The Sabres Are Unstoppable and The Islanders Have Their Superstar w/ Matthew Schaefer

Summary

Empty Netters Podcast – Ep: "The Sabres Are Unstoppable & The Islanders Have Their Superstar" w/ Matthew Schaefer

Date: March 10, 2026
Host: Almost Friday Media (Dan Powers, Chris Powers, Evan "Dr." Watkins)
Featured Guest: Matthew Schaefer (New York Islanders)

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Episode Overview

This episode of Empty Netters dives deep into the raucous state of the NHL as the brothers celebrate the surging Buffalo Sabres, analyze wild high-scoring games, and hand out three-quarter season awards. The centerpiece is a candid, lively interview with Islanders first-overall pick Matthew Schaefer—already shaking up the franchise as a rookie. The team also takes listener questions, shares beer league war stories, and, as always, delights in off-ice antics, viral marketing fails, and elite food debates.

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Key Segments and Discussion Highlights

Viral Marketing Madness: The McDonald's "Big Arch" (00:03-09:01)

• Viral CEO Burger Taste Test: Hosts lampoon McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski’s awkward “Big Arch” burger pitch ("He keeps saying ‘this product, this product’. It's a fudgeing burger." – Dan, 03:48), doubting whether the cringe factor was accidental or part of viral marketing genius.
  • "There's no such thing as bad publicity." – Evan, 05:26
• Burger King Counterattack: They riff on Burger King’s CEO “devouring the Whopper” as a counter-move and connect the chaos to purposeful, meme-driven marketing.
• Notable Quote:
  • “This is the worst video ever made...now people will buy Big Arch out of spite.” – Chris, 06:58

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NHL Hot Ice: Sabres’ Drunken Game & League Roundup (09:01–24:54)

Buffalo Sabres: The Drunkest Game Ever (09:41–17:09)

• Recap of Sabres vs Lightning, an 8-7 regulation thriller:
  • “That game was so drunk, it was unbelievable. Candidate for drunkest game of the season.” – Dan, 09:41
  • Discussed wild lead changes, non-stop scoring, and the general “buzz” around the Sabres’
  • Joy in the game’s absurdity and reflecting on the evolution of scoring in hockey
  • Notable Quote:
    • “It would be sick if it was like seven, six every night... but there’s an argument that it’s too horny and too drunk!” – Dan & Chris, 16:20
• Sabres Ascension:
  • Acknowledgment of their journey from last to playoff contention:
    • “We decided to be good.” – Chris, 14:27
    • “They flipped the switch. Somewhere in the locker room they had a switch.” – Evan, 14:32

Injury Roundup (17:10–24:54)

• Key Injuries:
  • Rupe Hintz (Stars): Hosts advocate resting him through playoffs to preserve health.
  • Dylan Larkin (Red Wings): “Don’t worry about the curse of March... Larks, take a little break.”
  • Gabe Landeskog (Avalanche): Sidelined with friendly-fire penile injury from a Cale Makar shot.
    • “The last thing the league needs is a hurt dick.” – Dan, 20:55
    • Joke about a potential “Landy Standy” Viagra endorsement, escalating the bit to absurdity.

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Quarter-Season NHL Awards Discussion (27:15–44:43)

Major Awards Chatter:

Timestamps for each major award

• Hart Trophy (MVP) (27:24–33:24)
  • Chris: Nikita Kucherov—“the best player alive, doesn’t get enough respect.” (28:21)
  • Dan: Macklin Celebrini—if the Sharks make the playoffs and he breaks 100 points, he’s the MVP for actually redefining “most valuable.”
• Norris Trophy (Best Defenseman) (34:18–37:18)
  • Consensus: Zach Werenski as the “perfect defenseman,” but Evan Bouchard is closing the gap if his offensive pace continues.
• Vezina Trophy (Best Goalie) (37:19–40:00)
  • Chris: “Vasilevskiy leads the league in wins...doing everything. Tampa might finish first.” (38:23)
  • Dan: “Illya Sorokin leads league in shutouts; if Isles surge, he’s got it.” (39:10)
• Calder Trophy (Best Rookie) (40:04–40:41)
  • No debate: “Matthew Schaefer, it’s you all day, baby.” (40:12)
• Selke & Jack Adams (40:43–44:46)
  • Selke (Best Defensive Forward): Nick Suzuki is the runaway favorite.
  • Jack Adams (Best Coach): Lindy Ruff (Buffalo) and Dan Muse (Penguins) for transformative, against-all-odds coaching jobs.
    • “Lindy Ruff is Jesus Christ, and we are his chosen disciples.” – Dan, 42:05

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FEATURE INTERVIEW: Matthew Schaefer, Islanders’ Superstar Defenseman (49:15–87:45)

Background & Breakout Year (49:15–55:08)

• Draft Narrative: Schaefer went first overall in 2025. After initial skepticism about NHL readiness, he's exceeding all teenage defensemen records and changing the entire franchise vibe.
  • “You’ve only been around the boys for half a year, so it can’t all be them...Where does the confidence come from?” – Dan, 57:57

On Confidence, Family, and Team Vibes (55:09–69:53)

• Role Models: Cites help from living with veteran Matt Martin (“Marty”) and his family, emphasizing unique support from the oldest to youngest.
  • “Living with Marty and his family helps...when you have a dash-4 game, just seeing the girls [kids], it helps.” – Matthew, 59:17
• Gift Story: Emotional story about Marty waiting two years to get him a special bracelet engraved with his late mother’s handwriting—a symbol of support and belonging. (62:22–63:42)
• Team Chemistry:
  • Praises open, fun energy among vets and the infectious, “young” spirit he brings.
    • “We have something really good going for us right now. I think just...bringing a little bit of that young personality.” – Matthew, 67:47

Locker Room Life & Personal Favorites (64:26–85:14)

• Mario Kart on Planes: Building connections via all-night tournaments. “Luigi dude. Yes!” (64:34)
• Game Day Fits: His billet mom, Sid, lays out his pregame outfits (“She’s packing for me on trips...”) (75:23)
• Record-Breaking Season:
  • Most goals by an 18-yr-old NHL defenseman, multiple defenseman records
    • “Most multi-goal games by a defenseman in NHL history...” “You didn’t even score 20 in U15s!” (77:13)
  • Stays humble, dedicating milestones to teammates, family, process.

Rapid-Fire Pass/Shoot/Score: Guilty Pleasures & EDM DJs (78:35–83:48)

• Musical Tastes:
  • Pass: Frank Walker (but “deep down, I love him.”)
  • Shoot: James Hype
  • Score: David Guetta (OG party vibes)
• Food Picks:
  • Ranks Chipotle, Geno’s panzos, Mustang’s wings; not a big wings guy but they grow on him.

Closing Thoughts:

• Life on Long Island: Hints he’s found a home—family, food, and fun are central to his development.
• Notable Quote (on impact):
  • “Matthew Schaefer has completely changed this franchise. It is truly Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin level stuff...” – Dan, 88:00

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Beer League & Listener Hotline (118:31–122:19)

• Beer League Heroics: Listener submission about a retired goalie who still suits up as backup to “work the door” and be part of the team—hosts celebrate it as the ultimate community move.
  • “He now gets to shower with the boys. And that is—that’s why he does it.” – Chris, 121:19

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Bauer Blind Team-Deadline Rankings (122:26–126:45)

• Best/Worst at the Deadline:
  • 5. Oilers (“disappointing moves”)
  • 4. Lightning
  • 3. Blues
  • 2. Ducks
  • 1. Utah Mammoth (“Weeks is better because of the term...I’m so pumped about Weeks being on the Mammoth.”)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments with Timestamps

• “That game was so drunk, it was unbelievable.” – Dan, 09:41 [Sabres/Lightning game]
• “It is literally the best Chinese food I’ve ever had to this day, swear to God.” – Dan, 117:14 [on Green Leaves, York Beach, ME]
• “You are the king of the island. Like, it’s unbelievable. He’s phenomenal.” – Dan about Matthew Schaefer, 89:13
• Schaefer on confidence: “You strive to be perfect, but you’ll never ever be perfect. There’ll always be things that you can work on...” – Matthew, 57:23
• “We don’t slut shame.” – Dan, 23:41
• On Islanders team vibe: “I feel like our d-core...didn’t know they had that offensive ability… now it’s, ‘let it rip.’” – Matthew, 67:22

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Summary Takeaways

• The Empty Netters crew delivers irreverent, contagious hockey enthusiasm—poking fun at viral branding, immersing themselves in wild NHL swings, and celebrating hockey’s best and weirdest.
• Matthew Schaefer’s segment stands out for its authenticity and warmth. His impact on the Islanders transcends stats, blending humility, leadership, and youthful exuberance.
• Off-ice topics—beer league devotion, food debates, and locker room comedy—balance in-depth analysis with the brotherly “hockey is family” spirit.
• The episode is a must-listen for both hardcore and casual fans eager to understand the game’s new guard, while enjoying the camaraderie that only former players-turned-podcasters can provide.

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Table of Important Segments & Timestamps

| Section | Time | |---------------------------------------------|-----------------| | McDonald's/Burger viral marketing | 00:03–09:01 | | Sabres vs. Lightning/Hot Ice | 09:41–17:09 | | Injury Roundup | 17:10–24:54 | | Season Awards Roundtable | 27:15–44:43 | | Matthew Schaefer Interview | 49:15–87:45 | | Beer League Hotline | 118:31–122:19 | | Trade Deadline Rankings | 122:26–126:45 |

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For best effect, check out:

• Matthew Schaefer on family, Marty Martin, and team-building (57:57–63:42)
• Hart Trophy/Kucherov discussion (27:24–28:31, 30:07)
• The beer league towel-goalie story (118:31) for pure "hockey-for-the-love" vibes

Vibe: High-energy, irreverent, proudly hockey-nerd. If you like inside jokes, mythic food rants, and human stories from future superstars, this episode is for you.

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.

[Matthew Schaefer]

No, I invented that. Almost a year now that I haven't taken a body check. That's kind of nice.

[Dan Powers]

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

[Matthew Schaefer]

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 Ners podcast, brought to you by BetMGM. I am your host, Dan Powers, over here on the sticks. His car's gas tank might be leaky, but his energy never is. Evan, Dr. Watkins.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Hey, brother.

[Dan Powers]

How we doing? I don't like that. I've got a camera right in my line of sight of you.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah, I know. What do I need to like.

[Dan Powers]

No, it's okay.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

No, I'll move it here.

[Chris Powers]

Let's move it.

[Dan Powers]

I can maneuver. I can maneuver. And then over here to my left, he. He's just like a fast food burger. On the outside looks fantastic, but on the inside, it's a slow, creeping death.

[Chris Powers]

Chris Powers, as always. It's been too long since I got a good zing. You were on a heater. That's what I'm saying. So, you know, this makes sense.

[Dan Powers]

You were on a heater.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

You had birthday immunity and engagement immunity.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, I mean, he was untouchable for about a week, but now it's fair game. Now, speaking of fast food burgers, do you guys think. I'm sure you've seen all this Big Arch stuff going on. Have you seen this stuff?

[Chris Powers]

No.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, you're out of the loop on a lot of things.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

The Big Arch is a new burger. And I think we had it in Italy.

[Chris Powers]

I tried it in Italy. I thought that was an Italy only thing.

[Dan Powers]

It has now been released in the U.S. holy shit. And Christopher, I'd like you to YouTube the McDonald's CEO Big Arch commercial.

[Chris Powers]

Okay, so I only know about this because Angus will. Angus did it.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah, I watched that.

[Dan Powers]

So what's that guy's name?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

The CEO of McDonald's. Oh, fuck.

[Dan Powers]

Look that up for me.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah, I gotcha.

[Dan Powers]

The CEO of McDonald's releases a commercial. I don't even think it was a commercial. It was just like an announcement. It was like, here's the Big Archburger. What's this guy's name? Chris. Jesus. What is that last name?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Chris Kempcinski.

[Dan Powers]

Chris Kempcinski. Chris is watching it right now. He talks about this big arch burger.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Hold on.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, get that going.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Do you want me to put it on the screen?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, put it on the screen.

[Chris Kempczinski (McDonald's CEO)]

The big arch. This is something that we have tested already. Portugal, Germany, Canada. I love this product.

[Chris Powers]

Italy.

[Chris Kempczinski (McDonald's CEO)]

It is so good. I'm gonna do a tasting right now, but I'm gonna eat this for my lunch, just so you know. So here we go first. Holy cow. God, that is a big burger. We've got a very unique kind of sesame, poppy sort of bun.

[Chris Powers]

Is it unique?

[Chris Kempczinski (McDonald's CEO)]

We've got.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I've never seen that in a burger before, so. Oh, my God.

[Dan Powers]

I think it's unique.

[Chris Kempczinski (McDonald's CEO)]

Delicious big arch sauce and of course, some lettuce.

[Dan Powers]

So.

[Chris Kempczinski (McDonald's CEO)]

Oh, there's so much going on.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Like somebody sat on it.

[Chris Kempczinski (McDonald's CEO)]

First of all, let's try to get this thing. I don't even know how to attack it. You eat so much to it. Oh, there's also some crispy onions on here as well. I see those kind of coming out. All right. The moment of truth. That is so good. That's a big bite for a big arch. It's distinctively McDonald's. Only McDonald's could do this type of burger. But it also is unlike anything else on our menu. It's a delicious product. You know, you've got sort of the cheeses and the gooeyness, but those crispy onions as well gives a nice texture. And of course, we've got the pickles. So I'm going to enjoy the rest of my lunch. But big arch, try it when you can get it.

[Chris Powers]

Okay.

[Dan Powers]

That is literally the worst pitch of a product I've ever seen in my life. And I use the word product because he keeps saying this product, this product. It's a fudgeing burger.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

It's a food like product.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, it's. It's. It's like when you who had to change their marketing from chocolate milk to

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

chocolate drink, chocolate substance.

[Dan Powers]

Like, it is so bad. He is so bad on camera. And I also love how he's describing the burger. And he goes, we've got this unique bun with like sesame and poppies. He then talks about the patties and then says, crispy lettuce. That's it. Yeah. Then later he's like, oh, there's some onions, there's some gooey cheese and pick. I'm like, do you not know what's on this?

[Chris Powers]

Correct.

[Dan Powers]

Did anyone Prepare him before he did this. And I, I bring this up to say we've seen so many jokes about it now, Angus, if you, if you guys haven't seen it, will. Angus on Almost Friday tv did a hilarious sketch on it. Go check out their page. It's so funny.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

He's, like, almost about to gag.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Like, it's like the behind the scenes, like, he's being tortured, being forced to eat it.

[Chris Powers]

Terrible. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

I bring this up because I believe that McDonald's has enough PR and marketing that, that I almost think this was intentional.

[Chris Powers]

Ooh, interesting.

[Dan Powers]

Because now it's like I was listening to part of my take this morning. They're doing it like the big art. They, they have a deal with McDonald's and, like, they're talking about the big arch. PFTs, like, eating the big. Everyone's talking about the big arch now.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And I, it's all because of this. And I'm like, dude, that is the, that is so.

[Chris Powers]

Such a.

[Dan Powers]

There's no preparation.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

There's no such thing as bad publicity.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. And it's like, I, I, this is not the first time we have seen something come out that is, like, so bad. Everything about that was bad. Where are they? Are they in, like, the McDonald's headquarters cafeteria? He's in, like, a random office. He's. He goes, this is. This is my lunch. What's in that cup? Is that a McDonald's cup of water?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

It looks like Sprite. There's some bubbles in there.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, maybe that, maybe it's a Sprite, but, like, no ice. Weird. And how about he goes. He goes like this, he goes, that's a big bite for a big arch. It's the smallest bite I've ever seen. And then he's like, I'm gonna go finish. He can't even get through a full bite of the sandwich. It's all so bad that I genuinely believe this was all intentional.

[Chris Powers]

I actually love this take.

[Dan Powers]

This went so viral because it's all terrible.

[Chris Powers]

I was going to say sometimes even all the biggest corporations with all their marketing just can't get out of their own way. And they're idiots. And they were like, no, this will be authentic. We don't want it to be scripted. It'll just be. It'll be raw and real. Like our CEO just talking.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

He's eating it for lunch.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

What I wanna know is, was it his idea to do this or was it somebody else who was like, let's bring our CEO and have him eat it. And somebody watched this and said, this is not great, but let's just put it out anyway. Thinking probably what Dan just said, but

[Chris Powers]

I actually now like his point where maybe they go, this is the worst video ever made.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

But it doesn't matter because now people will buy big arch out of spite. They'll buy it.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Or curiosity.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. To be like, oh, my God, let's parody the video and buy a big arch, you know?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Cause you're so right. They have unlimited. They are McDonald's. They have unlimited big arches. You know, sometimes when we're making videos in our backyard, I'm like, we have one take at this because I'm going to break the product. And then for the video, and then that's it. We don't have any more. We could have just flown in endless big arches and try that again. They were like, we're good. We got it.

[Dan Powers]

To your point, Ev, I think it's one of two options. Either this dude. What I also love about Chris Kempczinski. Kempczynski. I don't know who Chris Kempczynski is. That could be Chris Kamczynski. That could be a guy they found off of Actors Access.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And it's like Jack McBrayer either.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

This is a good burger.

[Dan Powers]

Either Chris Kamczynski went, I've got an incredible idea. We're doing it. And they pressed record and they were like, oh, my God. Or this is the greatest marketing campaign of all time.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I mean, ironic. Sales of this burger are going to skyrocket, and either way, they're going to

[Dan Powers]

make money without question. I mean, it is.

[Chris Powers]

I love it. Being.

[Dan Powers]

It's the fact that we're here talking about the big arch on this program.

[Chris Powers]

I did like that. Again, I was kind of catching up via Angus, but I did like. Which I heard. I haven't seen this. Either. That the Burger King CEO did a video.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Where he, like, devoured the Whopper, Hammers the burger.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And he's like, yeah, you just eat it, dude.

[Dan Powers]

And what's funny is, if this was calculated by McDonald's, that looks even better for them.

[Chris Powers]

Burger King play, Right?

[Dan Powers]

They're like. They're like, we made the Burger King CEO eat a Whopper like it was his last meal on earth. What an idiot. There's a chance that this was at. Pure genius.

[Chris Powers]

Yep. The bite wasn't quite watching it for the first time with you two right here. That bite wasn't quite as small as I thought it was going to be. Based on what I'd heard online yeah, it's pretty bad. It's not good. But I know he's trying to talk,

[Dan Powers]

so he's like, yeah, yeah, but that's, that's the. If you're trying to go for this authentic, like, take a bite, brother. What are you doing?

