Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 609: Featuring Tage Thompson

Summary

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Spittin' Chiclets Episode 609: Featuring Tage Thompson

Date: January 5, 2026
Hosts: Ryan Whitney, Paul Bissonnette (“Biz Nasty”), Rear Admiral (Yancey), Mike Grinnell, Keith
Special Guests: Tage Thompson, Army Armstrong, Merles, Pasha

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Overview

The irreverent Spittin’ Chiclets crew returns with a densely packed episode diving into the latest NHL storylines, global hockey tournaments, the state of the game’s culture, and a long-form interview with Buffalo Sabres forward and Team USA Olympian, Tage Thompson. Key discussions include Team Canada and Team USA Olympic roster debates, the fallout of the World Juniors, fiery fanbases, and behind-the-scenes team stories. The hosts bring their usual banter, razor-edge chirps, and in-depth analysis, with notable contributions from recurring personalities and guests.

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Key Topics & Segments

1. NHL Storylines Kicking Off

• [01:41] Immediate talk about Maple Leafs’ stars and wardrobe choices (Nylander, Matthews).
  • “For us who doubted Auston Matthews… shame on me, shame on you.” – Yancey ([01:47])
  • Praise for Matthews’ franchise goal record, quick climb up the charts ([02:02–02:37]).
• [03:06] Biz recounts mosh pit “performance” at the Winter Classic and subsequent TV hijinks.
  • Quote: “Auctioned off the jacket too. Game worn. He wrote ‘game worn jacket’ and it’s going to smell like his onion.” – Biz ([03:06])
• [04:52] Banter on towel etiquette (“flossing the ass cheeks”), hotel shenanigans, and locker room culture.
• [07:43] Reflecting on the recent Winter Classic in Florida:
  • Debate over authentic cold-vs-warm weather venues.
  • Praise for fans and sold-out stadium but noting letdown of actual on-ice product.
  • “If you just turned on that TV and didn’t know it was in Miami, you’d be like, this is unbelievable.” – Biz ([10:32])

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2. Team Canada & Team USA Olympic Rosters

Team Canada Debates

• [31:56]
  • Sam Bennett’s snub is a heated topic; hosts shock at his omission after two Cups and a Conn Smythe.
    • “That might be in the history of best-on-best…maybe Crosby in 2006 and Sam Bennett.” – Yancey ([31:57])
    • “He can play on your first line, you can play on your fourth line… just put his work boots on and go to work.” – Biz ([33:30])
• Considerations for Sorelli, Horvat, Suzuki as back-end roster additions.
• Debate over Drew Doughty’s spot versus rising young stars like Matthew Schaefer.

Netminder Strategies

• Humor about Binnington’s “psycho” attitude and using mind games to unleash his best:
  • “He’s putting lipstick on and crossing Thompson’s name off a list like Billy Madison.” – Army ([60:26])
• On Binnington: “Unleash the fury.” ([60:59])

Youth Movement & Torch Passing

• Bedard and Schaefer as “snubbed” but discussed as the next generation.
  • “Just gives you perspective on… generational [players] do have an off year here or there.” – Keith ([150:22])

Team USA Roster & Goalie Battle

• [85:12, 117:23] Interview with Tage Thompson (see dedicated section).
• Outrage among panel & fans at Jason Robertson’s omission:
  • “He has the third most goals in the calendar year of 2025, so I would’ve thought... that’s a guy you want on the team...” – Merles ([115:23])
• Trocheck and Miller vs. Robertson argument.
• Adam Fox missing the team—the balance between power play needs and defensive dog mentality ([118:45], [120:17]).

Sweden & Finland Previews

• Sweden’s D considered the best in the tournament:
  • “Best D. I love the D. If, like, Headman... he’s on time… Headman and Darlene, Forsling, Carlson, Brodine…” – Merles ([131:12])
• Goalie depth, forward depth matchups, plus Danish meatball plate critiques for comic relief ([133:06]).

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3. Team Culture, Player Development & World Juniors Discourse

• [71:55–84:59]
  • Profound concern from Canadian panelists about losing the “Canadian identity”—the grit, hitting, blue-collar edge in hockey development.
    • “Typical Canada. We overcorrected... we lost the dogs.” – Army ([75:38])
    • “You see the right dad who's not a hockey psycho... and teaching you what matters.” – Keith ([81:42])
  • Costs/pricing-out kids from minor hockey is driving out blue-collar talent.
  • Debate over when to allow hitting and impact on skill development.

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4. Buffalo Sabres & Tage Thompson In-Depth Interview [85:20–108:57]

Olympic Call

• Tage’s nerves and excitement—didn’t know until the call came from Billy G.
  • “I felt sick to my stomach… It was a pretty good feeling, big relief.” ([88:46])
• Worlds experience helped his candidacy: a “win-win” to keep playing and raise profile.

Sabres Leadership

• Leadership group dinner led by Dahlin to “own the room”; honesty and accountability reset the season.
  • “We went for dinner… What can we do better? … Hold each other accountable.” ([90:35])
• Samuelson, Norris, and others’ contributions to the team's turnaround.

Locker Room, Coaching, and Chemistry

• Lindy Ruff: “Old school, pretty straight up. When I’m not playing well, he lets me know and when I’m playing well, he lets me know.” – Tage ([94:13])
• On Samuelson: “He’s an absolute mutant… the strongest human being I’ve ever seen.” ([97:56])
• Benson: “He’ll fight the toughest guy in the league. He doesn’t care… He’s one of those guys that just competes and works his nuts off.” ([100:52])
• UPL’s (Luukkonen) viral “pops” video: “It was Thanksgiving. We had a day off the next day. What’s he gonna do, sit in his apartment, stare at the roof?” ([103:21])

Serious Moments & Life Beyond the Rink

• Dahlin’s family emergency: “It’s insane, I actually can’t believe that he’s playing and playing as well as he is.” ([107:08])
• Tage on fighting for his teammates’ honor: “It’s kind of like the way I was raised… If I have to, I’ll take care of my own business.” ([102:40])

Goalie & Team Notes

• Goalie UPL’s Finnish drinking story; “in program” now, team’s dynamic and superstitions covered.
• Emphasis on chemistry, leadership, playing for each other: “We’ve got a great energy, a good calm in the locker room…” ([91:49])

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5. Fan Meltdowns: Devils, Leafs, Trades, and Social Media [159:11+]

Devils Turmoil & Pasha’s Tirade

• Devils fans booing Luke Hughes (rookie defenseman) and internal scapegoating of Dougie Hamilton for not waiving his NTC.
  • “I think they should boo him because I hated them booing Luke.” – Pasha ([162:25])
• Calls for GM Fitzgerald’s job, frustration with stalled roster maneuvers.

Leafs Discussion & Matthews Record (With Trivia!)

• Deep dive into Matthews’ franchise lead in goal scoring.
  • “Matthews beat [Sundin’s record] in 317 fewer games… astonishing.” – Keith ([141:25])
• Line-by-line trivia of Original Six top scorers ([143:00]), assists on Matthews’ goals (Marner: 152, Nylander 104).

Winnipeg Jets, Shen’s 1,100th Game Snub

• Hosts rip the “horseshit move” by Jets’ coach for benching Luke Schenn in his milestone game:
  • “That’s such a move… every guy in the room’s like, what the…” – Yancey ([157:53])

Sucker Punch Drama

• Logan Stanley’s sucker punch on Brady Tkachuk: “He fucked up. That’s all you can say, and he deserved a game.” – Keith ([152:22])

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6. Global Hockey, Future Stars, and “Bring Russia Back”

• Montreal Canadiens young stars like Lane Hutson, Demidov, Suzuki lighting it up ([174:21]).
• Strong opinions voiced (especially by Keith) that international best-on-best must include Russia:
  • “I want Russia in my best-on-best.” ([174:31])

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• “Unleash the fury.” – Biz on Binnington mind games ([60:59])
• “Typical Canada. We overcorrected… we lost the dogs.” – Army ([75:38])
• “He can play on your first line, you can play on your fourth… put his work boots on and go to work.” – Biz on Bennett ([33:30])
• “I felt sick to my stomach… It was a pretty good feeling, big relief.” – Tage Thompson on Olympic call ([88:46])
• “If you have anything, even tape, you can't be dropping them and chuckle him. So that's why Brady Tkachuk wasn't scrapping.” – Keith ([154:16])
• “Dougie Hamilton… before his goal the other night, this is a guy getting paid $9M and had one point since Nov 1st. He’s checked out.” – Pasha ([162:25])
• “He’s an absolute mutant… the strongest human being I’ve ever seen.” – Thompson on Samuelson ([97:56])
• “You got better forwards that can score… but it just has to change this year.” – Yancey on Team USA vs. Canada ([128:54])
• “That’s a guy who can run your first line, your fourth line… I don't understand not taking [Bennett].” – Biz ([33:30])
• “We lost the dogs.” – Army ([75:38])
• “I want Russia in my best-on-best.” – Keith ([174:31])
• “He’ll fight the toughest guy in the league. Doesn’t care.” – Thompson on Benson ([100:52])

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In Closing

This episode is a signature Spittin’ Chiclets tour de force: loud, sprawling, hilarious and insightful. Fans of the game get an all-access pass to the authentic player mentality, culture clashes, and tournament intrigue driving hockey into 2026. Tage Thompson’s segment (starting ~[85:20]) is a highlight for fans of the Sabres, Team USA, and anyone interested in leadership, bouncebacks, and real locker room life. The episode is especially a must-listen for those invested in Olympic roster drama, Team Canada’s cultural identity crisis, and unfiltered “hockey therapy” from the sport’s most colorful commentators.

Transcript

[Army Armstrong]

Hey, Spit and Chiclets listeners. You can find every episode on Apple.

[Biz Nasty]

Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube Prime.

[Army Armstrong]

Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Me and Ryan have been officially welcomed.

[Keith]

To the jungle that is barstool sports. I brought it towards the coyotes and I asked them if it was okay if I joined the Spit Chicklets podcast full time.

[Yancey]

Ryan, Whitney's got a pink Whitney out there now.

[Tage Thompson]

Sandbagger.

[Keith]

Get that on camera.

[Yancey]

Pete Yandel, the song man is a full time member. Marley just got an assist from Chris.

[Biz Nasty]

B. Whoa, we're buzzing right now.

[Yancey]

What is up folks? Look at Biz Nasty. Oh my God. Wow. I don't know what to say. Welcome to episode 609 of the Spit and Chickens podcast. Not necessarily dressed like somebody who just lost again to check ya in the world Juniors.

[Keith]

This has nothing to do with Team Canada.

[Yancey]

Okay, that's Pablo. Shout out Pink Whitney. Before we get going here, New Amsterdam's own Pink Whitney. Pink lemonade flavored vodka. Keith's got that bottle swimming around down in Florida. Whether you're at the beach, whether you're on the ski hill, that was my favorite spot to rip the nips. I brought a bunch of nips in a backpack to the top of Stowe Mountain. I it's Stovermont, I believe it's Stone Mountain. And I ripped a couple and bombed down there. I mean when I say bombed, I was doing the pizza plow the whole way. But if to me it felt like I was bombing down. So shout out Pink Whitney and shout out anyone who gives it a chance, who loves it, who enjoys it. Take your shot with Pink Whitney. Guys. What's up? So much to talk about.

[Biz Nasty]

We have busy kneelander paying a little.

[Keith]

Homage to both Toronto Maple Leafs right now.

[Yancey]

Yeah, I mean one guy want to get into it sitting out watching games in tank tops. The other man is is on fire for, for. For us who doubted Austin Matthews. Shame on me. Shame on you. Yeah, that's an interesting look.

[Keith]

That was before his his hatrick and then followed up the next game with two goals which has been his first back to back multi goal game in the last two years. So to say that Pablo is back would be an understatement and congratulations to him. We're not going to suck up all the oxygen at the beginning of the podcast here with with able to been able to accomplish. But I will say congratulations on setting the all time franchise goal record for the Toronto Maple Leafs and original six franchise and doing so so quickly boys. Insanely quickly.

[Yancey]

Yep, yep. We'll get into that a little bit, because I actually have a thought on that. I'd like to. To maybe throw. Throw your way. And I'd also like to say in that game, there was one star that elevated himself above all others. That's Matthew Schaefer. But we could, we could just go into that a little bit. Because biz, you flossing your cornhole with a jacket on national TV during a musical act. You see the picture pop. That was. Where did that come from?

[Biz Nasty]

Auctioned off the jacket too. Game worn. He wrote game worn jacket, and it's going to smell like his onion.

[Keith]

Well, if Yanz was doing his job as ambassador of the Florida Panthers, he would have tried to get them going between the second and third.

[Biz Nasty]

I was gone by then.

[Keith]

Oh, you. You just flat out left. That's how. How disgusted you were with that performance.

[Biz Nasty]

Pissed off. I wanted to beat the traffic. See you.

[Keith]

Ah, but that was actually. They asked me, they said, hey, during the second intermission in the second segment, we're gonna have you leave and you're gonna go join the mosh pit for the. For the dance routine. And I'm big. Okay. Mosh pit. There's going to be a bunch of people to be able to make it look hype. And we finished the first segment. I walk over there and there's 12 people on each side of the stage. Like, this couldn't have looked like less like a mosh pit if you could imagine it in your entire life. So I'm like, how do I make this look good on camera? So I see a couple of the guys with those inflatable outfits and then another guy who was dressed as a lobster on the other half.

[Biz Nasty]

Me, I was the lobster.

[Keith]

Oh, okay. Because I literally go like this one time. And he started buzzing around. So I set them up. And I didn't know, like, I had no plan on going on stage. So as soon as I popped out from the back of them, all of a sudden it just like the seas parted. It was like the, the offensive line set some unreal picks and it just, it spread open. I'm like, I gotta, I gotta hit the gap here. And then some of the dancers were all the way at the front, some were all the way at the back. And I went up the stairs and I'm like, it, man. This is my catwalk right now. Let's go. I ripped it up. And then the look the. The one girl gave me was like, oh, no. Like, like security might come up here and tase me not knowing what the is Going on.

[Yancey]

So the man with a butt plug won't leave stage.

[Keith]

Okay, all right, all right.

[Yancey]

There was options there for people like.

[Keith]

This guy's got a butt plug in, and I was flossing. Like, it would have got caught on the butt plug. So the butt plug was born.

[Yancey]

It would have vibrated a little extra from the floss.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah. Might have activated it.

[Yancey]

You were in Miami.

[Keith]

Now, I think for most men listening or even watching this on YouTube before we move to Netflix, right now it's free, but after a nice, hot, steamy shower, it is amazing. Especially when you're at a hotel and those towels are no longer your business. Doing a nice floss of the ass cheeks? No, I mean, it's the.

[Biz Nasty]

It's top three most disrespectful things you can do to a towel, especially you're doing it to the ones that aren't your. Yours means you're a piece of. Because you don't do it at home. You only do it when it's.

[Yancey]

I do it at home, too.

[Keith]

Oh, I do it at home.

[Biz Nasty]

Order what you're doing.

[Yancey]

I do it at home, too. I'm with biz. I floss my cheeks, and I feel clean, and I feel nice, and I'm ready to get my day going. So, Biz, I. I don't think I.

[Keith]

How much. How much of that was going down on. On boys week at the Whitney.

[Yancey]

I've taught them. I've taught them. You flossed that five hole right now, Wyatt. Okay, dad.

[Biz Nasty]

That's why Whit only has brown towels at his house. If you have white ones.

[Keith]

Oh, no. Oh, no. I don't even have laundry detergent my house. I just do strictly bleach. Just all bleach. Hey, I don't think we've ever brought this up with Billy G, but when I was playing in pit, he told us a story that he never did his own laundry, but when he started doing his own laundry, he. He was only washing. Washing it with fabric softener. He never knew to get the detergent, so he was never, like, killing the dirt in his clothes. But were they the softest clothes he ever had?

[Yancey]

He felt good. He just smelt like. He smelled like your jacket after the winter classic.

[Biz Nasty]

Strip.

[Yancey]

Strip. Oh, but it was. It was, you know, entertaining for. For a dawn of a game. You always hope those games are close and, you know, go down to the wire. I kind of remember, obviously, the one I got to play in was legendary. But then, even when Sturm scored in Boston that year, that was a great One, I don't remember the final score of Detroit Toronto at the Big House, which came up a lot on, on my algorithm of people like, why is this down in Florida? Like, this is the Winter Classic with the snow and the outdoor stadium. The Panthers have won two cups in a row. It's like, you know, those fans, I think deserve to experience something different than what they usually get at their arena 50 minutes from anywhere in the middle of nowhere with the. What's that mall next to it? The worst spot in the world to have a sawgrass mills. It's horrible. So give them a, give them an outdoor game. And they didn't show up. So maybe they're done with. They're done getting them.

[Keith]

What do you mean they didn't show up?

[Yancey]

The team, not the fans.

[Keith]

Oh, that's great. No, but okay, so that's where I was gonna say with like. Yes. I think everybody, when they think of the Winter Classic, they envision the first one. I mean the first one couldn't have been more perfect. It looked like they were in a, a snow globe. Arm dog, who's still by the way, the king of the Winter Classic. Congrats to our boy Arm dog, who will be maybe having stop by later. But that's what they think of in their head. But I mean, let's rewind a few years ago when it was in Minnesota, like, yeah, maybe on TV it looked a little bit cooler, which I'm not even going to agree with that. But the live viewing experience was probably miserable for a lot of the people that showed up. Like you would literally, literally crack a beer and it would be frozen in five seconds. Now I get that that's like the authentic true version of like a Winter Classic out in the cold. But that was an awesome live event that they threw. It was completely sold out. The cheapest ticket online was, I think over 300 people might say, like, oh, that's not a good thing. That tells you exactly where the market is in demand. Where they did it in the perfect size MLB Stadium. There was. It was a 36, 000 seat stadium. So it wasn't too big. It looked jam packed. And credit to the Rangers fans because traveled amazingly. Like that was always do. They always do. And these people got to travel to an awesome destination like Florida. It was warm outside, they could go to the beach during the day. They get, got to get a good lather on as far as the alcohol. And then the temperature dropped down to 8pm when they started the game. They were able to open up the Roof and open up that sliding glass. No problem. And the visual of, like the half beach, half snow, it was all incredible. It looked great on television too. So I think that that was a home run. And I think that if you're thinking about winter classics and where that stood, they should be thinking about doing it in South Florida once every, like five years. Kind of like they. They rotate good locations for the super bowl, buddy. Even going back to last year in Chicago, it was freezing rain outside. How enjoyable was that for that? For you guys sitting in the crowd?

[Yancey]

Yeah, that's bad luck. Wrigley is a place that should be like every four or five years, but every 10 years down there.

[Keith]

But okay, so if you're gonna be somebody who bitches about the. The viewing experience on television as that compared to what it was in Chicago or Minnesota, and okay, but for me, for these people who are actually paying to go view this experience, that was a 10 out of 10 home run. As far as what time the game was when they decided to throw it, it was on the second, not the first. So everybody. And it was on a Friday. It was packed and it looked awesome. In my opinion, it looked even better on television because people were actually enjoying themselves and not freezing their off. So I thought 10 out of 10, the only thing that was a letdown was the game itself.

[Biz Nasty]

But people just want to complain. Like, if you just turned on that TV and didn't know it was in Miami, you'd be like, this is unbelievable. But people think Miami, it's 80 degrees out. It was like 55, 60 degrees. It was perfect outdoor watching. Everyone I talk to in the stadium, I'm like, how many. How many of these games that have you been to? One guy said he's been to four or five of them. I go, where do you rank this one? He said number one because he, like you said biz. He wasn't freezing his off. He couldn't enjoy his day, didn't have to bundle up and then he's sweat and leave and whatever. So I thought it was unreal, but people just want to just because it's in Florida and it's not a traditional.

[Yancey]

Yeah, I'm a guy who I, I. No, but you're also online with.

[Keith]

You're seeing the response online and you're saying, oh, okay, this is a. A somewhat decent portion of hockey fans online who are saying, oh, I want it this way, and bitching, and that's fair. But I guarantee all those people who said that were watching maybe from home, because if you were There and you experienced that. And that's what the Winter Classic is. The NHL is throwing on a live event. So you even from like a visuals and what it's providing, I think they went like straight up Miami Vice slash, you know, Barbie slash, whatever it may be. And you guys are laughing. They had the beach.

[Yancey]

They were in like Ferraris and Lambos.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah.

[Yancey]

Kachuk has the Litz. I think most guys are chewing on the cigar. He's just smoking his. And he would have probably been smoking it had he been playing as well. Look at that. People.

[Keith]

People were also online being like, oh, like do you think that Crosby Lemieux, Bella Vo would have ever done this?

[Yancey]

Like they, he was playing outdoor before.

[Biz Nasty]

The outdoor Classic and he was smoking before games.

[Keith]

No, no, they weren't. And maybe you would list them as classier individuals because they, they, they fit inside this, this bubble that you enjoy. But man, I think that's hilarious. And the fact that those guys came out as Sally and Barkov's still got like a half torn ACL and he's out there lifting the cup, dancing around on stage. Give me that all day long and we can have chuckles and, and what a, what a great experience that was overall, regardless if you're hating or not.

[Yancey]

Yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

At the end of the day, you're a showman. You're a showman.

[Yancey]

I lean towards outdoor game being ODR type atmosphere. That's where I'm at. Well, I'll say this, if the Panthers hadn't won the last two cups, it wouldn't have been down there.

[Biz Nasty]

So coming from, coming from the guy that has a refrigeration system underneath his outdoor ring.

[Keith]

That's true.

[Yancey]

Well, yeah, but I don't have a cover. I don't have a cover. Although I was considering doing that. But that really takes away from the sky. The sky and the beautiful stars, I.

[Keith]

Think, I think a cool one also would be like, maybe like, like a Field of Dream style.

[Yancey]

The.

[Keith]

The MLB did one to like mimic the. The movie that came out not, I don't know, 20, 30 years ago. I'm sure ra know would know the exact date. But like, I think that it would be cool. They kind of maybe did that in Lake Tahoe, but it didn't work out because of the sun. So that's what I'm saying. Like it's. All Things Considered, we're listing off all these outdoor cool experiences. There have been some disasters when, when you're working in those types of elements. So. But going back to you, Yan's, you Got to spend the game on the glass and hanging out with a. With an MLB guy. Jazz.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, Jazz Chisholm.

[Yancey]

Which was actually Bling.

[Biz Nasty]

Oh, dude, he's iced out. He's always iced out. Even when he's in the batter's box, he's iced out. But, yeah, it's pretty cool because he used to play for Miami, the. The Marlins, and now he plays for the Yankees. So he kind of had that, you know, both teams. He'd play in the teams that were playing, so it was pretty cool. He knew nothing, like, absolutely nothing about hockey. He couldn't believe how, like, the goalies catch the puck when guys are skating in front of them. It's from the Bahamas, he said. And obviously he had never watched hockey growing up or anything, but he. He said it was unreal. He was getting a ton of love from the fans, you know, whether it was New York fans, Yankees fans, or Florida fans and the Marlins fan. So, yeah, that was. That was pretty cool. Did. I think we did the second period together or half of the second? So it was pretty cool. Got some good sound bites out of it and. Yeah.

