Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 631: Featuring Brock Lesnar

Summary

Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 631: Featuring Brock Lesnar

Podcast: Spittin’ Chiclets – Barstool Sports
Date: March 24, 2026
Hosts: Ryan Whitney, Paul Bissonnette (Biz), Rear Admiral, Mike Grinnell
Special Guest: Brock Lesnar

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Episode Overview

This episode is a true variety show: the Chiclets crew delivers their usual irreverent and deep-diving chatter on all things NHL—namely, playoff races, controversies, and player storylines—before welcoming none other than Brock Lesnar for an in-depth interview. Lesnar unpacks his unconventional journey from a South Dakota dairy farm to NCAA wrestling glory, WWE superstardom, UFC championship, and now, hockey dad in Saskatchewan. Expect inside stories, laughs, hard truths about youth sports, and a lot of wisdom from wrestling and fighting’s most intimidating presence.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Chiclets Banter: Updates, Stories, and NHL Rundown

Timestamps: 01:40 – 59:15

• Sandbagger Update & Golf Talk

  • The much-anticipated Toronto Blue Jays Sandbagger golf match is coming up. Hosts joke about their “Blue Jay curse” and share inside stories about past events.
  • [03:00] Funny exchange about 'metal Blue Jay Ambassador jacket' and memorabilia debates.

• NHL Catch-Up: Jerseys, Playoff Races, and Parenting Anecdotes

  • The boys riff on the latest Jersey swaps, including the “Jack Hughes jersey drama” among Whitney’s kids. (Wyatt hiding Ryder’s jersey: “He just wanted to be the only guy wearing it.” – Yancey, [15:15])
  • Parenting shenanigans take up a chunk of the early show, blending sports talk with relatable dad humor.

• Edmonton Oilers Panic Meter

  • Leon Draisaitl’s injury speculation and McDavid’s quotes about coaching lead to a spirited analysis of the Oilers’ chances and internal pressure.
  • [24:10 | McDavid quote via Yancey:] “When you do break [Tampa] down, they got a heck of a goalie to backstop them... That’s a coaching question. You can ask [Coach] Nawber that.”
  • Big debate over whether McDavid’s comments signal cracks in the Oilers’ foundation.

• Kucherov’s Dominance & Best Russian Player Debate

  • The hosts marvel at Nikita Kucherov’s play, comparing his stats to Lemieux and Gretzky.
  • [21:14 | Yancey:] “If he wins the Art Ross this year, that’ll be three in a row... more Art Ross than Crosby, McKinnon, Matthews, and Draisaitl combined.”
  • [22:26 | Biz:] “He reminds me of like a Greg Maddux or a Nikola Jokić—they just slow the game down to their pace.”

• Pacific Division = Chaos

  • Hosts detail the Pacific’s appalling goal differential and mock its “pillow fight” status.
  • [28:06 | Yancey:] “Pacific Division’s coming in at minus 201 [goal differential]. We need every team to finish minus, so we can truly say this is the worst division ever.”
  • Wild card projections: Anaheim, Utah, and Vegas Oilers series potential.

• Comeback Kids: The "Q" Effect

  • [30:06 | Biz:] “They have 23 comeback wins, 10 third period comeback wins … Q has 63 comeback wins since Florida in 1920. … You’re never out of it.”
  • The group ponders if regular-season comeback magic translates to playoff success.

• Suspensions & Player Safety

  • Heated debate on the AJ Greer hit: “That was a joke, dude... I’d have been fine with a ten-game suspension.” – Yancey, [33:04]
  • Reflections on respect in hockey, old vs. new culture, and what bans should look like.

• Playoff Matchups & League Structure

  • First-round favorites, playoff bracket complaints, and what the league gets right and wrong with remote regionals.
  • [41:01 | Yancey:] “He [Bettman] refuses to ever consider switching the playoffs ... The first-round matchups are awesome.”

2. NHL Storylines: East Coast Magic, Emerging Stars, and Hot Takes

Timestamps: 45:20 – 61:19

• Eastern Conference: Red-Hot Races

  • Detroit clinging to a playoff spot, Islanders sneak in with goalie heroics, and the Senators respond to coach call-outs by fighting on the opening draw.
  • "I think they [Ottawa] get in the playoffs … They’re the best team out of those wild card teams.” – Elliot, [53:53]

• Goalie Interference Controversy

  • Multiple recent calls have left the hockey world fuming, with the crew predicting a playoff meltdown over video review.
  • [48:53 | Yancey:] "There will be—if it’s going like this—a goal that offends everybody, and nobody has a clue… meltdown.”

• Emerging Talents & Culture Shifts

  • Montreal’s Caulfield (“Mr. Saturday Night”) praised for his electrifying play and connection with fans.
    • “He’s a short king… Caufield’s on fire, your defense is terrified.” – Keith, [57:21]
  • Bruins fans panic over James Hagens contract/scenario, referencing Cutter Gauthier’s saga.

3. Featured Guest: Brock Lesnar Interview

Timestamps: 77:23 – 139:00+

Growing Up & Mentality

• Lesnar shares his humble beginnings—growing up on a South Dakota dairy farm, cleaning stalls, and learning work ethic:
  • “I milked more cows, I fondled more udders by 18 than you guys ever even thought about.” – Lesnar, [85:15]
• His passion for wrestling is rooted in childhood, not in pro wrestling glitz: “I was a late bloom guy... I wasn’t great at wrestling until college.” – Lesnar, [87:36]

Path to Greatness: Wrestling, WWE, UFC

• Overcame odds—no scholarship, went to junior college, worked blue-collar jobs to train and eat:
  • “You have to put all distractions aside, boys… 1 percenters are different people.” – Lesnar, [93:56]
• WWE found him after his NCAA title, despite him not even watching pro wrestling as a kid.
  • “They put the mic on, turned me into this demolition man...” – Lesnar, [101:11]
• Left WWE at his peak for health and self-discovery: “The paychecks stop coming in but the bills keep coming. I went through living hell.” – Lesnar, [110:41]
• Crashed into the NFL (almost made the Vikings), then reinvented himself into a UFC champion.
  • Stalked Dana White at a UFC event to secure a fight; after losing to Frank Mir, White offered him more fights thanks to huge PPV numbers.

Fatherhood, Hockey, Passing on Lessons

• Moved to Saskatchewan for hunting, farming, and a quieter life:
  • “None of my championships mean anything. My kids are my legacy. In today’s dark-ass world, if you can have good kids, you’ve done something.” – Lesnar, [86:34]
• Reflections on hockey as a “rich man’s game” and systemic problems with youth sports access.
• Admits his sons’ hockey journey is new terrain: “Hockey’s taking us from Saskatchewan to Alberta… The hockey world's crazy. It’s foreign to me.” – Lesnar

Signature Moments & Wisdom

• His iconic chest sword tattoo: “I got that shitface drunk in Scottsdale, Arizona… I felt like my back was against the wall, somebody had a sword at my throat.” – Lesnar, [126:31]
• “Iron sharpens iron” — Lesnar credits surrounding himself with the best and learning from hardship.
• Being the face of the WWE and breaking The Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak: “It was really simple—it’s a business... It was time for Taker to give and for Brock Lesnar to take it.” – Lesnar, [107:06]
• On fighting: “Walking in the Octagon... it takes some brass balls ... I look back and I can’t believe I did it. I want nothing to do with it now.” – Lesnar

Life Now

• Wrestles occasionally, prioritizes being a dad, avoids public attention when with family.
• Motivation: “I want to give back… mentor young people… Sport goes into all different areas of life. You have to win, you gotta be ruthless.”
• Describes his sideline locker room speeches with pride: “Just the love to be in that dressing room brought back so many memories… I almost started crying.” – Lesnar, [137:01]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Oilers’ woes:

  • “This is a disaster. We’re in the worst division hockey’s ever seen right now.” – Yancey, [24:26]

• On Kucherov’s brilliance:

  • “He slows the game down… He’s the class of the league right now.” – Biz, [23:01]

• On suspensions and safety:

  • “I would’ve been fine with a ten-game suspension… It was a fucking joke, dude.” – Yancey, [33:04]

• Brock Lesnar on legacy:

  • “My kids are my legacy… That pumps my tires.” – Lesnar, [86:34]
  • “You gotta want something really bad.” – Lesnar, [130:38]

• On the famous sword tattoo:

  • “I got that tattoo… shitface drunk in Scottsdale… I woke up the next day and was like, what the fuck is this thing?” – Lesnar, [126:31]

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Additional Timestamps for Important Segments

• NHL Playoff Race/Pacific breakdown: 18:13 – 29:20
• Comback Kids–Q’s Teams: 30:06 – 31:47
• Goaltender Interference Debate: 47:20 – 52:44
• Montreal’s Caulfield Phenomenon: 56:09 – 59:15
• Bruins, Hagens, NCAA vs Gauthier drama: 61:47 – 73:59
• Brock Lesnar interview begins: 77:23
• Lesnar on lifestyle, legacy, mentorship: 85:15 – 104:24
• WrestleMania and WWE insights: 106:35 – 108:05
• Final wrap-ups & closing segments: 139:00 – end

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Tone & Style

The episode masterfully bounces between hilarity and hard-edged insight: hilarious hockey dad stories, competitive trash talk, poignant conversations about family and adversity, and behind-the-curtain looks at elite sports. Brock Lesnar’s straight-shooting, earnest tone anchors the latter half, giving listeners a surprisingly raw portrait of a global superstar. The hosts’ ribbing, storytelling, and eye for detail make this a must-listen for both hockey and combat sports fans.

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Useful For

• NHL fans looking for deep playoff analysis, league gossip, and banter
• Combat sports fans eager for Lesnar’s real story—not just the highlight reel
• Parents in youth sports—the episode’s early and Lesnar sections offer hard-won wisdom
• Anyone needing inspiration—Lesnar’s ultimate message: “You gotta want something really bad.”

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Skip the first ads and intros; the real action starts at [01:40]. Brock Lesnar interview begins at [77:23].

Transcript

[Keith]

Hey, Spit and Chiclets listeners.

[Biz]

You could find every episode on Apple

[Brock Lesnar]

Podcasts and Spotify prime members can listen

[Biz]

ad free on Amazon Music.

[Yancey]

Hey, guys, it's Francis. Look, life moves fast. Dating is a tough thing to find time for and to be intentional about. At least so I thought until I found the league. I've found that the people I've met on the league are people I really have a lot more in common with than the people you typically find when you're just aimlessly swiping and scrolling on other dating apps instead of endless searching. I get a curated batch of profiles each day. There's less noise, less back and forth, less flakiness. These are just people I'd actually want to meet, have a conversation with, have a meal with, spend real time with, create that meaningful connection. Join me on the league, download the app and apply today.

[Elliot]

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[Yancey]

It's about giving back.

[Elliot]

I named the brand after my rescue

[Yancey]

dog, Stella, who inspired our mission to

[Elliot]

help more dogs find their forever homes. Every purchase supports animal rescue organizations.

[Yancey]

So when you drink Stella Blue, you're

[Elliot]

not just fueling your day.

[Brock Lesnar]

You.

[Elliot]

You're saving a dog's life.

[Yancey]

Try the new cans today.

[Elliot]

Taste the difference and make a difference.

[Yancey]

All new Stou Blue coffee can lattes

[Elliot]

now [e-mail] or subscribe on Amazon for 10% off.

[Biz]

Me and Ryan have been officially welcomed

[Yancey]

to the jungle that is Bostool Sports.

[Elliot]

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

[Yancey]

Ryan Whitney. Got a pink Whitney out there now.

[Brock Lesnar]

Sandbagger. Get that on.

[Yancey]

Came Yandel the son man. Kate is a full time member. Marley just got from Chris B. Whoa.

[Biz]

We're buzzing right now.

[Yancey]

What is up, everyone? Welcome to episode 631 of the Spit Ch podcast. And the boys have already got the pinkies up. Yes, it's pinkies up. I got people. This won't catch on, buddy. It's caught on. When coach. When coach Jon Gruden.

[Elliot]

Shove it up your ass.

[Yancey]

Yeah, shove my right up your ass. This is pinkies Up. That's Pink Whitney. That's Pink Whitney from New Amsterdam Vodka. So shout out Pink Whitney and shout out Coach Gruden. I don't know if you guys saw, but Coach Gruden, who played in the Pro Am of the Valspar, which is where we. Yes, yes. Where we took on and Patty Maroon. Actually, I got. I got a text from Malasek. He's like, it's not nearly as fun as the day out here with you boys. This program right now with all the golfers trying to get ready. But Coach, I think it was. Was it Friday or Thursday? Let's get my weekend going with just a giant pink Whitney. And you'll see once the video comes out, the guy was. He was raving about the drink. It was just amazing free publicity from a legendary coach. So shout out Coach Gruden. Shout out Pinkies up. And Pink Whitney. And, and I should mention when we talk sandbaggers this week, we got one coming. Finally. All the people have asked, where is the next sandbagger? When are you guys going to drop one? We got the Toronto Blue Jays. We got Ernie Clement, also a member of the United States team at the World Baseball Classic. We got Davis. Schneider. Where's the glasses? Jacked. Got those big old biceps.

[Elliot]

Great putter.

[Keith]

And Nathan Lucas.

[Yancey]

Nathan Lucas Costco.

[Elliot]

Brand Harper, as we were calling.

[Biz]

Yeah. Timu Harper.

[Elliot]

That might.

[Brock Lesnar]

That.

[Elliot]

Hey, that didn't throw him off though. He was nails that whole round. He could drive.

[Yancey]

This is a hell of a match. 2:00 clock Eastern Thursday. So please everyone tune into that. We'll probably be recording right around then too. Right.

[Elliot]

Don't forget about the cameos from o' Shanti and Yamamoto.

[Yancey]

Oh, Shanti. Yes. And we do bring up the fact that biz completely mushed the Toronto Blue Jays game seven showing up there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We talk about it with them. I think they said you're not welcome back at any games moving forward either.

[Biz]

They said any game. That means something. Biz, you are not.

[Elliot]

I'm getting the Blue Jay Ambassador jacket to open the day.

[Yancey]

No, you're getting a metal. A metal version of it. You can put it right next to that ripped up trash can. Wendell Clark. $5,000.

[Elliot]

What are you taught?

[Yancey]

No, it's sick. I'm just.

[Keith]

It's sick.

[Elliot]

I've got. Hey, I have got a little bit of criticism on it online. This thing is unbelievable.

[Yancey]

People have chirped it, buddy.

[Elliot]

It's freaking metal. Metal leaves that are. Are welded together and it makes. It looks like a. It looks like A jersey. Can you not tell? It looks like a jersey.

[Yancey]

Oh, yeah, we can tell that went through a war, but that's kind of what the Leafs we're looking for here.

[Elliot]

What would Wendell do? He'd. He'd crawl for that inch. That's the whole rebrand, buddy. Five years, you wait.

[Biz]

I can't believe that people are hating on that. That's the. That's shocking.

[Elliot]

This thing is. I think it's more so because it's got a big leaf's crest in the middle of it, but that's where all the hate's coming from. But what a beautiful thing. And it's not the only memorabilia I have in my office. I don't know if you noticed. Speaking of pinkies up, look at the pink Chihuahua, man.

[Yancey]

What's. Is that a dog that you had with an ex from 2012?

[Elliot]

What do you mean 2012? I went this weekend on Friday to the Queen's Creek, Queens Creek, Queens Creek rodeo. By the way, I got my teeth done. You guys haven't even mentioned it.

[Yancey]

You know what? I can't tell. I didn't mention it. They look great. So those things are glued. Some Elmer's glue. Boom.

[Elliot]

This. This bridge could have survived Chernobyl. Look at it.

[Yancey]

Yeah, it's been eight years and it

[Elliot]

fell out and then boom, right back in. So shout out to the dentist. So on Friday, I went to this Queens Creek rodeo. Like it's actually a legit good rodeo. They had like every event where, you know, they chase them down, they rope them. The ones where they do not the bull riding, but the horse riding. Yeah, it was like the rope thing that you hold on to and they're bucking, which is weird because more of the guys seem to last on those over like riding a bull.

[Yancey]

But yet I think that's normal. A bull's going to buck way harder

[Biz]

than a horse and a way bigger.

[Elliot]

So. So here. So it was weird because I was Talking to this 10 year old kid who also does it next to me and I was asking him, I said, hey, I said, you know what, what's like harder? And he goes, well, he goes. The, the. The horses are smarter so they can. But then again, I feel like they don't torque or move like the bulls. Like the bulls are very unpredictable, as they say. And another thing too is, it's weird is when you do the, the bull riding, you usually start at a young age and you just stick to bulls. But talking to that kid and his father, they were like, like the bull riding is Kind of, eh. Because it's not realistic, it's not something that would happen or you would ever do. Like no one would ever mount a bull in the wild. Whereas like those bronco buck rider guys, that could fucking happen. You know, you jump on one of them to bring them in and all of a sudden they're going nuts.

[Yancey]

So yeah, yeah, the bucking broncos did that. Is, is he like a pretty legit prospect? Like, is he doing tournaments?

[Elliot]

I don't know. But I got his father's contact. Because, dude, this guy was talking like a, like a countryman. Yan's is laughing, but they're like, he, he's like. He was showing me pictures where they're doing this stuff for fun in like on all these ranches out here. It' five minutes from town. But he's talking to me, dude. And shards of his skull. He's got the skull on every tooth. It's coming. I'm dodging it. Like matrix. Oh yeah. The 10, 10 year old's talking to me, giving her one of these, like just snapping the finger, putting it. He's like, you want one? I'm like, no, I'd be puking. But he, he was, I was asking him. So he's got a horse and he's like, the way he's had a funky accent. So he, he goes, yeah, my horse is Rudy. But it sounded like Groovy. And I was like, groovy? I'm like, what a sick name for a house. I go, you named your horse Groovy?

[Yancey]

And he goes, nah. He goes, ruby, Oh, I thought you were such a saying that.

[Elliot]

Such a pussy. Into my head. I'm like, that is such a sick for a horse. So if I first I told him, I said, when I get my first horse, I'm going to name him Groovy. And just, just based on his reaction.

[Yancey]

So he's like, what'd you wear? What'd you wear a technicolor raincoat to your 40th birthday party? Like, yeah, actually I did. And I got a horse named Groovy.

[Elliot]

Oh, he would have puked at my selection after winning the, the water game, like the water aim game.

[Yancey]

So this was a date?

