Spittin' Chiclets Episode 617: Featuring Jack O'Callahan

Summary

Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 617: Featuring Jack O’Callahan

Date: February 3, 2026
Hosts: Ryan Whitney, Paul “Biz Nasty” Bissonnette, Rear Admiral (RA), Mike Grinnell
Guest: Jack O’Callahan (1980 US Olympic “Miracle on Ice” defenseman)

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Episode Overview

This episode runs the gamut from wild NHL weekend recaps and college hockey adventures to an in-depth feature with Jack O’Callahan, defenseman from the legendary 1980 U.S. Olympic “Miracle on Ice” team. True to Spittin’ Chiclets form, the crew mixes irreverent banter and deep hockey analysis, touching on viral moments (goalie fights!), controversial refereeing, fan invasions, and hockey history. The heart of this episode is the conversation with O’Callahan, loaded with behind-the-scenes memories from Lake Placid and the stories that made the “Miracle” possible.

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Main Topics & Key Segments

1. Weekend Recaps: NHL Stadium Series & Penn State (00:40-13:00)

Penn State Weekend

• Pink Whitney-fueled college hockey rager at Penn State’s Champs bar.
• Penn State's embrace of the Spittin’ Chiclets crew with an overflowing crowd.
• Meet-and-greet and fan stories.

NHL Stadium Series: Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Boston Bruins

• Biz admits missing the game for a “two-lady Thai massage,” leading to the crew's usual ribbing.
• Stadium walk-ins get top marks:
  • Tampa players dressed as NFL Buccaneers, Bruins as actual 1776 Patriots (05:16).
  • Coach Jon Cooper’s pirate/Tony Montana-inspired suit a focal point.
• Best quote:
  • “The Boston guys coming in like they just signed the Declaration of Independence. That was all-time.” – Biz Nasty (02:38)
• Refereeing mess:
  • Dubbed a “ref show” by Whitney, with extended Bruins penalty killing and a notoriously blown non-call (09:25).
  • Memorable quote:
    • “If you’ve handed the other team eight minutes of five-on-threes, and then you call that rinky dink shit in OT... what was going on?” – Biz Nasty (10:13)
• Goalie fight highlight:
  • Vasilevskiy vs. Swayman was viral, labeled as fun but safe, and the need for “two league-mandated goalie fights a year” was jokingly suggested (16:37).
• Entertainment value hailed, with viral memes and costumed broadcasters (PK and Steve Levy as pirates).

2. Around the NHL: Trends, Trades, and Fan Antics (13:00-48:50)

Ongoing Team Issues & Trades

• Bruins penalized more than any other team; PK struggles, need for discipline addressed (19:51).
• Nashville GM Barry Trotz shock resignation analyzed—timing near trade deadline raises questions (29:11).
• Leafs and Oilers ribbing: comparative struggles, and the historical trade record between Toronto & Boston dissected (34:35-35:34).

Viral Moments & Fan Controversy

• Buffalo’s home crowd outnumbered by Montreal Canadiens fans:
  • “I thought it was the Bell Centre.” – Ryan Whitney (44:06)
  • Darlene’s public comment encourages Sabres fans not to let that happen again.
• Creative solutions to crowd control, parallels to ticketing restrictions cited.

3. Kucherov’s Dominance & D-man Norris Talk (38:29-40:44)

• Nikita Kucherov praised as potentially “underrated” despite MVP and Art Ross hardware.
• Debate: Is he top-3 Russian all-time?
  • “At this point, I would put him above Fedorov.” – Biz Nasty (21:15)
• Kucherov vs. Datsyuk, vs. Ovechkin, points-per-game stats cited (24:53-25:02).
• Norris Trophy race for best defenseman described as tighter and more interesting than the Hart Trophy (MVP) chase this season.

4. College Outdoor Game & Spittin’ Chiclets on Site (48:51-56:54)

• Crew’s first-hand experiences at the Penn State–Michigan State outdoor game in Beaver Stadium.
• Hilarious behind-the-scenes from Grinnell (“G”) sent to cover the raucous student section—turns out to be the wrong section, full of foreign exchange students, during a Penn State goal (49:52).
• “I thought the crowd was going nuts for me. Turns out McKenna scored mid-hit!” – Grinnell (51:32)
• Stories from on-campus, game day hospitality, and the growth of Penn State’s hockey program.
• Sidenote: Merls “hired” as Penn State Football’s international scout.
• Listener Q&A: If given play-calling duties for the Nittany Lions, what would they choose? “Playoff tight end, every time.” – Ryan Whitney (56:23).

5. Interview: Jack O’Callahan—Miracle on Ice & Beyond (83:28-151:00)

Highlights & Stories

• Reminisces about growing up in Charlestown, Boston—“Thank God we had hockey, or else we’d have ended up in Walpole [State Prison]!” (85:54)
• Legendary bar tales from tending at The Dugout Café (93:52–94:38), including run-ins with sports and local figures—and some with questionable backgrounds ("That's Albert DeSalvo, the Boston Strangler!" [86:01]).
• On choosing BU over Harvard: “Park [Jack Parker] was one of us. He’d watch your back if things got hairy.” (91:11)
• Early USA team experiences:
  • 1979 Moscow World Cup trip—smuggling, KGB, and hockey for rubles (99:26–103:07)
  • Trading a Coho stick for a Russian soldier’s belt (103:07)
• Herb Brooks as coach:
  • “Herbie was a thinker, a psychology major. He wanted us hating him, so we didn’t hate each other.”
  • “He called me a team-first guy, positive and competitive. That’s what he wanted.”
• “Herbies” Skate:
  • Legendary bag skate after tie vs. Norway—O’Callahan got to watch from the stands, lights out, ‘45 minutes on the line’ (109:03–110:57).
• Locker room management strategies by Herb Brooks—creating crucible moments after big losses, and even after the Russian victory.
• Details of the Olympic tournament, often misunderstood:
  • "Everyone thinks the Russia win was the gold medal, but we had to beat Finland the next day. That last 20 minutes vs. Finland was the best hockey we played in nine months." (113:42)
• Quotes on “Miracle” legacy:
  • “Standing on the shoulders of giants. 1960 set the table for us. We didn’t know what it meant until we made it back to Boston and the White House.” (136:34)
• The real Herb Brooks speech:
  • “The message was: You’ve earned the right to be here. Americans laid down hockey lives so you could get this shot, and you’ve taken it to another level.” (136:07–140:27)
• Post-hockey career:
  • Ran a commodities trading business in Chicago for decades; multiple ex-athletes entered the Chicago trading pits post-hockey.

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Notable Quotes — Who Said What & When

On the Wildness of the Stadium Series

• “The Boston guys coming in like they just signed the Declaration of Independence. That was all-time.”
  — Biz Nasty, 02:38

On the Penalty Parade in Bruins/Bolts

• “If you’ve handed the other team eight minutes of five-on-threes, and then you call that rinky dink shit in OT…”
  — Biz Nasty, 10:13

On Jack O’Callahan’s Childhood

• “Thank God we had hockey—otherwise we’d all have ended up in Walpole prison.”
  — Jack O’Callahan, 85:54

On Herb Brooks’s Genius

• “He was a great coach, man. He just knew it—the natural progression of beating the Russians and all this...he really did center us...so we could focus on Finland.”
  — Jack O’Callahan, 112:16

After the Miracle—the Realization:

• “When we got to D.C., buses everywhere, people waving flags...that’s when it started to hit me. It was pretty wild.”
  — Jack O’Callahan, 134:49

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Penn State Weekend Recap, Stadium Series – 00:40–13:00
• Tampa vs. Boston Outdoor Game, Goalie Fights, Ref Drama – 01:36–19:51
• Goalie Fights, League Attitude, Kucherov Debate – 15:49–25:50
• NHL Trade/GM News (Predators, Leafs, Oilers) – 29:11–36:11
• Buffalo Home Crowd Overtaken by Habs Fans – 43:14–48:51
• Penn State Outdoor Game Gags, Student Section Story – 48:51–56:54
• Jack O’Callahan Interview – Lake Placid, Miracle Details
  • Intro & Childhood in Charlestown – 83:28–89:36
  • BU, Bartending, Legendary Bar Tales – 89:44–96:49
  • Olympic Team, Brooks, Moscow Trip, Herb Brooks – 99:26–104:46
  • Herb Brooks Psychology, “Herbies” Skate – 108:18–110:57
  • Full 1980 Olympic Run, Myths vs. Reality – 121:50–125:37
  • Victory Aftermath & White House – 133:09–135:50
  • The Real Herb Brooks Speech – 136:07–140:29
  • Watching the “Miracle” Film as a Team – 138:51–140:27
  • Post-Hockey Career, Trading in Chicago – 143:34–146:33

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Tone and Style Notes

The hosts keep their signature blend of irreverent joke-slinging, sharp hockey insight, and beer-league reminiscence. Interview segments shift to honest reflection and intimate sports history.

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For New Listeners

This episode delivers everything Spittin’ Chiclets fans love: wild game recaps, league drama, beer-soaked road stories, and a living legend guest for an unfiltered, deeply human look at how history gets made—on and off the ice.

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This summary skips commercial reads and non-content segments, focusing on the real meat of Episode 617.

Transcript

[Jack O'Callahan]

Hey Spit and Chiclets listeners. You could find every episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Me and Ryan have been officially welcomed to the jungle that is Barstool sports.

[Biz Nasty]

I brought it toward the coyotes and I asked them if it was okay if I joined the Spit Chicklets podcast full time.

[Ryan Whitney]

Ryan Whitney got a Pink Whitney out there now. Heath Yandel, the song commander is a full time member. Marley just gotten assist from Chris.

[Yan Stastny]

Whoa. We're buzzing right now.

[Ryan Whitney]

What's up folks? Welcome to episode 617 of the Spitting Chickles podcast presented by Grab it Keith Pink Whitney and what a weekend we had in Penn State. We're going to get into that in a little bit. But the Pink Whitney was flowing. Shout out champs. I think that's what you'd think of when when a college bar is described to you is champs. Yep. Fish. Yep. B was okay. You like fly fishing. We know that. But I love Pink Whitney and so do all the Penn State students and so did all the fans at the game. It was incredible to see a lot of nips snuck in which you know, do what you want. I respect the hell out of it for you doing it. So thank you but shut out Pink Whitney and thank you to everyone who came to our meet and greet place was jam packed at champs and we'll talk about Penn State. Boys. What a crazy weekend. But I there was two big time outdoor games this weekend and ours was number two.

[Yan Stastny]

All right.

[Ryan Whitney]

Because Tampa played Boston in the best. I tweeted out one of the best. It was the best outdoor game we've ever had. And a lot of times biz you've mentioned that this game is more for the people at the game. It's the experience, it's fun, it's different. The home view, the viewers at home too. Just an absolute treat to get to see an all time collapse. I'd say a ref show. Bruins fans may say the outfits, everything that went with it. What did you think? What do you guys. What do you guys want to talk about in terms of this game?

[Biz Nasty]

First, I mean I hate to admit this guys. I was doing errands. We just got back. I got back earlier in the day from our outdoor game at Penn State. What's that with are you about to.

[Ryan Whitney]

Tell us you didn't watch the game Biz?

[Biz Nasty]

No bud is I. I missed the start of it. Then all of a sudden next know it's five one. I'm like ah, it's kind of out of hand. I'd rather go get my Thai massage. So by the time Vaseline, you.

[Yan Stastny]

You ran errands or you got a massage? Because those.

[Biz Nasty]

No, I was running errands.

[Yan Stastny]

Okay.

[Biz Nasty]

Right. And then all of a sudden, you know, puck drop. Missed the first period. Okay, I'll go home and catch the rest of it. Whatever. I missed some of it. The funny intros. I mean the, the, the players walking in, like football players. The Boston guys coming in like they just signed the declaration of independence. That was all time watch mess. PK and, and Levy dressed as pirates. Like it was unreal. The visuals that you were seeing coming out. So all of a sudden it was 5:1. I'm like, wow, you know what? I'd rather, you know, get in touch back with my body. My, you know, flying all these flights. My body's a little stiff, the posterior chains a little tight. I'm going to go have a Thai massage of her pinky toenail in. In my cornhole. And all of a sudden I get out of this two and a half hour, two lady massage and I look at myself. Hours, two and a half. Buddy. I was.

[Ryan Whitney]

There's no way is that.

[Yan Stastny]

He's like wagyu steak, this guy.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, they get, they go head to toe. What do you mean? Is it good for you? Of course it's good for you. And I look at my phone and I see in bold caps, goalie fight. And then I start reading the text thread and I apparently miss the greatest outdoor game of all time. So I'll hand it over to you guys. I saw the clips. Jon Gruden was saying, this is unbelievable. Tim McGraw saying, I love this. And really everybody online weighing in on once again, what was the greatest outdoor game of all time. So I'll hand it over to you guys. But it seemed like one locker room was loving life.

[Ryan Whitney]

The.

[Biz Nasty]

The white Tyson as Vasilevsky or Kucherov was describing Basilevsky. You go over to the Boston locker room and they were saying this was a horeshit refereeing display. So what did you guys see? How did it all shake down? And I'm sorry I missed it folks, but I had to get my cornhole taken care of with a baby toe in it.

[Yan Stastny]

Two things stuck out for me. Rest in peace. Arm dogs record that he had.

[Biz Nasty]

That's up for debate though.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's not. I love Army. It's done.

[Yan Stastny]

It's done.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's done. It's outdoor winter NHL game.

[Yan Stastny]

Okay. And then two the walk ins. So I think the teams kind of coordinate. So like Tampa guys must have been like, hey, we're going to dress up as the football team. The Buccaneers and the, in the Bruins. Guys like, all right, we'll dress up as the Patriots. They probably thought that they were going to be dressed as the New England Patriots. And then coming in as actual patriots from 1776 was outstanding work, especially with the Patriots going to the Super Bowl. So little things like that are fun for me. But the game was incredible. If, if Vasilevsky doesn't have a face tattoo by next game, I don't even count the son of the K. Yeah, he's white.

[Ryan Whitney]

Tyson Biz, I, I, I would respect if you were just honest, because the real reason is for sure it was espn, it wasn't tnt. And that's your thing.

[Biz Nasty]

What are you talking about?

[Ryan Whitney]

You could be honest with us. The best part for me about boys.

[Biz Nasty]

What do you mean? Do you not believe me? I sent a picture to the group chat. I'll show you guys again on here. I had to get my posterior chain taken care of.

[Ryan Whitney]

Boys, I don't know if this picture is going to help your, your, your adamant claim that there's nothing sexual happening.

[Biz Nasty]

Those are my ladies right there. So you have to be watching on Netflix to see my girls that take care of me. The one's the one who works the front door. She's always at the front door. And she was the one who was pushing me to get the two ladies. And every time I would decline, she'd be, she'd like roll her eyes at me. And then now it's like, I won't, I won't get a massage unless it's two ladies massaging me, but has nothing to do with the fact that it's espn. Stop trying to start rumors, okay?

[Ryan Whitney]

The Tampa Bay Lightning walking in as football players. I loved it because it was legit. Besides Headman and vasilevsky, it was 18 kickers. And to see NHL players like Kucherov was a legit kicker and he didn't.

[Yan Stastny]

Want to do that.

[Ryan Whitney]

And he, yeah, a bunch of guys were together. Then he's just kind of like walking in and, you know, he's probably, what the fuck are we doing? But team guy didn't slow down his game at all. He was magnificent. And then the Patriots won. Now, the one question I have, and I'd love to talk to Coop, we'll have to ask him. Maybe after the Olympics he'll come back on like it was pirate themed and that he was just a cocaine dealer. He was Tony Montana. And, and listen, at one point it's five one. And I'm like, Coop's gotta be like the guy in. What is that movie when he's like, my fucking shirt. Take my eyes, but not my shirt. Like, I can't believe I'm wearing this outfit. We're getting trounced in the stadium series.

[Biz Nasty]

There was a. Probably a few regerts when they were down 5:1. Maybe about like, no, the coach's room.

[Yan Stastny]

After the second, they're like, hey, should we throw on sweatshirts and just pretend it's cold out?

[Biz Nasty]

Then he took a bag out and he did a little Tootski and. And. And then they turned things around. Maybe that's what happened. Maybe he gave them all a couple villi linos in the, in the locker room. And that got them going. Or at least before all those five on threes. Now what the fuck was going on with the ref show?

[Ryan Whitney]

So, all right, so there was one call I didn't like. Tampa made it 5 2. Bjorkstrand scored on the power play, and Castellik, kind of just out of frustration or whatever, just like slammed him into the boards. Yorkstrand didn't fall down. So, like, it was, it was. To me, you don't call it right. I. I don't know. And it was just like a push after the boards, nothing crazy. And a little scrum ensued, which, by the way, like, hey, I love Hagel. I. I don't think I knew that much like, about him, like, as a player. And then you see, I think the 90 point season he had, then you see the fight against Tkachuk, and then just like everything moving forward, I've watched him way more closely. He jumped into that pile, I think, at Castelli, and it was just melee. But Castell goes to the box. That was a call. I'm like, all right, Bruins fans have a reason to be upset. But then there was interference. I think Corali had interference on somebody, or Corali put his hand over the puck. The rest of the calls, I thought they were just penalties. One of them was swaming over the glass. Delay a game. Nothing you could do there. Hand over the puck. And whoever the interference penalty was. The problem Bruins fans had, I think was forget the end of the game, which we'll get, we'll get to. McAvoy was blatantly tripped while killing a five on three. And all of us know if you're killing a five on three, like, oh.

[Biz Nasty]

If you breathe on a guy, smallest.

[Ryan Whitney]

Thing that the other team with the advantage can do is a penalty. And they didn't call it. And that's when I was like, oh, my God. And then the Tampa power play just went to work. Radish, who I didn't know until the broadcast, said it, he has like 60, 90 mile an hour or higher shots this year, which is way more than anyone else. So just a straight cannon. Even more than the Boosh bomb and Bush with Bacardi. Boosh against the Wild.

[Jack O'Callahan]

We'll get into that in a little bit.

[Ryan Whitney]

Just incredible from Boosh. He's the best. But the Tampa power play, they just got hot. And McAvoy's quote was hilarious. After. It's like, what happened out there? He's like, I don't know. We were down five on three for eight minutes. So it was kind of like, you're just watching the game. You're like, wait. As one power play ended, I'm like, all right, back to even strings. I'm like, oh, shit. They're still in the box with the five on three. So Bruins fans, they could be upset. Keith, you watched the game. I did not hear a whistle in overtime. Coop said after. I don't know what they're talking about. We heard the whistle. We heard like, three or four whistles. But I. I was just as confused as the Bruins players were, because never in my life have I seen Posh knocks back checking a two on one and gives a little stick check.

[Biz Nasty]

I don't know if you call that one look that. I was trying to look for the penalty.

[Jack O'Callahan]

I didn't like that one.

[Biz Nasty]

If you've. If you've handed the other team eight minutes of five on threes, and then you call that rinky dink shit an ot, and then all of a sudden you're. I don't know what was going on. Maybe that little ball in the whistle got stuck for. For a hot second. Sometimes it gets stuck and you can see the ref going, do it for me. Ends. No, you could do that hard whistle.

[Yan Stastny]

They had. They had the one angle where you could see the ref. He was trying to blow the whistle. I don't know if it was going or not, but he was definitely trying to blow the whistle. But it went. I mean, that's a five seconds. How long does it take those guys to escape down the ice? That's a while. So. But in. McAvoy was yelling at the ref, too, while he was trying to blow the whistle.

