Spittin' Chiclets Episode 633: Featuring Ernie Clement, Ryan Miller, & Gary Lawless

Summary

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Spittin' Chiclets Episode 633: Featuring Ernie Clement, Ryan Miller, & Gary Lawless

Date: March 30, 2026
Hosts: Ryan Whitney, Paul Bissonnette, Rear Admiral, Mike Grinnell
Summary by [Expert Podcast Summarizer]

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Overview

Episode 633 of Spittin’ Chiclets covers a wild week in hockey—on and off the ice. The show brings in guests across sports: MLB’s Ernie Clement, U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame goalie Ryan Miller, and Vegas Golden Knights insider Gary Lawless. The boys dig deep into playoff races, wild NHL management moves (including a blockbuster coaching change in Vegas), major college hockey stories, plus a classic, chaotic Sandbagger recap with the Toronto Blue Jays.

The episode is loaded: sandbagger golf chirps, deep-dive hockey analysis, Cubs-Lobster Poutine, organizational philosophy, emotional player stories, and classic Chiclets humor.

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Key Segments & Timestamps

• Sandbagger Recap & Ernie Clement Joins (08:28–17:20)
• Locker Room Culture & Chirping (17:30–19:37)
• Major NHL News: Vegas Fires Bruce Cassidy, Hires John Tortorella (24:27–36:37, 142:00–161:41)
• Ryan Miller Interview: Career & Legacy (65:51–139:50)
• Playoff Races & NHL Analysis (38:00–60:00; 162:49+)
• College Hockey/Frozen Four & NCAA Facilities Debate (163:38–171:57)
• Tiger Woods Incident & Athlete Responsibility (181:43–189:23)

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Section 1: Sandbagger Recap & Ernie Clement [08:28–17:20]

Theme: A hilarious, brutally competitive recap of the recent Chiclets Sandbagger golf shootout vs. members of the Toronto Blue Jays, with special guest Ernie Clement.

Key Highlights:

• The Jays put up a serious battle, leveraging clubhouse camaraderie and chirping as hard as the NHLers.
  • “The Chiclets guys in the beatdown we gave you get any credit?” Biz asks Ernie.
  • Ernie: “100%! An ass-flipping like that propelled the boys, man. We had to lock in after that.” (08:41)
• Legendary antics: shoeless golf, gummies, and nonstop banter.
  • “You were unreal with the shoes off. I was taking distance away from you…” — Paul
  • “Those socks are still laying on the floor in the clubhouse. Never washed them. Just kind of left them there and they're just sitting there. They're disgusting.” — Ernie (13:44)
• Blue Jays fandom is next-level in Canada, and David Schneider’s devotion to Chiclets is called out as “his dream come true.”
• Nicknames like “cross-eyed Harper” emerge for Lucas, showing how hard the pro baseball dudes buy into the banter.
• Ernie says the locker room chirping is real—“We can handle it. I for one love it, I encourage it.” (11:02)
• The infamous “Pasha putt” — wild, psychedelic fairway shenanigans become instant Sandbagger lore.
  • “That was the most memorable hole in Sandbagger history for me.” — Biz (19:18)

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Section 2: Locker Room Culture & Chirping [17:30–19:37]

Theme: What is (and isn’t) acceptable chirping? Why non-athletes just don’t get it.

• The boys highlight the huge divide between pro-athlete banter and corporate culture.
  • “Imagine in your cubicle, nice long shorts, you peasant. HR—you're gone.” (17:34)
• “Friends never compliment you. Ever. If you got a compliment from a friend I'd be like, 'Are you okay? Do you need help?'” (18:05)

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Section 3: NHL Megastory – Vegas Golden Knights' Ruthless Move [24:27–36:37 then 142:00–161:41 w/ Gary Lawless]

Theme: Vegas fires Stanley Cup-winning head coach Bruce Cassidy, instantly bringing in John Tortorella with mere games left before playoffs—a nuclear move in NHL coaching terms.

Key Points:

• Rear Admiral frames it: “Bruce Cassidy, fired by the Vegas Golden Knights. The most ruthless organization in sports.” (24:27)
  • This echoes the 2000 Devils’ Fatoric-for-Robinson switch that led to the Cup.
• Hosts agree: Cassidy “a hell of a coach... one of those guys it's hard to play for.”
  • “Just the most cutthroat organization… [they] do not give a fuck.” (28:25)
• Fan base is as spoiled/cutthroat as the club:
  • “You go to the Cup Final year one, then you win… They're just as cutthroat as the organization.” — Biz (28:50)
• Hosts debate whether Torts can bring “rah rah” fire without overwhelming a battered roster.
• Gary Lawless segment: Lawless gives organizational perspective, saying McCrimmon “makes hard decisions… what you sign up for... track record is tremendous.”
  • “This team can’t miss the playoffs. It’s too good. So they brought in John Tortorella... He is passionate, but he's also compassionate. There's no gray area with him, but he's not a bad person.” (151:29–152:24)
  • “Energy. He will breathe energy.” (159:21)
• Also weighs in on Marner: “I like Vegas a lot better with Mitch Marner than without.” (155:16)

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Section 4: State of Playoff Races, Team Deep Dives [38:00–60:00; 162:49+]

Theme: Intense, nuanced breakdowns of the playoff picture, key player performances, and surprise surges.

• Boston Bruins: Swayman’s stellar form, Zacha’s development, and skepticism about their Cup credentials.
• St. Louis Blues: “They're 11, two and two in their last 15. It's like they all came together… just working and running over teams right now.”
• Montreal Canadiens: Depth, prospects, and rookie scoring arguments (Demidov/Senake/Schaefer/Kapanen).
• Philadelphia Flyers: The fans’ endless shifting narratives and Wit/Biz roasting them:
  • “I don't own too many fan bases, but I fucking own the Flyers fans. They're my fuckin' lap dog at this point.” — Biz (59:51)
• Nashville, Winnipeg, Utah: Playoff bubble volatility; direct schedule breakdown (44:55).
• Ticket pricing: Contrasting Oilers/Fans price hikes and Sabres $30 playoff tix for season ticket holders: “Saying thank you for supporting us and we're sorry it took so long.” (57:34)

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Section 5: Interview – Ryan Miller [65:51–139:50]

Theme: A profound, revealing look at Miller’s journey from youth hockey to Hall of Fame.

Early Years & The Miller Hockey Family

• Miller family’s Michigan State legacy: “Ten of us at Michigan State.” (76:00)
• How he became a goalie: Bargained with his dad to play net, scoring a hat trick and three assists in one game to earn the right (72:48).

Development, Mental Approach, Adapting

• Evolving as a “small” goalie: “Had to use my hands a lot… not a skill you turn on like a light switch.” (78:38)
• Mindset/visualization: “Probably throwing tennis balls off the wall and being real quiet. The most visible thing I do is people see me out with a stick, running through positive affirmations. It looks like I’m talking to myself.” (70:24)
• Thoughts on current goalie workload: “I loved to be in the net… played like 76 games one year. That's never happening again.” (83:27)
• Modern goalie inconsistency: “I wish I knew, man… the skill is just at such a high level now.” (80:26)

Buffalo Sabres & ‘06/’07 Playoff Runs

• Importance of Sabres-Rochester pipeline/community engagement.
• Memories of playing with a stacked squad: “It fit my personality. The connection with Buffalo, you give them something—they give you everything.” (97:30)
• Playing with Lindy Ruff: “He’s learned. Back then the coaches weren't as... playing tummy sticks with the goalies.” (100:08)
• Hilarious trainer stories: Georgie Babcock’s antics, like riding shoulders into the dressing room or putting his hands on fire to read the lineup.

Heartbreak & Memories

• Crushing injuries (game 7 vs. Carolina): Only one D left, McKee almost losing his leg to infection.
• Locker room loose cannons: “Andrew Peters… kept it real loose…” (112:05)
• Lucic hit: “I made eye contact with him. That's why I said okay, not gonna kill me. I guess I was wrong… I regret kind of going back [at him].” (115:59)

Olympic Silver/Personal Peak

• Vancouver 2010: “Kind of threw it back to… hockey's the challenge sport. Olympics was the best hockey I ever played.” (118:32)
• On seeing Team USA win recently: “Got more emotional than I thought… good for them... and a little jealous.” (120:29)
• On pressure/competition: “It helped having Timmy and Quick as backups. If I fucked it up, I had really good guys to come in.” (121:27)
• Vezina year: “That seasonal collective is probably my greatest achievement.” (128:42)

Retirement & Legacy

• Bittersweet Buffalo departure; happiness at a mindful farewell in Anaheim.
• “USA Hall of Fame was more emotional than anything… My family’s right in front of you… Oh my God…” (137:11)
• Final advice: “Sabres are doing great. Just keep doing what you’re doing. Don’t change a thing.” (139:35)

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Section 6: College Hockey & Frozen Four (NCAA) [163:38–171:57]

Theme: The NCAA regional system debate, Frozen Four preview, and a salute to teams and players.

• Hosts and Grinnell frustrated with empty regional sites (Albany “an absolute joke”), clamoring for campus sites.
  • “It was legit empty… these kids work their whole life. Can’t end their career like this.” (164:26)
• Team profiles: North Dakota (“built for the playoffs”), Wisconsin (underdog rallying around cancer-battling strength coach), Michigan, Denver—each with passionate fan support.
• Gavin McKenna's future path—big debate on whether he’ll turn pro or return to college.
• Respect for college hockey’s growing clout, and the impact of players staying or leaving.

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Section 7: Utah Mammoth – New Hockey Market Grows [48:35–56:09]

Theme: Biz recaps his trip to Utah for an NHL game, praising the market’s energy, culture, and ownership.

• Ryan Smith prioritized affordability and fan engagement: “Refused to sell too many season tickets so everyone can come experience it for the first time.” (53:32)
• “He’s not gouging people… keeping playoff seats cheap so people can get hooked.” (54:14)
• Unique stadium setup with steep lower bowl, panoramic mountain views, and owner’s box with basketball hoop.
• Perspective: “20 out of 10 for the way he rolled this out. Next year, hope you all come for the Winter Classic.” (55:11)

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Section 8: Tiger Woods Incident and Athlete Responsibility [181:43–189:23]

Theme: The show wrestles with how to treat Tiger’s latest high-profile vehicle accident—how addiction, pain, fame, and privilege intersect.

• Empathy for Tiger’s rumored opioid addiction (“No matter who you are, you can get addicted…”) alongside tough love:
  • “Tiger, buddy, get a fucking driver. You’re a grown man here…” — Biz (184:41)
• “People don’t feel bad for you… if you’re putting others in danger, that’s when people get pissed and they have the right to be pissed.” — Yandel (188:59)
• The difference between “having a laugh” vs. recognizing it's a serious and sad situation.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

Chirping & Sandbagger Culture:

• “I don’t own too many fanbases, but I own Flyers fans. They’re my FUCKING lap dog at this point.” — Biz (59:51)
• “You look like Ernie in extra innings there.” — Biz to Rear Admiral, after getting stung by a bee on the golf course (06:09)

Vegas/Torts Madness:

• “Vegas does not care whose feelings get hurt. They are coming for the Cup.” — Rear Admiral (28:25)
• “He will breathe energy and life into them. ...They need energy, they're going to get energy. That's what Torts does.” — Lawless (151:29)

Ryan Miller on Olympic 2010:

• “I just… threw it back to, like, growing up. Hockey’s the challenge sport. Olympics was the best hockey I ever played.” — Ryan Miller (118:32)
• “Having Tim Thomas and Quick behind me—if I fucked it up there were really good guys to come in. It helped actually.” (121:27)

On Changing the NHL Product:

• “What is hockey’s version of these [quick, clippable] viral moments going to be, boys?” — Biz (179:08)
• “Maybe it’s a shock-value, non-traditional change… but you gotta find something that’s actually improving it, like what ABS has done for baseball.” (179:20)

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Final Thoughts

The episode mixes nostalgic stories (a deep and moving Ryan Miller segment), the hilarity and edge of the Sandbagger world, and signature Chiclets pace, wit, and irreverence. The panel’s ability to tackle real topics—addiction, locker room culture, fan irrationality—while cracking each other up remains unmatched in hockey media. The Vegas coaching shock is broken down with seriousness and humor, and the playoff races are given real, accessible explanations.

Recommended for:
Fans who love deep hockey talk, off-topic chaos, behind-the-scenes athlete stories, and anyone curious why the Chiclets crew has such a massive following.

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For the full episode, search ‘Spittin’ Chiclets Ep. 633’ on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music.

Transcript

[A]

Hey Spit and Chiclets listeners.

[B]

You could find every episode on Apple

[A]

Podcasts and Spotify Prime.

[B]

Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music.

[C]

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[A]

Sound familiar?

[D]

That's the same DNA you'll find in

[A]

the Chevy Silverado as capable and dependable as a winning team.

[C]

Chevy Silverado shows up and gets the job done.

[A]

It won't flinch when the pressure's on. It doesn't take plays off when it comes to trucks. Chevy Silverado is football guy approved. To learn more about Silverado, visit Chevy.com Me and Ryan have been officially welcomed

[C]

to the jungle that is Barstool Sports.

[E]

I brought it towards the Coyotes and I asked him if it was okay if I joined the Stick Chickens podcast full time.

[C]

Ryan Whitney got a Pink Whitney out there now.

[E]

Sandbagger.

[F]

Get that on camera.

[C]

Heath Yandel the Song man is a full time member. Merle just got an assist from Chris B. Whoa.

[B]

We're buzzing right now.

[A]

Skunk.

[C]

Welcome everyone to episode 633 special Monday drop of the Spit and Chicklets podcast Pinkies Up. And boy did we ever get to experience some Pinky up action in the Blue Jays Sandbagger. I hope, I hope you guys have watched the Pink Whitney was flowing once again like always. Besides a few people who just were such veterans, we couldn't get through. We couldn't beat them.

[A]

We.

[C]

But most people, once the Pink Whitney gets ripping, they just can't hang on the back nine boys.

[E]

What's crazy is I literally just got a call from Ernie Clement.

[B]

We're undefeated as a as a threesome.

[C]

I know cause we tied. We Tied Foreplay. Yeah. Still, I'll tell you, the Blue Jays are humming, though. Ernie had a. Oh, bunny.

[E]

He's buying chicklets. Bump, baby. All right. Okay.

[A]

So forwarded to voicemail.

[C]

I would forward us to voicemail, too. And you to voicemail. And for anyone who hasn't seen, there'll be some spoilers. I really hope you go spoilers.

[E]

Spoilers. You last pod. We weren't able to talk about it. We're unloading the clip. Spoilers fast forward.

[C]

So fast forward. And please watch it, because it's actually popped off like I and biz. You called it the country of Canada. They got. They got one baseball team. It's a Toronto Blue Jays. They're a hell of a squad. Incredible season last year till you showed up. Game 7. Yep. Their fans are. They're Die Hards, and they're all tuning in, and they've checked this thing out, and this sandbagger was excellent. First off, Ernie. Un. They're all unreal guys. Yeah. Who called Lucas a Walmart?

[E]

Bryce Harper first. I called him. I think I called him Cross Hide Harper.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Teu Teemu. Bryce Harper.

[C]

So that.

[E]

Those guys are the best.

[C]

They're the best. David Schneider. I love him. I think he. I think he might. He might love all three of us, even after the loss. He might.

[B]

If we asked him to quit the Blue Jays and come be a producer of this podcast, he would do it.

[E]

Of the baggers. Just the baggers.

[C]

And he smashed the ball. Dude.

[E]

Julia.

[B]

Hey, when. When Ernie said to him, hey, these guys, we got to start being mean or whatever, he goes like, yeah, but we can be friends with them after. Right?

[E]

Well, I don't know if you can go to Toronto anymore. You might be banned from the state or the state.

[C]

Oh, geez, here we go. So wait, why people truly, truly despise me? It's. It's. It is what it is. You know, you can't.

[E]

They thought we were mean to them.

[C]

They thought I was, too. They thought. I think people were upset. And I owe an apology to one man.

[A]

Johnny.

[C]

Johnny Long Shorts. Greg. Greg played against Bobby Orr.

[E]

Yes, he did.

[C]

And he played at Colgate.

[E]

No, my swing coach. Correct yourself. My swing coach.

[C]

Your swing coach. It was at Clarkson. It was Clarkson. Right?

[E]

He went to Clarkson, but he played for the North Bay Trappers before that. So he told me, you guys thought this guy was full of. And I'm like. He seemed to say it with a lot of conviction here.

[C]

You arrogant piece of. It's like, I. I don't know. If you get my sense of humor. But you're, you know, you're allowed to hate me. I, I, I kind of thrive on the hate. Sometimes I don't love being hated. But then I'll just, I'll dive right, I'll hate you right back. But we had a blast with these guys. Now Greg, on the, I think it was, what was hood hole, was that biz, maybe the par 5 where, where this all came out that you had the new tip. And we were like, dude, come on. Like that.

[E]

Well, Yance called it too. He goes, oh great. On the, on when I was on the range, Yan's was on the putting green and he looked over away and he goes, oh great. He's getting a, he's getting a lesson from Johnny Longshore. It's during the round. He's going to say, oh, I learned this new trick. Yeah, you saying he had 97 inch shorts. How about when I go, how about when I go to him, oh, Paige Sporanic. And then I corrected myself obviously, and, and he goes, do I know her? He goes, arthritis in both hands. This guy's like 75 years old.

[C]

He was. Now granted, I didn't see any of this interaction that you had with him

[E]

or you got stung by a bee and almost died.

[C]

Stung by a bee and grinded my ass. Talk about like having what around? Big old set of balls to go out there after getting stung in the chest by a bee.

[E]

You look like Ernie in extra innings there.

[C]

So when I met, remember, I was like, no, man, that guy played at Clarkson, right? And you're like, no, I, I think you're thinking of a different guy. So I went back and I was thinking, I met Greg before you where the carts were. He had on a long sleeve shirt though, and he didn't have the, those shorts. But you know what?

[E]

Oh my God.

[C]

I'll say this. I'm still to this day pretty, pretty wary when, when an older gentleman tells me, you know, where he played and how many points he had, is that, is that a quality I love about myself? No, but I think there's a lot of guys who have forgot about the Internet and hockey DB and elite prospect.

[E]

But this was a guy on their games played in what league. Like you look sometimes and it's like, this guy doesn't even have a hockey db.

[C]

But, but this guy, he did. And he played against or at Clarkson. He did it all. He tugs himself to Paige and he got your swing going before that round.

[B]

So how did he play against Bobby Orr in the O and go to Clark.

[C]

That's why I was like, there's no way.

[E]

Because I think it might have been considered like a lower junior league than the actual O maybe at the time. Because they didn't even have, they didn't even have his hockey DB of the quote unquote ohl, which we assume that he played in.

[B]

No, he said it was like OJHL or something.

[E]

Okay, well then maybe that's why I, I, I just assume because when I said North Bay Centennials, which was in the ohl, he goes, oh, I played there, but when it was the Trapper. So I, I thought maybe that that was the name beforehand. But hey, boys, I'll say this, I think as an apology though, and I think a lot of the people want to see this. I, I think we should go Duke style, where me and Long Shorts go against you guys for nine holes.

[C]

Hey, I would not only be glad to do that, I'd be glad to have him on the pod. Like I, I want, I want to look into his eyes, whether it's via Zoom or on the golf course.

[E]

That's awesome.

[C]

I apologize. I apologize because you're a hell of a guy. You're into the things we're into and you tell the truth. And I'm, I'm the scumbag in this, in this case, Greg, I'm the scumbag.

[E]

All right, boys, I got a quick surprise for you. We're going to keep talking about the sandbagger. Bring them in, G boys. The dog. Look at this.

[B]

The boy.

[G]

I haven't quite recovered from the gummy.

[C]

Ernie, how about the start? You had a walk off already for yourself. You got. I think you were two for four first game. The boys are buzzing. Do, do the Chiclets guys in the beatdown we gave you get any credit?

[G]

100% and ass flipping like that. It propelled the boys, man. We were, we had to lock in after that.

[E]

Oh, man.

[C]

Looking a. Looking back now, you had us, you had us dead to rights. Any regrets, any things you'd like to do different? Any, any, any maybe statements on, on how that went down on the back?

[E]

He lost his legs in the cart.

[G]

Yeah, I mean there's, there's, you can always look back and be like, you know what? I could have done this differently. I could have kept the shoes on. I could have, you know, done without the gummy.

[E]

All these things you were unreal with the sho. I was taking distance away from you

[G]

and I'm like, I mean, I tugged a couple. I was off balance. But you know, I, I took the half. You guys, man, you guys never gave up. You, you, you took it to us on those last couple holes, man.

[D]

It was, it was exciting stuff.

[E]

I'll say. I was very, very happy for Schneides and how he hit some clutch putts. I didn't realize how big of a sandbagger fan he was. And also I was kind of a little unaware of how close you two are. Like, are you guys like basically best friends?

[G]

Yeah, we've gotten real close over the last couple years. We played in leagues together and, and then we lived together the last couple years. So yeah, he's like the biggest Chicklets fan ever. So that was like his dream come true.

[B]

Hey, I was dying when they announced him the wrong name on opening day. That was outstanding.

[G]

I know, I know. The poor guy, he handled like a champion.

[B]

Yeah, he did.

[E]

What, what, what did they call him?

[G]

They called him crazy Savage.

[C]

I think Greg Whit said.

[B]

Greg?

[C]

Yeah.

[G]

Hey, sorry, sorry. It wasn't Greg that surprised you guys on the pod. I know that probably would have been a lot better.

[C]

No, buddy, I thought Greg don't have the Internet. I thought you were so busy. But Ernie, that was so fun, man. I don't know if you've seen how many people have watched, but the, the con, they, they love the Jays up in Canada, man. You have some die hard fans. You must feel that all the time in to.