[Yancey]

Did he, like. Like, did he. He liked hockey, though? Like, he's like, this is pretty sick.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, he. He was amazed by. And, you know, like, you tell everybody, if you're gonna go to your game, your first game, try to sit as close to the glass as you can. Like, he couldn't believe the size of the guys in the way that the guys move. Even the refs. He was like, oh, my. Like, you know, the refs jump up on the boards. Someone did that in front of us. And he. He couldn't believe, like, the athleticism, the. The, you know, the way guys are killing each other every shift. He was like, man, you guys get hit every single shift? I'm like, yeah, pretty much. But it was cool to do it with him, and you're kind of just teaching him the game a little bit, and hopefully he becomes a big. A bigger fan than he is.

[Yancey]

Yeah.

[Keith]

People might have thought I. I actually wore this on behalf of Matt Rempe and his walkout. Holy. His nip.

[Yancey]

How they had him go first, too. They're like, you're leading.

[Keith]

How many did he get post game, you think, when he. When he opened up his phone.

[Biz Nasty]

Nine million.

[Yancey]

Yeah. I mean, it's an incredible outfit. I mean, I. I can't. Does he. Is he sponsored by New Balance? Like, I feel like that's got to be a plain white tank top as opposed to the NB on it. Like, it was maybe a little more official, but it was just plain white.

[Keith]

If he does have a deal or got a deal as a result of that genius marketing.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah.

[Yancey]

Yes.

[Keith]

And good job by his team.

[Yancey]

Now he's dressed like that. Walking into a game when the team has, you know, set uniforms or outfits they're gonna wear like, I don't think there's another player in the NHL that would wear that outfit in the press box, injured, watching his team play. That is who you are representing right now. One of the craziest.

[Keith]

I.

[Yancey]

That guy is unbelievable. Nylander. What a player. I know it's been a little tough stretch, but I just can't get down. I'm gonna listen, I got a question. I can't get down sitting there.

[Keith]

Okay.

[Yancey]

In a tank top.

[Keith]

So I, I said about, what was it maybe 10, 10 days ago, two weeks ago, that considering the way things were going, I personally would just go, let's go to the black suits.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah.

[Keith]

Let's keep it simple here. Let's, let's.

[Yancey]

You've been checking immediately what they're wearing into games lately because we were together the other night. You're like, what do they wear? What did they wear?

[Keith]

No, no, no, no.

[Yancey]

You're really into this.

[Keith]

No, because Matthews got the hat trick and I texted my buddy Josh and, and Jeff. I go, I go, what did Matthews wear into the game tonight? Thinking maybe that he listens to the pod and he would have said, you know what, maybe we should throw some black suits on and get down to business.

[Army Armstrong]

We'll know.

[Yancey]

Those three guys are smart.

[Keith]

No, no, he's. He's got a, he's got a Hermes scarf on and these. And at the end of the day, I'm, I'm going back on my morals and I'm gonna say I was flat out wrong. You have to be yourself if you flopping.

[Yancey]

Not you.

[Keith]

Pablo is back. I'm flip flopping. If you want to wear a Hermes scarf into the game and then put up a hattie and then go back to back multi goal games for the first time in two years and then break the Maple Leafs all time goal scoring record to beat Matt Sundin in like 321 less games, I believe it was. I'll get to my notes later. And as far as Willie, you got to think he's probably listening to the podcast and say, oh yeah, you shove your black suit up your ass.

[Yancey]

I'm gonna wear the last guy in the NHL that would listen to this show. He honestly strikes. I don't know man, if I had to guess that wouldn't.

[Keith]

He just started a YouTube channel. I think he's about. He.

[Army Armstrong]

He.

[Keith]

I think he's maybe, maybe dipping his toe in. And he probably heard my ridiculous take of how he should be not. He should put the chrome heart jeans in the. In the closet, the 80k jeans for maybe a few weeks till we get this thing back on track. And he's saying, oh, yeah, I'm not even playing tonight. I'm on the day to day with my titties out in the press box. Chew on this one, buddy. Ambassador, Tree living.

[Yancey]

There has to be a side of you, like being the gm, that'd be like, what the is this guy?

[Keith]

He's saying, I got. He looks like.

[Yancey]

Like somebody's brother who just got out of prison and get to. He got to come sit with them in the press box.

[Keith]

He's probably saying right now, I. I got. I got a guy injured who's one of the greatest Maple Leafs at this point in the press box wearing a tank top. I got our captain, all time leading goal scorer wearing a Hermes scarf in. I got our ambassador wearing butt plugs at his birthday party. We're off the rails, so let's just go all in. We have to be ourselves. You know, I don't give a.

[Biz Nasty]

You know what Tree has to do. It's like one of my.

[Keith]

Buy a Birkin bag and go to the next press conference.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, exactly. One of my friends down here, their kids are younger, so they were doing the whole six, seven thing way too much. So the parents started doing it all the time, so the kids didn't think it was cool. Tree needs to show up in a tank top, Hermes chrome heart jeans and a B plug.

[Keith]

What about. What about Berube with some earrings in?

[Biz Nasty]

Oh, my God.

[Keith]

At the presser.

[Biz Nasty]

Incredible.

[Keith]

It go all in, buddy. Go all in. Because you know what? You know what? I commend. There couldn't be two more perfect Toronto Maple Leafs. You know why? Because they don't give up. Shut the. No, no, not that. Hey, keep laughing, everybody. Who's watching it? Oh, Matthews is done. He's slowing down. Oh, he doesn't look like I'm. I agree he had a bit of a slow one, but there were points in time where Ovi, I believe in year 12 of his career, the year before he won his first Stanley cup, when everybody was labeling a loser. Doesn't play defense. Auston Matthews plays way more defense. It does way more intangibles and little stuff than OV ever did. Before he got criticism. He's also scoring at a higher clip rate than OV was, on top of playing all that defense and everybody. And then when he had a little bit of an off year, trying to get maybe adjusted to the fact that he doesn't have the guy he's been playing with his entire career, a guy who's assisted on his most goals throughout his career, Mitch Marner, he has a little bit of a slow start. And here, here we are now. He's back 20 goals on the season, six in his last four games, back to back multiple goal games. So if you want to dive deeper into how unbelievable this guy is, we can do it right now. But I think we should probably save it for a little bit later because we have Olympic rosters to talk about. We got world juniors in, in hockey Canada on, on, on high alert to finally win a medal. They got to win a medal or this would be the third year in a row they don't medal at the world Juniors, which hasn't happened since 79, 80 and 81.

[Yancey]

I can't believe that's ever happened. Yeah, actually, because when I was growing up, just Canada just won and won. And then at one point when I was in the NHL, I think they won five or six in a row. So we'll actually get into that. We're going to talk rosters. I'm glad you brought that up. Let's go into Canada first. Okay. Which I believe you mentioned.

[Keith]

We should have probably mentioned that, that we did interview another goat.

[Merles]

Oh.

[Keith]

While we were there. We are going to get to Team Canada, but.

[Biz Nasty]

Okay.

[Keith]

We sat down with Tom Brady, guys.

[Yancey]

We sat down with Tom Brady. It was a great time. I think it was about 50 minutes. And of course, Dave Portnoy, he's got to announce his presence with authority. Dave Portnoy. Now, the day before we interviewed Tom Brady the goat, the news came out that this handsome young man was seen dancing and canoodling with one Alex Earl. I believe her name is Biz.

[Keith]

Yeah, she's like the biggest it girl on the planet.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah.

[Yancey]

Pretty young.

[Keith]

Yeah.

[Yancey]

You know, she's just, she's the it girl. And Tom Brady, who's I think approaching 50, but, you know, looks, I'd say 35.

[Keith]

Better than all three of us hanging.

[Yancey]

Out with her in St. Barts. That's where rich people go. Keith, you ever been?

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, I got a house there.

[Yancey]

Makes sense. I never been. I fizz would never be allowed to go.

[Keith]

I would never be allowed on that.

[Yancey]

I will never be there. The News breaks that they're hanging out and I'm like, oh my God, we're interviewing tomorrow. Now we are told one thing. Prior to this interview, do not ask about Alex Earl. Now in Dave Portnoy's world, his up, demented, insane world that he's built, that is basically like, okay, well now I'm definitely going to ask about that.

[Keith]

Like, that's his lead question.

[Yancey]

That and I'm not telling.

[Keith]

That interview would have lasted 30 seconds.

[Yancey]

I'm not doubting the fact one person, he would have brought it up the minute the person told him not to bring it up. I don't know what you want me to say. That's not our game. That's not our bag. The guy literally would have walked out. And Dave will say, no, he wouldn't have walked out. Maybe that's true. I'm just kind of a guy that lives by, you know, if you're lucky enough to get a very famous guest considered one of the greatest athletes to ever live, I'm just gonna go by whatever his manager tells me not to ask. I'm probably not gonna ask it. Like, we got Dave, Walter Cronkite, Portnoy over here asking the hard hitting questions. Dude, I don't care. I wanted to talk about your football career, okay. And biz, you said it too. We can't ask him. They tell us not to ask him, we can't ask him. What's the point in that?

[Biz Nasty]

At the end of the day, we're company men and he's a company owner, so we're used to follow directions. He breaks the rules where if fans.

[Yancey]

Are sitting there saying like, you, yes, man, you, dude, say, if it was you, you would have said to you that you would have asked a question. Like, I don't know what to tell you.

[Keith]

I don't, buddy. I'm about to interview the what's considered the greatest football player of all time. Like, I would never ask Wayne about what he's got going on in his personal life that, like, that I want to, I want to learn about his greatness and how he got so good. And another thing too is like, I don't know football that well, right? Like, I'm, I'm a little naive to what, like Tom Brady's done. And even like before he got to the NFL, like, I know he went to Michigan. I didn't know how many times he was looked over at Michigan and how he wasn't a starter. And after having a good third year, he, he wasn't even named starter. In his senior year. So there was a lot of things that, that I picked up in that interview and I learned about Tom Brady that probably Dave, along with you guys might have known even going in, but I didn't. So just to hear about, you know, it girls.

[Yancey]

So it's not like you needed to ask about that.

[Keith]

Yeah, but like, where does it even go from there? Like, I just. Once again, like, could you imagine being of that level of fame where he probably went in that situation, being like, you know what? I'm gonna, I'm gonna go to Saint Barts with other people who probably just want to get away from their crazy realities and the phones get put away and nobody's gonna know my business. And the next thing you know, it's the most talked about thing going on in the world in the next 48 hours till the next news cycle. But until, until the United States invades Venezuela, you know, like, that's the only thing that took the focus off of that. We had to invade another country and take their president away for that to go away. So keep pro. Like, that's got to be so annoying that his personal life is talked about the way that it's talked about. And, and it's, it's brutal. And I don't need to go down.

[Yancey]

That avenue with him.

[Biz Nasty]

Dave's probably one of those guys too, that like, when he does an interview, nothing's offside for him. Right. Like, he probably doesn't have anyone say, don't talk about this, don't talk about that.

[Yancey]

What's. What if you say don't ask it? I'm pretty sure that to him is like, I'm asking it.

[Army Armstrong]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Yancey]

Look at what he's built. Hey, do you think that in me?

[Biz Nasty]

Do you think why we work for him and we don't have our own company.

[Keith]

So I will. Dave carries his balls around a wheelbarrow compared to like the balls that I would have to even consider bringing that up. But I will throw this back at you guys. And then even ask Dave himself, when he got to sit down with President Trump, did he ask any hard hitting questions to him or was he throwing softballs to him?

[Yancey]

Like, I think he was gargling his balls the whole time. I think he's like, okay, tan looks great. I love your suit. I think he said, my dad hates your guts. Let's FaceTime him. That was pretty funny.

[Keith]

Okay, okay. So that's not okay. So maybe not. Maybe I'm wrong because I didn't, I didn't watch that full thing either right. So I can't remember it. Maybe he. Maybe we definitely know he would have asked Tom that. But that's. Once again, I'm a fourth line grinder buddy. He's a first line center. He can play his game and make that, make that cross ice pass through the middle. I'm just gonna go north.

[Biz Nasty]

He's an Olympian. Wear glass and outers.

[Yancey]

Yeah, yeah.

[Keith]

Now. Hey, by the way, a gargoyles our goalie gotten a goalie scrap the other night.

[Yancey]

That might switch around the whole season. I hope the boys going that might.

[Keith]

Get but those of you probably wondering when the Tom Brady interview is coming out. It's going to be coming out on Netflix when we drop that in the United States. So I'm sure some people are now in that interview. Oh, he is.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah.

[Yancey]

He said you can't. You can't show it.

[Keith]

So our Boss hates us 15 to 20% of our fan base who thinks we sold out to Netflix hates us. Our pets are flying off.

[Biz Nasty]

But Tom likes us.

[Yancey]

Hey, but likes us. What did you say? What was the text chain?

[Biz Nasty]

It was very funny. Called us yes men or something.

[Yancey]

No, he said if you don't ask Brady about Alex girls, you guys are business. I'm a. He goes such you are what you said his team said we can't. Said he had his old line with him and then he just goes, you are such yes men. Number one story in the world right now. He falls into your lap and you three are holding each other's dick. Listen to talk about the TB12 method.

[Keith]

I didn't even realize afterward I had to go film some stuff with Noble with him. Like to the degree that we got to play tummy sticks like we were chumming it up. The camaraderie that grew between me and Tom, I would say that even though Portnoy went to jail for him, I think that Tom likes me better than he does Dave Portnoy.

[Yancey]

Well, we were told after that I. I'm pretty sure we were told. Gee, you could correct me if I'm wrong that he's down to do.

[Army Armstrong]

He wants to do a nine hole sandbagger with the boys.

[Yancey]

So he ain't doing that with Dave and his busted ass shoulder. I would actually like to ask big cat and pft, you know the biggest podcast it's me and they had him on and they were told if they had him on and they were told don't ask this, would they have asked it? I don't think they would have if they were told not to. But you know, who knows? They might have been able to, like, ask it in a different way that maybe he didn't even realize that they were asking.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, pft would have been like, hey, we're not supposed to ask you about Alex Earl, but how's Alex Earl?

[Yancey]

I don't see. I don't picture that out of them.

[Keith]

Can we pull the video up? Of. Of after we finished the interview, I think he gave us 56 minutes. He looked at Dale Morningstar, aka memes, Chiclets memes. And he's like, what? Like, what's up with this dude? And so what is that? I mean, the store. The story for memes like this just keeps growing and growing. Like, the legend grows. So if we could pull that video up, if we got it, every interview.

[Yancey]

We do of somebody that, like, doesn't know us or the brand, they're like, what is that thing over there? And then Dale's just, like, behind the corner with, like, his NASCAR jacket, like, me.

[Biz Nasty]

You see people talking. People are, like, doing the interview, and they just look over and they're, like, looking at him like, what the is that? And then they ask at the end.

[Keith]

Well, it's like, Alex Earl's the it girl. He's the it guy right now.

[Yancey]

That's who should have been hanging out with St. Bart's together.

[Keith]

I cannot wait to see what Memes cooks up with Alex Earl and him and say, Barts.

[Biz Nasty]

Oh, it'll be amazing.

[Keith]

This is gonna be good. Hey, and we gotta shout out Noble for setting it all up. So that was. That was huge. Tom's heavily involved with them, so. Yeah, can't thank him enough for his time and can't wait till we got him, Wayne. And who would be the third on their team? Imagine. I don't think. Although I love the Duke, I don't know if they're going to sign off on playing.

[Yancey]

I thought you said Luke. And I'm like, luke who? Oh, Luke Hughes. Oh, wait, yeah, he's getting booed out of Jersey. We'll get into that one.

[Keith]

Here's the Memes video right there. Where's that coming from?

[Yancey]

London, Ontario. Where's that coming from? London.

[Keith]

Send us, like, memes of our podcast. Joking around. So we eventually just hired him Chick, what's me.

[Yancey]

He's a NASCAR driver.

[Keith]

How sick.

[Yancey]

They might get hired by Brady.

[Keith]

Morning Start. Hey, so, man, Dale got the shutout. London, Ontario. Dale Morningstar has to be the coolest guy in London, Ontario. Oh, yeah. Head of Drew Dowdy. Corey Perry. Brendan Pruss.

[Biz Nasty]

Well, Dale Hunter can't go back there.

[Yancey]

I want to save world juniors because as much as I want to talk, we got bounced even earlier than you guys. But I want to talk Olympics rosters. We haven't talked biz. I know you were on with game notes live when I believe Canada's team got named.

[Keith]

Yeah.

[Yancey]

So some people have gotten your breakdown. Let's throw it up right now. I think I lead the way. Or I'm stating the obvious in that I think that no player in the Olympics has a bigger complaint in getting than Sam Bennett. That might be in the history of best on best. Maybe Crosby and 06 and Sam Bennett. Sam Bennett not making this team after the fight against Brady Tkachuk, the two Stanley Cups, the Con Smythe, his play in the last like 30, 25 games. Reaching another level.

[Keith]

Yeah.

[Yancey]

I don't get it. I know Tom Wilson comes in, so I think that's what it was. Wilson over Bennett. Why can't you take both of them? Why does that guy get over by Team Canada after what he's done the past few years in the NHL and last year's Four Nations? I don't, I don't. I can't believe it, really.

[Biz Nasty]

As. As an American, I'm glad he's not on the team. As a friend of his, I really as I wish he was on the team. I still think that he will be on that team and he will be going to Milan. But it is crazy to me. Even if he hasn't had the best start of the year, he's missing the guys that he usually plays with. Like, there's some variables out there that isn't why he's playing his best. Right. So I think it's crazy. I mean, obviously I would probably take out Sorelli if that. If that was the case. I think coup had to be in his coach obviously adds a little more weight. But Benny would be my guy. Like, that's a guy. He can play on your first line, you can play on your fourth line.

[Keith]

Yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

Doesn't need to PK doesn't need to play on the power play. He's just gonna go out there, put his, his work boots on and go to work. So I, I don't understand that. When he scored like the game tying goal last year too, right? In the Four Nations. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he did. Like, he, he's an absolute stud. He brought it in the finals. He brought it in the finals the year before that. Like just a guy you want to go to war with. But like I said, as an American, I, I would be so happy if I was on that team that he's not on there.

[Keith]

Yeah, that's. I guess that's the biggest head scratcher. And it happened in real time. And I guess there was always a possibility that maybe he wouldn't have made it. The only thing that you can possibly use against him is, like, not as an electric of a start as far as numbers, but he's also had the responsibility of taking over a stronger role than maybe he's used to with Barkov being out, like being put in more situations where it's just like, you know, it's harder. It's harder produce when you're gonna smash.

[Yancey]

His career high in points this year.

[Keith]

Buddy, I, I get it. And that's why people were saying, like, oh, it's crazy to give this guy this money. He's never reached 60 over 60 points, I believe, or a certain threshold in his career, blah, blah, blah. But you, you look over the last two year stretch of time, two Stanley Cups, Con Smythe helped 10, 10 murders, Hannibal Lecter, Four Nations. And what he contributed at Four nations and how he's like, essentially acclimated into that group where, man, he's familiar with those guys. He just won with them last year. And, you know, he's boys with Marshawn, I feel like it's easier to slide him in than, for instance, the two guys who probably got added as a result. Suzuki and Horvat now saying that they don't deserve it or any. No, they've been incredible and they're incredible players and I have so much respect for. They play how they play. 200ft both. I know Horvat's over 20 goals. I don't know if Suzuki's hit that mark yet, but, like getting it done all over and everywhere on the ice. But once again, like you guys just said, I think on a bottom six role and probably where most of those guys will end up, I like Sam Bennett in that role better because he can adapt to that and he's played that. He played it in Calgary before. They gave him an opportunity and that's why he ended up getting shipped off, so he can bounce so much more out of your lineup. And it kind of goes back to my rant about world juniors. Like, part of what I think that makes Canada special is that element of fear that we. We made.

[Yancey]

Made? Yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

What do you mean, yeah, Made? Not anymore.

[Keith]

Oh, what, that.

[Yancey]

That's at the World Junior level. Best on, best year, the king, the World Junior level.

[Tage Thompson]

It.

[Yancey]

It's made.

[Keith]

Thank you for your correction. Thanks for stepping in and correcting me there. Really, really appreciate that. And we'll get to that later. But that was. That's probably the biggest letdown. But I agree with Yan's in a sense that I think that with the. All the injuries that are now happening, all this hockey playing every other night, that he will find his way on that team. And it can also spin off into the conversation that, you know, Cirelli also makes it, and maybe people thought that he was the guy that should have been off the team. Where Coop is as a head coach is so comfortable. And I actually respect that move more so maybe than the Fox move, because at least he's won with that guy. Like, he's won two Stanley Cups with him. He won four nations with him. Like, if he has that much trust as a coach, where he's like, I'm gonna throw that guy over the boards in, in those situations where I know he's going to have success. Sorelli should be on the team. It's Horvat or Suzuki who should be on because, well, they've. They've never won anything and Sorelli has. And he's been relied on by the head coach who's like the Phil Jackson of our time as a head coach, him or Maurice, and he wants to put him on the ice. So I think that Sorelli should be there ahead of Horvat and Suzuki. But I also think Bennett for sure be there instead of Horvat and. Or Suzuki. And once again, no disrespect to those two guys, but when the chips are on the table, Sam Bennett has done it just like Sorelli has.

[Yancey]

Yeah. And I thought he'd make the team solely on the fact that the last game before Olympic break just so happens to be Tampa, Florida.

[Keith]

Sorelli ain't playing.

[Yancey]

He may kill. He. There may be lightning leaving on stretchers in the first and the second early in the third. If he's not on the team by then, he may be like, okay, well, I'm just gonna try to kill everyone. He pretty much tries to do that anyways. But this is against a team that has a bunch of guys that will be represented to Canada when he believes, and rightfully so, that he should be there.

[Keith]

I think the other biggest question mark for Canada is point, because point for probably half of the amount of time this year in games of Tampa has not looked like himself. We talked about it. We just heard rings that he was dealing with something personal like, I don't know exactly to the depths of what it is. But that's another guy where I'm like, ah, I feel like he has way too much big game experience where I don't really care how his first half of the year went. He's. He's a foxhole guy.

[Yancey]

Points. Yeah. Point was. I know it was like a struggle a little bit. That's a guy that. I don't think even any Canadian fans are like, no, no, not this year. No. Everyone's like, braden Point. He's done enough.

[Biz Nasty]

Even Hegel. Hagel. I'd rather Bennett than Hagel.

[Keith]

Awesome dog and a bone. I want them both.

[Yancey]

Biz. You called Horvat about three weeks ago. I thought you were crazy. I feel like that's you knowing something. You're very in the know with a lot of people around.

[Keith]

I don't. I don't dig. I went on a podcast the other day, and they were Lazarus. That show as morning cup of Joe or something is how you call it.

[Yancey]

Cup of coffee.

[Army Armstrong]

Cup of coffee.

[Keith]

Morning cup of coffee. And people are like, oh, yeah, he's just a puppet for talking. And I don't. You think I talk to these guys? You think I've reached out to talk it. To talk about Mechkov? No. I'm not even calling talk anymore. Now he's a head coach because I know how much stress. So I'm not. I don't dig for this type of information. That's just like.