[Ryan Whitney]

McAvoy said, oh, I just figured it was on Tampa. He's like. Because McAvoy did not hear a whistle, and neither. And Posh. It was a joke. Yeah, that was. That was the Bruins and their fans, they were disgusted and biz, I agree with you. Like they. That shouldn't have been a call on ot. He goes down, buries a snipe, and then all of a sudden I'm like, what is going on right now? And not only is the goal taken off, pasta's going to the box. And it's like, holy. They ended up getting to the shootout. That shot by Genzel in the shootout, that is the new thing. And I shouldn't say new, but true snipers, they don't shoot like high glove. They shoot an inch left to the goalie's ear, and it's not even really near their glove. It's like they'd have to have the greatest shoulder shrug of all time to save this. And it was just the perfect shot and Vazy stood tall. And all of a sudden, Tampa's getting out of there with two points. But the entertainment factor, now I would love to get Mark Messier with true center like Mark. What do you think when they told you to dress up as a pirate? Because the funniest thing was it turned into such a great game that they're giving legit analysis. And. And he's. He's. What's the guy from. From Pirates.

[Yan Stastny]

Jack Sparrow.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, he's Jack Sparrow on it. And he's probably like, I got six, 16 Stanley Cups and all these records and I'm dressed up like a pirate and I don't know what the hell's going on.

[Biz Nasty]

So I think he. I think he's a silly guy like that. I think he embraces it. You mentioned the goalie, the guys shooting where the goalies, like ears are now this is what goalies are going to start doing in the off season. Just traps. Just full on trap exercises. So they come in looking like that.

[Ryan Whitney]

They'Re gonna have Abdul Carter's neck. The New York Giants player we met at the Penn State game.

[Biz Nasty]

Oh, yeah, he did have a huge Holy shit.

[Ryan Whitney]

Also, she's telling me that Coop's outfit was an ode to the Cuban heritage. Ybor City in Tampa is one of the first major Cuban hubs in the United States dating back to the 1800s. And Tony Montana was Cuban, so I guess we're both Montana. Yeah, Montana. Montana.

[Yan Stastny]

But that was also in Miami.

[Biz Nasty]

Okay, okay. American gangster. Coop. Coop. What if, like, Coop got busted? He was one of like the biggest drug lords and just like doing this.

[Ryan Whitney]

As a side gig to distract Canadian snowboarder.

[G]

Yeah, he is good friends With Ra, so it would make sense.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, hey, okay, okay.

[Biz Nasty]

And RA is a drug mule for him.

[Ryan Whitney]

Reminded me you brought up Ra, who's still locked on a.

[Yan Stastny]

He's a drug ghoul. Ghoul.

[Ryan Whitney]

You drug ghoul. Justin Williams talked by the same person on Twitter. The same Tesla buy the same everything. Comments shut off. So poor Mr. Game 7 now has that with RA. It's like the great handshake meme of being. Being just completely hacked by a Tesla supporter and an Elon Musk supporter. So Justin Williams down for the count on Twitter like our ghoul friend Ra. But what do you guys think about eating?

[Biz Nasty]

Ra is on the Epstein list.

[Ryan Whitney]

Ah, he might really flip his shit when he hears you say that the Epstein list. Didn't think we were getting to that so early in the show. Or at all.

[Biz Nasty]

Do you hear Trump's. Trump said China's taken over Canada and that he's going to end ice hockey in Canada.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. You guys, you're not even actually going to the games in two weeks. It's. It was canceled. Whoa.

[Biz Nasty]

I should fucking challenge. Challenge Trump.

[Yan Stastny]

About what?

[Biz Nasty]

The tariffs. Fucking winner takes all.

[Ryan Whitney]

We get pink Whitney back in Canada.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, exactly.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay.

[Biz Nasty]

I like where to keep hockey. We get pink Whitney back in Canada. And, and then, and then no more tariffs. And then, and then, and then he can't spray tan for. For a year. So you get, you get pale Trump.

[Ryan Whitney]

Did you see the dog chirp?

[Biz Nasty]

Eric Johnson.

[Ryan Whitney]

That was hilarious.

[Yan Stastny]

Unreal.

[Ryan Whitney]

He was very tan. Was that a tan? Was that a fake tan?

[Biz Nasty]

No, I think that he's just like, now that he's retired, he's doing TV and he's getting to go on vacation. He's just spending his. All that money he made. I wanted. Eric Johnson must have easily made over 50 million. No.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Yeah.

[Yan Stastny]

Oh, yeah. Forever.

[Biz Nasty]

Probably probably close to what Yan's made.

[Yan Stastny]

Someone, Someone that we, we were with who's doesn't know a ton about hockey. He showed me that clip. He's like, the players usually chirp announcers like this. I'm like, no, they played together like the last. I'm like, they're. They're buddies. He's doing this as a joke. He's like, oh my God, that is so funny.

[Biz Nasty]

Well, actually, that's literally all they do nowadays.

[G]

Yeah.

[Yan Stastny]

Thanks to you.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Yeah. Back to the stadium series game. The excitement level and biz. You were just talking about this before we started recording of a goalie fight now. I didn't know. Was it you, Yance? I, I Thought you were kind of kidding around a couple years ago with the Flurry being stopped from fighting, that the league was actually giving out memos, don't let goalies fight.

[Yan Stastny]

Yeah, I mean, it does kind of make sense like these. If I was an owner, I wouldn't want my, you know, goalie, the backbone of your team, going out there and breaking his hand because they don't essentially know how to fight. Right. Like, but that's also one of the other things. Like, you're not going to really get hurt with these guys. There's no more Ray Emery's, there's no more Bouches or Garth Snows. Like the real killers. Like, these guys are just out there. You could see like they were laughing, having a good time. The guys on the bench were losing their mind. Like Pasta's like hugging his teammates. So I think it's all for, as long as no one gets hurt. Like your mom used to say, as long as no one gets hurt, have fun. But it's, it's one of those things. We need, we need two a year. I think a league, league mandate needs to be sent out. We need two goalie fights a year. Whoever wants to do it can sign up early in the season and, and get it done.

[Biz Nasty]

Oh, man.

[Ryan Whitney]

When you say nobody gets hurt. When Vazzy lined up as a lefty, I was like. And you could tell Swayman's like, Swayman had no grip on anything. He missed. He threw a left bomb, missed. Then Swayman blocked one. Then he actually connected with one. But I think if the first one hits him, we're, we're actually having like full blown meltdown by Don Sweeney right now. And maybe some other people that are.

[Biz Nasty]

Like, oh yeah, Ken Campbell would be going banana lands. He, he was, he was tweeting about it afterward. Now going back to what you teed up Yan's with like that they. One, they would never promote the goalie fights like the, you would never see NHL accounts reposting these or any fights really. Or, or, or, or any of them. And we heard that they were basically like, anytime the goalies want to line up and scrap, if you're the linesman in the way, break it up. Where they need to embrace this. This is part of our, hey, do we need this happening like once a week? No, that's overkill. And because of the uptick of it, I'm sure you're going to see more and more of them just based on the amount of attention and clicks they're getting, especially in these kids. In June at junior level, we're going to see, we're going to see a few more before the end of the year. End of the year here, you can guarantee that. But I mean, just the, the, the scene of the crowd and how amp they are and the uproar as soon as they're going. The funny thing is, is Swayman, who was pissed off that they came at his net, he still had the stick lodged in his pants as he was skating over, and he dropped all of his. So before, right before they ended up squaring off, he had to take the stick out. But yeah, white, Tyson just absolutely unloading. And that was kind of how I learned in junior. The hard way is I squared up with the guy, we started throwing, and next thing you know, he. He throwing left. So I'm like, what the hell? I didn't even know people could throw with the other hand. And next thing you know, my nose is on the other side of my head. So shout out to them, though. The fact that they like afterward in the handshake line, they like Buddy Buddied and chatter with each other. That's the, the, the camaraderie, camaraderie we're talking about. That's what makes hockey so special. The fact that you're going out there, you're laying it on the line, you're essentially trying to kill each other, and the minute that game ends, you're showing all the respect in the world after competing like that. So that was such a cool moment and gesture, and it does suck for Boston once again. I didn't watch the game, so I can't speak to all the penalties. I saw the clip of the pasta one that he got called. I thought that that was bullshit. But Boston is the most penalized team in the league. They have the most penalized combo, which is surprising with how much success they've had typically in the past. Boston has always been that. That structured team that gets good goaltending and has special teams buttoned up and they win those, you know, three, two games, they keep it fairly low scoring and. And they get the job done. So for whatever reason, their PK has been atrocious. Atrocious. They've come unhinged as far as how many penalties they're taking. So they got to look internally and address that because if they don't, they're going to start slipping. It's going to start costing them at some point. But nonetheless, a 65 shootout victory and we just got unbelievable outdoor games all weekend long.

[Yan Stastny]

Do you think now that you know, these goalies might be fighting more, that they'll start to have to at least serve the five minutes because the fact that they don't get any repercussions.

[Ryan Whitney]

I didn't know that until last night because I thought when Bob fought Nadel, Bob went to the locker room and.

[Biz Nasty]

I was like, oh, he did?

[Yan Stastny]

Yeah, he did.

[Biz Nasty]

And then he came back, calm things down to, like, get the penalty sword and stuff.

[Ryan Whitney]

But.

[Biz Nasty]

And I do love the concept that you're talking about where the goalies would have to serve the five, because all of a sudden you add the element of, oh, my God, two cold goalies. They should say, get net. You could stretch your. Going. Going for 30 seconds and then let's fucking go here.

[Ryan Whitney]

You're.

[Biz Nasty]

We're. We're starting this game up.

[Yan Stastny]

Or maybe if they don't, then they'll never fight. If they do have to serve the penalty, then they'll never fight. So maybe we keep it the way it is so we get more.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I, I think it's. It's at the point, and I know we've done it a little bit because their season's been great in Tampa, but Kucherov is on a completely other. He's on another planet again. He now has 50 points. His last 22 games, he's leading the league in points per game. And this one tweet by Matt Larkin says that years from now, we're going to look back at him as insanely underrated. Which is crazy to say for a guy with a heart and three Art Rosses, but it's true. It is crazy.

[Biz Nasty]

I don't think he's going to look. I think he's going to go down.

[Yan Stastny]

As one of the best Russians.

[Biz Nasty]

I think he's going to go down is top three to five Russians ever like you look. Yeah, I know, but I would. I would put him. I would, at this point, I would put him above Fedorov.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, ovi's number one. And then, then you're starting to make a discussion, right, where Cooch's next.

[Biz Nasty]

You could call OVI the greatest goal scorer of all time. You might say that surpasses him automatically. But if I had, if I got a chance to pick either player, I'm picking Cooch. And I think that you're gonna get that eight or nine times out of.

[Yan Stastny]

Ten who you take in, Cooch or Datsuk? Datsuk was fucking dominant, man. He was one of those guys that.

[Ryan Whitney]

Did every all around.

[Yan Stastny]

Datsuk was incredible.

[Biz Nasty]

That's a great question. Yance, because, like, and. And he played in a. In a more difficult era, like, physically, a little bit more low scoring. So I think from a points perspective, what Datsuk was doing with how much effort he was putting defensively, I have, I. Oh, God, that sometimes you roll.

[Ryan Whitney]

Your eyes when people say stuff like he could have had more points. But every guy in Detroit I've ever talked to said that's who could have had a hundred points a year if he wanted to. So the defensive aspect, that is a great question. But Cooch with the puck and like, his ability to just look so slow and smooth, not look slow. You know what I mean, though, look just like he slows the entire game down. And then his vision, that shot he had, I think that was to tie it up the post. Oh, he was a complete rocket. I guess some Bruins fans are like, swayman should have had that one. But it's still. It's just. It's just a rocket. One timer, perfectly placed. And he just does it in the playoffs, too, that one season. He missed the whole season, led the playoffs in scoring Peter Forsberg style. And the fact is he's getting rest over the Olympic break now. So he's going now. Who knows if he's going and ripping it up somewhere, but based on how we hear his dedication level being, you know, near the. Near the top of the game, you think he's just going to come back and be even better. And just to see this run he's on right now, like, in biz, when I say underrated, like you've said many times, like, you know, McKinnon's the best the last two years, then, yeah, McDavid's right there. He's. He's incredible. Like, we don't talk about Cooch like, we talk about those other guys. Not just saying you, but everyone.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, I just. I. The reason I talk about McKinnon the way I talk about him is because just when you watch, I find him just more fascinating from like, an effort and how he's like, trucking out there and he's just zipping around. And I, I would. I would say he's like, better at like, like retrieving his own pucks. And I'm not trying to disrespect Cooch and say he's like, weak on pucks or any. That, like, I just think that, like, you. I just feel like McKinnon's more everywhere where, where he, like, like Kucherov's getting it more done, like, mentally and, and effort effortlessly, you know, but yeah, I, I, what's, what's Cooch's points per game compared to Ovechkin? Because I, I, I'll, I'll take that back. I wouldn't say like eight or nine. Nine people out of ten would pick Cooch, but I think it would be a coin flip between him, him and ovi. If you're like, hey, if you're going to win a championship, clearly now that that's the case based on how dominant the, the, the glory years of OVI when he was physical and trucking guys and scoring 60 a year, those are tough to compete with. But I think by the time it's all said and done and the way that Cooch plays, I think he could probably get it done a lot longer.

[Yan Stastny]

He could.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, he's, he's. Because his 21 years, he's 1.26 career points per game and Ovi's 1.08.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, but I, I meant like in a sense of like, yes, he's still scoring goals, but like you could OV has not had one D zone start all season long.

[Ryan Whitney]

I saw five on five. I saw that five on five.

[Biz Nasty]

He has not.

[Ryan Whitney]

But I don't understand that he hasn't been out there for an icing.

[Yan Stastny]

No, they let him change. When you break the record, you're allowed to just.

[Biz Nasty]

Unless I'm getting with online.

[Yan Stastny]

But, but it's also too like we talk about the award stuff like the Ted Lindsay what means more like Kucherov has the respect in locker rooms amongst his peers that like people know how good he is and you know how, what he does to a game. Maybe he doesn't get talked about in media as much as the McKinnon's, McCars, McDavid's. But like throughout locker rooms, everyone knows what he brings to the team.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, but it was a great game, man. It was super entertaining. No first Sunday in a long time with no football and you get that I'm, I'm interested to see we're not.

[Biz Nasty]

Only taking over their Sundays, we're taking their stadiums too.

[Ryan Whitney]

Taking their stadiums, getting our goalie fights. I want to see the numbers on that. I guess my final thing was I got it did they did the shot at intermission.

[Yan Stastny]

This was, that was one of the most awkward things I've ever done TV.

[Ryan Whitney]

For people who didn't see it biz. The hole is the size of the puck. And I believe it was like they were going to give.

[Biz Nasty]

No, it was smaller.

[Ryan Whitney]

It was like that's not even funny because the way this, the way this lead the league came off on this one, I'm like, no wonder this is all over Twitter, because I was thinking the same thing. I think if the kid hit the shot, it was like the hundred thousand dollar donation to a cancer charity or organization was going to be 500,000. They gave him the second shot and then it was going to be a million. If he hit it the second shot and they ended up giving 200. I'm like, I think you just gotta give the million. It's like, miss the shot. Be like, it's okay. This cancer organization's still getting the million. Yeah. It's like, oh, sorry, you missed the fucking 3 inch hole from the far blue line. It wasn't even the red line where RA hit it from. I think if you gave Kucherov 50.

[Yan Stastny]

Tries, he wouldn't have made it.

[Biz Nasty]

Once they make him do like a dude perfect, he's not like outside the.

[Ryan Whitney]

Stadium they get a million dollars.

[Biz Nasty]

Hey, it's like the golf courses, it's like, hey, if you sit, if you sink it, if you sink it in this hula hoop with you make with your hands, we give you half off your round and they shoot it and you swat it away. It was, that was the only mess. And yeah, unfortunate that you know that that happened. But hey, you know, nobody's perfect. And maybe they, they reconcile and they like do it now based on the blowback.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, the cancer donation, like as the carrot in front of like the horse. It's like, I don't know if that's.

[Yan Stastny]

The play in fine print. It said, if you miss, you gotta pay. So that guy ended up having to pay the league.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, yeah, he didn't even hit the net. But I mean, I don't think I did either when we did it in Chicago. Shout out that broken stick they gave me. But a great game, A great game and a fun night and it turned out awesome. And the fact that the weather, I think it was 41 degrees at puck drop, which is the average of the last six outdoor games in, in the NHL. So it couldn't worked out any better.

[Biz Nasty]

Someone said it might have been the coldest day in Tampa Bay, like on record in the history of Tampa Bay.

[Ryan Whitney]

Besides the day coup brought in his 19 kilos.

[Yan Stastny]

Yeah, that was colder.

[Ryan Whitney]

That was the coldest day. But yeah, after that it was number two.

[Biz Nasty]

That's true.

[Ryan Whitney]

Some breaking news this morning just before we get to Penn State, maybe we could save that. But shocking, out of nowhere, Elliot Friedman just. Elliot Friedman just drops bombs he drops a tweet. I'll never forget. Taylor hall traded. PK Suban traded. I was like, Elliot Friedman just dropping bombs. All of a sudden, we find out Barry Trots, he's. He's done. He's done in Nashville. I just read another tweet saying he's retiring. He doesn't want to coach.

[Biz Nasty]

No. He's going to be playing net because of the traps and nex he's got. They got to move him there for the way that guys are shooting in the shootout. He comes in according to you guys.

[Ryan Whitney]

Code Hammer.

[Yan Stastny]

My thing is, is like, they've had one of. He's the second GM in the history of the Nashville Predators. David Poyle has been there since day one. He's still on board there. Right? Po as a advisor or whatever. It is like, my thing is like, did Trots really get a fair shake? Did he get to have his own fingerprints on that team or was Poil kind of there, like, guiding him? Like, you don't know. It's like, I feel kind of bad for him being in that position where it's like, okay, you're going into this place that's only ever had one gm and guess what? He's still kind of around. So, like, is he walking on eggshells or is he doing exactly what he wanted?

[Ryan Whitney]

That's a great question. I would. I would think that the Marsha so and Brady Shea and Stamco signing was him. You know, he took over. They make these big moves. They didn't work out, although they're still fighting right now this year. But last year was a disaster. And the timing of it is what. What? I'm so confused.

[Yan Stastny]

Right.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like, we're leading into the deadlines in a month. The break starts here in a couple days. Yeah. You gotta think that. Unless all of a sudden he's like, I just lost the passion for this. Which in the middle of the season just doesn't make sense. There had to be some sort of disagreement whether with ownership or maybe Po is involved. We're totally speculating here and just trying to figure out that it was a bizarre time decision. I don't know, maybe going into the deadline, there could be people that want to hang on to these guys and want to continue trying to ride this out and. And there could be a group of people or one guy saying, we gotta trade whatever we can and keep on to a couple younger players and really reload and I don't know. But to see that happen this morning, it's just odd, I guess. He's. He is going to kind of hang around while they find his replacement. So that's even a little more awkward, I think.

[Yan Stastny]

Who's like a GM out there that's not hired right now. That's looking like I'd bring in Ray Whitney. 100%. Bring in Ray Whitney.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, he would be a great guy. I think he's looking too. He.

[Jack O'Callahan]

He.

[Biz Nasty]

He wants to do that for a job. Now, G. You said beforehand, I don't know where you read it or where you heard it. Like, all of a sudden the deadline's coming up and like, yeah, you. You don't want. If you're not aligned with what you think this guy is going to do or wants to do that he's communicated. You're like, ah, that's kind of the final straw and exactly why we're doing it before that. That point in time. But another thing, too, is if Trot, maybe Trots, his idea is, hey, let's not give up on this season. They went through that crazy one where they had the U2 tour when they went on that rip towards the end. He's probably seeing what Columbus has been able to do after, you know, they brought in Mason Marchman and, you know, one quick tweak and then all of a sudden, they're rolling. I. There's just so many people clawing for those playoff spots that I think it's unlikely that they find themselves in on the inside. But, I don't know. We've seen a few other GM. We've seen a few other GMs get the short end of the stick a little early this year, and, you know, their teams have turned it around.

[G]

Do you guys know who the first captain in Nashville Predators history was?

[Biz Nasty]

David Leguan.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, no, no, no. Hold on. Is it like a crazy name? That's random.

[G]

It's.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, is it Tom Fitzgerald?

[G]

Tom Fitzgerald. So there's a conspiracy theory out there right now that if the Devils were to part ways with Fitzy, who knows, he could be. Come in and. Come in and be the next GM of the National.

