summer, it's about to be beach season, it's about to be short season, it's about to be tarps off season. So we can no longer be eating the comfort food. Okay, we're done with the Comfort food. It's time to start eating. Well, it's no longer an option because I know you got a busy schedule. So do I. I'm flying all over the place. It's ridiculous. There's no time for me to do anything, to cook anything. So hard. It's so hard to eat. Right. So you no longer have an excuse because now you have fully prepared meals designed by dietitians and crafted by chefs. Okay, they're ready in two minutes. Count it. Two minutes. There's no planning, there's no cooking. This is a game changer. All right, so what I want you to do is dive into this fact thing that I've been doing hundred rotating weekly meals to keep things fresh. They keep things delicious. It's outrageous. There's high protein, there's calorie smart. There's Mediterranean diets, which I sneaky love. There's GLP1 support. There's ready to eat salads. Plus there's a new muscle pro collection which supports strength and recovery. Perfect. If you're getting back into the workout routine, getting back into the gym, that's what we need right now. It's always fresh. It's never frozen. Ready in two minutes. No prep, no stress, no nothing. You can stick to your goals. You can actually eat healthy for once. This spring, this summer, it's going to be incredible. So head to FactorMeals.com netters 50 off and use code. Netters 50 off, that's N E T T E R S 50 to get 50% off and free breakfast for a year. A year offer valid for new Factor customers with code and qualifying auto renewing subscription purchase. Make healthier eating easy with Factor.

[Dan Powers]

It's time now to talk to you about Bauer and talk to you about fits. And as a fancy boy myself, I can't think of a better ad read for me. We all know how much I love Bauer. We all know how much I love fashion. Well, check it out. Bauer just launched their new spring collection and everything is fantastic, as is always the case with Bauer. But I'm being honest here. You have seen me post about Bauer's athletic gear when I'm in the gym. All of my workout stuff is Bauer now. And it's the best I've ever had because it is for athletes. Now, am I an athlete anymore? Maybe. Who knows? But I like to stay active. I like to stay fit. And this stuff fits so well. It's all lightweight, breathable fabrics. Unbelievable options, too. Here's the thing. All of this new spring collection, I can go right from the gym with their amazing gym shorts, their tops. Everything feels so good. It's breathable, like I said. But everything goes right into the rest of the weekend, rest of my day. Spring is turning around here. We're getting some better weather so you need new fits. They've got unbelievable golf shirts. They've got fantastic cotton T shirts that are great for the weekend if I'm going out to a restaurant or the bars, things like that. And all of that athletic wear, like I've said, is as good as it gets. Truly, whatever your needs. It all fits that athletic body type so well. Whatever body type, frankly, that lightweight, breathable fabric is frickin fantastic. I have layered up completely with all of this Bauer stuff. You need it too. So if you want to keep that active lifestyle fit from the gym right into the weekend, whatever you're up to. Bauer has all of these options. So check it [e-mail]. check this new spring collection if you want to get that great athletic vibe and that feel with all of your wardrobe. Bauer has this brand new collection that is going to answer every need you have. Check it [e-mail] right now. I've recently been hit with a trend, with a wave that for me personally is quite exciting and I. I need it to be talked about. You are a big nostalgia porn guy.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

I am not a nostalgic guy. I'm not. But I am a particular guy with the things that I love and the things that I think should stick around and. And be back in our lives. I think we are getting hit with a simulation. Recycle right now. We all live in a simulation, correct?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Oh, okay.

[Dan Powers]

And we talk about the things like fashion. You know, how fashion is. What is it? The fashion's never finished. But also fashion just comes back around all the time, dude. I think we are in a wave right now where the 90s are coming back. And I wrote down one that we've all seen. Like baggy jeans are back.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

We were just in Vegas this past week. Producer Hurls Shout out Glue guy. Who's next? Hurley's got on the hippest, trendiest baggy jeans I've ever seen when we're in Vegas and I'm like that, well, it's hot out.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

You gotta let those boys breathe.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, fair. But I'm also just like, that's back.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Like, but you're not a baggy jean guy though.

[Dan Powers]

I'm not.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Neither am I.

[Dan Powers]

But Hurls is younger and I'm saying

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

like, it's coming back but okay, can I say this? When I was. Okay, I grew up in the 90s, and by the time I got to high school, me and a lot of my friends who, you know, we were a little nerdy than some. We were obsessed with 80s stuff, which is interesting, because I feel like younger kids now are looking at the decade just before they were born and going, like, what's up with that?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

In a good way or a bad.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

In a good way, because he's wearing baggy jeans.

[Dan Powers]

Fair.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Right.

[Dan Powers]

Fair.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Because, I mean, like, a lot of these people didn't grow up in that era, for sure.

[Dan Powers]

Not Right. But this is what I'm saying. Like, these. The kids, the youngins are wearing that stuff. And the. The big thing that I've noticed recently, if you have not caught on to this dude, Pokemon is fully back.

[Chris Powers]

Dude. I would argue, though, that it never left. Never left.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Okay, well, Pokemon Go was big during the.

[Chris Powers]

That's what I'm saying.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Like, but you guys didn't see this during. You weren't watching the broadcast of the Olympics. But the fucking gold. I think the gold medal game was, like, brought to you by Pokemon.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

And it was so funny that. Like.

[Dan Powers]

It sure was.

[Chris Powers]

God.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah. It was like the sportscasters going, like, Pokemon.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I'm like, wow.

[Dan Powers]

So it never left Chris in that. It never died, but Pokemon's back.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Like, Pokemon lived. Because there's. I'm sure there's certainly still, like, a cartoon and there's been all these video games, but the cards are back, dude.