[Elliot]

No, we, it was a bunch of us, like six of us. We went one out. Not like a, like a one on one. But so then to win the water game, I picked the pink Whitney Chihuahua. I'll pinkies up. And then, and then we. Did you know that one where they have the three cans or three bottles set up and you have to Throw it and knock them all three of them off at once. Where would you like? How many times you think you could do that? Out of 50 times?

[Biz]

50.

[Yancey]

How far away are you?

[Elliot]

Yeah, it's off. How many times you actually think you could do it? 50 out of 50.

[Biz]

Yeah.

[Yancey]

Yeah.

[Biz]

Softball.

[Elliot]

It's like styrofoam.

[Yancey]

That's where they get you.

[Elliot]

It's not that they kind of you on the weight.

[Yancey]

Yep.

[Elliot]

And you have to attack it a certain way. Well, I missed the first two. I tried to go underhand to get the flat angle on it and the guy was kind of having a chuckle. And then I went old school sidearm and I got it, dude.

[Biz]

I mean, the fact that he thinks underhand.

[Elliot]

Freaking banana model.

[Brock Lesnar]

I got the. I got the big Jamaican banana.

[Elliot]

Man.

[Yancey]

If that 10 year old rodeo kid saw you carrying that around of his dad, disgusted. Imagine going.

[Biz]

Imagine going on a date with biz, 40 years old, and he's just schlepping these things around.

[Yancey]

Oh, he's making her carry it, but he won't give her the dog.

[Elliot]

Like it was. I was. I was yelling. Are you not entertained? I was fucking lifting this up like it was a Stanley cup, bro. Are you kidding me?

[Biz]

That thing's incredible.

[Yancey]

That thing is pretty believable. Look at his high eyes he has.

[Elliot]

Yeah, yeah, man. It's the Jamaican banana. Hey, is it Juan?

[Yancey]

Guan Wa Guan, man.

[Elliot]

Wagwan, man, that thing I missed.

[Biz]

Beautiful.

[Yancey]

Jamaica's a phenomenal place.

[Elliot]

The only reason I wanted to record the podcast today was to show you guys that.

[Yancey]

Hey, that thing is like six feet tall.

[Elliot]

Huh? It's huge, buddy. I made one of the girls on the way back sit in the the back of the truck and I put this in a seat belt.

[Brock Lesnar]

You're alive.

[Elliot]

She was think I'm kid. She was on the roof rack and I got this thing riding shotgun. I put the seat belt on.

[Biz]

He's in the trailer with Groovy,

[Elliot]

buddy.

[Yancey]

Oh, what a we.

[Elliot]

Groovy is an unbelievable name for a horse.

[Brock Lesnar]

Yeah.

[Yancey]

And down the stretch, Groovy comes. I could see it. Yeah, I mean, you might get a

[Elliot]

couple like weird Jamaican banana on the finish line.

[Brock Lesnar]

Come on.

[Elliot]

Groovy.

[Brock Lesnar]

Oh, fuck.

[Yancey]

Dude, that thing is way cooler than the Wendell Clark thing. Oh, yeah. By a million. By a million.

[Elliot]

Hey, they're. They're buddies, buddy. They're. They hang out.

[Biz]

No, they're not.

[Elliot]

Stop trying to divide us.

[Biz]

No, put him on your desk.

[Yancey]

See if he can sit up on your desk so we can get his Face in the picture.

[Biz]

See if he can sit in the chair and you sit on the desk.

[Elliot]

I did, but it squishes it like this. So he's like. He's like, mo, after a couple bam. If you know Derek Morris and you're not laughing at that, you're a idiot. You're an idiot. That might have been my best stuff right there.

[Biz]

Oh, that is outstanding.

[Elliot]

All right.

[Biz]

Getting rid of Toronto.

[Elliot]

Come on the podcast.

[Biz]

I know.

[Yancey]

I think because I'm on it, he'll never come on it. After he tried murdering me that time in Phoenix.

[Elliot]

He Jackman'd you.

[Yancey]

Yeah, I went to a bachelor party of Keith's with him. All of a sudden he's dummying me after the game, like, Jesus, Mo, I thought we were friends. I love that guy, though. And. And biz, congrats to you. What a successful night.

[Elliot]

I got one of his long black hairs in my. In my mouth.

[Yancey]

Yeah, that's sharing the joint that you smoked with. With that thing.

[Biz]

Did you. Was. Was the date with cat lady?

[Elliot]

No, no, no. Just a couple. It was just all friends.

[Biz]

Oh, nice.

[Yancey]

Cat lady's done.

[Elliot]

No, she's not like. Not like done like, might see her like, after the. I'm about to go on a two month rip here, buddy. I'm going to be in Atlanta, stationed up. We're fucking going in a playoffs and you're talking about girlfriends.

[Biz]

Are you bringing Jamaican bacon banana on the road?

[Elliot]

I thought you guys just divorced your wives during playoff time and then got back together every summer. That's why.

[Yancey]

No, I sleep in a different room. I get to sleep in a couple nights.

[Elliot]

You're in the bar.

[Yancey]

But if the Oilers lose, I mean,

[Elliot]

the wire baza.

[Yancey]

Oh, Wyatt, by the way, Wyatt got his Jack Hughes jersey. He's been begging for a Jack Hughes jersey. Begging. And it came yesterday. This kid asked me in Florida 500 times, is my Jack Hughes jersey going to be there?

[Biz]

How did he say it, though?

[Elliot]

Is the Leafs jersey done?

[Yancey]

Oh, that Leafs jersey, buddy. I actually saw him wiping his butt with it, and he hasn't even started wiping his butt yet. So that thing, the Matthews and Squanto Leafs jersey is a legit. It's it. It's done.

[Biz]

I think I'd still rather that one than that one.

[Elliot]

You guys are. Hey, Wendell's gonna fucking knock you out, buddy.

[Biz]

Wait, I heard an unreal story about Squanto. And you can cut this if you don't want to tell it about him hiding Riders jersey for the Super Bowl.

[Yancey]

Oh, I. I never told you. This?

[Brock Lesnar]

No.

[Yancey]

Yeah. So my. My dad. My mom and dad got them. I think it was for Christmas. The Patriots had, like, a special jersey this year. They probably wore it two or three times. Pretty sick, actually. And they gave them both a Drake May jersey. So fast forward a couple months, they make this crazy run to the super bowl. And the night before, they were so fired up, like, we're gonna wear our jersey. We're gonna wear our jersey. And then the day of the super bowl comes, and his rider's jersey's gone. Like, it's gone. And. And now I'm looking everywhere. Bree's looking everywhere. Ryder's crying. Wyatt's like, I haven't seen it. I haven't seen it. I haven't seen it. And I should have known at that time that Wyatt had seen it, because based on, you know, this kid will tell a story with the best of them. So I went up in as.

[Elliot]

As in, he's a good liar.

[Yancey]

Oh, I tricked you. I'm like, no, that's a lie. He's like, no, I tricked you. I'm like, I guess you did. Yeah. I, I. How do you differentiate between a lie and a trick when you're five? The NBA on the bed three months ago. So I went up into. Into Wyatt's bed, and I don't know why I, I, I checked. He had shoved Ryder's jersey underneath his own bed. So he'd actually, like, lifted up the end of the bed and shoved it there. They have bunk beds, so he's on top. And I was like, what the. I'm like, wyatt, this jersey was in your bed. He's like, I didn't put it there. I'm like, yeah, you did, didn't you? No. No, I didn't. And to this day, he says he didn't put it there, but there's a 0% chance anyone else had stuffed it under his bed. And he just wanted to be the only guy wearing the jersey. So. Poor rider.

[Elliot]

I mean, I think. I think we need to hook him up to a lie detector test for the pod.

[Yancey]

I think he could beat it. Like, if you believe it. Trick.

[Biz]

Yeah.

[Yancey]

Tricked you. He'll trick. The. The lie detector will break.

[Elliot]

We'll get the banana man to interrogate him.

[Yancey]

Yeah. So he got his Jack Hughes jersey. Very exciting day in the week that

[Elliot]

he was worried about. Like, he didn't want, like, two of the same. Like, he wanted to be the only one.

[Yancey]

He wanted to be the only one. I want to be the only one.

[Elliot]

Now, mind you, he's worried about getting mogged.

[Yancey]

Oh, yeah. He did not want to get mogged. And.

[Elliot]

And he's gonna get mogged.

[Yancey]

The jersey. He wanted a team USA one, but Liam at fanatics, great guy. He. He's like, they can't put nameplates on the kids jerseys. So I. It was a dev. It's a red devil's jersey. And I was sick to my stomach for, you know, just the fact that Pasha. I'm like, oh, it is a pretty sick jersey, though. I'll say that. But it's a nice jersey. Just the Devils. Like, the red Devils. So. Yeah, that is good. That is a good thing.

[Elliot]

So what did. What did he say when he got that one?

[Yancey]

He went nuts, Bri. Actually, he went. He. No, cuz I. I had set it up. I was like, why don't I get you a red? Why don't I get you a devil's jersey? It's. It's. It's a little cooler.

[Biz]

You tricked him.

[Elliot]

You tricked him.

[Yancey]

Yeah. Like, I. I mean, trying to say that the devil's red jersey is cooler than a team USA jersey sounds like

[Elliot]

mental warfare going on at the Whitney household.

[Yancey]

Yeah. Oh, buddy. Who can trick who the most? Yeah. And I convinced them that you want a devil's one, so it's. It's. Yeah, it is what it is. You know, you do things for your kids. That's what it's all about. And I think looking towards the NHL. We got to get to the NHL. Some. Some news out of Edmonton. Let's start with the fact.

[Elliot]

Wow, he wants Edmonton. You want it? You want to just. Were you, like, kind of thinking about this the last couple of days and you just want to get it off your chest and get it over with?

[Yancey]

Yeah, I do. And I just want to move on after that. The. It started with Leon Dricetto. He's back in Germany. So immediately you're like, I heard he's

[Elliot]

doing a dating show over there.

[Yancey]

All right, what's going on there? Marriage, probably getting treatment. Turns out he's getting treatment. Nobody really knows the injury. There's some online doctors who I believe were pretty accurate in. What's the word? When you can tell what's.

[Brock Lesnar]

Yeah.

[Biz]

When they assess somebody diagnosed.

[Yancey]

Diagnosed. Online doctors diagnosed Sid's injury. I got that one. They were bang on with that one. Yeah, you got that one, too. Biz. Some people after seeing him walk around and what was the German soccer team. He was at Bayern Munich. Yeah, Bayern Munich. I believe so. Little bit of left leg not bending the same as the right now, listen, this is Twitter. Doctors, I don't know. But he's there getting treatment. And in the midst of getting treatment, he does an interview in German where he says, I. I hope that the team makes it far enough where I can come back and help them. That. That sent just a panic through the city of Edmonton, myself included. Elliot Friedman, the top dog.

[Elliot]

That's a direct translation, or was it.

[Yancey]

Well, that's translated so that. That's where, like, people did say, like, the translation could be kind of different. But Elliot said right away, as far as he knows, and he knows, he knows that he's still on track to be back for the playoffs. So the statement could have been him saying, now granted translation to get in, saying, hey, we got to get in the playoffs for me to get back. So that was the first part of worry. And then they play the Panthers in maybe the most disgusting effort of the season. They don't score a goal. They lose four, nothing. Then they play the Lightning and they. They look just as pathetic. They get drummed five, two. And after that one. McDavid speaks and he talks about the fact that Tampa is so well coached. He mentions. He mentions how well coached they are, how they were just so secure in how they play hockey. You know, they all know exactly where they're going to be at every moment. They have what is now and has been for a while, the best player in hockey, Nikita Kucharov. And what he's doing. We mentioned it the past, like, couple months. It's out of control. I think he has 30.

[Elliot]

Lemieux and Gretzky.

[Yancey]

Yeah, legitimately. Lemieux and Gretzky. If he wins the Art Ross this year, that'll be four. That'll be three in a row, and that will be more Art Ross trophies than Crosby, McKinnon, Matthews, and Draisaitl combined.

[Biz]

Wow.

[Yancey]

So at this point, like, we're. We're. We have to just be. And I said, if the Sharks somehow get in the playoffs, which I don't think they are. Celebrini's mvp. Gu's mvp.

[Elliot]

Is he the best Russian of all time? Like, I'm not even, like, trying to be an idiot here.

[Yancey]

I think. I think it's ovi, by the way. Ovi. He joined Gretzky. He's the only man to ever score a thousand goals with. With regular season and playoffs included biz. I don't think Cooch is anywhere near done so.

[Biz]

No.

[Elliot]

If he. If he did. If he was at this clip for another three years, would you not have to consider him better than OVI just based on sheer dominance. You keep top of all these, like, stats and runs we're talking about in game stretches. Like, there's, like, Lemieux. It's a Gretzky, Lemieux, and then him. So when you're in on these, like, lists that only exist for those guys, it just, like, it has to start the conversation. People say, oh, the. It's all about scoring goals, scoring goals. Like, but there's a level to, like, getting it done and cracking a code and being able to not only score yourself, but more so constantly put your teammates in a situation to have success. Like, put anyone with the guy. They're just. They're. They're scoring goals. He's finding seams where he's like, buddy, I'm gonna get it to you in this fucking little pocket. And you could practice and practice, do 50 pucks a day. It's gonna come in your fucking wheelhouse. And he's doing it. Yeah, it's fucked. It's fucked.

[Biz]

He reminds me of, like, a. Like a Greg Maddox or like a Nicole Jokic. Like, they just slow the game down to their pace. They don't. It doesn't matter if everybody else is going a hundred miles an hour when he gets the pockets, whatever pace he wants to go at. And like you said, biz the way he just makes his line mates better. And the D that are on the ice with him. Like, you're telling me Radish would have this many goals with another guy getting on the power play with him?

[Brock Lesnar]

No.

[Biz]

Like, he's making all these guys just way. But haggle point. Like, he's just making these guys better. And. Yeah, it's one of those things where. And he can turn it on whenever he wants.

[Elliot]

Right.

[Biz]

I mean, he's got it on pretty much all the time, but when he has to turn the notch up a little bit, too, in playoffs and stuff like that, he plays hard. He plays dirty. He's a pain in the ass on the ice. So he. He is. I think he's the class of the league right now.

[Yancey]

And I couldn't believe the fact that in that game, he scored a shorthanded goal. First shorthanded goal of his career.

[Elliot]

Yeah, that was a nar. I would have not have guessed that

[Biz]

he came out of the box, though, right?

[Yancey]

Yes, I believe so. But also, I guess based on some clips of him defensively in his career, I could see how. I mean, come on. We don't. We don't need you.

[Elliot]

I wouldn't even come inside my own fucking blue line if I was that good.

[Brock Lesnar]

No, come on.

[Yancey]

But. So back to the Oilers. So the quote from McDavid was, they have a great system. They're perfectly coached. They all know what they're doing all over the ice. It's impressive. They are a great team. They're extremely well coached. They're extremely well organized. They're very, very rehearsed in everything that they do. It's very impressive. And when you do break them down, they got a heck of a goalie to backstop them. When asked by Ryan Rashog how they can get that to that place with their system, he said, that's a coaching question. You can ask Nawber that question. We've been playing together a long time. We feel like we're somewhat rehearsed and organized, but not to their level, obviously. Like, you read that, you're like dry Seidels at the fucking soccer field. We're getting drummed by the two Florida teams at home. We're basically in the worst division hockey's ever seen right now, and things are a disaster. I will say he had quotes today. So let me read those.

[Biz]

The pillow fight division.

[Yancey]

I forgot that he said the division's a pillow fight. I have something on the division in a second.

[Elliot]

Oh, McDavid said that part?

[Yancey]

Yes, yes. And. And his quote today was, we're not taking shots. It's just, everybody can be better. Myself included. Everybody can be better. It was more just complimentary of a great team in this league that came in and played a good game. Nothing more than that. Not sure how it was taken that way. It wasn't supposed to be that way, but I understand. Obviously, I understand how people could look at it that way, but it's not what I was intending to do at all.

[Elliot]

So that's the annoying part of all this. And run it back, David, anytime. Maybe he's feeling a little spicy and he's a little frustrated. Whatever he said gets. We're talking about a first thing on our podcast.

[Biz]

Yeah, but we're not making him run it back, like, making him feel bad about his comments. He said it, and, you know, that's how he felt.

[Elliot]

Yeah, no, that's. I. I agree, too, with what you're saying, Yans. And. And. And it's okay for him to vent because he's probably looking down the road at not only Tampa and their sustained success, and maybe when there is turnover, it's calculated and it's executed well. Like, you talk about, like, some of the moves they've had to make. They get rid of Sergachev. They didn't lose that trade. You know, they filled in holes and saved money in certain areas to plug other ones like. And then you look down the road to who they played in the conference final when they got swept in Colorado, well, that's the year they got their cup. And then look at how they've been able to retool and at least set themselves up like now. Mind you, Colorado is Also, you know, 30th, I believe in power play right now, so that's a. Definitely an important conversation to have. But I think he's got a right to be, to be frustrated.

[Yancey]

And it's just took a fucking two

[Elliot]

year deal at 12 million bucks and you're seeing some of These guys get 17, 18 sheets.

[Yancey]

I don't think he gives a fuck about money.

[Elliot]

I think he's not.

[Brock Lesnar]

Me neither.

[Biz]

He just wants to win, which is obvious.

[Elliot]

I guess what I'm saying is he's making sacrifice. He's pulling his end of the bargain. So I feel like it's unfair where like if he gets a little spicy like that and he's got the quotes, like if some people are like holding it against them, I guess.

[Biz]

No, he has every right to say that. He, him saying, you know, if they do make a mistake, they have a great goaltender to back him up. This guy's needed a goaltender for 11 years and they haven't gone out and got it for him. It's him saying it out loud. So hopefully the management goes up. Like Colorado, you just talked about retooling.

[Yancey]

They got two good goalies.

[Biz]

Like they haven't, they haven't surrounded him with the goaltending that he needs. And I mean he took the two year deal. I think he has every single right in the world to say how he feels and good for him for saying it.

[Elliot]

Do you think that affects knob lock? Like I don't think in a million years they would fire him before playoffs at this point, right?