[Biz Nasty]

Where did you read that one?

[G]

On Twitter.

[Biz Nasty]

It's got to be down with that.

[Yan Stastny]

That's a. Okay. You think that they're ready to move on from him. And I know posh well.

[Biz Nasty]

I mean, if I'm getting blamed for chasing Marner out of town, Pasha better be getting blamed for chasing Fitzy out of town.

[Ryan Whitney]

Pasha gets. You get blamed for everything.

[G]

I texted Pasha this morning. I said, would you rather bury Trots or Tom Fitzgerald as your gm? Because I was thinking, oh, maybe Trots will go to Jersey. He said, I'd rather RA as my GM than Tom Fitzgerald right now.

[Biz Nasty]

RA's or POSH has lost his mind, man. He's like completely unhinged. Way more than I've ever been with the Leafs.

[Yan Stastny]

I mean.

[Biz Nasty]

And you know what's even crazier is everybody online and talking shit about how trash the Maple Leafs are and how all those people, including you guys, have the Vegas Gold Knights as. As basically a cup contender. They have the exact same amount of wins. The exact same amount of wins this season.

[Yan Stastny]

I don't have. Who said Vegas besides Liam Blutman, the.

[Ryan Whitney]

Goat and even Bloody's quitting on his team? Because I did see a tweet. You brought this up. So I got. I saved this one. Modern era trades between Toronto and Boston. We're not doing this considering Frazier Mitten was named NHL rookie. Okay, that's fine. I don't care. I'm just going to read them. Boston has got from Toronto, Duke of Rask, 2010 first rounder, which was Tyler Sagan 2010 second rounder Jared Knight. Don't know him. 2011 first rounder Dougie Hamilton, Thomas Cabrerle, Frazier Mitten, a conditional 2026 first round pick and a 2025 fourth round pick. Some flash. Flash. So some big time names there. Just incredible. And yeah, business team sucks. But that's our leaf talk for this week.

[Yan Stastny]

You can come back.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, you can come back. Biz. We're done.

[Yan Stastny]

Wait, so what was the first trade?

[Ryan Whitney]

It was.

[Yan Stastny]

And I mean, no.

[Ryan Whitney]

And remember that OT winner by Bergeron.

[Yan Stastny]

Sorry.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, sorry, but.

[Yan Stastny]

And then this, this year, the first round, it's top five protected, right? So they'll probably be a number six. If it's Toronto's luck, it'll. They'll come in sixth place this year or get the sixth overall pick and the Bruins will get some stud that no one's ever heard of. But yeah, well, good for them, I guess.

[Ryan Whitney]

I. And Biz. You know what? I'm. I'm a man of honor. So I. I saved another tweet, right? And I should read it when we're dogging the Leafs. I should read this one too.

[Biz Nasty]

Is it. Is it the fact that Edmonton's lost to all the top teams? They're like 06 read lessons.

[Ryan Whitney]

The Oilers are combined 06 against Colorado, Dallas and Minnesota and have been outscored 3:34 to 12 in those six games.

[G]

So.

[Biz Nasty]

And, and by the way, that. That your cup contending Oilers only have Three more wins than my Toronto Maple Leafs. So it's like, it's crazy. It's. I, I sent out a tweet just being positive about the win in Vancouver and I get flooded with people being like, you're a idiot. You're a loser. You suck.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Go kill yourself.

[Yan Stastny]

Oh, sorry, sorry. My bad.

[Biz Nasty]

I'm just trying to congratulate my team on a win here.

[Ryan Whitney]

Keith Burners.

[Yan Stastny]

Yeah, sorry about that. I was, I was a little upset. But if the, if the, if the Oilers don't get the Kings in the first round, they might be done there. Witty.

[Ryan Whitney]

The Oilers got trounced by Minnesota. That boost clip the boost clip of the Brock Faber goal. Beautiful goal. It was like a. You know in practice when you do a drill, maybe you swing through the neutral zone, you get a pass. Then there's just a coach there that you just have to skate around.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah. Apply a little pressure. We'll fly a little pressure.

[Ryan Whitney]

He does like a half stick check. Yeah, he didn't even throw the stick check in there.

[Biz Nasty]

He did on the, on the, on the other way. He gave him a little slash on the other side.

[Ryan Whitney]

And I don't think he was over hitting the post. I think his brain was still like that. Should have gone in. It was the perfect shot. I'm gonna let you go right ahead here. Faber and Favor then went bar down. That was sick. Yeah. But I, I think also Jari mentioned after the game we have to stop giving up so many grade A chances. I don't love that.

[Biz Nasty]

Oh no.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh no.

[Biz Nasty]

Oh no.

[Ryan Whitney]

They put him on waivers.

[Biz Nasty]

That one don't under the bus.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, there's. There's some questions there. Still haven't heard back from Stoff. So. Yeah, basically.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

My life as an Oils fan right now is a disaster. They were looking to win four in a row too. That would have been pretty cool. But Mini. Mini is incredible. I think second best record in the league. I saw something that mentioned they were like 25th to 28th ish in D scoring. And then Quinn Hughes came and they're like one now. So this guy has been everything that you could have imagined as a while. You couldn't even have imagined that he'd be this good like when they got him. I don't even think people saw this.

[Biz Nasty]

I have a hot take.

[Ryan Whitney]

He gets points. He has the puck. The only bad thing that's happened to him is that spill. He took in warmups which is an all time fall. He stepped on the puck. I sent it to Scuderi right away. Like Scuds and I over falls. We'd laugh for fucking hours.

[G]

And.

[Ryan Whitney]

And he goes that's. That's an all time classic right there.

[Yan Stastny]

So there's nothing more embarrassing than falling in warmups. Not one like you could get blown by in a one on one during the game. Game 7. I'd rather fall in a game 7 get beat than in warmups because warmups, it should never happen.

[Biz Nasty]

I. I'd rather Lex Steel crush my wife than. Than fall warm up.

[Ryan Whitney]

What about getting stepped on in warm ups by Halsey? Rather that and the stitches than the fall because it didn't look. Oh, I guess he fell before it.

[Jack O'Callahan]

So that's.

[Biz Nasty]

I have a take.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay, let's hear it.

[Biz Nasty]

I don't know. I don't know if you guys are gonna be able to. To handle this one.

[Jack O'Callahan]

All right.

[Biz Nasty]

I would go get a glass of milk. The Norris race is tighter and more interesting than the MVP race this season for me.

[Ryan Whitney]

I like that.

[Yan Stastny]

It's.

[Biz Nasty]

I think that. I agree with you, Whit.

[Jack O'Callahan]

You.

[Biz Nasty]

I think that Warrensky owns the Norris race right now. I just, I. But you can't, you can't deny it.

[Ryan Whitney]

I know.

[Biz Nasty]

But she's not here.

[Yan Stastny]

If they make playoffs and Warinski give it to all three of them, I.

[Biz Nasty]

Would be okay with that. Quinn Hughes is like, he's already set the franchise record in Minnesota for three or I think maybe four assist games.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Like saw that.

[Biz Nasty]

Like he's been there for fucking four weeks.

[Ryan Whitney]

I think Celebrini being somewhat in the middle of the MVP race makes that a little bit more exciting to me. Yeah. And we're going to get to see if McDavid and McKinnon somehow end up within like two or three points of each other. Like who gets those votes. Right. Like that's going to be. That's. That's going to be an argued. That'll be the analytics community's wet dream because they can go on tangents for each guy and you can have a blatant winner for each guy. So.

[Biz Nasty]

Well, at least we'll have a. A use for Pasha going under the hood because he ain't going to be doing anything for the Jersey Devils this playoffs.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Yan Stastny]

Should they do like a Ted Lindsay type award for the Demon? Like a players vote on like a Bobby or, or a Ray defensive defenseman award. Yeah, that's true too.

[Ryan Whitney]

That's what I want to see is like the best shutdown D man in the league. And then if you win both, it's like, holy, this is a Nick Lidstrom, right?

[Yan Stastny]

Weber.

[Biz Nasty]

That's what I think is so fascinating about that. These guys are playing against the best lines every night. Like Warrensky's great defensively. Makara closes on. Guys like Quinn Hughes isn't a liability out there. Those other two are, I would, I would say are better. But it's, it's a, it's a three headed monster right now, boys. And it's fucking sick.

[Ryan Whitney]

I do. We went to, we went to Nashville with the GM News of Trots and we talked about this in one of our hot stoves. And for, for anyone who doesn't know what a hot stove is listening. It's just getting together with your buddies in the hotel room beers and just chatting and we had one. I think it was three in the morning. I don't know why we did that. It was a solid four hour where we went through the entire Phoenix Coyotes roster for four years and just I got to hear stories about all these guys and all those teams. Great hot stove. But in that hot stove I think we poured out a drink for Kevin Adams and what the Sabers have done and how bad I feel. I really, I feel horrible for him and I don't get it. I'll never get it why a new GM comes in and says nobody's safe and then they've turned into one of the best teams I've ever seen the last 25 games. But I feel for the guy. He built this team and if they just turned it around 10 days prior, he might be sitting there finally laughing at all the haters like me and saying look at what we're doing. So just wanted to show that guy over.

[Biz Nasty]

Oh yeah. And, and I think it's probably like a 2530 team if not even more maybe in the hundreds tie. But that 23 game stretch, they just got over where they had a ridiculous record. It was the fourth best record in, in league. The Hundred League 100 year league history that a team's ever had. So a possible like 41 of 48 points. So just remarkable what they've done. And agree with you, they, they've gotten completely hosed. And I just love those hot stoves going over all the guys used to play with in the hockey db just the best. And, and, and, and we, we spoke to it in there. It's amazing what Don Maloney did and just bringing good guys together and when you do that I think your, your opportunity to win despite maybe not being even as talented as other teams goes way above and beyond. So even that year where we ended up winning the, the division. I think we were, we were pegged to finish, like, second last in the whole conference. So it was, it was a remarkable year. But with that said, we should probably move on to Penn State and go over that outdoor game and that experience.

[Ryan Whitney]

Can I bring up one thing before we get to Penn State? Absolutely. Buffalo. And it's all, it's all flowers and sunshine and pink Whitney in Buffalo right now.

[Biz Nasty]

I know where you're going with this.

[Ryan Whitney]

Until I witnessed, Yep. The Montreal Canadiens score a goal in Buffalo, and a sea of red jumped to their feet going bananas. And I, I couldn't, I thought it.

[Biz Nasty]

Was the Bell Center.

[Ryan Whitney]

I, I, I knew it was in Buffalo, and I went to NHL.com just to make sure, and I said, holy shit. And it got, it got to the point where, like, Darlene addressed it after the game like it was, it was ridiculous. Now Buffalo fans have been coming at me saying, those tickets were purchased by Montreal fans when Buffalo sucked. Okay, so I kind of get that. But I don't know. You can't, I agree with Darlene or whoever, you can't let this happen. They have to somehow figure out a way to make sure that never happens again.

[Biz Nasty]

So I had never noticed it previous, so I would assume over the past couple seasons they must have had that this one just. But the thing is, is Montreal's really good now, too, so I would imagine that that was amplified. But I also thought that Darlene handled it perfectly. He said, we really appreciate the fans coming. Like, like, you guys have been awesome, but let's just not see that again. And, and now hearing that those were purchased when they were, they were shit. And people were getting ahead of it makes a little bit more sense, but, my God, I, I don't think I've ever seen a team in the NHL in playoffs be taken over that much in their own building in the lower bowl. Like, I don't like Leafs fans in Ottawa. Nope, never seen it that bad. I thought the fucking game was at the Bell Center.

[Ryan Whitney]

Look at this picture somebody sent me from the game that. I mean, that's top. That's at the top, too. It's just now Montreal fans, they're loving themselves right now. Oh, yeah, Ottawa mentioned it. I forget who on Ottawa mentioned it. And now it happened in Buffalo. So the Canadiens fans and the Cole Caufield just scoring game after game after game. And the Clips coming out of. Did you see the clip of St. Louis talking to Slavkovsky about how to turn as that middle bumper guy and Then the next game, it might have been eight hours later, Kenny did it. He turns exactly as the way St. Louis Townstrandfield gives him the puck. Bank. It was in Buffalo.

[Yan Stastny]

Do you think that it's because biz? I think it was you saying when you were a kid you would go to Buffalo games because it was cheap. I, I think it's even closer for you. But do you think it's one of those things where mon. I, I know Montreal is always a hard ticket to get, but do you think it's even harder now because they're doing really well, that people are like, hey, it's easier for me to go to Buffalo or to Ottawa and just put on an extra three hour drive?

[Biz Nasty]

Oh, for sure. And just in that pocket, there's still so many Habs fans too. Just like, I mean there's Habs fans everywhere. I feel like the Habs are like, like is Steelers a good example in the NFL? They have just one of those fan bases that are rapid, they travel like crazy. Bill's fans are. Raiders fans are usually pretty hardcore, although they've been shipped for many years. Yeah, it's, it's a lot cheaper. It's a great location. I heard that at one point they were going back to charging at par. So if you were Canadian and you were going over if a ticket's 50 bucks, they were taking your 50 Canadian, which is like 37 bucks U.S. so maybe I'm wrong on that, but I'm pretty sure I heard that they were accepting tickets at par. So.

[Yan Stastny]

Hey, just like the casinos in Vegas. Didn't you say the casinos in Vegas.

[Ryan Whitney]

Are doing three of them right now? I think taking Canadian dollar apart.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, maybe that's what I, what I read.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, that's what that was. A dry saddle. Cologne, Germany. Starting a cologne thing that you just made up.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, no, I think that's actually, that's what I read. You're right, Yance. I, I knew I saw something at par, so I just assumed it was.

[Yan Stastny]

That like we got, we were used to it. In Phoenix you'd get teams coming down because it's warm weather in Florida. I think, I think it's crazy that they're going to these, you know, not like it's not like a warm destination like you're traveling to go to Buffalo and Ottawa. Like that is, that's, that's wanting it.

[Biz Nasty]

I mean, have you ever seen the women of Buffalo?

[Ryan Whitney]

The Eastern Conference has we got a separation going between the top eight and the rest of the, the, the. In the Hunt teams, which was great. ESPN had the graphic up of in the hunt. Didn't even have the Devils in the hunt. I fuck, I, I, I touched my hog and literally let out a loud noise when I saw the Devils not even in the Hunt because of Pasha, but Buffalo. It looks good. We're not going to, we're not going to say anything for sure. It looks good. I've seen many times where other sports have. Have banned the teams that they're playing against, fans from buying tickets. I can't think of anything in particular right now, but I know I've seen that. Where, hey, people from Boston can't buy tickets to this game or whatnot like the Yankees. They might have done it. Buffalo has to do that. They cannot. We cannot get this first playoff in 15 years and have other fans, whether it's the Wings or the. Who else could they play? I don't know, Tampa right now. There's, I think right now they'd play Tampa. Either way. We cannot have that happen. And a guy who would make sure that would not happen, I think, is Terry Pula. We just went to the house that Terry Bagula built at Pegula arena at Penn State. We went to Beaver Stadium. Biz, Very funny. Every interview you did, you were like, I love the Beavers. I love the Beavers. Did you think that was their nickname at first?

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Yan Stastny]

I think you guys meant he loves Beaver.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, that could be it too. A little brainwashed.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, true.

[Biz Nasty]

What a. I mean, what a job that they've done. And I had no clue what that place was about, and I was blown away. And I gotta say thank you for the hospitality to every single person that took care of us. Yan's, your buddy Frank was, was unbelievable. Brought us to that, like, underground, underground society dinner, which I don't think probably the best meal in town for sure.

[Yan Stastny]

Oh, yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

It gets so busy there on crazy weekends where some people can't even eat because everything's so, so packed. So we were taken care of. They rolled out the red carpet. The game was incredible. The facilities were amazing. McKenna was, was a. Such a fun interview and I mean, we can kind of go. Go through the rest of it. Like probably the greatest in game college hit of all time where they sent G. Why don't you come on and talk about it and what you went through?

[G]

Yeah, so it was kind of crazy. So we had just done the intermission hit with game notes in between the first and second period. And so right after that they're like, hey, do you, do you Want to jump into the student section? It was supposed to be pre recorded before the game, but we didn't really get in there in time. So they're like, you want to just jump in the student section right now? We'll try and figure this out. I was like, sure, why not? Let's go up there. So they walk me up there and if you look, the whole student section is white. I'm in A section. The section they put me in, it's all people in black jackets. They put me in the section with the foreign exchange students. No one spoke English. So I got in there and I'm like, hey, guys. Like, I'm with Big Ten Network and Barstool. Like, I'm about to be on TV. And they just looked at me like I had 10 heads. And one of the girls next to them was like, hey, like, they all speak Spanish. They don't speak English. Just a heads up. I'm like, oh, great, this is going to go amazing. So they had me look up at one of the cameras, which is not looking up at the ice. It's like looking up at the press boxes. So I start the hit and I'm. I'm like, oh, we're here, 70,000 people. I point to memes. I'm like, this guy has. This guy's been tailgating all day. He can't find his wife anywhere. And then the crowd starts going insane, starts going crazy. So I'm like, I'm on a jumbotron. I'm fucking crushing this. This whole stadium's going nuts for me right now. So I'm like, let's fucking go. And I'm thinking, right now I'm the reason the stadium just erupted. So that the hit ends, I walk off and I go over the producer and she gives me a big hug. She's like, that was the best hit we've ever done. I can't believe it. Like, McKenna, that was insane. I'm like, what do you mean, McKenna? And she's like, Gavin McKenna scored in the middle of your hit. I'm like, what?

[Ryan Whitney]

This is unbelievable. The best student section in the country.

[Biz Nasty]

Let's go.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Let's go back to you guys.

[Ryan Whitney]

I'm never leaving. I'm never leaving. I'm staying forever. Why didn't you look at the ice?

[Biz Nasty]

He was too into it.

[G]

I had the ifb and they said, you have to look up to the, to the press box because that's where the camera is. We need you looking at the camera. So I had to be like, looking up this Way while the ice is over here. So at no point could I have looked at the ice and then I'm.

[Biz Nasty]

Like, oh my God, you thought you were getting the crowd hype.

[G]

Yeah, I thought it was all me.

[Biz Nasty]

What timing. What timing.

[Ryan Whitney]

And what a picture.

[Yan Stastny]

What a picture of you guys. And with memes behind you. He looks like a 35 year old foreign exchange student from, from London, Canada is so funny to me. It's unbelievable. But the fact that you thought they were going crazy for you, it just means they took care of us too good if you thought that they were really, really bringing. Exactly.

[G]

Oh yeah. And it was pretty cool because I've never really been a part of a broadcast like that before. So then they had me doing the in game interviews with the coach from the bench. So I got to talk to Godowski. I. It was really cool because we had a cool like embrace where he gave me a big hug after and I'm like, man, look around at this. Like you guys were a Club hockey team 15 years ago. You got 70,000 here at Beaver Stadium. And you could see in his face, he's like, wow. Fuck, man. Like, this is absolutely crazy. So shout out to the Big Ten network. It was cool for them to let us be a part of the broadcast.

[Biz Nasty]

It would have. I, I think that they, if moving forward, they're able to do another one. They should be doing this every other year or at least be doing one Big Ten outdoor game every single year. They, they should have televised that.

[G]

It's got to be national television.

[Biz Nasty]

It ended 5, 4 and overtime. And then there was that. What's the kid's name? Where the hat trick. He was a high first round pick.