[Chris Powers]

Oh, that sucks.

[Dan Powers]

Absolutely crazy. So we're all getting big arches for lunch.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Absolutely.

[Dan Powers]

And we've got a great episode today, folks. We got some hot ice to get into. We're going to do our three quarter season awards. And the big news, the Daddy Shafe.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Daddy.

[Dan Powers]

Matthew Schaefer star revolutionary. Changing the entire vibes on the island. New York Islanders stud is on the show.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Great kid, too.

[Chris Powers]

Great.

[Dan Powers]

Great. I mean, he's just like the best kid in the world. Can't wait to get to that. We got a beer league hotline, so let's just jump right on into it. Want to start with some hot ice?

[Chris Powers]

Yes, sir.

[Dan Powers]

Hot ice. First and foremost, we've got a drunken disorderly.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

In the league, we love drunken disorderlies when it comes to hockey games. Candidate for drunkest game of the season, Sabers Lightning. Last night, absolutely hammered. That game was so drunk, it was unbelievable. I was, I was heading back from New York, watching some of the games in the airport, and I'm just. Every day, I mean, like my longtime OG listeners of the POD know that I've been a Sabers guy from day one of the podcast. And it's been a journey. It's been up and ups and downs. And we don't talk about the Sabres. We're not talking about the Sabers right now.

[Chris Powers]

Right.

[Dan Powers]

We're talking about a game. But every day when I pop on and I see the Sabers winning, I'm like, this is really cool. Sabers are playing the Lightning, the team that we have kind of dubbed the best team in the east right now. Possibly above the Hurricanes. Sabers donor starts the scoring off early. 20th goal of the year.

[Chris Powers]

Love to see them, which is so sick.

[Dan Powers]

Unbelievable. Zucker scores, Tucky scores. Three nothing. Sabers right at the start of the second period and I'm like, here we go.

[Chris Powers]

Then he had that shorty, I thought. Didn't Tate or. It doesn't matter. You're probably looking at it. I thought Tage hammered one to go up three nothing.

[Dan Powers]

No, it was three. It. It was tipped by Tuck. Oh, three straight power play goals too. Then Corey Perry.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

Which was our pal.

[Chris Powers]

Incredible.

[Dan Powers]

New, new. But second time Tampa Bay Lightning. He gets on the score sheet. Then Tuck scores the shorty and it's. And I'm like, okay, this game's over. It's 4:1. Then Cooch Gargenson's Moser goal, goal, goal. All of a sudden, we're tied. Cooch. Tampa's leading point. Tampa's leading.

[Chris Powers]

It's 6 4. And I'm like, this game is over.

[Dan Powers]

I'm like, what the hell is going on? Then Carrick scores, then Hagel scores, then Darlene scores, then Zucker scores, then Doan scores. And I'm like, what in the world? Is the fact that this game was won in regulation and, like, significant regulation?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. There was, like, four and a half minutes.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

It's unbelievable. But the Sabres win, 8 7.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Whoa.

[Dan Powers]

Dude. It was the drunkest game ever. And I was like, on the plane. I was watching. I. I didn't have. There's no WI FI on my plane. And it was a long plane.

[Chris Powers]

That's awful.

[Dan Powers]

It was actually awesome. I have. I have been. I've had a spiritual awakening this last couple months. And it's hard with our job, but less screen time. Getting off the phone is really, really nice. And it was so lovely on the plane to just be like, I'm just gonna read. And I just read the whole time. It was a late flight, so it was dark. However, there was a guy behind me on the plane. I'm getting really off track here.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

He was eating a big arch.

[Dan Powers]

There was an older gentleman on the plane behind me.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And he was. I don't know what he was watching, but for five straight hours of this plane, he. I'm not kidding, you guys. I'm just. A lot of people are sleeping.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Sure.

[Dan Powers]

I'm wide awake reading, so I don't have any noise going on. He is sitting behind me, and he's just going like this. And he's just got the most combo, dude. At first it was driving me nuts, but then the spiritual awakening. I. I just kind of reframed it. It was delightful. Like, this lovely older gentleman was just watching some slew of comedy movies. Maybe he was watching a TV show. He laughed for five straight hours. It was hilarious. I was like, this guy is having the best time of his life.

[Chris Powers]

It must have been a TV show. Right? He must have been going.

[Dan Powers]

Had to have been, right?

[Chris Powers]

He was just going. He was like, oh, man, I haven't seen shrinking. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

He used that flight to watch season one of Shrinking. Because I was like, there's no way. This guy has found three straight movies that all seem to be the funniest movies he's ever watched.

[Chris Powers]

With great Cadence in the laugh. Timing like, oh, yeah, it was unbelievable.

[Dan Powers]

But we land and get WI fi back. And I was like, oh, let me check on that Sabers game. That was 4 to 1 when I logged off and it finished 8 7. And I was like, what the fuck?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Wow.

[Dan Powers]

It was insane.

[Chris Powers]

It's so awesome. And the Sabres are fucking buzzing.

[Dan Powers]

Yes.

[Chris Powers]

And we are going to go to a playoff game and it's going to be sick. I. I can't process this. Because this. We talk about this all the time. This doesn't really happen when you weren't good to start. I. Yeah, like the Ducks right away. The Ducks this year the Ducks are good. The Wings are good. And now they are good. You don't go, we are in dead last. And then actually, psych. We're fucking nasty. We've been nasty this whole time without a thing happening either. By the way, I think the Wild you could point to that started slow, but. And they were getting better before this. But then, Then you got Quinn Hughes. So there's this huge inflection point of like, okay, now you're better.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Or.

[Chris Powers]

Or a player you had that was hurt in his back, you know.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

It's just the Sabers being like this. So where we decided to be good.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

They flipped the switch.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Somewhere in the locker room they had a switch.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And dude, flip it more often. Where's it been? Why has it been off? You know, it's like.

[Dan Powers]

It's like when you leave, we're. We're flirting with talking about them too

[Chris Powers]

much, but never mind. Never mind. Never mind.

[Dan Powers]

Flirting with talking about them too much.

[Chris Powers]

Never mind. Never mind. But hell of a game. Hell of a run. Hell of a run.

[Dan Powers]

Yes.

[Chris Powers]

I have a thought for you guys and I passionately believe that the average goals. Total goals per game in hockey is. Or I've long said that the average total goals per game in hockey is damn near perfect.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. You're big on this.

[Chris Powers]

Yes. I think most games end or like, on average it's like three, two, you know, three, two, four, three game. I think. And I'm a huge soccer fan. There's not enough scoring in soccer. Full stop. Period. There isn't. Part of the reason I didn't like lacrosse was I just felt like the game, it just. The goalie, like a 53% save percentage is like amazing for a lacrosse goalie, I think, you know, like, oh, my God, every other shot went in.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I'm like, what?

[Chris Powers]

So I think lacrosse games have too much scoring.

[Dan Powers]

Basketball, Basketball. The goalie, the goalies in basketball are

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

so bad, they're like invisible.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

It's like, it's the. I don't think we talk about enough how brutal the goaltending in basketball.

[Chris Powers]

It's actually a penalty.

[Dan Powers]

It's like golden.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And I'm like, they're so bad that when it happens, it's a penalty.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I agree with you. If it's too much scoring, then it takes the excitement out of the rarity of seeing it. But if there's too little, you're like, what a sneak fan.

[Chris Powers]

So of all the sports, I think hockey is the best, and I passionately believe that. But watching this game, I was like, it would be sick if it was like seven. Sick, like if. If it went. If we knocked it up a little bit. Because that was so fun that I was.

[Dan Powers]

It was fun. But there's a. I think there's a. There's an argument to be made that it's too horny and it's too drunk.

[Chris Powers]

I don't know about that, Dan. I've. I don't know that those phrases exist.

[Dan Powers]

I think four.

[Chris Powers]

I don't know the real things that you just said.

[Dan Powers]

4. 3 is a perfect score, in my opinion.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I agree.

[Dan Powers]

I like two goals per period with one extra goal. Is the cherry on top to win the game.

[Chris Powers]

Four, three. Four, three. Yeah. Okay. I live with the four, three. But I'll tell you what, that was a lot of fun.

[Dan Powers]

It was.

[Chris Powers]

I was like, dude, I could live in a world where it was 6, 5.

[Dan Powers]

And I'll tell you what, because when I landed, obviously I had to, you know, I was like, what happened? So I watched the highlights. Watching the highlights was awesome. Usually when you watch highlight. A highlight video on YouTube is like 16 minutes and you know, there's a lot of like, oh, here's a close call. Here's the. And then, oh, there's a goal. This was just good. Nothing but goals. I was like, this is incredible. Yeah, it's like a highlight.

[Chris Powers]

Yep. Something to think about.

[Dan Powers]

Something to think about. We got a few injuries that we got to touch on quickly. Nothing too serious, which is good. Rupe hints hurt.

[Chris Powers]

Rupe hints hurt.

[Dan Powers]

What do you think about that?

[Chris Powers]

It sucks because Dallas is on. I think it's like a 12 game point streak. They have the OT losses in there, but Dallas is on an absolute. Dallas has been so streaky this year, it's crazy. They go. The. Dallas is either the best team in the league or they're getting put on fraud watch by us and they just go bounce Back and forth between those realities.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Chris Powers]

I always say this right around this time. I think Osh told us this too. This is like, this is a tough stretch of the year. You know, like right before the All Star break, they always kind of say it's the dog days. You're just trying to get to that break so hard. And then you come out of this and you're like, okay, now it's this mad dash to playoffs and beyond. Get hurt right now. If you're going to get hurt, Christopher. Get hurt right now. It's actually amazing.

[Dan Powers]

Christopher.

[Chris Powers]

Boom. Miss some time. Especially if your team's comfortably in playoffs. Who gives a flying fuck?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Load management.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

So I wanted to say the Stars are in second. They got a three point cushion with a game in hand on the Wild. They've been buzzing Rupe. I feel like every time people talk about Rupe on the Stars, so many guys talk about how underrated he is, people are like, rupe is so, so good. And I remember last playoffs we had the fucking Bouchard was like hacking down on top of of hints his foot. Like he's just like always banged up. He's been banged up this year. Only played 53 games. Now he's about to miss some more. I would shut him down until playoffs.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

I'd be like, rupe, go get healthy. He's had a bit of a down year. Only 15 goals. And I would be like, dude, you're making playoffs. Just like shut down. And maybe, maybe this is exactly what they needed. Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, dude, this is a chance that this could be.

[Dan Powers]

And maybe they fall down to a wild card spot and then they miss having to play the Wild in the first round. And maybe this could be truly the greatest thing to happen to the Western Conference playoff, dude.

[Chris Powers]

Because you could kick to the specific.

[Dan Powers]

Yep.

[Chris Powers]

But I guess you'd have to go. No, you. If you got top wild card, you'd kick to the Pacific. Yeah, that would be fucking gas.

[Dan Powers]

They got a long way to go. It'd be a long way to fall.

[Chris Powers]

The mammoth at 72 points. That's a big.

[Dan Powers]

I don't think it's possible, but maybe. Either way, I genuinely think they should shut him down because you're making playoffs. There's absolutely no threat of missing. And just get. You need a health if you're going to. If you guys are going to win that first round and you guys are going to get to the cup, which all those two top three teams in the Central, you need to get to the Cup. That Is their mentality. And you need a healthy Rupe. So I'm like, rupe, chill, chill. Get completely healthy. Chill. Next injury up, Dylan Larkin.

[Chris Powers]

My boy,

[Dan Powers]

always hate to see it. That's your captain. That's your leader in every single way. Red Wings fans. Jill, don't worry. No, like I'm telling you. Yeah, yeah, he's fine. Gonna miss some time. Get healthy, be good. Red Wings are in a good spot. They're. They're up in, I believe, third right now in the Atlantic. You love to see it. They're the good win last night. Red Wings, don't worry about the Curse of March. I know a lot of people are talking about it. Don't worry about it. Big win without Larks. You're gonna be okay. But obviously you hate to see Larks go down, but at the same time, good little rest. Larks put his body on the line, dude.

[Chris Powers]

This is what I'm saying.

[Dan Powers]

For a gold medal.

[Chris Powers]

This is what I'm saying.

[Dan Powers]

Put his body on the line for a gold medal. Like that. I know Larks is go, go, go. But this is good. Take. Take a little break. And then last one. You hate to see this. We have a penis injury.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, Gabe Landescog has a hurt penis.

[Chris Powers]

He has a hurt dick.

[Dan Powers]

And when it comes to the hottest man in the league, potentially, no pun intended, the last thing we need is a hurt dick.

[Chris Powers]

Dude.

[Dan Powers]

And it was friendly fire.

[Chris Powers]

It's a lower body injury and it's not a comfortable one.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Quote, this is a picture of his cup, right? That's, like, dated in.

[Dan Powers]

I wasn't sure if it was. Is that a real photo?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I'm like, why would you show that?

[Dan Powers]

I saw it, too. Wait.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I can't believe anything I see online anymore.

[Dan Powers]

I legitimately, again, like, I was getting off a plane and I was like, is that a real photo?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

If it was, that's a hell of a ding.

[Dan Powers]

I think it was fake.

[Chris Powers]

I gotta find that cup photo.

[Dan Powers]

But listen, Cale McCarr hit him in the cocktail.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. And. And that. That happens. And you don't have all the people to get hit by, too. You know, Like, I. There's many other guys on the AVs that would have rather.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, Cal's got a good shot, but, yeah, he got hit in the cock.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

And he's going to be out. He's. He's week to week. But Landy's another one. Again, top of the Central Colorado Avalanche. Landy's another guy that I'm like, take all the time you Need King.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

All the time. You need. You need a healthy Landy for this playoff run.

[Chris Powers]

Dude, you know, it's. I feel like sometimes there's stories where you go, oh, I googled this. Google image this. And then like, oh my God, I just realized the innuendo and now my Google image search is a disaster. Yeah, I just googled the Landiscog cup picture and it's just all these pictures of him.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, with the Stanley Cup.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, that's my bad. That's not how you're going to find this.

[Dan Powers]

Why don't you google dented cup? That's gonna be. That's gonna be when they fell. That's also gonna be.

[Chris Powers]

You see what I'm saying, Danny? This is unfindable. Wow, that's awesome.

[Dan Powers]

Well, people tell us if that photo is real or not, but Landy got hit in the penis and you hate to see that.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

And we wish him. We wish him a speedy, speedy return. A speedy erection.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

Hope that there's no erectile dysfunction from this. However, is there potentially a massive. For an endorsement for Landy?

[Chris Powers]

Okay. Yes.

[Dan Powers]

We got. This is a Viagra deal.

[Chris Powers]

Boom.

[Dan Powers]

Staring you in the face.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah, maybe I found the picture. Oh, and it come with. Came with audio.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I'll.

[Chris Powers]

I'll.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I'll. I'll send this to you.

[Chris Powers]

What's. What's this?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Looks fake to me.

[Dan Powers]

It looks fake, right? It looks hockey forever. Instagram. Yeah, it looks like an AI photo.

[Chris Powers]

What about a chastity belt deal?

[Dan Powers]

No, I don't think we. We need to Landy horny.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, but. But there's just so much protection.

[Dan Powers]

I know, but that's. That's not the type of protection we're talking about.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, that's actually. We are anti. Well, you know, we do. Do whatever you want.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I mean, honestly, it's. It would be a good.

[Dan Powers]

That's true. Do whatever you want.

[Chris Powers]

But we don't.

[Dan Powers]

We don't slut shame.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

So we're not. We're not going to sit here and endorse chastity belts if you don't want it.

[Chris Powers]

Right.

[Dan Powers]

But this could be a. Hey, do you have blunt force trauma induced erectile dysfunction?

[Chris Powers]

Me too. Maybe he starts his own pill.

[Dan Powers]

Okay, what's it called? Landy Standy.

[Chris Powers]

Landy Standy.

[Dan Powers]

We got to get that thing standing back up.

[Chris Powers]

Try Landy standy, where your erection will last over four hours, guaranteed.

[Dan Powers]

And you don't need to call anymore.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, call me.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. If your erection lasts over four hours, it's doing Its job.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Congratulations.

[Dan Powers]

That's that. That is how efficient Landy Standi is.

[Chris Powers]

I like this a lot.

[Dan Powers]

No, no. Kale Makar slap shot can keep your boner down.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. In fact, it'll tip it into the goal.

[Dan Powers]

That's. Yeah, that's what it is. He does. He doesn't have erectile dysfunction because his vitamin supplement is so efficient that even a Kale Makar slap shot cannot defeat your erection. There we go. This is a great opportunity. Landy standing vitamin supplement. Four hour erections. Incredible.

[Chris Powers]

Speaking of abs, abs, fans erections.

[Dan Powers]

Yes.

[Chris Powers]

Kadri getting an apple on the first goal. Which of a Nate goal. Dude. I was like, it's one of those things where I was like, oh, yeah, this is over. The season's over. They won the cup.

[Dan Powers]

The journey. Nas's career journey has been so cool. When he left Toronto, remember that slew of game misconducts he was getting and people were like, oh, cadre's a dirty player and blah, blah, blah. And I think Nas is just an awesome dude. And when he went to Colorado, he had that really lovely statement about how hard it was to leave Toronto. And he was just like, dude, that's like Toronto's home. I love it here. But he made sure to be. He was like, Denver, I'm so psyched to get here. Please understand that. I'm just like trying to show some love. And then when he left Denver after winning a cup, he was just like, I fucking love you guys. Like, this was awesome. And then he's been so wonderful and loyal to Calgary through tough times and now he's back in Denver. And his statement was just like, so lovely to Calgary. He was like, guys, what a fucking run. And then he was like, denver, so happy to be back. And then immediate assist to Nate Dog. I was like, you're the best. Yeah. I mean, Kadri is like, I feel like every fan base loves Godrey. Every fan base he's ever played for, and rightfully so. But it was so cool seeing him back there.

[Chris Powers]

It's going to be awesome.

[Dan Powers]

It's fantastic.

[Chris Powers]

I'm so hyped for the West Ploughs, but me too. It was. Is going to be awesome.

[Dan Powers]

All right, let's. Let's hit an ad break and then jump into these three quarter season awards so then we can get to Schaefer.

[Chris Powers]

I checked my calendar and realized it's March. Realized it's March. And you can't even say the word March without saying it's Chris's birthday. But you also can't say the word March without saying March Madness. And there is no better place to be during March than the Las Vegas city. Is it a city or a thing?