[Chris Powers]

When I was back, I don't think you were there. But when I was back in Maine last, I was at my friend Sam and Haley's house, and they have children and Whom I love and dubs their oldest was like, you know, he's always coming up to take me to the playroom to show me his new stuff.

[Dan Powers]

Is he rocking Pokemon?

[Chris Powers]

No. He pulls out. He goes. He grabs me, my hand. He's like, come here. We go upstairs. First thing he opens, Dan, is like, three ring binder. No, boom. Plastic nine. Three by three niners.

[Dan Powers]

Wow.

[Chris Powers]

Boom. Pokemon Pokemon poke. And he's like, I traded this one for this. I swapped this one for this. This one kid at school has this one. I'm gonna cut him if he doesn't give it to me. And I'm like, shit. Incredible.

[Dan Powers]

Damn. He's already threatening.

[Chris Powers]

Violence is dialed in now.

[Dan Powers]

I. I feel like I've mentioned this on this show. I still have my Pokemon binder at mom and dad's house.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And I've always been like, I should have them mailed it to me. I bet I can make some money. I actually bet I could now. I mean, those things are legit.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

So I just sent you a video leaving Vegas. I'm walking through the Vegas airport and there are these two, tops, vending machines just chock a buck full of Pokemon cards. Get a rip in. And I'm not going to name names, but we couple fellas in the NHL we were talking to recently are all in on Pokemon. And I'm like, this has reached the national. Pokemon is back. And. And there's a chance that I can make millions here with my old school Pokemon collection. But I wanted to talk about Poke. What are. I mean, Pokemon cards are so funny to me. Ripping cards is so funny to me. Card culture is crazy.

[Chris Powers]

But that ripping sports cards, though, I

[Dan Powers]

will say it's the same thing, dude.

[Chris Powers]

And it will. No, at least it's literally, you know, like, oh, this guy signed.

[Dan Powers]

You're telling me that you can't get a Pikachu autograph? Yes. Could you imagine if Pokemon added that Pokemon? If they could somehow authenticate and I don't know who's doing it, but like, if there was a.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

If the creator of Pokemon signed a card, that'd be valuable.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. I mean, like, maybe that's it. Or like maybe it's just like they would have the holographic ones. Right. Like you could just make it a level, a new level of. Of rarity.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

But I guess though, like, the Kaboom cards are just cool looking, you know, it's like this is a Saquon Kaboom card.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, shit. It's one of.

[Dan Powers]

That's what I'm saying.

[Chris Powers]

One of ten.

[Dan Powers]

It's just rare.

[Chris Powers]

Whatever. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

So I just make it an auto.

[Chris Powers]

This is a Pikachu Kaboom.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I just. I love that this idea of creating a craze around the notion of you have to collect them all is such a capitalistic play. It's like, no, we gotta market this thing to kids and we're gonna make a million of them and they have to get them all.

[Dan Powers]

But aren't there so many now? Look up right now how many Pokemon there are. Because it used to be 151.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I'll look at it right?

[Dan Powers]

Like that was the whole thing.

[Chris Powers]

And that was Mew. That was Mewtwo. Right? Wasn't he 151? Yes. And I was like, holy shit.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. There was Mew And Mewtwo were 150 and 151, but it. Okay.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

1000 holy 1025 unique species.

[Dan Powers]

That's.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. And you got to get them all. Dan.

[Dan Powers]

I thought I was close.

[Chris Powers]

No, you are yours. You're worth nothing.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I mean.

[Dan Powers]

Well, here's the thing.

[Chris Powers]

I.

[Dan Powers]

It got me thinking about these games. Like I. Pokemon's back. My algo has been hammer fucked lately with Rollercoaster Tycoon and Sims clips. I don't know why.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

It probably knows your age too and it's serving you stuff that you know, you have a connection with as a child.

[Dan Powers]

I'm sure. But is there a chance that those types of games are coming back too? Because I think about kids attention span now and the way. I don't want to get into more Harvest Moon talk, but the way a video game like Harvest Moon, I mean I am not of the generation that has a low attention span but menial tasks, you just like I was like dialed. And maybe there's an opportunity for a game like Rollercoaster Tycoon or the Sims to capture these kids attention span again and get them honed in and focused on stuff. Do you remember Roller Coaster Tycoon?

[Chris Powers]

Roller Coaster Tycoon? I never liked the Sims that much, but Roller Coaster Tycoon was gas.

[Dan Powers]

It was gas. And there were so many ways you could be a total sadistic lunatic. You could just kill people with the

[Chris Powers]

roller coasters, the one that went like the loop de loop and then it

[Dan Powers]

would stop and you, you could crank up that speed and send them into the sun.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

You could also lock somebody into a. A brick like box in the Sims and set it on fire.

[Dan Powers]

That could do that. Oh, Chris.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah, that was messed up.

[Dan Powers]

I. In this, my algorithm, I saw there was a Reddit post that was like how can I kill my husband? Drowning doesn't work. And a person wrote this super, super long complex way of killing him. It was like insert insulin under their tongue. They'll never be able to find the thing. Then dig a 12 foot grave, bury your husband, fill it up to 6ft and then bury a dead animal then. So when the cop dogs come, they'll just find the dead animal. They won't keep digging. And then eventually the person in the write up was like, oh shit, this is a Sims post.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

That's great. I was like, oh, that's fantastic.