[Biz Nasty]

That's just not our job.

[Keith]

And from. Also from watching Islander hockey, because we had him on the broadcast a few times. Like, he's got over 20 goals, but if he. Sometimes he's the first guy in on the forecheck and he's the first guy back checking, breaking up a backdoor play. So I just have a lot of respect for the way that he plays 200ft, and I think that that played into a factor as to how he worked. He made his way on the team, and I heard he's just such a likable guy. The guys love him behind the scenes, and they probably regret big time moving him as a Canucks fan.

[Yancey]

So anyone. Anyone who makes their. Their country's team for best on, best back in the Olympics, to then see injuries, it really. It sucks. That's how I got on the. The 2010 team. Paul Martin broke his arm. I believe in Jersey, and I remember being so excited, I still felt brutal. Paul Martin's an awesome guy who's a great player, but I think it hit me even harder with Tom Wilson, seeing him go down and it didn't look great. I hope he's all right, but the knee. He kind of landed on his right knee in an awkward way. But that video where he got the call from Don Sweeney, he's got his son, baby, son sitting there, and you could tell he's just so happy now. A lot of those calls have been going around in the videos of them, but for him, who's. I mean, talk about, like, developing as a player through the course of your career in the NHL, from just running people over in suspension left and right to a legit offensive weapon while keeping your physical game while making it, like, a little better in terms of player safety department, he really deserved that, and I hope he's able to play. I don't know what if they've said anything about his injury, but that sucked. And then devontaves, he goes down. That didn't look good either. And his case was kind of weird because right after he got named, he's like, yeah, well, I'm not going to be going if my son has it or my daughter hasn't been born yet. I believe his wife's pregnant. He's like, oh, I never. They never asked me about. I never talked to Hockey Canada Boat. I'm assuming they were like, oh. But it leads me to my next point in watching that game. The other night, Matthew Schaefer's first game for Hockey Night in Canada and the show he put on and what he's done this year. I said, I. I can't believe he didn't make the team. Like, you could. You could take Harley. Sanheim's a great player. Harley's. Harley, probably.

[Keith]

I think Doughty got his spot. That's what I think.

[Yancey]

You think Doughty got it before Harley?

[Biz Nasty]

No, it would have been Sam Sanheim or.

[Yancey]

Sanheim's been good this year, though. Philly's sitting in the playoffs.

[Keith]

I think that Sanheim might play. Might end up playing a bigger role than Doughty at. At these Olympics. I think Doty is a. Is a safety valve in a sense of maybe I'm completely off. I. I didn't.

[Biz Nasty]

The. Everything that he.

[Keith]

I didn't think that Doughty would start in the lineup if they do. Like, I wouldn't. I'd be like, oh, okay, that's fine. But D. Doty, to me is like, if you have a guy go down and you need him in a semis or a big game, big moment situation, you just. Some guys, they have it in them where, like, he's going to be farting, showing up Late for the game, and it's not going to phase him.

[Tage Thompson]

Right.

[Keith]

He could be farting during the coach's speech, and, like, you know, he could be doing the. The floss on his coming out of the shower, maybe even late for the meeting.

[Yancey]

Yeah, yeah, but.

[Keith]

And he's going to be able to slide in and play 18. You won't notice him. And he might even make a few dazzling plays. So. And I don't think that Schaefer can't provide that. I just think when you're Drew Doughty and you've done what you've done for hockey Canada, and you have the pedigree, you kind of just. There's a seniority thing. But I would say that outside of Sam Bennett, I think that most Canadians are. Are praying that he ends up finding his way out of this team in whatever shape or form.

[Yancey]

Yes. And. And let's bring in right now a man who won gold at the world championships, a man who probably has some thoughts on what's going on with the world junior team in Canada, but our very own game notes extraordinaire, Arm Dog.

[Keith]

King of the Winter Classic.

[Army Armstrong]

Still got it, boys.

[Pasha]

Yep.

[Yancey]

You just crack that bottle open every winter game. Every Winter Classic.

[Army Armstrong]

Right.

[Yancey]

When that time passes by, what is it, 19 seconds?

[Army Armstrong]

21.

[Yancey]

21. No.

[Army Armstrong]

I don't know. Maybe the clock was frozen a little button. 19. Winner. You know that I. I love what Wayne said on tnt. He's like. He's like the. He's like the. What is it? The Florida Dolphins team, whatever year that was, they went, oh, yeah, like every year, they just sit there and pop it and smoke a cigar. Wait, I said that other thing. I'm like, that's so sick.

[Keith]

Super bowl, too. They had a fully perfect season.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah.

[Yancey]

Yeah. I think the regular season was like, 13 games or something. 14 games. But they won it. Yeah, they won it. I hate.

[Keith]

Where were you celebrating?

[Army Armstrong]

I was in the living room, in the kit, in the kitchen with the family, just hanging around, watching. I'll tell you what, though, biz buddy, you. You buckled my entire family with the dancing with the cheerleaders. We're watching. Then you're getting the badonka Dunk. You're shaking it. The camera zooms in, and then I see you go for the zipper, and I go, oh, he's gonna floss. He's gonna floss. And my wife's like, how'd you know that? I'm like, remember that one night we worked TNT? Like, we. We worked two nights in a row, but it was like from 12 to like 1 in the morning both nights. And we did like a big disco celebration. All our braids were fried. And you did this unreal dance.

[Keith]

Oh, that's right.

[Army Armstrong]

You took off your coat and you started flossing. That's like your move.

[Keith]

That's my finisher. That's my finisher.

[Army Armstrong]

When you got it going, I. The look on your face staring into the camera. The camera guy was perfect too. He like backed away and then zoomed in kind of on you. My son, like cruiser buckling, crying, laughing, the girls crying, laughing. Just absolute electric show. So, yeah, that's what I was doing that night, just watching the game. 21 seconds, still got it.

[Biz Nasty]

How was the game as a visual army?

[Army Armstrong]

I thought it looked okay.

[Keith]

I think, I think army, they're telling you to do your quick time right now before.

[Army Armstrong]

I got it, I got it. It's gone.

[Yancey]

Oh, no, I never did mine. I never did.

[Keith]

Well, that's what you said. Oh, sorry, Woody.

[Army Armstrong]

Yeah, waiting here for you guys. Talking about Canada. I was coming on. You guys talked about Canada already. There's nothing to talk about.

[Yancey]

No, no, no, no. I wanted to hear your point about, about Schaefer, Bennett and. And maybe anyone else that you're like. I, I don't necessarily agree with that.

[Army Armstrong]

You know what? Maybe hurt Bennett a bit and I don't know, Yan's, you could maybe tell me, does he kill a lot of penalties in Florida?

[Biz Nasty]

He has this year because Matthew and Barky wrote and I don't think their PKs that great. But he's not really a PK or by. By nature.

[Army Armstrong]

Yeah. So maybe that is kind of what hurt him a bit. I, I found it interesting. The guys that were left off and then the guys that were snubbed. Right. There's a snubbed guys as well. You know, you look down the list of like production and guys that put in good years and like you, you have to. You for Bennett, for me is everything you guys said about him, like, you have to consider him just because of what he is, like the beast that he is. And yes, you're right, Yance, he did tie the game in the gold medal game at four Nations. Two, two sick little tuck, short side cheddar. But like he's a guy that's there when it has to be. Like he's a. Like look at him, look at him last two years, like his production and the amount of games he played and it's not that much. He had good, great production. 20 plus school seasons and in the playoffs. So he's a monsty. He's a monster. Like, he gets it done. Plus he had like a hundred PIMs two years ago when they won. Then he had like 90. Whatever. Like he said, he's just a beast.

[Yancey]

I literally say about him, he rabbit punched the sneakiest, most incredible knockout rapper punch to Marshawn and then stood there talking to you guys dead face. I didn't mean to do that. That's what I'm like, all right.

[Keith]

I don't know what you're talking about.

[Yancey]

This guy built different. He. I don't know what you're talking about. And there wasn't even an ounce of like. That was.

[Biz Nasty]

That was the year that the Bruins broke the record, right?

[Keith]

Yeah. They went to the finals the year.

[Biz Nasty]

That he knocked them out. So it's like the guy will do anything it takes to win. Like, you know, if you're gonna beat a team that just broke the record for most wins, you got to knock out there.

[Yancey]

Canada needs some Hannibal experts here, wasn't it?

[Biz Nasty]

And hey, was it not that same year?

[Army Armstrong]

Hey, let me ask you this though. Like, Tom Wilson, like, hope he's okay. Like, to your point, what a. What a player. I mean, it's Tom Wilson's team in, In Washington. Like, this guy's scoring at a rapid pace. I hope he's okay. That guy is Shrek on skates. Like his shoulders, his broad, his should. He's. He's a football player and he's an animal. And he's a weapon. He's a beast. He's learned how to contain the animal as well and still produce in different ways in and around the net. Like hard, doing hard stuff, and he's excelled at that. And so if you're going to leave Bennett off, like, the next best thing in regards to that kind of player is Tom Wilson. Now they had a cheat code with them. They got to use him at Four nations to John Cooper and see where he fits in, what he can do. How he does this. Then you try to identify during the year. And I know Tom Wilson was close to last year making that four nation team. And I know that they regretted not taking him after those fights and stuff. Can you imagine Tom Wilson involved in that? It would have been. It's. It's. That's another animal. So I think looking at the year that Tom Wilson has put together and I think looking at his body of work and then the fact that they wanted him last year too, and they're like, ah, maybe not. Who are you gonna. Who Are you gonna replace with it? It's like Bennett's kind of like the same kind of guy in a sense.

[Biz Nasty]

Why can't you have. Why can't you have Bennett and Wilson imagine them.

[Keith]

No, I think he's just saying he e. They're, they're looking at roles that need to be played. Like there's a way deeper discussion. And he's saying we think that he's a better version of Bennett, maybe right in this moment, I guess. And what he. What maybe how he's maybe able to produce a little bit more. Maybe he's. They want more net front. I don't know. I don't know what the complimentary, like.

[Army Armstrong]

Winger for a line and up and down. Be able to kill maybe. Yeah.

[Yancey]

It's just weird that, that us which we'll get into, like, they made like a couple, you know, they didn't make any changes. Excuse me. And Canada did make changes. It was like, oh, and maybe that's good. Maybe as a fan, you're like, yeah, we're not resting on winning. We think we could be even better. Where the U. S lost. And they looked at it like, well, we were so close. Like, we could do it with this group. So the, the, by the way, the shift Wilson had last week, I. He murdered that Noah Laba, what's his name on the Rangers.

[Army Armstrong]

Guy, like, always has a full cage on this lava kid.

[Yancey]

He murdered him, went down and scored his 20th goal. It's like, okay, there you go.

[Keith]

Why? It's his fifth year in the league. It's like, I've never seen this guy's face before. The is going on.

[Biz Nasty]

He's like that goalie that still thinks he's in college.

[Army Armstrong]

Yeah, like a goalie that keeps getting hit in the face in that one comedy video. Scott whatever his name is. It's hilarious. But I, I, we interviewed, we interviewed Doug Armstrong the day that it came out. I was working up at sportsnet and I've heard some other interviews, but he's. If, if a player goes down, they're not going to replace an apple with an orange. They're going to replace a player of that ilk with a player of that caliber of player.

[Keith]

So, like, if it was a haggle to go down, you might see them out at Jarvis all of a sudden.

[Army Armstrong]

Yeah, like, I think that's a perfect, exact little, like, pit bull kind of energy beast that is the same kind of player. So army. I don't know. Like, how do you, how do you pick with these guys? I know those Guys are disappointed, job, but it's. It's. Austin Matthews is calling you.

[Keith]

No, no, no.

[Army Armstrong]

Oh, Juddy.

[Keith]

Let me answer quickly.

[Merles]

Yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

See what he's watching.

[Keith]

Hey, Judd. We're live on the podcast.

[Biz Nasty]

He knows.

[Keith]

I. I can't talk to you right now, but whatever you need to talk about, say hi to the boys.

[Yancey]

Look at that guy. Face of the league right there, boys.

[Keith]

The NHL runs through this guy's cell phone, folks.

[Biz Nasty]

He's got something to say, let him say it.

[Yancey]

Well, look.

[Keith]

Happy New Year, everybody.

[Army Armstrong]

Just returning the call, biz.

[Keith]

Call me when you're done rapping.

[Army Armstrong]

Hopefully, I'll talk to all you sickos soon.

[Keith]

Do you like my. My paying homage to Austin Matthews scarf?

[Yancey]

I respect it.

[Army Armstrong]

I do like it.

[Tage Thompson]

You look good.

[Keith]

Thank you. Talk to you soon.

[Yancey]

Hey, I love this guy. Look who's calling me. I don't dig. He's like, I'm just.

[Keith]

Return.

[Yancey]

Return your call.

[Biz Nasty]

He's like, hey, tell me what you need to tell me in 10 minutes.

[Yancey]

Now. I felt bad for Bedard. Yeah, I. I get it. I. I was actually kind of surprised. That arm army. In his press conference, he made it pretty clear that the injury wasn't the reason, because I think he said, like, yeah, you know, it wasn't really the injury necessarily, because we could have. You know, we could have named it to the team, and if he couldn't have played, then we replace him. So he was pretty open and honest that it's not his time yet. I think in 2030, you see Connor Bedard playing on a top six role in Team Canada. I'm sorry, 2028 or 2030. Wake up. I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I think it's just kind of Blackhawks fans, which I. I don't really dislike, they were pissed off. They want to see their guy, you know, playing with the best in the world, but his time's coming. The injury didn't help, but it was just more about McKinnon, McDavid, Crosby, and you got to say, Celebrini, he's above him right now. I think he's more physical. I think he's better overall defensively, and he's better offensively. So Celebrini has come into this thing where it was like, do you think he has a chance of making the team? And all of a sudden, it's like, he's penciled in on the top six role.

[Keith]

Yeah, like, he could. He could be just as effective as. As, like, McDavid and Crosby out there. That's how much he's dominating and all.

[Biz Nasty]

Those big dogs want to play with him. Yeah, he's going into this tournament as one of the youngest guys saying, who wants to play with me?

[Army Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, he's Crosby 2.0 biz. He said that.

[Keith]

I think it would have been cool though, to, to be able for Bedard and Schaefer and Army. We'll get to your. Your Shaffer opinion on after this to get them that experience and just to see because like, I assume this isn't Crosby's last Olympics, but if it is, like, you kind of want that, that torch to be able to be passed off to as many guys as possible. And I think that that Bedard and Schaefer just as much as. As Suzuki and Horvat deserved it. Like, I was, I, I just knew that Bedard, at a certain point I'm like, oh, maybe there's hope. But then when you really thought about it, it's like, man, there's just like, how many. Who are you gonna leave off for him?

[Biz Nasty]

There's 50 guys that could make that.

[Yancey]

Team their second team. Somebody tweeted out would be in the hunt. Oh, yeah, like, it's ridiculous. It's like, you know, I, I got Bravo to you, Canada.

[Army Armstrong]

Bedard, though, I gotta give him a ton of credit because he is a freaking. He's a horse, this horse. Just watching him, like, I didn't think and all the criticism, criticism he's taken. Like, I give him a ton of credit for like his mindset, his, his approach. Like the way he's, the way he's delivered on this style of game. Like, he is far and away. Like, I think his coach said, like, this guy plays winning hockey and if you want a winner, like, you get this guy. And that's all he knows, right? Since he's come in there to coach his team and he's had like this new Bedard that's just an absolute beast. Like, he's not shying away from contact. He's going into it. There's been several examples through games where they, you know, I think Biz, you've done a couple of highlight packs on him. Cross checking guys and being in the mix like Paranco, he's just involved. Like, he is just involved. Then you stack a skill on top of that. And so, okay, maybe his resume now because of that, like, it's just, it's, it's blossomed this year for whatever the circumstances may be, his age, comfort level, whatever, but like his resume to that regard isn't as long in the pro game, but man, you put that kid in a Team Canada jersey.

[Keith]

Yeah.

[Army Armstrong]

Oh my God.

[Keith]

Yeah.

[Army Armstrong]

Unbelievable.

[Keith]

For I would say between the end of last year to now, the narrative probably went to like sign him to a five year bridge. Even if you're a hardcore Hawks fan, regardless of the points, and especially if you're a hockey fan like us, you'd say, ah, five year bridge. Let's see if he's really like a foundational piece that you can build around. Like, yeah, the points are there, but there's a lot of things about his game. I don't know if he could wear the sea and lead, lead a team to victory to now where it's like, give him eight years and build around him. This guy is the generational talent that we thought he was coming in. I know the points were there, I know he won the Calder trophy. But the, the narrative at the end of last season was not, not give this guy whatever he wants in eight years and we can build around him. Am I crazy?

[Yancey]

No. Which was cool too, that what he's done because it was the first time in that kid's life that he had criticism. Right? When had that, when did he had ever had any criticism about hockey cut the first time?

[Army Armstrong]

Yeah, probably ever been cut like.

[Yancey]

But that's something where it's like that's hard for anyone and all of a sudden like you're just getting all this stuff coming at you that's never ever been said about you. And he could have handled it a lot of different ways. So good for him. In terms of Schaefer Army, I, I tweeted and it's ironic that you. That or it was Biz maybe saying like it was Dody's. Dody took his spot. It's ironic that Doughty was the guy in 2010. It was the exact same thing. It was, it was the same. Now granted that was Doty's second year, this is his first year. Maybe that plays something to do with it. But I was like, this is going to be the same thing where he's like, wow, nobody saw him on the team. He's on the team and by the end he's playing like 23 minutes in the gold medal game.

[Army Armstrong]

Yeah. And I mean he could like, he, he could like he's been that good. I worked a game between the benches in Long island. They were playing against Vegas and I like watched him up close and I was like, I was down there like, okay, I gotta watch this 18 year old kid by the way. And I'll be like the dad, like a young 18. They love saying that, buddy. He.

[Keith]

Hey. But to put it in perspective, army, he's what, like a month older than Gavin McKenna and people. Right, so that's when you say older.

[Yancey]

Yeah, I think he was a couple days from being this year's draft. Yeah, he barely made the draft. Cut off.

[Army Armstrong]

So very young. Yes. But I was expecting him to be like a young, like offensive, like highlight reel player in this game against Vegas. And I was, I was like shocked and surprised at like the maturity of his game of like, he didn't just go run and gun. He, like, he's very smart and crafty and picking it for a young kid that has like a certain set of skills that, you know, you see these kids now, they're like, oh, I'm gonna go now. Like, this is all I know. This is how I do it. No, he, he, like, he was, he was restrained and smart and, and reliable. And so I was like, I was like, kind of blown. I was like, pretty impressed with how like he managed his game correctly through, through, through a game. And I was hoping to see like these pop out moments and he, he played a more mature game. That game where, you know, we see the highlight reels, which is great. So he has that in him. So like on D, they run back the D for Canada too. They run back every single guy the same. And I gotta imagine that's just like pairings. That's how it's gonna shake out for them. They're comfortable with their guys, the size, you know, circumstances, penalty killing, power play, the guys that they have. And I think they just like that. I just don't think there was like a spot where they're like, oh, yeah, we got to get this guy in here. Because I think if you have like a Harley, for example, who popped last year at Four Nations, I don't know if he's having a great of a year this year.

[Biz Nasty]

He came in late too.

[Army Armstrong]

He came in late, but he scored in that final game as well.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah.

[Army Armstrong]

And it's like, yes, a good player, but they know like that kind of player they can put in. If, if a guy goes down, he can, he can still do like the job. He's not like, I think they maybe look at Schaefer as maybe more of a one trick pony kind of guy just because he's flashing dash a bit. But I was saying, like, I was impressed with like, how mature his game looked when I watched him up close like that.

[Keith]

So if. So if One defenseman goes down. Do you think no matter, like, who it is, that's Schaefer.

[Army Armstrong]

What about, like, who's in there?

[Keith]

Chickering, I would say chicken would be other guy, but you would put probably Schaefer ahead of him. But once again, like, but they have three left.

[Army Armstrong]

They have three righties, I think, and then they have, like, five lefties, right?

[Keith]

So that. That. That plays a big factor sometimes, too, right? Like, as to. As to. Like, you might be like, I thought it was going to be this guy, but they. They needed whatever hand, and I think.

[Army Armstrong]

They have more lefties than anything.

[Keith]

Any other. Any other comments about goalies?

[Army Armstrong]

What about the goalies?

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, we haven't touched.

[Army Armstrong]

I have a scoop on goalies, I think.

[Yancey]

Sick. The other night. Had a shutout.

[Army Armstrong]

Want to hear my mind game proposal?

[Biz Nasty]

You think gets to start Army?

[Army Armstrong]

This is what I think. Bennington psycho, right? Like. Like, like, feeds off of drama.

[Keith]

Like, he needs to, like, the.

[Army Armstrong]

He needs, like, someone to hate him or doubt him. He needs, like, the Michael Jordan. You know what I mean? So I think you come into the tournament, you're like, hey, Tomer Thompson.

[Keith]

That's what I said.

[Army Armstrong]

You're starting. Yeah, and rightfully so. He's been the better goal. Fine. But do that to Binnington and get him all squirrely. Leave him in the cage, and he's like, putting lipstick on and crossing Thompson's name off a list like Billy Madison 100. And then if there's a little shaky, quakey little guy in there and he just goes crazy.

[Keith]

Unleash the fury.

[Yancey]

Yeah, okay.

[Army Armstrong]

Army. Yeah, I like that I said mind game guy.

[Yancey]

I thought he'd get a start no matter what, and then probably he probably will.

[Keith]

I would have said the same thing as army, because you don't want him burning his adrenaline too quickly. You want it building up, and then at a certain point, you.

[Army Armstrong]

You.

[Keith]

You unlock the cage and unleash the beast, and we go or something. He's going snowman mode.

[Army Armstrong]

Snowman mode. Absolutely.

[Yancey]

All right, army, before we let you go, we're gonna bring on Merles. We got Team Finland picked as well. I know you have a couple thoughts on that. I don't know. The Barkov injury sucks, right? Like, that's the biggest kick in the dick for this entire country. Anything you see, anything you want to bring up, any maybe people that you thought got screwed?

[Army Armstrong]

Another guy that's out right now is line A.

[Keith]

And.

[Army Armstrong]

And, you know, he had core muscle surgery, whatever, hasn't played since the start of the year. Like, October or something. But like he's like a power play specialist guy. Montreal used him like specifically as that. We know he has got that shot. So like that situational style stuff for them won't be there. But is this not like the most underrated overlooked hockey country? But they are always there. They're just warriors. And I like look down their lineup at guys that can make impacts. Like they've got size, they've got speed, they got skill, they have the ability to check. So they're always in there. Decent goaltending and. And they're pretty experienced. Like they've got a pretty experienced group of guys too. But if I look down like guys that you, you want it like ranting in obviously pops out at you. Heiskin in pops out at you. Aho hints man. Arturi Lekkanen like that guy is an old Merle's guy. Merle's guy. But he's like the ultimate like side piece to a combo on any line. Like he just does all the hard things so well. You know how much I love Mikola. This guy's a psycho. Like he'll be cross checking the piss out of everyone he's flying around. And then that Oliver Kapanen too, who's, who's added. He's pretty good in Montreal. Like younger guy on their teammated. He's got 13 goals this year in Montreal. Like he's, he's a pretty good player. And like every Finn can kill penalties. Like every single guy in their lineup is a penalty killer.