[Dan Powers]

It's a City of Las Vegas.

[Chris Powers]

City of Las Vegas.

[Dan Powers]

Because it's Sin City. Sin City, not Sin Township.

[Chris Powers]

This year, college basketball fans can win a VI trip to the Court of Legends event featuring the Kvinder Twins. Simply place sports bets. That's all you have to do. Place your sports bets and your position on the leaderboard will determine if you win one of the 25 grand prize packages. All you have to do is sign into your BetMGM account, ladies and gentlemen. You opt into the promotion and you start placing sports bets of at least 10 bucks. You gotta place a bet of 10 bucks to climb that leaderboard. Make this March one to remember. Join the Court of Legends leaderboard and make it legendary.

[Dan Powers]

Three quarters of the way through the season. It's time for our quarter. This is kind of like our financial quarter breakdowns, quarterly review.

[Chris Powers]

Yes, sir.

[Dan Powers]

Here's. It's time for our quarterly review. Some of the major trophies, what we think. Let's start with the heart. MVP for reference. CP you had Nate dog at the quarter mark.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

McDavid at the halfway mark. Now the three quarter mark. Who is your MVP?

[Chris Powers]

Well, Dan, I love that both of those guys have not fallen off at all. Completely in the running still.

[Dan Powers]

Yep.

[Chris Powers]

But I am going to return to a horse that is high that I have lived on for years. Yeah, for years. Okay, gentlemen, Nikit Kucherov is the greatest player alive. And he just doesn't often. He doesn't feel he needs to prove that to everyone every day. Like Anate does, like a Conor does. Nikita Kudrov goes, I'm whatever. It's a long season. It's fine. And then when the season starts to end, he then goes, just a reminder, I'm the best player alive.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

He the last two years has had an MVP ripped off his finger. I don't know. Is it a trophy? It's ripped out of his hands. Out of his hands.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And everybody. Nate has, you know how many fucking goals And Nate has 43 goals. It's amazing.

[Dan Powers]

That, by the way, should not be downplayed.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Like he is. It is crazy that he has that many goals. Agree.

[Chris Powers]

But he was on pace for like 80.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, true.

[Chris Powers]

You know what I mean? He's got 43 goals. That's amazing. And he's got 100. He's only got 104 points. McDavid has passed him 108 points. And it was those two running away forever. And then ho hum. Look. Look at me now. Nikita Kucherov, 103 points, one behind Nate. Nikita Kucherov, I bet, wins the scoring race this year again. He always does this and he fires down the stretch. And you know, last year, Nate, I know he like missed the couple games at the end of the year, which is how it for sure happened. But like, Kucherov does this every year. And for the third year in a row, I just cannot fathom them going, still not you.

[Dan Powers]

I. Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

So my pick, I will return to my high horse. Nikita Kucherov is your mvp.

[Dan Powers]

I do think it is important to stress as we have it is the fact that we already have three players with over 100 points is hilarious. And Cooch in his last 40 has like 85 points.

[Chris Powers]

Dude. Connor, 108 in 64. Nate, 104 in 61. Nikita, 103 in 58. He's got six games in hand on Conor. He's five points down. He scores four points a game.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, it's wild. It's truly wild. But again, the heater he has been. He scores three points a game.

[Chris Powers]

It's a joke.

[Dan Powers]

It's actually a joke.

[Chris Powers]

I've never seen. I said this last year, which is why I thought he should have won it. The point share, they have this stat that's like the. Here's the points the team has scored. The percentage of points that this guy is a part of, Kucherov is like 80.

[Dan Powers]

Do you remember earlier this season when we had that Russian player debate and we were like, there is an op. There's. There's a real world where Cooch is the best Russian player of all time. And people were very mad at us. And the OV Disrespect. That was fair to bring up.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

But here we are yet again. How old is cooch? 32. 33. He's 33. And I'm like, this guy is just 32. 32. He. You think. You think he's slowing down? Look at what he does every year. Here we are yet again. It's crazy. And also the Cooch disrespect. Just how every. We always talk about. Everyone goes, we're at Olympics, USA beats Canada. And people go, they beat Canada. Three best players in the world on the ice. And McDavid, McKinnon and Makar. And then people are looking at this, and then Leon right out and I'm just like, coochie, Coochie. We gotta start talking about Cooch.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Do you think he spends his whole career in Tampa Bay?

[Dan Powers]

Yes, I absolutely do. I could see maybe like a Jagger situation once he turns like 38 and where he's like this, I might play a little bit more, but I just think he's so happy down there and

[Chris Powers]

they're just so good.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah. I'm saying, like, he's putting up great points on a great team too, you

[Chris Powers]

know, and we were getting bad and

[Dan Powers]

we kind of thought this year was like, oh, is this maybe like the drop off of Tampa a little bit? And they're like, nope, we're still nasty. So I'm like, he's the best player on your team.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

They're like the San Antonio spurs of years before where True.

[Dan Powers]

Like, they cannot be taken in so many ways. Coop is so pop.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Definitely.

[Dan Powers]

That's such a great fucking.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

The Popovich event.

[Dan Powers]

Unbelievable. My pick is Macklin celebrating.

[Chris Powers]

It's been Mac every time.

[Dan Powers]

It's been Mack every time. And it continues to be Mac because I am a. I'm a. I'm a dreamer. Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And I must be less confident. I actually earlier I was like, it's going to be now. You must be less confident.

[Dan Powers]

His points have slowed a bit. However, I think we're going to see a big uptick in his points and he is. What does he have right now, like 80 something? He has 89 points. Yep. Yeah. I think at the end of the day, and it's. This.

[Chris Powers]

Is.

[Dan Powers]

This is dependent on one specific thing. If the Sharks of San Jose make the playoffs and Macklin celebrini has over 100 points. To me, I don't. I. It is obviously a question. It's obviously a debate. These guys are unbelievable. But if they make the playoffs and he has over 100 points, I'm like, he is the MVP of the league.

[Chris Powers]

Um, it's. It's that most valuable argument again, right?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, it's. I mean, I. And I hate.

[Chris Powers]

Because I know you're not going here

[Dan Powers]

because part of me is like, do we need to change the award to best player award or is it valuable? Like, is the word valuable? Does it mean anything?

[Chris Powers]

And I think it doesn't, unfortunately.

[Dan Powers]

I agree.

[Chris Powers]

I think they're going.

[Dan Powers]

But that's why I said I'm a dreamer.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

I want to. I want to believe in the world where we actually place value in the word valuable.

[Chris Powers]

And if we did that, then it would be Mack.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And I agree with you.

[Dan Powers]

So I'm going to pick back. I think, I think he's going to get Scorching hot here for the last however many games. Yeah, 20 or so games. And I think he's going to finish with 109 points. And I think he's. My call.

[Chris Powers]

That's a good call. How many points does he finish with? I bet Mack finishes. He's at 89 right now. 20 games left. He could probably get. Or he has 21 games left. Yeah, probably get 30.

[Dan Powers]

He could get 30 in there.

[Chris Powers]

Points in there.

[Dan Powers]

That'd be unbelievable.

[Chris Powers]

That'd be.

[Dan Powers]

He finished with like 120.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Okay, let's. Let's set Max market 120.

[Dan Powers]

But to me, it's not even points.

[Chris Powers]

No, no, I'm not to win. I'm just saying for fun. Like, I bet.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Macklin Celebrini, let's. Let's go over. Under 118 and a half.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Give me the Fucking over, dude. 119. Watch. We're on 119. Watch with celebrini right now.

[Dan Powers]

And playoff. Watch.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, dude, that's gonna be sick.

[Dan Powers]

It's very fun hockey.

[Chris Powers]

The Sharks are playing right now.

[Dan Powers]

Like, they're in it. How fun is that for Sharks fans?

[Chris Powers]

It's great.

[Dan Powers]

God, it's unbelievable. All right, let's pop to the Norris. I'll go first this time. I had Zach Rensky at the quarter, Zacharyski at the half, and at the three quarter mark, I have Zacharynsky again. This has become more of a race, and I want to give love because I know they love it so much to two people. Lane Hudson.

[Chris Powers]

Yes. Who I mentioned at the season, he

[Dan Powers]

is always right there in the points race. I mean, like, the guy is very, very, very, very, very fun to watch and also never gets really love here in this discussion. Evan Bouchard's having a great year. So Evan Bouchard's always going to get cookies. And frankly, given the situation, the already 26 power play points, I'm always like, I don't care because there are just sides to the game. Again, I play defense. I love defense. I love defenseman. I love D. I love it.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

I don't love his D game. Right. However, if you look at the analytics, you look at the deep stats, saber metrics, Evan Burchard's having a great year on the defensive side as well.

[Chris Powers]

Okay. So here's what I was gonna say.

[Dan Powers]

So he deserves some fucking love.

[Chris Powers]

You swung me to Zach at the. At the midway point, I'd mentioned Lane because I was like, if Lane, similar to the Sharks thing. If the. At the time, the Habs were. I Think in first in the Atlantic.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And I was like, if the Habs win the Atlantic and Lane is two points off the all defenseman scoring title.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Then he should win it. The Habs have stumbled, actually. What? What are they in second? Where are the HABs right now?

[Dan Powers]

Second.

[Chris Powers]

They're in the wild card.

[Dan Powers]

First wild card or their first wild card.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. So they've stumbled a tiny bit, but Lane is still right there. Zach has played significantly less games than everybody. And the fact that he's still in the point mix is. Is why I'm still on Zach. But. But Evan Bouchard is flirting with a Sharks Carlson Norris win where if he pushes. He's got a couple games in hand on Kale and Zach.

[Dan Powers]

But if he pushes.90 points. Yes.

[Chris Powers]

Evan Bouchard. I know, and I know we always talk about the different. I wish there was a Bobby Orr trophy. Whatever. If Evan Bouchard pushes 95 points, he. I think they might give it to him. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

It's just to me, it's like a. Zach Warrensky suffers from the fact that the Blue Jackets aren't that great, but, like, they're in the mixer. Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

They're decidedly in the mix there.

[Dan Powers]

Zacharynsky is a perfect defenseman, in my opinion.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Correct.

[Dan Powers]

He is in the same spot as Cale McCarr and frankly Quinn Hughes. But like, he's a perfect defenseman. He does everything. And if Bouchard finishes with like 95 points and Zach has like 88, I'm like this.

[Chris Powers]

Agree.

[Dan Powers]

It's not a question.

[Chris Powers]

That's what I mean. If Bouchard pushes it far enough, like, pushes the gap far enough. So. Yeah. Flowers to him too.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Okay, now, Vesna, you're going.

[Dan Powers]

Zach too.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, I'll stay on Zach. But. But boosh. Bush is right there.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

For like. Absolutely. I see the path for Bush to win. Absolutely. Vesna, I had LT at the quarter pole. Yep. I had Blackwood at the halfway mark. And I think you had Darcy.

[Dan Powers]

I did.

[Chris Powers]

And I couldn't remember. Yeah, I think you had Darcy. This one has been the most interesting one.

[Dan Powers]

I completely agree. Also, I think it's really fun how there's no clear winner. Yeah. Like last year, remember? It was like two through two games, we were like, hella yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And you won the best. So I was doing the breakdown. The AVS thing is really funny because the AVS thing is that Swaymond Olmark year where you're kind of like, I know, man, you both are so nasty. But is this hurting your Vesna? Case that you both are so good to the point that I might be back on Vassi. I hear it because Vassi leads the league and wins, which was such a. I didn't realize that. Always felt like pitching pitcher wins kind of went away.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Like, no one cares about that anymore. They're like, what's your fucking era, dude? How many strikeouts you have? Goalie wins, I thought kind of went away. And then it was such a talking point about Hellebok last year.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Where I was like, how is he can't win mvp? And they're like, well, he's got the most wins. And I was like, okay. I didn't know we were. I didn't know we cared about that.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

But anyway, Vassy leads the league in wins and is right there, you know, near, like, top three in the league and goals against in save percentage. Like, he's doing everything. Tampa's probably going to finish first. All this, all of a sudden, it's like, oh, yeah, I forgot. I forgot about this guy. So I'm going Vassi in a very interesting Vesna race.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. So I, I, I sprinkled 100 bucks on this yesterday.

[Chris Powers]

Okay.

[Dan Powers]

Got it at plus 220 on BetMGM. We talk about the funnest team in the league, boys. I'm going.

[Chris Powers]

Ilia Sorokin leads league and shutties.

[Dan Powers]

Leads the league in shutouts. He's. I think he has the exact same save percentages, Vassi, or maybe a point below, but I think it's the exact same. He's, like, top. He's certainly top 10 and everything. I think he's, like, top six in everything. And those shutties and like, the fact that the aisles are so fun because they're always just, like, in battles. And he has stolen a lot of games for them. Them being a playoff team, them making a significant run here. A lot of that's on the back of Sorokin.

[Chris Powers]

He's back. How many wins does Sorokin have? 23. Yeah, that's in the mixer.

[Dan Powers]

He's fully back. I love the. I love the. The action on.

[Chris Powers]

It's be really. It'd be really fun. It'd be a really fun pick, especially if they fire down the stretch total. I like. And, and like you said, there's. There's a lot of guys who are going to be in the mix.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, yeah.

[Chris Powers]

So that's a great pick.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Calder, I don't even think we need a conversation here.

[Chris Powers]

I had Beckett at the quarter pool. You had the wall St. Paul at the quarter pool.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, rightfully so.

[Chris Powers]

Shave Shafe. Halfway marks and then shave Shaf.

[Dan Powers]

Matthew Schaefer. Beckett. Seneca. Always going to get a couple tugs from us. Yep. Unbelievable guy. Unbelievable player. But Matthew Schaefer, it's just. It's you all day, baby.

[Chris Powers]

And then, thoughts and prayers to Chris's Beckett.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Bet.

[Dan Powers]

I know. Tease and peace.

[Chris Powers]

Tease and peace. Oh, dude, you know what? Actually, no. I want Shaff to have that honor. I was going to say, maybe they go shave, shut it down, get some rest for playoffs, because we need you. Let Beckett continue.

[Dan Powers]

Matthew Schaefer needs no rest, but.

[Chris Powers]

He needs no rest, unfortunately.

[Dan Powers]

He's literally the youngest player in the league.

[Chris Powers]

Okay, Selkie. I had Leo at the quarter pool. You had Nico at the quarter.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And then we went. I went Suzuki at the halfway. You went Sorelli.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Which was actually a great pick.

[Dan Powers]

I think Zuk has pulled away with it.

[Chris Powers]

Me too.

[Dan Powers]

Nico is. I think it's Zuk.

[Chris Powers]

Nico has come back in the mix.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. But I. I think it's Zoo. I think Zook has pulled away. I think a big part of that, too, is like, the Devils are just out of playoffs and. But Devils are playing pretty well.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Last couple games, Devil's playing pretty well, but Zook has pulled away with it. And you'd love to see Nick Suzuki finally getting seen as one of the best centers in the NHL.

[Chris Powers]

Yes, dude. God damn.

[Dan Powers]

Jack Adams to round it off. Dude, there is no question here. You're. You're over here. I think I saw a sneak peek at your pick. But there is one man who deserves apologies from everyone in the league, starting with me. Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Correct.

[Chris Powers]

Well, both of us.

[Dan Powers]

I broke a rule on this show, and I talked about this man's job.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Like a month into the season. Lindy Ruff.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

It's no doubt.

[Chris Powers]

I mean, God, if they finish their. Their first right now, which is insane, I don't think they're going to finish first, but if they. If they even finish. Lindy, if they finish in the top three.

[Dan Powers]

Lindy.

[Chris Powers]

Lindy Ruff is an incredible choice. And it's.

[Dan Powers]

Lindy is Jesus Christ, and we are his chosen disciples. Like the way this man was crucified all year long by so many people, myself included, it was just like people were making jokes about that hiring. Then they started so bad, and it just felt like the vibes are as low as they can be. And people, again, we talked about it. It was like, good God, do you just fire this guy? And they just fucking battled and Then Yarmo came in. Yarmo, God, that's.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Came in and he was like, this is my son.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

You will lead us to the promised land. Lindy deserves every bit of recognition.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, I think that's actually probably right now that you say so. I went back to Dan Muse because I was like, the Penguins, it's like

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

he Penguins, Moby Penguins is insane.

[Chris Powers]

Insane that they are where they are. Especially more recently without Sid. But I'm like, that he deserves every flower on earth. Because everybody was like, they are horrible. And their roster, you look at the roster and it's like it's. It's worse than the teams that have been missing playoffs.

[Dan Powers]

I know.

[Chris Powers]

And he's like, it's bang. How comfortably in second.

[Dan Powers]

How funny was it too how last year it was like, oh my God, the Penguins are so bad and not. And the Caps are so good.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And then this year everyone was like, the Caps are going to be great again. And now it's like the Caps have just struggled so badly and the Penguins are just so securely in playoffs.

[Chris Powers]

It's incredible, dude. And like the goal so from. And you're right, like I can say everything I'm about to say about the Penguins, about Lindy Ruff and the Sabres, but the Penguins problem the last few years is just the horrific defense.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

I don't mean like the literal players. I just mean they do not keep the puck out of the nether.

[Dan Powers]

And the goal diff was so bad and the goal diff is great.

[Chris Powers]

Plus fucking 25 gold diff for the Penguins. Such a swing. And that's. That's coaching. I'm like, but coach came in and changed it. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

It's the same thing as Buffalo.

[Chris Powers]

Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Holy fuck. Okay. That actually be fun one those. But yeah, those Two good picks. Two good picks.

[Dan Powers]

Two good picks.

[Chris Powers]

Okay. Those are our quarter three quarter season awards. Let us know your picks. And then also talking about coaches, I just wanted to give a quick shout out because there was a really nice article out today with an exclusive John Cooper interview because his dad had passed away the day after the gold medal game and he just is super open in the interview about the rollercoaster of emotions, of loss on the ice, off the ice and you know what that's like everything. So just wanted us to say, you know, shout out to John Cooper and we're with ya. And everyone should go read that because he is the man and it's cool to see this side of him because you don't always get to see that in pro sports. And this was awesome. So cool.

[Dan Powers]

I just feel like every time Coop does anything, dude, it's. He's.

[Chris Powers]

He's the standard man.

[Dan Powers]

Well, it's also. He's. He's just a guy to listen to. Yeah. Every time he has a statement, every time he speaks from the heart, it's so awesome. So shout out Coop. Shout out his old man. It's awesome.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

Take a quick ad break, and then we will jump straight into our unbelievable interview with Matthew Schaefer.