[Dan Powers]

But I am wondering if there is if PlayStation 5 launched a roller Coaster Tycoon type game. You have any idea how fast I would buy that? And I think it would take the fuck off.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, okay. So what I was gonna say is. And I heard this a while ago, and I was like, oh, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. What the world, the capitalist world does is wait for the things that we liked. They wait for us to get disposable income. Like, we like these things because we're kids, and then they. They go wait for them because they're poor still. And then.

[Dan Powers]

Then we get a bunch of money.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Then we become, like, mid-30s.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

In theory.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Yeah, some people. But then we become mid-30s, 40, and then they go roller coaster also.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Share it with your kids.

[Chris Powers]

My God. Yeah. So then we. Holy shit.

[Dan Powers]

And is that what they do?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

So, yeah. Now we are like, oh, my God, son, you have to see this. This Pokemon, this is roller coaster.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

What?

[Dan Powers]

You're so right, Chris. What they're doing with Pokemon now is us fucking dipshits are having kids and we're like, oh, my kid likes Pokemon. I love Pokemon. Yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I'm sharing it with my. I mean, look, we. This has been since. I mean, I remember as a kid in the 90s, how many movies and TV shows were about the 60s? A ton, dude. Because it was. All the people creating stuff then were like, my childhood was like this. And blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's the same thing.

[Chris Powers]

So this is what's happening.

[Dan Powers]

90s movies hit like crap.

[Chris Powers]

But I like it. It works because it works. I'm like, hell, yeah, dude. I love that show.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

But, like, you watch the Sandlot, and it's like, I'm nostalgic for a movie in the 90s about childhood in the 60s.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, yeah. Fucking hilarious.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Where kids are obsessed with a baseball player from the 30s.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

It's like, how many layers back, dude?

[Chris Powers]

That's so Inception.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

You know what I mean?

[Chris Powers]

So, yes, that is exactly what's happening. I'm fucking here for it.

[Dan Powers]

Me, too.

[Chris Powers]

And I want to see. Because the video game one, I think, is the biggest question, because we have not lost the thread, but we just. We've given. They've tasted too much incredible video gaming that if I'm like, boom. Like, I think, here's a great computer. Nobody. I remember somebody being like, it was a PC version of it, but they were like, this is Pong on Atari.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Right?

[Chris Powers]

And I was like, this is not that fun. Yeah. I'm just gonna play Super Smash Brothers. Yeah. And I think now.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

But there is a curve, though, where it does become fun. Like, I'll give you an example. My nephew, who's really the only window into youth that I have, he's about 14, maybe 15 now. He came to visit me last summer. He's obsessed with Sonic the Hedgehog, which, again, is like, another thing from the 90s.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

But he also loves video games.

[Chris Powers]

But he.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

He loved when me and my brother whipped out the N64.

[Dan Powers]

Did he?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

And we played Mario Kart, you know, some wrestling games. I tried to show him the Star wars game, Shadows of the Empire. Which is the hardest fucking game in the world.

[Chris Powers]

Correct.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

And my brother just let him take it home with him. He's like, put it on the plane. You can take it. And he. He's like. He collects vintage video games. He loves that stuff. Like, I think kids genuinely like, kid sounds fucking nails. He's cool. He's a cool kid. And maybe he's not a great, you know, metric for every. Every other kid, but I feel like those, like, things are kind of fun because they're like, oh, my God, look at this. Like, limitations on my technology are kind of interesting.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

You know?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

I think that's sick. My. My question was, wasn't there another tycoon game? There was, like, Rollercoaster Tycoon, and then there was something else.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah. Let me look it up. I remember there was.

[Chris Powers]

It sounds like it.

[Dan Powers]

I. I don't know that. I think you're right. I don't know that a re release would work. If they just went, here's Roller Coaster Tycoon. It looks exactly the same. You just played on PS5. I don't think that would work. But if they advanced Roller Coaster Tycoon and you're, like, in the park and there's consequences for killing people, that would be pretty sick.

[Chris Powers]

And like, sir, you've been arrested.

[Dan Powers]

I don't know what it was about those games, but just building something and then watching it be successful. I think kids today would. Would.

[Chris Powers]

And maybe those are lessons they need

[Dan Powers]

to get off with that.

[Chris Powers]

Maybe those are lessons they need to be a part of, like, build the. Build a business, dude.

[Dan Powers]

Okay, so here's my question.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

What tycoon game would slap oil? Oil Tycoon would be interesting. That could get real dark.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

We're living. We're living in it, baby. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

[Dan Powers]

So hold on, hold on, hold on.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

So funny. Just be like, you've invaded this country. Oil.

[Chris Powers]

Not the oil.

[Dan Powers]

You turn into an ayatollah.

[Chris Powers]

It'd be great. Gas prices. $7.50 a gallon. You bitch.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

So that's pretty much what Dune is.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

So we had Harvest Moon, and then everyone told me about Stardew Valley. I still gotta get into it. Oh, yeah. Fuck. But people are like, stardew Valley is the new harvest move.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, I forgot about that.

[Dan Powers]

So we had Roller Coaster tycoon. Like, could we do like, City Planner Tycoon. Mountain Resort tycoon. What if you built the next great Aspen?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Well, here's one. Constructor plus is a game where you're a real estate contractor.

[Chris Powers]

Jesus Christ. That sounds miserable.

[Dan Powers]

That sounds awful.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Townsman is a medieval town builder game. I mean, they have like. I don't know, there are games like this, but you could update them, make them more interesting.

[Dan Powers]

Building.

[Chris Powers]

Were there water rides in Rollercoaster Tycoon.

[Dan Powers]

Sure were.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Water park tycoon.