[Yancey]

They're just 200 foot players.

[Army Armstrong]

That's just the mentality of their hockey culture there. That's how they play and that's how.

[Keith]

They perform based on population the strongest probably hockey culture there is.

[Yancey]

Somebody said like the US has 10 to 1 youth players. 10 to 1amounts of rinks. Like yeah, it's crazy what they do now. The problem with their team for me is their daughter. Like I yeah, I don't know. I, I.

[Army Armstrong]

He's getting in. Yoki Haru Lettinen by the way plays in Switzerland but he did play for the Leafs in Columbus. Lindell Mata, Manta Paulo from Ottawa, Mikola and Ristalanen big Robocop in.

[Yancey]

But Heskin and will be playing 39.

[Army Armstrong]

They're just gonna be tough to play against. And they got their dancers, they got their dancer in Haskin and he'll do all the, the dancy fancy stuff that he can do. We know what he can do. But they, they'll, they're going to defend Hard. They're going to be a hard team to play against, I think, put it this way.

[Yancey]

If they're in the semis, it's like nobody will be surprised. It's just like, oh, Finland, they're in the semis again, like, no matter what tournament, what age group, they're in the mix.

[Biz Nasty]

So really hurts.

[Yancey]

That. That's way different. If he's there.

[Biz Nasty]

If he's there.

[Yancey]

Line, yeah, he could score, but, like, also, he may not take a stride for the whole tournament. So.

[Army Armstrong]

No, you just put them on the power play. Just go one.

[Keith]

He's like, well, the good news is, is the. The Italians didn't add the corners in the rink, so he'll be fine.

[Army Armstrong]

They are in their group.

[Yancey]

Yeah.

[Army Armstrong]

Italy's in their group with Sweden and Slovakia. They're in group B and Canada's in group A. What do I have here? Canada checks Swiss and France. So look out for the checkos, I guess, for Canada, if it were anything.

[Keith]

Bravo a bravo to the checks, by the way.

[Yancey]

I love that, buddy. That team, that junior team. That first game against Canada, I was like, oh, this team's legit.

[Army Armstrong]

They bullied them.

[Yancey]

The. The Blackhawks pick. His name. He plays at UMass. He's awesome. And. And like, obviously they're playing Frondell in Sweden. Like, the Blackhawks, they're going to be pumpsy in this tournament. I can't even think of the kid's name.

[Keith]

Boys, we're gonna get to Sweden us with murals. Should we try to cover the team Canada and the whole check thing with army while he's on some ads. Quick, I'm being told, rip two ads and let's have army on to have.

[Yancey]

The the world junior discussion nest. Something like that. All right, DraftKings guys. DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League, is built for the fastest game on ice. If you're following the line, changes the momentum, swings the streaks. DraftKings sportsbook brings you even closer to the action with player props and live betting. Every shift, every shot, every save gives you the option to get in on the game. With the DraftKings sportsbook teams battling for points, different seating to the playoffs. We're halfway through the season. Rivalries are getting heated. Draftings makes every period count, every power play matter. New customers bet just $5. If your bet wins, you get 300 in bonus. Ben said instantly. That was 200 last week. 300 if your bonus bet. If your bet wins in bonus bets, instantly download the DraftKings sportsbook app. And use Code Chiclets. That's Code chiclets to turn five bucks into 300 in bonus bets. If your bet wins in partnership with DraftKings, the Crown is yours and also gambling problem.

[Army Armstrong]

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[Merles]

Wager tax pass through may apply in.

[Army Armstrong]

Illinois, 21 and over in most states. Void in Ontario. Restrictions apply. Bet must win to receive bonus bets which expire in seven days. Minimum odds required. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, See DKNG Co Audio Limited Time Offer.

[Yancey]

We Got to Talk About BetterHelp this episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. The new year doesn't require a new you, maybe just a less burdened you. Therapy can help more easily identify what holds you back by offering an unbiased perspective to better understand your relationships, motivations and emotions. Better help does the initial matching work for you so you could focus on your therapy goals? A short questionnaire helps identify your needs and preferences and our 12 plus years of experience and industry leading match fulfillment rate means we typically get it right the first time. If you aren't happy with your match, switch to a different therapist at any time. From Our tailored Rex BetterHelp makes it easy to get matched online with a qualified therapist. Sign up get 10 off at betterhelp.com Chiclets that's better. H E L P.com Chiclets so.

[Army Armstrong]

You guys want some breaking news?

[Keith]

Oh yeah.

[Army Armstrong]

My son Cruz traded from Seattle to Swift Current Broncos.

[Keith]

Wow.

[Yancey]

Next year. Will that be next year?

[Army Armstrong]

Next year? Yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

It's not donor's team.

[Yancey]

What happened? What'd they get for him?

[Keith]

I thought Swift or Kamloops Blazers. I'm an idiot. I'm an idiot. Sorry boys.

[Yancey]

Big package for Cruiser.

[Army Armstrong]

I don't know that's our trade deadline is coming up here. I think it's on the 9th. So for the Western League Kelowna hosting the Memorial cup this year as you know. So expected to be a lot of trades happening right now. Expected. So it was kind of crazy to get this news. My Cruz is 15. He's playing in Rhode island but was drafted this summer to Seattle. So lots of action, lots of moves happening right now in the Western League. So that just got.

[Keith]

Wow.

[Yancey]

Where is Swift Current?

[Army Armstrong]

Saski baby.

[Keith]

Sasky baby.

[Yancey]

How far from Saskatoon?

[Army Armstrong]

Like three hours away from Saskatoon.

[Biz Nasty]

So he's like neighboring town.

[Yancey]

I love this Right? Yeah, I guess. Harder travel.

[Biz Nasty]

That's where you go get groceries if you live in Saskatoon.

[Army Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. You go to Saskatoon for groceries.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, just mom and dad live right down the road.

[Yancey]

Three hours.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, yeah, that's.

[Army Armstrong]

You get a camel and a rock. You get camo and a rifle. That's big buck country out there, boys.

[Keith]

What's the barn like in. In Swift Current?

[Army Armstrong]

Oh, buddy. It's like they've upgraded it, but in the past it was just like the sides and then the ends. They. I think they put some sweets on one of the sides, but I think.

[Biz Nasty]

They put benches in last summer.

[Keith]

Yeah, they just change out of the chicken wire.

[Army Armstrong]

Travis moans there. His kid plays there. I think he's a coach and a.

[Yancey]

Talk about an animal.

[Army Armstrong]

Yeah, animal. Yeah. And a guy I used to play junior with is there and lives there and the coaches there as well. His name's Regan Darby. So that's pretty comforting to see. Oh, darp. There it is. Holy. You guys found this?

[Keith]

Unreal.

[Yancey]

Wow.

[Army Armstrong]

Cruisers at school right now. He already got dealt.

[Yancey]

That's crazy.

[Biz Nasty]

Typical.

[Yancey]

Welcome to pro hockey.

[Army Armstrong]

Breaking news out of the Western League, boys. There you go. Stay tuned. I heard there's going to be some bigger names.

[Biz Nasty]

Hey, is the Western League, like, the queue? Like, when I was in the Quebec League. League, we. We hosted the Memorial Cup. So teams literally just gave you all their good players. It was unbelievable.

[Army Armstrong]

I heard the Western League of all the leagues and in my experience, doesn't do that. I think the O and the Q.

[Keith]

The Q. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't group us in with the Q. Dude. The Q was a joke. They used to. They used to work out deals where, like, one team would get three first rounders, they would send all their sick players, and then the following year, not only would all the sick players come back, but the guy. The sick players that were already on that team would also be coming back. So it's like basically like a. Like a team swap type thing. The queue was ruthless.

[Yancey]

Well, maybe that has something to do with the fact that it's like that.

[Biz Nasty]

It's like that show Wife's Walk.

[Yancey]

This is the first. Is this the first, like, best on. Best Canada roster without a player from Quebec ever?

[Army Armstrong]

No, they got that. Oh, on the. On the Olympic team.

[Yancey]

Yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah.

[Keith]

Oh. Oh, well, 1952, Crosby, those guys.

[Yancey]

Yeah, but they're not from Quebec.

[Army Armstrong]

Yeah, they're not.

[Keith]

No, no, I'm saying is 1952, I believe, was the last time that they didn't have a Quebec Person on the.

[Yancey]

Roster, you know, who's going on with players in Quebec and player development there.

[Biz Nasty]

Do you know who the French guy was on the Four nations team?

[Yancey]

Oh, yeah.

[Keith]

Maybe Jar.

[Army Armstrong]

No, Sam Bennett is Sam Bennett.

[Yancey]

Harley.

[Keith]

Wrong.

[Yancey]

It's from Syracuse. I always see.

[Keith]

Who am I forgetting here? There was nobody that changed from D. Maybe it was Go Mountain Bow. Oh, no, no. Ding, ding, ding. Busy gets it. Oh. So let's go. What, you guys want to talk World Junior?

[Yancey]

Yeah, yeah. We got a couple minutes here to discuss biz. You had a video. Very well said. I thought about like the state of Canadian junior hockey.

[Keith]

Well, yeah, and I mean like it derives into a lot of conversations. The goalie development being one of them and maybe pricing kids out. The fact that like maybe not even having a. A player on the team, but the development of Quebec goaltenders like the Luongos, the Brodeurs, the Mark Andre Fleuries. Like, even if they weren't developing the best defenseman or forwards, I always felt like at least they had us in net, right? And so first off, if we're talking that game, semi finals, it was checks. Canada, they played in the round robin. I think it was the opening game of the tournament for, for both of them. And checks looked great. 16 current players on the Czech World Junior team actually play in the chl. So that was also kind of like a spin off conversation of like, oh, well, we're developing their players where it's like, ah, quit complaining and bitching. Just shut the up and congratulate them on what they've built. Like it used to be the Czech Republic where they, they would combine teams with Slovakia. That was Czechoslovakia or Czechoslovakia, excuse me, where then they separated. So they're obviously losing probably like 3, 4 high end players that would normally get sent over from Slovakia. And the fact now that with them reaching the finals, they would have now meddled in four straight World Junior tournaments. That's the longest active streak with. With the US not reaching the medal round. So what a. What a game that they brought. Like physical, tough, great in the D zone. They were closing them off, like closing off cycles. Very good throughout the neutral zone. On saying structured and causing turnovers and then transitioning right away. So army, since we have you on, man, like what, what did you make of the game and the tournament overall for, for team Canada?

[Army Armstrong]

I thought they got better as the tournament went on. I. From the first game though, I was like, this Czech team is. Plays more Canadian than the Canadian team. Like, that's when I saw them. I'm Like, I love this team. They're going to be a problem. Yeah. Fast, physical, skilled. They bully us like they were going into confrontation or physicality. And we were like, not wanting it at all. We didn't like, finish checks at all, really. Like, we didn't dig into, like, Canadian hockey. That's why I liked your video last night, Biz. It was like, bang on. Now do we have enough skill? Yeah, okay. We got enough skill. Do we have enough, like, top end players? Yeah. Okay. But what we don't have is that mentality that you talked about, like the Canadian way of playing. And that's what we've lost in our, in our game. And you know what, three years now we haven't been to the gold medal game. But. And it's gonna, it's gonna, it's gonna, it's gonna go in flows. Yes. I get it. They're kids. I get it.

[Keith]

It.

[Army Armstrong]

But it, it's.

[Yancey]

This team was supposed to do damage, though.

[Army Armstrong]

Yes. This was supposed to be our team. This was supposed to be the year we came back and got it done. And I'm like, I, I just, I just don't see it. And, and you could say it's money. Yes. But it really is, like, how we develop and teach hockey. Look, we went to as Canada. We went to like the drawing board. We're like, hey, we got to do this and we got to do this better and we got to steal how Finland and Swedes and all these countries do this. And we're too grimy and we dump pucks in too much and we got to upgrade our skill. Well, typical Canada. We overcorrected way too far and we're just all skilly. Like, we lost the dogs. We lost the dogs. Now the men are going to have to go to the Olympics and show. Show the old school style how it's done. And we got guys that do that. Like, you got McKinnon, Crosby, McDavid guys through the line. But, like, we lost that with our hockey. Is that because the prices are too much and they're spoiled rich kids, like everyone's saying online. I think it just comes down to development and what we value. Like, do we.

[Yancey]

I think that's a legit argument. And this is coming from somebody who's, who has money and it's. But you can't tell me that these kids biz and you brought this up, that can't afford to play hockey and get priced out. Aren't a lot of times tough as nails, blue collar kids who are looking to Go out there and put guys through the wall.

[Keith]

I think that the cost of it is, is alienating a lot of like good athletes, especially in the country of Canada. And also like, obviously they're like the price point. You seem to be of a certain level of like quote unquote privilege. Your parents have obviously worked hard enough where they can afford essentially 15, 20 grand a year of disposable income if you want like all the resources being provided. And like, I don't know, I feel like most kids that are coming from that type of money, maybe they lack a little bit of that, like that grit, right? They like, it's not a, it's not essentially a survival instinct.

[Army Armstrong]

You know what's not good? You know what's not good? Like being a hard nosed player. That's not classified as being a good player anymore. Like, they don't see the intangibles in that anymore. They'd rather take the kid that can dangle and can do all.

[Yancey]

That's the highest level.

[Keith]

Yeah, but boys, I, you said like.

[Biz Nasty]

Oh, I know Florida Panthers watch Sam Bennett.

[Army Armstrong]

When they're teaching kids at the bottom levels. If you got a kid that's blue collar and that has those attributes, they're, they're going, no, no, no, you can't, it's 20, 26, buddy. You can't do that anymore. Like, we gotta drag. You can't do the hitting thing anymore. Wow, this kid has. Oh, we don't like that. That's not cool. Like, and in the culture of kids on teams too, that kid sucks. They'll say, like, that kid sucks. I see it. It's a joke. You should, you should embrace a kid that's like that and be like, okay, we got something here. Let's make him sick at what he already can do. But as a, as a culture in hockey now, we go that, no, that's not hockey. That's not hockey anymore. Then the checks come in, lift their legs and piss on us and it's like, what are we doing here? Like, what are we losing? We lost.

[Keith]

Well, Army, I mean, you talked about it like skill, like, like the, like the high end skill. But you know, being like well conditioned and being able to go into a corner and coming out with the puck is a skill, right? Like being conditioned is a skill. Having grit and physicality is a skill. So I think it's just the emphasis on maybe the wrong ones and how are they are portrayed or maybe viewed and how they're consuming them and also how it's being taught like for instance, in that game against the Czechs, like in the third period, like I was wowed by McKenna. Do you remember the shift where he came down and he kind of pulled it in and he shot it missing the net. Hey, great shot. Came down, got the, got, got out of the, the, away from the stick to at least get the shot off. But I think that the way that they were playing, good structured, you know, five man game through the neutral zone, going back to that goal they gave up in the last minute of the second. I think making the right, right play there is a skill. And I also thinking, ah, with the way they're playing, putting it in that corner and going to get it, that's the skill I need to impose now where if that's not in your bag and that's not what's being taught and that type of game management isn't there. You could talk about all the skills and skill development you want, but that they're lacking that skill.

[Yancey]

It's one of those. Ken Hitchcock would be sick watching it now.

[Army Armstrong]

It was typical, like, yeah, 100. It was typical like kid hockey though. Like, it was like changes of momentum. And I love that about world juniors because kids are like emotional and they're like, oh no, we're getting caved in right now. And it's like, like, and then they have like one decent thing happens or the crowd cheers and they, it goes the other way and it's, it's exciting that way. So the tournament world juniors for me is always wildly exciting. But how bad did you want like a Jordan tutu to get one shift in that game?

[Biz Nasty]

Like it would have switched it, do you think? And I'm not sure. It's kind of a question too. I know in the US that they start hitting later on. Like when we started playing hockey, we hit from the time you started playing. Do you think that the, the way of that type of hockey is getting taken away is that guys aren't hitting until they're 14, 15 years old and it's kind of been lost art. It's like you've never really done this before. So you're learning at 15 and then world juniors you're seven. It's two years of figuring out how to be a grinder.

[Yancey]

I, we, we talked to Bucha Grass about this a while ago and I'm kind of, I, I was kind of with him. Based on Ryder, he's 50 pounds, right? He just turned eight. So it is like, all right, this kid could get completely murdered out there if they were hitting which we were hitting at that age for us, like you said.

[Biz Nasty]

But you were the same build.

[Yancey]

I was tall. I was. He's not like super tall, but yeah, I was very skinny. But I, I do see the other side and I'm like, I think it creates what ends up we're seeing now in that kids are flying around with their head down and yeah, they get their head up and they toe drag someone but they never have to worry about getting hit. So then you get older and yeah, hitting isn't, is isn't as prevalent. It doesn't happen as often. But then when it does, those kids are like, what the. And then you see, I think army, you've probably seen with crews, some big time players hitting comes around, you're like, these kids aren't even like in the game anymore.

[Army Armstrong]

But I think that's normal. Right? In development though, I think that happens. It's a, it's a great separator at times and kids can figure it out. Like, look at Tjginla, that kid, that kid. You know what's a loss? You know, what's the lost skill? Puck protection. Like, no, this kid, this Tjinla, he gets it. He just like, like protects, turns, protects up the wall, down the wall, protects. Then he sees an opening when it's there and he takes it like he was rock solid. But he plays like an old school, like vintagey kind of game and has those skills in his back pocket where he could play along the wall and he could play in, in physicality and he can, he can handle himself there. So obviously Iggy taught him that. Right? Like Iggy.

[Biz Nasty]

And he grew up rich too. So you can be rich and still do it.

[Keith]

You see the right dad who's not a hockey psycho, and then the one that's also actually teaching you what matters.

[Army Armstrong]

That'S it.

[Biz Nasty]

Like because I was undersized growing up in the hitting, I think it teaches you how to protect yourself too when you're. Yeah, like from a young age.

[Yancey]

But I'll tell you, coaching kids, like, you bring up the hard parts of the game and I think a lot of times we say it's hard to be a on the ice. It's. That's a lot of people can't do it. They want to do it, they just don't have it in them. But like we'll teach kids now, like, hey, you get it up near the wall, near the blue line that you got to get that puck out. Like a little thing like, hey, like there's a guy coming on you and you just gotta, if you have no time, just get it out. Because right here is where all the problems arise. If you turn it over at the blue line and you see kids that are trying but like people are coming, there isn't even hitting yet. And that is way harder than wheeling the net and getting some speed going and like going by a guy, right? It's like harder because all of a sudden there's a little contact, there's a little bit of a fight you have to have like with the puck, without the puck. And some kids now maybe it's always been this way.

[Keith]

What age are we talking?

[Yancey]

These are eight year old kids.

[Keith]

Where, where do they start hitting now in mass.

[Yancey]

They don't start till 18 or something. First year bantam I think, oh my.

[Biz Nasty]

God, like we were smoking.

[Keith]

So I'll say this. Obviously we're old school. We're old school and we just came from a different time. Like I remember after practice or even sometimes before where there was no coaches around. Like Nathan Horton played on our team when I was like 11 and 12 and same with that Jamie Amy Tardif. And we used to put the helmets and gloves on in the room and it was like ding, ding, ding.

[Yancey]

Oh we did that. I got my head punched. That'd be on now if that.

[Keith]

So it was just. We were kind of a different breed and I, I think that we need bring back locker boxing or locker room boxing.

[Yancey]

I might bring locker room boxing. I might have a league in my, in my, at my rink.

[Army Armstrong]

You guys sent you that Russian video.

[Yancey]

When they close the net in the net, those are the best kids in the nets. Hey, Merle said in the, Merle said in the chat we're gonna have him on a little bit. We have a surprise guest before that. But he said people aren't afraid to play the Canadiens anymore. And I, and I'll give him that, that like being younger and playing Tutu in the world Juniors in Halifax there is a level of like holy, here he comes, here comes Canada. And I agree with Merles. It, it, it's kind of changed a little.

[Keith]

I want to come on the podcast and drop my nuts on your guys forehead after Canada plays any type of, of high end competition in hockey.

[Biz Nasty]

Remember Wacy Rabbit? I remember playing against him in a.

[Keith]

Tournament and just being horrified and going back to it. I settled off the hop too. If Canada doesn't win bronze, it'll be three years in a row where they have not won a medal. That hasn't happened since 1979. 80 and 81 at the World junior level for Canada, so. Hey, listen, army, you said it comes in waves. Well, guess what? We could tie the worst one we've ever had at world juniors if we.

[Biz Nasty]

Don'T come out with a medal.

[Yancey]

And I will mention as the enemy, I believe there's like 10 guys in the NHL that you could have on your team. So four. That's true.

[Biz Nasty]

Four.

[Keith]

Celebrity.

[Yancey]

Okay. Celebrity. And Schaefer. There you go.

[Army Armstrong]

And Kindle.

[Yancey]

And Kindle. All right, army, thank you so much.

[Keith]

Great job.

[Army Armstrong]

Canada for bronze from now. All right.

[Biz Nasty]

All right.

[Yancey]

So, Yance, I gotta hold again.

[Keith]

He's a surprise guest.

[Yancey]

You did it again to us. G just said surprise guest.

[Keith]

Wow.

[Tage Thompson]

Whoa.

[Yancey]

How's it going, Paige? Thank God for you. Keith and I can still root for the United States of America and Italy next. If you weren't on the team. We said we were switching. Congratulations. How you doing?

[Tage Thompson]

Appreciate it. Thank you. Yeah, I'm doing good. Yeah, it's pretty good news. So last few days have been awesome.

[Keith]

Is that a bandana T shirt or sweater?

[Tage Thompson]

A little Brad Paisley. Yeah. Nice pattern.

[Keith]

Okay, you guys look like we all right now.

[Yancey]

But how excited. I mean, how excited were you? Did you have any idea before you got the call that you were on the team? Like maybe from your agent or anything? Or was it a surprise when you. When Billy called you?

[Tage Thompson]

That was complete surprise. I actually had a phone call with my agent, like, I think the last home game before the phone call, and he was like, hey, I don't know. He's just gonna be calling you before New Year's and we'll find out then. So when I got that phone call, I knew that it was coming. I just didn't know what the. The answer was.

[Biz Nasty]

Now, was it something on your mind all year? Like, just, you know, I want to make this team. I just. I want to produce as much as I can. I want to show this group, you know, Billy G. And the rest of the crew that I should be on this team. Or was it just kind of like I'm going out there and playing my game?

[Tage Thompson]

I mean, I would like to say I was just going out there trying to play, but it was definitely something I was thinking about, you know, a lot. It's a big goal of mine, and you can't help but think about it, right? So I try to put in the back of my mind and just focus on playing. But, you know, you make a bad play here or two in the game and, you know, starts creeping into your thoughts.

[Keith]

So.

[Tage Thompson]

But yeah, Once I heard. Heard that news, it was a pretty good feeling. Big relief. And now I feel like I just relax and play.

[Yancey]

And I think going over the Worlds last year and getting that gold and, like, being a part of that, like, I'm guessing that had a huge, huge something to do with it. Was that more, hey, I want to keep playing. We haven't been in the playoffs. I'm not done with my season. Or was it like, this is going to help me get on the Olympic team?