[Chris Powers]

Listen, you are your own player. Your game is one of a kind. So why shouldn't your Bauer pulse be one of a kind, too? Are you kidding me? You can design your dreamstick and have it in your door in less than a week.

[Dan Powers]

What?

[Chris Powers]

Less than a week? In little as five days, you go to Bauer. Hockey's my Bauer Quick Turn platform, and it's designed to offer hockey players a highly customizable stick building experience. I have two, count them, two custom pulse sticks. I love them. I'm actually scared to play with them. I love them so much, I take them on the ice and I go, what would happen if I broke this? And then I go, oh, I'll just go design a new custom pulse and have that to my house in as little as five days. That's what's amazing. Okay? Because custom doesn't have to mean slow. The Mybauer Quick Turn delivers your personal personalized stick in as little as five days. You're not waiting around. Things keep moving. Your game keeps moving. The stick will be there. So you can get to choose your name that goes on it. I got empty netters on mine, which is sick. The flex, the color, the blade pattern. You build the stick that is completely built around everything that you want. So then you stand out on the ice just like your game does. The most popular colors and blade patterns exist. And there's options that you guys actually want because it's not this random stuff that's like, okay, that's custom, but that looks outrageous. No, it is so, so legit. It's only 2. 10 more dollars than the stock option for the exact pulse that you want. It's 10 more bucks. You're getting a personalized pro level stick without breaking the bank. So that's incredible. You can put whatever name you want, a nickname, your actual name, the number, the flex is the design. Everything's so cool. So build your dream stick in minutes and get it in days. Head to bower.com and check out my Bower Quickturn, fellas.

[Dan Powers]

It's time to talk about your shave game. And the only way to do it is with Harry's. Shaving is something that we all need to do, even guys like me. I don't grow a lot of facial hair. You see me clean shaved all the time because I can't really grow much. And I want to have that nice baby smooth feel and look. And I do it with Harry's every time. The big thing about shaving is it's something you don't want to think about. You don't want to go, oh, geez, where are my razors? When do I need to restock? When do I need to get them? You got to get hooked up with Harry's and the new Harry's plus setup because they take care of everything for you. Harry's plus has an unbelievable metal handle. It's perfectly weighted, it feels luxurious, but it doesn't cost like some of these luxury products. It's a fraction of the cost of restocking your razors if you go to the drugstore, the grocery store or whatever, anything like that. Harry's is using German designed and crafted blades to give you that close shave that never tugs. They've got like three different angles with the blade spacing, so everything is shaved right at the root. It's nice and smooth. It feels amazing. Like I said, it doesn't tug. You don't get razor burn. It's fantastic. And the other thing about Harry's too is you got that strip, the lubricating strip with aloe and vitamin E on it. So it leaves your face without that burn. It feels fantastic. It's just kind of moisturizing right as it goes. They've got all these other products too. They've got great shaving creams, they've got post shave, you know, lotions and things like that. So when you're done, everything feels fantastic. And like I said, you're just getting these refills stocked up so you never have to think about it. And the Harry's plus setup, it's got that pivoting blade, plate, whatever you want to call it, it's got the pivot on it so you can get every nook and cranny of your face. That handle feels fantastic. It's never plastic. You just, you have a nice product in your hand that feels great. It gets the shaving done for you. And again, it's just making everything so much easier. So this is what we're going to do. For a limited time, our listeners can get the Harry's plus trial set for only $10. $10@Harry's.com this set includes the all new Harry's plus razor. That one I was talking about. It's fantastic. One refined five blade cartridge, a two ounce foaming shave gel, and a traveler cover to protect your blades on the go. That thing's huge. I use that all the time. I was just in New York this weekend. You slip it right over, it clips on. It's fantastic. It keeps your blade safe, protected so stuff doesn't get in there. It doesn't get rusty or messed up. It's fantastic. Just head to Harry's.com/netters to claim this offer and after your purchase they'll ask where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them we sent you. I'm telling you guys, I use Harry's every single time I shave and I will never go back. You should do the same.

[Chris Powers]

We are joined today by a Stoney Creek, Ontario native, a U18 gold medalist, a link Aggretzky cup gold medalist, first team all rookie in the OHL with the erie Otters, the first overall pick of the 2025 draft to the New York Islanders and the NHL's best babysitter due to his paw patrol and Bluey's fandom. Shaft Daddy. Welcome to the Auntie Nutters podcast.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Hey, I think the last one was the best one.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, that's the most undisputed one, I can tell you.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I've definitely learned a lot, a lot about babies and kids and just, you know, trying to take care of them and things like that. So, you know, obviously a lot of people would be like, you know, you probably learned a lot in your first year. I think the most was about babies and kids and things like that. So. Yeah, dude.

[Chris Powers]

Well, you know, they get the finger skater and going here usually doing the crazy tosses, and I was like, I've seen Shape do this on Instagram. Girls.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah, exactly. Except we're not on skates.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. But we've got a lot to get into and. And I can't wait. But first and foremost, I just, I have to address the shirt you've got. You've accomplished a lot this year already, but now you're also in the company of Tom Brady.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

What's going on with Noble? How did this happen? Yeah, how are all of your dreams coming true so fast?

[Matthew Schaefer]

Honestly, especially this one. I mean, Noble, you know, reached out and obviously, you know, my agent and things like that, they all do that. So I can stay in my lane and just play hockey. You know, but they came out to me with this, and I was, you know, on board right away. And obviously, you know, Tom Brady's a big part, and, you know, he's. He. He merged, you know, his TB12 kind of with it, and now he's, like, really evolving. This.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Noble and things like that. I love, like, noble.

[Chris Powers]

I agree.

[Dan Powers]

It's awesome. So.

[Matthew Schaefer]

It's awesome. So I. I love that. Say, say. And it's like, you know, every day you put this shirt on, you know, you wear it and things like that. You wear it around the rink. You know, you better have no bull, and, like, you better just, you know, give it all. So, I mean, obviously, I love that. And then, you know, everything. Their shoes, their shirts, I mean, all this stuff is just so awesome. And then when. When I was doing my first photo shoot with them, I. I get a call. So, like, we're doing like a. You know, I'm doing, like, a video, and then I. Someone brings a friend, like, oh, someone wants to talk to you, and it's Tom Brady on FaceTime.

[Chris Powers]

And I'm like, you shave?

[Dan Powers]

Jesus.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I was like, this is awesome.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I was like. And I was like, oh, man. Like, you're the goat. Like, it's like, this is awesome. Like, you know, can't wait to work with you. Things like that. But it's. I mean, it's pretty cool to just, you know, have a guy like that or, like, starting, you know, apparel company like this. And really, like, I mean, obviously, he was such a stud.

[Chris Kempczinski (McDonald's CEO)]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

And, like, you know, he. He. He's won a lot of Super Bowls and things like that and just, you know, MVPs and stuff like that. So, you know that as an athlete, a guy like that that started company like, yes. You want to jump on board right away. And it's. Yeah, it's. It's.

[Chris Powers]

Hey, we were in. We were in Tampa for stadium series. He was in Miami.

[Dan Powers]

But. Hold on. Timeout. I actually just thought of this with what you were just saying. You've been stuffing the Rangers in a locker all year, and we can even add to that now with Noble, given that they tried to do their no BS nonsense.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Right.

[Dan Powers]

And that did not work. So this is just another win for Shaff over the Rangers. It's unbelievable. We'll call it five and.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, yeah, we were in Tampa, and he was in Miami, and I. I DM'd him like, yo, dude. Yeah, get out. Let's say, what up at the hockey game. No answer. We go to Milan. He's in Milan. I DM him. Like, dude, come see us. No answer. So I'm gonna need you if you can just to put in word.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah, he's pretty high up there.

[Chris Powers]

He's pretty popular.

[Matthew Schaefer]

So. Yeah, I don't have his number or anything yet.

[Chris Powers]

So we'll get there.

[Matthew Schaefer]

But no, I mean, if I gotta get you boys some noble.

[Dan Powers]

Yes. Oh, trust me, it's my go to gym shoe.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

It's unbelievable.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I like how they have like that. Well, they have running shoes, they have like lifting shoes. Like they have a lot like their lifestyle and stuff like that. So it'll be good. I'll probably have to, you know, get some of the boys on the team and. Yeah, things like that.

[Chris Powers]

So.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, speaking of the boys on the team, little west coast roadie here. Do you have the rookie party?

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah, no, we've already had it. It was a good dinner. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Where was it?

[Matthew Schaefer]

Oh, I was in Vancouver.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, good one.

[Matthew Schaefer]

That's a good one.

[Chris Powers]

Good one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Cold away. When did you do it?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

When were you there?

[Matthew Schaefer]

Oh, when were we there? It was. It was literally just after Christmas.

[Chris Powers]

Okay.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah, it was like January. Yeah. Actually, we had that long road trip just after. And then we obviously had that Olympic break thing and things like that. So. Yeah, it's a good dinner with the guys. Just have fun, you know, just talk about life and things like that. Besides hockey.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, it's amazing, right? That's amazing.

[Dan Powers]

Dude, I want to get into the draft because we, we never pretend to be draft experts. Whenever the draft comes around, we have people who claim to be experts come on the show. We talk about all the prospects and your year. It felt like everyone was saying like, oh, there's no superstar this year, but there's a bunch of great players. And you emerged as everyone saying is going to be the number one pick. But then with your age and everything like that, people were like, well, you know, you might go back to junior, might hit ncaa. We'll see. Not sure if he's going to be NHL ready. And then here we are. And dude, you're just like breaking every teenage record for a defenseman that exists. It's unbelievable. Have totally changed the vibes on the island. You got me wearing an Islander sweatshirt.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I love that. I've actually never seen not.

[Chris Powers]

Isn't this one sick? Shout out.

[Dan Powers]

Cheese.

[Chris Powers]

This thing is unbelievable. Okay, I could probably get you one, dude.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, if you get us Brady on

[Chris Powers]

FaceTime, we'll get you.

[Dan Powers]

I'll get you this one. But I want to know from your perspective and. And listen, I know you're the most humble guy in the world, but when all that chatter was happening of like, oh, you might go back to Erie, you might go to NCAA, were you like, no, I'm ready.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah. Like, I'm 100. I don't think kid's gonna be like, no, I don't want to play in the NHL. You know, like, yeah, you're like, I'm good. If my dad. My dad, like, so it's funny because my dad would be like, they. They. They don't want me thinking too far ahead. And, like, I would never think too far ahead, but I'd always tell my dad, like, I'm. I want to play in the NHL this year. Like, yeah, I don't care what it takes. I want to play there. I don't want to come back. Like. And then obviously, you got to do what's best for your development. I obviously, I didn't know, like, you know, going into summer, obviously, I only played 17 games last year, and I obviously, I wanted to get bigger, stronger, faster, and things like that. Just so you know, when you come to this level.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, you're best league in the world.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Jesus Christ.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Thank God I know him.

[Dan Powers]

So, yeah, playing Rempe four times.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah, exactly. So, no, my dad would always be like, hey, I mean, we'll do what's best for you. I mean, it's. It's. Honestly, it's a marathon. It's not. You don't want to start sprinting. You want to, you know, start slow and then work your way up and things like that. So. But honestly, I mean, I think from development camp up, everything's helped me. And especially training in the summer, I work out with Brian Marshall's name, so he actually worked for the Vancouver Canucks back in the day and things like that. So then he. He's in Mississauga, and we have, like, Monahan Law and so sick. So we have, like, a great group there. So training with those guys on and off the ice helped a lot. And then obviously, coming in my first year, I think just from the coaches to the players and everyone, they brought me in and they really, like, took care of me in a way. Like, you know, Matthew Darcer, gm, he. He wanted to, you know, see how I was developing from development camp up and, you know, see how I was. And it was funny. I mean, I talked to Marty, Matt Martin, and he'd be like, you're not going back? Yeah, we'll see.

[Chris Powers]

Whatever, right?

[Matthew Schaefer]

You're not going back.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

So it was good because they just really helped me and you know, Patrick won. All the coaches also helped me a lot too. So it was really good test to see, you know, where I started, how I was. And it was, it was different. I mean, you know, you do your family camp, you get, you got a little bit of butterflies. That gets for sure. You don't know all the guys you know super well and things like that. But then once you go in the room, all the guys are awesome and they really help you. And then it's fun because, you know, obviously the NHL is the hardest league in the world and it's the best of the best. But it helps in a way when guys are in the right positions.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

And they have good chemistry. It's like totally like, you know, maybe in the, oh, guys aren't going to like read off you and they don't know really how to work with you as much where when you're in the zone and you're just flying around and everyone's flying around with you, it's fun. And yeah, it definitely helps. But obviously, you know, there's bigger, stronger, faster guys, which is a little bit of a difference. But for sure, once you. Confidence is obviously key too. Like once you get that confidence, once you get used to it, once you get the feel, I mean, just for my first game, getting the feel, I mean, I'm not gonna go out there and go try to end that rush because then you're like, you turned over. Then you're like, oh, no. So you are going.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, maybe make a phone call to Erie.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah, exactly. So just getting that feel, getting your, getting your feet into your first game.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Helped a lot. And then you just want to keep building each and every day. I mean, I think the biggest thing is I always strive to be, you know, the best version of myself I can always be. And I want to be, you know, just perfect is what I'm trying to say. I want to be perfect, but no one ever is ever perfect. Right. So you strive to be perfect, but you'll never ever be perfect. There'll always be things that you can work on and things like that. So I think just, you know, finding the parts of the games that I can always work on and get better just from all the older guys, the coaches and, you know, things. I mean, I'm. I'm so open minded with people just talking to me and things like that. So I think that helps too. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

So with your entry into the league, everything you Just said with, you know, all the coaches, all the staff personnel and the boys helping you out with that transition, where would you say the confidence comes from? Because that's such a big part. Yeah, every interview you have, every time you're talking to people after the game, that I think is the most noticeable thing for us is obviously your play on the ice has been unreal. But for us, man, it's like you turn 18 this end of the summer and you feel like you're a 10 year vet already with just the way you speak about the team, about yourself. You've only been around the boys for half a year, so it can't all be them. What is it about your relationship with your dad, people who coached you up, your community that kind of helped you get this way?

[Matthew Schaefer]

That's a really good question actually. So obviously confidence is super key and you know, you can have games of your dash four and things like that. I don't like to talk about Marty too much because I don't want to get his head get too big. But no, I think he's also helped me a lot too. And obviously my dad and brother have helped me so much growing up watching my brother. So my brother's nine and a half years older than me, so a little bit of an age difference there. And he played in the OHL for the Niagara Ice Dog. So when I was a little bit younger, I got to watch him growing up and he'd go and stop behind the net. And then when I was super young, like there was like no systems or anything and I'd go and I'd stop. By then I'd have to be like, what do you go? Right, Exactly. I'm like trying to set up. I'm like, boys, boys. Yeah, yeah, let's go.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

But yeah, I mean, I think just talking to Marty and things like that, obviously living with him and his family helps. And you know, if you're dash four and you come home and then you see the girls and like the kids and things like that, I think that helps because I mean they're just always happy each and every day and you got to find that happiness always. But I think there was one game I came home, you know, I. A couple dashes. It was my best game. And like, I know when I'm not at my best and things like that, I love to talk to Marty because he can like see from, you know, like, you know, higher view from, you know, not playing the game so he can like watch the game from, you know, another view. So I remember coming home and he's like, like, what are you talking about? Like, yeah, you're good. Like, oh. And then he told. He goes and tell me a story. I believe they're playing in Boston. And they. So he was. His line was like, dash four. And they. So they. They were like, every bounce was not going their way. Like, it's a shin pad breakaway goal. Yeah. So then he was like, the coach comes up to us and he goes, hey, Marty, you're going back out there. He goes, no effing way. Yeah, I'm not going back on that ice again for the rest of that game because if I'm dash five, that's gonna take me two months.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

So it's funny because just, like, hearing that puts it into perspective, things like that in a lot of ways. And it's funny because, like, it's really not the end of the world, no matter what. And, yeah, I'm starting to learn that a lot more. And, you know, you see, obviously, the best of the best players, like, they have that confidence in swagger. I mean, they're all humble and things like that. I mean, like, you don't want to be cocky and things like that, but, you know, when you're on the ice, like, you want to have that swagger, you want to have that confidence where, like, when you go out there, you want to try to make a difference and things like that. I like, Marty's also helped me, like, learn more, and the coaches have helped me where, for me, like, say I'm, you know, dash one or things like that, like, I'm all. I always want to, like, make it, like, I always want to try to get it back and make a difference. And Marty was a big thing is like, one game I was trying to, like, do too much, where I was trying to every time go when it maybe wasn't there, where he's like, you're going to get your chances. A game.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Don't rush it. Don't force. You will get those chances and you don't. It could be, you know, at the end of a period, it could be in the third period.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Or it could be all in the first. You know, when you get those chances, you're going to make a difference, but, like, if the chances aren't there, don't rush it. So for sure, just learning a lot from, you know, Marty, obviously, him being in the league, he worked his way up a lot. I mean, like, seeing guys like that, you know, obviously, I think at one point he was playing like Junior C or something like that. And then, I mean, he's in the NHL and, you know, he's almost at a thousand games. So incredible. It's. I love learning from those guys and all the old guys on our team and they've helped so much. And. And when they bring you in and you feel like you're best friends with them, you know, day after development camp, it's the best thing because as an 18 year old especially, I mean, there's guys that have families and things like that, and, you know, I'm bringing that little kid. Kid energy in a way, just messing around, you know.

[Dan Powers]

That's good.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah, exactly.

[Dan Powers]

And it does feel like you guys have a strong family vibe going right now. So I have to ask because it sounds like everyone's taking care of you in different ways. Was the watch a gift from one of the boys? What's going on there, Marty?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, let's go.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Let's hear it on Cat. I'll do a little show. So it's a pink watch, and Marty waited on a wait list for two years to get it. So get out of here. So.

[Chris Powers]

That's incredible, dude.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah. Yeah. So he. He waited on a list for two years and I know he's always like, oh, I don't. I don't care. I don't want you to tell it. Like, yeah, he's like, I want to be a story, but I don't want you to whatever say about me, but I will because, you know, just from being able, from the first day I met him, he's been such a help for me. And, you know, I know I'm talking about him a lot. I know he doesn't like that.