[Yancey]

No, I don't think so. But if you remember, if you remember the, the Lou lamarillo special of Robbie Fator getting the door right before the playoffs and Larry Robinson coming in, I, I don't, I don't think that can happen. I don't think it. Who do you even bring in? It's like, let's get back to the division though, this division. There's one thing I need to have happen right now. Right now I'm going to give you the, the cumulative goal differential. This is from a TWEET beneath the waves. I've never seen this account. Just popped up on the algorithm. Cumulative goal differential in the NHL. The Atlantic Division is 104. The Metro plus 38. The Central plus 59. The Pacific Division's coming in at minus 2. Oh 1.

[Brock Lesnar]

Whoa.

[Yancey]

And. And the crazy part about it is Anaheim leads the division. They're actually minus seven on the year. Edmonton's plus one. Vegas is plus seven. And then it gets. Then it gets. I mean, The Kings are minus 25. The Sharks are minus 35. Seattle's minus 17.

[Elliot]

Has anybody ever won a division being minus in goal? Different?

[Yancey]

I don't know. But what I need to have happen is we're so close to this. I think we need every team to be minus goal differential. So we could truly say this is the worst division we've ever seen. Because right now, Detroit. I think Detroit would be leading division if. And they might not even make the playoffs. Now, here's another thing about this Utah. Very fun team to watch. Haven't talked about them a ton of. I think that they're going to be unreal to watch in the playoffs. They're going to come over to the Pacific and you look at this team, who's going to be in the playoffs. I mean, the Coyotes made it in 2020, and that was the bubble. Right. So it doesn't even really count. They could. Buddy, they're going to say Anaheim wins it. They could beat Anaheim. And then the Vegas Oilers series, like Utah switching over into the Pacific, could end up coming out of that division. So it's just a crazy year to see this happen.

[Elliot]

When is that happening?

[Yancey]

That'll happen in the playoffs. Because they'll get the. They'll get this.

[Brock Lesnar]

Oh.

[Elliot]

Oh, okay. Okay. Sorry.

[Yancey]

You know what I mean?

[Elliot]

I thought you meant like they were switching for good, but you meant because of the wild card situation.

[Yancey]

Yeah. Cause so they'll slide into the, you know, the weaker first seed, which, Which I think might be Anaheim. Anaheim at a huge winning. It's Buffalo Sunday.

[Elliot]

But I. I agree with you, man. If you're Utah and you end up drawing if Anaheim wins the division. That is such a huge draw.

[Yancey]

Yeah.

[Elliot]

Two inexperienced teams going at it. I mean, obviously edge to probably the Ducks because of Q. Crazy stats you were throwing at us this morning via text. Keith, I'll hand it over to you for. For what Q's been able to do with this team and. And keep them strong throughout a full 60.

[Biz]

Yeah, it was just.

[Yancey]

I. It.

[Biz]

It hit me watching the game, just them having another Comeback against, against Buffalo. And you know, with Q, these are the stats this year. They have 23 comeback wins, 10 third period comeback wins, 9 multi goal comeback wins, 4 third period multi goal comeback wins. They lead the league in, in all those. And Q has 63 comeback wins since taking over in Florida in 1920. Because I remember when he was here, they called us the comeback Cats. Like you were never out of it.

[Elliot]

No shit.

[Biz]

The year they won the President's Trophy, they had a ton that year too. And I honestly think of it, I was just trying to think why, of what, what may be at. Why this is happening. And all I could think of is like, when you win a game like that and have a comeback, he's punching guys in the chest, coming in like he is so fucking happy when you win those games. And I think that must have something to do with. I can't think of anything else. But he's just a. I think it just goes to show him being like

[Elliot]

horse racing for him.

[Biz]

Yes.

[Elliot]

When the pony's kind of in the back, he's like, come on, come on. He's hitting the newspaper.

[Yancey]

Yeah. Coming down the stretch. Groovy.

[Elliot]

That's awesome.

[Biz]

But how, but how will that translate into playoffs?

[Yancey]

Yeah, that's, that's a good question. But they have eight game tying goals in the last two minutes. No other NHL team in history has more than six through 70 games. So we're seeing something we've never seen before. Granted, they were beating Buffalo 4:2 in the third period. Right. And I thought the star of the game, Troy Terry, no hit Terry, he was unreal in that game. So I, I think he still has no hits. I really.

[Elliot]

Yeah, I got him. I got a couple messages that OVI took a D zone draw.

[Brock Lesnar]

Oh.

[Elliot]

But some of these people, because we're talking about are looking for it and they, they'll. They don't know message. But it's, it's off of an icing, so it doesn't count. So I don't think that they get that. And they're not paying attention to what we're saying right now. That if it's off of an icing, he's already on the ice. It doesn't count as a D zone start.

[Yancey]

Because he's not just so, so they don't mess with people that are now tuning in on this. He should be allowed to change on an icing. Yeah. He never has to start no matter what. Right. Like always the one guy.

[Elliot]

Considering they're out of it, I would for sure allow OV2. If I was a linesman, they should not be enforcing that rule on ov.

[Yancey]

Yeah.

[Biz]

Let him stay in the offensive zone.

[Elliot]

Yeah.

[Brock Lesnar]

Just all.

[Elliot]

Yeah.

[Yancey]

So Florida also on this Western Canada trip, they went to Calgary. When we talked about the Butcher Ghudas's hit on Matthews and the five game suspension that went with it, AJ Greer blatantly staring at Connor Zeri's numbers and pushing him from behind into the boards only to get three games. I think that that hit is monumentally worse than Gudis.

[Biz]

Same.

[Yancey]

And I go back and it's maybe a stupid analogy, but remember Gronk was saying I'd much rather somebody go up my knees than my head. And it's like I see where he's coming from. Like, don't mess concussions, all that. Dude, this hit, I would have been fine with 10 game suspension. Yeah, that was a fucking joke, dude.

[Biz]

A joke because the one with Gudis and obviously it's bad, but Matthews at least has a chance to get out of the way. Right. He can see him. When a guy has his back turned and he's taken liberties on. I think that that's the worst because it's on the play. It's a hundred percent on you that that guy doesn't see you for one second and you're just completely taking advantage of him. I was shocked. It was less than what good is called.

[Yancey]

Same here. I didn't biz. I don't know what you thought, but.

[Elliot]

No, I think you guys nailed it. I think that like, especially for the, the, the offensive player and the guy getting hit in that situation, the way that you're going into the boards, you don't think for a second somebody's going to hit you there either, right? So you're almost like your, your balance is like not anticipating getting struck like that. Especially like that if you're, if the guy's almost catching up to you and maybe you feel like pressure coming on like your hip where you think maybe he's going to try to like, like, you know, gain position on you from like the side or you know, kind of like off of your hip. But to get pushed like that and like the, the potential for injury, like you could talking about a guy being in a wheelchair for the rest.

[Biz]

Right?

[Yancey]

That's so exactly.

[Elliot]

Much rather, much rather a guy go after my knee like as I have and yeah, that's a tough one.

[Biz]

And I think for us, like all of us played D at one point and like the risk you have to like, because as a D man, you're going back a lot with your, with your back to the guy forechecking you. And we played in an era when, you know, guys like Matt Cooks, the Tomo Rutus, the Steve, and no tag

[Elliot]

up icing, you had to touch it.

[Biz]

Yeah. So you had to get back, but you had to have a little bit of faith in a guy behind you that he wasn't going to put you in a vulnerable spot or take advantage of you. But, like, I think that's all in the play. And I love the way AJ Greer plays. Like he's, he's going to sign a nice contract this summer because of the way he plays. He's helped teams win, but something like that, you gotta, those things can't be happening.

[Yancey]

I remember quickly talking about going back on puck. Sean Thornton, it was, it was in the ahl and the first time I ever played against him, same thing. I'm going back on a puck. He's looking at my numbers. Hey, come and, come and coming behind you like, I'm going to hit you. I'm not going to hit you from behind. And there is a certain amount of respect. And like Greer, it's like he's staring at him and he hits him up high. And then I'm like, oh, that's, that's at least eight games and three came back. I was like, this is now.

[Elliot]

So boys, this is kind of why like, like, I agree that the, the system, they have a system in place. Right. And there's a lot of chatter around changing it. And it got a little divisive and bad when, you know, Judd came in with his comments, you know, Gary and, and, and Paros backed themselves up. I just think there needs to be maybe a little bit more common sense involved and especially about, I wouldn't say overvalue, like, what people's reaction will be to it. Like, I don't think that anybody would have overreacted, including Greer, if you would have got like the six to eight game category there. Like you got, I think everybody in agreement. So how do, how do a bunch of hockey people behind the scene come up with three in that instance, was it? Yeah. And, and are they once again basing it off of the fact that he, he didn't, he wasn't injured, right?

[Yancey]

No, he was.

[Elliot]

To what degree? How long is he out for?

[Yancey]

I don't know. He left the game. He's not playing tonight.

[Elliot]

He's not playing tonight either. Okay.

[Yancey]

Well, no, I'm pretty sure it came out that he's not playing. If I'm Wrong there. I apologize.

[Elliot]

And if he's missing games as a result of that, I think it's crazy that there's only three games. That's for the same reason why I thought five was too light on Gudis. I thought that common sense would have prevailed and he would have got eight games in that situation. And in this situation, like same 6 to 8 should be the number if he's, if he's missing tonight.

[Yancey]

Oh, so he didn't put. Sorry. He didn't play Sunday. He's day to day and he didn't play. He didn't play yesterday.

[Elliot]

That's light. That's light. That's light. So if you end up missing the same amount of games and you do something that reckless, that's just like, oh,

[Yancey]

I just hate hit from behind.

[Biz]

Hate them.

[Yancey]

And it's like, yeah, you just think of like what can happen. It's like, buddy, you tear an mcl. Awful. But man, we've seen some horrible things in, in the game of hockey and you know, I'm not even talking NHL, but around the world and it's, it's like one thing I despise hitting from behind when. If kids do it, it doesn't matter. It's just such a dangerous play and to see a blatant one like that, it's like you gotta just set an example out of them. It doesn't even matter. They're not even in the playoffs. So I. That one was, was a little shocking to me.

[Elliot]

How do you summarize everything in the Pacific? Where do you think Oilers are? Land up? Let's put a bow on it.

[Yancey]

Oh, I think they're going to play the, the Golden Knights in the first round who suck as well. Now they did beat Dallas in regulation Thirst Sunday. Huge win. Actually Marner made a pretty sick play late in that game. Riley Smith scored 3, 3, 2 win before they'd lost three in a row before that. They got shut out twice in a row at home to Buffalo and Utah. So like, I don't know, it's just bizarre. Now granted, Oilers, Oilers in Vegas last three cup, you know, cup representation from the Pacific Division.

[Elliot]

You know, he's been talking a little bit of via text and I asked him to come back on and he's like the law basically on a, on a pod. Strike the thumb.

[Yancey]

No, he won't come back on.

[Elliot]

He's good, man. He pokes his head in at the

[Brock Lesnar]

right time and he'll send me like

[Elliot]

a, like a, like a, like a stat from like the, you know, Last five games from Aiden Hill. His numbers, like, kind of take jabs at whatever we might be saying negatively about the Golden Knights, but he's a ride or die. I respect the shit out of that. I tend to view him like Stoff for the Golden Knights. Like, it's like the same person for me. Like he rides or like he. Stoff is pretty optimistic in. In when it gets dark. He's like the. He's like the.

[Yancey]

The ray of sunshine, true darkness. He's. He's actually seen like the depth of. Of a dark, deep cave. The Thumb has never. In Vegas. He has never. You understand that, right, Biz?

[Elliot]

Okay, so you. He might be like, obliterated.

[Yancey]

Doesn't even know what it is. Yeah, he doesn't even know that. When have they ever been like this? They're horrible.

[Elliot]

I wonder if he would come on

[Biz]

because they're in a playoff spot. He just thinks it's all sunshines and rainbows.

[Yancey]

Yeah.

[Elliot]

Would you expect him to come on if Oilers and Vegas met in playoffs?

[Yancey]

I would hope because I love them. I legit love them.

[Elliot]

I love him too.

[Yancey]

Like that episode where we had Stoff and Gary, like, that's. That's a very memorable thing for me. You know, we got to stuff him

[Biz]

in a long Rock steady.

[Elliot]

I think George McPhee and McCrimmon are telling them not to come on because we've been a little critical. That's what I think. Pinky and the Brain are not happy with us.

[Yancey]

Pinky's up. So, yeah, I mean, I will say in the west, we got the Pacific. All right. The Central, it's Minis locked in at three.

[Elliot]

We.

[Yancey]

We. We gave Colorado that division. Then all of a sudden Dallas is on that run right now. I think it's five points and I think. Think Colorado has a game in hand as well. Let me check this very quickly. They do Five points back, game in hand. I think Colorado's going to win that. So Minnie's going to Dallas. We know that. Just an absolute war. That's going to be.

[Biz]

Gary's happy. Not Lawless. Bettman.

[Yancey]

Gary Bettman.

[Biz]

We.

[Elliot]

A lot of Gary's going.

[Yancey]

He refuses to ever consider switching the playoffs.

[Biz]

The first round matchup in. You know, listening to you guys the last seven years of the podcast, like the first round matchups are awesome.

[Elliot]

So he doesn't.

[Yancey]

He.

[Elliot]

He gives vague replies. I wish he would just give the full breakdown of. Of why they do it.

[Yancey]

Like ultimately he did kind of this past week when he. He mentioned we have the best first round and, like.

[Elliot]

Yeah, but that's being vague about it.

[Brock Lesnar]

Like.

[Elliot]

Like, there has to be a. Like a financial, Like a numbers, analytical reason.

[Yancey]

Well, there's less travel, the way they do it, Biz.

[Elliot]

Okay.

[Yancey]

That could be something.

[Elliot]

So the other thing I was thinking of, too, is, like, they're trying to, like, get hockey, like, representation the first few rounds in certain regions. So it doesn't. Like, they're not missing certain regions. Maybe. No, maybe.

[Yancey]

Maybe, maybe. But the story of the west right now is Nashville and the fact that they keep doing this. And, I mean, do you remember we were trading them all. We were saying. We were saying where Stamcoast might end up. We were saying, what's Ryan O'Reilly going to do? Will he okay a trade? It was like. It was. Everything was on the table. They make a couple deals at the deadline, and basically, since December, they've been like a top 10 team in the league. They've won four straight right now, and they're sitting in the playoffs, and they kind of. I. I wouldn't mind seeing them in. I know. I want San Jose. I've talked about that. But Nashville, man, Soros is out right now, I believe. But, dude, they. And by the way, like, kind of surprised that they decided to stick it out like this, right? Like, it took a lot of balls. I mean, all of a sudden, Trots comes out. He's like, yeah, I'm retiring, but I'm going to. I'm going to be around. They still haven't hired a gm, and they just keep winning. And Stamkos, I'm very happy for him because last year was a disaster, you know, and he's probably sick to his stomach. And then this year starts off as another disaster. He's like, what the hell did I get myself into? He's on fire. Forsberg had two goals in Chicago. Did you see the pass Forsberg made in the game Sunday in Chicago? Oh, my God, Biz, he's coming down as. He's a right. He's coming down the right side, toe, drags it, like, back to his foot and kicks the puck over to Stamcos. The goalie made a save. I don't know who was in net, but it was. If it. If it went in, it would have been one of the assists of the year. So they just. I don't know. They're not slowing down. It's crazy.

[Elliot]

Now you can understand why they were so upset when they got rid of McCarron and. And Smith. Yeah, just because they're like, man, we believe in what we got in here. It's cr. Yeah, that's a crazy run. And they've been doing it, like, silently.

[Yancey]

You really know.

[Elliot]

You're kind of like, ah, they're coming. Are they for real? Like, they got to be dropping off here at some point, but they're just chipping away. I would definitely rather see them than la.

[Yancey]

LA or Seattle.

[Elliot]

Seattle. I want to see Kopi making his last year.

[Yancey]

Seattle takes a beating on this podcast.

[Elliot]

And they stole Bobby McMahon, and all of a sudden, he's turned into Wayne Gretzky since he's been there.

[Biz]

Do you think, like. Because with all the talk of making trades before the deadline, getting rid of Stam coast o'reilly, like, do you think in, you know, all the talks was, oh, it's such a buyer's market, and then there wasn't as many trades as you thought? Do you think it was one of those things where they couldn't get deals done and they're like, all right, it. Or do you think they sat down with like, no, we got to ride this one out and try to make.

[Elliot]

I think that those older guys probably have a lot of pride and. And, like, they were probably maybe hearing some of the noise, and we're like, we don't want to go anywhere. We can solve this problem. And, like, I think that those types of guys really feed off of, like, people maybe doubting them a little bit. Like, look at how many injuries that Stamkos has had to deal with where people are like, ah, then he gets, like, essentially shunned away from Tampa. Like, you got to have a chip on your shoulder. Same thing with Marchesome. And he's like, I'm an original misfit, and you fucking. You're not going to buck up based on the culture I've helped create here and then deliver a Stanley Cup. And I fucking won the Con Smythe in that cup run. I think there's a lot of pride there. And it seems like they've. They've. They figured it out. I mean, look at the three guys we're talking about. Yeah, there's fucking two. Two Con Smice and Stammer just hit the 500 goal or 600 goal mark, right?

[Yancey]

Yeah.

[Elliot]

So that probably has a ton to do with it.

[Yancey]

So it's been a pretty cool run for them. Great run out East. The east is where the. The real magic is right now. Saturday night Detroit, man.

[Elliot]

They.

[Yancey]

They. It's crazy what's happening. I don't know if they're going to get in the Bruins Win a huge game in regulation. It was sick performance by Jeremy Swayman. He was out of his mind, I would say. A couple goals went in in Detroit. You'd like to have those back. Zadorov's kind of weak shot. I think that ended up being the winning goal. But I couldn't believe Posternach had one of the best snipes I've seen him. It was his first power play goal in 21 games. Kind of shocking there, but the Bruins, who've been horrific on the road, they go in and get a huge W right now. Detroit's not in the playoffs. Then Sunday, Islanders, Columbus. This Columbus team, I mean, we've. We've mentioned them, but, like, this is. This is out of control. Bones comes in there. They basically are unbeatable since he came. They go into the Islanders. I saw some tweet, I wish I saved it, about if Columbus had won that game Sunday. They were like 95% odds to get into the playoffs. I think by losing, it drops to 80%. Now, granted, those odds are kind of wild. Who knows how legit they are? But the Islanders get a huge win. And what happened at the end of the game? Biz, did you see the prodigy, the next greatest defenseman of all time, Matthew Schaefer, play the final three minutes of the game?