[Dan Powers]

Water Park Tycoon. There were. I think my favorite part about the Sims was just building houses. Yeah, but there's gotta be. Actually, okay, I played. There was a. I'm a big Assassin's Creed fan and there was an Assassin's Creed Valhalla. It was about Vikings. And a huge part of the story mode was you settled in an area called Ravensthorp. I think it was like Ravensthorpe or something. And that was your village. And the more successful you were, you would go on raids and you would get materials. And when you'd come back to your village, you could build more shit. You could build a horse stable, you could build a marketplace. I being the freak I am, I loved that seeing Ravensthorpe or whatever it was, prosper fired me up. There's got to be a market.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

You just want to be like the town builder guy.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I mean, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

A medieval village building game would be sick.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Create utopia.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, you just create a utopia.

[Chris Powers]

That would be fun, I think.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

The market of it I think would be fun.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

If you could create like that. I think just building things I wouldn't enjoy. Ski Mountain would be cool. I don't know how that game would

[Dan Powers]

work because two people just NHL.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

NHL.

[Dan Powers]

I think it'd be just gm. I mean, it's.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

That's what you do. Yeah, that's what you do in the game.

[Dan Powers]

I think it'd be exactly like Roller Coaster Tycoon.

[Chris Powers]

I'd be like, I'm putting a run here.

[Dan Powers]

They'd go, here's this giant mountain. You have bought this mountain. Create a couple trails.

[Chris Powers]

Good apres spots.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

You know, it's dark.

[Chris Powers]

Where are the lifts?

[Dan Powers]

Where are the lifts? Are there gondolas? Are there mid mountain restaurants? What are you serving? How much?

[Chris Powers]

What were you gonna say?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I was gonna say this is dark because I don't want it to go here, but like,

[Dan Powers]

get dark.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

No, no, it's not dark in a dark way. But it's more just like. Because I'm a movie guy, I'm a TV guy. But you could do like, you know, literally movie set. You know, you design, you pick the crew, you make the film.

[Dan Powers]

Movie studio. Tycoon, movie studio.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

But then that ends up being like. Like they make an AI movie. And that's the future cinema.

[Dan Powers]

You have executives just like being absolute scumbags.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah, I mean, there could be that too.

[Chris Powers]

It would actually be really fun to do a. Remember those books. Here we go, 90s. Remember those books where you would be like, choose that. You would be like, if you want this option, choose your own adventure. Yeah, choose your adventure. Yeah, those were sick.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah, those are great.

[Chris Powers]

And that would actually be a really fun game to be like. You become the Warner Brothers exec and it's like. Like, here are a bunch of. Which one are you picking? Yeah, I'm like, this one.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I'm like.

[Chris Powers]

It tanked. And how do you save the studio? You know, like.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah, there's got to be a game like that that's not already a game.

[Dan Powers]

There was a. One of the Grand Theft Auto games, one of the newer ones. There was a lot of choose your own adventure things that changed the end of the story. Yeah. Which was pretty interesting.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Oh, there is Movie industry tycoon.

[Dan Powers]

You are called tycoon. It's called the Executive. There's no way that's a real game.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

The executive movie industry tycoon.

[Chris Powers]

Click on that shit right now.

[Dan Powers]

The fact that it's a tycoon.

[Chris Powers]

That's what I'm saying. Gan, that's insane. It's out right now.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I'm not gonna put the audio available.

[Chris Powers]

Dude, this just came out. Available February 11, 2025.

[Dan Powers]

Holy shit.

[Chris Powers]

Brand new game.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Don't you think though? Okay, this is the dark thing I'm gonna say. Don't you think that like games where you do things that like normal people would have done 50 or 80 years ago, we're just doing on a computer because we can't afford or have the vision to do them on our own? It's kind of a sad, dark, like,

[Dan Powers]

I think are we're living in. I think the Sims is the most depressing game of all time. The Sims.

[Chris Powers]

Interesting.

[Dan Powers]

The Sims got to a point where your character got a job and people would pick the job that they wish they had and then build the house that they wish they had and then find the partner they Were. It was. The Sims was Inception. It was like you were living in

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

the dream, sitting around playing the Sims.

[Dan Powers]

This is unbelievable.

[Chris Powers]

Distracted us from our simulation.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Exactly.

[Dan Powers]

The Executive Movie Industry Dragon.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

What? Is this available on Goblin Studio?

[Chris Powers]

Hell, yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Is it just something you play online? I. Dude, guys, I have not played a video game since I was 12.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, dude, you're.

[Dan Powers]

You're building office space. We got to get off of this topic.

[Chris Powers]

We got to go.

[Dan Powers]

Okay, before we move on from this not ice and get into a beer league hotline, what thing? I wanted it off the top of your heads. I didn't do too much research because I don't want to cheat. But off the top of your heads, what do you guys think are 90s comeback things? My number one thing. Pogs.

[Chris Powers]

That you want to come back or that you think will come back?

[Dan Powers]

I think a combination of both. People are getting into card rips again. You're telling me you wouldn't get into Pogs?

[Chris Powers]

Pogs.

[Dan Powers]

But maybe Pogs were just so stupid because no one actually played them. What was that thing? Was like a thumper.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Well, there was a thing that you'd

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

be like, slammer, Slammer. If I had to Pog. I remember my buddy, we. I was playing with some friends of mine and one of them had a slammer that was. This dates it so bad. It was OJ Simpson behind jail. Like, jail bars.

[Dan Powers]

OJ's in the slam.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

It was wishful thinking, though, because this was like. This was between the murder and before the trial.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Holy shit.