[Dan Powers]

We're gonna get into it more, though.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah. Yeah. But. But no, he's obviously helped me a lot just in life and with hockey.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

So, yeah, he waited on a wait list for like two years to get it. And then I remember someone like Sid, his wife or, you know, my girlfriend or somewhere like, oh, yeah, he got a gift for you for Christmas. I'm like, what do you get me? They're like, you're gonna like it.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I knew it because we'd always talk about watches because I was new to it. Right, sure. So, yeah, he was like, I really wanted to get this for you because it was right around Breast cancer awareness month when. When he. When he was getting. And he's like, I thought it was a perfect fit for you. He got engraved on the back.

[Dan Powers]

No way.

[Matthew Schaefer]

It says so. It's like a ladybug Because I saw a lot of ladybugs on my mom. My mom passed.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

And. And then he put. Love you, and my mom's writing.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Oh, God. It's like. It's.

[Chris Kempczinski (McDonald's CEO)]

He.

[Matthew Schaefer]

The biggest thing for him is he wants every time I wear it, to look at it and, like, people notice it. He wants it to tell a story. He wants me, whenever, always to look at it, definitely to, like, remind me of my mom and things like that. So, I mean, it's amazing. Like, just, you know, based off that and just the person, you know, you. You hear about him, he. He's awesome. And I mean.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

That's incredible.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Crazy, right? Because, like, you know, I'm. I'm a kid. I'm coming in. I'm like, this is a lot of money.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

You know, I'm like, marty, what are we doing here? Like, I don't need this. Give me a little, like, ring pop or something. R Pop or something. But, yeah, I mean, just all the guys. I mean, whether it's on the plane, too. I'm sitting with the guys. Like, we start to play Nintendo now. Switch. Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

What do you got going special?

[Matthew Schaefer]

We had a. We had a full lobby of Mario Kart.

[Chris Powers]

There you go. Right. So who's your character?

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah, I was Luigi dude. Yes.

[Dan Powers]

Let's go. I have never in my life found another Luigi guy that fires me up.

[Chris Powers]

Yoshi. Yeah. Big Yoshi guy. Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Seuss, actually. Yeah, Seuss was so he actually. So I was watching him play on the way back from Columbus. Yeah. So I was. A couple nights ago. And he's nasty. And he was. He was using. He was using Luigi.

[Chris Powers]

Okay.

[Matthew Schaefer]

And this other bike. But I. I just started playing, so I don't have his bike yet. Yeah, so he has, like, a good build. Yeah, I don't have that. So he was teaching me a few things. Then we were playing, like, is it shine or shine or.

[Dan Powers]

Dude, I. I hate to admit it. I'm not versed in all the new characters.

[Chris Powers]

Oh. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

We're in this, like, lobby playing all these different games. And then we were doing. Obviously, we're racing.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Seuss killed us.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

And then we were doing. We're playing this game where you have to capture this, like, start.

[Chris Powers]

Okay.

[Matthew Schaefer]

And everyone's battling each other. So you got to get like. Like, you got to get like. Like the mushrooms or like, whatever that goes. Obviously, like, get your speed, but, like, you got to get those things and, like, throw it at people.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Try to get that thing off them. To slow them down. So like, you know, say you throw one of those, like throw a shallow. Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, things like that, the star leaves them and then you got to pick it up and you basically got to keep it for like 30 or. Or 20 seconds and whoever keeps it the longest, just like games like that, like on a long road trip, it's pretty fun.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, that's amazing.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah, we've been. We've been ripping that and just like, honestly, just from the start of the season, we've got so close and Mario

[Dan Powers]

Kart's been a staple for forever. It's unbelievable, dude.

[Chris Powers]

Well, I wanted to ask about Vibes in general, just cuz last year you weren't here obviously, but you know, Islanders missed playoffs, fifth least amount of goals in the league, and then now it's like 5 game heater, 3rd in the met plus 10 goal diff. And the Vibe, you were one of our most favorite teams to watch. Like that boring stigma from years past

[Dan Powers]

is so, so dead.

[Chris Powers]

So many guys. Matty Barzell, your coach have said you are such an instrumental, instrumental part in that vibe change. So just tell us what the Vibes have been like on the plane a little bit, but just like in the locker room, like, what is. What is different? I know you weren't here, so it's hard to say, but what feels different about the boys?

[Matthew Schaefer]

Honestly? I mean, the Islanders organization has been top notch. And it's funny, I mean, people will come up to me like, oh, you change. Changed. I'm like, no, I did not change.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I didn't do anything. Right. I mean, I was just super honored to this organization. But it's just fun to work with like all the guys on the team. I mean, like, we have. I love our decoy. I love our forwards too, and I love our goalies. Like.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Holy.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Like, R is one of the best too. And honestly, I feel like our decoy just like they've always had that. Like some of them have that offensive ability, definitely. And I feel like they didn't know they had.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, that's sick.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Like, you're like, come on, boys, let's go.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah. You're nasty.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

What are we doing here?

[Dan Powers]

Let it rip.

[Chris Powers]

That is so good.

[Matthew Schaefer]

So. No, but I thought, like, honestly, our team, like, I think we're. We're super good. We have something really good going for us right now. And I think just from, you know, like, I mean, it's funny because there was some guys who are more like laid back but all come on and, like, I'd like hugging on.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Doing these things.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

They're like, shave. Like, what do you want?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

And just messing with them. But I think it just helps to, you know, bring a little bit, like, of that young personality. Even though, like, you know, they can all be a little bit older, but they still act like, you know, they're around my age in a way, like.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

You know what I mean? Like, they're still fun and things like that. So. Yeah, like, I mean, I think we've always had it.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Just like, it's, you know, when we're. When we're winning, we're all playing with confidence. When everyone's, you know, in the offensive zone, when everyone's, you know, playing defense, it's just like, fun hockey to be a part of.

[Dan Powers]

Definitely.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Our coaches and, like, we all love them.

[Dan Powers]

Can you feel, though, that, you know, it's like, I like everything you just said with the boys in the room and the coaches and all that, you know, that you guys are fun and you have the capability of playing fun hockey.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

But can you feel that it's catching on with everyone, with the fans and with the media?

[Chris Powers]

It's like, people have been so sick.

[Dan Powers]

Holy shit. This is one of the best shows on ice.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Like.

[Dan Powers]

Like, you guys can feel that in the room.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Exactly. When we're winning, I mean, our fans are happy and things like that. I mean, everyone loves winning.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I mean, obviously, when you're losing, no one likes losing.

[Dan Powers]

Right.

[Matthew Schaefer]

So, I mean, you know, whether it's, you know, the fans want us to win because they're passionate, they care. I mean, we want to win for our fans. We want to fit for, you know, each other and things like that. So, I mean, it's electric. Like when. Like when we played Florida and, you know, they went up to. Okay, and then we fought back, and then, like, our fans were getting into it and it was like.

[Chris Powers]

Like, what a feeling, dude. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

And then, like, Leezy gets that goal, like, with 30 seconds left, and, yeah, it's like, place goes ape.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Like, they're. The fans are into it. It's fun, you know, everyone, you know, is having a great night. It's just like, wow.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

You know what I mean?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

It's always good to be an Islander, so. Yeah. I mean, it's just so fun to be a part of. I mean, you know, I think it started, like. I mean, our whole season was good, but you coming out of the break, obviously, you know, guys are on vacation, things like that. We get back into the swing of things, and then we go into Montreal, and that's a big win for us. I mean, at the Bell Center. Oh, my God. And then we. And then, you know, we just got to keep it going, keep having fun. I mean, obviously, there's a time and place to have fun. I mean, you always got to have fun, but you always got to be dialed in a way, too.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Having that fun kind of helps.

[Dan Powers]

We're talking a lot about balance in this.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

So it's true. It's like that's a huge part of balance. You've obviously talked a lot about Marty and Sid.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And we want to talk about it more because I think it's become such a fun story for all the fans and Islanders fans and just hockey fans in general. But the layers to it and the emotion to it is way deeper.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

How did this come about? It's like, it's, you know, you've known him for a long time now, so it's like, was this always. The second you were kind of going in with the team and training camp, were you like, I'm going to be living with Marty and Sid.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah. So, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

When did this relationship start?

[Matthew Schaefer]

That's a good one. So the relationship definitely started when we. When we got into training camp. Yeah, it was funny. I was. I was almost, like, amazed in a way, cuz like, I. I knew he played in tr. Like, I still, like, go dye your hair and things like that. So it's pretty funny. And like, just, you know, that's Matt Martin and things like that. It's funny because I. I tell my dad and brother, oh, I'm going to Marty's tonight. That was the first time in camp. They're like, no way. Like, first time you were there? Things like that. Yeah. Now I know Marty's just a kid.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Marty's actually a kid, so sometimes he can act a little older, sometimes he acts younger than me, so.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Right.

[Matthew Schaefer]

But yeah, just from, like, I mean, a lot of guys, you know, offered for their. For their houses and things like that, and honestly, I would have loved to do with anyone, but me and Marty just headed off.

[Dan Powers]

Perfect.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I mean, it's nice cuz, like, he's still a part of the team, but then he's not a waste. Like when I'm on road trips, you know, if he doesn't come, he can have time with his family.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, right.

[Matthew Schaefer]

The guys on my team, a little bit of time with their families, too, because, I mean, I'd be with them a lot if I was playing with them as well. So, I mean, it saved them from wanting to be with me a lot. So. But yeah, just from, like, the first day I met Marty, I loved him because he was chirping me, like. Yeah, he was fun. He loves to have a good time, you know, no matter what kind of day he's having. He's just coming in the room looking at chirp guys and things like that. Yeah, he has his little McGregor walk going all the time and things like that.

[Chris Powers]

So is that after you two wrestle? Oh, he gets you with it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

He. He might come up and wrestle me quickly, but on here and I'll. I'll show you guys how I dummy him.

[Chris Powers]

But, yeah, good.

[Matthew Schaefer]

But no, he. He's a tough guy.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I don't know. I've been learning from one of our trainers. He does, like, jiu jitsu or something.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, no, he's trying to.

[Dan Powers]

Marty does or the trainer does?

[Matthew Schaefer]

No, the trainer does.

[Chris Powers]

Okay.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I was like, Marty's just tough, so

[Dan Powers]

some things be unfair if he knew jiu jitsu.

[Chris Powers]

Well, no shapes learn getting a black belt in secret. He's going to come in and beat the.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Out of Marty yet, like a lazy boy. Names and I don't know how to do them, but. But yeah, just from the first day I met him, obviously I loved them. And then I got to meet his family. I love the girls the best. It's awesome. And like, like I said, like, coming home, you know, I mean, you have a game and then you. In the morning, you see the girls. You know, the girls are watching you on tv. They're cheering for you.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. It's such a cheat code. You're getting the family vibes at 18.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I'm such a family guy. I mean.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

People that know me, I love my family. I mean, especially my dad and brother. We. Well, we've always been, like, so close as a family. We've always had went on vacations. Like, we always just want to be a part of a family and. And do things. And, you know, if my brother had a game, my dad would go watch my brother, my mom would be with me and things like that, and we'd always do everything together, whether it's playing sports in the backyard or, you know, everything like that. So, yeah, so family's just so important to me.

[Dan Powers]

Definitely.

[Matthew Schaefer]

For me, I just love being a part of that family.

[Dan Powers]

Yes.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Because then it's like when you come home, like, you have, like, the girls to be around. Like, if I'm Coming home to an empty house and things like that. Like, I'd miss home.

[Chris Powers]

It's lonely.

[Dan Powers]

Dude, that's how you think about the dash four for too long. It's true. It's like, you gotta just, like, get something to take your mind off.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Exactly.

[Dan Powers]

So. All the stories are so good, but I gotta ask. Over Christmas, you were begging to watch Polar Express.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Is that number one for you?

[Matthew Schaefer]

I like Home Alone 2.

[Dan Powers]

Home Alone 2, lost in New York is your number one Christmas movie. I mean, that's a good pick. I was always laughing.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

No, no, that's a great pick. He's laughing. I was gonna chirp you for Polar Express.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I like Polar Express.

[Chris Powers]

I love Polar Express.

[Dan Powers]

Polar Express is good, and the book is incredible. But I'm not sure I'm ready to call the movie. I would not. I'm not sure I'd be okay with that being your number one Christmas movie.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Polar Express and Home Alone is really good. Why? What would you guys say? I gotta hear some more.

[Chris Powers]

Okay. I love the Grinch. I love the Grinch. I love the Grinch.

[Dan Powers]

Klaus is my number one. We probably haven't even seen.

[Chris Powers]

Dude, you would actually love Claus. Dude, you would.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Give me a quick rundown.

[Chris Powers]

Klaus is origin of. Origin of Santa Claus. Yes.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Okay.

[Dan Powers]

It's a story about a mailman who gets sent to this random little island. And he needs to accumulate enough letters to be able to come back home. And he figures out a way to do that by getting the village kids to send letters to this guy named Klaus because he's a toy maker. And it's the origin of kids sending letters to Santa Claus.

[Chris Powers]

And it's gas, dude.

[Dan Powers]

It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah. I mean, there's. There's a lot of older ones that you guys.

[Chris Powers]

I know.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I mean, obviously, like, my dad and, you know, things like that. I've seen a lot more.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

You know, Christmas movies than me. But for me, like, I'd have to say, like, I love Home Alone too.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Home Alone.

[Dan Powers]

I mean, that's like.

[Chris Powers]

Home Alone's incredible. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Tim Allen, Santa Claus.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I do love that. No, Grinch is good. I feel like Grinch is good.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. You might have been. He's scary. He's scary.

[Dan Powers]

I mean, again, no, Hate to Polar Express. I just want more.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Express is good, though.

[Dan Powers]

It's very good.

[Matthew Schaefer]

As a kid watching it, like, it's so funny. I was watching with Marty's Girls and they're like. They're going to the North Pole. Yeah, Right now, quickly. And things like that.

[Chris Powers]

You get the little bell for him, you know. Yeah. You slip it in the pocket, dude.

[Dan Powers]

The music's in it.

[Chris Powers]

And that's incredible.

[Dan Powers]

It's phenomenal.

[Chris Powers]

That's so good.

[Dan Powers]

But then the other one I wanted to talk about the two things. The fact that Sid's laying out your game day fits closed.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

It's iconic.

[Matthew Schaefer]

So actually like it started off with like my mom like laying out all my stuff. Yeah. Getting you know, turtlenecks and things like that.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

And just like.

[Dan Powers]

And is she keeping you dress in? Well, like we're not doing any of like the, the cool boy fits. Like you're dressing up still.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah. Like. So you're saying like are you wearing suits or like.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, I mean it doesn't need to be a suit every time, but like we're looking nice.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I'm still. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I'm still looking, I'm still, still looking nice and I'm still feeling, feeling good. But my, so my mom upgraded my, you know, wardrobe a bit at the start. Getting me like, you know, peacoat, you know, turtlenecks and things like that. And then said upgraded it this summer because I love, I always wear Marty's stuff. I don't wear it as much anymore, but I would wear all this stuff all the time. I'd be like, hey Sid, what are we packing? I need to go in his closet and get a bunch of stuff.

[Chris Powers]

That's incredible.

[Matthew Schaefer]

It's awesome. And then, thank God, now he, he, he like she upgraded it and then she told my girlfriend and my, and my dad and my brother and my brother's girlfriend what to get me for Christmas. So then now I feel good going.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, yeah. You're looking good.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I'm still, I'm still using his, you know, suitcase and like Louis bagging.

[Chris Powers]

That's fine.

[Dan Powers]

He's not using it.

[Matthew Schaefer]

He's like, where's all my stuff going?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, I'm like, don't worry about it, dude. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

She's packing for me on trips and things like that.

[Chris Powers]

So that's incredible.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, oh, yes.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, okay. Dude, I gotta ask you this and I'm gonna read this to you. Obviously you know all this already, but after you had the two, two goal games back to back, you hit 20. Unbelievable. So most goals by an 18 year old defenseman in NHL history. First time a defenseman was the first rookie to reach 20 goals. Most multi games by a defenseman in NHL history. Tied for second in all defensemen, scoring sixth youngest skater in history to score 23rd among rookies in points. You didn't even score 20 in you 15s.

[Dan Powers]

What's going on here?

[Matthew Schaefer]

Dude, I did see that the other day.

[Chris Powers]

Jesus Christ.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I saw that the other day. About how I forget. I think I had like seven goals.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Or something like that. So, I mean, obviously to my teammates. Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

But insane, right? Holy.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I. I gotta thank my teammates.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. What a run. But has it felt cool? I mean, obviously it's a team thing, but you're like, holy, dude, this is insane.

[Matthew Schaefer]

You don't think about it as much, right?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Because you're just so dialed into the season. You want to win, you want to make playoffs, you want to go far and you just want to enjoy. Like, you don't want to take it for granted or anything, but like, you just want to enjoy the process. I mean, my dad is always like, like, do you realize you're playing in the NHL?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Really? Like, because like, I'm sure it's still.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Hard to process.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Definitely this is like the spot I've always wanted to be and things like that.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Matthew Schaefer]

You know, all the, all the time and sacrifice that my parents and, and coaches and, and people that have helped me, you know, get to this point have definitely helped me. And you know, it's. It's definitely obviously pretty cool, but you just want to, you know, keep.

[Chris Kempczinski (McDonald's CEO)]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Keep grinding. Keep working hard to stay here for

[Chris Powers]

as long as crazy press.

[Dan Powers]

He's a 30 goal scorer.

[Chris Powers]

It's unbelievable, dude. Unbelievable. Okay, we're going to play a quick game with you before we get you out of here. We places everybody. It's called pass, shoot Score. It's a ranking system. We give you a category. We give you three things in a category that we know you like and you rank them. Pass, shoot or score.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Okay.

[Chris Powers]

Passing is your least favorite because passing the puck is cool, but it's not that cool. Shooting is your second favorite because we love getting pucks on net. And then scoring is your favorite because that's the ultimate goal.

[Dan Powers]

Scoring is the best because you're apparently an elite dart.

[Chris Powers]

Let's just do those two.

[Dan Powers]

These two?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Okay. Your first one's gonna be EDM DJs.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Oh, I like that.

[Dan Powers]

So do we.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Oh, you guys do?

[Dan Powers]

Oh, yeah, yeah. So your passchute score is going to be David Guetta.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Okay.

[Dan Powers]

Frank Walker and James Hype.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Wow, that is so tough.

[Chris Powers]

I know, I know. That's the point.