[G]

Minnesota Wild. He's a kid I could see get getting dealt at the, at the deadline. The Minnesota Wild. I mean, Charlie Shraml Stock is as high as ever right now. Minnesota Wild. They're going to go for a playoff run. Don't want to take away from an Aaron.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Hey, one for one.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, he's big. And that Porter Martone, you know, Michigan State went in there and swept him. Riker Lee, that kid's nasty. I said if he doesn't make it in the NHL, I will retire from the podcast and never give a hockey take again. That's how sure I am. That kid, he reminds me of Oshi. I don't know if he's that physical, but the skill and he was sick. And then interviewing McKenna was great. He was a great kid. Like you could tell, very humble. And I was, it was brutal. Like the first night, he gets kicked out of the game. He gets kicked out of the game. Cross checking a former medicine hat Tiger teammate in the head after an enormous hit on, I think, Aiden Fink, one of the best players on Penn State. Caden Lindstrom, who's been hurt all year. Yeah, so it was. It was like, shit, we don't even get to watch this kid play. And he came back and scored. He could play 20 years in the NHL. That might be the coolest picture that's ever taken of him on the ice, where he's down on one knee. You see the entire stadium packed. It says the Pennsylvania State University that side of the field. It was awesome. A great experience. I mean, I love the Big Ten network. They didn't tell us that we weren't. We were hosting. So we just went on waiting for questions to be asked. Biz, myself and Keith. And then the guy started yelling at me, talk, talk. Start talking. And then Biz said he put Quaaludes in the Michigan State water bottles. Don't know how that was going to go over. And that he would sucker punch Charlie Strammel walking off the ice.

[Biz Nasty]

I don't think a sucker punch or Quaaludes worked.

[G]

I.

[Biz Nasty]

No, I think you would have had to hit him with a couple of. What do you call those things?

[Yan Stastny]

Tranquilizer.

[Biz Nasty]

Tranquilizer darts. Like, you know, a pet detective.

[G]

What about Murrell's boys? I feel like we kind of buried the lead. I think we might be losing murals. I think the Penn State football team. I think he got hired by them.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, Merle's. Yeah, he is hired. I don't know if it's up on the website yet. He's the international scout for Penn State football. He said if you bring me one giant Viking from Sweden or Germany or something, your job is done. That's all we need from you. So, you know, Merles will be on that. The offensive coordinator. He told me and Keith. Listen, I know you guys are Georgia Bulldogs fans. We need you on this side. If I can get you to commit to the Nittany Lions slash Beavers, you can call a play next year. So that. That is. That's enticing. I'm not. I'm not gonna lie. If I get the call play in a. I don't want it to be in a blowout. I want it to be in, like, a big game, a big big 10 game where we're calling maybe like a trick play.

[G]

Keith.

[Yan Stastny]

Yeah, like a fourth and one. Fourth and one game on the line. We are calling that play, and it's going to work.

[Ryan Whitney]

Playoff tight end. Every time. I should have mentioned Ryan McDonough because you said outdoor games for the Big Ten. He played in one in Wisconsin. He won. He's played in six in the NHL. He's won every one. So he's 6. 0 in the NHL seven. And, oh, and outdoor games. That's a. That's a nice little stat to hold on to. That's pretty cool. Also, memes shut out memes. He went in the bookstore. He walked out with two full trash bags of Penn State stuff. I don't know if he has any money left, and I don't know if we'll ever see him in anything but Penn State.

[Biz Nasty]

No, he filed for chapter six bankruptcy.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Yan Stastny]

I think he stayed in Pennsylvania, too.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, he's working it off. He's doing dishes.

[Ryan Whitney]

I want to go back to Pittsburgh where biz you went after the game. Spent the night. I know Crosby's, you know, one of the goats.

[Biz Nasty]

He.

[Ryan Whitney]

He's incredible. Everything he's done, the man is the best crier I've ever seen as well. That's something I didn't even have on. On. On my radar. One single tear comes down his cheek and he wipes it away like a pro. And then they pan over to Malkin and they pan over to Latang, who's out of the lineup. And the t. The video of the 2016 Stanley cup run by the Pittsburgh Penguins with the 10 year reunion for that team. That was awesome. What a moment. And I think for Sid, it. The guy doesn't seem like he's spending much time looking back on what he's done, that'll come later in life. He's focused on the here and the now. But what he. What he was showing everyone and kind of realizing, like, what they did and what they accomplished, that was a special moment.

[Biz Nasty]

I would put that cry out there with no Sean Marino from the, I believe Denver.

[Yan Stastny]

Denver Broncos.

[Biz Nasty]

During the anthem. I would put that head to head for best cry right before a sporting event. Very cool. I actually ran into Ben Lovejoy at the airport the next morning. He was going back. He lives in New Hampshire. And he just talked about how amazing it was to see all the guys. And he's, you know, he's not doing anything right now. He's coaching his daughter. He's got three daughters. One of them plays hockey. One of them's very good at hockey. And, yeah, what a. What a great weekend that would be just to kind of see all the guys that you were able to achieve this incredible goal with and. And celebrate in style. Especially when you don't have to worry about, like, playing and you could just like hit. Hit the. Hit the pops and, and splurge on the food.

[Yan Stastny]

But just going back to like, Sid and like, the emotions. Like, you hear all these guys and I know biz, you won the illustrious Calder cup, but, like, you see what it takes to win and, like, what these guys give. And Sid's obviously one of the, you know, only a few guys still playing from that team. Like, for him to be crying before a game is something that happened to 10 years ago. Like, what an amazing. Like to see your leader doing that. Those guys must have been like, this is unbelievable. And obviously the Penguins do everything first class, bringing all those guys back. We talked to Flurry right before we knew he was going back. Like, they must have had the best weekend. Like, those are the things when you retire, I would imagine, like, getting to go to those 10 year, 20 year anniversaries and be with the guys. They must be looking forward to those dates every single year.

[Biz Nasty]

I know a lot of you Penguins fans are on pins and needles and. And I'm going to be the bigger man here and say that I'm going to fully squash the Crosby to the ABS rumors.

[Ryan Whitney]

The one you invented.

[Biz Nasty]

I'm fully squashing. There's no chance this season that that Pittsburgh trades Sidney Crosby to the Colorado Avalanche. You can. You could put that up on like a quote board. Put that on a quote board. 100%.

[Ryan Whitney]

I love the verbiage. I'm going to squash these rumors that I created. I'm going to squash them all. Not true.

[Biz Nasty]

I'm going to be the bigger man here. Okay, put the quote board up, boys. Thank you.

[Ryan Whitney]

Just quickly, Latang, he's out for at least four weeks with a broken foot. Actually, Sid and Gino were like, giving his boot a tap as they went out onto the ice for the video, so that sucks. But the Penguins, they won the most games that the organization has ever won in January. So. 91, 92. 08, 16, 17. All these cup champs. And this year's one of the most shocking stories of the NHL season. The Pittsburgh Penguins set a record for most wins in January. It's been incredible. I don't know, I guess this isn't as bad for Columbus based on what they've done lately, but this China cov. This guy's incredible. And maybe just having Malkin there. Although there was the Russian mafia in Columbus, but it didn't work. Out. Penguins fans are over the moon about this guy. At the meet and greet at Champs, all the Penguins fans, which is kind of cool. Penn State's right in the middle of Pennsylvania. So you got Flyers and Penguins fans. All the Penguins fans. I talked about China Cop. I'm like, I don't know anything about China Cop. Besides, I love saying his name, but he's a sniper.

[Biz Nasty]

I thought you made it up, China Gov. I thought you were going back to Trump's comments. I'm like, what?

[Yan Stastny]

That's going to be one of those things where, like, he was. Malcolm was probably his favorite player growing up and, like, he goes or one of his favorite players and, like, getting the opportunity to go there. Like, he's probably riding such a high, playing with, like, it's such a cool story for him. He's probably just loving life, coming to the rink every day, seeing Gino. And Gino's playing off him too. So it's like, man, those. Those type of stories are, you know, what can, you know, galvanize a team. And he's helping them win games. I wonder how many more games in the month of January they've played than during a normal season. Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

If that's true, I don't know.

[Biz Nasty]

But don't use my word ever again, please.

[Ryan Whitney]

And China galvanizes my word. He, you know, people may chart me, he has eight points in 15 games, but he's got six goals. Six goals in 15 games. That's a nice. That's a 35, 40 goal pace. So that's what we're. That's what we're going with on that. Not just points, Biz. Sometimes on the outline, it'll just say, biz has a message. It says, biz has a message for Philadelphia Flyers fans.

[Biz Nasty]

I think Philadelphia Flyers fans are completely unhinged online right now, buddy.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Honestly.

[Biz Nasty]

They're fucking morons. You can coldboard that too.

[Yan Stastny]

What are they saying?

[Ryan Whitney]

But I ain't squashing those rumors. Well, I saw one comparing Mechkov to Lindros. That Pocket's gonna run the biggest superstar we've had since Eric Lindros out of town. So the Mitchkov storyline, it's never ending.

[Yan Stastny]

It's.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's quite incredible. And I believe talk was on a radio show or something saying, like, he came in out of shape. I don't know what you want me to say. Why do.

[Yan Stastny]

What do they see in him that nobody else sees?

[Ryan Whitney]

They just want draft scouting reports.

[Yan Stastny]

Oh, okay. That's.

[Biz Nasty]

I. I don't feel like giving it my. My Oxygen and energy anymore other than just saying they're morons. Like, I don't. I'm not.

[Ryan Whitney]

They.

[Biz Nasty]

You know, it's bad when I'm not even arguing with you because I think you're that stupid. Like, I'll tell you right now, I'm a fucking moron. But you guys are. I would be. I would get into Harvard. Compared to how stupid these fucking people are and how much energy they're spending on this particular topic. And they're like, look at his course. He played only 10 minutes. And look at all of his Corsi and numbers here. Yeah, buddy. They're that fucking nice. Because of the line matches in the situation he's putting him in.

[Yan Stastny]

Yeah, they're protecting them.

[Biz Nasty]

He's protecting them. He's doing him a fucking favor. And all you're doing is trying to drag his name to. Oh, what has he done? He's a fucking year and a half removed from winning a Jack Adams.

[Ryan Whitney]

You're just sticking up for your friend. That's it.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Yeah.

[Yan Stastny]

Did he text you and tell you to say that?

[Biz Nasty]

I'm Rick talking. Take the face. Take the mask off. But he. But he ain't even. That's the fucking thing. Like, hook me up to a lie detector test and ask me how many times that Rick Talkett text me about Mikshkov. He probably.

[Jack O'Callahan]

He.

[Biz Nasty]

He's probably on zoom calls with better help. Fucking dealing with these fucking Flyer fans all day long, spending all their time and energy on this. Like, you guys are not a. You weren't a playoff team. It was all you were bringing up throughout the first part of the year when you were in a playoff spot, and. And now it's unraveling, and then all you want to do is hand him. I. I would have spite. I would just. I would legit play him 25 minutes every game for the rest of the season. That's what I would do. And I'm just. I'm over. I'll go to. I'll go to war for talk. That's how much I love him. But these people are moronic. Do you agree with me? Do you not see what's happening online? It's all they want to talk about.

[Yan Stastny]

I don't. I don't see it because I don't have Twitter. But, like, in. There's nothing in the NHL that Rick Talkett hasn't done. He's been in the league since. What was his first year in the league? 1980. Like, he's been in the league for 36 years. It's it's something that you cannot. He, he has seen everything. He knows how to handle stuff like that. He's been in the, in Vancouver, dealing with stuff going on there. Let him handle this team. It's a, it's a process. It's not going to be fixed in one day or one year. It's a process. It's a process. Process for Mechkov as well. He's got to figure out the NHL, got to figure out how to be a good player every night. I think he's got the skill to do it, but you got to give them time.

[Biz Nasty]

And what they do with is they take what I just said, oh, you hate him. You hate Mechka. I don't know how many fucking times I could scream from the mountaintops and say, I don't hate this kid. I don't.

[Ryan Whitney]

I've watched Washing those rumors.

[Biz Nasty]

I'm squashing them.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay. Yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

How do you have any feeling towards it?

[Ryan Whitney]

Wit, I actually am kind of with you that we've talked about it so much. I can't do it anymore.

[Yan Stastny]

Okay, good.

[Ryan Whitney]

But I've, I've been open and honest about hating Flyers fans for quite a long time. Quite a long time.

[Biz Nasty]

I haven't played. I never had that level of hate for them. And I got it right now.

[Ryan Whitney]

You got it. The Carolina Hurricanes, boys, it was kind of funny because I think on Friday night or one of the nights, they had that incredible comeback against Utah. It was ridiculous. They scored, I think it was three.

[Biz Nasty]

Goals in the last minute and a half.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

So Utah 30 mark.

[Ryan Whitney]

They're laughing. Great road game. And all of a sudden the, the game over. No points. They lose. It was shocking. Stahl scored with 29 seconds left. So that was incredible. That was the game. Bussy. He got 20 wins in his first 24 games. His first NHL goalie to ever do that. Awesome story. Then they ended up losing a three nothing lead to the Capitals over the weekend. So it just shows how crazy this league is. But that was an electric comeback. I I and Goss Bear, he, he has 48 points. What is that?

[Biz Nasty]

He's unbelievable.

[Yan Stastny]

48.

[Ryan Whitney]

38 points in 38 games this year. It's like this guy and I kind of forgot that he had over 50 points in Detroit a few years back. He's just an offensive wizard.

[Biz Nasty]

You know who got rid of him? You know who ran him out of town?

[Yan Stastny]

Billy?

[Ryan Whitney]

The Flyers.

[Yan Stastny]

He's what a like for him, like the, he's just done it kind of everywhere he went. And no one really?

[Ryan Whitney]

What.

[Yan Stastny]

What's the longest team he's been on?

[Ryan Whitney]

Check it out here.

[Yan Stastny]

I know he's in. He was in Arizona for a bit. Like, this guy, he just puts up numbers. He. He does his job. Like, good for him. Just the will he has.

[Ryan Whitney]

Rookie year, he had 46 points in 64 games. This is with Philly. Then he had 39 and 76. Then he had 65 and 78 games. Then he had 37 and 78 games. And then he had 12 and 42. And then he got sent to the minors. So he actually was back with Philly the next year. But something happened. I don't know. Like, maybe it was the fans getting on him. We can blame the Flyers fans for Shane Gossip losing his production levels at some point at the end of his tenure there. But the guy. The guy is just so good with the puck and he has a cannon. So it's. It's Carolina keeps trucking along and want to shout out Linus Hallmark. He came back. Big win. 4 1. And who did they beat? Biz. Who'd they trounce in that one? The Devils Pasha squad. 41 victory for Ottawa. Um, so that was kind of cool, I guess that he'd been through a lot. Right? We saw the interview. We saw those rumors, and all of a sudden this guy's back in the net and they get a win. So that had to make him as happy as anyone. Like, all right. I just feel like all that stuff's behind me. They still got a long way to go and so does Florida. Florida. They blew that game to Winnipeg. I think they gave up a goal with like three minutes left. They lose that in regulation and they're coming into a time here. I think Marshawn left the last game as well. I don't know if it was precautionary or not, but Florida's going to start running into, like, we got to get this thing going. And I don't know if they can.

[Biz Nasty]

Yance.

[Yan Stastny]

Yeah, it's like. Because after the break, like, it's just going to be a sprint to the finish line right in. Is it going to be one of those things where it's like, okay, we ran out of Runway here, but I mean, we've talked about it too. Did they just chalk this season up as, hey, it's a loss. If they go out there, I will be completely fine. If they go out to Olympics, Matthew Kachuk brings a gold medal to the United States. I am a okay with them missing playoffs and taking a year off.

[Ryan Whitney]

Big C'S might not be, but I'm with you. I don't want to see them in. Give me a year without the Panthers trucking through everyone bullying the entire league. So I'm with you. I just. I still have this like, disgusting feeling that they somehow get in, beat Tampa and then it's like, oh, fuck.

[Yan Stastny]

You see the videos of Barky back skating? I don't know. I mean, obviously it looked like he was going 40%, but like, is he close to coming back? Is he going to be a guy? Are they going to make a big move if he's not going to be able to come back? Like, you just don't know what. What Zito has up his sleeve to get this team.

[Biz Nasty]

Exactly. They're going to make. They're going to make a move.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

They're going to get. They're going to get that locker room a spark.

[Jack O'Callahan]

We.

[Biz Nasty]

We were hot stoven and we talked about some of these possible matchups. Seeing Detroit in Buffalo. Buffalo go out in the first round would be unbelievable.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, please.

[Biz Nasty]

Like the two heaviest sacks in the league for fan bases. Is ready to bust the nut. Going at it in the first round would be. Must watch TV and so close in proximity. So that is, you know, they're probably fucking riding the bus to the game. Another first round matchup. That would be awesome. Pittsburgh and the New York Islanders, possibly that rivalry going again. If. If that's the draw for Pittsburgh and they stick where they're at, I. I could. If everyone stays, I could see them making a run to at least the conference finals.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like I saying that before the year.

[Yan Stastny]

No, it may like they got to go out and do something too. Right. If they're still in this position, like, you got to go out and get guys for Sid. Like, how many more runs does he have? And you squash the rumors he's not going to Montreal. They gotta get some guys in there. Why not Panarin? Why not Trocheck a guy from Pittsburgh? Like, let's get these guys in and get.

[Ryan Whitney]

I know, but they're like, they have a lot of prospects and picks and the Duke stock in business world keeps rising and rising, but it's like it would rise, but you owe it to 87.

[Biz Nasty]

You owe it to 87. I agree with Yans.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Where I. Yeah, he doesn't give a. About picks and prospects. That's true.

[Biz Nasty]

And like I just said, they're. They find themselves in a very unique situation right now. Especially if they end up drawing one of the. Like, if they draw the Islanders first Round. They're going to spank the Islanders in the first round just because of the Islanders, everything what they've done. And then all of a sudden you would draw probably Carolina. We've seen what they've done to Carolina in the past. They swept them in the conference finals the year they won that first cup.

[Ryan Whitney]

That's just, I mean everyone who plays Carolina in the conference finals, I always swept them. Swept their ass. Shout out. Schaefer. Matthew Schaefer. He scored his 15th goal. He now has more goals than Bobby Orr did as an 18 year old.

[Biz Nasty]

Heard of him.

[Ryan Whitney]

So I believe when we went through the odds of rookie of the year with Murr and we were talking, he's like, well, Shaffer's minus 600. That'll probably be a stat that's mentioned when he collects the hardware for the. The Rookie of the year. Like, yeah, I had more goals than Bobby or did when he was 18. Okay, here you go. Here's the Calder. Keep it, you deserve it. I don't know why anyone mentioned Ivan Demidov or anyone else for that matter. 15 goals, it's insane.

[Biz Nasty]

Another fun fact since we're talking about cool shit.

[Yan Stastny]

Nathan McLach with Matt Martin too.

[Ryan Whitney]

No.

[Biz Nasty]

Nathan McKinnon pass Joe Sakic for amount of multi goal games over the course of a season. He's now had 13 multi goal games this year. Wow. They worked Detroit over the weekend in one fucking season.

[Yan Stastny]

That's insane. Thirteen.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, that's so. And how many of those are hat tricks? That's a minimum of 26 goals right there. Yeah, I'm sure a couple of the games were hat tricks. Maybe not, but how many goals does he have? 40 now.

[Yan Stastny]

Okay, I thought 39. Holy shit. That's unbelievable.

[Biz Nasty]

It's a pretty gnarly stat.

[Ryan Whitney]

So there's a great documentary that was just released on Netflix, Miracle the boys of 80. I was very excited to watch it. I was able to watch it on the flight home. Finished it when I got home late Saturday night. And I think there's some people like, oh, you know, there's so many things. There's the movie. There's been a couple other documentaries on the 1980 U.S. olympic team, but this one was excellent. They had pretty much the entire team together at the rink in Lake Placid. So they have them on the bench, they're interviewing them and they go really into like certain guys lives, like their upbringings. Like Ken Morrow's dad had passed away and he talks about him. He gets very emotional. Jim Craig's mom Had passed away pretty close to when they named the Olympic team. And they talk about his relationship with his dad, how his dad was a broken man and this entire Olympic experience kind of like brought joy back to his life. And they discuss Herb Brooks. And the coolest part about it, I don't want to say the most sad part, but it was a little. That the guys just say they wish they had gotten to know him a little bit. He was such. You know, they mentioned a couple of guys like he was just a prick to play for. And he made it like us versus them. And we talked to Jack o' Callan we're going to be throwing it to in a second here. But the guys were like, we never got. We never really got to know him. It was funny. I was with my dad when I got home. He stayed over. We were watching it, and he mentioned he met Herb Brooks. We played in the under 18, five nations in Salt Lake City the year before the O2 Olympics. Kind of one of those trial things they do. And Herb Brooks was there. So my dad got the chance to meet him and talk to him, and he was saying, like, the coaches didn't get gold medals, just the players did. But I guess Tiffany made her Brooks and Craig Patrick their own gold medal. So that was kind of cool to hear, but just the way he coached. And they go in there in the documentary is her Brooks son and daughter. So they kind of talk about. And they have clips that have never been shown before. And it's crazy. They're in, like, hd. I don't know how they did it with the technology, the AI or whatever it was, and different sound bites and different videos of the Russia game that hadn't been released. And I can't recommend it enough. It's awesome. It's a great, great film.