[Chris Powers]

Whoa.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

So, yeah, this was like very. Yeah. Very top goal time.

[Chris Powers]

I hated that, dude. People would be like, I now have your Pog. And I'd be like, no.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And they're like, yeah, I slammed it.

[Dan Powers]

Well, that's the funny thing is, like, you know, Pokemon was meant to do that too. You were supposed to play.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

It's like magic the gather.

[Chris Powers]

Magic the gather.

[Dan Powers]

And if you beat someone's Pokemon using the energy cards and this and that, you were like, I get that card.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Now I am happy to know that kids are physically handling cards and maybe getting together and doing something. I mean, that's.

[Chris Powers]

That's cool.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

That's cool.

[Dan Powers]

That's cool.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

It's a good thing. What do you think?

[Chris Powers]

90s stuff. That would be sick. All I can think about is, like, baseball cards or video games and video games. We have too much cool shit now.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Maybe like, would you like to see

[Dan Powers]

a play place make itself back to a McDonald's?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Absolutely.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

What about, like, foods Maybe they were all bad for us.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, well, probably back then they were way better, actually.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

No, I don't know.

[Dan Powers]

Here's one that I saw and I'm. I'm very. I think I know exactly where you're gonna land on this. I'm curious, Ev, where you will again. I said I did a little bit of research. Should we bring back the 90s pop in where you.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Like in a sitcom sense?

[Dan Powers]

Yes.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Like, where somebody would just come over.

[Dan Powers]

Where you would show up at your friend's place and just knock on the door. Would you get mad? You, I believe, would.

[Chris Powers]

I would love it.

[Dan Powers]

Thrilled if you were at home.

[Chris Powers]

I would be fucking thrilled.

[Dan Powers]

And Ev just showed up and knocked on the door and was like, yo. And was holding the case of beer. Yeah, I think you'd be throwing.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I would love it. Here's my only problem with it. I think people had more free time back then. I'm too fucking busy for a pop in. Like, I pretty much fill my day with shit to do all the time. So if somebody comes over, I'd be like, oh, wow, that's. Man, this is. I'm working and also I'm making dinner and like. And I gotta go pick up my wife. You know what I mean? Like, too busy.

[Dan Powers]

What if it made you realize we're not that busy busy if someone came for.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah, I don't have to pick up my wife at the airport.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Well, that's a very unique. Your wife's not coming home from the airport every day.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

She flies a lot now. I'm kidding. But yeah, but you know what? I'm. I get your point.

[Dan Powers]

I think if we. I think if we. At first, I think it would rub people the wrong way. They'd be like, what the fuck is going on? But I think it would maybe get to a point where someone did the pop in and they knocked on the door and you were like, yo. And they're like, hey, I just. I was in the neighborhood, thought I'd hang for a second. Yeah. And they sat down for like 30 minutes and you were like, that was awesome.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I would love it.

[Dan Powers]

And then maybe the pop in started happening more.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

I wonder if we gotta start popping in.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

It's also harder. And like, okay, you're in New York. You're in a more condensed city.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Might work better. Or like, growing up where I grew up, me and my two best friends, who I'm still best friends with, we all lived like within a mile of each other on the same road for sure. It's just harder to do now.

[Chris Powers]

But I think.

[Dan Powers]

I think we are. We're too comfy now. Now we're so averse to any inconvenience. Yes, you're right. Maybe for our need to be inconvenienced. Last night I. Chris and I went to a movie and then, what was it, 3 o'? Clock?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And from 3 to 7, I kind of sat around watching basketball and I thought about texting people and I was like, whatever, maybe I'll just sit here. And it was because it was convenient.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

It's cause I was being lazy.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And maybe I should have got off my ass and driven to a friend's house and just knocked on the door.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Well, this is like what you said. Everybody needs to have their beer league. It's like you need to create. I think people need a reason to be together now.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Which is like, you don't need that.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

You don't necessarily need it. But the reasons you. I'll tell you what I would bring back from the 90s. Affordable housing. No, no, this is what I would bring back.

[Dan Powers]

That wasn't your answer. That was a great.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

That's a great answer. But that's. That's a stretch as far as things that are fun. Well, having a house would be fun, but you remember yo yos came back, bro. This one was yo yos came back. I was just using it, which is actually an old.

[Chris Powers]

And I was like, oh, I got one, dude, I fucking love yo yos. Yeah, I fucking love them. I still have two fireballs at my house right now.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Were you one of those kids that was really good at the yo yo shit?

[Chris Powers]

Did you do the crazy tricks? There were kids that were nasty, though. I don't mean to imply that, but I had a. I had a really repertoire of six tricks. I bet.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Could you walk the dog?

[Chris Powers]

Four of which. Buddy, I bet I could still do four of them right now. I bet I can make a Jamaican flag right now.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Holy

[Chris Powers]

cat's cradle. Did you guys get.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Did you guys get fundraisers? Like, they would come through. Like, the people would come to your school and be like, you guys got to sell these magazines. And then if you sell 25,000 magazines, you get a yo yo.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, yeah, dude.

[Chris Powers]

We would trade. Like I'd unscrew half and trade half my yo yo with something else. Like, I'd get.

[Dan Powers]

That was cool. How fireballs could do that. When you saw someone with a 1/2 color fireball, I was like, that guy's cool.

[Chris Powers]

That guy's the fucking Man. Dude. Yeah, Here's a couple. There's a few things scrolling. Some 90s stuff right now that I'm like, thank God that's gone. Like, our lives are so much better. Where it's like. One was like, the phone would just ring. You had no idea who was calling.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I'm like, well, we didn't call our id. We did get caller ID eventually.