[Matthew Schaefer]

David Guetta just has like, you know,

[Chris Powers]

he has like originals, bangers. He's og, Dude.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I'm gonna go. Okay. I'm gonna go. I'm sorry. I gotta do. I mean, Frank is from Toronto too.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

So, I mean, he knows I love him.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Like, deep down. I'm gonna go Walker pass.

[Dan Powers]

Okay.

[Chris Kempczinski (McDonald's CEO)]

Way.

[Chris Powers]

Dude, you get everybody on Frank. Every time I hear you talk about this, you know he's doing a loophole. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

[Dan Powers]

I think I know he's gonna score.

[Chris Powers]

Okay.

[Matthew Schaefer]

You do?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, I think so.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Who do you think?

[Dan Powers]

I think you're gonna score hype.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I was. I think I'm gonna shoot him.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, really? Just shoot it.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Shoot him. Yeah, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

So you're going with the OG With Geta.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Okay. But he's like. Okay, he's edm. Yeah, but he doesn't have, like. His are more like. Like, James height is like edm. Edm.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

David has, like, those, like, you know, vibes.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Like summer vibes. Like, you know, for party song.

[Chris Powers]

Yes. Yes. Yeah. I mean, remix King. Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah. Like, if we're going edm, I'd probably go shoot hype.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah, probably.

[Dan Powers]

I like.

[Matthew Schaefer]

But then. And then. So.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, it's well reasoned.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Honestly. Walker. Walker's my boy.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, I love him.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I love his songs too. Like.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Oh, my God.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Like that.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, it's unbelievable.

[Matthew Schaefer]

All time, though. Like, I'll probably go score.

[Chris Powers]

Get a pass.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Pass Walker.

[Dan Powers]

Shoot James.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah, I'll shoot James and then.

[Chris Powers]

Okay. Okay. Good job. Okay.

[Matthew Schaefer]

What are you guys doing?

[Chris Powers]

I'm going. I'm maybe scoring height, I think. Dude, actually, Frank has epic.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I like how, like, he. He says he's like a real.

[Chris Powers]

I know.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I know everything on set.

[Dan Powers]

He gives me Prid's vibes.

[Chris Powers]

I know.

[Dan Powers]

In a big way.

[Chris Powers]

The drops that Frank has, though, are so sick. Just gets you in. The vibe so hard.

[Matthew Schaefer]

He gets into it.

[Chris Powers]

It's really good.

[Dan Powers]

Those crowds are out of control.

[Chris Powers]

Hey, Morgan Waller, Coldplay concert. What was better?

[Matthew Schaefer]

Well, I. I went to two Morgan friends and I went to one Cold Play. Coldplay is more of like a.

[Chris Powers]

A whole thing.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Just a vibe, like, you need.

[Dan Powers]

It's an experience 100%.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Like, sky full of Stars. Like, it's just like, wow.

[Dan Powers]

Coldplay shows are like.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Like, it's more like. It's more. It's not an edm, but it's more like upbeat things like that.

[Dan Powers]

Some songs, I do think Coldplay has, like, entered the realm of. You have to see Coldplay.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. At some point. Life experience.

[Matthew Schaefer]

But Morgan Wallen's also awesome.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Great. Great show.

[Dan Powers]

So good.

[Chris Powers]

Okay, here's your last one. All right. We're calling this one Guilty Pleasure Foods.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Okay.

[Dan Powers]

It's going to be tough for you.

[Chris Powers]

This is going to be hard. All you can eat salad and breadsticks from Eastside Mario's.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Oh, my dad loves that.

[Chris Powers]

Panzos from Geno's or wings from Mustangs.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Wow.

[Chris Powers]

That's fucked.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I'm such a. I know. You might have to throw chipotle in there.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, yeah, Right? Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Well done.

[Chris Powers]

What's the bowl again?

[Dan Powers]

Is Italian your favorite cuisine?

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like Italians. I mean, you can never go wrong with a good steak and things like.

[Dan Powers]

No, I know, but Italian's good. It feels so good.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I love all my. All my buddies from back home. Yeah. All the Italians and, like, they're known as.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Oh, dude.

[Dan Powers]

Are you kidding me?

[Chris Powers]

Holy sick.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Like, eat my whole kitchen right now?

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

Or.

[Chris Powers]

Or you'll defend me?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, it's offending food.

[Chris Powers]

Yes. And you don't like me either. I love it. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, really?

[Matthew Schaefer]

I could.

[Chris Powers]

Fantastic.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Like, do you want to come live with me in New York and just make me.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Just cook.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Oh, okay. That's a good one. I mean, I. I do love a good chipotle.

[Chris Powers]

I know, I know.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Me too.

[Chris Powers]

Hey, Chipotle. Sneaky.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Awesome. Yeah, sneaky.

[Dan Powers]

You're in the land of good Mexican, though.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I'm going chipotle at the start, though, if I have to. I'm going chipotle one.

[Chris Powers]

Okay.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Panzo's number two. Mustang's number three. I do love.

[Dan Powers]

Okay, the wings are winning.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I heard.

[Chris Powers]

I heard those wings are the best

[Matthew Schaefer]

in the world, so.

[Dan Powers]

I love that you're a wings guy.

[Chris Powers]

Me too.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I'm not a big wings guy in a way.

[Dan Powers]

Really?

[Matthew Schaefer]

But I do like.

[Chris Powers]

I like them there. Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Are you going, like, classic Buffalo?

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah. Like, I'm not super picky.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, yeah, same, like. I mean, you put wings in front

[Chris Powers]

of me, I'm gonna eat them. Yeah, right. Whatever.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I. I used to not like him as much. I'm starting to grow on them. But Mustangs is the go to spot with, like, my family.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I always go there. Like, even if we're, like, celebrating birthday and we're just like, oh, let's just go to Mustangs down the road. Right. But a good panzo is so good.

[Chris Powers]

Dude, those looked incredible. I looked that up. I was like, oh, my God.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Cheddar habanero sauce.

[Chris Powers]

Y. Holy hell, dude. That's incredible.

[Matthew Schaefer]

So good. Yeah, it's so good.

[Chris Powers]

Okay. And that was what? Shoot. You went shoot the panzos?

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah, yeah, I'll probably shoot the panzos. I'll go Mustangs.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, okay.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I'll leave the for my dad.

[Chris Powers]

East side Marios. That can be pdim. Enjoy.

[Dan Powers]

Enjoy.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Great.

[Dan Powers]

Hey.

[Chris Powers]

Hey. What's sushi? You getting on the plane? When on the planes? You get the sushi on the plane? Eh, yeah. Yeah. What are you getting?

[Matthew Schaefer]

I'm honestly. We. We had sushi last night. I'm not a massive sushi.

[Chris Powers]

Okay.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, you'll. You'll grow. It'll grow.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I had it.

[Dan Powers]

I promise.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I got sick.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, dude, that's always happening.

[Dan Powers]

It happens to everybody.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Things like that just mess with you.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

So I.

[Dan Powers]

You just got to give it time.

[Matthew Schaefer]

It just has a weird upset. It upsets my stomach.

[Dan Powers]

I get it. You will give it time. Stick to the steak.

[Chris Powers]

Stick to the steak. Stick to the steak.

[Matthew Schaefer]

When like at the st. We'd go on the plane, I'd be eating it all the time.

[Chris Powers]

Oh my God.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Dude got sick and I'm like, I don't know.

[Chris Powers]

Do you guys get. Do you guys have candy and on the plane or does that know? Cuz I know the hammer and skittles.

[Matthew Schaefer]

We know it like. Like I'll bring some stuff sometime, like dried mango and things like that.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, okay. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

So good after.

[Chris Powers]

Better.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Slaps.

[Matthew Schaefer]

So good slaps. But you know, you know my. Go to what? Bbj.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, the Uncrustables. You motherfucker. Yeah,

[Matthew Schaefer]

sandwiches.

[Chris Powers]

Really? They get the real deal.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Five or six.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, these are. These are like go to post games.

[Chris Powers]

PB&J is incredible. PB and Jason.

[Dan Powers]

I was a big chocolate milk after a game. Yeah, I with chocolate milk.

[Chris Powers]

Heavy. That's incredible.

[Dan Powers]

All right, we got some youth practice going on back here. We got to let you get out of here. But before we cut you loose, is there anything you want to shout out? Anything you want to plug?

[Matthew Schaefer]

Well, I mean, first off, thanks again.

[Chris Powers]

Hey, anytime.

[Matthew Schaefer]

You guys are awesome.

[Dan Powers]

We're going to be down at the island more often, so this is going to become a recurring guest situation for sure.

[Matthew Schaefer]

But no, I mean, go get your noble. Go get your chipotle. Yeah, go get your warrior sticks.

[Dan Powers]

This is what this time is for?

[Chris Powers]

You unload the clip?

[Matthew Schaefer]

No, but I mean, honestly, I mean, if you haven't checked them out, go check out Empty Netter.

[Chris Powers]

Let's go. How about that? Hey, that's the first time.

[Dan Powers]

That's the first time in four years

[Chris Powers]

a guest has ever said in the shout out section shouted out us. That's pretty cool.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Thank you, guys.

[Chris Powers]

Of course. Hey, keep it up, man. You're killing it.

[Dan Powers]

Unreal. Unreal fellow. Luigi guy, come on.

[Matthew Schaefer]

So, my boy. My boy. I like him a bit more.

[Chris Powers]

I know. I'm Switch.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Just when you come to New York, bring those Nintendo's if you got them.

[Dan Powers]

We're gonna bring an N64 and make you.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Really teach you. What's that?

[Dan Powers]

That is the O.G. all right, well, like, there's Nintendo and Nintendo Es.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

But then when we were kids, N64 came out, and it was like, the first system of all time, 3D video game system ever. And that's where Mario Kart started.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

So, like, that's the Mario Kart we grew up on. Marty knows about that. I'm sure N64 was the goat. So we're going to get him.

[Matthew Schaefer]

By the way, he sucks at ps.

[Chris Powers]

What are you playing?

[Dan Powers]

He doesn't believe.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, you're getting rinsed in, people. This.

[Dan Powers]

We need to get you on the show next so we can just rebuild yourself. Everything that has been said, actually, I got to.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I got to say a story. He is the biggest head I've ever heard. Yeah. Massive head. So listen to this. Before the break, I'm on a.

[Dan Powers]

Are we talking literally or metaphorically?

[Matthew Schaefer]

Literally.

[Chris Powers]

Okay.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Okay. So before the break, I'm on a roll. FIFA, pga. I'm smoking.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Okay. No chance. He's. He's so mad.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I take a little break. I think our mental performance coach was like, marty's having a tough time losing to you.

[Chris Powers]

Go easy on.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Go easy on it when you come back.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

So then, you know, I. I come back, and I'm in a little bit of a drought right now. He's winning. He's like, oh, my God. And he's just, like, giving it to me. He's like, you suck.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I'm like, buddy, this is like the four times you're ever gonna be. Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And the stat.

[Chris Powers]

The staff asked me to let you. Let me be. Just let you beat me.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I'm like, I'm really. I'm just letting you. But he had Mbappe and Sock.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Matthew Schaefer]

And things like that. Just like.

[Chris Powers]

I don't know.

[Matthew Schaefer]

But that's one guy I never want to lose to.

[Chris Powers]

Yes, Correct.

[Matthew Schaefer]

I don't want to lose, though.

[Dan Powers]

You got to get back on the stick soon.

[Chris Powers]

Turn it around. We'll turn it around.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Incred.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Exactly.

[Chris Powers]

Wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow. Matthew Schaefer. I want to hang out with him every Day.

[Dan Powers]

He's the most. He's truly one of the most impressive young men I've ever met my entire life.

[Chris Powers]

Isn't it crazy that everybody says that and then it wasn't over?

[Dan Powers]

It's. It's actually unbelievable. And, and we. We talk about it. The Macklin Celebrini has. And I, I want to give shout outs to our boy Will Smith as well. Those two kids, and particularly Mac, have changed the vibes in San Jose. Matthew Schaefer has completely changed this franchise. It is truly Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin level stuff. When those guys got to Pittsburgh and Washington, the way this team has identified the players, have identified the staff, the coaching, they're like, this kid is revolutionary. It is like, that is. He is the definition of a franchise player. Yeah. And the fact, too, we got set up, we did that interview. There was no, like, you know, talk about this or don't talk about that. Like, they just trust him. They're like, yeah, he's just gonna sit down and chat with you.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

He was not policed at all by PR people.

[Dan Powers]

Like, he's just. He's. He's well spoken, he's funny, he's great, he's charismatic, he's charming. He's everything you want in a player in sports.

[Chris Powers]

He's obviously got an incredible living situation with Marty and the girls right now, but I'm like, get comfortable, pal.

[Dan Powers]

Go.

[Chris Powers]

Go by. You're gonna be on long island for 20 years. Like, you are going, oh, buddy, nowhere.

[Dan Powers]

You are the king of the island.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

Like, it's unbelievable. He's. He's phenomenal.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

The new faces of the league have arrived. It feels. Yeah, it really has, because we've been waiting to be like, when are we gonna get past the Ovechkin Crosby paradigm? And I think it's. It's finally come.

[Dan Powers]

It's also, it's. I also just love. As we know, I'm a slut for. For teams and players, and I'm not sure I ever thought I'd be an Islanders fan.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And here I am.

[Chris Powers]

It's awesome.

[Dan Powers]

It's fantastic. Fantastic. Talk to me about the Vail trip. Speaking of fantastic things, I missed the Vale trip this year. Sad to have missed it, but I had a great, great weekend. But it sounds like you did, too.

[Chris Powers]

Yep. We went to play the Empty Netter squad. Went to play the Vale Yeti. Huge shout out to my boy Kyle, who runs the Yeti and does everything. Just an unbelievable person. Just had a new baby. Hey, that's on the baby.

[Dan Powers]

Congrats on the sex, too.

[Chris Powers]

Yes, yes, Absolutely. Absolutely. And, man, it's awesome, too, because as a new dad, he's doing so much with the team still, you know, he's there at night getting us dialed in that we say it every time we do. This hockey trip is so awesome to just play like that.

[Dan Powers]

You.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

You.

[Dan Powers]

We get a weekend again, I wasn't there, and this is going to make me just progressively more and more jealous. But you get a weekend where you go to a sick ass ski town and you get to play competitive hockey and ski.

[Chris Powers]

Dude. And what? Also this. I feel this always happens to us every all year. They're like, we have no snow. We have no snow.

[Dan Powers]

And then they get puked on, dumped

[Chris Powers]

on on Friday like this. The snowstorm of the century. And I'm like, oh, sick.

[Dan Powers]

That was the most mad. I was.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

I was, like, so sad to miss that weekend, but I was like, well, at least the skiing's not that great. And then it was just a blizzard.

[Chris Powers]

I was like, oh, my God. Okay, so the Dobson Rink, which is right in the Vale Village, which we played at last year. It was getting renovated this year, so we were playing somewhere else, but I got to do a private tour of the rink.

[Dan Powers]

Of the Renault.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Which is also sick because it was an active construction site. Like, I was like, okay, I'm here for the tour.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Did they make you put a hat on? Did they give you that on?

[Chris Powers]

Oh, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Nice.

[Chris Powers]

Sick. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Why did we both immediately go to that and get fired up about it? That's straight up.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Because we're children.

[Dan Powers]

That's dude shit right there. Yeah. Like, that's kids playing with trucks.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Well, I'm worried about your safety, dude.

[Chris Powers]

I had the vest. I had a vest.

[Dan Powers]

Really?

[Chris Powers]

Oh, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

That's awesome.

[Chris Powers]

Vest, hat, goggles, die.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

You needed, like, a roll of architecture plans, dude.

[Chris Powers]

It was crazy. I was walking around places and then like. Like, you know how when you're just around dudes, like, I'm so not that guy. Like, who can. Who can handle myself in construction?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And like, those guys are like, get out of the way.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. But no, everyone was so nice. But it was so funny because I'm just, like, looking at stuff and they're like, forklift. And I'm like, yep, my bad.

[Dan Powers]

Yep.

[Chris Powers]

Sorry, sorry. Get out of the way.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

How many times did you almost die?

[Chris Powers]

Oh, multiple. You're stepping over. You were blowing. Like, there's machines that are just like. I'm like, what is that?

[Dan Powers]

You were in the Wrong spot multiple times.

[Chris Powers]

I'm just. It was all over the place. A guy, I think his name was Mike, who does like, runs shit in Vail, he's heading up the site. They're on time, on budget. That never happens. They're killing it. So, dude, you remember the. What it looks like?

[Dan Powers]

Of course.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. So now it's full bowl. Nice. So it's like, you know, packed. And dude, it's. We came in here. So, like, here's the rink. We came in at center ice. That was the entrance. You will now come in behind this goal at this beautiful huge lobby. And it's everything. Concessions, everything. Where you enter is up and then it's like Dodge Stadium, then the rink

[Dan Powers]

and you go down.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Subterranean.

[Chris Powers]

And then there's the sheet.

[Dan Powers]

So it's a true bowl.

[Chris Powers]

Kept the wood ceiling, thank God, ceiling perfect. And there were normally two scoreboards at the end. Actually, I don't know if I should say this.

[Dan Powers]

They got a mini Jumbotron.

[Chris Powers]

Well, you just said it now, so that was speculative. Yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

And you cannot confirm nor deny it?

[Chris Powers]

I cannot confirm.

[Dan Powers]

You do not have to confirm nor deny.

[Chris Powers]

I cannot confirm nor deny if there

[Dan Powers]

will be a mini Jumbo.

[Chris Powers]

A Jumbotron. And they're also trying. So they. To keep the wood. They reinforced it with steel. Like, it's still wood, but there's like a piece of steel and this. They're trying to put like the spines of that of the wood. They're trying to put lights up it. So like when we come out, it can be like light blue. Empty nutters.

[Dan Powers]

It's like. And then it's green.

[Chris Powers]

Yeti come out and it's all green. Like every time they score, it's like. Yeah. And I was like, oh, dude. More like concessions all around. And this is actually so clutch, dude, in the top where there's standing room because remember how many people are standing, right. They put a. A beer, a drink, like, railing around the whole rink. So when you're up there and you have your drink or whatever, you can

[Dan Powers]

just like slot it in there.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, rest.

[Dan Powers]

Is it like frosted?

[Chris Powers]

Oh, I don't know. It's not done, but that's a good.

[Dan Powers]

I hate when I say shit like that because now someone from there is listening to this and they're like, fuck, fuck. Now we have to frost it.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Guys gonna want to frost it.