[Keith]

And before you answer that, Tage, maybe we could fix your audio here. There. We're having a little bit of.

[Army Armstrong]

Yeah, just pop those headphones out, Tage. Just.

[Merles]

Just kind of like we did in that test there.

[Biz Nasty]

There you go.

[Tage Thompson]

That better?

[Keith]

Oh, it's 20 times better. I should get a credit as producer for this one. Okay, go back to that question, please.

[Yancey]

What did you. That's just funny. Did you hear the question, Tage?

[Tage Thompson]

You go, go. Just repeat if you could.

[Yancey]

Just about going to Worlds, like, is that, like, I want to keep playing, my season's not done, or this is going to help me get on the Olympic team? Because it does matter.

[Tage Thompson]

Yeah, no, I think it was a little bit of everything. Yeah, I was, like, pissed off the way the season ended. You know, I wanted to keep playing and play for something, like, meaningful and compete, and then also knew it wasn't going to hurt my chances going over there and having a good tournament, making a statement. So it was kind of just like a win, win.

[Keith]

And.

[Tage Thompson]

And then obviously we did win. So, yeah, I definitely don't think it hurt my chances.

[Keith]

Where were you when you got the call? And obviously it was Billy G. On the other line. Like, you're not giving a heads up beforehand?

[Tage Thompson]

No, we were in Dallas and just, like, I knew the night before that the phone call was coming in the morning. Yeah, we just had game day, so I didn't know at what point that phone call was coming. And they grabbed me during breakfast and just told me that Billy's. Billy's looking to call you. So, yeah, I didn't know the answer, so I was kind of a little nervous when Yarmo came to grab me. And then once I walked in, I saw our media crew in there. I figured it was probably pretty good news.

[Biz Nasty]

So.

[Keith]

Was that the most butterflies you think you've ever had before? Like something that you knew was coming?

[Tage Thompson]

Yeah, it's. It's got to be up there. I mean, I. When he told me Billy was about to call, I was, like. Felt like sick to my Stomach.

[Yancey]

Oh.

[Keith]

Yeah, that would be. Yeah, it'd be a little nerve wracking.

[Biz Nasty]

Paige, looking at, looking at the roster and obviously not getting too far ahead of ourselves. But who's two guys you would love to play with?

[Tage Thompson]

Yeah, I mean everyone pretty fired up to be there, but I, I feel like I've got some pretty good chem with Kels. We've played together in world juniors this last worlds skate together in the summer. I feel like we play really well. He's obviously looking to dish all the time. I'm looking to shoot. I feel like obviously Matthews too, great two way centerman out in Arizona. So we've skated a bunch before and I feel like kind of a little familiar with each other's game. I mean it's probably familiar as you can get without being on the same team. So I mean, but there's not one guy on that team you wouldn't want to play with. But no, those are two guys I'm pretty excited to just be on the ice with and, and watch them do their thing.

[Yancey]

The chat's saying right here, Biz, how about a center between the, the Twin towers, Boldy and Thompson, the big dogs on the wings. That'd be nice. I could see that working, but I, I kind of want to go more into what's going on right now with the Sabers. And I know the streak ended, but for you, can you explain like what changed, if anything, in the locker room? Like, it wasn't a new coach, it was a new gm. So I don't think the systems changed. Was it a players only meeting? I don't, I don't know what would have happened to have you guys go.

[Biz Nasty]

On this run, but was it worth saying 0.0? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tage Thompson]

Fired up the guys.

[Keith]

This is awesome.

[Tage Thompson]

It was like the beginning of that west coast Canada trip. Things weren't going great. Dolls called like a leadership meeting. So we have like five or six guys and we went for dinner. Just kind of talked about things that were going on and just kind of looked in the mirror and said, what can we each do better? And, and then had each other hold us accountable and say, if you don't see me doing these things, like I expect to you to grab me and let's just lead this thing from the front here. So, you know, we played some good hockey games, some close ones and you know, got some wins. Started to get a little confident. Then it just kind of became this, this snowball effect where we were going into games. Like we know we're Winning. So I think obviously playing good, good brand of hockey right now too. Like everyone's doing the right things, so. But I think the biggest thing is, is closing out the games and believing that we can win when we're, we're late in games, whether we're up or down. So there's just a, a good energy in the locker room and just kind of that calm. I've said it before, but it's, it's. We've had a problem riding the roller coaster of like getting high too low. And I think we've done a really good job lately just kind of staying even keel, like resetting after each win, each loss. And it feels a lot different, even though not much has changed.

[Keith]

I would say that the biggest insertion was Norris because like, you know, to game one of the season, he goes down. Brutal loss right off the hop where you guys are trying to establish something and then he comes back in and I think he, since he's been back healthy, you guys are 11 and 2 in that time. So what has it been for him to finally get his rhythm with you guys?

[Tage Thompson]

Yeah, I mean that was a huge loss. We've had injuries all year long. Like one guy would get injured and another guy would come like back into the lineup and then as soon as he would come back in the lineup, another guy would go down. So it's just, we've been battling that all year. Losing Nori was a huge one for us. Obviously he's a big piece for us point wise and just establishing that 200 foot game, putting up offense and yeah, I mean he's point per game since he's been back and been one of our best forwards. So having him back is great and I think hopefully we can get fully healthy. We're still missing some, some key pieces to our team. So, you know, I think we keep grinding like we are right now, keep chipping away, getting some wins and getting everyone back healthy. I think we're, we're in business.

[Biz Nasty]

Was there a message that Yarmo had for you guys when he came in? Obviously, you know, Adams did what he did.

[Yancey]

His.

[Biz Nasty]

It's his team like, yo, all. Everyone on the roster is guys that he brought in, but it was there a message that Yarmo kind of came in with and you know, set. Set the tone right away?

[Tage Thompson]

I mean it was pretty brief. Yeah, he just came in and he was, you're, you're pretty much all expendable. Like there, there's no one here that's safe and you know, we're Going to start working and if you don't want to work, like, you're not going to be on the team. So. Yeah, yeah, I mean, he's a man of few words. His presence carries a lot of weight when he's around the locker room. And you know, I think obviously when anyone gets fired in your organization, it's a wake up call, you know, whether it was deserved or not. And getting your GM fired is, is something to make you look in the mirror and say, all right, well, I must not be doing something here. Right? So I think guys took that to heart and obviously we got hot at the right time.

[Keith]

I was going to ask about Lindy. There was the one video of him in the hallway giving Byron. I think it was the knuckles after he scored the OT winner. He was showing some emotion. Now what was he like through the tough start of the season? Like, is he easy to deal with, understanding, approachable? What's your relationship with, like, him? And, and obviously he's probably fired up now that you guys have gone on this run and back in a playoff hunt.

[Tage Thompson]

Yeah, no, he's been good. I have a good, I feel like I have a good relationship with him. No, I think he's, he's an old school guy. He's pretty straight up with you, which I respect. And when I'm playing well, he lets me know and when I'm not, he'll let me know. So I appreciate that. And no, the emotion has been great. I love, you know, how fired up he's been lately. I know it's been tough sledding for a lot of us, especially earlier in the season. And I know his name was one of them that was right on the cusp there. So it's nice to, you know, string some wins together and fight our way back into, you know, a good spot in the record. And obviously, you know, I'm sure he's feeling the same and he's, he's very passionate about Buffalo and that's all he cares about as winning and wants us to be successful there. So there's not really much more you can ask for.

[Keith]

Were you aware, I think in the franchise history you guys have four 10 game win streaks and then two nine game win streaks and he's been involved in four of them. Two as a player and two as a coach. Like, were you aware of that stat?

[Tage Thompson]

No, I knew the coaching. I knew he was there for two of them, but I didn't know the playing one.

[Keith]

That's pretty nuts. Four of the six, he was two as A player. Two. As a coach. Coach. So pretty remarkable. Stat on what he means to the city of Buffalo.

[Tage Thompson]

I mean, yeah, he's a legend here. Like, he's been here forever. So, you know, obviously they went to the Cup Finals there, too, and I'm sure he would love nothing more than get. Get the job done here in Buffalo. So it's been good having them, and I got nothing to say. Bad.

[Yancey]

I think we talked a couple times. Like, Joe Thornton and McKinnon stick out as, like, hall of Famers who really had no problem kind of calling out a teammate if they didn't think things were going that way. And it's. It's something that's, like, kind of in someone or not. Like, have you had to do that without going into details? Like, is that something that's hard for you to do, or is that something where. At that leadership dinner Darlene called, where you're like, hey, we might need some of that.

[Tage Thompson]

I think so. Me and Dolls's relationship's been really good since, you know, we've kind of both. I would. I don't want to say taken over, but started to find our traction here. And I'm. I'm a pretty fiery guy. I feel like on the bench, and sometimes I. My screws get a little loose and I snap. The way I go about, it's probably not the best for everybody, but Dolls loves it, and I love it when he gives it to me. I feel like I play better when someone challenges me and gives it to me. Obviously, I grew up with my old man, so that's pretty much all I was given my entire life, so that's what I'm used to. But that, like, gets me engaged into the game. Like, if I'm not going and someone snaps on me, and that kind of lights a fire under my ass and. And Dolls will give it to me, and I'll give it to him. I feel like that's kind of how we. We get going. But we've tried to find a better job at finding out what makes certain guys tick. Obviously, you can't just ream into everybody. Certain guys will fold, and we need everyone going. So we're. We're. That was kind of one of the things that the meeting is trying to find what guys need, what to get going, because you can't just scream and yell at everyone and expect them to play good. So that's all Dolls. And that was part of that meeting for sure.

[Keith]

You said it was five guys there?

[Tage Thompson]

Yeah, it's me, Dolls, Samuelson, Tuck, Greenway and Zucker.

[Keith]

Okay, nice. That's a nice little round table you guys got there. I mean, Samuelson was a guy. I was going to ask him you about, because there's a section at the top of the building and they got like, a Saint Samuelson, big portrait there. And he's been a big reason for the turnaround, too. He's lugging like 26. He's a horse man.

[Tage Thompson]

Yeah, he's an absolute mutant. He is one of the strongest human beings I've ever seen.

[Army Armstrong]

He's.

[Tage Thompson]

Yeah, he's built like a Greek statue. And he's got, like, a little bit of piss and vinegar in him now, too, and does everything right. Blocking shots, chipping in on offense, too. He's got sneaky good mitts. He's going to laser a puck. So he's been probably one of our best, if not our best defenseman all year. Just.

[Keith]

He's your foxhole guy.

[Yancey]

When he signed that deal, people were like, who is this guy? And you were probably like, no.

[Tage Thompson]

Like, everyone on our team knew, I mean, because we get to see it every day. So, yeah, we knew what he was going to do.

[Biz Nasty]

He's also got. I worked out with him in the summertime, too, and he's a guy that younger guys gravitate to, and he get, you know, I'm sure he has the pulse on the older guys and the younger guys in the locker room.

[Tage Thompson]

Oh, he's a great guy in the locker room. Yeah, he's one of my favorites to be around. Just a good guy, you know, pretty chill guy off the ice, kind of goes with the flow, do. Do whatever. And, yeah, like you said, gets along with everybody.

[Army Armstrong]

He's.

[Tage Thompson]

He's good with older guys. He's great with the younger guys.

[Keith]

It's.

[Tage Thompson]

It's a guy everyone can go to and kind of just feel comfortable.

[Keith]

Bo Byram, I feel like he is. Is starting to take that neck step. I feel like we're seeing the defenseman that they anticipated they were going to get in Colorado, where his offense, the confidence there. He's kind of got those Shakira hips, too, where he's getting, like, the 10 and 2 buzzing around. So he's just like, are you seeing the same thing?

[Tage Thompson]

Yeah, he's. I mean, another guy's. He's awesome in the locker room. He's probably the funniest guy. One of the funniest guys I've ever met. But, yeah, on his. On the ice. I know, like, last. I don't know, maybe the beginning of the Season, maybe a little last year he was, you know, didn't have the confidence that you would expect. He's. He's pretty tough on himself and, you know, expects high things from himself. And I think now he's starting to. To feel it a little bit and everyone, same thing. Everyone knows what he's capable of doing. He's been unbelievable. I mean, scoring almost every game. It feels like producing offense, been really hard to play against, can fly. So he's been. I mean, our D, like, that's when we're at our best, is when our RD are. Are going and we got a lot of active D that like to join the rush and that can finish plays. And now we're just learning how to be a little bit harder to play against defensively. And I think it's a big credit to both those guys who have been logging a lot of minutes and playing both sides of the puck.

[Yancey]

Is Benson as big of a piece of shit to play against that? He looks to be because Biz brought him up a bunch. Like, this kid's young, he doesn't give a. He'll run around. He's very skilled. Like, what's he like as a guy?

[Tage Thompson]

He's a beauty. He's probably one of the dumbest human beings I've ever like.

[Yancey]

Just the chat saying big baller Benson.

[Tage Thompson]

Like white trailer trash.

[Keith]

It does look white trailer trash.

[Tage Thompson]

Yeah, he's.

[Merles]

He.

[Yancey]

Yeah.

[Tage Thompson]

No, he doesn't care. He'll fight the toughest guy the league. He doesn't care. He'll start every game. I love his game. He's a little rat. He's got some good skill too, and sees the ice well. But yeah, he's one of those guys that just competes and works his nuts off every single night and he doesn't care. He's lined up across.

[Keith]

He's the guy in the hallway Yans where you're like, just be yourself out there. Just be a rat tonight.

[Biz Nasty]

Just be a piece of.

[Tage Thompson]

He embraces it. I mean, that's. He knows his role, he knows what he's good at and he does it. And he does it extremely well.

[Keith]

I think he's from a small town outside of Vancouver. He drives in for training every day where I think it's a bit of a sketchy town where you don't want to go to like the other side of the tracks kind of place.

[Tage Thompson]

That's what he says. He says he's from the hood. He says he's hard.

[Yancey]

So maybe he's a guy who would wear a tank Top in the press box, like Neil. And maybe that's another guy.

[Keith]

Yeah, with. With pasta stains on it, though. Or blood, for all. All that matter.

[Yancey]

Hey, you mentioned your dad. One of the toughest men, like Brent Thompson. He could fight. I'm guessing that has something to do with you when you played net Stefan Nason this year. There was articles after, the guys in the team were like, hey, I. I got him, I got him. And you're like, nope, I got this one myself after the late hit last year. That's just kind of who you are. You didn't want anyone else to fight in that battle for you.

[Tage Thompson]

Yeah, I mean, I was. I was surprised. Like, a lot of guys came here, grabbed me. Obviously I was thinking about that game for a while, but, like, Samuelson was one of the first guys to come grab me. He's like, I want to take care of this tonight. And I was like, ah, like, I'm. I'm healthy. Like, there's no reason I don't do this myself. And it's kind of just felt like I'd be ashamed of myself if I didn't take care of it on my own.

[Yancey]

Your dad would have called you upset? I'm guessing he would have knocked on his door.

[Tage Thompson]

I mean, he. Yeah, I mean, he was proud. He was proud of it for sure.

[Merles]

But.

[Tage Thompson]

Yeah, it's just kind of like the way I was raised, I guess. Obviously everyone knows I'm not like a fighter or any good at it, but I'm not afraid to take care of my own business if I have to. So I just felt like that was one of those situations where it was better if I did it than, you know, sitting on the bench watching someone do it for me.

[Biz Nasty]

Girls, here, you don't have to fight.

[Keith]

What'd you say?

[Biz Nasty]

Yet when you score 40 goals a year, you don't have to fight.

[Yancey]

Fight.

[Keith]

I know, but when you do it, all of a sudden you're like Jerome McGinla and you're in a different level and the guys give you a little more space because they're scared shitless to come around you. What a poll by Merle's here in the chat. So there was a video that went viral because some of the Sabres fans were poopy pants, that UPL went out and had a couple pops post game.

[Tage Thompson]

Oh, yeah, what a joke.

[Keith]

And you guys are 12 and 5 since that. And UPL has been a massive part of it.

[Biz Nasty]

Hey, he's in. He's in the program now.

[Yancey]

I was think that was like Thanksgiving break too.

[Tage Thompson]

It was Thanksgiving, we got back, and we had a day off the next day. I mean, like, what's he. What's he gonna go do? Sit in his apartment, stare at the roof like.

[Keith]

No, they act. They were acting like he was, like, shooting heroin on the side.

[Tage Thompson]

And it's a.

[Yancey]

And it's Buffalo finish.

[Tage Thompson]

I mean.

[Yancey]

Yeah, exactly.

[Keith]

That's.

[Tage Thompson]

That's like water for them. So it's like he's probably just recovering.

[Keith]

What's. What's his dynamic in the locker room? You leave him the alone on game day or what?

[Tage Thompson]

Yeah, no, he's. He's not like one of those crazy goalies, in my opinion. I. I at least don't think he is. He's pretty chill. You can kind of chat with them. But I. I stay away from him on game days, but he's pretty quiet until you, like, really get to know him. Like, one on one, he'll sit down and chat with. He's a really funny guy, but. Yeah, he's kind of one of those guys that just kind of keeps to himself and is pretty quiet, but does his job and. Yeah, I think that was. That was a funny video. We all gave it to him. After that. We're like, you're. You're getting us on.

[Biz Nasty]

Well, we. We. We played a game to start the season over in Finland, and the first bar that we went to, there was like, six guys passed out sleeping. And I said to all the fins on my team, I'm like, do they not throw guys out? They're like, no, they wait for them to wake up and then they start drinking again. So it's.

[Tage Thompson]

Yeah, the crazy part is I actually. We were. We were talking about that. I don't even think he had a drink when he was there. I think he was just. Yeah, I think he was just posted up there for a bit and then, like, left. He might have just been doing something.

[Yancey]

Yeah, like, you just. You can't get chirped for drinking in Buffalo. That's people's jobs giving with a day.

[Tage Thompson]

Off the next day.

[Biz Nasty]

It had to have been a visitor. A visitor took that picture.

[Tage Thompson]

Yeah. I love that he caught some heat for it, though.

[Yancey]

That might.

[Keith]

That's something in the locker room, you can. You can, like, you know, get some morale around and, you know, at least it lightens the mood in there. Something to talk about. Anything else we need to talk about? Boys or the Buffalo Bills? I mean, you got to be a huge Bills guy now, or is that like a. Like a faux pa?

[Tage Thompson]

No, I mean, I was Never a football guy until I got here, so I. I kind of just joined the bandwagon. But, yeah, I mean, it's kind of tough to live in Buffalo and not, like, join Bill's mafia. Like, it's kind of all they talk about around here. We've been to a few games, too. We probably get, like, two or three a year that we get to go to, so. Electric atmosphere and just kind of like, got me hooked right away because that's, like, the first football game I've ever been to was a Bills game. And they're bananas.

[Yancey]

Last game at the stadium was. Was Sunday.

[Merles]

That's it.

[Yancey]

They got the new one opening next year.

[Tage Thompson]

The new one with still no roof.

[Biz Nasty]

That's crazy. I think that they're going to do an outdoor game there next year. Have they announced it?

[Keith]

Yeah, Utah is going next year. They haven't announced it yet, apparently, but.

[Yancey]

I just did a biz. Just did Utah.

[Keith]

Sorry, Gary.

[Tage Thompson]

That'd be sick.

[Yancey]

I got rollback. I got rollback. Last question. Use code chiclets on roback.com for 20 off your first purchase through the end of the week. That's C-I C L-E-T S on R-O-B-A-K.com 20 off all polos, hoodies, joggers, and more with Code Chiclets. Darlene, when that news came out about what he went through with his wife, and, I mean, that's, like, scary as. And I know he went back to see her a couple weeks ago. I mean, you guys are just. You said you're very close. Are you, like, talking with them a lot about it or just kind of there for him if he never needs to talk about how's he doing off the ice? Because on the ice, he's still playing incredible. But I imagine there's a lot of stress in his life right now.

[Tage Thompson]

Yeah, no, it's. It's insane. I actually can't believe that he's playing and playing as well as, like, when it first happened. We knew, obviously, a lot. A lot sooner than the media did, and we. Even us, we didn't know, like, to the extent what it was. We just knew she wasn't doing well. But when we found out it was not nuts, and obviously, like, everyone reached out. But you also want to kind of, you know, give him a space and his privacy. But he's been great since he's been back. I think hockey for him is a huge escape. So I think a lot of that helps him. To be honest, I think the Hardest thing is that she's not here with him right now, you know, so as a, as a team, I think we've been collectively trying to make sure that like he's not feeling alone at his place. You know, he's got a big place and, you know, doesn't get to go back to her. So, you know, that, that part is, I'm sure pretty tough. But no, it's nice that he got to go back and see her. I know that one was, was huge because talking to her on FaceTime, he said was, you know, you think she's doing well, but once you see her in person, then it was like a, you know, okay, it gave a little bit more of a settling feeling that she's doing pretty good and hopefully she, she can come over and see us and finish out the season. I don't know when, but the last I talked to him, she's doing pretty good. So obviously a lot of positive news and a very dark situation.

[Yancey]

Yeah, I didn't want to. I didn't want to, you know. You know, that's a tough thing, but you met, you said it best. Incredible how well he's played going through that. And my final thing would be just about Yukon. I mean, you're kind of the pride and joy there and, and you went there early on before a lot of like big time players were going there. I feel now they got the new rink, really good team this year. Do you, do you kind of watch their games when you. Can you stay in touch with anyone there?

[Tage Thompson]

I haven't watched a ton of their stuff. I watched a little bit last year when they're in the Frozen Four, but I went back this summer, worked out at their rink, skated there for I think like a week. The facility was sick. That was the first time I've been back there since, since I left. But I know one of the assistant coaches really well. He was like one of those player coaches. Like once I was getting in there, like as a freshman, he was kind of the senior that turned into the coach helping out. So I've stayed in touch with him.

[Yancey]

Cav.

[Tage Thompson]

I talked to every once in a while. So I kind of, I keep tabs on it, but I haven't been, I haven't been watching too much, but it's pretty insane when I went back, the difference in such a short amount of time that the campus, I mean, just with all the different buildings going up and the, the construction, I mean the new rink is awesome. I wish I had that one. But obviously these kids are Getting to enjoy it, which is good.

[Keith]

I gotta ask you one last one. I'm gonna put my. My journalist hat on for it, though. Your teammate for Team usa, Jack Hughes, is rumored to be dating a Canadian pop star icon, Tate McCray. Now, there's rumors that she's a mole for Team Canada. Do you trust her in Team USA's, his wife's lounge over there and like, maybe like in your guy's little bubble? Or is that something that you guys are discussing internally about, like. I don't think that there's enough trust here.

[Tage Thompson]

Is that you starting the rumor?

[Biz Nasty]

Yes.

[Yancey]

Yes.

[Keith]

No, I think it was the same guy who said you had a 0.00% chance of making the playoffs this year.

[Biz Nasty]

No, it wasn't.

[Tage Thompson]

Yeah, I don't know.

[Yancey]

I mean, it was not me that I said about the playoffs, though.

[Tage Thompson]

Yes, it's. It's a possibility, right? Anything's possible. You never know, right? So you got to be careful and hold your cards close to your chest, I guess.