[Dan Powers]

That. That was good, Chris.

[Chris Powers]

Nightmare.

[Dan Powers]

No, that was good because it didn't breed a bunch of babies.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

It's true.

[Dan Powers]

Like you who now when you get a phone call and you don't recognize that. You scared? I can't answer that.

[Chris Powers]

Well, It's a telemarketer. 99 times out of my.

[Dan Powers]

Is that the worst thing in the world to develop the skills to go like this? Hello. You hear telemarketer, you go, not interested. Fuck you.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. That's horrible. This is a good one. The Nickelodeon game shows.

[Dan Powers]

So sick.

[Chris Powers]

Like Double Dare Temple. Double Dare. Like, we.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

We really have.

[Dan Powers]

I mean, we still have them. They're just. It's called Survivor.

[Chris Powers]

I know, but I'm saying we should have, like, the kids watch.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

No, we have the best curated media for kids between Nickelodeon and like, like mtv. Yeah, like some. Some on mtv if your parents let you watch. It was great.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Nickelodeon was so dope.

[Chris Powers]

Nickelodeon still is incredible. I think so.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah, but it's not. It's not. They're not slimy.

[Chris Powers]

Squeeze it.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Pop it.

[Dan Powers]

God, those were all sugar, brother.

[Chris Powers]

Never squeeze it. Sony D. All right.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Also, roll your ankles on some moon shoes.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

[Chris Powers]

That's insane. Anyway, all right. Wow. 90s is incredible.

[Dan Powers]

God, the 90s were great. We're going to bring them back. Okay, Ev, take us into a beer league hotline.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

All right, here we go. We were getting ready for the shower after a game the other day and a guy took his jock off and someone noticed there were skid marks on it.

[Chris Powers]

Come on.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

It wasn't covered in shit or anything. And it didn't smell any worse than a hockey jock normally does. How did he smell it?

[Chris Powers]

Okay, yeah, good question.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

But the tracks were there when we called him out. He said he gets skid marks after every game. Washing doesn't remove them. And he's certainly not going to buy a new jock every week. Plus, when he. When was the last time we even washed our jock? How do we interact with this man moving forward?

[Chris Powers]

Such a good sign.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

This is. Is this a real one? This is real.

[Dan Powers]

So if he. This.

[Chris Powers]

You know what?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

This one I want To.

[Dan Powers]

I want to. I want to address probably the thing that would get skipped over the most in this first, because I know that you are bad about this.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

Hockey equipment smells bad.

[Chris Powers]

Horrible.

[Dan Powers]

We all know that hockey equipment is very. It's not a thing that you can wash that easily.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

It's uniquely bad, though. Right? Is there something about hockey?

[Dan Powers]

Yes.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Well, no.

[Dan Powers]

I think football gear smells pretty bad too, but it's different. It is different.

[Chris Powers]

It is. What makes it different? It's such a special smell. I don't know.

[Dan Powers]

I think it's legitimately. The material that it's made with. Hockey gear smells bad. There's no doubt about that. And a lot of it is very difficult to wash. You can't really toss your shin pads in to the wash. You can certainly wash your jock. And I know a lot of guys on our team do not do that.

[Chris Powers]

I would be willing to bet that you are the only person on our beer league team that has washed their jock in years.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. And I do think that that's crazy

[Chris Powers]

townhome, but I think that's the norm.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Are you talking about the kind of jock that goes over your underwear, like, with straps? Because I have one that's like, literally a pair of like, tight underwear that has the insert for it. Okay. That one I wash because it's like a full pair.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So everyone's different in hockey.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

I wear full pant jock.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

My jock is touching your skin.

[Dan Powers]

My jock is spandex pants that comes. Has a cup insert and it has the little velcro things on the front and back.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Right.

[Dan Powers]

So they are just. They're essentially compression shorts that go all the way down to my ankles. If you worked out in compression shorts, you would fucking wash those every single day.

[Chris Powers]

Correct.

[Dan Powers]

I don't wash my jock every game, but I wash it once a week. Twice a week. And I urge.

[Chris Powers]

That's every game you play.

[Dan Powers]

You play Well, I play twice a week.

[Chris Powers]

Okay. I doubt you watch it that much.

[Dan Powers]

I wash it twice. I meant to say. Excuse me. Once every two weeks.

[Chris Powers]

Okay.

[Dan Powers]

I. And I do do that.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. But it's an excellent point because I literally never work out in a compression shorts and not. And then use them again, literally ever.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I get a rash that way.

[Chris Powers]

Yep. Then in hockey, you use it and you work out. No, you're not working out harder, but you are dumping sweat. Dumping way worse than a normal workout.

[Dan Powers]

And then you stuff it in a bag full of sweaties. And again, you should be airing your gear out every game. I don't care who you are. But. But just airing it out, that's not enough. Guys gotta be washing jocks more often.

[Chris Powers]

And no one is. No one is except for you.

[Dan Powers]

I disagree, man. I actually think I would love to put up post a poll. I. I would guess because jocks are. If you have the old school.

[Chris Powers]

If you have the one over the underwear. I don't give a. You wear whatever. Do whatever you want. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

If you're wearing. But who the is wearing underwear while you play?

[Chris Powers]

Or like a compression short under. Whatever. I'm saying like the.

[Dan Powers]

If you wear compression shorts and then you put that. Yes. Yeah. Yellow one over the class.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Classic jock strap from like the 50s,

[Dan Powers]

but I don't think many people have that anymore. There are some freakazoids.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Like, that's what Crosby.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, but he's a fucking psychopath. Like, that is.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

If you win three Stanley Cups. You get to never wash your jock.