[G]

We feel the love, man. These, these fans are incredible. And, and we got a heck of a team. So I mean it, it's, it's, it's fun to play for him. No doubt.

[E]

I, I gotta ask you, there was a little criticism on how maybe nasty the chirping got. Now is the baseball community not like, is it not as chirpy like in the locker room? Are you guys carving each other like they do in hockey? Locker room?

[B]

He was carving his own teammates the whole time. That's, it's athletes, man.

[G]

Every time tonight or Luki would dust one, I would say heck of a shot. And then I do the same thing and I expect the same as. We can handle it. You know, some, some people just, you know, can't handle the chirping. Which is okay. I for one love it. I, I, I encourage it.

[E]

How about that track we played though? I was a buddy. That was a ball diamond.

[A]

Oh my God.

[G]

I mean we made like four birdies in the first five holes and I was like, we're so done.

[C]

We're screwed.

[E]

There was a few you guys missed early that were. I Was like, oh, we dodged like two bullets on the back nine. There was like a hole or two. Yan's putt, the long one that I said was going long and in the cart. You're like him on 16.

[C]

On 16 you're like, sit out, sit out. It went in, it went right in. Yeah.

[G]

And then I, I lift one out. I lift one out on that.

[C]

Yeah, you did.

[G]

You know, just, it wasn't our time. Just like the world carries. I mean I'm sure you guys are going to bring that up at some point.

[B]

You know like the camera angle where like you see like the caterpillar camera angle where you see the putt go in and the ball would just be bouncing the whole time.

[C]

The greens were unreal.

[G]

That's why I want to, we, to get a rematch on a, on a, on a real course, you know.

[C]

Oh, for sure.

[E]

Did, did, did Lucas get the, the cross eyed Harper in the locker room at all or.

[G]

We've been, we've been calling him that the whole year. It's incredible. It's called, it's like fully caught on. It's fully caught on.

[C]

I think somebody looked up that he's made like 1/400th of, of Bryce Harper because I think we might have underestimated how much more money Bryce Harper's made.

[G]

Yeah, he's made an ungodly amount of money. So nothing against Luki, it's just that guy's made unlimited money.

[E]

Did you have any other parts of it that you, you really enjoyed? Like what was the.

[G]

Dude, honestly, the posh is at it on your, your trip out phase when you were like rolling around on the ground and then you putted from like 200 yards out. I was, I was just like kind of hanging out that day and I watched the, the whole thing and I was like in by myself, crying, laughing.

[C]

I was too. I texted these guys on that. It was the 11th hole. I was, I. My wife came up, she's like, what's going on? I had, I was. Tears coming out of my eyes. And the other aspect that was hilarious not in the video was you and Biz went shoes off. It didn't really do anything to you. We're doing, we're doing our noble ad and business even wearing them. But it's our ball marker. But the. We went to dinner after Ernie was in those socks at dinner. That's when I was like, oh no,

[G]

those socks, those socks were, were, are still laying on the floor in the clubhouse in Dunedin. I never washed them. I just kind of like Left them

[A]

there and they're just sitting there.

[G]

They're disgusting.

[E]

I bet you there's a girl out there that would pay a lot of money to sniff those socks. You know what we'll do? We'll do that as like the golden ticket in one of the Cracker Jack boxes where we do Ernie Clements for the jack. Cracker Jack, the, the business venture from hole 11. We'll get, we'll get. We'll give Greg a cut too.

[G]

Greg, you need the cut, man. What a guy.

[E]

Well, yeah, we'll call it Johnny Longcock Cock rings. That's why he has to wear those shorts.

[B]

I know.

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

Just an absolute weapon. I kind of want to ask you just about this, like this Blue Jay team and this season a little bit coming up. You guys are three on. Oh, what a start to the. That crowd. Like, that shit gives me chills, man. When that stadium is fully packed, it's

[B]

like, get used to it.

[E]

It's a tough scene to beat in the mlb.

[A]

Yeah.

[G]

I mean, everybody's coming for us. That's, that's the target on your back when you, when you have a good year. But it's fun, man. It's so fun. Our crowds have been electric. It's. I mean, 40,000 the first three nights, first three games.

[A]

It's, it's insane.

[G]

So, you know, it's, it's, it's easy to get up and have energy for those kind of games.

[C]

I looked. He's in Boston. He's in Boston in June. I've already lined up some golf. They have an off day in Boston. So Biz. Oh, you'll be at tnt, but we'll be out on the course. I'll get some videos of this guy.

[E]

You know what you need to do? You need to, you need to go up to the concourse Ernie with your baseball bat, and you need to knock out any fucking person serving one of those lobster poutines. Okay? Like you need to knock them out cold because we don't need, we don't need the people getting sick on the concourse. Lobster poutine and crack beers.

[G]

Yeah. That's crazy. That's crazy business. Actually, one more thing. I. There were some people's kind of tripping you today at the game. I was, I was in the on deck circle and somebody yelled like a screw biz. And I turn around and I was like, hey, no, no, no, no, no. That's our guy. Like, you know, who couldn't, couldn't handle the chirps. But I had your back. All right, So I got. I got.

[E]

Well, they probably didn't like me drugging you. That's probably where.

[C]

That's when we said. When we told Biz to stop being so nice to you. And then he's like, hey, you know, he started giving it to you. You were hurt. I think that helped us. You were affected by that.

[E]

It hurt me.

[B]

Biz didn't want to do it. We had to. We had to force that out of him.

[G]

Biz was the mvp, man. The gummy. It. It cost. It costs that hand up. It cost the boys the. The match. And, you know, if we. Another crack at you guys, I'm going to be, you know, still cold. I'll be locked in.

[E]

So, sweetie, I would fly to you right now.

[A]

Unreal.

[G]

Unreal.

[E]

Could you ask. Last thing. Could you ask the Jays if I can throw a first pitch out this year if I come to. To 100%?

[A]

Okay, yeah, we'll.

[G]

Yeah, we'll. We'll put in a good word for you. You can come hang out in the locker room for the game too, if you want.

[E]

Wow.

[C]

Off that mound, though.

[G]

The old talking to boys, man. I'll tell you what, they're coming after you.

[B]

Wait, what do you mean?

[E]

I'll strike out the first batter of the game. Are you kidding me, buddy? I used to play baseball back.

[B]

Yeah, he knocked over the three things, the three milk cartons at the fair the other day.

[E]

I went sideways.

[C]

You're a veteran of the ball diamond. I'll.

[E]

I'll come out and smash a lobster poutine and strike out the side. All right.

[G]

You'll be on the toilet the whole game.

[C]

Well, Ernie, it was so fun, man. You guys are absolute blast. I'm a Sox fan, so unless you're playing them, I'm rooting for you guys. And, and we'll do this again. We'd love to.

[G]

I appreciate it, boys. Yeah. You guys are awesome. You got three fans for life. We love you.

[B]

Hell yeah, we love you, buddy.

[E]

Go Jays, baby. Oh, that was unreal.

[B]

Think. Did people think that, like, we didn't like each other like the teens?

[E]

I don't know. I just think that people don't understand. They've never been inside a locker room. Like, imagine like you're in your cubicle and like somebody looks over and it's like, nice, nice long shorts, you peasant. It's like, HR you're gone. Here's your three months pay. See you later. Right?

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

Great analogy. A great way to describe it. Yeah, just like, absolutely. Chirping. Somebody's like on their face.

[E]

Suzanne, at the water cooler.

[B]

Like, I don't think I've ever got a compliment from one of my friends.

[C]

No, no. Oh my God. I'd be like, are you okay?

[E]

I get a restraining order.

[C]

Besides Ned. Ned, when he's drinking, he'll be like, yeah.

[E]

Oh, he's a happy drinker.

[C]

Yeah, Very, very, very happy friend.

[E]

But although, although when you're drinking with him though, like, he refuses to let you go to bed ever. Like, if you're drinking with Ned. One more, one more, one more. It's like, easy. I gotta drive the kids to school at 7.

[B]

It's the anti Ambien.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. We went to dinner Friday night, got the bill, paid the bill. And then I saw him go to the guy like, two more, two more. I was like, I, I, I paid the bill, but we gotta go home. It was a 6:30 dinner. It was 11:15.

[E]

And then he, and then he asked you to play the credit card game for the two beers. You just covered the whole dinner.

[C]

No, no, no, no, no, no.

[B]

Ned's a gentleman.

[E]

No, he's the best. Boys.

[C]

A great bagger. A great bagger.

[B]

Unreal.

[E]

Couple clicks for Pasha. Fish boy. Guys, we show up and we got like, these guys get there like an hour early. Pasha has to set up the course. I mean, I mean, thanks.

[C]

Thanks, Pasha.

[B]

All right, let's start over.

[E]

How about the bobcat? On our whole hole, like 10, we've.

[B]

That's when it turned around for us though.

[E]

Yeah, that's true, that's true.

[C]

We had a transformer hole 11. That was the best hole. That was the most memorable hole in sandbagger history for me. You were on the ground talking about cock rings and cracker jack boxes. Then you putted from 127 yards and at one point I believe ate another shroom on that fairway too, so.

[E]

Oh, buddy. I think I did about 45 milligrams. Like that's, I mean, that's a cup of coffee in the morning for ra. But for me, that'll put a little bit of a tranquilizer dart in me. And I think I had about four shroomy pills. So I was going, I was tweaking, you know, and like, I've never like laughter cures the soul. When I was making myself laugh for that, and then even on the tee box, the next tee box, I said to the camera before I pulled it out for the 110 yard putt, I was like, posh. I'm like, watch wit. Watch where? And Then I even tapped the hands. I go, watch. Watch how much he overreacts. And then I line up. And then. And then on top of that, I give it the little backswing as a practice. He goes, you gotta go more than that.

[C]

No. He's like, that's not the vaccine. And then Keith gave you a line like, it was like on the green ten footer. Here's your line.

[B]

When Whit was yelling at you to put it back, I'm like, let it fly. Let it fly. Because I knew you were gonna do it either way. There was no talking you out of it.

[E]

Hey, shout out to our. Our whole team. Who. Who helps put these together? I love you guys. Josh, obviously in the mix now. Like, we have such a good team. And we got two more coming at you. We got the Gruden Patty Maroon, who I saw this weekend in St. Louis, and. And then the GRU. And then. And then what?

[B]

The Greg one.

[C]

And we're all wearing long shorts for that Greg one.

[E]

So if anybody knows Greg, like, shoot us a DM or. Or shoot us a tweet. Like, we'd love to, like, get him on. He played against Bob. Your five games, folks. And the way he described them as like a. A hovercraft with a Ferrari engine. He's a. He's a wordsmith.

[C]

I feel so bad for doubting him that I. I'd actually go play that cove case dump again just to be with him.

[B]

I think I'm still 100% that he played against them.

[C]

No, no, the team picture is out.

[E]

That's right.

[C]

Yeah, but it's Twitter of the team that played against. Yeah, Yance, you don't see a lot of stuff.

[E]

You don't see anything.

[C]

See the hate. But biz, we're going to get to you because you had a crazy week. I kind of want to talk about it when we get into St. Louis and Utah. I will bring up because you just reminded me I got to cra yesterday. I went to the Bruins game.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

And boys. So the Bruins, they're getting waxed right now, I think by Columbus, but they played Minnesota. And a five o' clock Saturday start.

[B]

Beautiful.

[C]

By far and away the best time to play a hockey game. It was an unreal crowd. Huge game for the Bruins. Wilder, a little bit. Kind of going through the motions. I think they're just set in stone where they're at. Right. The Bruins might be an issue in the playoffs.

[B]

Swaming, dude.

[E]

They'll take their pound of flesh. They'll take.

[C]

They take their and even today they're getting pounded. But they had Gabranson and Tanner Jano and then Castellic fought Olivier. So they're getting beat. They're getting beat. Three, nothing. And they're like, all right, that's. That's exactly the right term. Biz. They take their pound of flesh. Swayman is so dialed in right now. Zaka looks unreal. Pasha telling me word for word, Zaka sucks a couple years ago is the dumbest hockey take this show has ever had it. The guy is unreal.

[E]

For the Baggers, he'd be gone.

[C]

Oh, yeah, yeah. But on both ends of the ice, middle stat look good. McAvoy's playing amazing. It's just, it's a, it's a tough team. Like, I don't think they can win the Stanley Cup. But dude, playing him in the first round with that D. And that goalie, Arvinson too wit.

[D]

Arvidson's been such an unreal acquisition this year. Over 20 goals. Nobody wanted this guy. I think it was like a fourth round pick. It cost for him. Just an unbelievable acquisition. That Zako middle stat. Arvidson line five on five. One of the best in the NHL this year. It's been very impressive.

[B]

The past that pasta made Arvidson was insane. And we talked about it with Charlie, the way he's just able to hold on to it, hold on to it. Fake like you don't know what he's going to do as a D or a goalie, like if he's going to shoot it or pass it. And Arbitson just found that soft area with a great dip.

[E]

Brunelli's fucking coming his jeans back there.

[C]

Pasha writes in the chat here, Zaka's never even had 60 fucking points. Settled down like, buddy, you don't get it. You still don't got it. Pasha. 26 goals. Buddy, what is, what is your thing with. Oh, so if somebody's. Somebody gets 80 points, like if he had 80 points, he'd be good in your mind, he's a hell of a two way player, man.

[E]

Yeah, and Boston plays. Boston likes to like play a little bit of a smarter game. They're less like high flying offense. Like some. Hey, look at Columbus success. They haven't had a player in their team hit 60 points yet before, maybe today. I haven't checked the stat sheet, but I think their Highest score has 59 points and they're in a fucking playoff spot. So I think that like, yeah, like not every team's going to have the same fucking style of play. And we talked about coach of the year last pod. Boys like Sturm, he's done an unreal fucking job too.

[C]

And with that, an amazing segue into some shocking news that came down right before we started this pod. Bruce Cassidy, fired by the Vegas Golden Knights, the most ruthless organization in sports for torts. John Tortorella back in the mix. I mean, this is content gold.

[E]

Oh, my God.

[B]

In the cup, it's scripted.

[C]

And I'll tell you, they have. I think somebody said they got. They have eight games left. Let me look here quick. They have eight games left. That is what the New Jersey Devils had left when Robbie Fatoric was fired in 2000 and Larry Robinson came in and they went on to win the Stanley Cup. So if Kelly McCrimmon was thinking of doing this like two games ago, he might have been like, I'm just going to wait.

[E]

That's crazy.

[G]

For sure.

[C]

He did that just like Lou did in 2000. And Biz, we talked about this on the show, I think on the chat. I think Cassidy's a hell of a coach. He's a standing champion. He's had a lot of success. I think he's one of those guys that is hard to play for and it runs its course a little bit now. That does not mean you aren't a good coach. It's just you have a certain style that can wear on guys that. The room might have tuned him out a little bit, I'm guessing. I have seen some numbers, though, that said their shooting percentage is crazy low and they're six and a half or. And their safe percentage is horrible. So if both come up a little bit all of a sudden, like they're going to be a better team than the way they've looked. But it's been. I mean, I think we're talking, what, three months, three and a half months now of bad hockey. And I, and I, I think it's shocking, but I also kind of get it. Yeah.

[B]

And even, even that last game against Washington, they're able to come back, at least salvage some points. But like, they look flat towards the end of that game. Like, you find a way to come back. You gotta find a way to win that game. Washington has nothing to play for. They're just out there. But like, I bet that's why they got fired. Why you got fired is because the way that they laid an egg there, like you have so much momentum. They scored three goals and three shots. And you don't find a way to win that game when you need to at the end of the year. But also another crazy thing. Jack Eichel does not have a power play goal this year.

[E]

That that's why people question the Marner move is because they're both past first mentality. Like they're both like. I think that, that naturally, you know, they say like guys like Kucherov, Caprisov, they're pasta. They. They're wingers that play like centerman.

[A]

Yeah.

[E]

Marner's kind of a winger that plays like a set, like a passer pass first mentality as well. Like you could throw him in that grouping right where I also feel like like Eichel plays like that as well. Like he always. He'll have a good opportunity. He'll look for that guy. That's just kind of his giving nature and I think a lot of it too. Boys, I think they're one of the worst starting teams in the league. Right. Like they're always getting behind. Like they've given up the first goal. How many ever times they had to come back again in that game against Washington. So I think I've kind of been beating that drum a little bit saying that I, I think I'm like here in rumblings that is his. Like his shelf life is short and I think that he could be replaced. But then it got past the deadline so much I'm like, oh, okay, they're just gonna ride them out and you know me and going back to what you said wit, like there are some underlying numbers that like overall the play is somewhat decent. They're just not getting the puck. Luck bounces. So.

[C]

And the stone injury, like you gotta think, yeah, if he's in the lineup, they're probably winning more games. I. I'd say definitely winning more games the way he's played this year too. I mean they sign Aiden Hill to that deal, it's been a disaster. Cassidy didn't make that move. Cassidy didn't trade for Anderson, who has not looked good. There's been a lot of things that isn't really on him. But Kelly McCrimmon and this team has proven time and time again, whether for good or for bad, they do not give a fuck.

[B]

No.

[C]

And they're looking at every single year as a year they can win the Stanley Cup. And if they see something that they believe will stop them from winning the cup, they're going to make a move, they're going to make a trade, they're going to get rid of someone, they're going to fire a coach. They don't care. When I think fans actually like it. I don't know if Vegas Golden Knights fans are. Are thrilled that Cassidy got fired.

[E]

I think that they're, they're. They're pretty ruthless for a spoiled fan base.

[B]

The fans are too.

[E]

They're very aggressive online. Like, they start bitching quite a bit

[C]

for, like, why wouldn't they? Because all they've seen is success. And all they've seen that's fair, but

[E]

that's also being a bit of a spoiled brat. Like, you fucking went to the Stanley cup finals in your first year of existence. You got one of your first five years. Like, I think I feel like they're just as cutthroat as, as the organization. The organization is an embodiment of their fan base. Now. I will say this, and it might be totally crazy. I think that the torts higher has a ton to do with the Olympic situation.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because think of every guy that we talk to. What they said about torts like you as an assistant, I mean, obviously it's going to be different. Right?

[E]

But it's not though, because he's going in there and he's saying, boys, this is on you. I'm here to fucking call the lines. It's not like it happened halfway through the season where he can be like, okay, we got a four day stretch of practice and I'm gonna fucking whip these guys into shape. You have to come in with the pom poms and be rah Rah and you have to basically do what Bones did. Like, Bones. Bones wasn't like. He was more of like a rah rah. Hey, we got the right pieces in here. Like we can improve a couple things here. And next thing you know we got some puck luck and we're firing on all cylinders. That's exactly what happened in Columbus. I think that I'm curious to know if they consulted Eichel and the way that torts was at the. And Hannifan and Hannifin and just to kind of that this is, boys, the fucking last like three years of the NHL and like the crazy shit that drops like it's fucking tv, man. Yeah, it's must see tv. There's no better league going right now than the National Hockey League.

[C]

And. And yeah, and we're just. We haven't even gotten into the good stuff yet because we, what, two weeks, three weeks away from this thing, really getting kicked off and the races are wild. Now Bones, I believe it comes a little more natural to him to be a rah rah guy, but this probably at the beginning will be like the happiest, most laid back torts version of Torts we've ever seen. Because I agree with you, Biz, like you can't go in and immediately just be. He's probably going to be keeping guys accountable but like they've just dealt with a guy who gives it to you non stop. You can't kind of go in and give that same message. And I think that he will be able to at least change some things in terms of like passion because Keith said it it for a while now it's just looked, it's just like vanilla hockey. It's not, there's not much like life in that team and Torts will bring that in. I, I, I just love the fact that he's back. Like I cannot wait for a Torts press conference conference, right? Like he's going to snap on a reporter at some point. I'm going to be watching the clip 100 different times, laughing over and over and over again. And I think that this could do a lot of good things. Now they need to get goaltending right? Like that. Can a, can a coach change that? I don't know. Maybe if he goes in and he talks to Aiden Hill in a different way, gives him some more confidence. That could change his game. But a shocking, shocking thing to come across the wire, right, Right as we

[E]

started, I thought it was Franck Saravelli.

[C]

He did.

[E]

I fucked. Are you kidding me?

[C]

Yeah. If a memes texted the group, he goes towards the Vegas. And I was like, is memes like extra high on a Sunday afternoon? So I went right to Elliot's Twitter and boom. He'd already retweeted Vegas making the announcement.

[B]

The whole thing with torts, right? Like you saw what he did in Philly. Like he got guys to play the right way to play hard, block shots and think of playoff hockey. That's how you got to play in the playoffs, right? I don't think Vegas has been a team that's been playing playoff type hockey. So he's gonna, he at least has that aura about him where guys know, hey, if I don't block this shot, he's gonna fucking lose his mind on me. So he's gonna have guys even accountable even today. Not even been there yet, right? Like guys know what he is as a coach and he's gonna, to bring him in right before playoffs I think is fucking genius. I think it's gonna work out well for him.

[C]

You know that like they are front

[E]

runner for my bandwagon. They are the front runner right now you. Why are you laughing?

[B]

I'm not.

[E]

I'm going head to head with you again.

[C]

Oh, I would, I would. I have never sniffed me and the thumb will be head with you in the NHL, buddy. On Head to Heads. I would gladly go head to head with you. And. And I do think that there was probably guys that immediately texted the equipment manager when they saw the news, like, can you get me some of those shop walkers from my skates? Because I'm not getting on video. After the first

[B]

Marner called Cred Ludwig and he was like, hey, can I use your shin pads for the rest of the year?

[C]

I'm glad you brought up Marner because a ton of comments on. On the Chiclet's main account tweet about Torts going there is like, oh, Marner, Marner screwed. Marner screwed. I actually think Marner, he. He's unreal defensively. Like, I think Tortz would love him. That could be a. I think Torts could be a huge Marner fan. I don't see why everyone's like thinking that Marner's.