[Biz Nasty]

Have your wife have the metal detector to see if she has a wire on and stuff. Just make sure Mrs. Thompson's holding it down in the wives room.

[Tage Thompson]

Yeah, I'll have my kids make sure. They'll be. I'm sure they'll be over there.

[Keith]

What if. What if. Last one here, Journal hat.

[Yancey]

You might just want to sign off.

[Keith]

What if Matthew and Brady, before the. Your first game against Canada, they call you in the back bathroom in one of the stalls and they say, hey, off the opening draw, I want you to sucker McDavid right in the face. Are you doing it?

[Tage Thompson]

I mean, I'll do it. As long I'm gonna ask him if they're gonna pay the consequences on my behalf, I'll pay it, which I'm sure they would.

[Yancey]

So can you do somebody else?

[Tage Thompson]

Would I not get suspicious for like the entire tournament?

[Keith]

Yeah, I don't know.

[Yancey]

That's what Chris wants.

[Keith]

I want to know whether it's gonna be hard for you to say no or yes to Brady and Matthew Kachuk when they call you in a bathroom stall before the game.

[Tage Thompson]

I mean, that's already a sketchy start to it, but.

[Biz Nasty]

Why are we doing this in the bathroom?

[Keith]

Yeah, yeah. Heated rivalry, Olympic edition.

[Yancey]

All right, Tate, thank you so much, man. Keep it up.

[Tage Thompson]

Thank, guys. I appreciate it.

[Yancey]

Congrats.

[Keith]

See you, Tommer. Oh, by the way, what a guy. What a run they've been on. How about this gift a fan gave me at the hotel in. In Miami? He was waiting there with his kid and the Kid gives me a. That thing back there, which is not bad as saying from the. The peaking series. And then they gave me this ticket which was my first NHL point. So they brought that for me and gave me that as a gift.

[Yancey]

So it's a. You got your first. You got your first point on the road road.

[Keith]

Huh? On the road against the Philadelphia Flyers that had an assist on a. Either Max Talbot or Tyler Kennedy goal. We. We all were in.

[Yancey]

Was it a pass or like a shot off the shin pads that went to one of them?

[Keith]

I. I don't even remember. I couldn't even tell you. I know.

[Yancey]

It was so many. How are you gonna forget? How you gonna remember when there's that many of them?

[Keith]

It was a secondary assist. I believe it was a very nice dump in. And there you go. And I also got in a fight with Aaron Ash in that game. So pretty productive game for me.

[Yancey]

Close to a Gordie Howell. That's awesome. You might have just gone mute. We gotta go over. We gotta go over.

[Army Armstrong]

Team.

[Yancey]

Team usa. We got to talk to Merles. This is just an action packed show. Let's bring them in right now. I don't know. I'm sorry, buddy. Look at this.

[Merles]

Thanks, guys.

[Yancey]

I know. I'm sorry it went long. You were supposed to come on before Tage and I didn't.

[Merles]

No, no, no, no. I was supposed to come on at 210. 210. It is now 350.

[Biz Nasty]

Hey, you're the one who claimed the picture of upl and blame the producer.

[Yancey]

I don't know how you. He had you on at 210.

[Army Armstrong]

Merle's go read your text.

[Yancey]

I very specifically said after 2:30 if.

[Army Armstrong]

You want to go double.

[Merles]

Oh, that was. Yeah, that was. That was today. Once I already had all the daycare and the child pickup set up and I don't really care because now I've listened the whole episode. But I needed it. I wanted to listen the whole episode tomorrow because I'm off to Philly tomorrow. I'm taking the train down to Philadelphia. Four hour ride. I was like, oh, listen to Chiclets. Nope. Now I've already listened to the whole episode.

[Yancey]

Chasing goals. Merles, quickly. I'm sorry. We got to talk about body armor. You can have some on the train tomorrow. This episode is brought to you by Body Armor, the official sports trick of the NHL. Body armor has great tasting flavors like strawberry, banana and peach mango. No colors from artificial sources. None of the junk in a bold new look with the same great taste and now available in Canada. So whether you're hitting the ice, the gym, or just need something refreshing, grab body armor today at Sobeys or a local grocery store near you. Body armor. Choose better. Murray, I want to make it clear as well. I'm mentioning Team usa, But you hate. You. You hate Team usa. You are a Team Sweden guy. You live there. Your kids are Swedish. So I understand that, you know, you. You're rooting for one team, and it's Sweden this year. But we do have to talk about USA2, tennis. Okay, there you go.

[Biz Nasty]

Girls, you got five minutes, so make it quick.

[Merles]

I bring. I bring the receipts. Yeah, you know, I. I really need it to. I needed to hear. I bring them. I bring them.

[Yancey]

Two merles. You. It says 233, right?

[Merles]

That's today. Yesterday. I make plans over here.

[Pasha]

That was.

[Merles]

Yeah.

[Pasha]

What have you done?

[Yancey]

He doesn't have kids. Murray doesn't get it.

[Merles]

I know. I. I really needed to hear. Army trying to keep the WHL relevant, you know, now that college hockey has taken over on an Olympic preview.

[Yancey]

As a Team USA hater yourself, were you as disgusted as I was that Jason Robertson wasn't on the team?

[Merles]

Yeah, because we actually went over it on game notes. He has the third most goals in the calendar year of 2025. So I would have thought. Thought that's a guy that you want on the team when there's. When there's a lot of extra spots for guys. And I understand you're building a team. You need pk. You need. You need leadership in the locker room and all that stuff. But it's McKinnon, Geeky, and then Robertson. So it's funny that two out of the three aren't even going over there.

[Yancey]

Yeah. I was talking to a guy today who I was eating lunch, and he came over. He's like, I. I big fan of the show. I just want to know, why didn't Robertson make the team? Like, he was genuinely asking. I said, I don't know. I said, we're going to talk about it. My thing is they. They went with what they had last year, right? They're. They're one shot away. There are a couple amazing Bennington saves in overtime away from winning that thing. They think they can win it. I believe that they can win it. But when you look at some roster picks like Trocheck and Miller, I think were the people. That's kind of who people were complaining about. And I could see, maybe you go with one of those guys and you get Robertson on the team in A tournament where you need a guy who could score, right? It's the hardest thing to do is score. He could do it. You just read the stats off. I was. I was very surprised. I know he was disappointed, seeing his quotes and stuff. I think he mentioned he hasn't even been told if he's on the list with, like, injuries or anything. So I don't know. I. I don't really get it. There's obviously way more that goes into it than any of us know. Billy G, like, what he had last year, team chemistry and everything, but I just can't. Can't believe with a score like that. Maybe it's his skating, maybe they consider him a little soft, but I was very surprised and a little disappointed.

[Biz Nasty]

Keith. Yeah, yeah, I. I agree 100%. I think the Tro Trocheck I love on the team just because what he brings. He's that water bug you can play on your third, fourth line. Millsy the same way. I mean, what he did last year in the. They're familiar with them. So it's. It's honestly one of those things where we talked about with Canada. It's like, you know, there's so many good players to choose from, and that's a good, you know, good problem to have if you're. If you're Billy G. But I think he's earned every right to be on that team just the way that he scored. And at the end of the day, you got to score goals to win this tournament. And if I was a part of picking that team, I would probably have a guy who has the third most goals in the calendar year. But, I mean, obviously other stuff goes into it. I don't know how he is in the locker room. I don't know if he's ever played with any of these guys, if he knows any of these guys. So I'm sure there's a lot more that goes into it than we know.

[Merles]

Yeah, and that's why there is a lot more, because I know USA Hockey likes when the guys go to the worlds. And you see that with two of the guys they added with Keller and Thompson, they went over last year, they played in the worlds. They won the gold medal. First time since 1930 or whatever the heck it was embarrassing to not know that or more embarrassing us not to win one. But they only. They left two guys off Kreider and Fox, and then they added Thompson, Keller, Quinn Hughes, who would have been on it, and then Seth Jones, who was an interesting one. And I think, you know, his Stanley cup run. He's big, he's long, he's played with Rensky before. That seems like an easy pairing right off the hop up.

[Keith]

So, so did you guys already talk about Fox being left off?

[Yancey]

We haven't yet. We talked about Robertson. Why don't you give your take on Fox being left off?

[Keith]

I ju. Well I, I mentioned on the broadcast, I feel like we're, you know, there's somewhat of, of copycat league and them taking a guy like Seth Jones over the fat. Over a guy like Fox where he's a little bit longer, I think he's probably a little bit more. Bit better of a skater. I'm not saying he's like earth shattering speed here, but Fox is not really known for, you know, how quickly he closes on guys. I'm not saying he's a liability defensively either. I just think if you're thinking of, of a big long body defenseman and that's what they want outside of Quinn Hughes, that was kind of the, the, the path they decided to take. The same probably reason they took J.T. miller and Trocheck. They wanted to, wanted some like more dog mentality and he probably gets left off because they have a guy like Quinn Hughes. But I can understand I'm drawing a blank on Coach Sullivan and them pitching to have their own guy there because just like Coupe, I'm sure he's seen what Fox has done when he's been in the lineup this year, especially offensively and think wow, if Quinn's a little bit cold offensively for a couple game stretch and we need to replace him, him with a guy who could maybe get it done on this big power play that we have, he trusts him and can throw him in that situation because he's his guy.

[Yancey]

So argument though that I feel bad for Adam Fox. Awesome player, but I wasn't like that surprised. Like.

[Keith]

No, I wasn't that surprised either.

[Yancey]

Last year he was battling injury. I think the year before he's been battle injury. This year he's been good. On a team that hasn't been good. He has been very good. But whether it's Hughes or Rensky, there's going to be four forwards in one of them for a minute 20 and then the other one's coming on. You don't, you don't need him. You have two unbelievable power play defensemen that either one of them can run the first unit doesn't matter. And then you look all right, Jones comes in, the guy he could skate, he's enormous. And Blackhawks fans who are saying, this guy sucks. Run him out of town. Like, buddy, your team stunk. Now look at him. Because on a good team, this guy makes a huge difference. You can't get around him. He's an enormous human who can move. I mean, he doesn't skate like he did when he came into the league. So the spot for Fox not having to run the power play that. The spot went away in my mind, like, Faber defends way better than him. Right. McAvoy defends way better than him. Sanderson skates a lot better than him. So, like, awesome player, Norris Trophy winner. I love the guy's game. I just look at the makeup of the team. I was way more surprised that Robertson's not there than. Than Fox.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, I would be if I was Fox. And if they added Hudson over him, I'd be more pissed off. But they're going in the complete different direction, bringing in Seth Jones. And that's. I would imagine that's a Bill Zito call. It's his guy. He's part of that management where it's like. Like, hey, I traded for this guy. I brought him in. He won for us. He played huge minutes. He can do anything you want him to do on the ice where he's not gonna. Like you said, he's not gonna have to play power play there. And he's gonna focus on pking and being really good five on five minutes, maybe six, 16 to 18 minutes. Boom. Don't notice him out there in a good way. And he will be. He'll be awesome for them. And he'll. He solidifies that. You know, you got three, four lines coming at you when you're playing Canada. They're preparing for. For one game, I would imagine they're preparing to play Canada. And when you prepare to play in the Stanley cup finals, you want big, heavy, long D like, like Florida has. And they won the last two years, one with him. So I. I think it's a. I think it's a great call bringing Jonesy.

[Keith]

In and also played against, like, McDavid in some situations in that. In that Stanley Cup Final where you're like, well, he's going to be seeing him for some shifts. And also where you touched on it. So you. You would say that it would go Quinn, Warrensky and then Fox, because I think that Warrensky not only is a good setup guy, but he's also a threat from a shoot mentality where he.

[Yancey]

Might be above Quinn. Like, Warrensky's insane dude.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, he's so good.

[Keith]

Right? Right. Yeah, it's okay.

[Biz Nasty]

What he's playing with too, like the, the numbers that he puts up with. I mean, no offense to the Columbus Blue Jackets. They're not as good as Minnesota or.

[Yancey]

He doesn't have Kabir Preov.

[Biz Nasty]

Right.

[Yancey]

So it's like, and he's, it's like leading the team and scoring every year it seems like. So yeah, I felt bad for Adam Fox, but I was not, I was not surprised. And, and I did say he was, he was injured last year, so that has part two of it. He didn't look great last year.

[Keith]

No. You know, I, I, so I. Is Robertson the most shocking name? You guys already covered it.

[Yancey]

Yeah. And I don't know, I don't know. I think a lot. Keith said it or Merle's like we don't really know know what goes into like the locker room aspect. I don't know Robertson as a guy. Right. He might not be buddies with all these guys are pretty, pretty close. Like this is, the national development program was kind of built for this. And you're seeing all these guys that played there. They all know each other. Ages are different. No doubt. But Robertson's never really been in that crew. But to me it's like, dude, it's a one shot tournament. It's, it's, it's the same thing that when, when Connor wasn't in the championship game. It's like, what are we doing here?

[Keith]

I think that, that we go back to what we were talking about, Team Canada, like the slight element of fear and you want to put a team on the ice if you're usa, that, that like at least from an outside perspective, like they aren't batting an eye and they're not, they're not afraid of what Canada is going to throw their way. And that's why a name like Trocheck and JT maybe stick out a little bit more than a guy like Jason Robertson. Now I don't know what Jason Robertson's numbers are like in crunch time come playoffs, but I do know that's a good question.

[Yancey]

Let's look that up.

[Biz Nasty]

56 games, 40 points.

[Yancey]

What is it?

[Merles]

Say it again.

[Biz Nasty]

56 games, 44 points.

[Keith]

Not terrible. And I actually think last year he was the only guy scoring towards the.

[Biz Nasty]

End of before last year he had 11 goals. Oh no, sorry. 11 games, 4 goals.

[Army Armstrong]

Dude.

[Merles]

USA Hockey is petty. It's always been this way. It was this way in 1990 when I left for Syracuse to go from, to go to play in Syracuse. They cut me from the 15 New York team so Jason Robertson picks the OHL over the US development team.

[Yancey]

JT Miller.

[Keith]

Really murder. You think they're that petty?

[Merles]

A. Yeah, sometimes. But you hear it too. Like when Tage. When you talk to Tage, you hear him, he's like, oh, I want to play with Kels. I know Kells. I train with him.

[Keith]

Yeah, but, but, but here's the other thing too, though, is like going like, Jack Hughes was a shoe in for the four nations. And, and everyone knew he was going to make the Olympic team. Like, maybe they looked at Robertson the way that maybe some of us look at Hughes, where in that gold medal game at four nations, like, he was a zero factor. So it's like, yeah, he's, he's, He's. He's scratching 100 points every year when he's healthy, but it doesn't matter. Sometimes your game just, just, just doesn't transfer over to when it's best on best. And Maybe they value J.T. miller and, and, and, and, and Trocheck. Who. Who would you say that he took? Who took whose spot? Would you say that those are the two names up front where you're like.

[Yancey]

Ah, well, yeah, we were saying. Yeah, I said those two. And people have kind of said, Brock Nelson, he's been great this year. Now I'm playing both sides. But when talking about building a team, like, that's been Billy's thing, right? He's talked a lot about like, this. This is not an All Star game. All Star team. So, like, basically, if you look at. All right, Eichel and the two Kachuks, and then Matthews and Boldy and Hughes, or you could put maybe Connor with Matthews and Boldy and. Or Gensel, there's your top two scoring lines. And then it's like, all right, well, where does Robertson fit in? Because right. If he's not better than any of those guys, that's the aspect that I think people don't think about. When I've seen a lot of USA Hockey fans discussed it at the fact that they brought checkers and they bought and they brought guys that are just great defensively. Like, I get Robertson scoring. It sucks to not see him on. But thinking on their side, it's like, we have scores.

[Keith]

It's like the Bedard argument on the, on the Canadian side.

[Yancey]

Yeah, we don't have as many as.

[Biz Nasty]

You, but it's also too. Like, we obviously have to talk about it, but you can't really judge what the GMs are doing until the tournament's over. Like, what? Yeah, you Know what the team needed, what they didn't. But that. That's a really good point. Like, Trocheck and J.T. miller are first line, second line guys on their own team, but they know how to play third, fourth line. Robinson probably never has.

[Yancey]

No. Yeah, yeah.

[Merles]

And then play again because he doesn't.

[Keith]

Skate well enough and he doesn't check well enough when he's not.

[Yancey]

Yeah, he's not a burner. If he was a burner, even if his checking is where it's at now. If you could fly, that might. That might have been a different decision.

[Keith]

I think the more you talk about Jason Robertson, the more you can understand as to why he's not on the team. And that's why he's not on the team. And if they end up losing and they want to point to that, the same way they can point to keeping Tage Thompson off the team last year.

[Biz Nasty]

I'm more. I'm more focused on who's going to play in the net. Merles.

[Merles]

Yeah, well, I think you got to go with hello, Buck to start. But I, I agree with you. It was. It was the same last year, though, remember? Like hell, Buck. In the playoffs, we're all talking about it. Can he handle the big games? And then he did in the four nation, so I'm sticking with him. I don't know about you guys, but I. I'm riding with him in the big one.

[Yancey]

Yeah, same here. At least you're starting with them. See how it goes. That is what now, I said to you, biz down there, Americans make it on me. But you put these rosters next to each other. Like, you guys should beat us. Like, look at the forward you have now. This is a one game and out once you get to the medal round. I love our goalies and I love our defense.

[Keith]

Yeah, you guys got good Dean goalies. We have good, better forwards. It's the one game you got.

[Yancey]

You got better forwards that can score. But I don't know, I. We, like, we can beat you. We beat you.

[Keith]

When.

[Yancey]

When it really doesn't matter we win those first games. It just has to change this year. You need that bounce. You need that little bit of luck. You need to somehow stop McDavid in the biggest moments or McKinnon or then Crosby.

[Army Armstrong]

It's.

[Yancey]

It's disgusting the. The people you have up front. But I don't necessarily love how you're just like, talking about building for one team. Right. And that can bring us into Swedenborg. Because I look at Sweden's team and I hope Landiscog's okay for what that guy's been through. And the fact that he even is playing hockey again, then makes the team and gets injured, that just sucks. And it looked like a broken rib, like he's flying into the net. That's not something that I think's like, okay in a month if your ribs shattered, but that. This team's good, Merles.

[Keith]

That's a good team, man.

[Yancey]

They won the.

[Keith]

That's a better forward group than the US in my opinion.

[Yancey]

Yeah, they're goalies.

[Merles]

Well, yeah, I did my homework on this one, boys. All right, so we got players left off from the four nations. It's Victor Arvidsson, Gustav Nyquist, Linus Olmark, and net. And your boy, Matthias Ekholm, the Viking up in Edmonton. And with that being added, they took you up. Broberg, who has to drive you nuts. Oliver Ekman Larson's in Landiscog, who you just talked about. Pontus Holmberg was the biggest surprise. He's down in Tampa Bay now. And Alex Wemberg, who's out in San Jose. And then it looks like the third goal is the wall of St. Paul. They added Wallstead.

[Biz Nasty]

Can we not gloss over the fact Biz thinks that the Sweden forwards are better than the US Forwards?

[Keith]

I think overall, maybe, because, I mean, as far as, like, maybe more. We talked about the checking mentality. I mean, I don't know.

[Yancey]

Adrian, you guys, you got these guys make Team USA Brat. Probably. Although, I don't know.

[Keith]

I don't know. He's the same as Hughes.

[Yancey]

Buzzing around Forsberg.

[Keith]

Yep.

[Yancey]

Nylander.

[Keith]

Yep.

[Yancey]

And Kempe. Maybe Raymond. Maybe Raymond.

[Merles]

No, Leo Carlson.

[Keith]

Leo Carlson.

[Yancey]

Dude, I think he's gonna be a superstar. I don't know if he's on us right now. Eichelin Matthews, who's our third line center?

[Merles]

Larkin Erickson. Ek.

[Keith]

Larkin's good.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, Larkin's great.

[Keith]

He's a good. He's a good check.

[Biz Nasty]

Awesome.

[Keith]

He's in a perfect slot as a third off center for them.

[Yancey]

So this team, though, I mean, is this the best D in the tournament?

[Merles]

Best D. I love the D. If, like, Headman, they say he's going to be back. He's on time. He's going to be back. You got Headman and Darlene. You got Forsling Carlson, Brodine Anderson from Calgary, and then Ekman, Larson and Broberg as the extras. I would say right now.

[Yancey]

Pretty cool for Ekman Larson making this team biz.

[Keith]

Yeah. I'm just happy for the guy. He's such a good Dude, I mean, Yance, you play with him and yeah, he was a. He was a treat when he came in and yeah, he hit a bit of a rough spell there for a few years. It was tough sledding. At the end of his time with Arizona, went to Vancouver, dealt with that media circus and you know, the narrative of making too much money. And then he goes to Florida and boom, reset button. And it's been awesome since. Man, he's been awesome for the Leafs.

[Biz Nasty]

Didn't about it and just put his head down, went back to the drawing board, figured it out and look at his career. He got a Stanley cup. Now he's on the Olympic team. Like, couldn't be more happy for him.

[Keith]

He's the man.

[Merles]

Like Seth Jarvis said, sometimes you got to eat a sandwich.

[Yancey]

Yep.

[Merles]

By the way, Williams told him that.

[Keith]

Or, or, or just any type of Swedish food at a party.

[Yancey]

I thought the pictures Merle sent. Oh my God.

[Keith]

Can we put some of those up?

[Biz Nasty]

Merle sends us pictures of his Swedish feast that like you wouldn't eat to get off of death row.

[Merles]

The Swedish Yule board, the boys.

[Keith]

I'd rather go to the electric chair than have a meal at one of those places you're at.

[Biz Nasty]

Hence what I just said.

[Merles]

Yeah, so that's the Olympic preview. I don't know if you guys even know, but there's.

[Keith]

What did you say before that? Death row.

[Biz Nasty]

I said you wouldn't eat it to get off of death row.

[Keith]

Oh, to get off of. That's two pods in a row. I've basically stolen exactly what you said.

[Biz Nasty]

All right, we get a good laugh after.

[Yancey]

You guys are vibes.

[Merles]

Hey, there's 12 teams in the tournament. You play each team in your group. The top teams all get a buy. And then the second place team that has the best financials, you know, the best record or plus, there it is.

[Biz Nasty]

Oh, God. That's actually the. What is.

[Yancey]

What is on the top? Are those meatballs?

[Merles]

Top left, meatballs.

[Yancey]

We'll go, we'll go clockwise with mustard.

[Keith]

12 o'.

[Merles]

Clock. You got the salmon with the mustard. Mustard. And then you got the sausages. And then right there is the seal. That's fish with a. With a mustard sauce on there.

[Yancey]

That's my worst thing right there for you guys.

[Merles]

Those, the hard boiled eggs are usually fancier. They got a little mayonnaise with a little shrimp on them. Usually we didn't have those here. That's nice because this was in the U.S. little potatoes there.

[Biz Nasty]

That baked potato with zero seasoning. That looks really Good.

[Yancey]

Oh, that's straight out of.

[Merles]

This was homemade over here in the US we couldn't get everything perfect.

[Yancey]

So you're telling me Henrik Lundquist is just hammering that plate?