[Yan Stastny]

Yeah, it was unreal. Just like the. I mean, you know, the miracle movie. But you don't know that much about, like, the guys in the whole Minnesota versus Massachusetts, New England, you know, kind of guys, they hated each other. And then they come together and how Herb kind of was like, I want them to hate me, so they don't hate each other. Which obviously worked, what they got done. But, like, the whole, like, watching those games and seeing the Russian clips, like there was. So I want to go back and just watch the games because, like, that Russian team, what they were doing in some of those clips was it looked like you were watching a team in 2026. Like, they were making plays that guys are making now, like, what they did, you know, really, you know, now guys are playing like that in the NHL, revolutionize the game.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Yan Stastny]

And the fact that, you know, Herb Brooks had the. The foresight to be like, we got to play like these guys. I think it also gave Americans more of a chance to play in the NHL. Like, guys like us with, like, where if that never happened, it might be like it was early, where it's a strictly, you know, 90% Canadian League. And, you know, like, what it meant to USA Hockey is. Is so big. I think the Disney movie stuff obviously is great, but that kind of is like, okay, it's a movie, but seeing the clips of the guys talking and what it meant to them, and, like, the clips of, you know, Jack O' Callaghan's family watching 19 people in a house in. And then in Winthrop with Rizzioni's family, all these people, like, what it meant to them is so cool. And, you know, hopefully, hopefully USA can get one here this year and we can, you know, celebrate again.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yep. That was the last goal.

[Yan Stastny]

Where was Squaw Valley, though?

[Ryan Whitney]

Squaw Valley, 1960. California, in Cali.

[Yan Stastny]

Okay. I didn't know.

[Ryan Whitney]

And Russia won every gold medal.

[Biz Nasty]

Cool boys. I mean, 80, right? This is five years before I was born. So you watch the movie, you just assume after they beat the Russians, the tournament's over and to just hear that how the. The, like, how it all proceeded and how they still had to win that next game. And. And this interview, you're going to hear a lot of in depth stuff that I think a lot of the younger fans that listen to our podcast had no idea how it actually all went down. And of course, you could watch that Netflix documentary as well, but getting to talk to Jack firsthand was very cool. And. And also, what a. What a funny guy. Just a character.

[G]

You mentioned. You mentioned the HD footage, and it's actually a pretty crazy story. I don't know if you guys follow Adrian Dater on Twitter. He covers the Colorado Avalanche.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, he asked that unreal question a few years back to Nate. You ever say it?

[G]

He's been tweeting about how his dad was actually one of the guys who filmed those shots and they lost the footage, and it's been in a warehouse in Texas for the past 45 years, and they recently found all that.

[Ryan Whitney]

H. No way.

[G]

Isn't that crazy? Like, those are unbelievable.

[Biz Nasty]

Was it used in this doc?

[G]

They were all used throughout the doc where you're watching, like Whit said, and you're like, how the fuck have I never seen this footage before? Like, there's been three documentaries about this. There's a Disney movie. Like, everyone's seen stuff about Miracle on Ice, and these shots have never been seen because they've been hiding in a warehouse in Texas for the past 45 years. It's pretty crazy that they just wow.

[Ryan Whitney]

Some months and bought it in Storage Wars.

[Biz Nasty]

He's like, what is this heck that I just read? That guy's like, on his fourth or fifth wife. Perfect somebody. Oh, man. There was one tweet. It was, oh, I'll go find it. We'll talk about it when we come out.

[Yan Stastny]

Like, we talked about the. The reunion with Pittsburgh and all those guys sitting on the bench watching and, like, just typical hockey guys. Like, what was the backup goalie's name?

[Ryan Whitney]

Janicec. Something like that.

[Yan Stastny]

Yeah, Janicek. Like, they're like, oh, there's Jenny. There's Jenny. And they were like, how'd you know it was Jenny? And he goes, because they were scoring on me.

[Ryan Whitney]

But he was actually one of the coolest parts about the documentaries. He was the only player biz on any Olympic hockey team in 1980 to not play one minute. But in the Olympic village, he met a girl. He's like, I love this girl right from the start. They got married. They've had a family. He's like, I was the luckiest guy in that whole tournament.

[Yan Stastny]

Really? Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

So he's. He's been married ever since, so it was pretty cool. And that's awesome. He seemed like the man too. So with that, time to throw it over to an American hockey hero, Jack o'. Callaghan. All right, boys and girls, listen up. Roback is back for another year. We rock their gear so hard in 2025, they basically had no choice but to run it back with the Chicklets boys. They couldn't keep us out of the merch room. Let's start with the Roback Delta pants. These things are absolute wagon makers. Even I have a butt in the Roback Delta pants. I'm telling you, they make the caboose look like you've actually been training and doing squats Crosby style. They're comfy, they stretch, and they've actually got room in the thighs for us hockey players. Just an unreal fit. And next up, the Roback sprint joggers. These beauties are soft, stretchy dialed, perfect for lounging, traveling, pretending you're working from home, or just crushing some pink Whitney on the couch. If you're due for a new pair of joggers, don't overthink it. Get the Roback Spring joggers. So use the code chiclets on roback.com for 20% off your first purchase through the end of this week. That's C H I C L E t s on r h b a c k.com 20% off all pants joggers and more with Code Chiclets. Got to take a little break here and talk about DraftKings Super Bowl 60 coming up, and it deserves a sportsbook built for the moment. DraftKings Sportsbook, the official sports betting partner of Super Bowl 60, puts you right in the center of the biggest game of the year. Anything can happen during a Super Bowl. Russell Wilson could throw an interception with no time remaining for the New England Patriots to win another one. That could happen again with Sam Darnold. I'm telling you and DraftKings has your back with early exit when it comes to gambling on Super Bowl 60, if your player goes down in the first half, you still get paid in cash when your bet settles. No bonus bets, no waiting. While other sportsbooks don't offer injury protection, DraftKings covers the entire first half, even in the second quarter. The early exit works on live bets, too. Pregame or in game, DraftKings has you covered. If you're new to DraftKings, new customers can bet just $5 and get $300 in bonus bets. If your bet wins, download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now and use Code Chiclets. That's code Chiclets turn five bucks into 300 in bonus bets. If your bet wins in partnership with DraftKings, the Crown is yours.

[Biz Nasty]

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[Jack O'Callahan]

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[Yan Stastny]

Of Boothill Casino in Kansas.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Wager tax pass through may apply in Illinois, 21 and over in most states.

[Yan Stastny]

Void in Ontario.

[Jack O'Callahan]

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.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's an absolute honor right now to be joined by a very special man, a member of the 1980 U.S. olympic gold medal team, former Boston University Terrier, and a man who played 389 regular season games in the NHL along with 32 playoff games, Jack O'. Callahan. What's going on?

[Jack O'Callahan]

Hi guys. Good to be here. How you doing?

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, thank you. We're doing great. We're doing great.

[Biz Nasty]

Usa. Usa.

[Ryan Whitney]

My mom Was born in Chicago.

[Biz Nasty]

We got a legend on and I can't wait to hear about this whole story.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. So you just told us you're actually in Lake Placid right now. What's going on there?

[Jack O'Callahan]

So, you know they have a her brick statue kind of event tomorrow night. Yeah. So I'm the only one here. You know, all those Minnesota guys, no one shows. I show. Boston guy still got the hatred. They put a statue of a Jack Parker Whitney, you'd be up here with me.

[Ryan Whitney]

100. I love. Did you watch the hall of Fame speech he gave this year?

[Jack O'Callahan]

I did, yeah. I tried to.

[G]

I was actually.

[Jack O'Callahan]

I. I would have gone to Toronto, but I just had a previous commitment. I couldn't get away. But, yeah, there were 40 guys up there. But I don't know. It's tough to get to Lake Placid. And for me, I gotta. I got three grandkids that live a couple hours south of here, so we spend the weekend up here. It's kind of fun. It's just really cold. Really, really cold.

[Biz Nasty]

Has it changed at all, like, going back? Does it spark all those amazing memories?

[Jack O'Callahan]

I gotta tell you, every time I come here is one of the reasons why I love it up here so much. It's like you're going back in time. I think if you brought somebody up here from the 1932 Olympics, they'd probably say, oh, yeah, I remember that building. I remember everything. It's the same. It's pretty. It's just incredible. It's just such a. I feel so comfortable here and so easy. It's just the wonderful place. I mean, I can't. You know, obviously what happened to us up here was pretty special. So, you know, we've got a really tight connection with this place and. Yeah, I just love being here. It's a terrific place.

[Ryan Whitney]

Place.

[Jack O'Callahan]

And on top of that, there's like a million hockey games going on. So there are kids and adults running down the street. Yeah, they're running up and down the street carrying bags and hockey sticks and it's like 10 below out. Hockey players don't care, man. I love it.

[Biz Nasty]

I actually did the Can Am hockey school there back to back summers, and I got to experience it now.

[Yan Stastny]

Get the rubber guns. Remember the rubber band guns?

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah.

[Yan Stastny]

But, you know, before we get into all the Olympic stuff, you know, our connection, me and you.

[Biz Nasty]

Check.

[Yan Stastny]

Charlestown guy you grew up with. My dad. Just kind of want to talk about how you got into hockey and you know, what it was like growing up in Charlestown playing In hockey and, you know, all the, all the misfits around there.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, thank God we had hockey, right? Otherwise we would have ended up in Walpole.

[Biz Nasty]

Is that, is that a jail?

[Jack O'Callahan]

Yeah, I mean, they actually, as it turned out, I, I heard that they used to name the corridors at Walpole State Prison back in those days after streets in Charlestown. So, you know, someone would bump into each other like in the. I don't know, when they have a lunch and say, hey, so where's your soul? It's like, oh, it's at the corner of like Bartlett street and Sullivan. You know, it's a funny story. I did actually go up there one time and I, I think it was. I was young, but I remember we were playing softball because I had some friends who's, you know, had some relatives up there. I don't know, I was probably eight or nine, maybe. We just up there, whatever, maybe 10, I don't know, playing softball and one of these guys, that was a Charleston guy. I was sitting there on the bench and he kind of says, hey, Jack, you look like. It looks like your neck's bothering you, you know, I was like, no, my neck's fine. It was. No, no, he looks like you have a bad neck. No, my neck's fine. He goes, you should go over there. That guy, he gives really good neck massages. I look over and it was Albert DeSalvo, the Boston Strangler.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, I know who that is.

[Jack O'Callahan]

That's Albert the Salvo. I'm not going near that guy. And he goes, hahaha. He thought it was funny. I know, man. But anyhow, yeah, Charleston was unbelievable. Growing up there was great, you know, I mean, we all started kind of. Even your dad, Keith, you know, I'm sure he started playing with Father Smith, you know, out of St. Catherine's you know, one square mile, three Catholic parishes. Everybody's Irish for the most part, but Father Smith and Mr. Fiddler, you know, Mike Fiddler, Joe Fiddler, Mark Fiddler's dad, used to run a Sun, a Sunday night kind of hockey thing. They didn't have any ranks in Charleston. That was in Revere. And we rent Father Smith and Mr. Filler, they rent the ice. And, you know, kids started playing hockey and then they had a Pee Wee team that your dad Buddy played on and they were really good. And then Bobby Orr came to town. All right, so Bobby Orr came to town, everything changed. We played a lot of ball hockey, but before you know it, you know, trying to skate with Father Smith and All that. But then they started Bobby or came to town. Everybody wanted to be Bobby or. Yeah, I think that's why I'm a defenseman. I think I'm probably a defensive because I kind of looked up to your dad. I looked up to Buddy, you know, he was really good. And then this guy Richie Hart, who played at Boston College as well, he was really good. And then Bobby Orr. Right. So those three defensemen were kind of people I look to. Plus I couldn't skate, so I didn't want to try to be anyhow. But, yeah, that's how it all started, you know. And then we got our own team because there was so many kids that wanted to play. They had to start another team and we didn't have a goalie. I had to play goal. He had to switch it out of goalie. I had to play goalie one time I was out 10 years old and I got beat, I swear to God, 16 to nothing. And I'm like, I'm not playing goalie anymore. This sucks. So anyhow, we got better, you know, a lot better over the next several years. And I think when I was a. We ended up. I think. I'm pretty sure we won the national championship in Buffalo. We all went up to Buffalo, which was interesting because we were not behaving very well at that point. We were 16. So, you know, anyway, it was kind.

[Ryan Whitney]

Of wild, but we did well.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Came home with new cars, you know, it was great. It was a great tournament. It was. It was amazing how hockey in Boston just exploded when Bobby. Or came to town. You know, kids from South Boston, Charlestown, they had. Boston had a. Had a. The. The city of Boston had their own league, was called the Boston Neighborhood Hockey League. So we played in that. We played cyo, which is, you know, the Catholic youth organizations over at the arena on Sunday afternoons played like peewees and locals. And then we all played high school and then we all kind of went to college and then, you know, whatever, man. The Olympics was coming, so all. Everything kind of changed after that.

[Ryan Whitney]

Where did you play high school before bu. And was it your dream as you got older and, you know, 12, 13 to play at BU?

[Jack O'Callahan]

So my dream was always to go to Harvard, you know, because I, I went to Boston Latin School, which is this public school in Boston was founded in 1635.

[Yan Stastny]

Right.

[Jack O'Callahan]

So you might. You probably don't know about it, but it's all.

[Yan Stastny]

I do.

[Ryan Whitney]

I do.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Yeah, it's over by Fenway park, so. And it's a six year school, so you take a test in the sixth grade and if you get in, you know, you go there in the seventh grade and then half the class flunks out by the time they're freshmen. So then they let more kids and it was the hardest school in the world.

[Ryan Whitney]

And.

[Jack O'Callahan]

But it's a six year school and they, it was founded at two years before they founded Harvard. So there's a big Harvard connection. And I really, you know, always wanted to go there, but. And you know, once I became a hockey player and then I started getting recruited and everything, which I was really surprised about, but, you know, I started getting a lot of pressure from Latin School. All of a sudden the headmaster wanted to talk to me. Usually when I had it, if you had to go see the headmaster, it was just then you got in trouble for. But I was a little nervous when he called me in and he's kind of laid into me about Harvard and how I had to go there. And I was like, okay, I'm going, I'm going. But you know, what happened to me was, I mean, I got accepted there. I was really close to going there. But, you know, Jack Parker was just the guy.

[Ryan Whitney]

He.

[Jack O'Callahan]

He was special to me, you know, and he knew where I was from. You know, even, even Mike Fiddler, who was a. Who we grew up with in Charlestown. He, you know, he was like, he goes, hey, Jack, you go to Harvard, great. You know, but guys like us get in trouble. And you get in trouble once at Harvard, they'll throw you out of that place. And, you know, that's the end of that. He goes, park is like one of us, you know, he's from Somerville. He kind of understands us. He's not going to let us get away with everything, but he'll kind of keep an eye on you that way and he won't just throw you under the bus if something goes wrong. Which, you know, turned out, I was glad I was there for that. But I mean, BU was a great school. Academically, it was perfect. The team was great, the hockey was great. Plus it was free for me. Harvard was going to be, you know, lend me money here, borrow money there. It was all this crazy stuff and job and all that now. So anyway, BU gave me kind of an academic scholarship actually. And yeah, so it was great. I went there and it was awesome. I four years there. I mean, I attended bar three years, my last three years. I learned a lot tending bar. And you know, obviously the hockey team was amazing. We were like, you know, Whitney, you know what? You know, you Know what I'm talking about? I mean, back in the late 70s, great. We had great teams and won the nationals one year, but, you know, would competed for it every year. Yeah, it was just fantastic. It was. I couldn't have scripted it any better.

[Biz Nasty]

You were a bartender, you said, while.

[Jack O'Callahan]

You were attending college at the Dugout Cafe.

[Biz Nasty]

Right on.

[Jack O'Callahan]

It just closed down like three weeks ago. Two weeks ago.

[Yan Stastny]

Did you go to that closing like you're doing it for.

[Jack O'Callahan]

No, I didn't go to that closing.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, I would have though.

[Jack O'Callahan]

I probably would have if I had. If they were going to build a statue with Jimmy o', Keefe, I probably would have gone to Boston for that and blown this one off. And Billy Crowley. Those are the two guys. Jimmy o' Keefe was the greatest guy. He was an old bookie from Boston and he was a big restaurant tour and he had a bar, a restaurant called o'. Keefes. And I mean, the legend is that they planned the Brinks robbery in his restaurant.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay.

[Jack O'Callahan]

And some of those guys, like Jazz, Matthy and another guy, they'd come into the Dugout every now and then and the whole place be like, you know, that guy is. I was like, kinda, yeah, but, but Jimmy o' Keefe was the man. He was, you know, he paid attention. He knew everything about Boston sports. He's a legendary guy back in like the 50s and 60s and 70s, maybe even in the 40s. And you know, he, he loved BU hockey. Billy Crowley was his partner. Younger guy, played football at Harvard. Terrific guy. They both gone. Passed away, obviously. Billy too young. But Jimmy had a great life. But, you know, he, he, he'd pull me aside if we, you know, we were struggling a little bit, maybe we weren't playing so well. He'd say, hey, come here. You know, and he. Like a couple hundred bucks. And he'd say, take the boys out, you know, show them a good time. He goes, you guys need to get out and kind of, you know, blow some steam off. He goes, you'll get things. I mean, the guy was amazing and he really cared about me. Cared about us. Yeah, it was just. It's such a great experience.

[Biz Nasty]

How did Jack Parker feel about you attending bar? Like what, like did you have.

[Jack O'Callahan]

I'd go from practice to the bar. Yeah, he'd go in the bar. Back in those days, he was still drinking and, you know, you know, he'd come in every now and then and have a pub. Everybody did. I mean, you know, the writers for the Globe would come in. I mean, John Powers Joking, Cannon. You know, I mean, you know, Al Morganti used to hang out in there all the time. I mean, I'd be behind the bar, and it would be like people would be coming in from all over the place, and it was usually BU hockey players that worked. Vic Stanfield worked there. Tony Revolt. I mean, there's just a. Is a long list of it, but I did it for three years, and, man, it was great. Had some cash in my pocket, which was awesome. And, yeah, I mean, you know, you're behind the bar. I mean, you're in the bar, you're not drinking, and everybody else is, and you're still in the bar. So you kind of get to, you know, kind of hang out with your buddies, but they're working, so it's fun.

[Biz Nasty]

Absorb it more. Who's the most famous guy that ever came in? I know you just dropped a bunch of names, but anything.

[Jack O'Callahan]

I mean, I don't know. I mean, you know, Ted Williams used to come in there.

[Ryan Whitney]

Did he?