[E]

Well, you know what I think of him. I got his jersey on right now and shout out to Lawless. Gary Lawless was the one who gave me this at the start of the year when I. I did my little baby comeback video for Mitch Marner. Crazy, though. Crazy. We need to get him on. He's in a bit of a standoff right now.

[C]

Well, listen, I texted him and I

[E]

gotta read what was texted me today. And he goes, I don't understand what the. What the big confusion is with. With the goalie interference stuff and didn't even.

[C]

Come on, Gary, buddy, buddy.

[E]

He didn't even mention the Bruce Cassidy firing. This is afterward he texted me about the goalie interference and didn't say one fucking word about Bruce Cassidy going, that's crazy.

[C]

Didn't he send you a lot? Didn't he send you a novel about how good of a coach Bruce is and how he's. He's gonna get this all figured out?

[B]

Maybe it's his guy.

[C]

Yeah. And. And I'll say so. So Gary texted me.

[B]

That's the thing.

[C]

He goes, just got interesting in the Pacific. I said, gary, we're recording in an hour. Please, please, please come on to chat about this. Sorry, no can do. I'm tied up. I said, I completely understand. Do you have a statement I can read the people will want to hear? He said, I have a column coming up soon then. So at this point, I'm like, fucking Gary Lawless. The goddamn thumb. So then he texts me, don't use that blank line, please. The note was just between us. I said, gary, I didn't even get a note. He said, my man. I said, no, no, Gary, nothing came through. I didn't get a note. I think he thought me saying I didn't get a note meant like, I gotcha, don't worry. I go, no, no, no. He writes, even better. I go, gary, send the note. I won't include the line about blank. Nope.

[E]

He's fucking with us. He's fucking with us.

[C]

He is playing. He is playing mind games. And then he finished off with my column will be posted very soon, Ryan. So you know what, Gary? We're gonna have to do it to you again. And I this Edmonton now with torts. And if they. I think they're gonna end up playing each other. By the way, Edmonton's figured things out a little bit. They beat Anaheim at home last night. McDave was buzzing around. I'll tell you this. Savoy, he got his 14th goal. Hyman got another empty netter. He's got over 30 again. The Oilers, boys. The Oilers are playing the long game.

[E]

Oh, this. This one's the right recipe. You're happy with this one?

[C]

I'm happy with what we got in Edmonton. And Paul Coffee's back. And Vegas has torts. And that first round is going to be electric. I need you to jump on that bandwagon because that'll guarantee us a second round matchup.

[E]

I would consider teaming up with Gary.

[C]

I don't know.

[E]

Gary versus me and Gary.

[C]

Happy birthday, Stoff. 60th birthday.

[B]

Happy birthday stuff.

[E]

This is how long of a message Gary wrote me and did not mention the firing. Look at how long that text is right there.

[C]

This is. Are you. What time was that at? Read me the time.

[E]

It was 11:14, my time here. So.

[C]

No, it hadn't happened yet. It hadn't.

[E]

2:14?

[C]

No.

[E]

OK, let me ask you this. Do you think Gary knew that this Was happening at 2:14?

[C]

I think Gary's really, really bummed that he didn't know. I think Gary didn't have a goddamn clue. You hear me, Gary? Hear me, Gary.

[B]

How's that for a note?

[E]

Hey, you shut your mouth, all right? You shut your mouth.

[B]

No, Gary's treating us like pigeons, dude.

[E]

Who?

[B]

Gary?

[C]

Oh, yeah. Gary. Gary can't stand us right now. Join the club, Gary. Everybody who's listening, there's a wait list and it's long. Hey, hurry. The thumb. The thumb. As we close in on the final three weeks, boys. This is as of Sunday afternoon. Two of 16 playoff berths have been clinched. Colorado and Dallas, the number one seed in every division and conference has yet to be decided. Two divisions have a three point gap or less between the first and second seed. That's the Atlantic and the Pacific. In the Eastern Conference, three teams currently outside the playoff line are within five points of the second wild card position. And in the Western Conference, five teams currently outside the playoff line are within four points of the second wild card position. Biz, you were in St. Louis. They might fucking do this again. The St. Louis Blues are on an absolute tear. They are, they're 11, two and two in their last. What would that be? 15 games. They, it seems like they've just figured things out. And I actually read a great quote before I asked you about seeing them live. Montgomery was talking. He said, I think we started this year thinking we were going to be good. And when it didn't happen, we stopped working. Like all of us, I include myself and everybody in it. We got frustrated and then to fight instead of finding solutions. And we're now finding solutions. And it makes sense, right? Like if you have these high expectations last year, crazy loss in game seven. But hey, we got a lot of great players coming back and then it, it just goes to shit so early. There probably was some quit in the room, right? And then you make these big trades where you lose your captain, you lose Justin Falk, who's been a big time player there. And it's like they all came together and I don't know what you saw in person, but they're running over teams right now.

[E]

They just, they're working.

[C]

They're.

[E]

They're just fucking working. And they got some good young players in that lineup. Like if I was talking to Steener because I went there for the Kelly Chase puck cancer. So I got to see the whole team the night before their game was at that, that, that cancer event. They were there to drop the puck to walk Kelly Chase out on the ice. Like, talk about a, a group that really, really likes each other. And, and you know what, like, come to think of it, man, like, you know, we were kind of giving it to Parenco for, for blocking that trade. Like, you can't. I think that we were, I was wrong on that. That guy wanted to be part of the solution. He wanted to stay with this group of guys that he really likes. And you know, so, so that's that. But overall, man, just a very impressive group. Same with Thomas. Like, they were thinking about trade Robert Thomas, he looked unbelievable. So the goaltending has been incredible between the both of them. Is it, is it who? So the other one. Hofa or Hofa? Hofa. But he's been kicking unbelievable. And, and yeah, I think that that's a team like you. Like last year, you saw that the way that they handle the back half of the season also how physical they are and how they get on you and they're breathing down your neck on the forecheck. I was just seeing a lot of that. Now, obviously they've been good in the game I saw was against Toronto in which they had 13 shots on net. So that was obviously a statement game. St. Louis is like, if we're going to make playoffs, we can't be losing to the fucking Leafs. They looked brutes. Like, they looked like a fucking AHL team. So yeah, credit to St. Louis and boys Pac Barn. The crowd was unbelievable and it was also good going to see like Mike Caruso. I saw Jansen, Cam and Strick, all the, the, the alumni. I bumped into Al McInnis on the concourse or, sorry, the press box level. So he said he'll come on the podcast. So it was a pretty cool weekend. Also ran into two guys who picked up our PTO jerseys.

[A]

Buddy, I, I, that was incredible.

[C]

Thought it was AI. I thought it was AI. Those guys are the most ride or die Chiclets guys I've ever seen in my life. We never even sniffed a regular season game and they have our jerseys.

[B]

It was, it was Davis, Schneider.

[E]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. They got him in the lost and

[B]

hey, so do you think, do you think just even say they don't make playoffs, do a nice little run here, they see what they have for the future. You still think that they'll be even thinking about trading Robbie Thomas this summer?

[E]

No, I, I think they would be. I think that there's another gear he

[B]

can get to give him the C.

[E]

The one I'm, I'm hoping like, figures it out is Cairo. Like, I hope that he, he's the. Because like his name's always popping up in, in all these conversations. But I did this Texas. Texas. In the group chat, I think Merle's was like, ah, they are playing in the Central, which is a pretty loaded division and all the teams that are loaded are pretty young and will probably have sustained success for the next two, three, four years. But I think that St. Louis is set up just as good as anybody in their goaltending. They got Broberg where I was gonna come in swinging too like it's crazy to me that they didn't match those offer sheets. Like I think it's absolutely insane. And Holloway, Holloway is making like 2, 2 this year and he's gonna end up signing for like 8 times 8. So the good young talent they have and the way that they're able to replenish all their like their draft picks, I think they have five first rounders in the next three years. Like if they want to go and move those and try to get better now, I think that that could be a top, you know, top six, seven team in the league for years to come if they're able to make the right moves and draft accordingly. And, and Steiner is another guy that I bumped into, if I haven't already mentioned that, who's going to be taking over the reins after the draft this year. So interested to see what they do coming up here in the next, in the next six months.

[B]

But they must have known that they had a little bit something right because all the talks before, during the deadline was they were going to unload everybody. Benning was talked about Thomas, Kyro, like those are big pieces to a team to even be talking about.

[C]

I mean they were willing to trade them all.

[B]

That's what I mean.

[C]

Sure were.

[E]

Yeah. It's probably an uncomfortable conversation. But Bennington's got like you have Hofa who is playing unbelievable. And maybe they think that his time is ready and also maybe they just, maybe they just like to dangle the carrot as I don't want to call it gutless. It is to the guys. Like right. They were dangling Parenko. You heard Thomas. Obviously Kyru's names came in the mix. But I think what they think if somebody's willing to overpay for one of those guys that they can reload around Broberg Snuggerood.

[C]

That divorce Keys. Good.

[E]

Holloway. There's a couple other names that I'm, I'm forgetting here. Divorce. Oh yeah. Jake Neighbors. That was the one I was forgetting. But they have a good really young core that that is has already proven that they can get it. They did it last year. Still a little rattled at the Bull Duke trade because I feel like even with him it would be even more exciting. But, but yeah, they're, they're, they're, they're teed up and even if it is with those guys, I mean they're going to have success.

[B]

You think they get in this year?

[E]

No.

[C]

Merle says them or Winnipeg guarantees is the final spot because Winnipeg is also right in the mix right now. Winnipeg Actually is a point ahead of St. Louis. But St. Louis has a game in hand. Winnipeg's three points back in Nashville. St. Louis is four points back and. And St. Louis has a game in hand on. On both them. Nashville and Winnipeg have both played 73.

[E]

So this is what's nice, though, about their situation right now, is they have a lot of control over their own destiny because they play the Sharks. I don't think the Sharks are going to make it. I think they're. They're out of it. Yeah, they're fake la. Who is another team fighting for that spot. They got a. They got Anaheim, which will be a tough match. I can't. I guess they can't catch them. But they do have Winnipeg one more time and they also have Utah. So they got lose.

[B]

Nashville's losing right now to Tampa.

[C]

They got Nashville lost to Montreal Saturday night. Cole Caufield gets another one.

[B]

Look.

[C]

Oh, my God. Fowler. Fowler's their guy. And it's happened quick. I thought he would be a full season ahl, maybe another run in the. In the AHL playoffs. I think he played last year into the second round. They might have lost in. Is it Laval they play out of. And. And. And now? I mean, I. I think it's quite obvious. Dovish can be good, right? But Fowler looks. He looks dialed. He looks ready to take this job over. And Demidov's goal was disgusting. Caulfield. Caulfield's first two steps are ridiculous. He was on the wall, got the puck. All of a sudden it's like a mini breakaway, and he just snipes that one. They take care of Nashville in Nashville.

[E]

And then, well, going back to Demidov. Him. Him. Seneca and Schaefer coming into this pod. Maybe it's changed now. We're all tied for rookie scoring at 59 points. And then I think rookie goals. Maybe I'm off on that. Check that out, G. And then I know that Seneca, Schaefer, and I think also Gamidov were tied with 22 goals for rookie score.

[C]

No, no, Demidov doesn't have that many goals.

[E]

Okay, who. Who was the other guy I'm missing that I'm forgetting

[B]

tonight, though?

[D]

Demidoff has 16 goals. Senake has 22 goals.

[E]

Yeah, so does Schaefer has 22. There's one other rookie that's tied with 22 for the league.

[D]

That would be Oliver Kapanen.

[C]

Okay, this guy. I asked Bill about him. Billy Ryan. Who? Who? Go look it up. We've talked before. Sat at the. The war room before the draft, banging his fist about Fowler. And he. I asked him about Kaepernick. He's like, dude, this kid is so smart. He's just a. He's a Finnish. He's a Finnish hockey player, man. He's great around the net. And I started thinking like Montreal. Talk about a team set up for the future. Dude, look at all these guys and how young they are. And then they have the kid at Michigan coming, Michael Hayes. I talked about this. They have a lot. And then you look at where they slot in, right like this Kapanen on a Stanley cup team. Maybe he's an unreal third liner. I know he's playing with Demidov right now. Maybe they always actually stay together and they have a connection. But that Montreal. I don't think it's a one and done year for Montreal like last year. I don't. I think it's all starting now. And they might get to the second, maybe third round this year.

[B]

They might be the team that I hook on my bandwagon too.

[E]

Oh, we.

[B]

We've been a petite. I mean I've been a fan for three years and my team has gone to the finals in all three of those years. So I don't know if they want me or not.

[E]

Well, and you have the Billy Ryan connection. So I guess shout out to their scouts and. And how they're able to seek out talent. Like they.

[C]

Oh, and they have another Russian. They have another Russian they got in second round like Zarovsky or something that is doing what Demidov did last year. So.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

It's. And they have a defenseman in the WHL who has like 58 goals. Like it's. I. I should have his name. Gee, look. Look up that kid's name. He's disgusting.

[D]

Bryce Pickford from the Medicine Hat.

[C]

And he. He has over 50 goals, I think. Right?

[D]

He has 45 goals this season. 38

[C]

defensive as a D man.

[B]

Biz, that's unbelievable.

[C]

So. And they got their goalie. If Fowler looks what he looks like, just. I know we can't kind of stop talking about Montreal, but why wouldn't we right now? Biz another team you brought up the Utah Mammoth. Got to experience a game out there. Very interested to hear they are fourth best Western Conference goal differential. They look all slotted in to be the first wild card team. How was the crowd? What did you see? And. And actually kind of a crazy game. Wilson was trying to murder.

[E]

It was an unbeliev game. Unbelievable game. And I mean the first thing I got to mention is we mushed it. Troy Terry is the only guy survived right now with an unbelievable stat of no hits. OV took two D's own draws with

[C]

you in the building. That's actually fu.

[B]

That's an FU to you.

[E]

That was you. You know, it's crazy. I cut a video promo that I never ended up sending out, and in it I mentioned, I'm like, I'm praying that Carberry sees this and gives OV a D zone start. Like, I'll send you guys to end. Because I was in the universe. No, because I was. I was in attendance and I want. I was just like, I wanted to see it. I'll send you the winger.

[C]

Just see his winger, walk him off the wall and score like, oh, that's why you don't do it.

[E]

Well, what's even crazier is after he got it, that's when he started. That's when he got his first goal, second goal, and then ended up getting his 34th career hat trick. Tough loss for Utah. They were up 3:1 in that game. It was. We had wit on the Nash cast. The whole reason I went there is I was supposed to go in December. I used to work with Tyson Nash with the Coyotes. It's really cool, like what Ryan Smith has done, not only to bring a team there and like have this facilities and build out an unbelievable locker room that like the gym and the. The training room, it all ends up connecting to the. The basketball room. So the. How efficient they made the whole locker room where you can close off the dressing room to the Utah Mammoth side and then still use all the unbelievable weight gear and. And training tables and whatever you need for the Utah Jazz side. And it's this big U. And then across the hall, it's the unbelievable owner suite. He's got a basketball hoop on the second floor of it for like all the kids, wives and stuff. Like the wives, lounge, girls and. But just like the way that he's like taken that team there, the facility and the rink, like, you walk around the concourse and it's all glass and you see these mountains around you. Like it's. And just the way that he. He like, he took all the unbelievable people. Yance from Arizona, that kind of got the shaft. Tony is there. Stan was there to help with the soft landing. Rudy is there. Jimmy the Face. Yeah. What do you mean, Greg?

[C]

I was just saying name. You were saying names. I'm like, oh, Jimmy o'. Neill.

[B]

Jimmy o'.

[C]

Neill.

[E]

Fair Yan's. No, Jimmy o'. Neal. He knows all these people from Arizona where it sucked, man, they had good people. They just struggled a little bit with ownership. So it was pretty cool to like see all them. And they were playing Washington, so I also ran into Serbs who's got two Stanley Cups, one one with Tampa and Wash, and he's still going. And then, and then Sergey. We had like a PR guy, Sergey who would help out and he's Russian. So when OVI first started out in Washington, he was with us the first few years in Arizona. But they poached him because he, he ended up being Ovi's right hand man with all of his PR and everything that he's got going on. So was really happy to see him. And, and also just like I said, the unbelievable game as we did the Nash cast, we brought in Bob Heathouse too, because he was such a big part of me and Nasher's career. So all in all, man, like what they've done and, and how they've just brought that team in there and had, you know, a good first year then, now they're probably going to end up in playoffs. A pretty good successful season for, for the Utah Mammoth.

[C]

Yeah, I think they're fun to watch. I, I think it's going to be a crazy playoff atmosphere. Did you like the building and like, did you get to see what they're. What will be different? Because I think they have two more summers of doing things to make it more NHL friendly.

[E]

Yeah, so. So even in the lower bowl, it's very steep. It's almost like Montreal where you're, you're like, you're right on top of the guys. I love that. Yeah, I love that. So it's loud, it's crazy. The, the upper deck, I believe on both sides you aren't able to see just on both ends where the goals are, you can't see from like the blue line in. So the tickets that they sell there, and I think I was even talking to them, they're not. Those tickets aren't even going to be expensive. I think if they make playoffs, they're going to start them off at like 55 bucks. 60. Bu where you can get inside an NHL just because you can't see the end zone.

[B]

But those seats. Those seats.

[E]

Those seats. Yeah, those seats.

[C]

But hey, but you know what? Like you're in the building.

[E]

You're in the fucking building.

[B]

Most owners wouldn't do that. They'd be like, I sorry, 300 bucks.

[E]

And, and another thing too is, is he refused to sell too many season tickets because, because he wants everyone to be able to. To, like, at any given time, to be able to buy tickets and come for their first ever experience. Because he's saying. He's like, once they come, once you got them hooked. Yeah. And. And it's just cool the way that he's thought about how to roll this out and how to treat the fans and. Do you. Do you know that guy who I did that promo hit with? It's. Fuck. What's the guy's name? I'm drawing Utah. Help me out.

[B]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I've seen him.

[E]

Crazy.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Oh, the guy that lives in, like, a barn on the river or something.

[B]

Yeah, he's moved into business house.

[C]

Yeah, true.

[E]

Yeah, we did. We cut the promo like, he was saying. He's like, fuck, man. He goes, they didn't raise the ticket prices. They left them flat. So, like, you know, most people, like, after you, you produce a good product and you put all this money into a team to not only buy it, but to upgrade your facilities, build out this unbelievable practice facility. He's not gouging the people there to, you know, and including going into playoffs, considering keeping those so cheap. So we. We mentioned it last pod. Then a few weeks ago, he, like, tweeted out, hey, who wants to come inside of my owner's box? Because he didn't have those tickets to give away to any of his family and friends. So just the way that he's thought about how to, like, connect with the community and roll this thing out 20 out of 10. And it was just so cool to be there and experience and next year, boys, I hope you guys come, and I hope we're able to even maybe hit up the game before the Winter Classic. But they're hosting Colorado and what might be the, like, the best setting for a Winter Classic we've ever seen.

[B]

Where is that gonna be?

[E]

At the Utah.

[B]

Is it like a soccer field or something?

[E]

The Utes, which is the. The. Oh, I think MLS.

[D]

The college football stadium, Keith.

[B]

Oh, college football. Okay. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That background of that arena or the. That field is insane.

[E]

It's unbelievable. That's their logo, the Utes.

[B]

Biz. Do they sell, like, beer and stuff at the games?

[E]

Yeah, yeah, they actually sell a lot of it.

[C]

Is it less percent alcohol out there? It is what they do.

[E]

It's capped at a certain amount. I think it might be like three and a half percent.

[C]

Yeah. I don't think Four and a half.

[E]

Yeah. You're not getting the hairy. Oh, it's a Utah Hawk. That's the guy's name if you want to look him up on. On Instagram. He's an absolute lunatic for the Utah Mammoth. But I hope everybody's able to go check out a game there. Incredible away building and they're going to fix over the next two summers, as you mentioned, with. They're going to. They're going to move those seats back so you can see the whole barn.

[C]

I got to be fair, right? You talked about playoff tickets and prices. Even though you can't, you know, see the. See the ice, the Oilers, man, I saw a tweet. This guy's tickets last year for the playoffs were 350 bucks a ticket. And his same tickets this year are 499. Holy shit. That's kind of.

[B]

McDavid. Takes a price like a hometown discount and the team can't even.

[C]

Yeah, I was like, wow. I was. I was just, you know, that's. That's a. I see 350 to 400, but 499. I was like, whoa. But you know what? You go to the Cup Final after Cup Final and you're like, I'm gonna. I'm gonna make some money off this run. Every oiler's home game, they're just printing it, so.

[B]

Or maybe they don't think they're gonna make a long run and they gotta make their money in the.

[C]

Don't say that. Don't say that.

[E]

Boys. Live news here. I'm not the biggest basketball fan, but I think that. I think that Yukon just beat Duke.

[C]

No, I had it on before we started. They were down like 24 points.

[E]

I think they came back 73, 72. Final number one early.

[C]

That. That Yukon team, they just win in. In March. It's crazy.

[B]

Holy.

[D]

Speaking of playoff tickets, the Buffalo Sabres announced that they're going to be doing thirty dollar tickets for the playoffs.

[B]

See, they should do three thousand dollars a ticket.

[E]

Thirty dollars?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

From.

[D]

This is from national today. It says, the Buffalo Sabers have announced

[A]

today that playoff tickets for the first

[D]

round will be priced as low as $30 for season ticket holders.

[A]

A relatively cheap rate compared to previous years.

[D]

I mean, even though they haven't.

[C]

For them.

[B]

Because that's what it was when they last made the playoffs.

[C]

Yeah, exactly.

[E]

Yeah. You'll be sitting up in the. In the Saint Samuelson section, but 30 bucks to get in the building for that atmosphere. And you can see the whole ice surface. My God. That's like. That's like a. We love you. Thank you for supporting us and we're sorry it took so long. And we're sorry we fired our GM who made us successful. But here's tickets for 30 bucks.