[Elliot]

No. I saw that snipey ad the other night where he pulled it in, just

[Yancey]

zipped it in Ottawa, and they blew that game. I think Brady scored late in that game to win. We'll get into Brady and the Senators. Some weird comments from their head coach. We'll talk about that in a minute. But the Islanders just won't go away now in this game. Okay, they're up one nothing. Anders Lee's driving the net. Horvat puts one on net, pass off the pads from the point. Blatant Biz, your favorite play in hockey.

[Elliot]

Pop, baby.

[Yancey]

He's driving to the net. It hits him. He kind of gets dragged down, goes in. When I tell you, I was shocked that they were reviewing it or challenging it. Columbus, like, I. I was like, what are they challenging? Oh, there's no way. There's zero chance it got called back. Biz, I need you to somehow watch this goal. Keith, did you see it?

[Biz]

Yeah. It's crazy biz, and I'd love to see your live reaction of watching the. The great point by you. The fact that they even challenged.

[Yancey]

What are they doing?

[Biz]

Yeah, it's shocking because it. It should have been one of those things. I get ready for the face off, but we got to figure this out before playoffs. The goaltender interference, the cuz. Imagine a series ending and something like that.

[Elliot]

There was one and there was one in Pittsburgh that they were bitching about too. That I. It was, it would have, it would have kept things two nothing.

[Yancey]

The other.

[Elliot]

The other afternoon, I think it was against Winnipeg.

[Yancey]

No. Was it Carolina?

[Elliot]

No, it was. It was Winnipeg. They were down two nothing and then there was like fucking three goals in the first.

[Yancey]

Oh, yeah. You texted the group chat about that?

[Elliot]

Yeah, I was like, why is. Yeah. But no, I didn't see this one. I need to see.

[Yancey]

Oh, buddy, he'll send it over. He'll send it over to you. And I need to get your, your, your reaction watching it. But within the first two games because what do we get? We get, we get eight series in the first round. There will be. If it's going like, it's going like there's going to be a goal called back or a goal that stands where people are going to be losing their goddamn minds because nobody has a clue. Biz. What? No.

[Elliot]

So it's like it's always something, right? I feel like every year or maybe every two years, there's something that just is happening so much that it's hard to not notice it. There's been so many people online bitching about the goaltender interference and these goals being called back and or allowed being like, we don't know what, what it is because night to night it's like, wait a minute, that goal last night, that exact identical thing happened and they ruled it the other way. Sometimes there's very little variables that other fans don't notice. Like maybe skate, his skate makes contact with the goalie skate inside the crease and they're looking at like the trapper because the trapper was messed with. So sometimes like, it's like the offsides were like, oh, fuck. Yeah. I didn't even like recognize that he had control in that situation. Where to the blind eye, the casual fan might, but there's some that have been happening that are inexcusable. And you're thinking that this is just going to continue into playoffs and it's going to end up resulting in a mega, mega thing going on online.

[Yancey]

Oh, it's going to be a meltdown.

[Biz]

You know, like usually if the goal goalie thinks it's an interference, they'll like give a hands up or like the coaches are looking at the TVs on the bench. There wasn't even any of that. So they didn't. I don't I don't understand how they even challenged it.

[Yancey]

I. I don't know. And. And for anyone, just Google Anders League goal called back Islanders Columbus, March 22. And I. It. It should pop up. And it's just something at this point where, like, I feel bad for the video coaches because these guys, they got so much pressure on them. They're in these playoff chases. Then you actually get into the playoffs, and you got, like, five seconds to be tell the coach challenge it or not, right when these guys probably have no idea. Although I'll give credit. Whoever Columbus's goalie video review Guy is like, he obviously saw something, right? Because he was the only one. Everyone, I think there was Guy. I think Olivia. It went in off Olivier, I believe, and he was probably like, oh, are

[Elliot]

they trying to say that he didn't give the goalie the ability to make the stop? What are they trying to.

[Biz]

Olivier tackled him into the goalie, basically.

[Elliot]

No, I know Olivier is on his back, so that's why I'm like, okay, well, contact is. Is because of Olivier in his back check and he's sliding in. Are they. Are they basically saying that he didn't try to do anything in order to, like, make sure that his stick and body blocked the goalie making a play on the puck? Either way, look at where the goalie is hanging out with the banana Jamaican man who was making a call is this guy blind and high, brother.

[Yancey]

Hey.

[Biz]

But the goaltender's at, like, the top of the crease, too. The puck's like base. It's not like he's at the goal line where he can push across.

[Yancey]

It's crazy.

[Elliot]

This one is just brutes.

[Biz]

If that happens in playoffs, I won't watch another game.

[Yancey]

Can you imagine if that. If that was a playoff game and it's one one in the third.

[Brock Lesnar]

They're.

[Elliot]

I think they're. What they're saying is, even though he got pushed in the back, his stick poking at his pad in that direction, he could have, like, brought it the other way. But once again, he's being tackled from the back. Like, you have to, like, take that into. Into account.

[Biz]

Not to mention, like, right now, it's like you're playing to get into the playoffs. Like, the races right now. Like, their teams are trying to get in. If that. Imagine that you lose by two points. And that's why I know it's basically.

[Yancey]

Yeah, it basically is the playoffs for a lot of these.

[Elliot]

So that's your prediction is we're going to have a big one come.

[Biz]

Oh, we're going to have.

[Yancey]

We're going to have in game one or two, late in the game, there's going to be a goal reviewed or challenged, and every single person and our group chat is going to be going, I got no clue what's coming back here. No idea.

[Elliot]

Yeah, like, if that one happened in playoffs, I'd be like, and I was on the broadcast, I'd be like, what the fuck? Not to mention, that was the banana, man.

[Biz]

I would have bet my life savings that would be a goal.

[Elliot]

Don't do that.

[Yancey]

I know. Yeah. I mean, it was called put it in Bitcoin. Like Pasha, Ottawa. Ottawa's got it going a little bit. I don't know if you saw the quotes from Travis Green before they played the Islanders. He said, first of all, Brady's a great player. Talking about Brady, Chuck, I've said this many times, we're lucky to have him. It's been an emotional last month and a half to six or seven weeks for him. Has he been the best version of himself since he's come back? I don't know if he has been every night. I think there was some fatigue, but I'll say it again, we're lucky to have him. He goes on and on a little bit. Not the end of the world, right? Very, very open about how much we love having this guy. He's our captain, but he threw the shot in there. And what does Brady do to start that game? He fights Anders Lee off the opening draw. Like, I love that. If you're a Senators fan, you got to love that a little. Not a huge call out by the coach, but somewhat of a call out. And he's like, all right, I'll take this thing into my own hands. So I think that the whole season in Ottawa has been weird. If they get in, dude, I do. I could easily see them going on a run. Do you think they end up pulling this off? Bizarre.

[Elliot]

I think they get in the playoffs okay, I think. I think that they're the best team out of those teams that are fighting for the wild card, too. Like, I Boston, unreal season. Like, they have overachieved and I think that they're going to fight to the end and if they get in. But I wouldn't be shocked either. But I think that Ottawa, when. Like, when healthy and clicking, I think that they're more dangerous. I could see them making a deeper run. Like I would if I'm Buffalo. I would not want to meet them.

[Yancey]

Oh, that'd be a great series. Talk about how good the east is specifically the Atlantic. They're 133 and 2 since January 25th, and they're still not in the playoffs right now. It's just like every game gets. There's three points out of it. It just seems like these teams. Buffalo barely ever loses, so that. That doesn't help. And then all these other teams that Columbus has run, and it's just been. It's been amazing hockey. It's going to be an incredible final 12 games for all these teams. Teams. I think hopefully we get a race down to the final game. It looks.

[Elliot]

The only. The only sure bet I have, I think would be is I think if Carolina draws the Islanders, I think they beat him in five games. That's the only one. I think they spank them. I've also think that they've. They've ridden Schaefer so hard. I think that from an Islander perspective, him not going to the Olympics was huge. They have just been riding him. You said that he played the final three minutes of the game the other night.

[Yancey]

Yeah. And in the final 30 seconds, like, basically with his foot speed, broke up, like, three or four different plays, and they cleared it out. And then he just raised his hands. I was like, this is unbelievable. Like, he's not just scoring goals, which now I think. Does he have 23 now or 22? Got 22.

[Elliot]

I don't know, but I think that was it. You said that goal was against Otto the other night, where he just pulled it in and zipped it. Yeah, that was a seed.

[Yancey]

Now they. Then he. Then he sniped one in Montreal, which was.

[Elliot]

That was a clapper, wasn't it?

[Yancey]

It was. Yeah. It was three. And all of a sudden, Montreal just ran him out of the building because

[Elliot]

Cole Caulfield boys that standing ovation. I'm glad you brought that up, because I saw the clip of it. I'm like, oh, my God, that guy. No wonder they call him the cock. He just got a fucking, like a minute standing. Oh, man, I thought that they were fucking retiring Patrick Law's jersey or something. That building is fucking insane.

[Biz]

Yeah.

[Elliot]

New hook scored. Was it you who tweeted or posted to the group chat about the first goal? New Hook, I think got it. And that building erupted. It's a. That's a crazy place, man.

[Yancey]

So that night, Caulfield had three goals, two assists, and I think I've apologized for this before and just. Bad take. Not a. Not a puck. No. Or Slavkovsky's awesome. He's so young still. He's got over 60 points this year. He's coming up on 30 goals. That line of Suzuki, Caulfield and. And Slafkovsky, it's incredible what they're doing. They're getting the toughest matchups every night. Caulfield's got 43 goals. He's two behind McKinnon.

[Elliot]

It's called the whoop line.

[Yancey]

Really?

[Elliot]

Yeah, the whoop line. Papasaw, he missed out on whoop. And Nick Suzuki, so they called it the whoop line.

[Brock Lesnar]

Whoop.

[Elliot]

There they go. Whoop is.

[Yancey]

Yeah. So they're calling Caulfield Mr. Saturday Night. Oh, he's got 19 goals in 19 Saturday games this year. So can you imagine playing for the Montreal Canadiens looking like him? He's a very handsome young fella.

[Elliot]

He's a short king.

[Yancey]

Going out in Montreal, it's like, have

[Keith]

you guys heard the song all the fans sing for him outside the stadium? It's like that European soccer type song. It's like, caufield's on fire. Your defense is terrified.

[Yancey]

Caufield's on.

[Elliot]

Send us a clip of that.

[Keith]

It's unbelievable.

[Yancey]

And the smile the kid has on his face after these goals. He's got the dimples. I'm like, this fucking guy. Is he single? Do we know he better?

[Elliot]

I hope not.

[Biz]

Hey, when he got his third.

[Elliot]

I hope not.

[Biz]

When he got his third one, he kind of, like, mean mugged it a little bit. He was just sitting there, and then he went and just started smiling. The place went even more nuts.

[Yancey]

Biz is.

[Biz]

Yeah, Biz is thinking right now, all he doesn't care about the 43 goals. He's like, what is this guy doing after a hat trick and two assists?

[Elliot]

No, I. I know exactly what he's doing.

[Yancey]

He's thinking, you hope he has a girlfriend.

[Elliot]

He's thinking. He's thinking, I'm earning the earning and gaining the confidence to have another crack at the sandbagger because of how much we botched it the first time. Like, I got a text from him during Olympic break. I think it was him and Zegris, and they go, we want the bagger again. I go, who's your third? I fucking totally forgot about that. It just came to my mind, him. Him taking in, though, that standing O. Like, just like, you could tell. He just. Like, he. He. Like, he's just one of those guys that can. Like, he can be that guy in the moment. Like, he thrives for it. He know he should be there. Like, I. Most guys would be like, he was just taking it all in, shaking it. It felt Like a fucking movie, man.

[Yancey]

Yeah, he is a complete sniper. The first goal that he got that night. He's unbelievable at just getting it, like, right under the bar in tight short side. I feel like I've seen him score 10 of those this year. So Montreal, they keep. They keep doing their thing. It's pretty cool.

[Elliot]

Okay. Okay, this is what I got. They go, the two beauties. He goes, re. Ego, rematch. I go, thousand percent. Who's the third? And then they send me this picture of Jack.

[Yancey]

I. The sheriff looks like the V for vendetta face guy.

[Elliot]

He's got the little flavor saver with the. With the stash and the goatee. I go, where are you guys? Where do you think they were when that. That picture was taken of that?

[Biz]

Let me see. Are they sunburned? Let me see.

[Elliot]

You want to see the sunburn? Yeah, look at the zebra.

[Biz]

I just want to see if they're sunburned. All right, so they were probably in Turks and Caicos.

[Yancey]

I think those. What's that place where you just party and it's expensive and it's like.

[Elliot]

No, okay, that's.

[Yancey]

I think they're saying Barts. Those are the same.

[Elliot]

Are those in the Bahamas?

[Biz]

No, they're in St. Bart's country.

[Brock Lesnar]

Oh,

[Elliot]

they were in the Bahamas. That's where they went for their. Their little treat. So Zegris and. And Caulfield. Want to read a shout out to both those guys for having big years.

[Biz]

Yeah.

[Yancey]

And by the way, Philly is, like, not dead. Biz. Philly is not dead. Oh, hey, they're five points out. They're nine and three in their last 12 games. Buyers, fans. They have to be somewhat happy.

[Elliot]

No, they're miserable.

[Biz]

They're still.

[Elliot]

No, but you know what they're happy about, though, is after that incident in Anaheim where he went to, like, he suckered that other D man, right face. Mitnikov. We got Mechkov. M. Verse. M. Meachikov versus Mechkov. And he didn't. He fucking skated away. And he's been lighting it up since. He had a hell of a game in la. Made a couple big plays. He, I want to say, had an assist in overtime.

[Biz]

In overtime? Yeah. He didn't even like. It was like a biz assist, but,

[Elliot]

yeah, it was a business. But any ammunition these people can get pleasure out of, give it to him. And he did have his hundredth point, which is a pretty good picture with

[Yancey]

the boys in the room. Saw that.

[Elliot]

So the.

[Brock Lesnar]

The.

[Elliot]

It's good. He's getting a little more camaraderie with the boys. I think his English is getting a little better. He's getting in better shape. It's a. Things are coming up Flyers. So they. Maybe they don't want the coach fired for not playing them 25 minutes a game. Maybe. Maybe he's got him in that sweet spot. He did put him back on the right wing, and people are like, that's where he belongs. Well, maybe it is where he belongs.

[Yancey]

Okay.

[Elliot]

That's all.

[Yancey]

Well, Flyers are. Yeah. You cannot pronounce the Flyers dead yet. They. They could pull a miracle off here. Gee, can you hop on here for a second? Has there been any news? I. My. My algorithm is just Bruins fans losing their goddamn minds about James Hagen. Apparently they want him in the lineup, like, next game. I don't know what you're hearing, what's going on here.

[Keith]

Yeah. So it's ironic that you bring up, like, the Flyers right before this, because I think everyone's worried right now is a Cutter Gaultier situation. Like, no one wants to piss this kid off, at least from the fan's perspective. We don't want to piss this kid off where he says, you know what? Fuck it. I'm not coming. I'm not playing for Boston. Trade me this summer, because if. If they screw this up, that's. That's on the table. That could happen. So I. What I'm hearing and what Elliot said on 32 Thoughts today was he expects a decision by Monday. So I. I think I kind of can speak for all Bruins fans here when I say, as right now, it's. It's kind of a bit calmer. But every minute past midnight on Monday, after Elliott said that, we're. We're worrying. We're worrying that he's not signed Tuesday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Like, you want to go play him in the ahl, you might as well just play him against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night. They frigging stink. That's basically an AHL team. So it's. It. It's at home in Boston. It. It made sense. But then he didn't practice with the team today on Monday, so I can't imagine they're just going to toss him in the lineup on Tuesday night. So, yeah, I mean, he would fit in perfectly on that third line. And where I stand on this is I want to see him in the Bruins lineup because they had no problem for trading for Lucas Reichel at the trade deadline.

[Brock Lesnar]

He.

[Keith]

And throwing him in on that third line with Deaky and Lindholm on that left Wing spot, if you can do that. If you're so worried about the team chemistry right now, what's the difference of bringing in Lucas Reichel 6 days ago as opposed to bringing in James Higgins tomorrow?

[Elliot]

Is he.

[Yancey]

Is.

[Elliot]

Is this kid ready? Like, have you guys seen anything?

[Yancey]

That's what I'm. He had a good year. I. I don't think it's like, holy shit, this kid is ready for the. Like, I don't like. When I looked at Cole Hudson and then Hagens, I kind of could see what Cole Hudson's doing right now, which, by the way, he's just completely embarrassing people at the blue line. He's going under the triangle on guys coming out at him at the offensive blue line.

[Biz]

I'm like, we weren't even allowed to do that.

[Yancey]

The balls it takes to do. I think he's done it three times already. Look, I more saw him and granted, Washington's kind of out of the race, but G wouldn't as a fan, you want them to sign him, but if you don't sign him, if you. If you don't sign him now and you sign him this summer, you don't burn the year.

[Keith]

I don't care. Because then, like, you're gonna Letourneau, you're gonna have to burn the turno next season. From what I hear, the Dean Potts going back to school, which is the Right.

[Yancey]

Okay, so why not. Why not try to. Why don't.

[Keith]

I don't want to line them up on the same year. I want them different years. So down the road. And we have to sign them to two big contracts because they're both going to play out. Sweeney hit on them both. I don't want those two to line up so.

[Brock Lesnar]

Well.

[Biz]

We don't know if he's hit on them both yet.

[Yancey]

No, not at all. We don't know at all, Keith. We don't know at all.

[Keith]

We got that positivity, though, Keith.

[Biz]

Okay. All right.

[Keith]

So, yeah, main point here. We don't want to cut or go to a situation. I think he could slot in on that third line. I do think he's ready to play in the NHL. I think one of the things BC Lacked this year was offense outside of a goalie. They didn't really have much offense outside of Hagan's and Latourno, so I don't know. You play him on a line with a guy like Morgan, geeky, who, you know, he can score the puck. Elias Lindholm, you know, I think it would be great to add James Higgins on the side of him, add a little speed to that line. I don't know. I think it's no different than throwing Lucas Reichel in there.

[Biz]

Do you think, do you think that the Bruins don't think it'd be as much of a cutter go chase situation because he's a local kid?

[Keith]

No, he. He's playing college in Boston, but he grew up a die hard Islanders fan. So like you just like that's the last thing that you want to hear right now. You know what I mean?

[Biz]

Because when, when would he be a UFA if he went back to college? Would it be at the end of next year?