[Yan Stastny]

Yeah, man.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Because it was right. You know, the dugout, it was basically in Jimmy again, he was a bookie, so he knew everything about baseball. It's kind of hard to explain. You know, it. You know, it was. You ask any guys in. Mike. So in my vintage and at bu, I mean, we live for that place. We love that. It was just a little. Little joint. You know, you walk down the stairs, Ryan, you've been there, I'm sure. And you know what it's like, right? I mean, I remember one time I was with Billy on a Sunday, and he's some guys. It was just him and me. It was really. Nobody knows. I was just starting to work there, and it was kind of in the spring, maybe even the summer of my end of my sophomore year or something like that. You know, I'm behind the bar. You know, I just kind of started bartending, and these guys came in from the Red Sox game, and they were drinking, and we were closing, and I. I remember Billy saying to them, like, they came in and they came to me and they want to drink, and I'm like, well, we're closing, guys, so you're out of luck. And so they're like, oh, they start giving me a little crap. And so then Billy came out, and he says, what's going on? Because Billy was like a legendary kind of tough, rough guy. I think he grew up in Cambridge, but, man, that guy is alleged to Harvard. Anyhow, so Billy came out. What's going on? And it kind of reminded me of that story from New York stories. You know, when Chaz Palm of Terry's in the bar and all the bikers come in and they, they go, all right, I'll give you one beer drink and then you can go. And then they, you know.

[Ryan Whitney]

Right.

[Jack O'Callahan]

They throw the drinks and you remember the scene from that?

[Ryan Whitney]

I don't know.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Yep. Yeah. So anyway, it was kind of like that where Billy said, you know, I'll let you have one drink, but you know, you gotta leave. And so it was almost like they had one and they wanted to stay. And it was almost like he locked the door and said, well, now you can't leave. And so I grabbed a baseball bat from under the bar and I jump over the bar and. And you know, I mean, I'm ready to rock, right? So. And Billy was like, these guys are. All of a sudden they see Billy, who's bigger than me and me with a baseball bat, and they were like, okay, we'll leave. And then all of a sudden Billy looked at me, he's like, I think we're going to get along pretty good here, Jack.

[Ryan Whitney]

Good hire. But at this time and, and we'll, we'll get into, you know, the, the story of the, the Olympic team and the movie, which we have questions about. But Minnesota and bu, they were the powerhouses, right? And no, not really.

[Jack O'Callahan]

I mean, there were a lot of great teams. You know, Wisconsin was great. I mean, my, my first year, we, we lost. Minnesota beat us. We were out in Denver. I was a freshman. That was where, you know, we had a bench clearing brawl. Imagine that, in the NCAA like semifinal.

[Ryan Whitney]

How'd it start?

[Jack O'Callahan]

You know, Terry Mahara was our captain. He was. Scored a bunch. He had like 40 goals. He had a great year. He's an all American. And then it was kind of a little scrum by his bench and their bench and they kind of started whacking him around a little. We were number one in the country. Minnesota kind of made it in late. So anyway, they had like. I don't even know who was on their team. Russ Anderson, you know, I don't know if Holmgur was on their team. He might have been, ah, maybe he had just graduated or something, I don't know. But anyway, there was a scrum over there. There's someone might have spit on someone and Terry got in the middle of it. So we jump off our benches and then it just. All hell broke loose. You had the baseball bat? No, I had, I actually grabbed this guy. I know his name. I actually played with him in a World Cup Years ago. His name will come to me. But no, there's a picture in the paper. I got him by the throat and I took his helmet off and I had him by the throat and I was cracking him in the head with his helmet and the hell's his name? We laughed about it a year ago. That was college hockey, right? And so then they won it that year, freshman year. Next year we were in Detroit and Wisconsin won it. They were great, really great. You know, Bob Johnson was their coach. Herbie coached Minnesota. And then we won it my junior year. We were down in Providence. We played Boston College in the final, which was intense, but that was awesome. And then the next year, we just sort of. We were great all year. We fell apart at the end and we ended up getting beat. You know, Dartmouth beat us. Well, you know, they out thought us out, thunk us or something. I don't know. They figured out to how to like, you know, that was the first time I ever saw the trap. You know, they had like four guys back and one guy in, and we couldn't get out of our zone and they got a couple goals and that was the end of that. That was the end of my college life. But, yeah, and then Minnesota won it that year, too. So, you know, you think of Wisconsin, Minnesota, bu. You know, Bowling Green was in it a couple times, and, you know, they didn't win it, but they were in it. So, you know, if you take Bowling Green, Wisconsin, BU in Minnesota, pretty much that's the Olympic team.

[Yan Stastny]

Wow.

[Ryan Whitney]

And then that's what I wanted to ask about. So after your senior year, works out perfect. 79 and then all 79.80. You play with the US team now.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Yeah. But you know, the fun thing, the amazing thing was, I don't know Biz if you ever played on any of these, but I. I'm. I don't know, Keith. I mean, Ryan, you might have played in, you know those World Cups that you used to get to go to? You know, you get to go like your season one end, and you get invited to go play like in Sweden or Poland or whatever.

[Yan Stastny]

You ever do any of that Ivan Helenka stuff?

[Jack O'Callahan]

Yeah, this was called the World cup of Hockey because back then Europeans didn't play in the NHL, so that was their Stanley Cup. Oh, yeah. A lot of the NHL guys that would go, and there weren't many NHL guys from the United States back then. It was mostly minor league guys that were playing in the American League or something or the International League, but they'd always bring Six, five or four or five or six college kids. I went at the end of my junior year, we went to Prague, which was unbelievable. I didn't stay for the tournament just because they weren't going to pay me any expenses and I wanted to get back to school. So me and Phil Verkota were there. We left. But the next year in 79, after my. The college season is over. Kirby was coaching and he took more college kids than pro guys. It was like half and half. I mean, Joey Mullen was on the team. Jimmy Corn was on the team that, you know, both wanted to play in the Olympic team. You know, Herbie really wanted Joey. I don't think Jimmy was going to be on the Olympic team. Detroit was offering a pretty decent contract, but Joey really wanted to be on the team. But then his, his dad had passed away, so he, he signed a contract. Email. Francis, who knew his dad was GM of the St. Louis Blues at that time. So the cat, Francis, Joey's dad, was the locker room guy for the ranges for like 40 years or 30 years. That was his job. But they lived in Hell's Kitchen, you know, that's where they grew up. And Hell's Kitchen in those days was changing. And the cat was like, joey, you know, you want to go to lake class and finish fifth because I'll give you some money and get your mom out of Hell's Kitchen. So Joey, you know, thinking of his mom, Joey's an amazing, great guy. And so, yeah, I mean, he had to do that, respect that 100. But he definitely would have been one of our teammates. But, yeah, anyway, so. But we spent a month in Moscow, which was incredible in 1979, in the fall, in the spring. So you think about it, I mean, it was like the, you know, the Berlin Wall was up. I mean, it was, you know, people are trading jeans and rubles and, and there's all this side stuff going on over there and the KGB's like following us around and guys are stealing samovars, these, you know, pre revolutionary, like tea sets that are, you know, they're like national treasures. And we're paying people off so they don't go through our luggage. Not me, but the OLA guys. It was like, what an experience, you know, And Brezhnev was the premier of the, of the Soviet Union. Then. He came to every Russian game and the real Russians were there. They won it. Of course, they killed everybody. But Brezia came to every game. And when he was there, they were Russian soldiers in the rink with, around the Rink, like, between the stand, starting in the glass with their backs to the. To the game with freaking AK47s in full gear, you know, like, all that stuff. The boots.

[Ryan Whitney]

Watching the crowd, you're saying?

[Jack O'Callahan]

Watching the crowd? Yeah, it was unbelievable, man. And there's a great story. Well, I get thousand stories, but anyway, it was really fun.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, that's what we're here for.

[Biz Nasty]

Going, buddy.

[Yan Stastny]

It's a story time.

[Biz Nasty]

Keep going.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Story time with.

[Ryan Whitney]

We're sitting at the dugout.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Yeah, we're sitting at the dugout. Yeah. You guys would be buying drinks and tipping me, though.

[Yan Stastny]

Oh, yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

No.

[Jack O'Callahan]

So here's the funny story. So I got a buddy of mine goes to get his, like, knee done, and he's a friend of mine. I grew up with the Charleston. I mean, our parents grew up together. And then he. And, you know, whatever. We're all the same age.

[Ryan Whitney]

His.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Anyway, he passed away. He's a great guy, Annie Lavalle. But Andy's going to get his knee done. He's going to see Dr. Bert Zarins, who was the Bruins orthopedic guy. He was part of our team in 79. And Bert's got this behind his desk. He's got this Russian, like, soldier's belt, the gold belt with the star, the sickle and all this. And Andy's like, where'd you get that? What is it? He goes, oh, that's a Russian soldier's belt. He goes, where the hell did you get that? He goes, well, you ever hear this guy, Jack O. Callahan? And he goes, yeah. Like, I grew up across the street with his grandmother, and he hangs out my brother Bobby. And. And anyway, so the story was, we're on the bus, and there's Russian soldiers out there with his gun, right? And Bert's like, God, I really want that belt. And I'm like, you know, I'm like, what am I, 22 even? I go, you want that belt? I'll go get the belt. So I grab a hockey stick and I go over the guy, you know, and this is like, he could get shot for this. And I. I show him this coho. And I go. I point because I can't communicate. I go. I point to the coho. I go like this. He's like, yeah. And I go, I want your belt. And he's like, horrified. He goes, no way. I go. And I start turning around. He goes, whoa, whoa. And he goes. He points to his boots. They're like this long, right? Big leather boots. He goes. He's like, he'll Give me his boots. But not his belt. I want your boots. I want your belt. So finally, he looks around, wheels off his belt, gives me the belt, I give him the stick, I go on the bus, I toss the belt to Burt Bert's like, oh, what? I'm like, whatever, man. Now you got a belt. That was rusher in 79. It was unbelievable for a Coho.

[Biz Nasty]

So obviously, obviously, he brought more college guys, assuming that he could bring you in the next year.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Yeah, you know, biz, I'll tell you, you're 100, right? So, because he was coaching the Olympic team and he wanted to get a look at guys. I mean, he didn't know me. He knew all the Minnesota guys. And, you know, he, he, I think Jimmy Craig was on the team. Me, Joey Mullen from bc, you know, he had a bunch of Minnesota guys that ended up on the team that I met that, you know, that year. I think Rob Mcclanahan was my roommate on that trip. Mark Johnson was on the trip, you know, six or seven other Minnesota guys. He really wanted to, you know, see what we're like, right? So, yeah. And then I don't know what I, I know what I did right over there that made him like me. It was interesting, a very interesting Herbie story. But coming up, coming home from that, you know, my agent at the time was Bob Murray, you know, who was. You guys probably know, you Boston guys. I was like his first client. He was my defense coach at BU when he was getting his law degree at Suffolk, and he graduated. When I grad, he graduated law school, and I graduated undergrad. Anyhow. Yeah, Bobby called me in and told me he talked to Herb, and Herb said, you know, he's kind of guaranteeing me a spot in the team, and they'll start giving us some expense money and this and that. And, you know, he said he could cut me in the last before the game start, but I'm going to play the 60 games. He won't cut me until then. You know, hopefully he can keep me if I, if I play well. So, so anyway, I did something right over there, and I don't know what it was. I don't think I played very well. But this is the thing about Herbie that is very interesting. One of the reasons why, going into that, I, he just surprised me, you know, I, I, I just didn't see it coming. But he was a very astute guy as far as players and, and team building and, you know, sort of the, not, not the, you know, not the power play, you Know, penalty killing, face off kind of stuff, but the locker room, you know, on the ice, like the team building and the win, the winning culture that a person has. And. And that's what he liked about me. You know, I. I asked Bobby Murray, I said, well, I can't believe he said that. He's going to keep me on the team. I mean, I didn't think I played that great. You know, the end of my senior year stunk, and, I don't know, I go, what did he did. He liked the way I played. I didn't really get a lot of points. You know, whatever. He goes, no, Jack, we didn't talk about any of that. He said he just really likes the way you compete. Team first guy all the time. You're positive, you know, you're competitive, you're out there all the time. You're sticking up for your teammates, you're playing hard. You go, he knows you're a good hockey player, but he really wants you on that team because of you as a person as much as anything. And when Bobby told me that that was probably in May or June, probably of 79, and I was just like, wow, I gotta give this guy a chance, you know, because I didn't know him. I only had that one. The only time we played Minnesota, my whole college career was my freshman year in that one game when. When the bench is clear. I never saw them again. So, anyway, that was my first experience, really, with herbie playing in 79. And then having that feedback from him just caused me to, like, take a step back and say, okay, this guy's different. I got to give him a chance. And it turned out, I mean, I really liked the guy a lot. He was. I love him as a coach. He was hard. He pushed us. But, I mean, I love getting pushed. I learned how to train. I learned how to, you know, work off the ice. I learned about fitness. I mean, not just, like, you know, doing curls and, you know, bet, you know, shoulders and bench presses. I'm talking about speed, power, you know, explosiveness. Stuff that no one was, you know, while the Russians were doing it back then. And the Swedes and the Finns and those guys and the Czechs, but no one in North America was doing it. North American guys are drinking Budweisers and smoking Marlboros.

[Yan Stastny]

So obviously you.

[Jack O'Callahan]

I said, in with that, too, though.

[Yan Stastny]

Yeah, well, obviously you meant that or he meant that, because you. Unless it's made up in the movie, you were. You got hurt in that last game against the Russians before The Olympics started, so you didn't even play in any of the prelim games, but he kept.

[Jack O'Callahan]

You on the Russian. You know, it's funny because, you see, everybody thinks the movie's the reality, right? But, yeah, I actually only missed two games.

[Yan Stastny]

Okay?

[Jack O'Callahan]

I missed the first two and played the next five. But I wasn't playing as much as I would normally would play. Because I was playing. I mean, I. You know, when I went to the Blackhawks, they looked at my knee, I was like, you can't play. They sent me back to. Back to Boston, but, you know, I didn't play as much. But I played five games and missed two. But, you know, it's not as dramatic in the movie, like, coming back against the Russians, you know, the salt.

[Ryan Whitney]

The salt and pepper in the movie is one thing. You gotta. You gotta create a film. But I. I do know from the documentaries and everything about the one. The. The one bag skate that's in the movie, I think you guys tied Norway or something. Yeah. And then the lights went out. How many. How many Herbies, as they call it? Like, how long were you guys out there? That.

[Jack O'Callahan]

So, you know, I wasn't out there for it. I gotta tell you. I missed the whole thing.

[Yan Stastny]

It was awesome. That's huge.

[Jack O'Callahan]

We had. We had 26 guys. So think about. We had three goalies and five lines, right? Tony dressed 20. We had six guys out every night. One goalie, two D, three forwards. And we knew who was out. Like, we were playing, like, say, 10 games over there or 12 games. And, like, I knew that. I knew the two games I wasn't going to be playing. Everybody knew. So I wasn't in the game. The three. Three tie. And so I come down after the game. You know, we're in street clothes and. And Craig Patrick's there, and he's like. He's telling all the guys. You know, everybody's kind of like, we. This is like the last two games after a three week, you know, dragging our equipment and buses all around freaking, you know, Scandinavia. And, you know, we're kind of. We're just wiped out, but we just laid a big egg that night. So anyway, Craig Patrick's like, you guys, he's. He wants you back at the bench. And the guy's like, what are you talking about? He's like, he's not done. He's. Go back and talk to him. He's not in a good mood. And I looked at Craig and I.

[Yan Stastny]

Go, what's going on?

[Jack O'Callahan]

He goes, he's gonna skate the crap. Out of him. And I go, all right, so we'll go put our stuff on. You know, we'll go with them. Like, come on, guys, let's go put our stuff on. Because if, you know, if they're going to get beat up, we got to get beat.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Jack O'Callahan]

And Craig's like, nah, nah, don't do that. He goes, just go over to the bench. If he wants you to do that, he'll tell you. Just let him see you over there and stay out of his way. So I got to watch the whole thing, and that's kind of how the director of the movie knew about it, because he asked me about some other stuff, and I told him, oh, yeah, Skating in the dark. And then he's like, what's that all about? So I told him that whole story. He put it in the movie. But they were out there for 45 minutes.

[Ryan Whitney]

Whoa. Okay.

[Jack O'Callahan]

And they're doing, you know what they're doing, right? You know, I mean, from the goal line, right? Blue back, red back, blue back down and back, right, 45.

[Biz Nasty]

I would assume there wasn't one puck on the ice.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, no.

[Jack O'Callahan]

It was after a game. There's no pucks. No pucks.

[Ryan Whitney]

There's no light. And he was like.

[Jack O'Callahan]

He was in a bad mood, man. I was standing right next to him like this, going like, oh, my God.

[Yan Stastny]

You like these guys.

[Jack O'Callahan]

The worst thing about all of this. And then it was over. You know, he finally let us off the ice, and it wasn't because Arizoni said, I believe in the usa. I never heard that, you know, but anyhow, it looked good in the movie, but anyhow, so he finally lets the guys off the ice, and it was dark. The guy had turned the lights out. That really happened because he wanted to get home. And we play the same team again the next morning, we beat him, like, 9:1. Okay, so we're sitting there after the locker room and go, man, we just totally screwed ourselves because now he thinks that works. Yes.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yes.

[Jack O'Callahan]

And I'll tell you something right now. If that was the hardest thing we ever did the whole year, it wasn't as hard as the practice he put us through on the Saturday between the Russian game and the Finland game. That was our.

[Ryan Whitney]

After you beat Russia, and. And then. And it's so funny that so many people out there think that was the gold medal game. It's like, no, no, no. They had one more. So he bagged you that game. I mean, that practice, you didn't even.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Talk to us either. He was just. He had The. He had the grimace on, man, and he was like, you know, and we're like, what is going on? Right? But, yeah, he called. That's when he called us again. He's like, you know, he. Because he was. Again, he was a great coach, man. He just. He just knew it. Like, he knew the. The natural progression of beating the Russians and all this. And like, we were in the. We were up here, so we didn't really know what was going on around the country for the most part. And. But he was like, these guys are going to get cocky, and they're going to go out and they're going to lose to Finland, and they're going to take it to their graves that they weren't prepared for this game. And he made sure that he brought us back down to earth, so we didn't really have time to pat ourselves on the back and tell ourselves how great we are, because we just beat the Russians. He really did center us and get us back to kind of ground zero so that we could focus on filling. And then, you know, we ended up put down, like, 2 to 1 going to the third period against Finland. So fortunately. But I gotta. That's the other thing I'll say about this team I was on, man. These guys are great guys. We are really good hockey team. Great players, and we were really cohesive as a team. You got great goaltending. But that last 20 minutes we played against Finland, you. If you ever want to, you know, again, it's. It's the greatest 20 minutes we played in nine months, man. We just. Oh, we blew their doors off in 20 minutes. And, yeah, it was. At least. Sometimes it comes up and we'll talk about it. Guys will just sit there and kind of shake their heads. You just go like, man, that was. What a period.

[Biz Nasty]

So it was all. All on the same page. All. All looking towards one goal. Now, is it true that the games weren't aired live? Like, there was a delay.

[Jack O'Callahan]

So, you know, I'll tell you. I mean, you know, there's. There's truth to that.

[G]

But.

[Jack O'Callahan]

But everything was on tv, you know, because again, it's. It's east coast time, right? So that was the beauty of it. I mean, that's why I wanted to play in this Olympics, and I wanted to play in the Olympics and then go to business school. That was my plan, a law school or something like that. And I ended up, you know, signing with the Hawks and playing for the next 10 years. I mean, and. But anyway, every game, like, was on, you know, the the nightly news would come on at six and then the Olympics would come on at seven. And they show Olympics every night. And they were showing our games and highlights and stuff. And it was every night, so it was on prime time. It was awesome. And then, you know how these tournaments are set up, right? They're set up far in advance where they go, okay, on Friday, the winner of pool A is going to play the second place team in pool B at 4 o'.

[Yan Stastny]

Clock.

[Jack O'Callahan]

And you know, they'll play at 7 o'.

[Yan Stastny]

Clock.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Right. So it's preset. And the way it worked out, we were second place in this pool. Russia was first. And that game was scheduled for 4o'. Clock. So ABC, I guess, went to the Russian Federation and offered them, you know, $1979. A lot of. A lot of money. Like million or $2, you know, which was a lot of dough back then. Still a lot of dough, but it was a real lot of dough back then. And the Russians, because we had already said, we're not going to the Summer Games in Moscow. So there's a lot of bad blood between the Russians and the Americans, you know, for that reason, but for a million other reasons. And they basically said, no way, we're not doing it. So they would not agree to change, flip the games. And. Which was great because we played at 4 o'.