[B]

Yeah, but some company's gonna buy the all those tickets and resell them for way more.

[D]

Well, it's offered to season ticket holders first.

[C]

Quick update here. The Bruins were down three nothing. They had the two fights. It's now three two with six minutes left.

[D]

That's.

[C]

That's pretty insane. The Canadians were getting outshot 10 nothing in Carolina to start the game. They're now up three one. Caulfield has another one. Suzuki has two. Hudson Saturday night 60. Hudson has two assists. He's got 62 assists this year. It's just a wagon.

[B]

There he is so good.

[C]

And Saturday night, staying in the East. I think there's a bunch of different things we can go with here. Looking at the standings, but. But the Flyers, man, they're three points out with a game in hand.

[E]

Don't tell their fans.

[B]

Is Owen Tippet a fucking star?

[C]

He looks like McDavid.

[B]

He's incredible.

[E]

His consistency is just.

[B]

It clicked this year last night, right against Detroit.

[C]

And Detroit got that huge win against Buffalo and it was an enormous dub. And then they lose that. Take game to Philly at home too. Tough, tough sledding right there. But right here, 11, 4 and 1 since the Olympic break. Third best record behind Buffalo and St. Louis for the Flyers. And I'll tell you, biz, the fans have to be happy. And you know why?

[E]

No, they're not.

[C]

They haven't been coming at us. They haven't been coming at us.

[E]

Oh, they've been shutting their mouth is what they've been doing.

[C]

Yeah, they've been shutting their mouth. Maybe talk. It wasn't the worst coach of all time. And we have a team that was looking like dead dogs at one point that right now is in a decent chance to get into the playoffs. So good for them.

[E]

They're the most contradictory fan base in the world. They're trying to shit on their coach for not playing their superstar 22 minutes. He protects them, plays them the right amount. The team's having success. All I hear about online, we don't have a first line center, we don't have a second line center, we don't have a number one D. Oh, you don't got all these fucking things, but you're fighting for a playoff spot, yet you think the coach is shit. Shut the up. I don't own too many fan bases, but I fucking own the Flyers fans. They're my Fucking lap dog at this point.

[C]

I don't know. They're like Pasha's dog now by owning them, is it kind of like, hey, they haven't won a cup since 75. I'm 1967. But more just like I'm in your head so bad that I make you

[B]

so mad that I think he makes great points.

[E]

Keep changing the narrative.

[C]

Narrative.

[E]

They keep changing the narrative. Like their fur. The whole reason I called them morons. And then they all got offended and I was only directing it towards the people were like. But they. All they cared about was how much ice time one player got on their team. And even Chris Pronger went on the nasty. Is it nasty knuckles pod.

[C]

He goes.

[E]

Just handing a guy ice time's not the solution to development. So that's coming from a heart hall of Famer, a Norris winner and a Hall of Famer and a former fucking Flyer.

[C]

Pronk screams to me, like taking over as president somewhere at some point. I, I, he very I, I don't know. I could see you would want him

[E]

at your, your round table.

[C]

Yeah. And, and Flyers fans, I think that they're very excited today because Porter Martone, he signed the stud. This kid came into Michigan State, absolutely lit it up. They had a shocking loss. They were up 3:1 to Wisconsin with five minutes to go. Six minutes to go. They lost in OT. Wisconsin goes to the frozen four. But I think that Martone hops right in the lineup. G, you've seen more of them. He's a big kid. He's unreal with the puck. He gets skate.

[D]

I think he's the perfect Philadelphia Flyer. I mean, I would say his NHL comparable is like a Brady Kachuk. He's going to go out there and be a mean winger. He can score goals, he's got talent, he's fast, he's got skill. Flyers fans are going to love this.

[B]

This kid, he's no Meov.

[C]

Yeah, true. I'm.

[E]

Hey, next season I'm all in on Meov. I'm flipping this the Meech.

[C]

God.

[E]

You think Demid.

[A]

No, no, no.

[C]

You're not taking, you're not taking Demigod. Giving it to another Russian. Not enough. Think of your own nickname for him. Take a hike.

[E]

Going back to Lane Hudson. G through this stat in here. I don't know if you already read it. Whit. Lane Hudson became the third defenseman in NHL history to record multiple 60 assist seasons before hitting his 23rd birthday, joining Paul Coffey, who did it three times. Bobby Orr, long shorts, his buddy and Cole Caufield became the first player with a 45 goal season since Stefan Riche 51. I would imagine that's for the Canadians since 1989 and 90.

[C]

So now he has 46. So he needs six more to break that Riche goal mark. I wonder what the most was after that.

[E]

Got, boys, we got breaking news.

[C]

What do we got?

[E]

Gary Lawless has just texted up or posted his column.

[C]

Wow.

[E]

Should we. Should we. Is it long?

[C]

G?

[E]

Like, could we read it?

[B]

I don't think we give Gary the time. I don't think we give it to him. He's been blowing us off.

[E]

I think that he is so. Made me want to read the first thing I've ever read in my life.

[C]

This is Lawless. Welcome to Vegas. John Tortorella. The status quo wasn't working for the Vegas Golden Knights. Something had to be done. In Kelly McCrimmon fashion. He made a chess move.

[E]

He advanced his pawn one spot.

[C]

Oh, shit.

[E]

He just started it.

[C]

Oh, shit. He actually said a line to me and he goes, you can't quote me, so I can't say it. But when I send you this line, I'm. I'm like, I could cry that I can't say it. I could cry.

[B]

Did you just have the article? Maybe it's in the article.

[C]

Bleep this out, G.

[B]

G, do not. Bleep that out. G. Do not.

[E]

That is.

[C]

You have to. Because somebody said to me.

[E]

He just texted me the. This guy is fucking with us, dude. Is he on the. Is he on here? We're not recording live. I feel like he's owning you the

[B]

way you own Flyers fans. And I don't like it.

[C]

No, he's not. He's not. He is.

[B]

He's being a bully. He's being.

[E]

Fucking calling him right now FaceTime.

[C]

If he. If he. If Edmonton beats them again this year, he's done. Like, I'm willing to do a retirement bet. Like I retire from Chiclets or he retires from covering the Vegas Golden Knight rights.

[E]

He defucking climbed it.

[F]

Do it again. Go again.

[E]

Go again.

[B]

He might have had it on do not disturb.

[C]

So we got Ryan Miller coming on now. Awesome interview. We tried doing this before. We had some technical difficulties, but we got to sit down. It's over.

[B]

He didn't own a computer.

[C]

Yeah, he didn't own a computer. That was the technical difficulty. And I'll say this before we get in, I got a buddy here in Milton, Billy Bush. He coached riders, Milton team. His son Tyler is just an animal. He's A big time Buffalo Sabres fan. I think this was the 20th year in a row yesterday that a bunch of buddies went to a Sabres fan. They dress up, they have horse masks, they got fucking. I'll show you the picture of these lunatics. We'll post this picture. But he was at the game last night. I'm sorry, Saturday night, a big win in the shootout. They got it done. They were down two, nothing. And I just said, wow, all the years you guys have been going and watching hockey and now it's your time. And all the Sabers fans who loved watching Ryan Miller and man, it's been a long time since they've been good. And I think Ryan Miller is just as happy as. As a lot of these fans are for him. So we'll go to him right now. Very, very special guest right now joining the show, former Vezna Trophy winner, United States Hockey hall of Famer. Yeah. And business showing the Buffalo Sabers jersey had some amazing years there. Ryan Miller. What's going on, buddy?

[A]

What's up, boys? Happy to be here.

[C]

We appreciate it. Long time. We actually tried to do this. Didn't work out. We had some problems with the technology. I think it worked out better because that was prior to the.

[E]

No, we're actually going to release that 30 minutes of us trying to figure out his audio to start the pot off and then we're going to. At the 30 mark, this is going to cut in.

[A]

Yeah, I think that'll be perfect to show what you guys actually have to go through. There's a lot goes behind these podcasts.

[E]

Nosy. I was more intrigued at the fact that you don't have a laptop.

[A]

Yeah, I've been just rolling with the iPad.

[C]

Hey, why switch it up? Until there was never a problem. Until he tried to come on with us and then it turned, it turned into a disaster. But Millsy, where are you, where are you living right now? Where are you at? Fill us in on your life. Currently.

[A]

Life. Currently chasing kids in Newport Beach, California. So it's not that, it's not that bad. No, it, it's. It's been good. It's. We loved this area when I played with the Ducks and I was already in LA. Chased my wife Noreen to LA around 2010, 11. And so we've been in that area for a while and then LA was getting just a little, little different, little weird. So we, we, we made the play to come down here about three years ago. So it's been, it's been great.

[B]

You couldn't convince her to move back to East Lansing.

[A]

I.

[C]

You know what?

[A]

I feel like there's that thing, you can't go home again type thing. I spent my first, like, probably eight years pro, going back home, and all my buddies left to start their careers or in either hockey or professionally in other industries. And then, ironically, I got myself together, found Noreen, we got married, and then everyone moved back. It's like, yeah, just a ton of guys around there now. I would love to be around, but, you know, we built our life out here, and I can't beat the weather, so. Been having some fun.

[B]

You got married late in your career, right? Like, was that kind of by design? I know I played with some guys where it's what I said.

[E]

Veteran.

[B]

Yeah, exactly.

[A]

No, I. I think it's just how life kind of worked out. I think there was a point where my parents, you know, you're. You're being from the Midwest, you know, like, at a certain point, you're signal. And they're just really, really concerned. And so it's like every single one of their friends probably has a friend, and they're talking about how you're still single.

[E]

You're bringing like, one guy, buddy, over to parties just to. With them.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they're just talking to all their friends like, hey, you know, anybody you can set them up with? And that actually ironic. That's kind of how it worked out. My dad's. My dad's buddy was working as a director with. With Noreen, and. And we were out in Arizona. Actually. We. We met in Arizona while we're on the road. And. And he says, hey, you gotta meet the cast. And I was like, yeah, what am I gonna do? Meet the cast? Why would I do that? He's like, well, you should probably meet Nori. And, you know, I think you guys would have a lot in common. So he kind of set us up, which was pretty cool. We ended up going on our first date, and then next night we played the Coyotes the day after, and we won two. Nothing. So. I know. I knew that was probably the. The right decision.

[E]

You shot them out. So you're. Hey.

[A]

I was like, yeah, this. This one works.

[E]

I read that you're not superstitious, though.

[A]

Oh, yeah. A little stitches. Yeah.

[C]

I don't remember you being that bad, though. Like, not like a lot of.

[A]

No, I'm not like, it's not like Pedro Serrano with the chickens and stuff, like in major League, but, like, there's. There's things that I would kind of have to do to Just get my mind right. I think all of us being hockey players is how it goes. Right? You got to get your mind right. There's things that make you comfortable. I think a lot of the stuff you saw was just me probably throwing tennis balls off the wall and being real quiet and stuff. I don't know people. The most visible thing I do that is kind of out there is people see me go out to the ice and I got, like, a stick, and I'm just kind of, like, running through, like, positive affirmations and visualizing what has to happen. But it looks like I'm talking to myself, so I guess it looks a little bit crazy. But there's a. There's something behind it.

[B]

You see a lot of goalies doing that now. Were you kind of one of the first guys to do that? I don't remember other guys doing it.

[A]

I don't know. I think everybody just comes up with what's going to work for them. Mine is more like, you know, coming from, like, youth hockey, when you're packed in a small locker room as the goalie, I was like, I gotta get out of here. Like, there's just a bunch of, you know, adolescent lunatics, you know, going crazy, listening to whatever music and going off and. And I just needed a moment to kind of collect myself before I was gonna go get hit with pucks. So I think that's kind of where it came from.

[C]

So the Miller family, for people who don't know, like, synonymous with Michigan State. I'm gonna have to get the full list of how many Millers have actually played there. But for you as a goalie, were you. Were you playing goalie? From a young age, I'm always interested to hear, like, how you got into it, like, what made you play that position and when you started. Really?

[A]

Yeah. Well, ironically, we were living in California at the time. My dad was in the software industry, so we. Software industry started east coast, like, kind of Midwest and East Coast. So I lived in. In Massachusetts for a minute, too. So I learned how to skate in Massachusetts.

[C]

What town we were in.

[A]

God, where were we? I can't even remember, man. Like, we were just outside Boston, and then we were in. In New Jersey for a bit. My brother Drew was actually born in Jersey in, like, Dover area. It was like. And then we moved back to Michigan. Then we moved to California. Phone. Like, the. The software kind of boom. And lived in, like, San Jose, Santa Clara area. I was a Santa Clara Blackhawk for a minute.

[B]

Wow.

[D]

Team's.

[A]

Team's still around. Yeah, it's, it's pretty wild. And then when we were out there, I just kind of got that itch I had. I'd been exposed to watching college hockey at Michigan State and loved watching the goalies really into like Norm Foster and, and Bobby Estenza and like these guys were like the, you know, the big time goalies then for the team. And I was just really obsessed with watching them. And then when I kind of like got further along in hockey, I kind of forced my dad's hand as I really want to play goalie. And he's like, no. I was like, I really want to try. He's like, no, absolutely not. So I had like a little sit down strike on the bench. I was like, I'm not going out to play another second until I get to try. Goalie.

[C]

How old are you at this point?

[A]

Probably about eight.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

And he made a deal. He's like, go. You gotta score a hat trick and get three assists in a game. You can do it. And I had it done in like half the game. I was just like, okay.

[E]

Were you that motivated?

[A]

Good.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

He thought he might get me at least on that game because the game had already started and he's like, well, this kid's not going to finish this, so I'll get him. And I came back and just stared him down. I guess he was just like, oh, God, here we go.

[E]

That's wild. And how were you once you got started in net and, and did part of the story have to do with you were frustrated with the goalie that you guys had in the net at the time?

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

I mean, a little bit. Like, I, I, I mean, we were in California. It wasn't really a sport that growing up yet. Like, Sharks weren't even in the area yet. Like, actually we were like canvassing for the Sharks to go to San Jose, but when we're leaving, like go taking our wagon door to door with papers, people, you know, pamphlets, trying to sign them up. And like, my brother and I going, like, you, hockey's amazing. You guys should definitely have a team here. And then we moved home to Michigan and then the Sharks came like, like a couple years later.

[C]

So you're responsible for like Celebrini basically being in the NHL?

[G]

Wow.

[A]

Yeah, I'd like to think so. Yeah. Yeah. All those, what are those, like religious

[E]

guys who go door to door? They probably thought you were like, like trying to sell Bibles or something. Yeah, it's a different kind of religion.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. Jehovah's Witnesses.

[F]

Yeah.

[E]

Jehovah's Witnesses. That's what it is. Yeah.

[A]

They saw us with our little red wagon. They probably knew better, though. It was pretty funny looking back on it. No, but yeah, like, just hockey wasn't a thing. So my dad would kind of recruit from like, the soccer field and baseball field. Like, if I'm playing soccer or baseball, that kid's a good athlete. Hey, your kid want to try hockey? That's kind of how we built out the rest of the team. And so I was like, yeah. I mean, we didn't really know what we were doing, so I think I just got to kind of like, as a goal. He kind of does. I got fixated. I'm like, hey, like, we gotta to stop goals. Like, I want to try that.

[E]

Unreal. And then how did you get so good then after that?

[A]

Well, we moved back to Michigan shortly after that. My dad would pepper me with hawks, trying to scare me off. But I thought it was cool. Like, I make one glove save and it just make my day. Or like, hit. Hit me in the head and just be like, ah, still stayed out, you know, like, like. But my cousins, like, go back to what Whit was saying. Like, we have a pretty rich hockey history.

[C]

My.

[A]

You know, my grandfather came in the 50s down in Michigan State. His brother came after him in the early 60s. And then my dad played in the 70s. My. My cousins who were my. My. My great uncle's kids who came. Kelly, Kevin Kipmiller all played NHL. Kevin played in the Olympics. Kip was a Hobie Baker winner in. In. In 91. And then I was Hobie Baker in 2001. So like, we had a pretty big history with Michigan State. You know, my two. Two more cousins from Calgary who came down and played than me and my brother and that. So it ended up 10 of us at Michigan State.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[C]

And was Ron Mason there? Like, he. I mean, how long did he coach there? It was 30 years.

[A]

Yeah. So my dad. The last part of Amo Basoni, who was like the original coach, like, my. My grandpa came down in the 50s and played for him. And then, you know, Ron came on and had that long run and had. Had the rest of. Had me and then I left. My brother had calmly. Oh, yeah, he was there for that stretch.

[B]

I was just gonna say, I imagine you were a highly touted, you know, prospect going into college. Was there any other chance you would go anywhere else or. It was Michigan State and in your

[A]

family, it was a chance to live a dream. Right. But it was a At the time, I wouldn't be a true freshman. I had to wait. So, like, I had buddies. I played with who Adam Hall, Andrew Hutchinson, John and SAA guys were ahead of me. I played with or against them growing up, and they are in the class ahead of me. So I waited a year, played another year, juniors, which is kind of normal now. Back then, you really wanted to be a true freshman, but. So I waited a year. I could have gone to Clarkson. They offered me to be a true freshman out of the North American League. I played up in Sault Ste. Marie in, on the Michigan side. And yeah, so I had a chance to do it, but, you know, the main thing that stood out to me is you got a chance to live a dream, and if you pass it up, it's kind of like a bad move. So I just was like, you know what? Just hunker down another year. You know, you, you guys all see me. I'm not, I'm not like the biggest stature person I got. I got some height now, but, like, I, I was 5 foot 8 on my, my first driver's license, right? And I was like a hundred fifteen pounds. So, like, I needed time.

[C]

Yeah, you got the height. You never gained a ton of weight, I would say, but you did, you did get the height back then.

[E]

I, I think that you were probably above average height, though, when you came into the NHL, right? Like, like, it was still okay to have smaller goalies.

[A]

Yeah, it's probably those extra few inches I, I put on, like, at the draft. I think they had me listed at 6:1, but I think I was, I was 6:2 already by then. I was, I got like half an inch taller, but, yeah, I think I was probably a little bit on the taller side. And now I'm probably right at average or below now.

[B]

They're so big.

[A]

Boys are so big.

[E]

Did your lack of size force you to, like, get better at skating and, like, how did you kind of evolve as a goaltender? When you're big, you can kind of just front pucks, but when you're smaller, you have to be a great, you know, lateral mover and.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, for sure. I, I, My dad likes to point out, like, sometimes he would be at games and, like, people would comment on my style when I was young, really young, because I would be like, like seven feet out of the crease and just like, right next to the guy in breakaways. And, like, like, the styles change a lot too, right? So, like, probably couldn't play quite as aggressively as a kid. Now, like, they're probably. The kids are so good now. Like, they're probably running the backdoor plays and like, all that stuff now. But, like, back then, I could really just skate, move. And I think it definitely helped being more of a positional skating goaltender and then getting some size, you know, having to use my hands a lot as a kid too. Like, having to really reach for stuff and like, understand how to use my hands. I think that helps a ton because as you get taller and bigger and I mean, it's not a skill you can just turn on like a light switch. Something like, you know, working with San Jose as a scout and a development guy now, like, I mean, that's what we're looking at. Like, can this player, you know, be a complete player? And you see a lot of guys are just trained themselves into the dance steps of moving this goalie and then just kind of getting hit because they're in a position, you know, NHL doesn't always work out clean. You gotta. You gotta be adaptable, as you guys know from all the other positions.

[C]

Taking a moment, getting away from your career. I'm wondering. Cause we've talked about this the past two years a lot. The consistency and inconsistency of goaltending. Now in the NHL, where you see guys had these incredible years and the next year, like, they just struggle, and then you struggle, and then you're phenomenal. The next year you were pretty consistent, like, in terms of what you've seen. Now what creates the issue in terms of, like, some guys just really battling year to year.

[A]

I wish I knew, man. Then I. Then I would have the formula, I think. I think the parody in the league is. Is just part of that, like, because you're not. You're not seeing too many teams that, like, fall off. I know we have some teams you talk about when it comes to playoff time, like, all these guys are out, but it's just kind of like. Like, I mean, there's just such tight races and the skill is just at such a high level. I mean, you're getting exposed for different kind of shots where, you know, I think you could get away with a little bit more. You know, going back 10, 15 years where, like, you can clog things up, you can take away certain situations. I know coming out of the lockout in 0405, they really started calling stuff. But I mean, when you really look back, like. Like how. How easy it became to kind of like, get back to some of the hooking, holding, pushing out from the net, I mean, it was still part of the culture and now I just think some of the situations some of the goalies find themselves in, it's just like, oh, my God, that was just an amazing play. And, oh, my God, that was just an amazing shot. Like, it's. It's. So the guys are still good now. They just trained from a young age to just. Just know how to score and the sticks, too.

[E]

Would it have driven you nuts at the. Maybe the lack of starts a starter get now? Because I feel like you were one of those guys where it's like, you like, Patrick, Wa mentality. That's my net. So would it be a little bit more difficult for you in today's age during your, like, peak years?

[A]

Yeah, probably. I mean, it. Culturally, it was just different. Like, I remember I. In juniors, I had a tough stretch, and I kind of of told the coach I didn't want to start one night. And he. And he was a former goalie, and he was just kind of like, what the hell are you doing? You never ever do that. Like, what are you doing? I was like, okay, well, he's like. He's like, yeah, okay, you're not in tonight. And if he plays well, you're not in the next one too. I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah, that's a good point. And then. So, yeah, but that meant mentality in my mind, like, okay, like, you gotta figure this out and you gotta be ready to roll and you gotta stay in the net. And I think it's helpful culturally. I think it's changed a little bit. In the NHL, guys are really aware of how they need to be feeling to be at their peak. But I do think there is a lot to be said about guys who can really roll with it. And, and, and because then come playoff time, you. You want to have a guy who's feeling that.