[Dan Powers]

I just added so much to their

[Chris Powers]

budget, but it is going to be fucking awesome.

[Dan Powers]

Hell, yeah.

[Chris Powers]

I cannot wait for that.

[Dan Powers]

It's amazing.

[Chris Powers]

Okay, so a couple highlights games were Fucking amazing. We always lose. We lose every year.

[Dan Powers]

We lose games.

[Chris Powers]

We lost twice, lost on Friday, went up and then the Yeti just steamroll us. Per usual. We were a little short, had a couple. The weather actually. So we had some guys that were going to come play for us and then people were like, I can't get up.

[Dan Powers]

Oh really?

[Chris Powers]

The weather was a nightmare. So a little short Friday, Saturday we lost 6, 4. And it was the first time ever of all the Jackson trips too that it was just like a tilt. Usually like we go way up and then they beat us or like they go way up and we can't catch.

[Dan Powers]

Just like.

[Chris Powers]

It was just like a great hockey game. It was really close game, I will say. And I, I don't mean to be angry about anything from this trip, but in the game with six, four and there's two minutes left and we possess the puck and start skating and there's like a chip around a defenseman and we're like, krugs pull. So we pull our goalie and we knock a puck loose in the neutral zone and we have a two on one, a clear two on one. One of our. Probably our best odd man rush of the weekend. Down 64 with 2 minutes left as we pull the goalie and as we're skating in passing the blue line, the whistle blows and I'm like, oh my God, was that offside? And the ref goes, no, your guy who jumped for the, for the goalie went over.

[Dan Powers]

Too many men.

[Chris Powers]

Too many men.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Oh, come on.

[Dan Powers]

In an. In an exhibition friendly game.

[Chris Powers]

Two minutes left in the game with us down two and a two on one.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Boo.

[Dan Powers]

And I was like, boo that, man.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

That's nitpicky.

[Dan Powers]

That is insane.

[Chris Powers]

We were like, dude. And he was like, it was. You had. There were seven on the ice at one point. And I was like, were we playing with seven?

[Dan Powers]

Who was Nils freaking out at the ref?

[Chris Powers]

I. We were all pretty loud. We were so nice the whole trip. But in that everybody was like, you

[Dan Powers]

gotta be fucking kidding me.

[Chris Powers]

Like, I cannot believe you want to end this game like that.

[Dan Powers]

We gotta start greasing the refs next year.

[Chris Powers]

And Dan.

[Dan Powers]

Cause I believe that the Vail greased the ref. They don't need to, but I believe that they're like, don't let us lose

[Chris Powers]

in our own so. Dude. And every time, kind of like the Vail team when we're playing them, it's always like if they score, like the floodgates open and we're like, fuck. When we were up 3:1 in the first game, and we were doing great. We were, like, deep into the second. And then the goal, they scored to go 3, 2. They're crossing the neutral, and this is no one's fault, but, like, this is what happened. They're crossing the neutral zone. They get the red, and they rim one to just dump it. And a lineman who's, like, standing just inside our blue line tries to jump it, but it just hits his skate and kicks directly into the slot.

[Dan Powers]

And they score.

[Chris Powers]

And now a guy's walking in because RD pivoted for the rim. And then they just.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Just.

[Dan Powers]

Oh.

[Chris Powers]

And then they score, and we're like. And the ref's like, sorry. And again, like, what is he supposed to do?

[Dan Powers]

But legitimately, I think you blow that play dead, dude.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah. Did you see it in NHL?

[Dan Powers]

I almost think that they would blow that play dead because they're like, that is insane.

[Chris Powers]

In that moment that on Friday we were like, dude, yeah. And we were kind of giving it to him, being like, I need. I need better there, bro. And then in this, the two bitty

[Dan Powers]

dude, next year, I want to bring, like, Alec Martinez and Stoli, and.

[Chris Powers]

And like, I said that on the bus. I was like, I could bring a real wrecking and just, like, actually pump

[Dan Powers]

them and be like, fuck it.

[Chris Powers]

Okay. So also, I filmed some awesome stuff. Well, that one guy that plays in their team, Dom, who also is going to manage the social media, they're going to launch, like, an awesome YouTube hell, yeah. Next year to really show the world what this league is about. Yeah, Nate and I are going to be a part of it. I filmed some stuff with them on this trip. It's going to be awesome. I cannot wait. So stay tuned on that. And also, I just got to say, that team is so.

[Dan Powers]

They're so cool, man. Dude, they're such good dudes.

[Chris Powers]

This one guy, Sean, I was hanging with him a bunch, but in the handshake line, hit me with an as always. Yeah, let's go. And then one of the guys dapped us, a few of us, because we were skiing copper. Because we have icons.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, a couple.

[Chris Powers]

One of the guys dapped us up with, had extra free passes to Ski Vale. And he was like, dude, I got you. Like, that's so legend. Unbelievably nice. Everyone on the roster, top to bottom, hangs with us after they. They put on such a good show. They host us for games for. For dinners and everything after. Unbelievable knuckle. Our bus driver was named Knuckles.

[Dan Powers]

It's unbelievable.

[Chris Powers]

Can you Believe that?

[Dan Powers]

Nope.

[Chris Powers]

Had the beer stocked, had a speaker, everything.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Did he have distinctive knuckles?

[Chris Powers]

No, but I gotta find out. I'll find out.

[Dan Powers]

Maybe he was a scrapper.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, maybe he was. Okay, so then just a couple funny things from the trip. We get to the we. So we. Oh, dude, the hotel we're at now is incredible. It's just so nice. So we're there and post game Saturday, so it's like, no more games to play. Like we have a big night. We get back to the lobby and we are playing beat the box with Oshi's cards and boozing, having beers and. And this guy comes down from the hotel and he goes, hey, I just got a noise complaint from you guys. And I go, oh, sorry. Cause we're yelling and whatever. And I'm like, yep, totally.

[Dan Powers]

Is it the same hotel we were in last time?

[Chris Powers]

No, it's this gorgeous, gorgeous hotel. And I go, we go, no problem. I'm right in the middle of the lobby. So I'm like, yep, okay.

[Dan Powers]

Who is making a noise complaint when you're in the lobby?

[Chris Powers]

Agree. Cause he goes, I just got one from upstairs. And I kind of looked up and it was just a ceiling. And I was like, can someone hear through this? Maybe. I don't know.

[Dan Powers]

Clearly not that nice of a hotel.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, we were yelling paper thin floors. So then he goes, just. So I start to pack up, you know, I'm like, oh, okay, we gotta go. And he's like, no, no, just quiet down. Just be a little quieter. And I was like, amazing. So then, you know, another 45 minutes goes by and he comes back out and I was like, fuck. And he goes, just wanted to tell you guys you're doing a great job. And I was like, oh, that's awesome.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, being quiet.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. He was like, you're doing a great job. And I was like, great. So, dude, then this guy comes in and dude, this is a nice hotel. So, like, I don't really know what's going on here, but this guy goes in who is like a cowboy, but in like, I think he's like. I think he's like a stripper stripper. Or maybe like a male.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Did he have only escort only assless chest.

[Dan Powers]

He's a gigolo, dude.

[Chris Powers]

So he's in cowboy boots, like ridiculous pants and a wife beater and a cowboy hat with like a crazy necklace on.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Okay.

[Chris Powers]

And glasses.

[Dan Powers]

Hot dude.

[Chris Powers]

Ripped, like, you know, he's like a thick dude.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, nice. He's like a man, dude.

[Chris Powers]

See, he's a bear. Yeah. And. And he's like, dance. I don't know. He's being weird. And granted, I was kind of playing this card game, so some of the other boys were more dialed into this. But everyone's like, what's going on? And what's that? Like, what's that classic stripper song?

[Dan Powers]

Oh, Pony by Genuine.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Chris Powers]

Dan.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

We both knew Pony.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Someone put. Someone hits Pony. And. And the guy starts like. And then. And we're like, oh, shit. Is there like a bachelorette party? Because there was. That lobby at the Grand Hyatt was like a fucking trout pond. I was like, oh, maybe there's some women here who have requested. And he's now just finished. And he.

[Dan Powers]

Or he comes in and he's like. He gets an order and they go, you're going to see a group immediately. That's the group for you. And he accidentally saw you guys, thought

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

it was you guys.

[Dan Powers]

For the boys. All right.

[Chris Powers]

And he also. I forgot to say he had an iPad with him. So I'm like, what's going on? So then someone took the iPad and put on Pony. So then he's. He's like. He's humping. Like, he's going, dude, he's humping.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

So this guy is a stripper by himself.

[Matthew Schaefer]

And.

[Chris Powers]

Well, dude, that's what I mean. He's just by himself and he's like. He's fucked up.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

He's grinding.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, he's hammered.

[Chris Powers]

So we're like, oh, shit, dude. So then someone's like, you want a beer? And he's like, yes. So then he takes me and we have some girls with us, right? Like, our girlfriends are on the show. So he takes the Coors Light and then he goes like. Pulls out a fucking switchblade and opens it. Like, opens it normally, but opens it with the switchblade. And then everyone was like, I don't love that he has a knife.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

You know? But then he's like, still dancing. Whatever. And there was a conference at the show.

[Dan Powers]

Can I ask, was his dancing good? Did it look like maybe he does do this? Or was it like this guy's just.

[Chris Powers]

It looks like if I was like this. Evan, dance like a stripper right now.

[Dan Powers]

Okay.

[Chris Powers]

It looks like what I bet you would do. Sure. Cause it's just like the standard moves.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

You mean an amazing guy.

[Dan Powers]

I was gonna say. I don't like that he's doubting your ability to be.

[Chris Powers]

Of us who are not any non stripper guy.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Right? I'm not a trained stripper.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

But you could pull something out of your ass.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I got about five seconds worth of material.

[Chris Powers]

So then he. There. There had been a. Oh, there's a work conference at that hotel too. And clearly there'd been some event in the lobby before. We have arrived at 2am because there's pizza everywhere. There's like Godza boxes and like half eaten pizzas all over the place.

[Dan Powers]

Sure.

[Chris Powers]

That have been there for hours. So then the cowboy, he starts like dancing on those tables. But then he like grabs a slice and starts eating it while stripping. And I was like, oh, no, dude. Are you like, are you just a hungry guy? Yeah, he's just like, I'm gonna go

[Dan Powers]

in there and strip and do this fully out of control.

[Chris Powers]

So then he takes his knife out again and starts cutting open ranch packets. And then fucking firing.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Wait, what? What time of day is this?

[Chris Powers]

Dude, it's like four in the morning.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Okay, three or four in the morning.

[Dan Powers]

And this is post a Grand Hyatt employee going, great job.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

And now you're associated with this menace.

[Chris Powers]

Then he starts cutting boxes open. And now our group is like, oh, no.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, we have let a vagrant in here.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I'm shocked that Pony didn't warrant another noise complaint.

[Chris Powers]

I know. Because then we kept but a few of the boys. It was one of these things where the girls we're with were very uncomfortable. And some of the boys were like, I want this guy to leave. But then some of the boys were like, this is hilarious.

[Dan Powers]

So which camp were you in?

[Chris Powers]

I was in the camp of like, I don't want this guy here, but I'm trying to beat the box. So I don't even. I don't even know.

[Dan Powers]

You were ignoring it.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, yeah, ignore it, ignore it. And this guy, dude. But then some of the boys keep hitting Pony because they're like, do that again. And I'm like, this is not helping.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And we think that he had a handler. Then an older guy came up, and then he comes in and sees us and he goes, this like, older guy is like, reeling the gay cowboy in. And I think he was gay, but we couldn't tell. Gay cowboy in. And we go. The older guy goes like, you guys are derelicts. And I was like, to you, we

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

are not the one slashing ranch packets.

[Dan Powers]

What?

[Chris Powers]

Oh, my God, dude. What an insult.

[Dan Powers]

At 5am I thought you were gonna say, it's like peppajack comes in and he goes like this. You had my client for an hour. That'll be a thousand dollars.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, you owe me Money, I think. Though Parrish did say that the old guy followed him to the elevator at Cowboy or Parrish and then got in the elevator with him and then said, actually, you guys are pretty cool.

[Dan Powers]

Oh.

[Chris Powers]

So that was.

[Dan Powers]

He came around.

[Chris Powers]

Came around.

[Dan Powers]

That's pretty awesome.

[Chris Powers]

So our only note for the lovely Grand Hyatt is there's just gotta be someone at the door.

[Dan Powers]

We need a little bit of security in case knife wielding, stripping cowboys show up.

[Chris Powers]

I told us that he had. He's been banned from every other resort in Vail and has multiple arrests. Multiple, like, prison stints.

[Dan Powers]

He said the cowboy told you?

[Chris Powers]

The cowboy said that? Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

At least he's honest.

[Chris Powers]

Possession. He said he got busted selling a bag to an undercover cop. Fuck. Wow, that's brutal.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

And then the last official team mascot.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And then the last one I had for you is we stumble. We're up all night, fucking daylight savings shambles. We stumble into the Vail airport in the morning and we're there pretty early because we all have different flights. You got to get there on time, you know, whatever. And everyone's hurting so bad that there's, you know when. You know when someone's in a. Stuck in the desert and there's a.

[Dan Powers]

Oasis.

[Chris Powers]

Oasis. But it's a mirage.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

You know, it's not really. There we go turn the corner of the veil lobby and everyone's like. And there's just a stand, a woman at a stand that says. With a huge side that says handcrafted Bloody Marys. And I was like, wow, that would

[Dan Powers]

be the most immediate buy of my entire life.

[Chris Powers]

That is.

[Dan Powers]

And I'm not, I'm not always a hair of the dog thing. But if a handcrafted Bloody Mary stand was there.

[Chris Powers]

So we go, oh my God, this is fucking. And I went. I thought she was a mirage.

[Dan Powers]

So I was like, you're like touching your face.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. I went, right. I thought I'd go right through it.

[Dan Powers]

She's like, sir, are you real?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, yeah. So we go up and there's someone. Someone else saw this too.

[Dan Powers]

So what was the accoutrement like? Were there pickles, olives, bacon?

[Chris Powers]

The guy in front of us goes up. There's one guy in front of us, right? And he goes, two Bloody Marys. And she goes, sure. And pulls out a cup, plastic cup, ice, takes a thing of Tito's, pours it in and then opens the top off a zing Zang Bloody Mary mix and pours it in till it's full and then takes an olive and puts it in. And I actually love handcrafted. I actually love Zigzag mix. I genuinely think it's awesome.

[Dan Powers]

If we're talking mixes, it's not. It's pretty good. But the Shout Out, Stonewall Kitchen Greatest Bloody Mary mix, like, pre bottled you can ever find.

[Chris Powers]

But the handcrafted side is preposterous, right?

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Well, she did use her hands.

[Dan Powers]

She's literally using her hands.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

She's not a robot.

[Chris Powers]

She has the guys.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

$30.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. And then we step up, we're like, hey, you know, 20 of these. Yeah. We go Bloody Mary's. And she goes like this. I'm out. You're out. What.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

What time of day was it? Was it 9am What?

[Dan Powers]

Was this woman sanctioned to be doing this? Or did a random. Did another vagrant walk into the airport with a bottle of Cheetos and one bottle of Zingzag?

[Chris Powers]

He's like, go get some. What do you mean? She's like, I've requested more mix. And he was like, okay, well, when

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

will it get here?

[Chris Powers]

I don't know. When do we get that? And then, hilariously, I don't remember the inside, but you go up the desk later, and then there's, like, that one food place, and then there's a bar up there.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And they were. She was just getting it from the bar. But we. I was like, oh, we should have just walked to the bar.

[Dan Powers]

Go to the bar. Go get one at the bar.

[Chris Powers]

It was a solve for us, too. But the handcrafted Bloody Mary being, it's. It's actually Zingzag mix. And we're out

[Dan Powers]

all time dagger. So you just get a bunch of

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

ketchup packets and start squeezing it in there.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, dude. But greatest trip of the year, always the Vale Yeti. We will be back. We'll be back stronger than ever.

[Dan Powers]

Yes, we will.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, I do want to tell you this. This was funny, too. I forgot, dude, that you and, like, duh. It's like, you guys had your jerseys. Like, I should have taken your jersey. So I was doing the math on jerseys, and I was like, yeah, I bring extras so we can fill bodies. And then we got some people to

[Dan Powers]

play Saturday, and then we didn't have jerseys.

[Chris Powers]

And then I was like, oh, my

[Dan Powers]

God, I would have never done that.

[Chris Powers]

I would have fucking jerseys to play. But we need these bodies. So I'm doing the math, and we're one jersey short. And I'm like, fuck, dude. Because I'm like, we'll get a penny. But I'm like, this looks. So. Yeah. We just have to do it.

[Dan Powers]

So I.

[Chris Powers]

We need one more jersey for all of us.

[Dan Powers]

Did you Charlie Conway?

[Chris Powers]

No. But what I did do was wear the only thing available to me.

[Dan Powers]

Okay.

[Chris Powers]

Which was Parrish's jersey.

[Dan Powers]

You wore a goalie jersey.

[Chris Powers]

I wore a goalie cut at the game just so the team could field the full roster.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And every time I step on the ice, the crowd. Nice fucking parachute. You fucking pussy. At every shift, dude. Five books.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

That's gotta slow you down. That's slowing you down.

[Chris Powers]

It's ridiculous. I'm getting beat to high hell by every person in the rink. Every player on the ice. Couldn't get a bigger sweater, pal. I'm like, ah, yeah. Well, you know, just making sacrifices for the fucking boys.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

So I want some stick taps for that.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. You deserve that.

[Chris Powers]

I was wearing.

[Dan Powers]

That is the toughest. Also, I will say the guy with the worst eye on the team should be the one to do that. So. Good job.

[Chris Powers]

I wore a fucking goalie cut.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, man, that is brutal.

[Chris Powers]

And the Saturday is the picture day. You know, everybody gets the picks. You know, I got to live with that for the rest of my life.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

You need it. You needed some.

[Dan Powers]

Was Parish pins.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Parish coaching. He was incredible.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Better bring clothes.

[Chris Powers]

Better, Dude. Honestly, Somebody kit was like, clear, tape your sleeves. And I was like, I think that would look even more insane.

[Dan Powers]

That is so funny.

[Chris Powers]

Unbelievable. Unbelievable Trip Shout out men's league sweater for the jerseys, by the way. Always. Vale Yeti. Thank you so much.

[Dan Powers]

Can't wait for next year. I'm sorry I wasn't there. I promise I'll be back there, and I'll be fucking lighting it up.