[Ryan Whitney]

Clock.

[Jack O'Callahan]

I mean, it was just a game. And you know. Yeah, the ABC said, well, we could show it live at 4 o', clock, but then we got to rearrange, you know, you know, the soap operas and everything else that we got. So we don't want to do that. We'll just piss people off. You know, if they can't watch like, you know, One Life to Live or.

[Ryan Whitney]

Something, they're gonna get smoked anyways.

[Jack O'Callahan]

And that was the thing. They're probably gonna lose 10 to nothing, maybe 20 to nothing.

[Yan Stastny]

But Nancy's on F430, so they said.

[Jack O'Callahan]

We'Ll just show it. We'll just show highlights later.

[Biz Nasty]

And then we beat I Love Lucy reruns instead of you guys.

[Jack O'Callahan]

It weren't reruns back then, buddy. Hey, so Jack Hogan's Heroes, that was like real time stuff.

[Ryan Whitney]

I, I gotta, I gotta ask about the locker room after the Madison Square Garden game where, based on the movie, it was kind of added a little late that they were playing them. I don't know if that was fake or. Craig Packard says, we're playing the Russians right before.

[Biz Nasty]

Before.

[Ryan Whitney]

And, and it's 10, two.

[Jack O'Callahan]

We knew we were playing on all year okay.

[Ryan Whitney]

All right. So that's part of the movie, but, yeah, after the game, like, what are you guys thinking? Like, oh, my God.

[Jack O'Callahan]

I was thinking, like, how am I going to walk out of here because I can't stand up? So I wasn't really part of the locker room after that, but guys definitely were. You know, look, you guys have all been there. You know, you just get your ass kicked, and you. You know, you're. You know, we played hard. We're good. You know, we. But, you know, we just got smoked. You know how you feel, and you just go, like. You know, you feel terrible, and you just kind of look around and go, oh, well, you know, glad that's over with. And then you kind of dust yourself off. And we left and saw our parents, and a lot of people were there. And then we just got on a plane and we flew back up to La Placid and got ready for the Olympics.

[Ryan Whitney]

I mean, it was a discussion about the team.

[Jack O'Callahan]

The Russians, they. They should have beat us. They could have beat us, and they could have been 20 to nothing. I mean, they were. They were that good. And, you know, we got a chance to see them. I don't know. You can't. Look, you guys have all. All you guys played a ton of hockey, you know, as did I. You know, I mean, you lose a game, it sucks. You kind of think about it for 10 minutes, you kind of refocus, and you think about what. What we're doing tomorrow, right? Because you can't get caught up in something like that. And then we had a game against Sweden in. I mean, SAT on Tuesday in three days. So we had to get ready for that. And that was. That was. At that point, our exhibition season was done. Now the real game start. So it was easy for us to refocus against Sweden, but again, Herbie pulled another one in the locker room. Robbie McClanahan. Robbie got banged up pretty good in the first period. Ended up with a Charlie Horse. I mean, he couldn't even bend his leg. And, you know, the doctor's like, you're done. And then Herbie did come in the locker room. That's in the movie. That's real.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, wow.

[Jack O'Callahan]

And Herbie came in the locker room, man, and just went at him like. And that was one of his. One of his guys. I mean, Robbie had played for him for three years. And Herbie tore an old man. And I'm standing there on crutches. I'm like, oh, my God, what's going on with these Minnesota guys? I thought they liked each other. It was unbelievable. And, you know, and. And Robbie lost it, and Herbie's losing it, and the locker room was like, what is. You know, so that was crazy. And I. I just kind of. I'm standing up, so I kind of got in the middle, you know, like, get out. You know, so he. He got out of the locker room, and the place was really. It was intense. And then, I don't know, man. Like, Herby guy's a thinker, right? He got us going. He kind of brought us back. And all of a sudden, we went out and our intensity changed and our focus changed, and we kept that focus the rest of that focus and intensity the rest of the way through. And, you know, it's like he. He sensed that he needed to come in here and basically blow up the locker room to get us, you know, get us focused again. And he did the same thing. Like I said, after we beat the Russians in that practice on Saturday, before the Finland game, the guy was a. The guy. I. I've heard later. Later in life, I heard that. I guess he was like a psychology major in college, and. And I think he paid a lot of. A lot of attention to that, you know, that psychology of the athlete and the motivational side. I mean, he's a very thoughtful, kind of, you know, introverted, thoughtful guy. He really was.

[Ryan Whitney]

And. And for people who don't know, he. I think he was the last cut of the 1960 team that won it. And then, you know, he cut Ralph Cox, and that was in the movie. And just, you know, that's. That's so tough.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Jack Hughes, too. Oh, Ralphie and Jack were the last few guys. They were both there.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, yeah.

[Jack O'Callahan]

You know, you can't forget about Jack. I mean, Jack was a great hockey player at Harvard, and he grew up in Somerville, played at Malden Catholic, you know, one state championships. A great hockey player. And, you know, Jack went to Harvard, and so does brother George, another great hockey player. George was awesome. And, you know, I mean, when Herbie didn't make the team in 60, it was because Billy Clary, Harvard guy, Harvard guy, kind of left, put the team, like, two weeks in front of, I guess, Squaw Valley and Jack Riley and the coaches like that. We need to get him back. And they called Billy and he's like, well, I don't know. I kind of miss my family. I'll tell you, if you want me to come back, I'm just lonely. You gotta bring my. My twin brother Bobby and put him on the team. So they're like, well, we gotta get Billy. Billy's our best player. Okay, well, I guess we gotta put Bobby. He's a good player, too, but I guess we gotta put Bobby on the team. But now we gotta get rid of somebody. See you later, Herbie. And then maybe.

[Ryan Whitney]

Tell me if this is true, Jack. If this is true. I believe the story is that when US won in 1960, Herbie's sitting there with his dad, and his dad said.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Yeah, you know, who knows? I.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay. His dad said, I guess they cut the right guy.

[Jack O'Callahan]

It's a good story.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's a good story.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Yeah. Whether or not that really happened, I mean.

[Ryan Whitney]

Hey, nice, dad.

[Biz Nasty]

I thought you were going to tell me something.

[Yan Stastny]

My dad. My dad would have said the same thing.

[Biz Nasty]

The way you looked at me when I thought you were going to come hit me with, like, an inspiring quote or something.

[Jack O'Callahan]

It's like, all right, yeah, whatever.

[Biz Nasty]

To quickly maybe dumb it down for the younger audience that are watching here. And by the way, the.

[Ryan Whitney]

The.

[Biz Nasty]

The whole story just dropped on Netflix. Netflix. What's the name of it? G. The. Like the.

[Ryan Whitney]

The.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Yeah, the boys of 80 or something. Yeah, I haven't. I mean, I've seen it. I haven't seen, like, the Netflix final final, but I mean, I saw the, you know, the run up to it. I mean, they. They actually let our team kind of. We didn't get involved in it, but they, you know, we. We got a little committee of guys. They're pretty much all. A lot of Minnesota guys on it, and they just wanted to get a look at it before and maybe have some comments. So they just wanted to make sure that, you know, the movie wasn't all about the Boston guys. Again, like, the move, like, can you.

[Biz Nasty]

Go through, like, each game, like, right now just rifle off, like, just, like, quickly, like, who you beat? First game, second game, third game.

[Jack O'Callahan]

We play Sweden again, first night. So. So the Olympics opening ceremony was, like, on a Wednesday. We play the day before the Olympics opened. We played on Tuesday night. So we play Sweden with. Down late. Down late. Two to one. Billy Baker scores. Makes it two, two. And we finished in a tie.

[Ryan Whitney]

That was a big tie, right?

[Biz Nasty]

Big tie.

[Jack O'Callahan]

One point each. We each get two goals for two goals against. And so all that stuff was important back then. Goals for goals against in points. So the next night, we play the Checks. I mean, Finland. I mean, Sweden. Kelly Lindbergh was a goalie. You know, they had several guys that ended up in the NHL, you know, once they started letting Europeans. And we play the Checks the next night they got like freaking three Stasley brothers out there, plus other guys. I mean, really great players, and they were the second best team in the world. But the, you know, Dominic Hasek was still kind of young then, so he wasn't on the team, thank God. And their goalie was a little ish. And we blew their doors off 7 to 2. Now that was Thursday night. So Sweden, Tuesday, opening ceremonies, Wednesday checks Thursday. So we come out of that game seven, like seven to two, I think. So we go seven goals, four, two goals, four. Nine goals, four, four goals against. Right. That stuff matters. And we get the two points. So then we played. I think we. The next three games we play were Romania, Norway. We who we had a payback because they made us. We. We tied that game against them seven months prior. It was like Romania, Norway, West Germany, West. And we had beat those teams pretty, pretty well. But West Germany was going to be a tough game because they were gritty. You know, they were Germans. I mean, they play hard at everything they do. They're competitive, they're tough. So we actually beat them. I don't know what the score was. Maybe 4, 5 to 2 or something like that. So because of that, you know, we end up with four wins, eight, eight points, one tie, nine points and the go. And so did Sweden because they won. They won all their other games too, after our tie, but they had a better goal differential, which put us in second place in our pool, put Sweden in first, which means we play the first place team in the other bracket, which was. The three teams on the other side that were really good were Finland, Russia and Canada. And Canada was really good. If they had had the gut and the goaltending that we got, you know, they might have. They might have. You know, they might have beat the Russians in the Fins. I mean, they, you know, Glenn Anderson was on their team and they had a lot of. Any guys just like us. They had a lot of guys, probably more guys than us that actually played in the NHL. So anyway, they got booted out. We had to play the Soviets on Friday, Finland played Sweden and again we beat the Soviets. We get two points because the points still run. They. Everything still runs.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, yeah.

[Jack O'Callahan]

So we get two points and now we're at like, you know, we had nine, now we're 11. The Russians had 10, so they stay at 10. Sweden beat Finland, so Sweden has 11. We're tied with Sweden, and Sweden has a tiebreaker.

[Ryan Whitney]

So now we got. You need Russia to win. Oh, my God.

[Jack O'Callahan]

We get to Play Finland. If Sweden beats Russia, we win the silver.

[Yan Stastny]

Oh, my God.

[Ryan Whitney]

Was that game before you or after?

[Jack O'Callahan]

On, on, on Sunday? It was after our game.

[Yan Stastny]

Wow.

[Biz Nasty]

So things had to go down still. Like they.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Actually, it was after our game because I remember we had time between our game and the closing ceremonies. And I also remember our game was like 11 o' clock in the morning because I used to. I've heard all these stories about how, you know, in, in the churches all around the country, you know, the sermons were like four seconds. You know, it's like, bless me, Father. You know, they give the blessing, go home and watch the hockey game. That was what the, that was what mass was all about back then. It was a five minute mass because the game starts in 10 minutes, you know, so luck.

[Biz Nasty]

Luckily for you guys, the Russians came to play that next game.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Yeah, well, they came to play against us too. Believe me, that game wasn't easy. But I mean, I'm sure they were a little, a little aggravated and they didn't want to go home with nothing. So they, I think they went out and beat up on Sweden pretty good.

[Biz Nasty]

So let's get to it now. Like, like going into that game against Russia was like the, the speech, like just kind of, I guess, take us through the whole thing.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Yeah, the Russian game.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah.

[Jack O'Callahan]

I mean, I don't know. What do you want to know? It was a tough game and we were, you know, we scored. It's like that's. We were down one, we tied. We down one, we tied it one one. We go down two to one. And then I'll tell you the crazy thing was, and I remember seeing this and I, I else saw it. I kind of saw it. I noticed it first because we scored with a second. Like there was no time on the clock in the first period. Mark Johnson scored to tie it. And it was almost like, you know, Davy Christian put the press, brought the puck up ice, like 2 seconds, 3 seconds, 2. And he fired it in on Trak and TR just kicked the rebound straight out because there's like no time on the clock. And Mark Johnson, who's a amazing hockey player, just kind of busted in like everybody, the Russians got a little casual, you know, late period's over, and he got the rebound and made a little move and beat TR to tie the game. And then it goes, the buzzer goes off. And so they all, the Russians all leave the ice, they think the period's over. And I'm thinking, and you guys know, period can't end on a goal because if that means there's. Even if there's a quarter second left, you still got to have the face off and then you can blow the buzzer.

[Ryan Whitney]

Right?

[Jack O'Callahan]

You guys know that, right? Yeah, yeah. It has to be. You have to even. It's a current. You could just send out a center. You don't. I mean, it's because he's going to drop the puck on this game. The period's over. So anyway, I noticed that when they had to go in and get the Russians and bring them back on the ice, so they only sent six guys out, they sent Michigan out in net. So I look down and I go, like, that's weird. If they put Michigan in, I mean, why. And everybody's like, well, maybe Trick had already taken his stuff off. I go, ah, I don't think so. Because if a goalie's in the game, it's his game and you don't take him out, even if it's for a half a second. I mean.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yep.

[Jack O'Callahan]

And it just kind of, it struck me as odd. And then when they came out in the second period, Trajack was on the bench and Michigan was a net.

[Yan Stastny]

Now.

[Biz Nasty]

Holy.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Now Michigan had just shut out the NHL All Stars 6 to nothing about a month, two months prior to that in Madison Square Garden. You know, I mean, like Bobby or and Gila Fleur and dominated them. Yeah, six nothing. They beat him. And Michigan was in net and it was the rubber game of a three game series. So Michigan could play. He was a good goalie, but. And I think the coach was, you know, trying to wake his team up. You know, I just pulled trade Jack. So anyhow, yeah, Michigan played and he played great. But the second period, man, we were hanging off a dear life. I mean, they came at us with everything and we just gave up a goal. And you know, Jimmy played great and we played pretty well. I mean, we didn't give him a lot of rebounds. You know, that's the one thing we were good at. And they had a lot of shots though. They outshot us a ton in the second period. And then all of a sudden we're down three to two. Yeah. Going into the third, we're only down a goal. And I mean that was kind of something that we, we knew we couldn't get down. You know, you get down two or three against them, before you know it, you're down six. So it was close. And we, you know, a 20 minute game. And we had trained all year for that game. Like I said, we were so physically fit, strong, you know, Fast, strong, powerful, cohesive unit. And we went on the third period, I was like, hey, we got 20 minutes. And when. When we. I think. I don't know who tied it may have been Mark Johnson. And then Rizzy. Only score with 10 minutes left, and it was like, holy, what, three against the Russians, man. So anyhow, it was pretty awesome, but it was a long 10 minutes. Everybody's talked about that, but I. I looked up And I saw 10, you know, 1 0, you know, 0, 0. I was like, damn, 10 minutes.

[Ryan Whitney]

Wow.

[Jack O'Callahan]

And they. They tried. They came at us. They came at us as hard as they could, but we were like, they would wear. They've never played against a team like us that didn't wilt in the third period. And that's all because Herbie Brooks made sure that if we're going to lose a game, it's not because we're not fit. You know, we're going to lose because the other team's better, not because they wore us down. And. And that was clear to us in, I mean, in Lake Placid In August of 1979, when we were running up and down the hill every, you know, five times a day after we skated for an hour, 25 minutes. So, yeah, they. They came at us with everything. They threw everything at us. We didn't break, man.

[Ryan Whitney]

You had the other game. So, you know, you're playing, you practice, you play that game after the Finland game and Sweden loses, did you understand, like, what this was going to mean for the rest of your life? Did you understand what it meant to the country? Or was it like almost a week later, you're like, holy. It's kind of hitting all you guys.

[Yan Stastny]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

What actually happened?

[Jack O'Callahan]

You know, I mean, again, so it's so funny.

[Biz Nasty]

The.

[Jack O'Callahan]

It's a great question. I mean, the news we got up here were two day old New York Posts. So think about it. They would print the freaking New York Post in New York City. Put them on buses or whatever they do, you know, trucks, and they would truck it north and they are all over the place, and they'd be, you know, dropping them off so up here. I mean, they couldn't even get near this place. And so we'd get New York Post two days later, and then they had an Olympic daily bulletin that was like real news, but that was just about, like, what's going on, you know, Olympic stuff like skiing and, you know, biathlon illusion and, you know, bobs and all that stuff. So, yeah, we. We didn't really know. We were watching A little TV and everybody was obviously really excited. The games are great. You know, the fans were wild. It was awesome. Really excited here in this little town of Lake Placid. But you know, when we. Sunday night and everything after we beat the Fins and we went on go get our medals and we're hanging around here and you know, walk around, you know, drinking champagne and it was. But the, the closing ceremonies would, would there and you know, a lot of people had left. The town was relatively quiet so, you know, kind of get back to where we were staying.

[G]

We were.

[Jack O'Callahan]

I was in a trailer in like a double wide in the Village, you.

[Ryan Whitney]

Know, same as Italy this year.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Oh yeah, yeah. But they're very, you know, they were like, they were pretty nice. And I had. My roommates were Mark Johnson and Robbie McClanahan and Eric Strobel. And I, I don't know if they were both all three back there when I got back or maybe one or two of them there and they're like, hey man, pack your stuff. We got to get out of here. The President's sending a plane for us. We're going to the White House.

[Biz Nasty]

Wow.

[Jack O'Callahan]

He's like, they're bringing everybody, you know, because you can't just even back then they would politically correct. I mean, you got to bring like everybody. So you got to send two planes. And so, you know, six, we, 6:30 we got to be out like over there with all of our stuff packed because we're never coming back here. So start packing all your crap up and you know, 6:30, get on a bus, go to Sarac Lake where There are these two giant U.S. united States of America planes sitting out on the tarmac and 3, 000 people, man, going nuts. And it's 7 o' clock in the morning and they have flags and they're like. And we were having a blast because they were all like upstate New York people. They were terrific people. And you know, we were just. Everybody's high fiving and hugging and yeah, it's just awesome. And then we get on the plane and me and Bobby Sewer get on the plane. You know, I go, we got to get a good seat suits. This is Air Force One. So me and Seuss go running up the stairs and we sit like right.

[Ryan Whitney]

On the front and like got these.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Big comfortable seats and we was sitting there. You know, this is like President's plane, right? It's pretty awesome.

[Biz Nasty]

And.

[Jack O'Callahan]

And as we're sitting there, like two girls walked in and they're like, hey man, mind if we sit here? And I. I remember elbowing suits and I go, things are changing, buddy. You know, you'd run into, like, you know, woman from other sports. Like, you know, they. You'd talk to them for a minute or two. They'd say, so what sport do you play? So I play ice hockey. And they'd be like, see you later. You know, he thought we were crazy. But after we won the gold medal, like, I went back as a coach in 83, I think, before they picked the 84 Olympic team, I met Chelios, was on my team, and. And that's what I got to know Chris. But, I mean, these guys are walking around like, you know, these girls are following around. I was like, you guys have no idea.

[Ryan Whitney]

This is because of us.

[Biz Nasty]

Things aren't changing. Just not for me.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Guys, you know, they. Yeah, the hair and the dip in and all this stuff. And I was like, hey, a break. Yeah, it wasn't like that in the 70s. But anyway, so we got no. No news up here. And again, no HBO, no cable, no ESPN0, man. It was like ABC, NBC, CBS, you know, UHF Channel 2, which is public. Public access, like five stations. That's it. And so, yeah, we didn't really know. We got to Saranac Lake. It was crazy. By the time we get into the District in D.C. buses and everything, we're driving in into the District, and people knew we were coming. There's like six buses and people on highways off the side of the road. Cars, park flags, screaming signs. In winter, snow, cold. And then we get into the District, and it's. Multiply that by 30.

[Ryan Whitney]

And now it's hitting you.

[Yan Stastny]

Yeah.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Yeah, man. Now it's. Then it's starting to go like, wow, this is pretty wild. And then, you know, the press came at us, and, you know, and it's all about, like, what do you think? I'm not going to Moscow. What do you think about the Russians in Afghanistan? Leave us alone, man. So, see you later. We need to talk to those guys. It was a pretty great experience being at the White House.