[F]

It.

[A]

I mean, that's. That's been such a big difference in the playoffs. So. So often it's like, when the guy is really feeling. It's two months of hockey, you're not getting a break. Like, can you do it? You have to be able to practice that at some point of sustained pro, like, sustained gameplay. So I understand why they have the rest, but, like, I, I love to be in the net. I think one year I. I played like, 76 games. One year cold as.

[E]

That's amazing.

[C]

Yeah. The thought of that now is like, that'll never happen again. It's like, it's why there's so many, like, records that'll just never be touched based on how much the position has changed. But I'm wondering like for your career at Michigan State, you came in, I mean you were like a 13 goals against your freshman year. Like, I, I know you were kind of splitting starts then, then the following year. It was just incredible. You know, 1, 3, 2, 9, 50 you win the Holy Baker, but you went back to school and it's, it's now that's kind of shocking, I think. I guess Augustine's back at his, he's a junior right now at Michigan State. Maybe he's looking at what you did is some sort of, you know, future way to look at his career. But I'm wondering your thought process on going back or did Buffalo not think you were ready? Like, that's kind of ballsy.

[A]

I feel like, yeah, it was, it was kind of a, a mix. You know, Hosic was there and then they had. Mika Norman and Marty Baron were first round picks in different years as goalies. So I mean, you know, going off of what they, they knew is like I was a fifth round pick. They got two first round goalies that not yet really had the full opportunity and trying to be realistic. Yeah, I had a great college career, but I don't know that they maybe felt that way about college back then.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

So like the, the, the dilemma was I felt ready, but what could another year getting stronger in my situation, like we talked about, like, I, not a very big guy. Like, I, I made a lot of good strides in college, getting, getting stronger and I was ready to be an American League goalie and push for the NHL. My first year, I knew I could play in the American League and I, I could push for the NHL and I did. I ended up playing about 16 or so games I think that first year. And I, I don't know, I, it, it all worked out really well and it was a lesson in patience for sure. Like every, every young player thinks they're ready. Every, every draft pick thinks they're going to bust down the gate. But when you're not playing against your peers and you're playing just against the best of the best and you're playing against men, like there are a lot of lessons to learn and I don't think you can just, just take on lessons like a fire hose. Like, he can't just be like, okay, just hit me with it. I'm, I'm ready to learn. It's like you have to absorb everything the right way or else you're not gonna sustain. So it all kind of worked out as it should. And you Know, it was a good decision. I had time to kind of prep myself and you know, because it's really the internal battle first was in the organization. Like I gotta carve out a spot and I gotta show them I can play. Like it wasn't about being like, okay, I did it at this level. If you guys make room for me, it's like, well, I gotta be realistic.

[E]

Earlier on you mentioned like, like positive thinking. When did all that start? And like at a young age were you trying to manifest all this stuff? Like, like you know, even in the summertime, were you like hardcore like, like trying to develop non stop, only a certain amount of rest, training six days a week. Like what was it like leading into to trying to get to where you were?

[A]

I think as a really young kid I, we had seasons. Like my dad would let us play. Both my brother and I, and my brother played in the NHL for a long time and he would make us play seasonally. Like, you know, okay, you get like one more spring tournament, then it's summertime. Like you're, you guys are playing baseball, doing something else. Like, you know, there's four of us in our family, four kids and, and you know, you can't just be running around for 12 months out of the year when you have four kids. There's a responsibility to kind of spread the attention around a little bit. And when you got two kids who ended up playing AAA hockey and then junior hockey, then college hockey, it's like there's enough there already. I think we didn't really transition to like full, full time until more in our teenage years. Like 14, 15, like for around the time like I don't know whit's like we had the slack select stuff starting at 15 and then they what they kind of moved away from that into like more towards the ndtp. I said that backwards. Don't. Sorry.

[C]

No, that was right. That was right.

[A]

NTDP program, something like that. When that kind of came on, the, the select stuff changed a little bit. But that was all before I think my, my age group was the first national team development program age group. So yeah, I think around that 15 year old year was I think more serious because we had a lot more summer stuff and then the 16 year old year. I think we had like some Colorado stuff for USA Hockey and, and you'd go by your sections and get invited based on how you played in your region. So like as I started getting exposure to that, I think that's when the full time stuff kicked in and being exposed to My cousins became before me. Like, can't discount the fact I got to see them and they were kind of, I feel like they were kind of like my cousin Kelly for sure inspired his younger brothers, Kevin and Kip, because he was a year round. He's a, he's a dog in a bone. He played like almost 1200 games I think in the NHL. And funny part about him is he, he didn't play in the American League until he was coaching and they needed somebody to play when he was coaching the American League. So he, he played his first American League games after he'd already, already retired and started coaching. But he was a, he was a hard worker man. And I think he just kind of knew he'd have to do extra and he did extra and we got to kind of witness it and, and we were old enough and kind of a philosophy it took when I was running pro skates or doing anything where I would run the ice time is they were awesome. Like if you could hang, you could practice. That was the culture we had. Like come out, we'll show you how to do it. You know, we're doing our stuff. You, you kids, you know, my brother and I, you guys have fun, but we're gonna, not gonna take it easy on. You gotta try everything we do. We gotta work hard. And it was at a time when I don't think a lot of people were doing it a hundred percent year round. So we just saw them do it and we're like, oh, that works. So we start, we got old enough, we started, you know, doing it. Now all the kids do it, so who knows?

[C]

So take us into like getting into the NHL that first year pro. You get 16, 15 games. Whatever it was, was Baron and who was the other first round pick? Norman Noren.

[A]

Yeah, Mika Norman.

[C]

Were they still, obviously Baron was still around, but had they made a trade or was it, how did you end up kind of winning that job really

[A]

well, I think Tamika would get, get sent down. I, I, I come up with Marty and then we had a long stretch where I think, I think my record is pretty much 500 ish. You know, it was still a transitional time for the Sabers and trying to find our way a little bit and yeah, it's kind of more in the like, like November through like February and then back to the American League and that we had a decent show in the playoffs that year. And then yeah, just, it was nice to get a taste. Like it felt good to get an opportunity and really inspirational. And I just took it to the next season as work my ass off in the summer and I could win the job. And I did. Out of camp. I. I won the job. Started the first two games, had an unfortunate second game, was sent to the minors and didn't get back up for quite a long time, and it happened.

[E]

What's the incident?

[A]

No, no, just like, didn't. Didn't win. So.

[B]

And then the lock, right?

[A]

Yeah. And then the next year was full lockout and actually probably helped me the most because I had a place to play. I was in the American League. I was starting. We had a great team. We had, you know, we had Ammonville, Roy, Vanek, Gossad.

[E]

Oh, my God.

[A]

In the A. We had veterans. It was. We were one of the best teams the year prior. We had gone to the conference final, and that year we won the league, I think. And we two years in a row ran into a hot. Wade Flaherty. God damn it, Wade.

[C]

Oh, my God. The guy in Milwaukee.

[A]

Yeah, he. He. He got us two years in a row. He got traded or something. Simon. Somebody else. And one year he beat us, and he beat us the next year. I think.

[E]

I think they beat Wilkes in the final.

[C]

The one year I lost to him in the. In the Calder cup finals. The. The year before the lockout year.

[B]

As a year.

[A]

Yeah, he got us that year. And you think he got us the next year.

[C]

Tiny, but he was incredible.

[A]

Yeah, he was on fire.

[E]

He got NHL games too, didn't he?

[A]

Oh, yeah. Well, he played a lot prior to that, right?

[E]

Yeah, he's a little more old school. Just an old wiley veteran. Do you have a draft story? Do you have, like, a funny draft story? Like, anything?

[A]

Like, Boston was. Boston was my year. We came out to Boston. I was. We're getting pretty good intel. Like, maybe I go second round. That's when they did everything at once still. And they're like, hey, looking pretty good for second round. Had a couple scouts interested who were like, it's. It's my. Like, I got. I got a pick this year.

[B]

You're.

[A]

I'm.

[E]

We're.

[A]

We're grabbing you. And I sat around until the fifth round and, like, think my brother was just bored out of his mind. My grandpa. My dad came along and brother was bored out of his mind, and he's just messing with me. And I literally remember, like, Buffalo's table turning around to kind of look up and like, my brother's just like, you know, he's almost four years younger than me, so he's like, just about 14 and he's just like, just screwing around. It's like they. And then they announced my name and the cuts go down and meet them. It was pretty cool. It was fun.

[C]

But about time, buddy.

[A]

It was just kind of like, it's a good checkpoint. I was always, it was always good that people around me are very realistic and super supportive, but it's also like, hey, you got drafted. That's great. It's a checkpoint. If you're, you're part of something, work your way into it and. But it's cool to have somebody, a team to root for and, and you know, they Sabres had just gone to the finals and, and lost to Dallas and they're all fired up at that draft. So that was pretty, pretty interesting even

[B]

that year, the lockout year. And I know Wits talked about it like all the best players were, the younger best players in the league were down there playing that. It was such a good league to play in for you and your, you know, confidence going forward, knowing that you were probably going to be in the NHL the next year. It must have been huge for you to play in that type of schedule in the minors.

[A]

Yeah, no, I, I recognized the opportunity. Like, I knew what it meant. Like the NHL boys aren't playing. The, the two guys ahead of me thought it was going to be half year lockout and they're going to be back. So they didn't do anything. And then they had to scramble to find ice time. I knew that I had the advantage. It was well on my mind that I was in the driver's seat. If I could just connect. And I mean, I, it all kind of clicked with our team that year in regular season and we had a decent playoff run. I mean we really nice lessons, you know, I mean, we're learning how to win together, learning how to play as a group, going into some playoff runs three years in a row down there. And yeah, I knew what it meant and I'm happy I was able to take advantage of it.

[E]

You just mentioned that playoff run. So you didn't get an opportunity to cross over with Hashik. Did you get to meet him maybe in your first training camp? Or was he already gone by then?

[A]

No, he was gone like back then too. Like, you know, being in college and committed to college, you couldn't just come to camp. Like, it's like, I think there was a way you could like pay your own way, but it's also like for me it was like, well, I'm not signed and there's not a lot of development back then, I never really remember talking to them about anything about my game. Even, like. Even like right before Jersey, it's pretty much like two years. It was like the. Definitely the jungle back then. It's like, okay, you survived. Congrats. Here's a contract. And it's like, if you don't survive, like, see you later. Like, it's now. I think we recognize the investment you make in it. Like, draft picks are worth X amount of dollars, right? Like, they have the whole algorithm, what every single draft pick's worth and how it values in a trade and all that stuff. So it's like, there's value there. You have to, like, protect your. Your investment. So we do a lot more now, but back then it was just kind of like, oh, good. Looks like you're doing pretty well, bud. All right, we'll give you a shot now, so.

[C]

Well, I. People don't believe, like, younger guys. I. I'm like, I was drafted by Pittsburgh. We had no rookie camps. We had nothing. Like, like you said, like, people don't even believe it.

[B]

Now your owner was on the team.

[C]

Now you. You leave the draft. Now I think you go directly to a rookie camp. It's like, there's no.

[A]

And we have development.

[C]

It was like, see you later, buddy. Good luck.

[E]

I gotta say thanks to my parents. No, we're on the plane now.

[A]

Yeah, pretty much. Like, honestly. Yeah, we got. And we got guys. If they're. If they're European, we, you know, hopefully they can quickly get a visa and show up for. For development camp. Yeah, that's how it goes.

[C]

That Buffalo team, though, that you guys ended up forming, and you mentioned, like, Derrick Roy Vanek, Paulmanville, like, big parts that were a part of the run in Rochester. When did you guys realize you had something special there? And more importantly, especially now for fans, like, you must have been amazed that at the Buffalo Sabres fan base and how. How crazy the building was, and once you guys started having success, it's like, holy. This is what I'd kind of heard about coming in.

[A]

Yeah. No, I mean, it. It's a hockey crazy city. I mean, it's a big part of the culture of all of western New York. I. I think just the fans in Rochester are great. Like, we were. We had good teams. And there. There's a pride behind that history of that team, you know, separate from the Sabers in their. Their own history, how they built themselves up. And the affiliation has been great. It went away for a little while, but bringing it back and locking it down has been huge. You know, that's, that's two parts of western New York that you gotta have. And when you kind of start to click in like the, the history and the fans and like, it, it really is amazing that I got to play there. Honestly, like, it just kind of fit my, my style, my personality, what I'm comfortable with. And, and I think the reputation of like Buffalo and western New York, you kind of, it's, it's nothing until you experience it and experience the real pride people have, the passion they have and how genuine the people are. Like, if you're willing to be a part of their community, I mean you're in like. And it's give take, right? Like they're going to give you everything you got. If you can give something to them like it. It's amazing. So like that's, that was like the way I really felt connected and I think it really helped me play there. I felt like, well, I can contribute to them on the ice, but I also was trying to do stuff off the ice and go out in the community and help out where I could, but also just get out, just be social and just make friends and be around and, and that's, and that was a big part of it. Like he felt like connected and then when there's that much buzz and we were that good, like that's what kind of I think put everything over the top. Like we, that's why we were able to do all that. And they, I, I went to the Sabers game last night. They were in town play Anaheim and best case scenario went to overtime. Perfect for me. I was talking to some of the boys and some of the coaching staff and the trainers and they're just like, millsy, it's back. And I was just like, that's awesome. Like everywhere you go, people are just wearing the gear. Over lunch, people are just talking Sabers. Like it, it's back. It's awesome.

[B]

That's amazing. And you had Lindy there and the fact that he's there again right now is crazy. Yeah, he's still doing it, but like back then the coaches weren't as, you know, playing tummy sticks with the goalies. Like if a goalie let in some bad goals, they were getting reamed out. You ever have any run ins with Lindy?

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Lindy. The great part is with Jim. Cory was our goalie coach there and he's one of the nicest human being ever. I couldn't say more about him.

[B]

He invented Corey Biz no, eh, his

[A]

thought process inspired it. Yeah, he, he had a thought about it and it, it ended up being developed surrounding his thought process. But yeah, Jimmy, Jimmy's just so nice and he would act like a buffer. It was great because, like, Jimmy could take an earful and then he comes smiling over, you know, but once in a while, you know, Jimmy had to go do other stuff because, you know, back in the day, it was pretty much he had, you were lucky to have a full time goalie coach, honestly. And Jimmy would be back and forth a little bit between Montreal and, and his other duties. So sometimes we lose Jimmy for a few days here and there, and you're

[C]

just like, oh, where's my, where's my good cop?

[A]

Yeah, like, oh, God, just is that.

[E]

We start using Razor.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I don't know.

[A]

Razor and Lindy, I don't know, they had some fireworks back in the day too, so I'm sure he mentioned that to you guys. But, yeah, no, if Jimmy wasn't in town and something happened, like a short side goal of any kind of, like, it was a, it was both goalies pulled in and you're getting to talking to, and then you just kind of thank God, you know, like, I, you know, Patty will lean or somebody drag him in with like, hey, like, all right, let's go talk. I'm going, you guys gotta be better. What the hell is it? And you just point all this stuff out. You're like, yeah, probably. Yep, okay, great. And just try to get out without speaking too much and, and let him find somebody else to yell at.

[E]

That's awesome.

[A]

But, yeah, Jimmy was an awesome buffer and he's a great human.

[B]

So has Lindy tamed down at all? Because, like, the new age kids. Yeah, it's got to be different coaching.

[A]

Yeah. I talked to him last night. He was laughing because I came in and things are going really well, obviously. But he's like, millsy, I don't even go in the room after games. And I was just like, all right. I, I just was like, I've seen everything. I acted like I was walking out of the room. Like, I was like that. He's like, no, no, I, I don't go in anymore. I, I, he's like, I've learned. I was like, well, then that's great. Could have used that.

[C]

I could have used that a couple times. Glad you learned.

[A]

But no, it's, I mean, just like, players, coaches have to evolve. And I'm, I'm, I'm glad Lindy's able to evolve. And have another shot at it because ultimately he was a good coach for us and it was different era and, and for all. Like, people like to talk about Lindy being a snapshot once in a while and stuff. He was passionate and he wanted you to be accountable. And I think that when you really get down to the best teams, I mean, you have to have that so you want it. So why, you know, why not?

[E]

It's been a pretty crazy like 10 day span where three trainers have celebrated 2500 games. And you mentioned you went down to talk to the trainers. George Babcock, is that his name?

[A]

Yeah, Georgie. He was awesome.

[E]

He just had his 25th, 100. When the, when the camera was on him, you could tell he didn't really like the show. He's like, no, no, no. But what was he like? And were you a guy that would show up ultra early and basically be a trainer yourself?

[A]

Oh yeah, I was a training room rat. Like, me and Georgie would sit on the old German sewing machine and like fix stuff all the time. So like they got the same sewing machine in Buffalo that I would use and like I would, we would just sit around and build stuff because Georgie's a, Georgie's a builder man. Like, he's into engines and he's into like cars and dirt bikes and, and, and ski dues and like all that stuff. And he's just a hilarious guy. He's, he's kind of nuts. He'll do anything for, to get the boys going. I think one year he came in before playoffs and, and he was riding on our Chuck Garlow as our massage guy's shoulders right before we played Philly for like game six or something. We could finish the series. He came in in his shoulders and just, I think, yeah, Chucky just launched him off his shoulders into the table of Gatorade and all this stuff. He just smoked it all over everybody right before the lineup read and just stuff like that came in. I think he came in a couple times with his hands on fire for, with, with put alcohol on, lit his hands on fire. Just start reading the lineup and doing crazy stuff and just.

[E]

That's unreal.

[A]

He's an absolute beauty and we've had so much fun with him over the years.

[E]

He's got a samurai sword down his throat.

[A]

I wouldn't be surprised. He's classic though. He, he would, he would bring empty crates on the road, like the big boy crates, and he, he, he fudged the weight on it on the way out so that on the way Back. He could go on ebay and buy a motorbike in some random city and he'd have it broken down piece by piece and put in the crate and on the plane. Like, he's what, a veteran to get

[E]

ahead of the weight.

[A]

Eh. Oh, you don't have to pay for the shipment is. Oh, he's amazing. It's hilarious. That is so good, Georgie's guy. He deserves it.

[E]

What's the most interesting thing he's built?

[A]

Oh, he just built his house. Like, cool stuff. Yeah. Yeah. He'd show up and help us out, though. I think he helped me and gossed at one year because he had. We were like, hey, can you bring the equipment truck by? We can use it to move out of our house after a season. He's like, yeah, I'll be over. So he's awesome. He takes care of the boys. He looks out for everybody.

[E]

That's awesome.

[C]

In those years of having some really good teams in Buffalo, I mean, the one thing that's crazy is when you lost game seven to Carolina, I think you guys had one defenseman left playing. Correct me if I'm wrong there, but in those teams.

[B]

Soupy, right?

[C]

Yeah, it was just Soupy.

[A]

I think stupid was playing. Yeah.

[E]

Was Tebow. Tebow. Newman installing the team then or. No, that was when, like, Jay McKee was there.

[A]

Had a staff infection, almost died. Like, really? Yeah. You that. Yeah, he was close to losing his leg. They're like. Did a test. Like, they did a test on him or like. Like, okay, we gave you the antibiotics and they got like. They're measuring out where his. Like this mark is on his leg. Like, there's a. Like. Like the infection kind of shows up in a way. Like, one part's more red or whatever than the. Than the rest, and they're like, okay, we did the antibiotics. We got the line in you. So if this rises up to this point in the next hour, we have to take your leg or something like that.

[E]

Yeah, in the next hour.

[A]

Yeah. So he had to sit there and pray that freaking like, the infection climb his leg any further right before we were playing game seven.

[B]

Did he come back after that?

[A]

Yeah, he went next year. He signed with St. Louis, I think. But yeah, I mean, he had to be on antibiotics for quite a while, but, like, just something random. I think he blocked a shot like a series or two prior and just eventually just got infected. I don't know.

[C]

You guys had a good deed. Like, it was so. Henrik Talender, Tony Lukeman, check. Nathan Page, Newman, Dimitri was At Kalinin.

[A]

Kalinan.

[C]

Yeah, Colleen. Yeah. And all those guys were down.

[A]

Yeah. Cleaning was one of the more undercover guys you'd ever really know. Like, he's just solid at everything. Great defenseman. Yeah, we were, we were down. I think Dougie Janik played his first NHL game. He scored. I think we were up 2 to 1 going in third. Like we were just hanging on by our skin of our teeth there and just got away from us. But yeah, that was kind of devastating, you know, like we had. And we lost Tim Conley earlier in that playoff. Got hit crossing, got crossed up and got hit out with a concussion. I mean that's the guy right there where I think we even just having Timmy, like he was. He was leading. Leading the league and playoff points that up in that until that point. And like he was a machine. I would love to see what he could have done. And I think it's. It's almost haunting. Like Timmy's a great friend. I think we go way back. Like we would play against each other here and there growing up and to get a chance to play with each other. And his level of skill is just beyond.

[C]

Imagine him now. No, that's what we said when we interviewed him last year. It's like this guy I know, I

[A]

played in the hall of Fame game in Toronto just before some of the inductions a couple years ago, and Timmy came out to play and he hadn't really done much except like, like push pucks around and coach the kids and do some stuff. And like he was absolutely dangling out there. And I know it's like a Hall of Fame game, you know, it's just. But when you really like you're watching them, I was just like, oh my God, he's still so good. He never practices. This is insane. He's just so good. If. I mean. Yeah, but that's the hard part about the cup, man. It's got to really kind of come to you. And I do wish we could have won, honestly. It's. Everybody does. But it has to kind of come to you and you have to. It has to be your time. And this wasn't our time. We, we. We had a really good team. You know, you also have to have the healthy team that kind of make it so just. That sucks.

[E]

What was Maxima Fenneganov like? I always look back to like guys talk about his gear wear. Like he was one of the sleeker looking players ever.