[Chris Powers]

Best trip ever.

[Dan Powers]

Incredible.

[Chris Powers]

Okay. And then I had another funny thing for you guys, because when I got back after, you know, being in shambles on Sunday, ordering Chinese food takeout for dinner was the most automatic thing.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Of all time. Sure. And it made me think that. I think Chinese food is the goat takeout or delivery order. I think if you polled Family Feud people and said what? You're ordering takeout. What is it?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

The number one answer is Chinese.

[Dan Powers]

I believe that Asian cuisine is the best takeaway food.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

You throw Thai food in there with it.

[Matthew Schaefer]

Thai.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

I think Indian. Like, I'm. I think there's an expression in England, when in doubt, curry takeout.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. It is like, I like that.

[Dan Powers]

Indian is a great takeaway. Ties great. Sushi's not great takeaway.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Correct.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Unless it's super high end.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Right.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

But, like, that's the thing is, like,

[Dan Powers]

even that, like, what the sugar fish does, like, the dumb little box. Hey, 20 extra bucks for that Place sucks. No, no, it does. It's fantastic.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Well, I would say that, like, Chinese food holds up the best when it's at your door.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Like, if you order, like, a burger and fries or something, it's always, like.

[Dan Powers]

It's always fry. It's, like, kind of, like, soggy. It's not.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah, like, you know.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, I like this take.

[Chris Powers]

I think it's the goat takeout slash delivery food.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, I think. I think. I like this take. I think Mexican does pretty well, but I think. I think you're right.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

So what.

[Chris Powers]

What is the most common thing, like, ordered? Because, like, everyone, I just feel like, has this Chinese order because you got to get a million things, you know, like, I'm order 5,000.

[Dan Powers]

Well, I've talked about this recently since living. Or like, I'm just alone all the time, and sometimes I'm having a lazy Sunday and I want Chinese food. It's hard to order for one.

[Chris Powers]

Yes.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

You almost got to do one of their, like, combo things.

[Chris Powers]

Right. Because I really do want to sample everything.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. I would guess that either a. A chicken, but I don't know if you're gonna allow that take.

[Chris Powers]

Well, yeah, I want. I want to know what one, like

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

General Tso's chicken or something like lo mein, I think.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, fuck.

[Dan Powers]

I. I actually think fried rice might go above lo mein for me. I think for me.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yeah. Fried rice is.

[Dan Powers]

People are always getting pork fried rice.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. No. Yeah. Okay. Maybe that's the answer.

[Dan Powers]

Pork fried rice, I think, is probably

[Chris Powers]

the number one, because every family's like, oh, we're a kung pao chicken, and

[Dan Powers]

we're a sesame chicken. We're a General Tso's chicken.

[Chris Powers]

But everyone's order pork fried.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Oh, it's fucking the best.

[Chris Powers]

The pork, specifically.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Wow. That actually might be the answer. I think pork fried rice is the most ordered item.

[Dan Powers]

Item.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I bet there's a regional thing with it, too.

[Chris Powers]

Okay.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

I think in, like, big cities where you have a more, like, I don't want to say erudite customer base, but they might be getting weirder, more riskier. Stuff like that might average out more than like, a, you know, a city where the Chinese cuisine is a little less interesting.

[Dan Powers]

You know what I'm saying? Yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Like, there's one, like, where I grew up in Ohio, there was, like, one Chinese restaurant, and it was just, like, you know, pretty basic yeah. But out here you can get.

[Chris Powers]

You can get some itchy, get some

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

weird stuff, but I think you're.

[Chris Powers]

I think those people are fucking up, dude. I think the basics.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Get the basics.

[Chris Powers]

The fat the Chinese take out. Fastballs are fucking fastballs for a reason. That's what you get.

[Dan Powers]

I was actually talking about this with someone the other day. They tried night market for the first time and they were like, what should I get? When I. And I feel like a lot of people go, oh yeah, Pad Thai. So basically when you get tied. No, you should. You need to get pad Thai. If you are a Thai restaurant, your pad Thai better knock my dick off my body. I better turn me into a Ken doll with your Pad Thai. Otherwise you're not a good Thai, you're a bad restaurant. Like I. And pad Thai is incredible.

[Chris Powers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

There's nothing wrong with something being a classic because it's incredible.

[Chris Powers]

Okay, great. You judge. You judge a Thai restaurant off their pad Thai? Yes.

[Dan Powers]

You judge an Italian restaurant on their tiramisu?

[Chris Powers]

Yes. You judge a Chinese food restaurant off

[Dan Powers]

their what, pork fried rice.

[Chris Powers]

You think so? I do think it's the most ordered, but I don't know if that's the answer.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, I mean, for me personally, I want to say chicken because I Your sesame chicken. General sounds chicken, sweet and sour chicken, whatever you want to call it, you need to have a good. As we. This is. We're back into the tender discussion. Your chicken to breading ratio better be good. If I take a bite of something that feels like it's all breading. Shame on you.

[Chris Powers]

Shame on you.

[Dan Powers]

That's probably my personal one, but you gotta have a good fried rice. I think this is, you're say Crab

[Chris Powers]

Rangoon I restaurant off there.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. You're idiot.

[Chris Powers]

You're either you have good Crab Rangoon or you don't.

[Dan Powers]

That like that is. That is so wrong. Like that's not your judgment. That is a bonus. It is great when there's good Crab Rangoon, but that, that does not make or break your Chinese food.

[Chris Powers]

Sure does for me. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Again, you're an idiot. And I'm happy for you living in your dumb idiot world, but that you like. You can't say that. There's a child listening to you. There's a kid. That one's better. Yeah, there was a kid, a young kid listening to this show right now. And the next 20 to 50 years of his Chinese food ordering is about to be determined on what you say. And this kid is now going to run around looking for the best Crab Rangoon. And that is not the way to go.

[Chris Powers]

It might be though.

[Dan Powers]

No.

[Chris Powers]

It might be.

[Dan Powers]

No. You are just a fat little pig boy and you love your fucking cream cheese bombs.

[Chris Powers]

Thank God. They're so.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

They are.

[Dan Powers]

They are Crabber and Goons.

[Chris Powers]

Amazing.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

They are really good. It's amazing.

[Dan Powers]

But we're not going to like goons. Goons.

[Chris Powers]

Goons. Goons.

[Dan Powers]

Goons. Goons. Goons. Goons. We're not going to determine what a good Chinese food restaurant is based on Goons.

[Chris Powers]

Your.

[Dan Powers]

Your gooning ability might take you over the top.

[Chris Powers]

Bonus.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Material.

[Chris Powers]

Have you guys seen this on the Internet? This has been happening and usually you're telling me these trends, but have you seen the thing on the Internet where the world is just finding out that people get fucked up at Chinese restaurants in New England? Have you seen this?

[Matthew Schaefer]

Oh yeah.

[Chris Powers]

No one knew.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

What do you mean fucked up?

[Dan Powers]

So we, we in. In New England it's a very common thing where like with the, with the lads, you go out to a Chinese food place and you do like scorpion bowls.

[Chris Powers]

My ties, I didn't know this, like I thought my ties were like a Chinese food restaurant thing. And then I left New England and everyone was like, you order Mai tai's at your Chinese food place? And I was like, yes. We go get.

[Dan Powers]

We had, we had two. We have two Chinese food restaurants in our hometown of York Beach, Maine. One is Green Leaves, which I will put up against any Chinese food restaurant on planet.

[Chris Powers]

Correct.

[Dan Powers]

And by that I mean the United States.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, sure.

[Dan Powers]

It is literally the best Chinese food I've ever had to this day, swear to God. And then there was a place down on the beach called Panda Sakura. And I. The, the most, the two most up I've ever been in my life was at Panda Sakura.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Are you drinking before you're eating?

[Dan Powers]

No, dude. Oh really? You show up sober to pandasakura and then you leave in a body bag.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Love it.

[Dan Powers]

Just like the scorpion bowls are there, there's poison in them. We, we. I have been there with groups and multiple times where people started eating food off of other patrons tables.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And we eventually once got kicked out because a friend of ours did a swan dive across the table and they were like, you guys have to leave.

[Chris Powers]

And we were like, I know.

[Dan Powers]

We went like this.

[Chris Powers]

You're absolutely chills out.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, well, you know, it's one of the only places in my life I've ever kicked myself out. I was like, I am too drunk.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Picked myself up by your shirt.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. I.

[Dan Powers]

Guys, I'm taking care of this.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Great.

[Dan Powers]

But yeah, people are. We're unaware that in New England we

[Chris Powers]

get fucked up at Chinese. Amazing. It's great. Okay.

[Dan Powers]

All right, let's close this episode out. This has been pure chaos. Let's get into beer league hotline and a little bower blind ranking. The Beer league hotline start us off.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Ev a team in our league dresses a backup goalie. He never goes in, but sits in his full gear on the bench working the door. He even does the towel around the neck thing. We asked him about it. Apparently he really did used to be a goalie, but his groin is in shambles, so he can't play anymore. But he loves beer league and the boys and feels more a part of it when he suits up. They love him too. Is this awesome or a little too weird?

[Dan Powers]

This. There are people at home, I'm sure laughing about this. This is. You all need to understand how important this is to this guy.

[Chris Powers]

Dude, keep going.

[Dan Powers]

And I. There is nothing weird about this. In fact, if you can't appreciate the commitment to put on full goalie gear, like, he's strapping his pads on. And I love to think in this scenario, this guy, like, if their goalie got hurt, this guy would be like, oh, I literally can't go in. Yeah, you can't count on me at all.

[Chris Powers]

Like, yeah, yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Like, can we use your gear? He's like, no.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

He's like, no, I can't.

[Chris Powers]

That is so funny. If he actually needed his services, he still wouldn't play.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, the Steve Janicek towel around the neck move is such a fucking vibe too.

[Chris Powers]

Dude. This completely sold me when it said he feels more a part of it when he suits up.

[Dan Powers]

Absolutely.

[Chris Powers]

I was going to say, as you were reading that, I was gonna go, dude, just go. Do you think he should just stand on the bench and. Cause I'm.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

He can't. His groin is messed up.

[Chris Powers]

You still get the hang. You're groin. Like, this is so fine. But when he said, I feel just. I feel more a part of it when I'm in gear, I was like, never mind. Yeah, take back everything. I was just thinking, dress up forever.

[Dan Powers]

Do you think he does warmies?

[Chris Powers]

Great question. I gotta.

[Dan Powers]

I bet he at least buzzes around. He.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, he first.

[Dan Powers]

Hot lap. Hot lap. Yes.

[Chris Powers]

I doubt he takes shots, though.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, no way. Because that could blow the groin.

[Chris Powers]

Also, our goalies barely get enough shots. True. Our actual goal.

[Dan Powers]

We only have like a five minute.

[Chris Powers]

I'm three minutes late every Time.

[Dan Powers]

I fucking love this again. It's important, whatever it is for you. I urge everyone on earth to find your beer league. It doesn't need to be beer league, but it needs to be something you do during the week where you get together with the guys, get together with the gals. You have a couple pops, whatever that. Whatever your version of pops is. But we need this in life. You need a breakup in the week where you see the friends and you just step away from all of the responsibilities you have in life. That's what this is for this guy. And could he just show up in his street clothes and either stand on the back of the bench or stand in the stands? Sure. It's not the same.

[Chris Powers]

Not the same.

[Dan Powers]

Because I'll tell you what, even if you're not getting a sweat and you put on that gear, you gotta shower after too.

[Chris Powers]

I was right about to say people are gonna make fun of this. But the 1000.

[Dan Powers]

You're hitting the showers too.

[Chris Powers]

He now gets to shower with the boys. And that is. That's why he does it. That's why he puts his gear on.

[Dan Powers]

Do you have any idea the commitment it is for this guy to get his full goalie bag and sling that over his shoulder, lug it into his car dress? I mean, this man is a fucking legend.

[Chris Powers]

Shower with the boys, dude. That is great. I am. I am so. I've become so much more in on this guy the longer we've been talking.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

And he also. It's nice to have a vibes coach, too. Like, maybe he's. Maybe he's given some good advice. It's like. It's like an old man in a community theater in the rocking chair in front of the stage. Like. Well, you know, when I was playing.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Exactly.

[Dan Powers]

I gotta say. Too. Someone working the gate is. That is incredible. That is clutch.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, my God.

[Dan Powers]

I'm over here.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

People doing jobs like that in beer league.

[Dan Powers]

I'm over here, Quinn Hughes, and like planking on the. On the boards, hopping over. If I had someone working the gate.

[Chris Powers]

God. Good for him.

[Dan Powers]

Good for him. Absolutely. Love.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

So. Yes. Keep him. Right. That's the thing. It's not. It's not too weird, is the question.

[Dan Powers]

No, this is.

[Chris Powers]

This is just awesome.

[Dan Powers]

100% awesome. Love it. All right, let's close up with a Bauer blind ranking.

[Chris Powers]

Bauer's the goat. The pulse is the goat.

[Dan Powers]

No question about it.

[Chris Powers]

Customize your own pulse right now. And we're going to customize this blind ranking. We're doing NHL teams Post trade deadline.

[Dan Powers]

This is very good.

[Chris Powers]

So how you've. And by the way, if a team didn't acquire any player but got a haul of pick, like, if they. You think they handled the trade deadline well, then they get a high ranking.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I like.

[Chris Powers]

It's not like, if they're going to win.

[Dan Powers]

Who dominated the deadline?

[Chris Powers]

Yep. Okay.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Yep.

[Chris Powers]

Hit us with the first one.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Edmonton Oilers.

[Chris Powers]

I want to go low here.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Chris Powers]

I want to go, like.

[Dan Powers]

Absolutely.

[Chris Powers]

I want to go quite low here because it just feels like. And I'll even. I'll even say this is post trade deadline, meaning whatever you kind of, you know, I'm counting a Panarin type of deal. Whatever.

[Dan Powers]

Are we counting, like, Quinn Hughes? I think we got to.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, I think we got to.

[Dan Powers]

Damn.

[Chris Powers]

Okay, So I think the Oilers, you think about the goalie situation, you think about what they actually did right at the deadline, I just don't feel. And I still think the Oilers have a very good chance of going right back to the cup for the same reason they've gone in two years. I'm not saying they're bad. I'm just saying what they've done to change the team this year. I think after.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, I like the little moves, but at the end of the day, with McDavid doing what he did and then that Skinner Jarry trade. I mean, five. I would go five.

[Chris Powers]

Five out the gate, some of our best blind raggings ever have gone five, four, three, two, one. So I like it.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, five.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

St. Louis Blues.

[Chris Powers]

Okay. Funny one here, because if they had traded everyone for a haul, I would have put them really high. But then keeping these guys isn't bad either. The only thing that would have been bad is giving all those guys up for peanuts. So by standing pat, they almost did okay.

[Dan Powers]

I think they did fantastic.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, they.

[Dan Powers]

You moved Shen and Falk, and you got great. I mean, they. They got great returns. You still keep Perako. You got Rob Thomas and Cairo to do something with in the summer. I'm going two here.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, my God.

[Dan Powers]

I think the Blues did a fantastic job. I'd go three if you want to keep things interesting.

[Chris Powers]

Let's go three. Okay, let's go three.

[Dan Powers]

Three.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Anaheim Ducks.

[Dan Powers]

Hard not to be won.

[Chris Powers]

Hard not to be won. What a swing. What a swing. Let me just think if there's something I like more.

[Dan Powers]

Let's go.

[Chris Powers]

Such a perfect swing for them, too. That's why it's so awesome.

[Dan Powers]

Let's go two. Because they. They've got a. They Are spoiled with prospects and picks.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And they used a, you know, first round pick and they got John Carlson. And I love John Carlson on this team.

[Chris Powers]

Me too.

[Dan Powers]

They didn't give up any of their unbelievable players for anything. Any of their unbelievable prospects for anything. They added the greatest Washington Capitals defenseman of all time who is still playing at a very high level. But they're also not. I don't think they're winning the cup this year. So I'm not going to. I'm not going to go one. No doubt.

[Chris Powers]

Okay, okay, okay. Two.

[Dan Powers]

Two.

[Chris Powers]

But that could have been one.

[Dan Powers]

But two could have been one.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Tampa Bay Lightning.

[Dan Powers]

Fuck.

[Chris Powers]

I'm thrilled with their deadline. I'm. I'm. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. I'm the so high in this Corey Perry move. And everyone I talked to is like, yeah, it's a good move. And I'm like, no, that just won the cup.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, but that's four. And that's the. Are you fucking stupid, dude?

[Chris Powers]

Like, they just won the cup with that trade.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, okay, four. Come on, give me someone good.

[Evan Dr. Watkins]

Utah Mammoth.

[Chris Powers]

Okay. I love the move. Like, is Carlson to the Ducks better than Weeks to the Mammoth?

[Dan Powers]

No, weeks is better because of the term. Because the term. The age.

[Chris Powers]

Okay.

[Dan Powers]

I actually think that's great.

[Chris Powers]

Okay, I'll live with that.

[Dan Powers]

The Utah Mammoth. Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Number one, Utah Mammoth.

[Dan Powers]

I'm so pumped about Weeks being on the Mammoth.

[Chris Powers]

Me too. I'm really happy.

[Dan Powers]

And also Calgary, big winners of the deadline too. Great things.

[Chris Powers]

I would have said that. Great things.

[Dan Powers]

But I like it.

[Chris Powers]

Utah Mammoth number.

[Dan Powers]

Come on, let's go. Fantastic stuff. Hope you enjoyed this episode. Hope you enjoyed. Matthew Schaefer. Absolute stud. If you did do us a favor, guys. Toss us a five star review on Spotify, Apple, all those things. Follow us everywhere. Subscribe everywhere. We fucking love you guys. We've got tons of amazing interviews coming out in droves. Keep tuning in. Gonna be fun stuff. We love you till we see you. Next episode.

[Chris Powers]

Skate hard. Monster Energy.

[Dan Powers]

Everybody knows White Monster, Zero Ultra.

[Matthew Schaefer]

That's the og.

[Dan Powers]

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.

[Chris Powers]

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]

Shot clocks, big shots, upsets, aces, TGL Playoffs are here. First Atlanta Drive starts their repeat run against Los Angeles Golf Club. Then Rory's Boston Common Golf and Tigers Jupiter Lynx face off in their playoff debuts. Who will advance? Keep up its playoffs? Tune in Tuesday, March 17 at 6:30pm and 9pm only on ESPN, and the ESPN applied.