[Yancey]

No, no, he'd have to go two more years ago.

[Biz]

Yeah, he ain't going back for two more years.

[Keith]

But he could do a Gaultier did and just be like, trade me.

[Elliot]

Okay. So I was just, I was going to chime in on that. So I heard from someone that I, that I trust that the reason that Goce was pissed is because he was essentially told that they were gonna sign him and do what they're. What he's talking about. Like they were gonna sign him, he was gonna get the burn a year, whatever. Then something changed where that wasn't on the table. Yeah.

[Keith]

Elliot talked about this on 32 thoughts today biz. He was like, I don't want. And like they changed after because they were like Elliott was saying that like they, the flyers kind of realized like, hey, this locker room is not a good locker room to bring a young guy into. It's a pretty toxic situation right now.

[Elliot]

Okay.

[Keith]

That's why they kind of had that change and they went back on their promise to Gautier where I don't think they wanted to tell G. Hey, this locker room is toxic.

[Elliot]

Yeah.

[Brock Lesnar]

Yeah.

[Elliot]

And then, but then from my understanding, because he, he was so good, they then like were like, okay, we are going to sign you. But then like you're basically going to start in the minor. So I think from their camp go chase. It was more of like what the is going on over there where there was turnover and change happening. So maybe there was just miscommunication. So it was interesting to hear that perspective. But then like, like you, like. Which he was kind of alluding to. We're at a place in time now where like these kids do hold a lot of leverage.

[Yancey]

That's the problem that like I have a tough time wrapping my head around that. But I, but it, it just is what it. I'm like the old guy yelling at a cloud.

[Elliot]

But then like as much as it sucks for Philly, you're like, wow. Like, gives a great example to why in some cases take control of your own future. If you truly believe in yourself and you think you can get this done, do it and stick to your guns. So the turd cutter baby asked you

[Keith]

guys though, because like Elliott's major point of the Bruins hold up here is like they don't want to disrupt a playoff team, a team that's on a playoff run.

[Elliot]

So I get that side of it too.

[Brock Lesnar]

Yeah.

[Keith]

Playoff runs, a 19 year old kid being thrown into the lineup.

[Elliot]

I think that rejecting young life, if you have a great culture and this kid's going to provide life to your lineup and he's going to play well and, and he can adjust on the fly and it's working, do it. I, I don't personally see a problem with trying it. I think a lot of guys in that locker room would probably be happy for this kid and especially the core group being like, I hope help's coming and I hope it's coming soon. And they're not the most offensive team to begin with, so maybe it adds a little bit of. Bit of life and who knows what. Now if there's a guy who's coming out of the lineup who's been busting his ass all year and he's f. Fit in on that line and blah, blah, blah, yeah, that's when you don't disrupt the chemistry. But I have a, a ton of confidence and, and sturm in that group's. They're like the way that they're going to fucking read the situation and do it. I don't think we're, I don't think we're anywhere near Cutter go Che situation yet though.

[Yancey]

That's what I was saying. Like the, the, the panic. It seems like this is a Twitter.

[Elliot]

Yeah, I don't think that we're there yet.

[Yancey]

But as much as I say, like I, I just can't wrap my head around now how it's like, yeah, put me in the NHL. Like it, it's. I, it was so different for me in the situation of guys that when I was playing it, but I, I do understand it. So if we're going to go on the fact that now these kids hold all the cards, if he's like, hey, sign me right now, like, I, I want to be on the team, then, then sign them, put him on the team, give him a couple games. If it doesn't work, he's a healthy scratch, you go to Providence and then next year, he could be in Providence for a little bit. So you, you're, you're pleasing him by signing him now and giving him games right away. And then, then you're kind of like, all right, well, it's not working yet. You're not ready.

[Keith]

The beginning of the season, he was like, there was, there was a lot of disconnect between the Hagan's camp and the Bruins camp. And when they would interview both guys, Sweeney's saying, oh, he's going back to bc, while the Hagan camp is saying, I don't know what I'm doing. You know, I hope I'm making the Bruins roster. So I think that's where Bruins fans are kind of like, whoa, there was already the disconnect this summer. How are they not on the same page as to what the plan is here?

[Yancey]

The Bruins didn't even put McAvoy in the NHL when he left BEU.

[Biz]

Yeah, they did. Yeah, he came in, he went to Providence. Didn't he play in the playoffs his first year? He was killing guys four games, but

[Yancey]

maybe right away they didn't. Oh, okay.

[Biz]

I see what you mean.

[Elliot]

Did that count as a year burned?

[Biz]

Maybe not because it was playoffs.

[Yancey]

No. So the only way it's not a year burned. This is what I did was that when I left school, I went to the ahl, but I signed up a PTO or an ato, whatever it was, to play that season, and then my contract started the next season. Oh, interesting. I don't know if, I don't know if McAvoy did that and they didn't burn the year.

[Elliot]

I could understand some of these kids, like, with shitty teams and organizations with how desperate they are getting the burnt year in a T. In, in a, in a situation with the Bees, like, I would probably just be like, hey, if they don't want to do that and like, they'll sign him this summer and it won't burn a year and they're going to get. So they would get three years of his rights. Correct. You have to play two full. Whereas, like, if he does the burn a year, he only has to have a good year next year. And they're basically in talks that next summer. Yeah, I, I, I tend to lean on the side of the Bruins in this situation right now. And not every situation is going to turn out like cutter goat chase. Like if you're. And once again, I don't think cutter goat chase expectation was from the beginning. I want to be thrown right in the NHL. I think once again, from hearing all the conversation, it was more about the, like changing of the mind constantly and maybe being a bit disorganized, where it's like, well, this seems like a bit of a shit show. Let's take our fucking talents elsewhere. And obviously he, he's the, he's the, he's the carbon copy, you know, what's the term I'm looking wanted to plan out because he's going to be getting a nice fucking fat deal. He's like an up and coming superstar and, and he's earned that.

[Biz]

To your point about that biz, like the Bruins also have to be worried about if he does come in this year, making the step from college to the NHL and say he's dog shit for 10 games or whatever it is, then you're worried about his next year. Is he going to, is he going to continue to get better?

[Elliot]

Yeah, that would be. I would then say, hey, listen, we burnt a year for you. You didn't perform well in your 10 games. And like in training camp, if he's like, still, I think that, listen, then they're trying to establish a winning culture there. I don't think this is something that the key should just be handed over. It's not like we're talking about like a, like a team that's like going for a lottery pick where you can afford to give them those reps. Fairway

[Keith]

Falls made a great point. He said he tweeted at me and give him a short leash. Give him four games. And after four games, if you're like, all right, you don't see it. He's not making a difference on this team anytime soon. Send him down to Providence. Let him go through a playoff run with the Providence Bruins. Yeah, which is fine there, but shortly, at least give him at least two, three NHL games.

[Yancey]

Maybe the Bruins brass is like, we don't really think he is ready yet. Because if you look at Gauthier's numbers in college compared to Hagen's, like, he scored way more. I think Gautier had 38 goals the last.

[Biz]

He was on a way better team though, right?

[Yancey]

True. They had Smith and they had Leonard. You're right, that's true.

[Elliot]

So go. Last year, though, had the opportunity where he started out slow in Anaheim, but once again, this is a team that there didn't have expectations of making playoffs and being a team. So he was able to just get the reps, get the reps, get the reps. And then last year, I want to say it was the second half of the year where he popped off and that's why he ended up with over 20 goals.

[Biz]

Microscopes a little bigger in Boston, too.

[Yancey]

Yeah, well, something to watch out for.

[Elliot]

And maybe it's a good conversation too, because fuck, man, we're going to be seeing more and more and more of this. I think you're. I think you saw it with the Flames where they've just signed a bunch of the top college prospects who were the older guys. And I feel like they get very favorable contracts in those situations because they have all the say. And you're going to a team that's going to be a fucking lottery team.

[Yancey]

Yeah, yeah. And if you're. If you're not drafted, then you really have leverage. Cause if you're. You know what I mean? Like, it's. It's always the guys who are not drafted that sign that go right from NCAA to the NHL, assuming that's part of the. Part of the contract. But I think with that, it's time to go to a special guest biz. You line this one up. The guy's a hockey dad now, but I think most people know him as just a straight up machine. And that's Brock Lesnar. We sat down with him. It's an awesome interview. Great guy and I hope everyone enjoys it. Guys, if you like buying lottery tickets, scratch offs, Mega Millions, Powerball, there's no other option besides Jackpocket. Ordering lottery tickets has never been easier, thanks to our partners at Jackpocket. Whether you like to order the Powerball, the scratch off tickets, Mega Millions, you can order them all on Jackpocket lottery app. Jackpocket makes ordering tickets quick, simple and secure. And here's the best part. If you're new to Jackpocket, they've got a special offer just for you. Stoolies download the Jackpocket app. Sign up using code PUCK2 and new customers who deposit $5 will get $10 in lottery credits instantly. That's right. Put in $5 and get $10 in credits instantly when you deposit on Jackpocket, America's number one lottery app.

[Elliot]

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[Biz]

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[Elliot]

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[Yancey]

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[Biz]

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[Yancey]

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[Elliot]

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[Biz]

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[Yancey]

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[Biz]

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[Yancey]

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[Elliot]

For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see sportsbook.draftkings.com promos Limited time offer.

[Yancey]

This is an honor right now, folks. This is an honor we have on right now. NCAA champion at Minnesota, UFC heavyweight champ and one of the greatest WWE wrestlers of all time and a hockey dad, Brock Lesnar. What's going on, Brock?

[Brock Lesnar]

Hey, fellas. Thanks for having me.

[Yancey]

Oh, you kidding me? It's unbelievable for us. Biz said, Biz said. Hey, listen, I ran into. What was that years ago in Edmonton, Biz.

[Elliot]

I think it was last. Last year, maybe the year before, you were doing a hockey tournament there. And then. And then recently the clip of your kid, the highlight reel of your kid came out and that's why I reached out and. And honestly, man, I think the greatest joy your life right now is just being a dad. And especially a hockey dad.

[Brock Lesnar]

Yeah, like I'm I moved to Canada about 15 years ago just to. Because I. I enjoyed the. The hunting and the fishing life up here, you know, and. And to get away into the woods and move up here. And, And. And then I put my kids in a little country school in Saskatchewan. And then they came home and they said, dad, we want a mini stick. And I'm like, what? The mini stick? And then that's all. It's all over from there, boys. And it's just youth hockey in Canada. It's either hockey or curling. Right. So we're just loving it. And I'm. And I'm enjoying the process of it. And yeah, like, hockey's taking us, you know, through my kids from Saskatchewan to Alberta. We're living in Calgary now and. And the boys are. Are. Are just pulling the plow and trying to, you know, just do the best we can in the sport of hockey. And we're enjoying it. Yeah.

[Yancey]

So what's it been like for you? Not really knowing anything about the game. You didn't know mini sticks. You certainly don't know breakouts. Like, he's just probably, I'm guessing, listening to the coaches, and then you're helping them with the training and basically finding the passion for it.

[Elliot]

They, the coaches probably just sick him on all the crazy hockey parents.

[Biz]

Yeah.

[Elliot]

Oh, yeah.

[Brock Lesnar]

You got.

[Elliot]

Yeah. You want to be a crazy hockey parent? Deal with this fucking guy.

[Brock Lesnar]

Well, there's probably some times I'm the crazy hockey dad, too. I don't know. It's a crazy world. The hockey world's crazy. It's foreign to me. And I grew up wrestling, amateur wrestling. And there's zero politics in that sport. I mean, zero. And it's the purest sport that. That exists because it's mono and mono. Either the kid wins or he loses. Right? There's nobody else. There's no five, four other guys on. On the ice or on the mat. So it was really foreign to me and to try to navigate through this system. And I knew that I had to get my kids out of house league because they. The both of them were, you know, they were. They were doing well. They're just, you know, and so I wanted to get them into a bigger environment with some more opportunities, you know, Are you the.

[Biz]

The. The dad that has the Odr? I know you have a big, big lot of play, big lot at your house and stuff like that. Do you have ODR outdoor rink? You get the. Get the kids out there?

[Brock Lesnar]

I tried to do that, but, like, I was. We had a. My kids Started learning to skate on a, On a dugout, on a pond on the farm. That's where we. We. We put. We bought some cheap skates and put the boys on the pond and they just took off, you know. So that's where they got started, was on a pond. Yeah, but I never did know we had there, dude. There's. There's a rink in every little town in Canada, so you don't have to have an outdoor rink. You can just drive five minutes and you're at the rink anywhere up here. So that's, that's really cool. You know, some of these old barns, I mean, they've been around for 80 years, man, up here. And you know, the, The. The. The rural hockey programs are. Are. Are starving because, you know, the, the farm kids are. That aren't staying home anymore. And, and so, I mean, there's some of these old rinks here. They're. They're. The nostalgic factor in it is pretty cool, right? So it's, It's. It's been. It's been a trip.

[Elliot]

What do you mean the farm kids aren't sticking around? Is it because they're just going to bigger cities to develop or, or.

[Brock Lesnar]

Yeah, yeah. Like, you know, so, I mean, if you, if you want to. Unfortunately, hockey's turned into a rich man's game, guys. You know, I feel bad for some of these kids. There's a lot of talent that gets left behind in this sport because of how expensive it is. You know, the weekends and the, and the equipment and, and so these young rural kids, you know, that, that don't get the opportunities. Like it really. I think it's a, It's a huge failure in the system. But what. Who am I to say? But you know, we, I realized that and I was fortunate enough that we could get the kids out of the country and move to the city and get them in with some. Under some real programs, you know what I mean? Some structured programs and things that. Things that can make a difference for the youth. Right?

[Yancey]

Yeah.

[Biz]

I mean, we interviewed Gavin McKenna. He lived in Whitehorse, and I think he said he moved at 14 years old to Vancouver so he could travel.

[Yancey]

I think he was 12.

[Biz]

12 years old. Like, that's crazy. Like, what, what. What's the. Your boys to. I mean, now you're in Calgary, I guess, so it. It's a little bit easier.

[Brock Lesnar]

Yeah. I mean, my young boy, you know, he, he, he. He went fifth round, like 120 for. For the dub. Whether he makes it there, I don't Know, I like it's the same thing, guys. There's no hidden formula to I biz. You guys all know, like it's. You got to put the work in you. You just have to. And you got to be around the right people with the right mindset and you know, and for me, I just want my kids to know that if you, you're not always going to get a payday for your work, you know, like all this time and effort in the payday is. Is the win, right? Like, that's the, that's. That's what we all thrive for.

[Elliot]

Right.

[Brock Lesnar]

Is, is the success of it. And sometimes it doesn't come and it can be discouraged and you know, but I just try to help to push my kids and sport is sport to me. Like, I don't care. I come from a fight background and how to transition all that on the ice and to set a tempo and set a mind frame of. And almost having an alter ego. You know, you can be a gentleman off the ice. And I mean, you guys all know, like some of these guys, when they put step foot on the ice, they're not the same person, you know, and that's.

[Yancey]

Yeah.

[Brock Lesnar]

Try to communicate that to these young kids and with the social media aspect of the world now and these kids seeing, you know, we talk about highlight reels. Mike, there's nothing special about my boys. They're special kids, but they just, you know, anybody can blow up on the Internet and it doesn't mean that they're. You know what I mean? So it's. It's a humbling sport too. Right?

[Elliot]

That's why I always compare the Tkachuk boys to WWE guys because they step on the ice and they put that mask on. Yeah, they'll say whatever to you across the ice in order to win and they'll do whatever it takes to win. But then yet off the ice, they represent the game the way that it needs to be represented now. So you're originally from Webster, South Dakota?

[Brock Lesnar]

Yeah, yeah. I grew up on a dairy farm in South Dakota and. And all I could afford at the time was one pair of wrestling shoes. And that's all you need, you know. And I didn't grow up. Hockey for me in the, in the 80s didn't exist in South Dakota. You know, I didn't even know. I didn't even know it existed. Hell, I didn't even know pro wrestling existed because we didn't. We had a tv, but the damn thing didn't work, so. And we were busy working all the Time anyway. I milk more cows, I fondled more udders by the time I was 18 and you guys ever even thought about.

[Biz]

That's for sure.

[Elliot]

Oh, God. So at what age was. Where were your parents or your father specifically? Like, hey, like, you know, put the work gloves on, we're gone. We're, we're, we're doing shit today.

[Brock Lesnar]

You grow up on a farm like that, like, you want to be next to your dad all the time. And so I was just, I was in the thick of it as a young kid, you know, okay. We didn't have a. I grew up on a dairy farm and we didn't have a gutter cleaners. My, the gutter cleaner was. You're looking at him. I cleaned the gutters, cleaned the stalls. You know, I fed the cows with five gallon buckets. And so part of that too for me was when I moved to Canada, the old saying, you can take the boy out of the country, but you can't ever take the country out of the boy. I had a passion for farming and it's. And I still do. And when I moved to Saskatchewan and I bought a farm and I wanted to, I didn't want to be a weekend warrior. My kids were young and I wanted them to grow up on a working farm and live it, breathe it and live it every day. And so we did do that. My kids, my kids were working on the farm at a very young age and I implemented that work ethic into them. And, and that's, that, that's important to me. For me, none of my championships or none of my accolades, they all mean nothing. Boys. It means nothing to me. My kids are my legacy. And I want to just, I want to have, I mean, in today's dark ass world that we're living in, if you can come out and have good kids, you know, and that, that's, that I take a lot of pride in that. I want my. When when parents come to me and say, man, your, your boys are really respectful, man, that just, that makes me. That pumps my tires, you know?

[Yancey]

Yeah, it's so true. Like, if you hear like, I have three boys, they're younger than your kids, it's like, like, hey, your kid's so well mannered, so polite. I'm like, holy. I now remember why my dad told me, ryan, that's the best thing I could ever hear. Like, it's, it's very well said by you. Yeah, I was one. Yeah. I was wondering for you, like, when did you realize you had a special talent in wrestling? Like, because obviously you're from a small community, grew up on the dairy farm, but at some point it had to hit you or your dad. Like, wow. Like, I'm pretty good at this.