[Merles]

Loving that. He's loving that.

[Keith]

Not a chance.

[Yancey]

Oh yeah.

[Merles]

Mustard all over his suit.

[Keith]

He's.

[Yancey]

He said some other ones too. That. That made that look like Capital Grill Saturday night with a filet.

[Biz Nasty]

I don't know what Sweden.

[Yancey]

Okay. Mer. Sweden.

[Merles]

Yep.

[Yancey]

You got no doubt though that they're meddling medley.

[Merles]

Yeah. Plus 500 to win the gold medal in a one game. I mean in a one game thing like that goal. One of those goalies Gustafson or, or Markstrom, Posh's guy, he could steal a game with those D I, I, I, I won't count them out, but yeah, they don't have like the real big superstar that you're scared of when you look at, you know, us. Eichel Matthews, Canada. McKinnon, McDavid. So it will be tough for them, but for sure they're going to get a medal.

[Keith]

Medal.

[Merles]

It's Sweden. They live for this stuff. They live for national team. They have the pride. You see them. The world juniors are going to be in the championship here tonight. They play differently. And especially when it is that bronze medal game where the U.S. canada, you guys probably don't care too much. Go out boozing. Those guys are focused. A bronze medal still means a ton to them.

[Yancey]

Yeah, I, I mean, yeah, I love Forsberg. I think he's so nasty. Like he could take over a game. But yeah, they're just great defensively too. Like I, I mean can, can Elias Pedersen show up and light that tournament up? Because, because if he did, that would be a guy who, if he like ripped it up there like they could win the gold medal, right?

[Tage Thompson]

I don't know.

[Merles]

Yeah, yeah, it used to be. He used to be that guy who's on that path when he got the 100 point season. Yeah, yeah. Sweden. It's gonna be good though. They're a good team. Good management, good coaching the coaches. You know, he's not an NHL coach. He's just a, he's just a national team coach. So this is his full time job. He doesn't even coach the SHL team anymore. But that's how I think Holmberg made the team. Everybody's questioning him. The old Toronto Maple Leaf. This guy Halam had him in Vecchio for five or six years. So it's kind of like the John Cooper and Sorelli. He knows what he's getting. He called him like, what do you call him? A hog pit or something like that.

[Keith]

Yeah, I don't. I didn't mind on the Leafs.

[Army Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Merles]

Pot belly pig when it comes.

[Pasha]

I wish.

[Keith]

I wish he would have had a little bit more bite. That's it. He skates well. He was disruptor. He forechecked solid like he was a good player. Just maybe there was. I don't know. I would. The way the. The. The year started, I wouldn't have mind him on our. On our bottom six, but I think we're better off without him. Is he playing over there now?

[Merles]

No, he's down in Tampa. He's playing a lot better this year, so he's a guy to watch out for. He could be a guy that's out there trying to run McDavid or McKinnon where most of those guys aren't physical, you know? And that's why a guy like that is on the team over some of these other bigger names.

[Yancey]

Well, I can't wait for this tournament. We're like a month away from this thing, you guys.

[Merles]

I don't know if you guys know I'm in the. I'm in the new house now. I'm not fully unpacked yet, but, Biz, you brought out that nice ticket from your first point. And I actually had this stick here from my first NHL goal right here.

[Keith]

That's what you're using.

[Merles]

Sherwood Wooden stick right there. Look at what it says on there.

[Yancey]

You were still all good. That's how old?

[Merles]

Oh, first NHL game. First NHL game. Melon Arena. Look at that twig.

[Keith]

What year?

[Merles]

I mean, I had October 10, 2003.

[Yancey]

How many guys in the team? The team had wooden sticks then?

[Merles]

Yeah, my dad's birthday. And then I got another relic here.

[Keith]

You didn't answer his question.

[Yancey]

What was that? How many guys on the team had wooden sticks?

[Merles]

Me and Mario were the only ones left using wooden sticks. Is that good? You ever hear of them?

[Keith]

Did you guys have like a little thing like, did you know?

[Yancey]

Yeah, they're like you and.

[Merles]

Yeah, we would go to lunch. He would go to lunch with me.

[Keith]

Biz, I'm like you, crossing swords. Hey, Woody.

[Merles]

But I got this other one. I think you're gonna like. This one. One biz. This one. Look how old the NHL logo on there is, you know?

[Biz Nasty]

Is that a Darren Poopa?

[Merles]

Darren Poopa?

[Keith]

No. Lighting up the Internet.

[Biz Nasty]

The most electric guy on the Internet.

[Keith]

He's basically the DJ colleague of hockey.

[Merles]

Yeah, I got that from him in Saberland back When I was a youth hockey player because he went to rpi. So we stayed around and watched him and then we started talking. He got me a stick, but that'd.

[Biz Nasty]

Be big money right now.

[Keith]

Who's the. Who's that black guy? Who's who? Like does the live streaming non stop.

[Biz Nasty]

KSI or Kaisenet?

[Keith]

Yeah, that, that should be Poopa. They should have a 24. 7 camera wherever he goes.

[Yancey]

Having a coffee in the morning, talking shop.

[Keith]

Well, I text them, we're gonna get them on.

[Yancey]

Hey, guys.

[Merles]

Yes. That's not all I got, guys. You know, you think I would have had more sitting here waiting for you guys. But also during that conversation about Canadian in hockey, I had a guy reach out to me, Brad Lizell. He runs his amp hockey up in Calgary. And, and they do hitting really early on. It's a whole different model that Canada hockey doesn't even recognize them, but he's got a bunch of flames players, kids that go there. So that's all conversation for later on. But there is, there is something there that that has to change with.

[Yancey]

With all I believe for Stig first has something going in the Toronto area that's not recognized by Hockey Canada because he's like, what, what are they doing? I think a clever super league, something like that, where he's. I think he's looked at some things that they're like, we, we need this or we don't need that. And he's kind of started his own league. So he's a great guy.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah. Why wouldn't these people who run a league listen to a guy who's got two Stanley cops and 800 games? Like the, these people need to listen up and through it knows what it takes. Like, like, what are we doing here?

[Yancey]

Remember Lily, Hat trick first Lily.

[Pasha]

Oh, is that the.

[Merles]

Is that the rollback question for me? Last question.

[Pasha]

Yup.

[Merles]

Daughter, first game, three snipes. Not a big deal.

[Pasha]

So.

[Keith]

No, she got it.

[Merles]

Yeah, three snipes. I have a funny story, actually. Last story and then I'll leave. So I'm out there. We have three different groups and we took our weaker players, our middle players, our best players, and we split them up. We're playing this different organization. They put a ringer, they put a ringer in the middle group. This kid comes down, he puts one top shelf. I said, guys, he's in the wrong group. We have kids that don't even know what hand they are yet. They're like, oh, you think so? I'm like, yeah, I think so. I'm like, get him out here.

[Biz Nasty]

They're like, no, sounds like you at Chiclets Cup.

[Yancey]

He just went bar down. Yeah, it's Mer playing Roller Division D hockey, dad.

[Merles]

One game in.

[Yancey]

Yup. Oh yeah, you'll be right into it. Yeah, we'll be texting.

[Keith]

So they said no. What did you say? Did you push back?

[Yancey]

Yeah.

[Merles]

Oh yeah, I got him over there.

[Yancey]

I'm like, he actually pushed the kid over there. This video on Live Barn picked him up.

[Keith]

He was the one in the, in the nets with him.

[Merles]

His name was James. He had big James on him. Like James is not playing in here anymore. He's dominating. He went to that level and dominated.

[Keith]

Before we say bye to you, you should stick around for me pumping Matthew's tires here because he passed a sweet lead in Matt Sundin for the greatest Toronto Maple Leaf goal scorer of all time. So do you want to stick around because we pay a little bit of homage to. To Matt Sundin as well, who is still currently the all times points leader for the Toronto Maple Leafs with 987, which he did in 981 games. Which makes what I think Matthews did even more remarkable. Like Matt's was obviously, I guess maybe a little bit more well rounded in the sense if he dished the puck a little bit more. Not saying Matthews isn't a great playmaker, but as far as the goal scoring though, Matthews beat it in 317less games.

[Biz Nasty]

That's crazy.

[Keith]

To surpass him.

[Merles]

That is aggressive.

[Keith]

Matt. Matt Sundin had the record at 420, which is unbelievable that it was 420 and then Matthews passed it at 421. But 317 less games is just like astonishing.

[Yancey]

Not trying.

[Merles]

I love the Leafs and all biz, but I, I gotta go. I got, I gotta learn to play at 5:30. I gotta pack my suitcase for Chase. Philly. Philly versus Anaheim tomorrow.

[Biz Nasty]

You gotta check James's birth certificate.

[Merles]

Safe sport before this.

[Yancey]

Oh yeah. You're starting his own league. His own upstate New York league soon.

[Biz Nasty]

Everyone need a hard boiled piss egg.

[Keith]

Instead of getting relegated. If they're you're the last team. You have to eat one of those plates of food he makes.

[Merles]

I think we might be having Cor Stroganov in there tonight, so I'll send you guys over a picture of that.

[Yancey]

But SpaghettiOs.

[Keith]

But going, going back to Matthews quick.

[Yancey]

Oh, go ahead. What Amazing. He's scoring at a better rate than O. But I got to say about your Maple Leafs original 16. Like how is the goal leader 420. And the points leader doesn't even.

[Pasha]

Dude, how.

[Keith]

You need to get off the Internet, buddy. Get off the Internet.

[Army Armstrong]

All right.

[Yancey]

What do you mean? I. I looked at all the other teams leading goal scorers and leading point scores and it's significantly higher numbers than the Leafs for the. Their original six.

[Biz Nasty]

Well, because they boo everybody out of town.

[Yancey]

That's what I was gonna say.

[Keith]

Okay. I mean, okay, let's go through the list here.

[Army Armstrong]

Okay.

[Keith]

And let's play a little bit of trivia for the people at home too. I'm sure you guys are going to know the answers right away. So let's start from top to bottom. Original 6 and their goal leaders as far as the franchise. Detroit with 786 goals. Who's the leader?

[Yancey]

Mr. Hockey.

[Keith]

Mr. Hockey. Gordie Howe, Chicago.

[Yancey]

Have this written down. Is amazing.

[Keith]

Chicago is in second place. 604 is their all time franchise goal leader. Who is that?

[Yancey]

Probably Bobby Hull.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah.

[Keith]

Bobby Hull is in second place. Boston. So this is where kind of what you said is like, ah, I don't feel like it's that far away. When you get into the 545 number with Boston, who is their all time leader?

[Biz Nasty]

Esposito Bork.

[Yancey]

No, he didn't. Wow. All time leading scorer for the Boston Bruins. It's not Esposito.

[Tage Thompson]

No.

[Yancey]

Holy.

[Keith]

Johnny Busick. Johnny Busick.

[Yancey]

Bingo.

[Keith]

There you go. Mike Grinnell. And then once again for you, think of like a historic franchise like the Montreal Canadiens and you saying like, oh, I'm a little disappointed that they only have 421 Montreal Canadiens. Maurice Richard. 544.

[Biz Nasty]

So yes, it's still eight games a year.

[Keith]

There was warning.

[Army Armstrong]

The following statements are about to be made by a deranged leaf span. The views expressed are his and his only. Take everything you hear with a grain of salt because remember, he is a deranged Leafs fan.

[Biz Nasty]

He had to go to war during the season. Like, what do you mean?

[Yancey]

He was fixing carburetors. It like.

[Keith]

The good news is, is by the time Austin Matthews. Four or five year deal, I think it was a four year deal he signed. He'll probably be just in that range of 550 that Boston is and then also that Montreal is. So then at fifth of the original six is Toronto with Austin Matthews at 421. And then if you want to call us a bag organization, how about the New York Rangers? 406. Who. Who's their all time leader?

[Biz Nasty]

Is it graveyard?

[Yancey]

No, no. John Ratel, Jill Gilbert, okay. Okay. Okay.

[Keith]

So that's the six.

[Yancey]

All right.

[Keith]

Right there.

[Yancey]

Fair enough. You're not last.

[Keith]

No, you're right to be negative. You're trying to be nice.

[Yancey]

I was actually surprised. There's no thousand point guys.

[Keith]

That's.

[Yancey]

That was very surprising. But you know what? Matthews easily could end up at 550. 600. Who knows if he stays there? So I just. I was just surprised. It wasn't even like a chirp necessarily.

[Keith]

You want to do a little bit more trivia?

[Yancey]

Sure.

[Keith]

Who. Who has the most assists on his goals? Matthews. Do the top. Do the top five.

[Yancey]

Marner.

[Biz Nasty]

Marner. Morgan Riley.

[Keith]

Well, let's start. Okay, let's.

[Army Armstrong]

Marner.

[Keith]

How many you think of of the 421 he's assisted on?

[Yancey]

I was surprised Domi only had 10 because I saw you got the Budweisers. Everyone who ever got an assist got like a Budweiser can. He had 10. Let's say Marner had another.

[Keith]

Hey, another couple clicks for Judd who joined us earlier. You know, he lined that deal up for Austin for. With Budweiser. Probably made a couple sheets off.

[Yancey]

He's got 421 goals. Let's say Marner assisted on 140. 150.

[Keith]

Wow. 152. You were two off. Great. Who's number two?

[Biz Nasty]

Mo.

[Keith]

Is number three.

[Yancey]

So number two would be. Nylander.

[Keith]

Nylander. How many you think with?

[Yancey]

87?

[Tage Thompson]

Three.

[Keith]

No, 104. And then yet. Okay, then Morgan Riley with 74. The next one after him is 43. Tavis. And then it's Hyman and then bunting 28.

[Biz Nasty]

So what you're saying. What you're saying is if you want your greatest goal scorer in franchise history to keep scoring, you do not trade the guy that has got him the most.

[Keith]

Exactly what I'm saying.

[Biz Nasty]

Not trade him, but let him go.

[Keith]

Don't chase your best setup guy to your best score goal scorer of all time. That's exactly what I was getting, too.

[Yancey]

That's a good point, Keith.

[Keith]

An incredible, incredible point. Now, I also was just going to quickly go through the list of who's.

[Biz Nasty]

Got the most second secondary assist.

[Keith]

No, no. I was gonna go through the. The. The goals per game, and you mentioned it earlier, Yan's, that he's at a higher clip right now in order to pass Ovechkin if the. He ended up playing the same amount of games. So he's scoring at a higher goal score per game rate right now than Alex Alexander Ovechkin. So who is number one? All time. You think in goals per game, that's Bossy.

[Biz Nasty]

In league history.

[Keith]

In league history over a certain amount of games, obviously goals per game.

[Yancey]

It's boss.

[Keith]

Bossy nailed it with and. And he's played which is crazy is he played 752 games. He scored at a 0.76 clip rate rate. So he was scoring. He was scoring 75% of the time. Three out of every four games. He was putting one in the back of the net. Absolutely remarkable to sustain that over. Over 750 games. What cut his career short, I think he just. He had. Yeah, I think he just shut it down at a certain point was head injuries.

[Yancey]

I think he was injured back.

[Merles]

Maybe.

[Keith]

You'Re right. I think it was back. Who. Who's number two goals per game?

[Yancey]

Mario.

[Keith]

Mario. Ding ding, ding, ding, ding.

[Tage Thompson]

He was.

[Yancey]

I said can I know. There's some names on here that nobody will know.

[Keith]

The next two are names that nobody would know. And the reason though is they didn't weren't able to sustain it as long. Psy Dannetti played for the Ottawa Settlers in Boston and he played 329 games and he actually tied Lemieux for goals per game at 0.75. So Lemieux actually he played almost 200 games more than bossy and was only 0.01 less of a clip rate, which is insane that he sustained it even that much longer. And then the next guy at number four is Babe Dye and he played for a lot of teams. He played 272 games. So then at fifth is Austin Matthew Matthews and he's at a 0.63 clip rate. Then under him is Pavel Burry at six, Wayne Gretzky and then then Alex Ovechkin is another active player obviously at point at 0.59. Under him is Brett hall. And another active player at 10, I was surprised was Kirill Capri Sof. He's at the 10 highest active goals per game rate at 0.58. And the reason I kept number 11 is it's pretty cool that a. A father son Bobby Hall. So 9 and 11 are Bobby and Brett hall at. At over a goal per game or a goal every other game.

[Biz Nasty]

If you get a. A point every. Whatever those are 65. That's amazing. To score at that pace is so incredible to me.

[Keith]

It just gives you perspective on like people getting on Auston Matthews at the start of the year because he just lost his main setup guy who he's. He probably knows. He probably knows Mitch Marner's Social Security number. Right. Like no, it's like playing with the sadines. Like they just know where each other are going to be. He knows where he's going to transport the puck and the pockets he's going to find him in. So the fact that he's taken away and then. Yeah, it takes him 35 games to maybe figure out that he's not going to be around and how other ways that he needs to find it. Well, over the last four games, six goals in the back of the net, he's clipping at that same goals per game right now. And he's got 20 on the year. And I told you the year before Ovi won the Stanley cup, he had 31 or 32 goals. Sometimes these guys who are generational do have an off year here or there and especially when you take up his best setup guy. So that's all I really got to say. I came prepared today. And shout out to Jazz eating up.

[Biz Nasty]

Right.

[Yancey]

So the Leafs are winning next year. Basically it's next year's maybe next year.

[Keith]

And shout out to Jazz at TNT for helping me out with, with a bunch of those Nuggets. And, and I said it earlier, it was since the 69 goal giggity season that he had had back to back multiple goal games. And we saw that again the other night with the scarf on.

[Biz Nasty]

So heating up before Olympics but perfect. Exactly.

[Yancey]

And, and so brutal that Tanev sounds like he's out for the reg. Rest of the regular season sucks. Brutal news for him and brutal news for the Leafs. They're just different when he's playing biz. I need your opinion on the Logan Stanley sucker punch got him a game suspension on Brady Kachuk. I, I don't know. I was, I was shocked by this. Now maybe it's like, all right, we're going. I'm getting the first punch in. But Brady was looking the other way. I can't like the anger that he showed. That'll be.

[Keith]

Well, you're, you're shocked by what? The fact that he got a game sussy?

[Yancey]

No, I'm. I'm shocked that he threw the punch.

[Keith]

Yeah. Okay, so definitely a sucker. Like there's no way out of this one. And I'm sure I don't know if after the game he apologized and he said, hey, wrong instinct in that position. Listen, Brady's a scary guy and, and anytime you're going up against Brady, you better be prepared because you know, those are. Especially when you're a guy of Stanley's size where, oh, he's not going to think he's, like, taking advantage of someone. He's like, this guy's my size and I'll chuck him with him. And just instinctively of how they were battling it out by the bench. Don't know how long the shift length was, but he kind of sheds his mitt. And Brady never really makes eye contact with him or makes the signal that he's going to drop his mitt and then square off or maybe even throw a quick one. I just think that Stanley was on high alert. He maybe felt that Brady flinched and he threw it instinctively and it was the wrong choice. And once he threw it, he probably regretted it. And if I'm Brady, I'm fuming mad like he was, and he just made the wrong instinctive call. And I don't know if it's a result of him being fearful that he's going against Brady Tkachuk. There's a lack of oxygen going to his brain because he's deep in a shift and he's battling it out. And that was the result of the battle. But, yeah, he fucked up. That's all you could say. And he deserved a game. And here we are.

[Biz Nasty]

We've all been through some tough stretches during the season. They're 16 and 3 in their last 10. The Winnipeg jets can imagine some shit's going on in that locker locker room. Coaches calling guys out, guys calling each other out. But at the end of the day, sucker punching Brady Kachuk would be on my top five. Least things I would ever do. Because his meal, he's got the memory of an elephant. He ain't gonna forget that ever. And not to mention, Brady's a willing combatant. If he asked him to fight, Brady would have fought him no matter what.

[Keith]

Well, he can't, apparently. We're getting news from Grinnell. The reason he kept pointing at his hand was he had a cast on his hand, which happened this year. Yeah. Which most of you know is if you have anything, even if it's tape, even in a situation of Keith for Sherwood, who has an allergy where he has to wear gloves on underneath his gloves, like rubber gloves, so his, like, his like skin doesn't get torn up, he has to take those gloves off. So when you have something as solid as a cast, you can't be dropping them a chuckle him. So that's why Brady Tkachuk wasn't scrapping with that situation. And he's probably even thinking, hey, bud, check the game notes. You should know, a guy like me has a cast on my hand. So big up on Logan Stanley. He's gonna have to pay the piper when Brady's back and healthy and can fight. And I'm excited and I got that one circled on the calendar and.

[Biz Nasty]

And not to mention, he's got Matthew to deal with too. Like the two brothers, they don't. They're family members. They ain't letting that.

[Keith]

You think that Matthew challenges him next game?

[Biz Nasty]

Oh, I bet he at least slashes him in the ankle hard.

[Yancey]

Stanley's enormous too, though. Yeah, he might spear him. But it's not like this is some, like, easy fight. No, like Stanley will be happy to go Brady. I think he just definitely up with this one. And now. Yeah, now Brady's even more angry when you're getting ready to do it. But a long time ago, Mike Commodore made it clear that he's not a big Scott Arneel fan. I don't know what's going on with Winnipeg, but I'll tell you right now, a guy like Luke Shen, who teammates love has played forever.

[Keith]

Yeah.

[Yancey]

About to play his 1100th game, where it started for the Toronto Maple Leafs to scratch him there, that is one where like, was call me on to something like that. That's just so crazy to me. Like, that is where a team will shut you down. And granted, maybe they already have, maybe it's just been a. A nightmare season for other reasons, but I couldn't believe that I saw you scratch and then I see Twitter saying it was going to be his 1100th game.

[Keith]

I'm like, in Toronto?

[Yancey]

Yeah, in Toronto.

[Biz Nasty]

From the gm.

[Yancey]

It was against the Leafs. I don't know if it was in Winnipeg or not.

[Keith]

Against the Leafs, a team where he was drafted. I believe it was in Toronto. Check it out.

[Biz Nasty]

G. You. You don't think that that's the GM's call, not the coach's call?

[Keith]

No, I think that's on the coach. And. And the reason why. Well then like, the reason why this is. Tyson Berry reached out to be like, did you guys see this? So obviously he's looking out for his guy. I thought maybe he was maybe dealing with an injury. You just never know as to why it actually was in Toronto for his 1100. And what a perfect opportunity for him Arneel to take to say, to galvanize the group. Hey, I know things haven't go been going well, but we got Luke here playing his 1100th game in a city that he was drafted. Money on the board. Let's go here and turn this bad boy around. So an opportunity to, like, use that to, to spearhead the team in the right direction. As little as that could have been as far as carrying momentum. And then you, all of a sudden you're, you, you go the other way by healthy scratching them and lose room a little bit the other way. So that's. Yeah, I agree with you.

[Tage Thompson]

Way.

[Yancey]

Both sides. It's like, all right, I think he's been struggling. Let's get another D man in to play our sixth D man role. Or like you said, fire everyone up, make it a thing. It's just like, what are we do. What are we. I couldn't believe that I. That's just, that's such a room. As a former. That's such a move. As a former player. Every. Every guy in the room, like, what the.