[Dan Powers]

If you are a guy who's wearing like, you know, you wear compression shorts and then you put a literal cup, like a literal jock strap over it. Fine. Because you are washing those.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I still think you could wash that occasionally.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yep. It's gonna get sweaty.

[Chris Powers]

Well, like what?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Like the cup junction over the thing. I think still needs to be washed,

[Dan Powers]

but at least that thing is not touching your skin.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Exactly.

[Dan Powers]

If you are not washing the thing that goes directly on your ball sack and dick.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

You are a fucking pig person.

[Chris Powers]

Yep. Which is. Which is just about everyone you play with.

[Dan Powers]

I don't think that. Dude, I don't know why you're taking a survey. We're so confident we have to survey.

[Chris Powers]

I do know.

[Dan Powers]

No. Well, I'm going to ask these guys next game. And I do believe it's not every game, but I guarantee it's not as limited as you fucking do it. I bet you've never washed your jock.

[Chris Powers]

Why would I wash my jock?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

You're just also the guy who was surprised. You should wash your bath towels at least once a week.

[Dan Powers]

You're disgusting. Now let's get into this issue.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

Fella, something's wrong with you. You do not get skid marks every game. You do not get skids. Skid marks in life. The only time this is a Here's a fact for people. I thought that this was common knowledge. If you are getting skid marks ever, you're not wiping. Well, your butthole is not full of

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

shit or you've sharded or.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And that's a circumstance. That's an extenuating.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

That's A rare. Hopefully rare.

[Dan Powers]

That should hopefully be rare. If you're sharding very often, you've also got an issue.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, but I also think that if you are deep scratching your ass, you can get. You get skid marks.

[Dan Powers]

No, Chris, only if. Dude, if you are deep scratching your ass and you get skid marks, you have shit in your butthole, which means you are not wiping well enough.

[Chris Powers]

If you scratch into your butt, into

[Dan Powers]

your butthole, you should still. There should not.

[Chris Powers]

You should get a skid mark.

[Dan Powers]

I disagree. There should not be poop immediately in your butt.

[Chris Powers]

So when you're wiping, are you opening up your butthole, getting inside an inch to make sure that's clean, too?

[Dan Powers]

That shouldn't have poof in it.

[Chris Powers]

Well, yes, it should, because you just wiped to the very edge.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Boom.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

So you're saying it's kind of like a soft serve machine where, like, there's still ice cream inside the tube.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. So you go, boom. And that's clean as hell. But then if you go, well, you would get. You would get ice cream also.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Wait, do you finger your butthole when you.

[Dan Powers]

No.

[Chris Powers]

Which is why I don't have skid marks in my underwear. But I believe that if you scratched that deep, if you got really deep, you should get.

[Dan Powers]

You should not be scratching your butthole that deeply. Ever.

[Chris Powers]

Ever. And I don't know why you'd be scratching. Well, I guess if you're. If it itches, it itches. Maybe there's the problem.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

This is what I would say to this guy, though. Like, how do we interact with this guy moving forward? Well, is he a great player?

[Chris Powers]

So I don't want to call somebody out.

[Dan Powers]

No, we are, because we. We're. We're calling this man out.

[Chris Powers]

I don't want to call some. No, I want to call one of my friends out. Oh, but one of my. One of our dear friends said that he. He was a football player in high school, and he would get. He would get skid marks every game because he said he played D line. And he was like, dude, when it's third and 19 and they say, pin your ears back and get the sack. I'm. I'm training so hard against this guy, but I'm shitting my pants that I. There's. There will be skid marks. Okay.

[Dan Powers]

Again, I know this friend. I did not find that smart. Excuse me. I did not find that normal.

[Chris Powers]

I was, like, trying so hard.

[Dan Powers]

Okay.

[Chris Powers]

I don't think you should be trying

[Dan Powers]

that hard in Deer Lake if you're trying so Hard that you're shitting your pants regularly. You have a problem. You need better sphincter control or change your diet.

[Chris Powers]

Change your diet. Yeah. Maybe it's a diet issue.

[Dan Powers]

It is if you've got a leaky butthole.

[Chris Powers]

A leaky butt.

[Dan Powers]

If you. This is why I said, fella. You have a problem getting skid marks. Every game, something is wrong. You are either not wiping well enough, you have a poor diet, or you are scratching too deep into your asshole.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

My dog, he's a poodle. He has a leaky butthole. So maybe this guy needs his anal glands expressed.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Take him to the groomer.

[Chris Powers]

Take him to the vet.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Take him to the groomer and switch his kibble up. Get him some better Purina food. That'll help. Dude, I just think. How do you interact with them moving forward? Just if he's a really good player, you overlook it.

[Chris Powers]

Yes. Like all things. No league. No.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

No.

[Dan Powers]

Gentlemen.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Well, what are you going to tell the guy?

[Dan Powers]

I'll tell you right now.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

This is where I need people.

[Chris Powers]

We should get him some wet wipes.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, we need people.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

But you can't flush those.

[Chris Powers]

You can't.

[Dan Powers]

You can.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

No, dude, no. It depends on where you live. But you really shouldn't flush them.

[Chris Powers]

That's actually where the point of them.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

You put them in the trash can.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

You're supposed to put them in the trash.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah, it's like. Treat it like a. Like a tampon or something. You put in the trash.

[Chris Powers]

Trash. That's crazy.

[Dan Powers]

So many plumbers away.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

We just put a tampon.