[Brock Lesnar]

I wasn't great at wrestling. I was a late bloom guy. Like, guys, I graduated high school, I was six foot tall, 205 pounds, and I'm. And I didn't even have one hair in my armpit. And I got. By the time I was a sophomore in college is when I grew another three inches and put on, I mean, 40 pounds. And I just, I was a late bloom. I was still grown when I was 20 years old. So I didn't. I. I just outlasted everybody. Like, I had this vision and this, this deep drive inside of me where I thought, I want to. I want to do something with this. And I didn't have much success at wrestling until I hit college. You know, I was never, I never had. I never got recruited out of high school to wrestle anywhere. I never got a scholarship. The highest I placed in high school was third place. And I just, I went to a junior college and I just kept pulling the plow and I just kept. I just saw the carrot dangling out there and I just kept after it.

[Yancey]

You know, when you were going through those times of high school and not a ton of success in junior college, were there moments when you're like, fuck, I don't know, man. Like, or was it never, ever given up on the belief, like, there. Were there moments of doubt or were. Was it just that steadfast, like, dream and goal that you had?

[Brock Lesnar]

I quit wrestling probably a hundred times in my head.

[Yancey]

Wow.

[Brock Lesnar]

You know what I mean? And so. And that's what I tell my kids too. We got to keep it light and keep it fun too. But yet, dude, this is a vicious, like, when, when the kids turn 15 in this sport, like, it's a vicious cycle of like, you gotta. That's what I mean. There's a lot of talent that gets left behind in the dark. The dust with the, you know, the kids getting drafted at 15 and all this other stuff, and then the kids seeing highlight reels of this guy or it's a big challenge. Like, I'm just trying to keep my kids motivated and keep it. That hard work, you know, will pay off. And I don't know what the end game is for them. It might not be. They might not ever play play hockey, but I want them, I want my kids to be committed at something and keep them occupied. And hockey sure does. I mean, we got every weekend we're playing, you know, every weekend. It's a rigorous schedule on these kids. And I tell my kids, too, like, I would have never lasted probably when I was 15 or 16 under the Schedule that these guys were doing.

[Yancey]

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

[Brock Lesnar]

I got one kid in the JPHL and one boy in the csshl, and we're. We're gone every weekend, you know, and it's a lot.

[Elliot]

So would you. Would you say your. Your massive big break was when you were recruited by Minnesota because that's where you ended up going off to. To win your national championship, Correct?

[Brock Lesnar]

Yeah. So I went to a junior college in Bismarck, North Dakota, right out of high school, because it was basically my only option. And I placed fifth my freshman year in the championships. And then that was the point, guys. When I was 19 and I got beat by a kid that I was embarrassed that I got beat by him. And I ran into this kid, I don't know, many years ago after we had wrestled and he beat me. And I met him after I was in the wwe and I saw him on the west coast, and I just gave him a hug, and he was like, what is that for? And I was like, because you beat my ass. And it kept me. That kept the fire burning for me. And then the next year as a sophomore, I just said, had it in my mind that nobody's going to beat me. And that summer, I trained like a madman and I won a junior college championship. And that's how I got discovered to as a gopher. The gophers flew me out the next day, and I was like, this is my home.

[Elliot]

When you say train like a madman, could you bring us through your schedule that you went through in order to get yourself in that position?

[Brock Lesnar]

So to the young kids that are listening to this, I was 19, and that's when my switch went off. And I said, you know what? I can do this. And I'll tell you what I did. I moved back to my hometown, and I knew that I had to just go on lockdown. And I found a job that I could that would put some money in my pocket and fill my cooler for. For the. For the day. Like, when I say cooler, my protein and my carb, all my food. So I worked. I worked for a power line company. They brought me on and I went around fixing power poles. And the first day I show up for work and this old timer's driving the truck, and he's like, did you. I go, where are we going for lunch. He's like, well, you didn't bring a cooler? And I was like, no. And he gave me a yogurt for the day. And I'm like, I'm not going to survive the day here, boys. I'm starving. So the next day I was like, I went down, went down to the Ace Hardware and bought a big 48 gallon cooler and I, and I just filled my, I stopped at the grocery store every morning and I filled that thing up because I knew I was, I was, I had to put some weight on if I was going to compete as a heavyweight. I was only 200, maybe 25 or 30 pounds at the time. And then I just, I went to work all day there and I, and, and then the evenings I hit the gym and I did all of my, all of my workouts at night.

[Yancey]

That's hard too.

[Brock Lesnar]

And I focused on that. And I, and I, even my girlfriend, I pushed, put everything to the side, okay? I put everything to the side. I didn't, I didn't go to the parties, I didn't, I didn't hang out with the, with the, with the guys all summer. They never saw me. The only time you saw me was in the gym or running and that's it. And I just put my head down for three months there and I came back as a sophomore. You have to put all the distractions aside, boys. And to the young kids, like, they don't understand, like, if you're going to go all in, you have to go all in. And I can take my hat off to the 1 percenters of the world. Guys, they're different people. You have to just be different. You got to do the things that nobody else wants to do.

[Biz]

I was going to say just the wrestling world, like the dedication that you guys have, the hard work, the discipline is insane. Right? But also like growing up on a farm is probably the same way, right? You have to wake up in the morning, do your work, get your done before you go out and play. Like, being a wrestler must have came kind of easy to you with that type of schedule because you, you had grown up your whole life with that.

[Brock Lesnar]

Yeah. And you know what? I want to shout out to my mom and dad too. Like my mom and dad, my dad, he needed help on the farm and he let me go to practice. He let me do, let me do that stuff. And I'll never forget, I came home one day and I, and we had wrestle offs, which means that there's four guys to fill the spot. But we can Only have one. So we have a tournament and we wrestle off for the position and I didn't win. And I came home and I was pissed off and I was banging the pitchfork around and throwing buckets and my dad goes, what's the matter with you? And I was like, I didn't win my wrestle off and I was mad and I just beat the hell out of this, out of this post in the barn with the pitchfork and broke it in half. He's like, well, why don't you just quit them? Just quit wrestling and you can farm with me. And I looked at him and I was like, hell no, I ain't quitting. You know, and even my mom, my mom had so much expectations out of me. My mom, bless her heart, and I thank her to this day. Even like if I didn't win a little kids wrestling tournament, she left me there to find my own ride. She was pissed and I didn't want to ride her for three hours. And in the backseat of that car, she just left me. And I was like, I can't believe my mom actually, she left me here.

[Biz]

I'll teach you to win.

[Elliot]

That's. Yeah, that's hard. That's hard love right there.

[Brock Lesnar]

Yeah.

[Elliot]

So when you go over to Minnesota, right, obviously it's a whole different ball game as far as talent. You're wrestling, wrestling against what helped you, like, what helped you put you over the edge? Like, was there a coach that you were introduced to, like maybe teammates, like. And what was that year like to eventually lead you to. You won the national title, right, as a, as a heavyweight.

[Brock Lesnar]

Yeah. So I, I'm a believer in iron sharpens, iron boys. Okay. When you get around an other elite men or people or athletes or anything, like there's only one way for it to go. And when I got to campus at the U, like I was around like studs. And these guys carried themselves differently. There was an ambiance to our team and there was a belief that there ain't nobody. We're better than everyone. We're. We're better than everybody out there. And you have to live it and breathe it. And I just, I embraced it. And there was coaches there, Jay Robinson, Marty Morgan, a lot of guys that, that I still, you know, I keep in touch with to this day that were made huge impacts on my life. And I can go back. I still talk to my high school wrestling coach, my little kids wrestling coach, these guys that you can make a difference in some kids life by being a coach. That's more important to Me than anything when I now that I look back, you know, having. Having people that believe in you and take you under their wing and say, hey, listen, you know, I had out outside mentorships, you know, like that. And so when you got to the U, you're surrounded by greatness. You're surrounded by all Americans. You're surrounded by national champions. And then you go put your work boots on, and you go down to the wrestling room, and you better bring your A game every single day, because these guys will hand you your ass in one second.

[Yancey]

You know, does it work in wrestling? And. And I apologize. I don't really know much about it in the college level, but I know you can end up wrestling for your country in the Olympics. So I'm guessing it depends on, like, you know, the Olympics are every four years on when you're graduating or how does that happen? Was that ever a thought in your mind or a dream? And. And. Or is that not that common with college wrestlers? I just don't know the system.

[Brock Lesnar]

Yeah. So when I was in kindergarten, my coach wheeled in a tv, a television with a VHS recorder, and he pops in a tape from the Olympics, Olympic wrestling. And that's how he. He moved into the town and recruited us kids from kindergarten.

[Biz]

Wow.

[Brock Lesnar]

And so the Olympics was always in my mind. But by the time that I struggled so hard with financially and the hardships of. Of the sport, by the time I was a senior and I had won the national title, I was discovered. I had a couple different options, but I was tired, guys. I had no money. I was a financial aid guy. I had to give my. I gave my scholarship up because back then we were only allowed 10 full rides on a team. Well, we need 40. We need 40 guys on the roster.

[Yancey]

Wow. I didn't know that.

[Brock Lesnar]

Only 10 full rides on the team. So you might get a quarter scholarship, you might get a half. They recruited me and enticed me to come there on a full ride. But then after six months, I gave my scholarship up so that we could recruit other kids and keep the program strong. Wow.

[Biz]

I know you were recruited from. What was it, ovw. You signed, like, the biggest deal in OVW history, Kind of like the Development League of the wwe. Like, was that one of those decisions where for you? It was, I need to make some money. I need to get my career going 1000%.

[Brock Lesnar]

So when I won my NCAA title, the. The WWE approached me because I lived in Minneapolis. I had a big media following there. I mean, back when I was in college, like I was the big man on campus was me. And Kevin Garnett ran Minneapolis. Like, yeah, like, I was. They. They turned me into this unbeatable, you know, monster, you know, like. And I was doing all the radio stuff back then and, and, you know, going down and getting free stakes whenever I wanted, you know, and everywhere I went, there was a pat on the back. So it was kind. It was cool. But, yeah, and then once I. Once I was done with my eligibility, then I was just tired of being broke. They were the only guy. The WWE was, the only offer, real offer on the table for me. My only option to go and make some money.

[Elliot]

Had you ever followed, like, the WWE before that?

[Brock Lesnar]

Because I never watched. I didn't know pro wrestling existed until I got to college.

[Biz]

Wow. Wow.

[Yancey]

So it felt like that was the dream. It was competing wrestling in college. It wasn't. It wasn't wwe.

[Brock Lesnar]

Not. Not at all. And then I got down to OVW and I was like, it just clicked with me. I was like, well, this isn't really hard. There's a good guy and a bad guy, and I just picked it up really fast. And, and the company. Company saw, you know, my improvements, and next thing I know, I'm.

[Elliot]

I'm the.

[Brock Lesnar]

I'm the. The youngest WWE Champion in history. 24.

[Elliot]

Wow. And then, and then you talked about doing all these radio hits when you were in college because, like, you got built up as this, like, you know, lo local legend. So that probably helped with your mic skills because that's another part of the WWE where it's like, you know how to wrestle, but all of a sudden you're talking in front of 20,000 people live.

[Brock Lesnar]

Yeah. But then I. Then they put me with a guy, gave me a manager. They gave me a manager, and it was Paul Heymon, who's, bless his heart, has been, you know, a good friend of mine for many years. And, and they put the, they, they put the mic on, turned me into this demolition man, you know, and, and, and it was fun, but I literally. I wasn't prepared for it at the time. I had no idea what I was getting into. I didn't know that we were on the road 300 nights a year. I did. I had no idea, you know, and that I could get hurt at this stuff. And. You know what I mean? It was like. So before I knew it, I was on the pain train, you know, with Vicodin vodka. And then I was like, I'm looking around at the Legends in the locker room at the time, and, And I'm looking across and I go, man, I don't know if I can hang with these guys like this. You know what I mean? And I was feeling like I still had some athletic endeavors inside, so that's when I stepped away from it. And then I tried my hand in the NFL, you know, had a cup of coffee there, maybe just a half

[Elliot]

a cup, but we can't just glance over that either. I think it's fucking insane that you were the WWE champion at 24 old, and then you're like, ah, I'm gonna step away. And then you went to Minnesota Vikings training camp and you'd never played football in your entire life and you were the last cut on the team.

[Brock Lesnar]

I played high school ball, but I, that was it. I played high school ball. I wasn't a, I mean, I wasn't, like I said, I wasn't that great of a, I was a late bloom kid, man. I didn't, you know. So, yeah, it is crazy. It was, I, I, I think more, you know, they gave me the opportunity because I was a low, I was a hometown hero there already. And they, they did me a huge solid by at least giving me the opportunity. And then, and they kind of turned into a reality as I got into camp and I was doing all right, and then they wanted to send me to Europe and I just, I'd already been on the road for four years and knew that that wasn't going to get, you know, something. And then, and then I went to wrestle in Japan to make some money. And that's when I discovered the, you know, the, the fight process. And then before I knew it, I was training for fighting. And then, you know, I'm getting a UFC contract and I'm fighting in the ufc.

[Yancey]

You know, you've lived like a thousand lives. It's crazy, dude.

[Brock Lesnar]

I feel like I'm an. I've lived the lives of two men or three men, you know, it's crazy. And I look back and I think I just had this ambiance or this mindset in my head, like, I can do that. I can, you know, why can't you? And I think every, everybody should have that mindset. I don't, I think a lot of people, they get deterred away from things in a, in a quick hurry and. I don't know, I just, I was always very confident person.

[Elliot]

It's cool, though. I, I would imagine when you become the champ of the wwe, the money's great. So for you to say, hey, no, I don't really care. About that and take a step back like that was probably not very easy.

[Biz]

John Cena was happy.

[Brock Lesnar]

Got you. John Cena was very happy because a year before I left, I had just re, I just signed a new contract. It was a 10 year contract, 20 million guarantee.

[Yancey]

Holy fuck.

[Brock Lesnar]

And I'm, you know, 22 years old. And I guess for me, the, the company was pretty chapped at me at the time because, you know, they invested a lot into. And I understand that now, you know, but I, it wasn't. If I would have stayed there, I wouldn't be who I am today either, you know what I mean? So I had, I was, I'm glad that I had enough wits about me to leave, you know, but it, everything turned out.

[Yancey]

When you get to the wwe, what is the camaraderie like? Is it like, hey, we're all in this together, it's a guy's group, it's, everyone's pretty tight. Or is it kind of like, hey, this new, this young buck's coming in. Fuck him a little bit.

[Brock Lesnar]

Yeah, definitely. I mean, I was a shooter, an amateur guy. I had a lot of credentials to my name. Of course I got tested along the way by the, by the old timers and the guys. You know, you have to pay your dues back then. You paid your dues and you had to earn your, get your respect. It's different now, you know, obviously, you know, things have gotten a lot softer and you know, there isn't no more kangaroo courts and you know, so it's a different now. But I mean, I, I go there, I'm the old guy now, you know, I had to go, I went back to work to, so I could feed my kids. You guys should see my grocery bill.

[Biz]

Oh, I can imagine you need that

[Yancey]

dairy farm again for the milk you're paying for every week.

[Brock Lesnar]

So, yeah, we're, No, I, I'm, I, I, I left the company years ago and, and I'm, I'm grateful that I'm back for a, a short time here. I'm really grateful for all the opportunities that I've had in my life.

[Biz]

I'm the big wrestling fan here out of these guys. But you know, the big matches. I remember obviously, you and Taker, you and the big show when you guys broke the ring. Yeah, but just take it, take us through that whole day of when you found out you were going to beat Taker, who was going to, who was undefeated at WrestleMania, never lost. And then you come in, you're the youngest guy ever, right, to win the Championship, were you. I mean, obviously growing up not knowing anything about wrestling, was it kind of like, oh, okay, it's my turn. But other guys might have been like, what the fuck's going on here?

[Brock Lesnar]

For me, guys, it, it was, it's really simple. Like, this is a business. Like, it's a business. And I think a lot of the, A lot of guys, A lot of guys live and breathe the, the lifestyle of it, you know what I mean? And for Taker, like, obviously it wasn't my call to, to, to, to make, you know, I mean, at the time, Vince McMahon, you know, if there was a person that could be take the streak away with a, with a legitimate background and people could believe it, I guess it was me. There's a lot of people that are pissed that it's me, but I, it's not my call, you know what I mean? And, and so my hat's off to Undertaker Mark. He's a great guy. And, and this is. At the end, guys, it's just, it's a business and, and it's a, you have, it's a give and take. And it was time for, for Taker to give and it was a time for Brock Lesnar to take it.

[Elliot]

Who were like the, the, the vets that you. Or actually the story of when you beat Undertaker, my understanding is he got a concussion during that match and he doesn't even remember the ending of it. But you actually, after the match, went to the hospital with him to get checked out and stuff. Is that a true story?

[Brock Lesnar]

Yeah, like, you know, I don't, I don't know what happened during the match, but, you know, he was, he was a mentor of mine. Like, I, I worked with Taker for many years and, and so now we're out in this match and, and, and Taker got hit left field day of, you know, he's coming to his 20th WrestleMania thinking that we're, he's going to win. And then two hours before we go on the, you know, the, the rug gets pulled on him and, and so a lot of different emotions, you know, there. And I'm sure. And then I was excited, but I also felt bad too. Like I, I'm the guy and I get to be the guy. And. And so we're out in this match and next thing I, you know, Takers not being taker, and I'm like. So I had to. We, you know, we're, It's a dance out there and you just gotta, you gotta do your best to get through it. And we did. And Then, yeah, out of respect, because Taker, I spent a lot of time with Taker, you know, and I wanted to make sure that, that he was all right. And that's part of the deal. You know, I went to the, I did go to the hospital and make sure he was okay. And, and, and that's just part of, part of the respect thing.

[Yancey]

You know, when you got involved and you're mentioning, you know, the Vicodin and the vodka, is there a part of you that's like, fuck, man. Like, I kind of see a slippery slope here. I see a lot of guys that have been doing this a long time, and this is. Maybe the money's incredible, but this is an aspect that, that could get dangerous over a certain amount of years.

[Brock Lesnar]

Oh, for sure. I, you know, I, I can remember when the light bulb or when it hit me and I was in the locker room. I'm looking around and I'm seeing some of these, these old boys that this is the life that they've lived for 30, 40 years. And I'm like, man, I got something. I got something else to give here, you know? And I, and I was like, I want to go and see what else is out there for me. And it was a big, it was a big move, you know, I left the company, you know, and I learned a lot of lessons there, you know, like the paychecks stop coming in, but the bills still keep coming, right?

[Yancey]

Yep.

[Brock Lesnar]

And I went through. It was living hell in 2004-2006. Some of the worst years of my life. But it's those character building years that you learn from, you know what I mean? And there's light at the end of the tunnel, but sometimes it's not there, but you got to keep fighting for it. Right.