[A]

Oh yeah.

[E]

Kind of had that beret vibe. Very skinny ankles, like six shin pads, perfect size pants, just Zipping around out there.

[A]

Yeah, he's got it tailored, right? Like, the tailored look. Yeah, he's awesome. You could just hear his skates hitting the ice, like, just so hard too. Like, just. He. It was fun. I got to catch up with him. We, like, a bunch of boys got together in January. We saw a lot of the guys.

[E]

I actually bumped into you.

[A]

Yeah. When we saw you in Buffalo. Yeah.

[E]

I was getting my ass spanked by Rob Ray, and he was coming to celebrate their 20th year. Taylor Pyatt was there. You guys had an awesome.

[A]

Yeah, it was awesome to see that. I hadn't seen a lot of those guys in forever. But, yeah, Maxi was there and we spent some time. Actually, their. Their flight was later, so they stuck around. We went out to watch the Bills playoff game because I wanted my son to be able to watch amongst the Bills faithful. Got him hooked up with a jersey to watch. And then this when that interception got called, and I was just like, check, please. I think I don't want my son to see what's about to happen. We gotta get out the side door here quick. But Maxi came out with us and with Dimitri Kalina and so got to see those guys a little longer.

[C]

They're.

[A]

They're awesome. They were such good players. Maxi was hilarious, just with his accent and stuff. We just give him a hard time about everything. Just like, I think one time, like, on the bench, he just started drinking this random thing where, like, what's he. He, like, what's he doing? They're like, we couldn't figure out for a while. He's got, like, this steaming hot drink at the end. We're just like, what is he doing? He was, like, drinking just straight sugar water. It was, like, warmed up. Like. He's like, maxi, what is that? He's like, is sugar water? We're like, what is sugar water? Like, what?

[C]

Sugar water.

[A]

Oh, okay. So he just had a lot of fun with him, man. He's.

[E]

He's.

[A]

He's hilarious.

[E]

That's awesome.

[C]

Who was, like, the clown in the room? Like, I. I got to know Derrick Roy a little bit. He's hilarious. But I didn't. I didn't know what the room was like in terms of, like, entertainment.

[A]

Oh, yeah, well, you'd like to know. Hey, so Andrew Peters is probably the guy who kept it real loose. Petey's. Petey's awesome. He's a good friend. We check in all the time. He. He sat on one side of me for a while and.

[C]

And I don't know.

[A]

I Just have a special place in my heart for guys who do that kind of job. That's probably why I can tolerate Paul. You know, it's just. It's a hard job, and there's certain personalities that can. That can kind of rise out of it. And Petey's one of those guys for me. I. I just really proud of him, too. He's got. He's. He's done a great job post hockey, and he's just had a little daughter here right around the holidays. So he's got.

[G]

He's.

[A]

He's got a son who's just a little bit older than my son. He's just had a new daughter, so he's. He's doing great. And, you know, he's a fun guy.

[C]

What do you remember about when he fought Emery in that night? Because that game was insane.

[A]

That was nuts. I wasn't. I wasn't starting that game, thank God, or else I would have to go down there. But I was on the bench and Marty Biron going down there, who's. He wasn't much bigger than me. And going after Ray, who I remember Ray from. I had to play against the American League all the time. And, like, I think I made peace with Ray very early because, like, I heard all the rumors. Oh, yeah, because, like, he's obsessed with boxing. And, like, he talked about how he trained all the time. I'm just like, this is. I gotta play this guy, like, 12 times a year in the American League. So, like. And of course, like, one of our games, this guy took a run at me and I kind of sidestepped him.

[D]

He.

[A]

He hit himself in the crossbar and he's like, bleeding all over. And I didn't know he had hit the cross. I turned around and I kind of grabbed and I gave him some shots because he's trying to kill me. Like, I came in, like, full speed and blew the net out, but he blew himself up. And I got a match penalty right away because they thought I blockered him in the. In the face or something. And Ray was already kicked out for suspension. I got kicked out, got dressed. I go up in the stands to watch and raise, like, right down there. So I went over and sat by Ray.

[C]

I didn't hit him, man.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

In Rochester and up in the corner, and I just sat by him. And we're like. I was like, I should probably go talk to him. And so I went down and talked to Ray and kind of made peace very early. And then they reviewed the tape. I didn't get suspended because the guy smoked himself and. But I didn't. Didn't have to face off with Ray, but, like, yeah, thank God it was Marty, though, because Ray, you'd see the video, and he's smiling like. He's like, yep. You know, Marty did a pretty good job of staying away from the. From the fists and somehow did, like, a jiu jitsu move to, like, leg sweep him or something, but he survived that. And then, you know, Petey comes in and goes toe to toe with Emory. And I think that's one of those. Those moments from that season where you're kind of just like, okay, this is. We're. We're a group. We're a team. Everybody sticks up for each other. And we're also pretty good at. Good at hockey. So it was fun.

[C]

Emory was laughing during it, too. That's when I was like, all right, this guy, this. He's legit, like, smiling, squaring off with a. A heavyweight in the NHL. That was incredible.

[B]

He always had boxers on his helmet. I remember it was like, not even, like, nothing to do with hockey. Just have, like, Muhammad Ali or Joe Frazier on his helmet. Like, this guy's looking for a fight every game.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And that's why I made peace with him very early.

[C]

What about the memories in terms of the Lucic incident? Because, I mean, it was a full on, like, goalie outside the crease. I'm treating this like a defenseman. I'm going to run him over. I remember you were furious. Did you throw your helmet at him?

[E]

If I. I was nervous to ask that, I wasn't going to ask that question.

[C]

I had to ask it.

[B]

I had Luch coming on.

[E]

I'm happy you did.

[A]

Yeah. Luch coming on next. No helmet went flying off. I. I took a swing at him, kind of half ass. I'm. What am I gonna do, Fight Luchick? I'm not fighting them. I was just kind of pissed because he's got, like, £70 on me. And I was just kind of like, really? But I made eye contact with him, which is why I said, okay, I got eye contact. He's not gonna kill me. Right? And, yeah, I guess I was wrong. But, yeah, I don't know. It didn't feel very good. Thanks for asking, Whip.

[E]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I'm glad about that.

[C]

I wasn't even in the open.

[E]

I go, we're gonna get like, 10 tweets of people being like, why the didn't you ask him about that? But I'm like, what? You know, he's probably gonna be like, well, what do you want me to say? I got ran over by a truck.

[B]

We've all been ran over by him, though.

[A]

I got. Yeah, I got.

[C]

I made eye contact with.

[E]

You were fuming in that post game. You were fuming, dude.

[A]

Yeah, I kind of regret that.

[B]

Probably doesn't remember any of it, though.

[A]

No, I know. I. I do regret kind of going back because it's kind of like, what does that even do, you know? Like, you just. You're just pissed off. And, like, for me, in the situation, like, it's like, when am I ever getting in a situation where I can do anything about it? It's like. So I just. Like, I'm watching it again.

[C]

He's like. He's doubling down. He's. He follows through with it. It's Wit's favorite video. No, no, no, Buddy, are you kidding me?

[E]

You're being me right now. You're pulling a biz right now doing this?

[C]

No, dude. Hey, this guy got Saint Wit a

[B]

silver medal in the Olympics, and this is how he's treating him.

[C]

Exactly, Buddy. Should we segue into that? Wit, I don't like seeing it. It was just.

[E]

You just went like this.

[C]

No, Luch, after he hits him, like, falls through.

[E]

It would have been grabbing Luch's gloves after the scrum. He would have been like, here.

[A]

Here you go.

[E]

Sorry, my goalie ran into you.

[C]

Okay, well, we can talk. We could talk about Olympics then, because, Millsy, I'll tell you. Throughout the second half or second and third period of this year's Olympics, when we won or, you know, USA won, I just kept thinking, and I think I said it on our stream, like, this is what Miller did. This is what Miller did. Like, it was. It was eerily similar, right? Like, you had to be thinking, like, oh, my God. Like, I was just. I was just somehow keeping us alive. And then obviously, it ends the. The wrong way. But that had to be the best hockey you ever played. I've never seen anything like it until hella buck this year.

[A]

Obviously. It was. It was fun. It was. I. I just. Just kind of threw it back to, like, growing up is like, hockey's the challenge sport. Like, it's meant to be played in tournaments in different situations. And, you know, it's not always just like, hey, let's grind for 80 some games and grind through playoffs. It's like, there's other situations to play. And I always loved that about growing up. You had a bunch of tournaments to play. So a little bit different format in the Olympics for us, and I was just looking forward to it. So it was, It. It was great experience with, you know, with you guys and had a lot of fun listening to you and Bugsy chatting it up all the time. That was. That was a core memory for me from the Olympics is just hearing the chatter from you guys constantly was pretty funny. What.

[E]

What do you remember from that specifically? If you. If you don't mind letting the audience

[C]

know, Torturing me, and then me doing his voice among over pretty much that.

[A]

Yeah, I just thought it was. It's great. We had a great mix of guys and they were willing to, like, kind of like, keep the room like, where it needed to be. Not loose, but like, hey, let's like, have fun with this. Like, I think even from the top down, from management wise, like, Berkey set us up in a good way mentally, like, telling us the whole time, like, you guys are freaking good enough to win. Go win. But then kind of in the media, like, yeah, you know, we'll see how we do. Like, we're kind of underdogs, you know, Canada's so good. And like, this team is. You got some young guys and some veterans. We'll see how we do. But behind the scenes, like, pumping our tires and be like, you guys can win. Like, go do this. So I don't know. I thought it was. It was great and we got a. We caught fire. It was a great tournament. It was a lot of fun and freaking. Sucks to lose at the end there, but it's something where. I don't know about you wit, but, like, I got more emotional when they won this year than I thought I would like.

[C]

Me too.

[A]

It wasn't like, oh, my God, tears are raining down, but it's just kind of like, good, good for them.

[C]

I was so happy for them.

[A]

And then I got a little jealous,

[C]

which you had more of a right to be. Like, you had such an impact. I mean, you were MVP of the Olympics, so it was like. Like, were you not?

[A]

Yeah, I. I got MVP of that tournament.

[E]

Yeah, you were McDavid before McDavid.

[C]

No, but it was crazy that it was before. Yeah, before that game ended, I was like, this can't happen again. Like, and. And when you say, like, emotional about it, I was like, we just had, like, we had to beat Canada. It finally happened. So. I know what you're saying, but going into the tournament, had you talked to Berkey or Ron Wilson about, like, did you know you were the starter? Because you know, at that point, Tim Thomas, he was playing great hockey. They hadn't won the cup yet. But were you like going in? Like, I'm not sure what's going on or had you been told prior?

[A]

No. Ron called me during our super bowl party.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

And was like, hey, like, just get your head right. You're going to be starting to your net. And kind of like, you, you gotta go do it. And it kind of helped having the knowledge that we had Timmy and John Johnathan Quick, in a way, it's kind of like there is this pressure, right? Like, you want to succeed, you want to do well. You're representing the whole country. I got the, I got the first crack at it. If I, if I it up, I got some really good guys who can come in. Like, is. It helped a little bit, right? Like, I wanted to play and I wanted to win. I want to do well and I've prepared myself and I, I ramped up for it. You know, I planned out my entire year around it. Training, rest, focus, like, when to like, push, when to like, so I could peak at the right time. And, And I was dialed and. But I knew if I, if I screwed up, like, Tim, he's a really good goalie, Johnny's a really good goalie, and we're still a really good team. So. Yeah, no, it was, it was an awesome tournament and I think it was awesome in Vancouver too. Like, how great was that city set up at that time? Like, that's also what I remember a lot of was just we had a lot of afternoon games and the chance to kind of go off with the boys or the families and just be around the city and just. It made it feel like we were part of the Olympics instead of like sitting around all day, wait to play. Okay, we play, then we go to sleep and then we train. It's kind of like you had these hours afterwards to feel like you're an Olympian. So it was pretty cool.

[E]

That's awesome.

[F]

Yeah.

[E]

And most of the time you leave the rink, it's 11 o'. Clock, like, there's nowhere to go eat. Like, you know, you gotta. Hopefully something stays open. Were you guys, you were kind of confused. You didn't remember whether you'd stayed in the athlete village. Like, do you remember where you guys stayed?

[C]

What are you talking about?

[B]

You don't remember where you stayed the whole time?

[E]

You did?

[A]

Yeah, we, we had.

[E]

Buddy, we talked. Wait, time out, time out here. We talked about it like, Like, I remember, like at the time. And you think. I think we couldn't remember.

[B]

He couldn't remember if Canada stayed there.

[C]

I think, I think Canada did.

[E]

Oh, okay.

[C]

I thought where I stayed, buddy. Fucking seventh D on the Olympic team.

[E]

I don't know. I think we might have to go back and check the tape. Millsy.

[C]

Hey, buddy. I'll tell you right now, I never wondered because I was at the McDonald's, 247 open at the, the cafeteria every night. Don't you be saying that. I didn't know where I stayed in Vancouver.

[E]

I love this.

[A]

Yeah, that was.

[E]

Give me the Bugsy voice when you do it, though.

[C]

I was at the Villager, coming in drunk, getting a snack, going to bed. But Milsy's right. I mean, it was, it was, it was like we had a bunch of noon games or three o' clock games and you didn't play for three days. It was like a full on. Now, I don't think everyone was behaving the same way, but I mean, Kaner was out. Like it was a legit scene after a game. It'd be like, all right, Ron Wilson, have fun. Boys skate tomorrow at noon. It was unbelievable, no?

[A]

Yeah, it was fun because then we got to experience it. I think it helped the kind of team we had. I think it helped that team, you know, to be around it. I think the USA made the right decision this year too. Like stay around it, feed off the energy. I, I think that kind of stuff makes a difference. You gotta, you can't isolate yourself all the time. I think sometimes you need that little extra boost and you never know where it can help. And. Yeah, so I was, I was happy for the, the boys this year. Really happy and like I said, really jealous too, because, like, that would have been just such an amazing feeling watching them just throw their gloves off, chuck their helmets in the air and just get out on the ice like that. That, that was amazing.

[E]

Be a kid again.

[A]

Yeah. And the cool part was we were watching it from the rink. My son had a game that morning and they were due on the ice and we were like, okay, like the boys just. It's gonna go to overtime.

[G]

They.

[A]

Okay, go get dressed quick. And like they got dressed and like everybody's watching on phones or watching on TVs in the lobby and stuff. And then they, they, they scored like five minutes before their game was supposed to start. So we're just like, you guys just got to see the US win a gold medal. Now you get to play hockey. Let's go. So that's pretty fun.

[C]

Is your son a goalie?

[A]

No, no, he's, he's played mainly like center, left wing.

[B]

Nice.

[C]

And Milzy. I, I, I'd like to talk about when you were traded to St. Louis. Had to be super emotional. I mean, did you know, like, all right, Buffalo's in a different spot now. Like, how did that all come about and how hard was it for you to, to kind of say goodbye? Because it's one thing to say goodbye in the summer signing somewhere, but it was mid season. All of a sudden you're in a different room.

[A]

Yeah, that was harder than I thought it was going to be. You can kind of feel it coming in a way. I think the year prior they kind of said, okay, well it sounds like you want to get traded. I was like, well, I didn't really ask for a trade. I was just kind of like, what's the plan? And they had come to me at one point and said they wanted to kind of base a contract off me staying around. But I wanted to know more about what that would entail and without going into it too deep. LaFontaine was there at the time and I was dealing more with him and then he wasn't. And I still don't really know exactly what happened as he's never talked about it and no one with Buffalo ever really talked about it. And it just seemed like the direction they were going to go was going to be a full kind of rebuild. And I think at that time I didn't really understand wherever they were going to be going with it with me in mind. So I just was kind of like, well, I'd like to know more about it. And we got a kind of caught in that confusing place of do you want to get traded or don't you? And I, I didn't really ask for a trade, but maybe I implied it by saying I didn't really want to sign until they had a plan. So they, they told me they would trade me. I was just like, oh, okay. And they didn't trade me in the summer like they said they would. So I came back and had to kind of keep going. And then, so I kind of knew it was coming at some point, but it was harder than I thought it was going to be, for sure. I think just Buffalo meant a lot to me and I thought we had a good group. And, you know, when you get success early with a group and then you, you feel like you can see it fading away kind of as one more guy gets traded and one more guy gets traded, and you're just kind of like, Losing that momentum you have with that group, you're just kind of like, oh, man. Like, it was kind of hard to reset and get the wheels going in St. Louis a little bit. Like, I think it started out okay and then, yeah, just didn't, didn't really kind of work out. So kind of unfortunate. Like there was a good team there, a great group of guys, but it wasn't quite their time yet. So, you know, some of them got, got a chance to win with a little bit later. So that was, that was good for that group.

[E]

I gotta rewind it just a little bit. Is it true, is it the year that you won the, the silver medal at the Olympics and had that great run? Did you also win the Vesna that year as well?

[A]

Yeah, that was, that was probably my strongest year.

[E]

Would you say that that's your personal greatest achievement?

[A]

Well, yeah, that collectively that season is probably, Yeah, I was, I mean, win the gold medal, that's like fairy tale level stuff. But either way, it's super proud to have a season like that under my belt. And you know, when you kind of have to retire, then look back, I think you've, you have gratitude for the time you had and, and you can't do it any differently. I, I, I think people always like, oh, I wish I would have done this. But it's like I, I, I, I tried to prepare for every single thing I could and that was the best I had. And so pretty happy about it.

[E]

Would you say your lowest achievement is letting me score on you when you're with the St. Louis Blues?

[C]

You got one on him, Biz?

[E]

I got one on Nosy.

[A]

Yeah.

[E]

Look at how depressed he just got on this call.

[B]

Jesus.

[A]

I know. Can we hang out?

[E]

Is that worse than a Luchi chit?

[A]

No, I mean, I mean yours is kind of like a deflected backhand. So I can't, can't say remembers it.

[B]

He remembers it.

[E]

I kind of pick my spot off

[C]

of whoever Shut your eyes.

[E]

It deflected off of.

[A]

Well after the celebration. How are you gonna forget it?

[C]

Oh, is that the one when your grand, your grandparents were there?

[E]

No, no, this was in, in Phoenix and I was like coming over the blue and I like, was, it's my

[A]

first game with St. Louis, I think.

[E]

What?

[A]

My first game in St. Louis.

[E]

His first game ever.

[C]

It didn't work out.

[E]

First of all, I crossed the line.

[B]

Jackman.

[E]

Yes, I think it was. Jackman was sliding and he just like, it hit his skate and blew up and went top corner. And then I Sellied so hard.

[C]

Oh, I'm looking this one up.

[E]

Let's just talk about this for the last 20 minutes.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[E]

A quick stint in St. Louis. The Vancouver Canucks. You went over there. Like, I mean, did part of the success from the Olympics kind of draw you there, or does that have nothing to do with it?

[A]

I mean, obviously crossed my mind is, like, Vancouver had an opening for starting goalie, and. And they just hired Jim Benning, who was actually. He pulled the trigger on my draft with Buffalo. Like, he was the guy who.

[E]

Oh, yeah. He was asleep for four rounds.

[A]

Oh.

[E]

I mean, he was like Bugsy at the Olympics with Witty.

[G]

Oh.

[A]

But I showed up a little late. He had seen me play. I kind of vouch for the situation. He's like, well, he's still available. Let's grab him. So when he got the job with Vancouver, I. You know, I think that was something where he saw an opportunity where he's familiar with me and. And kind of known quantity, bringing somebody in. And. Yeah, Vancouver is a great stop. I was. I'm really happy I got to play in Canada. It was a beautiful city, passionate about sports and hockey and life in general. Like, it's such an active city, and I'm proud to say my son was born up there. You know, he's born at Vancouver Women's and Children's Hospital, and he's a dual Canadian citizen, and we'll always be connected to Vancouver just for that reason. So it was a. It was a great, great part of life.

[E]

So. So he's the only member of your family that would be a dual citizen?

[A]

Well, my dad is. My dad's dual. He's born in Canada. Okay. Yeah, they do it now where he had to give it up when he was a kid because you couldn't hold two citizenships and be an American back in the day. Now, since you can. He went back and claimed it. Yeah. So it's actually. I think it's open to my. It's open to me and my siblings as well, so.

[E]

Oh, that's awesome.

[C]

Because you. You left out that you're. You're trying to pass the puck to Chip Chura. You're. And it's actually a pretty good vision pass like, you little backhand dish.

[E]

And I'm gonna be honest. I don't think I saw him. And I was.

[G]

Yeah.

[E]

Just went in that direction. So it's.

[C]

But the fact.

[B]

I'm more concerned, like, Millsy remembered this goal. Do you remember every goal that was scored against you? You. Or did you look up Paul Bisson.

[E]

I just think every time I see him, I remind him that that's the problem. I tell every single goalie that I think I got.

[A]

I think I got reminded.

[E]

Carrie Price has a Vesna, too, right?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You only scored against hall of Famers.

[E]

I got one on Carrie, one on you. I forget. I try to think of who the other big dog goalies were.

[C]

There's only five more.

[E]

So, I mean, no somebody for the Sharks. I think he won a cup with Chicago.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Oh, Niemi.

[E]

I think I got one on the end.

[C]

And then you got one against.

[B]

Was it Cujo in Toronto?

[E]

No, Cujo wasn't. No.

[B]

If he's popping, probably Telquit. I think it was Telly.

[E]

Got one on Dryden, Johnny Bauer, and then the last stop. I mean, where you are now, like. Like you. I would imagine you wouldn't have ended up in Anaheim post career or Newport, excuse me, if you wouldn't have played in Anaheim. So, like, what an unreal place to, like, essentially ride into Sunset, no pun intended, and get to enjoy it there. And at that time, like, probably still what. Going through somewhat of a rebuild.