[Biz Nasty]

Give me some chewing rubbers.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Yeah.

[Yan Stastny]

Bill Clinton in the Oval meeting at.

[Jack O'Callahan]

The White House back then was. It was amazing. It was the first time a president had ever invited a sports team to the White House. It happens all the time now. That was the first time. It was amazing. Meeting the President, you know, his staff, and then, you know, going back to Boston after that. You know, Kevin White was the mayor of Boston. He sent the limo for me. You know, it's pretty cool because, you know, when it Gets right down to it. You know, I know you, a couple Boston guys there. When it gets right down to it, there were four of us from Massachusetts. There's only one guy from Boston.

[G]

Yeah.

[Jack O'Callahan]

The other guys are all suburban guys.

[Yan Stastny]

That's right.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Reason he's like, yeah. With him's a suburb.

[Ryan Whitney]

So thanks.

[Yan Stastny]

So thanks to you, NHL, our hockey players got respect to girls, and then the winning teams get to go to the White House. Yeah, yeah, yeah. To you guys. Yep.

[Jack O'Callahan]

You're standing on the shoulders of giants guys.

[Biz Nasty]

Did they put a little bit of salt and pepper on the speech that Herb Brooks gave?

[Yan Stastny]

The one.

[Jack O'Callahan]

The one about, you know, great moments and all that? I don't know. You know, the director kind of came up with it. I mean, I'm sure we talked to a lot of guys. I mean, I had a good relationship with Gavin o'. Connor. You know, you guys would have loved this guy. He's, you know, he's a little younger than me, but he's close to age and played football at UPenn. Grew up in Staten island, you know, family of, like, cops and firemen, plumbers, union guys. Kind of just like me in Boston. And. And we just clicked. And. And, you know, he started asking me questions and everything. Like I said, it's really interesting when Gavin, he said, I hate the script because the script. I go, what do you mean? He goes, I'm rewriting the damn script. I go, well, and we already cut the deal. We're already getting paid, and I don't care what you do. If you can do that. He's on the director. I can do anything I want, so. And he goes, and I played football. I've been an athlete my whole life. And I know that the way teams come together is off the ice and away from the field of play.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Jack O'Callahan]

I need to know what happened off the ice with you guys. I know how you became so close and so tight, like. And I said, well, I don't. Gavin, look, just send me an email. You know, I'll. I'll kind of reply and I'll give you a background. So I. I did that for a lot of things that ended up in the movie. You know, I mean, he actually thanked me at the end of the movie for, you know, giving him all this inside information. You know, I wasn't giving him any bad stuff. It was just that happened that he didn't know about. And then at the end, he asked me, like, what her speech was. What did he say? You know, before the Russian game? And I'm like, so again, I wrote him like five, six pages on my memory of. And I'm sure he did that with other guys, too. But I did. I said to him, I go, I think, you know, what he was trying to say to us is like, we've earned the right to be here. You know, like. And again, we were standing on the shoulders of giants. We really were, because you go back to 1960, they won a gold medal in Squaw Valley. We knew those guys. I mean, you know, I knew those guys. Like, you knew you. Like, you guys know us guys. You know, I knew Jack Crane, Billy Clary, Dickie Rodenheiser, you know, John, Maya Sitch. I mean, I knew those 60 guys, those 1960 guys. I knew this. I knew the guys in 68 and 72, Robbie Fatoric, you know, they were guys from Boston. 76 Olympic team. You know, we knew those guys. You know, they competed hard, they worked hard. It was all building USA Hockey over those years. So we were standing on the shoulders of those guys. You know, they. They set the table for us. And. And Herby knew that because Herby was. He knew the history of USA Hockey and he knew how he was second class citizens, how we were treated in the world of hockey by the Canadian, you know, industrial complex of hockey, for lack of a better word. But so, you know, he was like, hey, man, you deserve to be here. You know, And I sort of tell Gavin all this. I'm sure he talked to other guys, too, and kind of cobbled together that incredible speech that. Yeah, I mean, they put it on T shirts now.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jack O'Callahan]

I think that's what he said. But here's a funny story. You know, we were watching. We're watching the movie together during the. We. They had a big premiere in la, which was going to be awesome. Like red carpet, you know, whatever. Amazing. But it was raining, so it kind of put a damper on that. But they made us. What? They wanted us to watch it. I had already seen it a couple times because I'd been out there, my character was in the movie a lot. So I got to go to a lot of other stuff. When our team was there, we're sitting in there. They wanted us to watch the movie in the morning of the premiere and just us. So it was like 20 of us, maybe 20. Probably everybody was there anyway. And dead silence for two hours now. I saw the Hollywood Foreign Press watch it, and they were screaming and hollering like the game was live. It was crazy. My teammates and I are watching it. Dead silence. And so when it was over, you know, it's a two hour movie, right? Some guys are in it, some guys aren't, whatever, dead quiet. And my character's in a lot. I'm sitting there going like, oh man, yeah, these guys are going to come at me like Wolverines, right? So anyhow, Silky stands up and goes, well, at least they got the ending right. And then, and then Kenny Morrow sees him, he goes, hold on a minute, hold on him. And he, that movie is awesome. It's going to be great. He goes, look, it's two hours. You know, they're going to tell the story and not everybody's going to be in it, you know, but it's a great movie and it just tells our story and everybody's great and Kurt Russell's great and it's just an awesome, awesome movie, guys. We should be really proud of it. Then he goes, I got one question though. He goes, did Herby really say that?

[Biz Nasty]

Between.

[Jack O'Callahan]

No, those are the two comments that stuck out in my head. And yeah, it was pretty funny, but I think that's the gist of it, you know, but we, you know, look again, no cell phones, no video, no audio. Nobody taped it. It's just from memory, you know, and, and you got the message across. And I think the speech that, that Kurt Russell gave in the movie was pretty incredible and powerful. And it was kind of the message Herbie was trying to give us. He was trying to tell us that like we've earned the right to be there. And people have basically hockey players, American hockey players, had laid down their lives, I mean, their hockey lives to give us this opportunity. But we have actually taken it to another level. And the people that like into us, I mean, and we did do that and we did it on them. And I really, one of the things I'm really proud of is that the guys that came after us, right? Ryan, you, you know, Keith, you. I mean, guys like Shelly Ronan, you go through the list, right?

[Biz Nasty]

We just had Kane or break the all time points record.

[Jack O'Callahan]

You know, Patrick Kane, you know, he's on top of those guys. But I mean, that was the, the upswell of USA hockey and American hockey players getting respect not just, you know, in the, in the world, but also, you know, definitely in the National Hockey League. That was back in those days, it was run by Canadians. And the only way an American was going to get a chance is if you go in there and you just start, you know, basically swinging your stick at everybody and fighting your way into the league because they had this, these Canadian general manager in the guys that played junior, they had this idea that, you know, Americans were soft, right? Yeah, soft. So anyway, I mean, yeah, Chris Nyland, he was really soft. Paul Hungry, he was soft. Jimmy, Jimmy Corn had 475 minutes of penalties in 1979. Yeah, you know, he's giving, he's somewhere in Minnesota. I mean, but that was. The only way you could get a chance to play is if you would. You had to go prove that you were, you know, physically, you could stand up to these guys. And you know, I mean, Joey Mall grew up in, you know, Hell's Kitchen. I mean, you think he's afraid of somebody from, you know, Edmonton? I don't think so.

[Ryan Whitney]

So is it true that Ken Morrow won the NCAA title the next year?

[Yan Stastny]

The goal?

[Ryan Whitney]

No, I thought it was 60. Okay, okay. So he went. But he did go gold. And then four years, Cups. Four cups in a row, right?

[Jack O'Callahan]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

For those five years. He was a hell of a player, that guy.

[Jack O'Callahan]

He fit that team so well. You know, they traded for Butch Goring.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Because they had Kenny, you know, Kenny was just a stay at home solid defenseman, strong as an A. It's like he's one of those guys like he has like animal strength. You know, he's not this big, you know, guy, he just tensile strength. You know, he had hands and yeah, he was just strong. You couldn't get around him, you couldn't knock him off the puck. He. And they put him with Dennis Podvan and, and you know, they were defense partners for seven or eight years. I mean he was cat. Kenny was. There's a great hockey player now. It's legendary stuff. Four Stanley Cups and a gold medal. That's a pretty good run.

[Ryan Whitney]

So you played for a long time after and, and very interested in that. But you also mentioned I planned on Olympics and then business school or law school. What did you end up doing? What are you doing now? Post hockey.

[Jack O'Callahan]

So, you know, I went to Chicago and one of when I get drafted by the Hawks and, and I was into my sophomore year and I was, you know, the fourth or fifth round, something like that. And I just, you know, I never going to play in the, in the NHL. I never, I, I didn't even, didn't even like consider it because I, I knew I would never get a chance. So I didn't even think about it. But the thing that popped into my head was wow, if I ever could get there, which would be a pipe dream, you know, I'd really made me like to learn how to trade commodities. Swear to God. First thing that popped in my head.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay.

[Jack O'Callahan]

And so anyway, I end up there. Yeah, I. I end up in Chicago playing for the Blackhawks. And so my first summer out there, My wife at the time wanted a. Was sick of moving back and forth to Boston, you know, like, I was in. Actually in the. In the American League. We won the Calder cup my second year in Moncton, and then I made the team the next year. And so then I. Now she wants to stay in Chicago. I don't know anybody in Chicago. I know how to get to the rink in the airport. That's pretty much it. I don't even know anybody. But I needed to find something to do, like academically or. You know, when I was in Boston, I was taking my real estate license. I would take classes like living up by Marblehead. So I was going to Salem State. I take a couple class, you know, I was always staying because I knew I was going to do something. I was done. And when I went to Chicago, believe it or not, Walter Payton. One night I was having dinner with Walter Payton. And Walter, the only time I ever met the guy, I told him that story I just told you. And he's like, well, I want to get into real estate. But Walter was like, what else you think? And I was like, well, actually trading commodities, but I didn't know where they are. Walter goes, I know where they are. I know people. He goes, would it be okay if I made a phone call for you? So the end of that story is that Walter made a phone call. I had a meeting that was a Saturday night, Had a meeting Monday, Got a job as a runner at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Tuesday, I think it was 1984, in like, June. I had six weeks, and I did that for six weeks. And I loved it. Talk about energy. You know, this is the trading floor back when it was like, you know.

[Ryan Whitney]

Thousands of people like Wolf of Wall.

[Biz Nasty]

Street, elbow bumps between sales.

[Jack O'Callahan]

So I bought. At the end of that experience, I bought a membership down. I borrowed money from different places, took a loan out on my house and. And bought a membership. And I kept it all through the rest of my life playing. And I ended up in New Jersey. And my marriage wasn't going great, so I wanted to kind of get back to Chicago. And my kids were young, and I. I could have kept playing for probably a couple more years, but my kids would have ended up in New York with their mom. And I just couldn't handle that. So I decided, look, it's Time to move on and get into this other world. So at that time, got the kids back, everybody back at Chicago got centered, and I walked into the trading pit in the fall of 1989, and I've been doing that pretty much ever since.

[Ryan Whitney]

And you were a rookie again?

[Jack O'Callahan]

I was a rookie again, man.

[Ryan Whitney]

Wow.

[Biz Nasty]

A little bit more respect on the floor, though. After you win a gold medal and playing the NHL, were you throwing elbows in there?

[Jack O'Callahan]

You know, down there, down there they would say, you know, everybody's. Everybody comes across. Cross is really nice, he said, but, you know, if you had a heart attack and you went down before you hit the floor, they'd have your wallet out of your pocket.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Everybody's like, hey, how you doing? How are the kids? And all of a sudden, they, you know, they. They'd stab you in the eye with a screwdriver for 25 bucks, you know, Believe me, it was very incredibly competitive, and many athletes hist. Had been down there, tried to trade. Had trade. I know Troy Murray went down there. You know, I mean, I kind of worked with. With Matt Sui, who was actually Walter Payton's backup running back. He played at Penn State. A great guy. I remember Wal. I remember taking that around the floor at the Merc. He ended up going over the board of trade, and he ended up trading, like, soybeans or something like that. I was trading stock index futures. But, you know, athletes down there, I mean, all. All walks of life, you know, and, yeah, PhDs and guys that, like, never get out of the seventh grade, you know, and it's. It's just. It was an interesting, incredible experience. So I did that for a couple, three, four years. And then I.

[Ryan Whitney]

We.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Jackie Hughes and I actually was out there also. We started a business that we ran for 25 years. It was called Bean Pot Financial Services. And because Jack and I both, you know, Bean Pot guys, and was something that we had to ourselves, it was funny because no one knew what the hell we were talking about back in those days. And, yeah, 25 years after that now. I work for an asset management firm kind of based in Boston. Our owners are in Boston. I kind of. Mostly the guys that operate the company are in D.C. i get kind of a pretty senior position there doing that about seven, eight years now. And I just kind of work with them and, you know, talk to pension funds and basically try to help the firm raise money and raise awareness. And yeah, I'm a marketing guy. Basically, I'm out talking to people and, you know, begging people for money.

[Biz Nasty]

Jack. I mean, the gold medal is cool, but I would imagine the highlight of your career was winning that Calder cup as a former Caller cup champion. That was probably the pinnacle. Correct.

[Jack O'Callahan]

How great is win of the call to Cup?

[Yan Stastny]

Oh, we have to hear about it every day.

[Biz Nasty]

No, I. I was just. I was in Manchester. Manchester with the Monarchs. But what was it like playing in Canada? You were in New Brunswick, so it.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Was pretty interesting, you know, because I was. Yeah, I was in New Brunswick. And I remember when they were doing the movie Miracle, actually Miracle on Ice, which came out in 1981. And the guy who was cast in my role is. This guy's name was Peter Horton. And so he's calling me from la and I'm on you. You know, I'm on like, like maritime time, right. It's like an hour later than east coast time.

[G]

Right?

[Jack O'Callahan]

So, I mean, if it's 11 o' clock in Boston, it's midnight in Moncton. So this guy's called me from la, trying to get to know me for the role he's doing. And all I know is he was married to Michelle Pfeiffer at the time. So I want to hear, is Michelle there? But it was like I was in the middle of nowhere. But, you know, we had a great coach, we had a great team. A lot of, you know, a couple some veteran guys that had come down. We had, you know, I mean, I. I had a lot of experiences. Even though I was kind of, you know, young in the world of pro hockey. I was, you know, I was old enough to know that no one was going to try to shave me or have. But we just had a great team, good guys, and we just went on a roll, man.

[G]

We just.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Yeah, and when we won that thing, as, you know, biz, nothing like winning. It's the greatest experience in your life. I don't care where you are. Winning beats everything. It really does. It's. And the other thing is, you know, again, in hockey, teams win, right? Players don't win. You got to have good players, but those players don't win championships. The only way you win a championship is you got 20 guys or 25 guys that just give everything to each other, you know, in the locker room, together, whatever. No one cares who scores, who does what. Your egos are out in the parking lot. You play together as a team. And then when it's all said and done and you walk away with that call to cup championship or NCAA Championship or Stanley cup or whatever it is, man, it's so satisfying. And. And, you know, that that's what it took. You know, you had to bury your ego and you had to just like, engage with your teammates and just play for each other and kill for each other, and that's. That's how you win.

[Ryan Whitney]

Well, Jack, thank you so much. This has been. This has been awesome.

[Biz Nasty]

A lot of laughs. Yeah. We have to add you as a fourth chair.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Yeah.

[Yan Stastny]

Yeah. Right here.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Maybe you could teach us about commodities. We're gonna learn to spell the word first, but.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Yeah. I wish I had bought some gold back then and put it in my pocket.

[Yan Stastny]

Gold medal.

[Ryan Whitney]

Jack o'. Callaghan. Legend, guys.

[Jack O'Callahan]

Thank you.

[Ryan Whitney]

Have a great one. Guys, take a moment here. We're going to talk about Kraken this February. Funding your Kraken account could earn you a serious bonus. From February 2nd to March 2nd, Kraken will match 3% of your net deposits capped at $1 million. That's up to 30,000 in bonus value just for moving cash or crypto in Kraken. To join, opt in through the Kraken app and make sure auto earn is turned on when you do. After that, you're in. Just deposit, hold and earn your match. Your bonus lands after the promo ends. Learn more right [e-mail] FDM terms apply, not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss and is offered to US customers, excluding New York and Maine through Payword Interactive Incorporated. Guys, after a long weekend at Penn State, I'm dehydrated. What do I need? Body armor. This episode is brought to you by the drink I need most right now. Body Armor Flash iv. Flash IV is packed with electrolytes delivering faster, longer lasting hydration without any artificial dyes, flavors, or sweeteners. Whether you're training, traveling, or just feeling the heat, or whether you had a big night out and you could chug this body armor Flash iv, right before going to sleep. After a big night out, you're going to wake up feeling better and when you wake up, have another one. And it's going to help you through the day, help you get hydrated once again. And it tastes great. Work hard and hydrate hard with body armor flash IV. Grab it at 7:11. Thank you very much to Jack O'. Callaghan. That was a blast. Getting to hear some stories from him for that long. Pretty cool. He's actually in Lake Placid as well. The other part of that documentary. You see the size of Lake Placid. I've been there too. It's like, I cannot believe the Winter Olympics were here. Just this tiny little Town and what it's turned into. But that was great, boys. I don't know. I don't know. We don't really have much stuff left here. I mean, out on the outline, it does mention that Alex Tuck, when he got his hat trick on Thursday night, It was the 30th hat trick in the month of January. Crazy. According to NHL statistics, that's a new single month record, beating the total of 29 in 1985, when teams average four goals a game. So it's just been an awful.

[Yan Stastny]

I think the goalies are tired. The goalies are tired and gassed, but.

[Ryan Whitney]

Those goalies didn't even have, like, pads on. So it's crazy. And then the Dallas Stars shout out Wyatt Johnson. He has more power play goals in a single season than anyone ever has for Dallas. He got his 18th power play goal already. A guy that easily, I feel like could be on Team Canada and was never really even mentioned once. That's how good. That's how deep that roster is. So when we're back next, the NHL will be officially on Olympic break. We have some exciting things ahead. We have a bunch of streams for the Olympics. We're all going to be together in Florida for about eight, nine days. We have three sandbaggers that we're gonna film, so that content will be coming out after that, and we'll be able to kind of watch some Olympic Games together. Biz, I know you have a. You have a special little studio set up for your Canada Games that you'll be home for, right?

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, the Canadian Hemp here in Scottsdale, Arizona. I got. I got a big flag coming in this week getting installed behind my couch. And then. Yeah, and then. And then another one. Another felt.

[Yan Stastny]

So just hit.

[Ryan Whitney]

Just. Just be hitting a bong. Every Canada goal or shot on percent 100%.

[Biz Nasty]

There's going to be a cloud of smoke about above the Canadian Hempassy come the start of the Olympics. So I'm really happy, really excited. Some people are like, oh, why are you guys not going there? Like, I feel like it's just chaos. And the last thing I want to do now that there's a little break is get on another fight and go muck it up with the. With the Italians who are going to be sitting around not finishing the rink right?

[Ryan Whitney]

So the rink looks good. The rink looks real good right now. I saw a couple videos. I'm like, those guys do work. This is no exaggeration. And G is telling me Chiclets. You will be at Wisconsin this weekend. Perfect. Time I think they've lost like seven in a row so G you're gonna have to turn those guys around Fish says G and I will be at the Wisconsin game on Friday vs. Notre Dame so that's it we will be back to you Friday Game notes Wednesday Merls is for sure still hungover from Penn State the man still be there Saturday morning and he's also a coach of the football team so he might have to get his act together Love everyone for listening thank you so much.

[Biz Nasty]

Thanks Fires fans are going to be bitching about mechan vicecoim at the Olympics that's how stupid they are have a great one have a great one everyone.

[Yan Stastny]

Won't happen again.

[Jack O'Callahan]

It won't happen won't.

[Ryan Whitney]

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

[Jack O'Callahan]

To happen it's going to happen again. Wanna wanna.