[Elliot]

You mentioned that you. I think it was in Japan where you went there to wrestle, where you maybe discovered the, the MMA stuff. Is that, Was that true? You said that?

[Brock Lesnar]

Yeah. So I went to wrestle New Japan Pro Wrestling was, was at the time. And I went over there and you guys remember K1.

[Yancey]

Yep.

[Brock Lesnar]

Were fighting really, you know, the kickboxing and K1 in the 90s was real big. And so they discovered me when I was in, in Japan and they presented a fight to me and that was actually my first fight ever was with that company was called K1 Dynamite. And I fought in LA at the LA Coliseum. That was my first fight gig.

[Elliot]

You mentioned that tough period of time there. Was that just at the tail end of it where you just felt like you needed something new and different and a new excitement.

[Brock Lesnar]

Well, yeah, I just, I knew that like, if I was going to stay on the pain train, you know, I just wanted something else. You know what I mean? I wanted to see what else was out there, and I didn't. I had no idea that I was going to blow up and become the UFC champion. You know, that was a, that was a goal. But I mean, for me to have my third fight against Randy Couture, of all the guys, it's like, like, you know, I could have shelled up and, and you know, been scared about it, but I, that's how confident I was though. That's what I mean. You got to have this, you got to have an alter ego. You know what I mean? You got to have something inside that makes you believe in order to achieve.

[Biz]

You know, you beat Taker and then you beat Randy Couture. Two legends of both their, of their professions. But for you, going to the UFC, where you don't have to, you know, wrestle 250 nights a week, you can train at your house and then go to the show and fight, like, that must have been ideal for you.

[Brock Lesnar]

It was perfect for me. It was, it was perfect. And, and then I discovered real early that if I, if I play a heel, I don't have to, if I play a heel in, in the, in the ufc, I don't have to do all the, the media

[Elliot]

just see yourself.

[Brock Lesnar]

I could just, I could just tell people, you know, like, whatever, you know, so whatever, you know, it's people, people see the, the, the entertainment Brock Lesnar and they think that, you know, that's who I am, but it's not who I am. And I don't let people into my circle enough to, to know it's been a mystique for a long time, but I'm still, I can be an asshole when I want to be.

[Yancey]

Yeah, well, I think everyone listening can tell like a really good hearted guy wants to be. And yeah, you mentioned the confidence and the world class wr, but once you get into ufc, what did you have to add? I mean, all of a sudden it's the striking and, and yeah, the wrestling can help on the ground, but you must have had a, had to add a lot to your bag in terms of self defense and, and fighting tactics.

[Brock Lesnar]

Here's the, and it's kind of a funny story because I grew up, I had two older brothers, and the Lesnar name in South Dakota is notorious for bar fights, street fights weeks. Okay, like, so my, I had, I had older brothers that were getting bailed out of jail on Sunday night to go, you know, like, it was a for real deal. So I, I had these foot. These. I had these big shoes to fill when I was a little kid. They were. My brothers were older than me, five or six years older. And, and, and so what's this little Lesnar kid gonna do? You know, you either get picked on or the shit beat audio because your brothers did something for. On the weekend. So you got to get tough in a hurry. So. But one thing that I think I'm very coachable. I've always been able to get out of my own way and absorb things. And I knew when I got into the ufc, I needed to. I needed a coach. I went to these other camps, and I saw right away that some of these guys, the way they trained, I. It wasn't my philosophy, you know what I mean? So I took a lot of that. I knew right away that I had to. I had to get a management team together. So I went and sniped my assistant wrestling coach from the University of Minnesota, Marty Morgan. I brought him, I took him from the. I took him away from the college, offered him a coaching position, and it was the best thing I ever. I did so well. I know what I'm not good at, and I hire people to help me get good at it. And so I just brought. I built my own camps. My training camps would cost me a lot of money. I would bring a lot of people in, so I didn't have to go to these other gyms. I could train on my own timeframe, all that stuff. So each camp was 16 weeks, and I invested into that. So I had nothing to do with my time other than to learn the. The game of mixed martial arts. So I brought in the best jiu jitsu guy I could. I brought in some of the best kickboxers and, and training partners. And you are either. Like I said, iron sharpens iron, and there's only one way to go, and you. You can only get better. And I wish, you know, hindsight, it was a. And plus, I had a name already, so I had to. I. I had to hot shot this thing and capitalize on my name, and.

[Elliot]

And it just kind of work the situation. You said when you signed that, that big contract and then you backed away from it, like, during that period of time where you just started mma, like you said, you spent all this money and time and energy kind of recruiting these guys, like, did you still have, like, enough money to do? So, like, where were you at Financially.

[Brock Lesnar]

So when I, I got cut from the Vikings and I, I was the. The IRS showed up at my doorstep.

[Yancey]

Oh, wow.

[Brock Lesnar]

I was in a custody battle for, for the kid, for my daughter. And I was getting Sued by Vince McMahon for, for a non compete. It was a tough time in my life from 04 to 06. And so there was people, and I won't mention that, that helped me through those times and I was able to get on my feet again. And I thank them a lot and they know who they are, but. But they helped me out and got me stable and they believed in me. You see, there is nothing more powerful, you guys, than people and relationships and other human beings that believe in you. You need that circle, right? And it's no different than in the dressing room. If you walk into that dressing room, guys, you know right away that you can either get elevated or eliminated. You know what I mean? And so I had a lot of that. I had a lot of that. So relationships for me are the most important thing. And that's why I tell my kids, you need relationships with your coaches after

[Elliot]

that, from maybe learning from that experience. Like, I, I think, were you the first ever UFC guy to get like pay per view cuts and like how. Or did you maybe start negotiating and figure out your deals after you'd kind of been through all that tumultuous time?

[Brock Lesnar]

The ufc, Dana White wanted nothing to do with me.

[Yancey]

Okay. I thought he wanted you. I didn't know that.

[Brock Lesnar]

No, no, no. He wouldn't return my phone calls.

[Elliot]

Whoopsie.

[Brock Lesnar]

Yeah. So what happened was I fought. I fought at the LA Coliseum for K1 dynamite. And then I wanted, I wanted to get into the big leagues. And there was only one big league at the time, and it was ufc. So my, my team reached out and wanted to, you know, wanted to do something with the ufc. So, guys, this is how bad this is. This is the stuff that you have to do. So I said, screw it. I bought four nosebleed tickets to the mgm. Randy Couture was headlining against Gabriel Gonzaga for the heavyweight championship. I sat there in the stands through the entire event. And after the. As soon as the. Randy won that fight, I scaled the security and ran to the Octagon and grabbed Dana. I introduced myself, I said, I'm Brock Lesnar. And we went to the back and he says, well, listen, I'll give you a shot. So he gave me a one fight deal. I said, take a gamble on me. And so he gave me a one shot deal. And I lost that fight against Frank mirror. And I went back to the locker room and I was like, I screwed it up. And Dana comes in. He's like, because they know. They don't, they know the pay per view vise, like instantly, right? So the numbers must have been really, really good. And for, at that point, Dana's like, no, you're not done. And then the next day, we negotiated a real contract. Wow.

[Yancey]

That's why I thought he wanted you knowing, like, the numbers you'd bring in.

[Biz]

Yeah.

[Yancey]

And I wonder if, do you think it was maybe like, oh, he's wwe, like, this is more legit. That's not what we do. Like, did you ever find out why at the beginning he didn't have interest

[Brock Lesnar]

because I had no credibility. And I don't blame him. I didn't, you know, I, I, I was an amateur wrestler and a fake, a fake entertainer, you know, and so he, he didn't care. You know, I fought a tomato can my first fight, you know, I beat him in 90 seconds. And like, whatever, you know, I didn't, I didn't prove myself yet. So he, he threw me to the wolves. He said, I'm not giving you any easy fights. You know, my first fight is against Frank. He's a, I don't know how many time defending champion at the time, you know, a lethal dude. He almost broke my leg in half. Right. So he's the real deal. So I just, yeah, it was just one of those things where I had to prove myself to him before he, you know.

[Biz]

Yeah, yeah. I remember seeing that clip of you in the locker room. Just like, I need a, just give me another chance. And Dana was so excited because you, you put on a good show. You lost the fight, but you, you, you did well in the fight. So he must have been like, I got this guy. He knows how to put asses in seats and he's a legitimate fighter. And then from there on, just kept going.

[Elliot]

I don't know.

[Brock Lesnar]

Get to get back to your first question. I don't know who was getting percentages or not, but, you know, I did, I did quite well.

[Elliot]

Good for you. And you deserve it, man.

[Yancey]

Take me through the feeling of, of beating Randy Couture coming the UFC heavyweight champ, compared to the feeling of winning the national title. Is it now, granted, you're making money for one of those compared to at ncaa, but was it similar? Just the satisfaction, the belief in yourself coming true?

[Brock Lesnar]

People ask me that. And, and I think my most prestigious award for me is my national championship in college. Because to be that Young kid and to be raw and to carry that dream and to finally win at a discipline that you've been trying to master for 17 years, that, that was. That's probably my, my biggest accolade that I, that I, you know, hang my hat on. But beating Randy, I mean, I, I didn't. I mean, I must have believed that I could beat him, you know, but I wasn't either. Here's in Randy's defense, too. Randy wasn't at the top of his game either, you know what I mean? So he was on his way out. Dana was trying to get rid of Randy, you know, because they didn't see eye to eye and in the pay scale and all these other things. So I think Dana was. Dana was really hoping that, that, that I was going to beat him, and he was very ecstatic about it at the time. So Randy's a good guy. I brought Randy into my training camps after that, and he helped me out a lot, you know, and so, yeah, there's, there's a mutual respect. I don't, I don't. You know, the guys are. You get in that cage like there is no other feeling, guys. Like, words can't describe it. Like when you walk into that octagon and those, that door shuts and it's you versus him, that takes some brass balls, guys. It does. I look back now and I can't believe I did it. Yeah, I, I want nothing to do with it.

[Elliot]

Who was the person that you fought that you were the most scared of? Was it Randy?

[Brock Lesnar]

I wasn't ever really scared of anybody, but I, I felt threatened. You know what I mean? There's. There's certain threats. You can't go in there thinking, you know, that, that with a scared mindset. You don't go into fight in the cage with fighting anger either. It's a competition. It's, you know, and if you keep that mentality with it and you fight with your emotions, you're probably going to lose because you're, you're going to do things that you, you shouldn't be doing. But some of the fights, I mean, I. Kane Velasquez, you know, he, he handed me my ass in Anaheim, but I, that I think for me, like, going through diverticulitis really took a lot of fight out of me, that really. I almost died with that disease. And. And afterwards it changed my life a little bit and changed my mentality towards the sport, you know, and, and like, hey, you can, you can get hurt on at this pretty easily. And, and so it was one of those deals where early in my career, it was all or nothing, you know what I mean? And then there was some fights left on my contract where I was like, you know what? I'm not going to leave this money on the table, so I'm going to go fight.

[Yancey]

You see, in the NHL, after a spirited fight, I mean, oftentimes guys, they're patting each other on the head. And ufc, there's so much shit talk prior to a fight, but I can't imagine the. The respect you have towards one another at the end of one of those.

[Brock Lesnar]

That's the beauty of the sport, too. Like, for these guys. I like that because there's so much emotion and so much work that goes into those training camps to try to beat another. Another human being in front of millions of people. Like, the amount of pressure that there is and it goes in. I mean, even. Even for the boys, you know, to leave the NHL and go play in the Olympics, like, I mean, the level of greatness that you have to carry yourself with, with, it's almost like you're just on this cloud, you know what I mean? And I think other guys can say the same, like, greatness. You didn't think about what you were doing. You just did it. You know what I mean? Those drills, the repetitions of all the times, and then all of a sudden, man, there it is, and I'm going to sink this one or whatever. You know, the punch is right. My fights were always slow motion. Like, it felt like I was slow motion out there, because it was just like I was. What's the movie with the John or the Matrix? It almost felt like that when you. When things are clicking, everything's slowed down, and it's like time just evaporates, you know?

[Yancey]

I think one of the most legendary things about you is that tattoo, man. It's. Fuck. First time I saw it, I was like, which one?

[Elliot]

The dad.

[Yancey]

Which one? The fucking giant sword in your chest. What was the idea behind it? It's intimidating.

[Brock Lesnar]

I got that tattoo. I was shit face drunk in Scottsdale, Arizona.

[Elliot]

Okay, I did it. Oh, yeah, I did it.

[Brock Lesnar]

I was in Scottsdale training for the NFL, had just gotten in a motorcycle accident, and I was just. I mean, I was just kicked down hard. Like, I. I was going through all that stuff, and. And there was a tattoo shop across the street from the biker bar, and that's not a good place to have a tattoo shop. All right? I got this tattoo. I didn't even know I got the damn thing. I wake up the next day. And I'm like, what in the is this thing?

[Elliot]

Well, at least it's subtle.

[Biz]

At least it's not on your face.

[Brock Lesnar]

Yeah, but the meaning behind it was I felt like my back was against the wall and somebody had a sword, a knife stuck to my throat, like, like, what are you gonna do now? You know what I mean? So that's, I, I walked over there and I said, yeah, let's put a big ass ugly sword on my chest.

[Yancey]

I think it's iconic now.

[Elliot]

I think it's iconic too.

[Yancey]

I mean, I thought there might be some planning behind it. I know you were crippled at a bar, decided to get it randomly, but it's excellent.

[Brock Lesnar]

No planning whatsoever. It was a half a gallon of vodka and maybe a few Vicodin.

[Biz]

What about the kill them all tattoo on your back? Is it, Was that a drunken one too?

[Brock Lesnar]

No, everything on my back was thawed out pretty much. But not, not the one on my, not the sword.

[Yancey]

So I got, I got my, my, my boys into hockey. They're young, but they started playing. Did you push your boys or get them into wrestling at all, or was it kind of, you know, this, this was my thing.

[Brock Lesnar]

I tried, but I, I, I tried to, to, to, I put them in wrestling and they just didn't, they, they didn't take off on it. And, and then I got to the point where, like, do I really want to spend another 20 years in a wrestling room? I don't think I can do it.

[Yancey]

Yeah.

[Brock Lesnar]

And we moved to Canada and, and we got mini sticks.

[Elliot]

Saskatchewan, eh? I mean, you mentioned the hunting and the fishing. Is it like, what, what? Like, just, it's just because it's so close to South Dakota, it just made sense.

[Brock Lesnar]

I'd been visiting Manitoba and Saskatchewan for, since the early 90s because my brother married a, a Manitoba girl and lived in Manitoba and never left. So I had ties to, to, to, to Canada before I even had any intentions of living here. So I had just been coming up and visiting my brother all the time and, and, and enjoying the hunting life and, and the fishing life. And then I, I, I just by chance, I came across a farm that was for sale and, and I, that was, it was after I fought Randy Couture and I was doing well, and I was like, you know what? I'm going to buy this property. And then I just kept buying dirt in Saskatchewan.

[Biz]

Are you watching hockey games with your boys? I know I've seen pictures of you at, like, the Winnipeg jets games. Now that you're in Calgary. Are you going to Flames games with them or do you stay at home most of the time, you know, if

[Brock Lesnar]

the boys want to go or whatever. But honestly my kids, like we've had opportunities to go to the games. They're so busy right now, like they don't even, they're like, no, I want to be in bed by nine tonight and if we go to the game, I ain't going to bed till 11. So that's pretty cool that my kids are like, well, let's just watch it on tv, you know, and that's fine. And it's a whole, it's a whole process too for me to go to these things. I mean, you get fans in the stands and, and it's not really enjoyable for, for my kids either, you know, so like to, when dad's getting hounded and wants to, you know, everybody wants a piece of me when I go out, you know, so, and, and the kids, they, they could care less.

[Yancey]

I was gonna ask you about that. Your, your face. You're a famous man now, so it's got to be hard for you like to go anywhere. I mean, and, and I, I, I could see you being gracious with your time and taking pictures, but, but that can get exhausting over time.

[Brock Lesnar]

When I'm at my kids events, I'm just dad and so I have to, I have to draw a line and I do. And I started this years ago with, if I'm with my family, absolutely not. I don't take any pictures. And I'm sorry for that, you know, and I appreciate all the fans that have followed me over the years. But I have, I'm a human being and I'm a dad and I'm a husband and my kids deserve my full attention when I can, when I can give it to them, you know, so, and there. People are good. There's a lot of. There, it's maybe one out of a million, you know, like that there's, they're not cool with it, but they understand and I'm, I'm so gracious for these, for the people to follow me and, and, but yeah, I don't want to be dehumanized either. You know what I mean? And, and I'm just another guy with a, and I had a dream and, and passion and that's it. And that's all it takes. You gotta want something really bad.

[Yancey]

Well, man, you wanted three or four things really bad and accomplished them all. It's incredible.

[Elliot]

So you wrestle what, 20 times a

[Brock Lesnar]

year now I'm wrestling at WrestleMania last week, I issued, I didn't. But Paul Heyman, on my behalf, issued an open challenge to anybody in WWE to face me at WrestleMania. And you know what? At this point, I don't. Nobody's stepping up to take the challenge. So any fucking goon out there that wants to face me at Wrestling Mania, show your ass up and we'll see, we'll talk about it.

[Elliot]

What about me? Me, Whit and Yance.

[Yancey]

I'm busy, busy.

[Elliot]

I'm busy.

[Brock Lesnar]

That day I saw the video of you running out of the restaurant biz. I don't think you got it anymore.

[Elliot]

You're right, you're right, you're right, buddy. If you put all them together, that would be you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, man, I felt I could have used you that night.

[Brock Lesnar]

I was wishing like, oh man, I wish I was having a steak with Biz that night. There would have been, I would have

[Elliot]

been behind you being like, yeah, yeah,

[Brock Lesnar]

I love that stuff. I love it, I love it. But I appreciate you guys for, for having me on and I appreciate my, my love for, for hockey has grown because my kids are, are in it and, and I, I got a lot of respect for you guys that played that game too. Like, I'd never, you know, you kind of get narrow minded when you are focused on wrestling and all this other stuff. But, but being in it, in the trenches with my boys and seeing how, how this sport, how hard it is, like it's a whole nother level and I, I take my hat off to everybody that that's involved in that.

[Biz]

Did you guys watch the Olympics together?