[A]

When I got there as a pretty veteran team, we made the playoffs my first year. We ended up losing the Sharks. We got swept by the Sharks that year. But I was. I came in knowing I'd back up Gibson. It was kind of. That was the transition point in my career going back up. I was like, I could do this for a couple years. And I just turned into four years. I just kind of. COVID popped up, you know, and just like, I'm not going out during COVID because we. We ended up sliding off and it became a rebuild and we even missed the bubble. I mean, that's how rough it was in Anaheim that year. I was just like, I gotta come back for another one. So. Carved out another year. And they're. They're awesome to me, as another perk is, you know, went back last night to watch them against the Sabres. Saw a bunch of the trainers and guys who's still around, support staff, and just having that sense of community around here and having people, you know, it helps out a lot. And. Yeah, but Bob Murray was still the GM then, and. And he did a. Did me a huge favor of just letting me say goodbye to the game. Like, you know, I knew it would be my last year. And he. They kind of set up some starts at the end of the year where it's like, these are going to be your games. And it was. Kind of allowed me to Say bye and plan things out, because it was still under COVID protocols and stuff like that, so got to say goodbye and kind of structure some of that in and. Yeah, so not a lot of people get to do that in hockey, so I was really thankful for them. Showed me a lot of respect and, you know, real. And the owners, too. The Samuel, he's really classy, building a ton of stuff around Orange county and. And just really building up the game, building up the community. You know, doing some great stuff. So it's good to see them back as well. They're playing great hockey, so, you know, I. It's been great. Sabers are back. Ducks are back. Sharks had a strong season. Hopefully they have a good push. Canucks aren't Canucks off. Somebody's got to be down and somebody's up, so.

[B]

But what's the buzz like in California right now with the Sharks and the Ducks being as good as they are and as young as they are?

[A]

Big, honestly, a lot of excitement at the game. A lot of people at the game last night. They've been having a lot of. A lot more fans around the Ducks games. And, yeah, you're hearing a lot more about it. You know, it's great. Young core there. The board's playing well, and Sharks, too. I'm gonna get. I'm heading up there in a week to check in. I've been just doing development stuff, so I haven't gone up there since training camp. I've just been. And chasing after one of our goalies, mainly helping mentor him a little bit. So I'll get up there. And I've been hearing they've been getting big crowds, a lot of excitement. Hopefully they can build some points and stay in the race. Here in the last little bit, we got Roback.

[C]

Last question. Use code chicklets on roback.com for 20 off. First purchase at the end of the week. C H-I C L E T S on R H O-B-A-K.com we're gonna ask,

[E]

what was it like facing that backhand that I threw?

[C]

I was gonna say, buddy, unstoppable quickie past you, but second, all time wins for a goalie from the U.S. amazing.

[E]

Unreal.

[C]

In the U.S. hockey hall of Fame. So how cool was it getting that call and the introduction? And did somebody kind of do a speech for you? Prior, what was that night like?

[A]

Yeah, that was amazing. Just my having my daughter was really young, just born, then having the whole family get together, that was more emotional than anything else. I think I had my Jersey retired in Buffalo, and I had to speak in front of, like, 20,000 people. And I found that to be easy because I could just kind of speak out. But at the USA Hockey, one is, like, you're on the stage and your family's right in front of you. You're like, oh, my God. Like, just. Yeah, I couldn't talk. Like, I was just so emotional because it's just like, wow, like, how much your parents do for you, how much your siblings do for you, how much everybody, your wife and, you know, your kids have to go through a lot of stuff with you as well. So it's just like. That was a hard one. Berkey was chirping me during that one from the crowd because I couldn't get through, like, the first, like, few minutes. I had to collect myself, and he's just, ah, let's go, Milsy. You're good. No tie. You know, so I was. It was. It. It's been great to look back on it all. You know, it's amazing how fast it all went, but how fun it was. So it's. It, you know, getting the chance to cross paths of so many different people over the. Over the years and play against you guys and, you know, I feel like, you know, like, even with you guys, you know, we went head to head numerous times, and it was just fun, right? Like, it was just, you know, some of us. Some of us came out on top once in a while and. Yeah.

[E]

Did you ever get one on him?

[B]

I don't. No, probably not.

[E]

Wit.

[C]

I don't know. I did score in Buffalo one night. I don't know if you were in net, though. I don't know. I. My first was the guy Henrik Lundquist. Bus.

[E]

Wow.

[C]

So, I mean, you know, you're not the only guy that's sniping on these legendary goalies when you make a backhand pass to Chip Churro on the post. Oh, Milzy, thank you, buddy. It's unreal. It was. It was so. It was so cool getting to play with you. I'll never forget that run and. And, man, what a career you had. So we appreciate you hopping on, and thank you for getting a computer that works.

[A]

Yeah, I know I had to borrow it from the wife. Yeah. But thanks for having me, boys. It's a lot of fun. And go green.

[B]

All right.

[C]

Oh, yeah. Michigan State.

[E]

Any final words quickly, though, for. For the Sabers going into this year's run? Any. Any words of encouragement or advice for the boys?

[A]

Absolutely nothing. They're doing great. They're doing great. They just got to keep doing what they're doing. Don't change the thing.

[B]

If you make eye contact with a forward, that doesn't mean he's not going to hit you.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. The code is broken. It's not there.

[C]

All right, Millsy, we'll talk to you.

[E]

This is awesome. Thank you so much, Milzy.

[C]

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[C]

Thank you so much to Ryan Miller. Awesome guy. What a career. Pinky's up to him. Thank you for joining and buying a computer biz. You see this story out of Vancouver about the Aquilinis?

[E]

Yeah, I did.

[C]

For anyone who didn't. For anyone who didn't. Trevor Beggs, who covers the Canucks for the Daily Hive, Vancouver in the middle of the game Thursday, was removed from the arena press credential, revoked because of an article that he was writing that pertained to a vineyard that the Aquilinis own, basically being a part of a federal indictment in the United States that some company that was involved with them was faking work visas for workers. I don't know the whole story, but I do know that the article was not making huge headlines. It wasn't maybe the biggest deal in the world, but what the Aquilinis did. They decided to kick this reporter out of the arena, take away his press credential for the article to only get more attention. It's one of the craziest things. I don't even know you were allowed to do that. Are owners allowed to just ban anyone they want?

[B]

Fuck yeah. They own the team.

[E]

I. I don't know. That's like Kim Jong Un shit.

[C]

I just. I gotta. I was like, wait, I didn't. I didn't know. I. I didn't know that was even allowed. I guess may make. I imagine if Spec got banned. Imagine if Spec lost his press scratch. I don't want that to happen. No, no, no, no, no. I'm not even being sarcastic. I'm just saying I didn't know you could just ban anyone you want so you learn something new every day. And I just feel like Vancouver and their fans, like, I don't know if they're thrilled with their owner. I don't. I don't know.

[E]

Could probably. Probably do a Twitter poll or something if you want.

[C]

Okay. Yeah. So I'll keep you out of this one. I'll keep you out of this one.

[D]

Someone stopped by to say hi. I think we should bring him in.

[C]

Tell me this is who I think it is.

[E]

No way.

[D]

We got him, boys.

[A]

We got him.

[B]

Yeah,

[E]

why you've been blue balling us? Did you know this was common?

[F]

Where is. Where? Yance, where are you? Like in your. In your sister's bedroom or what?

[A]

What's going on there?

[E]

He's coming in with that chirp.

[B]

This is one of the guest bedrooms, Gary, if you must know.

[F]

Maisel Yandel.

[E]

I don't Think you're getting invited?

[C]

Gary, did you know this was coming? Did you know this was coming?

[F]

No.

[C]

Wow.

[F]

This is all kidding aside, not a fun day around here. Bruce Cassidy won a Stanley cup here. When I was on your show last year, I referred to Bruce as a genius. Still believe that he is an elite coach. Did. Won a ton of games here. Him and Kelly McCrimmon really enjoyed one another. Worked very well together. Kelly McCrimmon doesn't do anything in a panic mode. You know, obviously he made the decision that team wasn't the status quo, wasn't going to work. And we'll talk about torts in that part of it in a second because Bruce deserves his due. This. Would I have seen Kelly today? It's just not a great day for him. But Kelly makes hard decisions. It's what you sign up for in that job. And his track record is tremendous. He's had one of the most insanely successful runs for a GM, the whole organization. Him and George McPhee and Bill Foley. So I give them, you know, I give them the benefit out of the other doubt all the time. People doubted when they traded for Jack Eichel. Look how that worked out. You know, Mark Stone, on and on and on. These guys are really good at their job. They want to win, they want to deliver more success for Vegas. But, you know, they just. The determination was that the status quo wasn't going to work and they had had to make a change. So that's what they did today. And it's. It's not a lot of fun. Bruce was from. From the broadcaster perspective. Like, you know, Bruce was fantastic. We would go. You go on the road. Bruce and the coaches go out for dinner. Me and Shane 90 and Dave Gosher, Dan Duva, we go for our meal. Everybody comes back to the hotel, go into the lobby bar. Bruce made a beeline for us all the time, came over, would sit down with us, talk hockey, you know, quite often, you know, we'd go to get the bill. The bill was already gone. Like, he's. He was great to work with and, you know, he's. I got a Stanley cup ring in because. In no small part because of Bruce Cassidy.

[B]

So note to self, if you want to be called a genius by Gary Lawless, just buy his. Buy his beers.

[F]

Hey, I gotta do this before we go too far. My. He's like my godson. He's my best friend's son. Eli Pulver, goalie in Wisconsin, punched their

[E]

ticket to the frozen rights.

[F]

I'm on the air last I'M on the air last night broadcasting our game against the Capitals. I get a text from my buddy Paul, my best pal lolly. I need 40 rooms at Aria now.

[E]

I'm sure they'll be able to find rooms.

[C]

You're like, let me text Bruce. He'll pay for it. It's awesome. I'll see you in a couple weeks.

[A]

Weeks.

[F]

Listen, wit Pinky in the brain, I came on here like, let's not get. Anyways.

[E]

Oh, I love it.

[C]

No, no, no, no.

[E]

Gary, Gary. Getting.

[C]

Gary, Gary, Gary. I want to ask you this. It's been uninspiring hockey for a little while, but we brought up before you came on. Their save percentage is abysmal and their shooting percentage is crazy low. Do you agree with some fans? Take that. They're not as bad as they've looked.

[F]

So they. Since the Olympic break, they have averaged. They've allowed the opponents 22.7 shots a night.

[C]

That's number one in the NHL.

[F]

That's number one in the NFL.

[B]

Okay.

[F]

It's number one. Like they, it's what the. The system that Bruce put in and

[A]

the.

[F]

Their ability to defend is there. They have not got enough saves. That is without question when you look at the team, Michael, they. A bunch of guys broke through last night, but a bunch of their top guys had underachieved since. Since the Olympic break. And listen it. You. When you, when you look at your team, you look at how many guys are overachieving, how many are meeting expectations and how many are underachieving. And when too many are underachieving, you have to look at what the message is and what you're doing. And I'm sure that's what. I haven't had an in depth conversation with Kelly and I probably never will about this. I'm. I'm not stuff. I'm not an adjunct to the, the, to the, to the front office. I'm just a broadcaster. So. But you know that one.

[E]

That's Nukes.

[F]

That's a compliment. It's a compliment.

[E]

I know. I'm saying don't bring the nukes.

[F]

So you know, you can't, you can't underachieve that. There has to be this. This team is too good to miss the playoffs. They are. Before the Olympic break, they had a five point lead in the Pacific. They trail Anaheim by six right now, Edmonton by three. They're just above la. And they're just out of wild card too because Utah's got more points than them. If they were to fall out of the top three in the Pacific. If LA was to overtake them, they would fall right to Wild Card 2 and have a slim lead on that. This, this, this team can't miss the playoffs. It's too good. So they brought in John Tortorella and it's, it's, it's really interesting.

[E]

It's a crazy move. It's a crazy move.

[F]

Listen, I would lie to you if I was to say I hadn't thought, you know, I, I, I, I've watched everything unfold in front of me and I'm like, okay, where's this gonna go? And, and that. And I have asked a couple times, what changes could Kelly make and what changes would he make and did I ever think he's gonna fireburst Cassidy and hire John Tortorella? I did not. When I saw that, you know, that was, I was, my wife and I were watching it, watching something on the television this afternoon, waiting for my daughter to come home. And I looked at my phone and I said, I got to go to the office, first of all, but I'm like, holy. And then I, you know, I got a couple texts from people around the hockey world that I know and, and respect, and they said, that team needs energy right now. They're going to get energy. And Eric Johnson just tweeted something about torts. Like, he, he is passionate it, but he's also compassionate. Like, they're like it. There's no gray area with him, you know, where you stand. But he's not a bad person. He's a good person and lots of guys love him. Lots of guys swear by him. Eichel and Hannifin just would have had an experience with him with Team USA at the, the Olympics.

[E]

Do you think they consulted those two guys on it?

[F]

Not now, but I know the way Kelly does his job. When they came back from four nations and they came back from Olympics, Kelly would have asked them about all the coaches.

[B]

Yeah, Biz thinks he's going to come in pom poms and not like he, he is.

[E]

I don't think he's got enough time to come in and say, I'm going to fucking whip these guys into shape. And Gary, I'll say this. Do you think if, if, do you think if Butch wins that game against Washington where they went down three, came back and then lost it, that anything changes? And does the fatoric Lou lamarlo switch with eight games remaining? And then now I believe that you guys have eight games remaining. Does that, is Foley or McCrimmon superstitious? Like, what's that about.

[F]

No, no, that's just the way the schedule fell. I think, you know, today was a day off. So if, if this was going to happen, it was going to happen today. So that's, that's what I think is about the, the timing. They didn't win last night. They lost that game.

[E]

No, I know. I'm saying they ended up losing it. Did that factor in decision?

[F]

I don't know. But I know that when Kelly left the rink last night, he left knowing that his team had, had just lost another game. Like at some point in time, like you got to write the ship and they got to, they got to start to win games. So they got Vancouver tomorrow night and torch. Well, yeah, we, they lost Winnipeg this week and you know, like it's, they're underachieving right now. This is a good team. That first that for too many stretches, too many pieces of games. They're not, they're not, they're not playing good hockey.

[E]

What else do we want to ask you about this team?

[C]

Ask him about Marner.

[B]

Didn't you say biz? Like a lot of the comments online were like this is a nightmare for Marner. But we think it's going to be great for. Because people don't realize Marner plays the right way. He blocks shots. He's.

[E]

Yeah, I know. I never said that. I, I think that I'm interested to see what Marner's able to do in playoffs there. I would say that from watching every Leafs playoff game over the last like whatever, like however long that run was. Yeah, he was like he made some great plays and played some good hockey against Ottawa. I thought he was pretty solid against Florida but like nothing like taking over. Nothing like not like Gener and if anything like making like mistakes he wouldn't make in regular season. So I'm interested to see what he can provide. How do you feel like his adjustments there has been. He's going to finish with his career low in points but, but I don't really like care. I, I, I more care to hear your opinion about his overall play.

[F]

Yeah, I think he's been excellent and you know he kills penalties. They've used them lot. Like you know he's played center a lot because of the way the kind of I've kind of shaken out and I don't know. I, I, I like the Golden Knights a lot better with Mitch Marner than without. He's an excellent player. Was good for Canada at the Olympics, was good for Canada at the Four Nations. So it's played in those played in more pressure moments with Team Canada than he ever really got the opportunity to play with with the Leafs because they never, well, they didn't get out of the first round very often when he was there. I don't think you can pin that on, on one player and you know, he leaves and they're going to miss the playoffs. And again, I don't think you can pin all that on one player. But I bet you if, you know, if Craig Baruby was had six but heavies into him and you said, hey, how do you feel about losing Mitch Marner? What do you mean, how do I feel about losing Mitch Martyr? He's an elite player, so I'm very excited to watch him play in, in the postseason. But Vegas has got to get in first. That's job number one. They got eight games to go here and they've got a, they got to write the ship there. It's been a nosedive and, and you know, Kelly decided he wasn't going to stand there and, and see if the plane crashed. He was going to try and, and help them pull up, pull out of the nose dive.

[E]

If you had to be negative about the group, what would you say that like maybe, maybe some individuals you'd like to see more from.

[C]

Yeah, I wanted to ask about Anderson too, and your. The early thoughts there.

[B]

Had a sick goal last night.

[F]

Anderson was dynamite last night against Washington. Best player on the ice for Vegas. And I think that the adjustment has kind of been difficult for him and I think he almost kind of something clicked where he just said, I'm going to be the guy they traded for. And, and as you know, just started. He's, he's finding his game of late. I said this on the radio last night after the game in the post game. I, you know, I still believe this team can turn it around and go deep. Like there's I, the, I like the trades they made at the deadline. I think Kelly, you know, tried to help Bruce by bringing in a fourth line with identity. Nick Dowd has been tremendous. Talk to Jack Eichel about him. Him and Cole Smith, like Jack couldn't have been just said great players, exactly what we needed. Great guys, really fit in and they've been real, they've been real good to us too, which is, you know, part of the experience of, of how you get to know someone as a human being, which I often think is important to what you are as a teammate. They've treated us very well.

[C]

That Rasmus Anderson goal last night was insane. I didn't see that this morning. Holy.

[B]

And he did his old school celebration where he stares in the glass at someone. So that might mean he's back.

[E]

Oh, yeah. But go back to my question, though. Who do you think has been. Has left a little bit more to be desired?

[F]

You know, I don't think it could. I don't think the goaltending's been good enough, and we haven't finished from the back end. And the forwards, we haven't executed offensively as a group the way. The way we can. And that has to change. They've got to, you know, they've got to be dangerous, and they haven't, you know, so it'll be interesting. I would expect that Tortorella, you know, will come in and, you know, he will breathe energy and life into them, and I also think he might free them up a little bit. He's not going to change the systems. First of all, I think he coaches. His system is very similar to what. What Bruce has done. They got eight games. I don't expect there's going to be a big facelift. I think it's going to be energy.

[C]

Gary Biz mentioned earlier you've been around the game for a long time. A little bit of a spoiled fan base. Can't really blame them based on what happened the first year they were. Were in the league.

[F]

Somebody told me, keep going. Sorry, what did you mean?

[E]

He's hard.

[C]

Okay. No, I'm glad I asked. Well, this was more saying. Biz was more saying that they seem to kind of get a little frustrated easily when they've had so much success. Maybe they take for granted how hard it is to win in this league. Do you see that? Where maybe guys get treated a little unfairly in a little bit of a slump? Or. Or do you think that's nonsense?

[F]

It's nonsense sense. Okay, first of all, the city of Las Vegas.

[C]

You're nonsense.

[F]

The city of Las Vegas was denied professional sport forever. They couldn't have a team. So, like, it's one thing to say, oh, we had a losing team. They weren't allowed to have a team. They wouldn't put a team here. So, like, that, to me, is way worse. This and that. What did you just do?

[E]

I took my shirt off.

[A]

Off.

[E]

I took my Marner jersey off.

[F]

I think it was.

[E]

I'm sorry. Don't say it's nonsense. I'll go put it back on.

[F]

It's not nonsense. It's nonsensical, but it's not nonsense.

[E]

All right? It's Going back on. Thank you, Gary. I love you.

[F]

That was too easy, guys.

[B]

Yeah, he's like. He's like a child.

[C]

You're like. You got the fishing line and you're real.

[F]

I haven't heard.

[E]

I haven't heard.

[F]

I got a couple of texts. Hey, Whitney says you're dodging him, so. I haven't heard that. I haven't heard that. But I did hear that you said, I've never had the opportunity to be around a team that wasn't winning. You forget I was in Winnipeg.

[C]

No, no, no, no. I didn't say that. I didn't say that.

[B]

He didn't say that. Biz did.

[C]

Because I knew how long you were in Winnipeg.

[B]

Biz said it.

[C]

Oh, my God.

[E]

That's.

[F]

Do I have to be associated with.

[C]

No, that. We'll cut it right there, Gary. Thank you. Thank you. You're the best, buddy. I can't wait, man. It's going to be a fun one this first round. I think it's going to end up these two. I think we're going to get home ice and then we're going to battle again. Except for it's around earlier than usual.

[F]

Well, I will see you guys. I'll see you guys in the conference final or summertime time.

[C]

All right, Gary. Thank you so much.

[E]

Gary, I'm gonna read your call and I'll just say this. I think Vegas is number one on my bandwagon list, but I just need you to maybe ask Kelly and McPhee if. And the rest of the boys if. If they would okay it. If. If I was considering we had your.

[F]

What are those guys. Names.

[E]

Home by three. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[F]

Those. Those guys came to our game. They're still, like. They're still up in Vegas.

[C]

Somehow.

[F]

They came to our game. They haven't been asleep yet. They're still running hard. But I'm.

[C]

So.

[F]

We'll take anybody.

[C]

We're like.

[F]

We are. We're. We're equal opportunity. If you want to join the fan base, you gotta come. You can't just, like, do things from Arizona.

[E]

The conference final. I'll be there because TNT is covering

[C]

it and Gary G. And the boys, they'll see you next week at the Frozen Four.

[F]

Yeah, we're on the road. That sucks.

[C]

Oh, that's.

[F]

Yeah. Yeah. But I'm cheering for Wisconsin.

[B]

Yeah. Good luck to your buddy, son.

[C]

Yep. That's awesome.

[F]

Make sure he gets good shout out.

[C]

Okay.

[F]

It's a good. Good dude. See you guys.

[C]

See you, Gary. Wow.

[E]

What a. What a surprise. What a Pot. It's been with these surprises.

[C]

What a guy. What a guy always brings to the door, hey, he believes in Vegas. What are you going to do? You can't, you know, you can't take credit away from him. He's ride or die with vgk.

[E]

He's. He's like Stoff. They always find the positive. They always find the positive Stuff was

[C]

finding the positive when we were 43 points out of the playoffs in December.