[Keith]

Because then you got, you got the whole leadership group being like, instead of worrying about the game, you know, what do I do here? Do I step in like Yans. I mean, you could speak to it about being a healthy scratch where you had guys in the room going to hang their jerseys on the, on the table like Rudy.

[Yancey]

Rudy style.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah. Nick Sealer. That's why he's in my will. But, yeah, and it's in. Especially the way that, you know, Luke Shen has played the game the last. I mean, how long has he been in the league? 16, 17 years. Like, the guy is an absolute warrior. What he brings every single year to every team he plays on. He's beloved by his teammates. It's a horseshit move. And it's one of those things. I would imagine they would want that back. Maybe they didn't check the game notes and realize everything that was going on.

[Yancey]

They always know, I think. Yeah, they always know. And if you don't know, shame on you.

[Biz Nasty]

True. Yeah, it's. It's horrible. And, and I'm sure if you asked Luke, he'd probably, you know, be pissed off too, but it's like, downplay it.

[Yancey]

Publicly because he's that type of guy, that type of team. Maybe like, oh, you know, I wasn't playing good enough. But, yeah, deep down, he's like, what the. I. I. Winnipeg is a bizarre story this year. They are horrible.

[Biz Nasty]

Horrible.

[Yancey]

Another team who might have the most pissed off fan base in the league is Pasha's Devil.

[Keith]

Wow.

[Yancey]

What?

[Keith]

I think Pasha has to take a leave of absence is what I think.

[Biz Nasty]

I mean, they're two. The two fans that everybody knows apart.

[Yancey]

Pasha and Frank the Tank, like, two bad fans.

[Biz Nasty]

Two bad, horrible fans.

[Keith]

Can.

[Biz Nasty]

If I'm a fan There you got to realize, like, New Jersey isn't on everybody's list to sign in the summer and, you know, come July 1st that everyone wants to go to New Jersey. They have to, you know, draft and develop. Well, they shouldn't be booing guys that they've drafted and that they want there for a long time.

[Keith]

It's not even two years old.

[Biz Nasty]

Right?

[Keith]

Well, it's not even just. It's not. It's not just Frank and just Pasha.

[Biz Nasty]

No, no, I know, I know. They're spearheading it.

[Keith]

I don't know.

[Yancey]

Pasha wants them to switch it to Hamill.

[Keith]

Dougie, should we put. Can we pull up Pasha's tweet? This is the most unhinged take I've ever heard. Yeah, the same take he had with Truba in New York. So let's read this out here. I'll trust you wit to read it.

[Yancey]

Fans. Did Luke lose them that game? Sure. But another nine million dollar devil's D man has directly lost them countless games with his lackluster play and indirectly lost them many more by vetoing two trades and hindering their ability to implement improve the overall team. He may have even cost them the chance to trade for Quinn. I encourage you to direct your booze elsewhere. He doesn't name names, but he plays the game in being. I'm a psychopath. I want everyone to boo Dougie Hamilton. He's the reason that we stink and I just hate my life right now. That's what you should have wrote.

[Keith]

And he's directing his hate because somebody is taking. Taking their. Their. Their label, their legal stance and their legal obligation in a contract that they agreed to. To say no. I asked for a no move, no trade for this reason, and then the GM gave it to him. So for you to try to get people to direct their booze at Jacob Truba, who was going through the same thing, who you personally attacked, and then now you're going after Dougie Hamilton for the same thing. I don't think they should be boo and Luke Hughes either. And I agree with what Yan said. They don't got the luxury to boo a guy out of town. And I've learned that mistake. So what do you have to say for yourself in that being your take? They should be booing you.

[Pasha]

Well, I'd like to clarify a few things. My rant on Truba was pre trade request denial and all that that came before them wanting to move him, him not wanting to move. Like I didn't really even try.

[Keith]

Did you not say that it was ridiculous that he's not moving.

[Yancey]

Moving.

[Keith]

He's. He's flexing his no move clause.

[Pasha]

Yeah, I might have said that. I. I certainly don't. Didn't go on a rant on it like my first troop would take. I probably said that because I'll take any opportunity to trip the Rangers. But listen, with Dougie Hamilton before his goal the other night, this is a guy getting paid 9 million bucks. Had one point since November 1st. He's checked out. He's not putting up offense. He's not playing physical. He's been brutal. So like, yeah, your team has tried to trade you twice.

[Keith]

Checked out because they're shopping them.

[Biz Nasty]

Okay.

[Keith]

And then they're giving all of his reps to Luke Hughes who's getting booed out of town now.

[Pasha]

Okay, sure. But at the end of the day, you're playing terribly.

[Tage Thompson]

You're.

[Pasha]

You're checked out. Your organization does not want you. You need a fresh start. The team needs a shake up. Do you want to sync with the ship if you're Dougie. Like, it's not working with you there. So. Yeah, I don't give a. If legally he's allowed to not wave. Sure. Well, the fans are legally allowed to boo him. So I think they should boo him because I hated them booing Luke. I did not like that last night one bit. I don't support that. Yeah. Did he have a horrible game? Yes. Two blunders. Like just very blatant. Sure.

[Yancey]

But you.

[Pasha]

You do not boo that kid. He's young and good for credit to him for facing the media after the game. That. That couldn't have been easy. Credit to.

[Merles]

He.

[Pasha]

Sure. He wasn't scheduled to speak. He demanded the microphone backed up. Up. Backed up the kid. So I didn't like that doing one bit. What's that?

[Yancey]

Alan backed him up too.

[Pasha]

Yep, yep. All the guys backed him up. So yeah, I don't support the booing. Devils fans do not boo Luke. And that's what I was saying. If you're gonna boo, boo Dougie. Boo Dougie.

[Yancey]

This is sick. Now, nobody wouldn't be saying this though. It's such a weasel move because you're only saying don't boo Luke because we can't piss off Jack. Like, no, you are. No, no, no, no, buddy, buddy.

[Keith]

You're saying because he's not gonna wave his no move to go to Vancouver.

[Yancey]

Like, no, no, no, I don't think.

[Keith]

I don't boo Dougie because he won't wave his.

[Army Armstrong]

No, no, no.

[Pasha]

I don't believe I don't believe the trade was Dougie to Vancouver. I was. I believe it was shipping Dougie out to other teams to clear cap space to make other moves work.

[Keith]

Who. Who were the teams?

[Pasha]

I know one was San Jose last summer. I don't know the other one.

[Yancey]

He could be pretty good on San Jose.

[Keith]

I know. I don't want to see that. I agree. Boo doggy.

[Yancey]

But Pasha. Yeah, I. I'm surprised. And, and I get like, Luke Hughes season's been a disappointment, but for Devils fans to pick him, I think somebody said like that Devil's fans, they don't know who to boo.

[Pasha]

Well, here's the thing. I. I think last night what we saw was just a culmination of a lot of frustration boiling over. It's been a very frustrating season. I think they have a lot of anger directed towards Fitzy, the team in general, their record and. And that anger showed with their booing of Luke. So, yeah, listen, I think I've said this on game notes. I think Fitzy has to act. He's not gonna have a choice. Nemet is coming back. Koba Savage is coming off the IR any day now. So mathematically he doesn't have a choice. Something's got to give. He should have made a move a long time ago. So I am not on the fire Fitzy train, but I will be soon if he does not do something.

[Biz Nasty]

And.

[Yancey]

You can't trade palat. So then all of a sudden he's gonna make a move and you guys aren't going to be happy because you had to deal out pieces you actually like.

[Pasha]

Well, something has to give. The team is broken. They need to shake up. Whether it's firing Keef or whatever. You got to find a way.

[Keith]

We're talking firing coaches melting down, brother.

[Pasha]

Yeah.

[Keith]

Let me ask you this.

[Yancey]

Things are bad, things are ugly.

[Pasha]

They need to shake up the. The team's broken. This is not good. I am rattled. Yes.

[Keith]

So I will say I. I thought it was crazy when they paid Dougie what they paid him when they got him. I didn't think that that was the right move at that time. And especially at the fact that you're like, he hasn't hit anybody. He's not a physical guy. He never was a physical guy. He's a power play defenseman that you. That you overpaid at the top of the free agent market to bring him in here and Rush what you guys were trying to rebuild. So now you have 9 million stuck in on the books. If Fitzy doesn't end up making a significant move at the deadline. Are you okay with the fans, with the Fire Fitzy Chance?

[Pasha]

Yes, absolutely. I'm totally fine with that.

[Keith]

If.

[Pasha]

If he doesn't fix this mess. Listen, I said on game notes, a lot of GMs give out bad contracts with no moves, but they also find ways to get out of them with first round picks, a couple second round picks. We see that all the time in the elite teams. For whatever reason, Fitzy cannot get himself out of this mess so far. So if he can't get himself out of this mess, yes, he should be held accountable because this summer he should have gone out, gotten a top six winger, gotten a third line center. I've been a Fitzy defender, but they are in trouble and he has to do something. So I'm not on the Fire Fitzy train yet, but day by day, with no moves, I am getting. I'm one foot at a time getting on board that train. So he's got to do something.

[Biz Nasty]

What about owner? What about ownership? Because they, at the end of the day, they could buy him out and the ownership's probably saying no.

[Pasha]

Yeah, that's fair. Listen, I. I've heard ownership is like, they're more focused on the 76ers and, you know, not too caring about the Devil. Like that might be true. I have no idea. But, yeah, I don't know. I. I wouldn't quite say that it's on them yet. I think it's. Right now it's on Fitzy, and I think he's earned the right to like, kind of have more Runway to fix this mess, but he's got to act asap.

[Yancey]

Who would you rather guys be right now, the Detroit Red Wings or the Devils?

[Keith]

Detroit Red Wings, hands down. Okay, Pasha, you have. You always have this smug look of confidence when you talk about the Devils.

[Yancey]

And I know, but it's going away.

[Keith]

Four years, and it shocked me that you that confident. Shake off right there. Like, it's actually. You're actually like.

[Yancey]

Like what? Like, explain to me what you have that Detroit doesn't. Where you're like, oh, my God, how could you even ask that?

[Keith]

Hey, Larkin. Or he's sure.

[Pasha]

He's sure.

[Keith]

I don't know, man.

[Yancey]

And Edmondson or Nemec and Luke Hughes.

[Pasha]

Cider and Evans.

[Yancey]

You're there.

[Pasha]

You got me there.

[Yancey]

But that's.

[Pasha]

That's all you got me on? That's all you got.

[Yancey]

Oh, who. How about Detroit goalie prospects?

[Pasha]

Okay. Ever heard of Mikhail Igoroff? Go down the road and watch him play.

[Yancey]

Yeah, it hasn't been a great year for Big Mike. Hasn't been great for Big Mike. I just think that Detroit right now and the way they're playing and Montreal. Montreal or Devils? I mean, Pasha?

[Biz Nasty]

Montreal.

[Yancey]

Pasha. So you got Eastern Conference teams at the top of their game in Florida and Tampa, and then you got other Easter conference teams coming with youth. And then you got you, and you got your smuggler face and your dark room and your sandbag editing, listening. And I'll tell you right now, it's an ugly time for you and all the cockiness and the windows just opening. And we got three cups in the next eight years. I think you're big guy. I think you're real.

[Keith]

Do you guys think he's gotten cockier since he started dating Justine?

[Yancey]

Yeah. Which I understand. Smoke. So good for him.

[Biz Nasty]

He deserves some coffee. Funny.

[Yancey]

What's funny? Biz. Since he started dating Justine, his team's gone in the absolute toilet. So maybe he looks at his life.

[Biz Nasty]

Don't do that to her. Don't do that to her.

[Keith]

Oh, no, it's true.

[Pasha]

Actually, though, since we started dating, the Devils in the last year are 32nd out of 32 teams and five on five goals scored. So I might be scoring more, but the Devils are not.

[Keith]

And that. Yeah. And that breakdown is brought to you by Row. Row spots.

[Yancey]

All right, Pasha.

[Pasha]

All right. All right.

[Yancey]

I. I would say good luck.

[Pasha]

But I will say this, though. You guys are acting like they're the Rangers, where they're. Like they miss their window old. Like.

[Army Armstrong]

Like.

[Pasha]

No.

[Yancey]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Pasha]

Pull up the standing. Sick.

[Yancey]

Yeah. Have one more point than the Rangers. Congrats.

[Pasha]

Okay, do you want to bet money that by the end of the year, there'll be a gap between them and it'll be the Devils ahead of them?

[Yancey]

Oh, how many more points is the devil's gonna have in the Rangers at the end of this season?

[Pasha]

Hey, how about the difference of playoffs versus not playoffs, and that's all that matters.

[Keith]

And how about this?

[Biz Nasty]

If they don't take that bet.

[Keith]

If they don't, there has to be a punishment.

[Army Armstrong]

If they're.

[Keith]

If they don't have more points than the Rangers, there has to be a punishment. There should be a. Like a. You should have to go to New York and. And be in a speedo like that guy when he plays the guitar. You should be in just a speedo, posh posture. And you have to read a letter of an apology to Rangers nation.

[Pasha]

I will do that. When Avery Zaretzky jumps in the Hudson like he owes me.

[Keith]

You we're not talking about Avery.

[Yancey]

Pierce your eyebrow. What's that from?

[Pasha]

I'll pierce my eyebrow when Bis cuts his foreskin.

[Keith]

That's the thing. We're trading off those two. But make a deal right now.

[Biz Nasty]

You look good with a pierced eyebrow.

[Keith]

You go to Times Square.

[Pasha]

No, I'm not. I'm not making that deal. I will bet him cash money about.

[Keith]

You don't have any of that left. You've lost it all to win Meme coins.

[Yancey]

I never even got it. I haven't been paid. I think we're at like 3, 700. I'll keep making bets with you, buddy. I'm telling you.

[Pasha]

Yeah, I'm happy to. I will bet.

[Yancey]

Devil's all right.

[Biz Nasty]

I want in on that too.

[Yancey]

500 bucks. The Devils are missing the playoffs.

[Keith]

He's gonna be propositioning you, Justine. By the time you guys are done.

[Biz Nasty]

Trying to cash out the same that the Rangers will finish higher than the Devils.

[Tage Thompson]

Devils.

[Pasha]

Okay. Done with that too. 500.

[Yancey]

There's another thousand he just lost. Justine's gonna be putting a Cracker Jack ring on her finger when he proposes.

[Pasha]

At some point.

[Keith]

He's gonna be propositioning his wife to you to pay off his debts.

[Yancey]

I'm not gonna go there.

[Pasha]

You guys are acting like the Devils are over the hump. Miss their window. They have an elite core. They gotta figure out the pieces around it. Okay. They will be just fine. But if Fitzy doesn't figure out solve that problem, they have to bring in someone else that can. But dude, we got to be just fine.

[Keith]

We got women's national team members with. With a stronger stature than Jack Hughes when they're announcing the men's Olympic team next to him. That's your core.

[Yancey]

That girl was strong. I think he was a little smaller than the host of Good Morning America.

[Keith]

Like, I think if they go in a puck battle in the corner for a puck battle, she's coming out with it.

[Pasha]

No.

[Yancey]

He's Team usa. He's Team usa. Pasha. Thank you. I do quickly want to bring up a team that he. He wouldn't even admit. He.

[Biz Nasty]

He.

[Yancey]

He would shake like he couldn't even say that he'd rather the Devils in this team. And that's Montreal, guys. They're on fire. Lane Hudson broke another record. I guess it's most assists for the Canadiens in a calendar year. He has 40 points already. He's just incredible. Incredible. I. I was thinking too today.

[Biz Nasty]

42 points.

[Yancey]

42 points. Dude.

[Keith]

8.

[Yancey]

They have him for 8. 5. I think it is for 8 years.

[Keith]

Like that contract deal that Luke should be on.

[Yancey]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He makes less than Luke hues Demidov like 36 points. I think he's unbelievable. Suzuki makes the Olympic team. Montreal is awesome. They are awesome to watch. They are fun to watch. I just, I thought it mace and it cooled off for a little bit. Now they're back six two and two like I said. So I don't know.

[Keith]

They've gotten 10 of their last 14 points with all the injuries they got going on right now on a tough road trip on a western swing.

[Army Armstrong]

That.

[Biz Nasty]

Denote trade I think is paying off dividend. Like he. I think they're 4:1 and 1 since he's been there. Like it just slots everybody correctly. Right. Like Suzuki's getting less, you know, matchups or less harder matchups. So it. That, that whole. That trade to do that this early is such a home run by Hugh like that. That's an unbelievable move.

[Yancey]

And two things in terms of what they have coming. Team Canada's disappointment. But that Michael Hage, that kid's disgusting. Plays at Michigan. Unreal. He. He'll probably be playing for them next year. And they have a Russian. I don't know the name. He's doing the exact same thing Demidov did last year in the khl. So I'm sure Canadiens fans know. But Montreal, when Pasha talks about like a window of cuffs in the next eight years, look to Montreal. Don't look to jersey and dumb Pasha. And Fans booing a 2022 year old defenseman who I think has averaged like 45 points in his first two years, if not more so shout out Montreal.

[Keith]

Can I say that like we always get this like certain people who message back after the pod when we say this. And those people can literally gargle and lick my taint.

[Yancey]

Okay.

[Keith]

But. And this is not political. I. I want Russia in. In my best on best.

[Yancey]

Oh, come on.

[Keith]

It's beyond this point. It's.

[Yancey]

It's a legit. And I got. I got non hockey people telling me, oh, like Russia's not even in it. Like doesn't seem the same. It's not.

[Keith]

It's not.

[Yancey]

It's time to get. And that's why I hope with the league running the World cup they have to be like, Russia's playing.

[Tage Thompson]

Yeah.

[Yancey]

And if you drop this year, this team.

[Keith]

Yeah.

[Yancey]

Look at their goalies.

[Keith]

Yeah. And if you think to message me with something political, just remember what I said. Lick my taint.

[Yancey]

Okay. Respond to everyone.

[Biz Nasty]

Send me your elements telling Everyone, he loves them. And Biz is telling everyone to lick their tank.

[Keith]

Yeah, I said if. If you want to message me that with your address, I'll send you a game used butt plug. You can suck on it like a soother.

[Yancey]

Okay. Okay.

[Biz Nasty]

All right. Good way to end.

[Yancey]

Anything else for you guys? Darren Radish on Tampa. Pretty sick story, dude. Guy gets a hat trick, he's gonna smash his most points in his career. I'm glad you had that on the outline.

[Biz Nasty]

I got a little. A little stat for that. Thanks to Liam Blutman and Jazzy, two guys got their first hat trick in that game. First ever hat trick. Do you know how many times that's ever been done? Oh, in the last one wit, I believe you were a part of it.

[Yancey]

Tell me the first guy in the one I was a part of.

[Biz Nasty]

Peter Sakora.

[Yancey]

No, but it was crazy. He hadn't had a hat trick. I think at that time, he had, like, 62 goal games. I'm kind of guessed. Guesstimate.

[Keith]

That was like, donor.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, yeah.

[Keith]

On the ice for that too.

[Yancey]

By the way, Peter Sakura. Who are we playing?

[Biz Nasty]

Islanders, nine to two drumming.

[Keith]

That's impossible. That's impossible.

[Yancey]

He's saying two guys on one team.

[Keith]

No, he said it was a nine to two drumming. If you have two goals on your team, you never got a hat trick.

[Yancey]

No, no, it was.

[Biz Nasty]

It was Sakura and Pascal. And Pascal deployed pui.

[Keith]

Oh, you could be on the same team. I thought you meant opposing teams.

[Tage Thompson]

Never mind.

[Yancey]

So. So did I. Another Lightning player had a hat trick in that game.

[Biz Nasty]

No, no, San Jose. That. What the hell's his name?

[Keith]

Oh, that Russian kid. We've been talking about his name.

[Biz Nasty]

Grenda. No, I don't know.

[Yancey]

But, hey, that Russian kid, he's.

[Keith]

He's been up now.

[Yancey]

Somebody needs to correct me. In the chat. I was told that he dropped in the draft because he showed up with a horrible sunburn. Now, that seems like a message that is completely with me, but he's unreal. And so Will Smith goes out. I saw a meme of, like, what is. What is that meme of the guy, like, looking through the fence at, like, another guy hanging out with Celebrini? Like, whoa, whoa, hold on. That's my role. Yeah, yeah, but. But if this kid's that good and then Will Smith can carry his own line, this is just great news for San Jose. Yeah, we got to get his name. Can somebody tell me his name? Igor. Sherish. Sherv.

[Biz Nasty]

I was thinking. No.

[Keith]

Yeah, I'll say This, I mean, and this is not a diss at all because you know when you're going through puberty and you're growing, like sometimes you get a little bit more acne than normal. But like when I'm drafting Russians, I'm basing it off of how much acne they have because the more they have, you know they're going to be nasty. Like if they got back knee and it's all you're like, oh my God, this kid doesn't give a flying. He doesn't think about face wash. He thinks about training and scoring goals and making plays.

[Yancey]

I like some more points, dude.

[Keith]

The more pimples, the more Russians.

[Biz Nasty]

It was. How do you say this name? Reg Regan.

[Yancey]

I don't know, man. Is this guy Russian?

[Keith]

Like I don't think he's a real person.

[Biz Nasty]

He had the hat trick. It was him.

[Yancey]

Wenberg.

[Biz Nasty]

No. R, E G E N D A.

[Yancey]

There wasn't a W near that name. And he said Wenberg Regenda. Who's that? Good D, man. It's fun name to say on San Jose. He's pretty good.

[Keith]

Oh no, actually, sorry. I was reading the. I was reading a text and it was Wenberg because he signed. He got a three year old deal at 6 million. So a couple, couple clicks for him. Good, good little player.

[Yancey]

That was the guy who I believe like was taking over as a sex symbol in Seattle. It was like causing an issue or like women.

[Biz Nasty]

No, that wasn't one of the better best looking.

[Yancey]

Yeah, it was.

[Army Armstrong]

Was it really?

[Yancey]

Yeah, he's a, he's, he's gorgeous. And I played with him. Women were creating like steamy novels about him. It was very.

[Keith]

Yeah, okay.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah.

[Keith]

I was thinking of Burakovsky too. They had a lot of stallions on and then done. They got a lot of man missiles. Montour ain't a bad looking cat. Yes. Wenberg is a man missile.

[Army Armstrong]

Okay.

[Keith]

No, I would never let my wife in a room alone with this guy. Would you? If I had one.

[Yancey]

Would you eat for the next week only Merles's plates or let your wife hang out with Wenberg for a night?

[Biz Nasty]

Winberg's such a nice guy. I'd. I'd go with the Winberg.

[Yancey]

Okay.

[Keith]

Depends how big his wrench was. Because if like she came home and like it was like a hot dog down a hallway because this guy's got an absolute bat on him, then I'm like, ah, so.

[Biz Nasty]

All right boys.

[Yancey]

Great talk guys. Love you all. Have a great.

[Biz Nasty]

Love you, Cameron.

[Yancey]

We'll see you Friday Peace.

[Keith]

Won't happen.

[Biz Nasty]

Won't happen again.

[Yancey]

Won't happen, Won't happen.

[Biz Nasty]

Won'T happen again.

[Yancey]

A bad habit worth breaking but it's taking time I don't know don't let it it's gonna happen it's gonna happen again.

[Keith]

Wanna, wanna.