[Brock Lesnar]

Absolutely. Yeah. What a great, what a great, a great time. You know, I live in Canada, I'm American. I was cheering for both. I was cheering for both, you know, but deep down, you know, I'll be honest, I wanted the US to win. I felt, I felt, you know, I didn't, I didn't feel bad. I mean these guys like, hey, McDavid, you know, let's, he's going to pull it off. McDavid. Come on, boy. Buddy, you got this, you got this. And you know, like, but you feel bad for these guys that, that, you know, they, they, they're in this, they love the game and that's, it's heart wrenching for, for anybody to see lose at the, at that level, you know what I mean?

[Yancey]

We just got the rollback code. [e-mail] 20% off your order through the end of the week. Polos, hoodies, joggers, rollback, dot com use code Chiclets.

[Elliot]

Well, maybe just a random one. Who's your favorite athlete of all time

[Brock Lesnar]

right now or when I was a

[Elliot]

kid, what are a couple, like, different? Yeah, yeah.

[Brock Lesnar]

So, like when I was a kid, like, for me, I was always infatuated by the, the Arnold Schwarzenegger's Lou Ferrigno, you know, the Flex magazine in the library at the school. Like, I was like, what is this? This, you know, and so that's where for me it started really young in the weight room because I wanted to, I wanted to look like those guys. But the Bo Jackson, I think, you know, the Tom Brady's. Anybody that achieves like true, real greatness, the level that, of, of discipline that that takes is amazing. And I, it's not so much the, the athleticism, it's the discipline. And anybody that can be disciplined like that, I, I take my hat off too.

[Elliot]

Awesome. And, and I was just going to say, man, like, I met you in Atlanta, I think you were there wrestling, you had the championship belt over your shoulder. I think you recognize Wayne. So you came over to say hi to Wayne and I got a chance to meet you, exchange numbers. And we've kept in touch throughout the years. And I mean, everything you've achieved speaks for itself, but to get to know you on a personal level, like, everybody knows you as the wrestler, the UFC guy, and this hard guy, but for you to, you know, open yourself up to share your story and, and probably inspire a lot of people who are going to listen to this to, to achieve more Brock, it's, it's unbelievable. And I'm so happy now you're, you're able to kind of enjoy fatherhood and, and you could just see how, how, how, how much it brings a glow to you and how much enjoyment and, and that, that video you sent me the other day of you reading the lineup card for your kids hockey team. So good. That was so.

[Brock Lesnar]

I don't do that, that stuff like they've, they've asked, like, I wanted to make sure that my kid was all right with it. You know what I mean?

[Elliot]

Yeah.

[Brock Lesnar]

And I'm passionate about sport because sport goes into all these different areas of life, business. It's a win, win, you know what I mean? You have to win. You got to be ruthless. So I get, I got a real fired up on the, on the speech for the boys, you know, and, but that's just who I am though. I, I bring a lot of energy, the psychology aspect of the, of it now that I've, I'm that this is almost past me. You know what I mean? So now I'm thinking I want to talk to these kids. I want to give back.

[Elliot]

You know what I mean?

[Brock Lesnar]

I want to give back to these. To these young people that. That. That need. That need some mentorship. You know what I mean? And that. So that's. To me, it was like, you know, as long as my kid was good with the it, I'm good with it. And. And gang. It. They pulled it off and they. They, they. They won. It was a three game, you know, triple header, best out of three.

[Yancey]

And.

[Brock Lesnar]

And it was one one going into that, and they pulled it off.

[Elliot]

So rights, man, it must have worked. Oh, yeah.

[Biz]

You kicking the trash.

[Brock Lesnar]

Trash can over. And I was just. I was on fire.

[Elliot]

As soon as you did it, though, you're like, oh, oh, I got.

[Brock Lesnar]

Oh, I can't believe I just. If anybody. And thank God they all had their helmets on and face masks on. A beer goes sailing through the locker room end over end, and it's busted open and there's beer going everywhere. These kids got to go on the ice.

[Elliot]

The ref's like, why are these kids smell like booze?

[Brock Lesnar]

Yeah.

[Elliot]

What's Lesnar got him doing in there?

[Biz]

The legendary coach, Daryl Sutter. He used to be famous for kicking trash cans, so the guys on their team used to, like, fill it with, like, blocks and stuff like that. So when he kicked it, he'd break his toe. But he was such a tough guy, he wouldn't even. It wouldn't even.

[Brock Lesnar]

He'd be like, well, I sprained my finger. Look at that damn thing. Oh, no. I went to grab the can, and I demolished the can. And I. I'm just. Yesterday I wake up and, like, what happened to my finger? What did I do? That's how nuts I got. I was like, let's go. And the kids were fired up, and I was like, man, that's the love of the game right there. Just the love to be in that dressing room brought back so many memories, and I. I almost started crying. I started to my. My. My speech with the kids, and I, like, I had to take a breath, and I'm like, I can't believe I'm doing this right now. That's how emotional I'm about it.

[Yancey]

Yeah, that's passion and. And. And we appreciate it. And I. I do want to say you mentioned the. The Instagram clips. In this day and age of social media and seeing kids with the skills, and I'm sure your boys know it, but it's not hockey, right? And like it's. You see some incredible things kids do. But I, I like to remind kids that you can drop these highlight videos of you in practice, but the game is the game, dude. And you, it comes gets. It's different than just showing your toe drag and stuff and something you could tell your kids. I'm sure they already know, but we appreciate your time, man. Amazing person and all you've accomplished is it's truly incredible. So thank you.

[Brock Lesnar]

Thanks a lot, guys. Thank you very much.

[Yancey]

All right, have a great.

[Brock Lesnar]

Thank you, guys.

[Yancey]

This episode of Spit and Chicklet is brought to you by Body Armor Flash iv, an official part of partner of the National Hockey League. Flash IV tastes great and is packed with electrolytes delivering faster, longer lasting hydration without any artificial dyes, flavors or sweeteners. None of the junk, none of the stuff that you don't need in your body, just Flash IV brought to you by Body Armor. Whether you're training, traveling, or just feeling the heat, Body Armor Flash IV is the way to go. Work hard, hydrate hard with body armor flash IV. Go right now to a 711 and grab yours today. Thank you so much to Brock Lesnar. What a story that guy's life is. It's incredible stuff and we appreciate him coming on. I hope you guys all enjoyed it. We kind of wanted to save this till later in, in the show, but just horrible, heartbreaking news out of Minnesota. Jesse Pierce, who covered the wild, she covered the Frost, the, the, the Minnesota team in the pwhl, passed away. Her and her three children. Like, even saying that makes me sick to my stomach. I saw this come across Twitter yesterday and there's just no words for this one. The heartbreak, you know, we all have for her husband, her, her, her entire family. And it's just one of the worst things I've ever heard. And Mike Russo wrote a long tweet about her. It was very nice. She, you know, she had been mentioning, I think the day before that an ice cream place was opening up that day in Minnesota for the season. She was taking her kids. She tweeted a picture of her three kids. It's just like this one, this one hit hard, I think just having three kids. I don't know, it was just so, so horrible. So we want to, you know, wish our, our give our, our best wishes and, and our thoughts and prayers to, to her husband and I, I just, you know, there's, there's nothing really to say on this one, boys. So.

[Biz]

No, it's horrible and it's I mean, the only lesson you can take from it is, you know, love your. Your family, your friend every day, tell them you love them. And, you know, like. Like you said, taking her kids for ice cream, I'm sure she was having the best day. And. And. And it's just one of those things where life is so fragile. It's. It's fragile. Yeah, it's. It's tough, man. And. But, you know, you can look at something like this and, you know, just continue to love your family, your friends, tell everybody, and, you know, live a better life.

[Elliot]

Yeah. I mean, you probably were just reading all the tweets too, right? Like, just, like, the amount of support and, like, just people saying how she is such a joy to be around at work, and, like, they always put a smile on her face. And just, like, when you see that many people, like, chiming in, which is, like, love and support for her family, you could just tell she was an amazing person, an amazing mother. And, like, the hockey community, like, it's been, you know, tragedy. A lot of tragedy in the hockey community this year. So it's just. It sucks to see where.

[Yancey]

Yeah, it's. It's hard to come out of that. But, you know, what. What are you supposed to say? Other news around hockey before we wrap this up, up the. The NCAA tournament is set. I know we've talked a lot about, at one point, hopefully getting the regionals at the top seeds. I think we have BC enough. Jesus Christ. BC is not in this year. BC bu. Neither team in Minnesota. Not in Minnesota. Fired their coach. That's kind of an enormous job. Not kind of.

[Brock Lesnar]

Wow.

[Elliot]

So these are some, like, if you said, like, the premier league of top 20 college teams.

[Yancey]

Oh, yeah.

[Elliot]

You.

[Yancey]

It.

[Elliot]

So there's only 16 teams make the hockey tournament.

[Yancey]

Yeah. And. And this year it was crazy because Merac Merak won Hockey East. They've never won Hockey east over Yukon. Yeah, they beat Yukon. I think Merrimack's goalie is, like, out of control.

[Brock Lesnar]

Unbelievable.

[Yancey]

Been playing out of his mind. I think he. He's undrafted, so a lot of teams are talking.

[Keith]

Going to Bruins camp this summer.

[Yancey]

Oh, he did confirm.

[Keith]

Yeah. This upcoming summer, he's agreed to go to the Bruins.

[Elliot]

So we've reached, like, unprecedented times with these, like, college programs that are just like, oh, first time ever. First time.

[Brock Lesnar]

This.

[Elliot]

Where the, like, the old regime is kind of slowly falling to.

[Yancey]

And it's all based on, in my opinion, the CHL rule. And what's funny is I came out and I said, this is Going to be unreal for college hockey, which it is. It's made college hockey like incredible because I feel like every team should be able to get pretty good, you know, at least competitive now based on the fact you got three different major junior leagues where these kids can come play after their pipeline.

[Elliot]

This is the way that, that players should be getting developed. But it sucks crazy that this has

[Yancey]

not happened, but it really, it does suck for Americans. And why? Because. Oh yeah, yeah, you have an enormous pool coming of, of Canadians that never Buddy.

[Elliot]

There's plenty of buddy.

[Yancey]

It does, it does. It makes college hockey better.

[Elliot]

But, but it makes college hockey better. Like we talked about. It's like going to the program like you're playing against. It's just overall the, the play elevates and also these players can go not ruin their eligibility. American kids can go over and play in like the OHL and develop.

[Yancey]

Yes, that's true.

[Elliot]

Or the ushl. And how many more, like let's say in the next five years, how many more programs are there in D1 that they're working weren't, let's say five years ago now like a 10 year gap?

[Keith]

They're adding programs every year.

[Yancey]

Are they?

[Keith]

Oh yeah, 100, man. Mary, Maryville and St. Louis just, just announced that they're coming in like every, I'd say every two. St. Augustana in South Dakota, St. Thomas. All these schools were in the past three, four years.

[Yancey]

Okay, fair, but, but it's still, it still is screwing over American kids. Yeah, it both can be true.

[Brock Lesnar]

True.

[Yancey]

And, and listen, it's great they can

[Elliot]

go play at the University of Alberta or, or Davenport.

[Yancey]

But no, I think that, that, that leads into what we're saying and when, when you're mentioning like, wow, there's just a lot of teams that are kind of coming on and like that Augustana team, I think they were the last team to get knocked out only because Merrimack won Hawk east, which is an auto bid. So gee, the top teams are, are,

[Keith]

it's teams are Michigan, Michigan State, Western Michigan and North Dakota. Yeah. So it's, I think the, the NCAA though, once again, like they just, they don't prioritize attendance. They don't prioritize like they need to get these games. I've said it for years and I won't go too deep into it, but they need to get these games on campus. You saw the Big Ten championship this past weekend, Ohio State versus Michigan at the Yoast Arena. Minnesota State playing there, CCHA championship at home, like it was unbelievable. And it's just like it, it makes no sense. And I look at the South Dakota region, so they're playing a, A, A, A, A regional in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. And here are the teams in it. Quak, Providence, Merrimack and North Dakota.

[Elliot]

Come on, improve it. Improve it.

[Keith]

These are three schools that are 150 miles within each other. Why aren't they playing at the.

[Elliot]

Have they talked about changing that?

[Yancey]

No, not really. Coaches have mentioned it. But that game. Game. Who's David?

[Elliot]

Carl is, you know, who runs it, Gary.

[Yancey]

So North Dakota plays Merrimack. So that Providence Quinnipiac game might have 300 people at the game.

[Elliot]

Yeah, there's gonna be no one so stupid.

[Biz]

Probably because basketball does that. But basketball is different. Like March Madness. And basketball, people are gonna come out. In South Dakota, there was games I

[Elliot]

was watching on March Madness where there was nobody.

[Keith]

And then it's like, and then it's like, Friday, Denver's playing in Loveing, Colorado. Okay, Denver, they're one of the big blue bloods. Most national championships, they put the game at 4:00pm like, the parents aren't getting out of work by 4:00pm It's Friday. Like you, you're not, you're not get. You're not filling a stadium in Loveland, Colorado, for Denver vs Cornell at 4pm I can tell you that right now. And the last thing, too. Gavin McKenna, the kid, the guy all the kids want to watch 9pm Friday night, they're playing him. It's just they, they don't give a shit. They don't give a shit about attendance, TV ratings. It's like, let's, let's fucking put some more effort, some more thought into this and we could. Fuck, we could blow this thing up. It's a joke.

[Elliot]

I, I agree with that whole setup. I think, I think the regional argument is a no brainer. I'm shocked that they haven't made the adjustment. Adjustment yet.

[Yancey]

Staying in college hockey. Women's side, shout out Mark Johnson, 1980 hero from the US Olympic team. Team Wisconsin women. They won the national title. That's nine national championships for him. Back to back 702 wins, 17 trips to the Frozen Four, and nine national titles. So like, I mean, they have a. What's her. Harvey.

[Keith]

Caroline Harvey won the Patty Kazmier award. I mean, what a year for her. Gold medal, national championship back to back. And Patty Kazmier Award. She's probably going first overall in the PWHL draft. So. Yeah, unreal year for her.

[Elliot]

Holy. Yeah.

[Yancey]

And I was actually Wondering this today and I see it on the outline. Frank Saravali has said the NHL Draft Lottery scheduled for May 5th. Very excited for this year. You got the Toronto storyline. Are they out of the top five? Does the Bruins get the pick? You have the whole storyline of Vancouver, Calgary in the mix for number one. It's going to be a very. I'd say. What's the word? Not pressure filled, just like anxious moment for a lot of fan bases. Mayfair, if.

[Keith]

If Florida ends up getting a top seven pick, that. That rumor that Brady Tkachuk rumor, the Florida Panthers that Keith threw out like a year ago, that. That becomes a lot more real boys. Think about that.

[Elliot]

The. Which one the Brady could Chuck.

[Keith]

Brady could Chuck to Florida. Keith said it a year ago. He's like, it's happening, it's happening. If. If Florida has a top 7, top 8 pick now to dangle in front of the Ottawa senator. I don't know.

[Yancey]

The Martian is just losing his mind. We were pumping Ottawa's tires. We said they're going to get in. And now you're trading Tachuk again for the 50th.

[Elliot]

Is that why they got Brad Marshaw at the fucking pool sipping margaritas every day?

[Yancey]

Marshy's injured. Marshy's injured.

[Elliot]

No, I know, but is he like. Is he like in a rush to get back?

[Yancey]

I don't think Barky's coming back for a reason.

[Elliot]

Yance, what's wrong with Marshy?

[Biz]

I have no clue.

[Yancey]

I think he was all banged up before.

[Biz]

He was banged up even before. Yeah, exactly. But sorry to go back to the NCAA thing. I thought for some reason it just came to me that they don't do it on campuses because schools are in spring break during the. During the tournament.

[Elliot]

Everybody leaves. But you're better off having it there than agree.

[Biz]

No, I agree.

[Yancey]

I think it. If BEU played and it was spring break, the place would be packed.

[Biz]

Yeah, because they have people who are fans that. But like a Penn State wouldn't be be.

[Yancey]

Yes, it would.

[Keith]

Penn State would be. It would be absolutely sick.

[Yancey]

And I don't even think they. They all. They don't all line up on spring break like this next weekend.

[Keith]

Penn State packed Allentown when they did it in Pennsylvania.

[Elliot]

So if considering we mentioned the three teams from Michigan making the tournament. We got some more Michigan porn for you hockey fans. We interviewed Ryan Miller and that's going to be coming out soon. And out an East Lansing, Michigan legend. Did he. You said he played three years at college, correct?

[Yancey]

Yeah. Like Augustine is in his third year. This year, the Detroit pick, the. The great goalie so you could get God. So if the number one seeds hold serve, you get three teams from Michigan in the frozen four. That's pretty crazy. And Western looking to repeat, right?

[Keith]

Yeah, I think it's going to be Michigan, Michigan State, Denver and Quinnipiac. I think that's my first.

[Elliot]

That's a fun four.

[Yancey]

That. That would be a good four.

[Biz]

You think Augustine would go to Detroit this year?

[Elliot]

If they lose, they need something.

[Biz]

I know, I know.

[Yancey]

But they're not even playing.

[Elliot]

Can you play center?

[Yancey]

Hosa. Well, Larkin is skating. Hopefully he's back soon. Guys, fun episode. Thank you to Brock Lesnar. Thank you to everyone who tuned in. And we will be back later this week.

[Elliot]

Oh, no, no, no. We got to promote the sandbagger.

[Yancey]

Sandbagger.

[Elliot]

What do you have to say about it?

[Yancey]

2:00 clock eastern Thursday. Opening days coming up soon. We got three blue jays. We're looking to take these.

[Elliot]

This might be my favorite bagger ever. And there is a fun, fun wrinkle on the back nine.

[Brock Lesnar]

It won't happen, won't happen, won't happen again. A bad habit worth breaking, but it's taking time. I don't know.

[Yancey]

It don't matter.

[Brock Lesnar]

It's gonna happen. It's gonna happen again.

[Elliot]

In sports, winning takes more than talent.

[Yancey]

It takes strength, reliability, and the drive to go the distance.

[Keith]

Sound familiar? That's the same DNA you'll find in a Chevy Silverado. As capable and dependable as a winning team.

[Yancey]

Chevy Silverado shows up and gets the job done.

[Keith]

It won't flinch when the pressure's on. It doesn't take plays off when it

[Yancey]

comes to trucks, Chevy Silverado is football guy approved.

[Keith]

To learn more about Silverado, visit chevy. Com.