[Dan Powers]

So many plumbers are like, dude, every time that there is a. A blockage in people's plumbing, it's always like wet wipes. Yeah, yeah. But anyway, this is where I am so passionate about. We need to. It doesn't need to be malicious, but make your friends and family better. Call people out. If you. If you have poop in your underwear every day, something is wrong and we need to help fix the issue. So, yeah, call them out and don't be mean about it, but be like, buddy, we gotta get a hold on this.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. How do we fix it?

[Dan Powers]

We gotta get a hold on this. Give them some wet wipes. Go give these a whirl. Take these for a spin.

[Chris Powers]

Maybe eat less close to the game.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, maybe. Let's work on your fiber. You know, it's. I think you need to fix this issue needs to be addressed. If it is so significant that every time this guy gets undressed, you're noticing that there's poop in his jock. We need to fix it just a little. Not okay. Not okay. That's human fecal matter from effort. That's human from effort. God, could you imagine? But it's just like it's in the air now. There's poop particles everywhere in the locker room.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

You gotta fix it.

[Chris Powers]

We buy him a new jock every week.

[Dan Powers]

No. Come on. Be realistic. We have a chance to better someone's life.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah, I think you're right, Dan.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. You gotta call him out.

[Chris Powers]

Okay.

[Dan Powers]

All right, Ev, let's wrap things up with a Bauer blind ranking. Bauer giving us the best stuff in the game. Their new spring apparel is out of this world. So last week we did shock misses for the playoffs. This week we're doing blind rankings. Chances to make the playoffs. So number one would be. We think they're like.

[Chris Powers]

They're in. They're in for sure. Yep.

[Dan Powers]

So this is all going to be bubble teams, folks. Bubble teams. Chances to make the playoffs. Blind ranking Islanders.

[Chris Powers]

God, such a good fucking first one. Great first one. Oh, three. Damn it.

[Dan Powers]

I feel like they're a perfect three.

[Chris Powers]

They might be. They might be a perfect three.

[Dan Powers]

They're a perfect three.

[Chris Powers]

I hate to do that.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

That.

[Chris Powers]

But maybe it's three.

[Dan Powers]

Three.

[Chris Powers]

Okay. Islanders three.

[Dan Powers]

Three.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Kings

[Chris Powers]

four. Cuz they're not even in. I guess neither the. The Islanders are in right now.

[Dan Powers]

I think the Islanders are in right now. Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Islanders. Tough for schedule Kings. Good.

[Dan Powers]

Schedule Kings are four.

[Chris Powers]

They can't be two. They can't be two. No.

[Dan Powers]

Look at the point situation.

[Chris Powers]

They're four. They're perfect. Four. Four. Kings are four.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Bruins.

[Chris Powers]

Could you go one?

[Dan Powers]

You could.

[Chris Powers]

Could you go one?

[Dan Powers]

You could go one.

[Chris Powers]

Could you go one for the Bees? Because you don't know what's coming. Everything's in chaos. They have the. Probably the best goalie of any bubble team.

[Dan Powers]

The problem is we have one, two, and five left. And if we go one, we leave an opening for something.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

And if we go five or it's not five, if we go two, there's a chance that the one is like, no way. Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

So you could go one here.

[Dan Powers]

And is there really anyone that I'm like, they're so significantly higher than Boston.

[Chris Powers]

No one. I think there's a chance we go one here.

[Dan Powers]

One.

[Chris Powers]

One.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Wow. Penguins two.

[Chris Powers]

And I'm happy about that. I'm thrilled. I'm very happy about a 2 for the Pittsburgh Penguins. So tell me, who is definitely not making playoffs in the five spot, worst

[Dan Powers]

chance to make the playoffs?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Seattle. Kraken.

[Chris Powers]

Boom.

[Dan Powers]

That's a fucking list.

[Chris Powers]

That is the first time in a while that that has really come home.

[Dan Powers]

That is a fantastic list.

[Chris Powers]

That was great.

[Dan Powers]

I loved it. I loved every second about it. Loved every second about this episode as well. Hope you had a great time folks. We are headed to Utah today.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, I'm gone. I'm gone.

[Dan Powers]

As you were listening to this in the morning, we will be in Utah. We're going to be at the Mammoth game against the Oilers. Make sure to come find us if you're there. Make sure to check out all the content we're going to be pumping out with the Utah Mammoth. It's going to be fantastic, folks. Toss us a five star review on Spotify and Apple right now.

[Chris Powers]

Pause.

[Dan Powers]

Do it if you can. It means the world to us. Subscribe to the YouTube. Follow us on everything. We will see you on Thursday and we'll see you in Utah if you're there.

[Chris Powers]

Come on.

[Dan Powers]

And if you do see us there, we're going to tell you one thing and one thing only.

[Chris Powers]

Skate hard.

[Dan Powers]

Monster Energy. Everybody knows White Monster Zero Ultra, that's the og. It kicked off this whole zero sugar energy drink thing. But Ultra is a whole lineup now. You've got Strawberry Dreams, Blue Hawaiian Sunrise and Vice Guava. And they all bring the Monster Energy punch.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

So if you've been living in the

[Dan Powers]

White can branch out. Ultra's got a flavor for every vibe and every single one is Zero Sugar. Tap the banner to learn more.

[Chris Powers]

Martha listens to her favorite band all the time. In the car, gym, even sleeping. So when they finally went on tour, Martha bundled her flight and hotel on Expedia to see them live. She saved so much she got a seat close enough to actually see and hear them. So adon you were made scream from the front row. We were made to quietly save you. More Expedia made to travel Savings vary and subject to availability. Flight inclusive packages are atoll protected.