[B]

But I'd like to see what. There you get a couple six beers in them, like you said about Chief, how they really feel sometimes, you know? Or do you think they're always positive?

[C]

Imagine his. Imagine all Cassidy's bills for Gary's drinks. Cassidy sends him a Venmo request today. He got fired.

[B]

Said guy got all the rest.

[E]

Mortgage.

[C]

Denver boys, they're going to another frozen four. David Carl is an absolute freak. G. North Dakota plays Wisconsin in Vegas. I mentioned the wild win Wisconsin had over Michigan State. State. North Dakota took. Took easy care of Quinnipiac, huh?

[D]

Oh, just a beating. Just a beating. I mean, that team is built for playoff hockey. Bunch of Western Leaguers, Midwest guys, average height, 6:1, average weight, 195. They're just a big team, so they're scary heading into this. Michigan just beat Minnesota Duluth. Minnesota Duluth almost made a comeback there. Was a little worried about Duluth. Max Plant looked awesome in that Albany regional, which was an absolute joke. Me and Merle were up there. It. It was so embarrassing being in that arena. It was completely empty.

[C]

It was legit empty.

[D]

It was empty, buddy.

[E]

It was a joke. They fixed the glass, didn't they?

[D]

Oh, they tried. So Penn State's up, like buzzing early in that game. They're not up, but they're flying around early in that game. And the glass broke. 25 minute delay. Fans were freaking out. The Penn State players were pissed after the game. But yeah, it was. It was awful in there. I mean, you walk down Main street in Albany, there's not a single sign there wasn't anything promoting this. And then you go in the second game doesn't. And it didn't end up starting until 9:15. So all the parents that were coming and talking to me and Merles were like, yeah, we got to get our kid out of here. We can't stay for this game. I had four or five coaches texting me, being like, guys that. Coaches that were in those games being like, this is.

[E]

Who's in charge of this decision?

[D]

They're like, these kids. They're like, these kids work their Whole fucking life. And some of these kids may never play a college hockey game or a competitive hockey game again. And they got to end their career. And fucking Albany, where it would be

[C]

jammed on the, on the now. Granted, say so Michigan's 1 seed and they hosted Yost this year. Say they lose the first game, it might be dead the second game game, but at least give the opportunity for.

[D]

You're giving the fans an experience, right? Because then you go to campus Ann Arbor. It's people like, you're like, oh wow, we're gonna go to Ann Arbor. Maybe we'll do a tour of the football team. It's a, it's a renowned college town.

[E]

So it's. Honestly, it's crazy that they're this stupid if they don't change it now. After all the coaches are barking like basically any hockey media that covers NCAA hockey, it's just think about, could you imagine late games in the season that matter, Getting home ice for regionals, to have your home crowd. It would be an all out fucking war. So you're amplifying the like the, the gravity of regular, regular season hockey.

[C]

It's just like, what are you playing for?

[D]

It's like, what the fuck do they even play for in the regular season? But I do want to focus on the positives here. Wisconsin guys like Wisconsin, underdog story and a little unknown fact that not a lot of people know here is their strength coach is battling cancer right now. Inky. So he, they call him the, the backbone of their team. They. He, he's the guy that, you know, really gets the boys going. So the fact that they're making this run right now, this, this Cinderella run when, when their strength coach has cancer, it's really just an awesome story. Mike Hastings is really building something special there. One of the best coaches in all NCAA hockey. Just assault to the earth guy. And yeah, Denver and Michigan, no shocker here. Four out of five of the last frozen four for Denver, seven of the last 10. That is as much of a dynasty as there could possibly be.

[E]

So we have, we just find a way. So it's always in crot.

[G]

Yes.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

So no Dak Wisconsin and then Michigan versus Denver. Yep, that's. That's a pretty legit frozen four. I think all four teams will have huge fan bases there.

[B]

All in.

[D]

I think it's. Yeah, no Dak in Wisconsin. They might drink Vegas out of beers. Like that is going to be. It's going to be nuts. Avery, Sean Avery. When we, when we went and did an interview with Avery in LA in November, he said to us, wisconsin's going the national championship. This team is unbelievable. I love this team. He had never watched really much college hockey before. Just saw them their one game against Wisco shouted out Quinn Finley, shouted out Luke Osborne, and they ended up playing great. So shout out to A's there who

[E]

scored the two goals late against Michigan State. Was that Yukon?

[C]

That was Wisconsin.

[D]

That was Wisconsin.

[E]

So they gave. They. They fucked that game up. Michigan State. Weren't they first all year?

[A]

Yeah, they were.

[G]

They were.

[D]

Them or Michigan were the favorites. Trey Augustine is the best goalie in college hockey. So that. And they had a tough loss to Cornell last season to get booted out of the tournament. So, yeah, it was. It was very shocking, to say the least.

[C]

Yeah. And McKenna, probably you. You. You said on the outline last game in college.

[D]

Yeah, but what's weird is like bucha grass. Like, he knows, right? And there's a lot of times, like he. He says and. But he doesn't really break a story, kind of like biz does. Sometimes you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Did I just see.

[C]

I don't think this doesn't fish, though.

[E]

I don't fish.

[D]

But when he ended the show, the college hockey show, the other. The selection show, he was like, yeah, I'd really like to see Gavin McKenna go back to Penn State next year.

[E]

I think he'll go back.

[D]

Which kind of made you be like, oh, wow, that would be. That would be very interesting. I don't think he does personally. I think he gets drafted like a. To a organization like Vancouver and they say, hey, you're absolutely coming here. You don't have a choice. But.

[B]

But he can say no.

[C]

I mean, I don't know. I was the guy who said celebrini should go back to school, so I got no leg.

[D]

Ste should go to college this year. So you're all good, buddy.

[E]

Okay. Okay. I would say it's more of a. A coin flip than Cellarini Casa Brini. Like, the way that he skates and he's.

[C]

And he's. He's. He's just a bigger.

[E]

Like a. Yeah, he's a tank.

[C]

Yeah. Compared to McKenna's got a little wiry.

[E]

It's hard because if you said the first half of the year, I said I would have said 100. He's going back to school, where that's like, he might be the guy to step in the NHL in the first 30 games. You're like, oh, you should have played college. And then he adapts like he did. This season. Like he was a different player after. Oh yeah, Was it after Olympic break or when did they.

[D]

Yeah, after world juniors. He just came back like a bat out of hell.

[B]

And not to mention if you struggle in Vancouver the first 30 games, like he's not gonna have much to play with too. Like those fan base, they're gonna take

[C]

your park and pass away the fan.

[E]

The fans will put the fucking guy who heckled his mom on salary. The other thing too is like, I would imagine that if they could lure him back to school, I bet you he could make more money going to school than he would in the first year of his entry level deal. Which is crazy.

[C]

I don't know. He's already doing it. Find some huge. I guess he already does have endorsements though, right?

[E]

He can have endorsements, right?

[G]

Hook.

[C]

Right? He said hook.

[E]

That's.

[B]

He should get ownership. He should be like, I'll come back but I get ownership of Penn State.

[E]

What do you finish second in the nation?

[D]

Yeah. And like a lot of fans were like, oh, this was a disaster. This didn't go as is planned. Like, did we forget? Like, Penn State didn't have a college hockey program 15 years ago. They hosted 75, 000 fans in an outdoor game. Like the amount of eyes, it might not have worked out this year, but three, four years down the line, all the kids that were medicine hat fans that are now going to go be playing and you know, making their college commitment, they're going to go to Penn State, they're going to follow in Gavin McKenna's footsteps because they saw how awesome it was for.

[B]

And his linemate was hurt for the first half of the year.

[E]

Who the is saying that? Man, they played a one game elimination and they minute delay.

[D]

I know people are bitching that they went farther last year without him than this year with him. And it's like, what the.

[E]

It's a, it's a one game tournament.

[D]

I know. It's a fucking joke.

[E]

It's a one game tournament.

[C]

Yeah, it's crazy in front of a hundred people. All right, well, I'm looking forward to the frozen four. The last thing I'll say about the, the, the regionals being empty is like on tv, it doesn't present well either. So it's a bad look on tv. You're just like, oh, it's like hard to get like really fired up for the game when there's just dressed like a seat night going on. But I want to shout out Aaron Frankel of the Boston Fleet. She hasn't allowed a goal in nine straight periods. She has seven shutouts this year. That's pretty outrageous. I think you're. You're wrapping up what. Whatever the Vesna award is for the pwhl. I think Aaron Frankel has it wrapped up. Maybe we can get the name of that G if there is one.

[B]

Was she the goalie for usa?

[C]

I don't know.

[A]

I feel like.

[E]

What's the record for the NHL? What. What's Bush's record?

[B]

Five games? Yeah, I think it was like, it's

[E]

called goaltender of the year.

[B]

Was Bush's like 12 periods or something? I think she was the goalie at usa.

[C]

Yeah, she was. Yeah. And she said she set a record for most shutouts in tournament play with three.

[B]

We were calling her Richter. She looked like Mike Richter. She was nasty, small Aaron Frankel.

[C]

What a legend. Biz sent me this clip. The new replay for called balls and strikes in baseball is maybe one of the greatest rule changes I've ever seen in pro sports. If anyone missed the Red Sox in Cincinnati, Biz, how do we get out the tweet? Like, how do we. Maybe you could send people to your Twitter, retweet it. But for anyone who doesn't know, you can now challenge balls and strikes. I think we did talk about this. I think you have like two or three a game, but if you get it correct, you don't lose it. And all the player does, the batter, if he doesn't like the call, he taps his head. And it's the best part. Yeah, Pinky's up to the top of the dome. The best part is it takes like two seconds and it gets thrown on the jumbo screen, the jumbotron in the ball diamond. And all of a sudden you get this immediate reaction.

[E]

It's unbelievable.

[C]

So the Reds guy strikes out with the bases loaded. He taps the head. The thing comes on, the jumbo jumbotron ball. The crowd goes bananas. The next batter, same exact thing. We had 40,000 people. It was basically as loud as if a walk off home run was hit.

[E]

100%.

[C]

And the fact that the umps have to eat this.

[F]

This.

[C]

They have to. They. They must hate this. They have to. I know you disagreed with me, Biz, but seeing that, like, they're just blatantly embarrassed.

[E]

Yeah, but so the one that was shown, I think that in that game, he missed like seven. Eight were challenged, and seven of them, he was wrong, the umpire. Now, the two that I saw were that were back to back, that would have struck him out. When the I think the bases were also low to. Bases were loaded, two out, and he was two and two. Like two balls, two strikes. So he. He obviously taps his head. They were about like an inch off of the plate. So I don't know, man, as an, um, like sometimes like that inch when it's going that fast. And sometimes these. These back catchers, they. They can, like, move their glove. They frame it so well. So I don't know. I don't think they should be embarrassed. What they should be embarrassed is if, I don't know if you guys saw the clip of the female slump where there was literally a strike in the middle of the home plate. It was an inch off the direct middle of. Of the home plate, and she called it a ball. Now, I think we could all have a good chuckle about that. If it's that bad and it's being shown. Sure. But if it's an inch off the plate and they're showing it. What I love about it, though, is in a game that could sometimes get a little bit sleepy before the pitch clock, having now the pitch clock, where it's speeding things up and then you get something else as a home crowd to cheer about, where it's like instant gratification. And now these things are being clipped and shared. Guys, we live in a social media era. I think hockey needs to find a couple more of these quick pops. The worst thing about hockey right now is these challenges. I'd rather have a pane of glass break in Alban.

[C]

Like, well, they had Merl's fixing it. They have some professionals in the NHL doing it.

[E]

I think if anything, they should put the people in the war room on the clock and they get 30 seconds to make the call or they show the clip. Yeah, exact. Yeah, flip my. Yeah, make it into more gambling. Throw another. Throw another patch on the jerseys. For sakes. Let's go, baby. Make some money.

[B]

Go. Going back to the baseball thing, can the pitcher challenge, like, say it was a ball and he thought it was a strike. Can he challenge it?

[C]

Yes. And. And a pitcher today. And a pitcher today, I think. What was it? Was it called a ball? He reviewed it and then it was called. Oh, no. What? Oh, shit, I missed it. I. I should have saved the tweet, but I think a pitcher ended up getting kicked out of the game over, Over. Over a call. Or it might have been.

[B]

How nuts biz. Like a playoff game, if a guy challenges it like. Like today, like bases loaded, he thinks he striked out. He challenges it and he's safe. And he will imagine how insane. The crowd's gonna go like three lobster poutines deep. Couple beers like, yeah, we have our

[C]

first ever ABS rage bait ejection. It was the Twins, Baltimore in the ninth inning. It was the first pitcher challenge and it was a strike after being called the ball, I think the batter. Oh, and the coach is getting booted. The coach is getting booted from the Twins.

[B]

There's going to be so many more ejections.

[C]

Like Biz said though, it's just adding content to the game. It's. It's incredible.

[E]

So that's where I think that the NHL needs to follow suit. And I know that we have a very traditional game, but you have to find a few other elements that not only speed up the product, which my vote is, is less TV timeouts, speed the product up. That's like our pitch clock. And then one other thing where it's like, wow, we get the three on three. Did that. I think the shootout becomes a little bit slow and redundant. I think if you talk to the stars in order to create more clippable things, I think bumping it down to like a 2 on 2 would be smart. Do 2 minutes of 2 on 2 after the 3 on 3 overtime, something make it faster, make it more scoring chances, make it something that doesn't last long, that's easily clippable. Imagine getting to see these pairs go at it. Imagine you get McCarr and McKinnon on Leon and Connor a couple times a year maybe when you get two minutes of that high octane. Roll the fucking clip. On social media. I'd much rather see that than end it. And it's like, oh well the PA won't okay it. Talk to the high end players and add that to it where these guys names pop up more and you're getting more clips based on maybe it doesn't need to be that. It needs to be something else.

[C]

Breakaways, they go. It's a two on all, but the other team gets to pick the two players. That would be unreal because you're getting the advantage of a two on. Oh on a goalie. But it could be a couple of

[E]

meets and, and I know I just talked about how traditional hockey is. I don't think you could find an originally a more traditional sport.

[F]

Baseball.

[E]

They were so anti pitch clock. They were so anti using this ABS technology. And it's over the last three years I went from being like a, oh I'll only watch playoff baseball to I like what I'm watching these clips non Stop. I feel like Angel Reese and fucking Caitlin Clark are fucking fist fighting every game again. I'm just like dialed into these clips. Let's go. What, what is hockey's version of these clips going to be, boys?

[A]

I don't know.

[C]

I don't know. Yeah, nothing's that quick. It's just like seeing if it was a ball or. Strike. Strike. That's a good. Let's get, let's get brain. Let's get brainstorming on that. Yeah, let's get brains. Let's get the fans involved.

[E]

It might be a shock value non traditional change that people are like, absolutely not. But you gotta find the. Something that's going to be clippable and interesting about our game without throwing it off and actually improving it. Like this abs has improved the game of baseball and it's made it more

[B]

enjoyable to watch teams trash can jerseys for a game a year here.

[C]

Something that is not enjoyable to watch. And it's actually insane that it happened again. Tiger woods, boys. I think Tiger woods has some, some real problems. And it's not even funny, really. Like it's not. This guy is. He's driving around mangled. How many different car incidents has he had? Thank God he hasn't hurt anyone. He's lucky to be alive. After the one that happened in LA a few years ago. I don't think he's ever been. I mean, that was after he won the Masters. He probably had more golf left. But it's like, who even cares about golf now? Like, the guy's a serious problem. Flipped over his car in a neighborhood that Keith. I think it's like 20 miles an hour in that neighborhood. It's not fast in the middle of the day. We saw some of the craziest videos and takes after this happened that I've ever. I've ever seen. The number one, Dan Rapaport, who used to work at Barstool, I don't know. I'm not trying to like, you know, we worked with the guy, he worked for Barstool for a little bit, but it was a little, it was a little insane. I gotta say that. I think he was crying. Riggs, on the other hand, he suppressed the video from being tweeted by Barstool and then he stood behind that decision. I think he actually gave a quote from a, from a Tom Cruise Jack Nicholson movie. You need me on that wall. You want me at that wall. Now the problem being he's, he's protecting a. Just a. A raging lunatic who drives around completely crippled several different Times biz. Where do you stand on all this?

[E]

So, yeah, like, it's not one of those things where you want to pile on because, you know, we like to have fun on this podcast and joke around, then all of a sudden we get switched to, like, a serious topic. Now know I'd be lying if I didn't see some of these memes and stuff and, like, laugh and like, like, send them to the group text because it's funny, but I. First of all, I don't believe a. A guy of Tiger Woods's stature from a golf perspective and how he's a goat of his sport. I don't. It sucks to see him kind of being, like, laughed at online like that. Like, it's. It's embarrassing. I feel bad for him. I'm sure he's embarrassed by it. You think he would have been maybe embarrassed by, like, prior incidents where he didn't do this? Another element to this, like, he was this larger than life figure where, you know, because of his sport and his intensity from it and his commitment to getting bigger, stronger, you know, faster with the club speed, you know, his body kind of got a little bit mangled along the way. And I think that based on maybe all these surgeries he's had, he might be even still in pain to where he's become dependent upon on what seems to be Percocet. Like, am I, am I off base by just the.

[C]

The. The guess? Because he didn't. He blew a zero. It's not. He's not boozy.

[E]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And listen, maybe the toxology report comes out and I'm way off base. And like, in fact, he didn't have anything in his system and whatever, but prior things have happened, and I think it's been talked about that he's doing perks or some type of painkiller. And so from my understanding, from talking to people about it, and this is people who sometimes, like, you know, they've had surgeries before, they've taken them. I've had surgeries before where I got them and I took them a few days and I rather have gone through the pain and threw them in the garbage because of the change and how weird you feel and like, how euphoric it is where you're kind of just marinating. It's a. And it's a fucking good feeling. And I completely understand why these things are addicted not only based on the feeling, but I think they're. There's, like, it's proven that they've basically make them so you become reliant upon them. So it's kind of gross and sick and twisted in that regard. But once you take one, you know you're feeling good, you feel like you can interact. You take a few, you could still kind of be there. But by the time, because he's probably shown immune to him and he's probably pounding ton of them, you're way higher than you actually are aware. And maybe that's why you're feeling good. You think, oh, I could hop behind a wheel, just hit it and cruise and just keep the wheels straight. And that's kind of just from talking to a few people, why he might think that he's able to kind of do that. Well, you're driving in a 20 zone and next thing you know, your Range Rover ass over te kettle in a 20.

[C]

Is he driving? I don't. It might not be 20, but it's not like 40. I don't think it.

[E]

And even if it is 3540, like, how do you roll your car going 35, 40, 40, right. Like you're, I mean, unless you're treated like Ricky Bobby Talladega nights through the, over the speed bumps.

[C]

He tried going around somebody and like all of a sudden he nicked the side of him and he's flipped. Keith, you said it though. What, why is he drunk? How is he not having a driver?

[E]

That's where I was going with it, right? So like, that's like, if you're gonna do this and you're gonna abuse this and you've been doing it this long and you have that much money and you've already had prior incidences like, like, do you not have enough people that are your actual friends around you to be like, yo, fuckhead, get a fucking driver. And if you've been through that experience before, it's like you're, you're right hand people or whatever. But you know how much it would cost to put a driver on 24.7S to drive Tiger? Around maybe 300 grand a year max. To be on call, 24,7 is, it's a front wipe.

[C]

Legit.

[B]

Rappaport would do it for $20 a year.

[C]

Year.

[E]

That's what I'm saying. So it's, it's not an easy. Like, like, what's your opinion on it? It's kind of like, I guess you could say it's sad in one degree, but to have empathy and like, want to like, you know, like, protect this guy. It's kind of like Tiger, like, hey, buddy, you're a Grown man here, you know, you're, you're, you're, you're a go to the golf world. You're a pretty smart guy. Let's just from here on out, you got the driver 24, 7 and go get that. Maybe the help you need if you're popping. How many have ever perks? And I've had buddies who have been addicted to these things, guys, and it's brutal and too many people. It's sad. It's horrible.

[C]

So addicting.

[B]

Yeah. And it doesn't, it doesn't matter who you are either. Right. You see it with Tiger woods, you see with other people. Like, it doesn't matter who you are. You can get addicted to him. But like his body, like, imagine an NFL guy's body compared to what his is.

[C]

Like, like, I think his is up. I think he's had. Had. He's getting back surgeries. I'm pretty sure his leg. You haven't seen his leg since the la. It because he wears a sleeve. It looks so like mangled. If you look at the leg sleeve he wears, like, it just looks like. I think he really that up.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

So I imagine the pain is, is. Is similar to a, to a, a football players or anyone who's had their body beaten. But it's very sad. Yeah, it is. I will say though, like, I get all the sides of like people, like, how are people defending him? Like, like the people going at rigs like, dude, what if your family was. Was hit by him driving around all up? Like. Yeah, there's a lot, there's a lot more than the, the laughing.

[E]

We just had. You guys just had a buddy that happened to a few years ago that we talk about on the podcast all the time. So like, I know it was alcohol in a different situation, so it's kind of like I don't think the attention should be towards like the empathy of it. I. Although everything we just talked about, like, it's, it's sad when people get addicted to this and if he is in that much pain, it's like, I just hope like he would be able to like, find alternatives to where he wouldn't have to do this. Because as we know, these perks ruin your body too. Like, they, they, they not only are you hooked on them, but you're just. I don't think your, your longevity and your, your internal organs are going to benefit from popping. How many ever are there of these pills that they day? And as we know, the immunity grows. So if you're popping 15, 20 of these things in a day. It's. I don't know. What's your. What's your. What's your shelf life from a human standpoint?

[C]

And Keith, I, I. There is no chance, no. No chance that if Riggs was in the car with him. Riggs is like. I'll say I was driving. Like, there's, like, there's no way he wouldn't take that for him.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

After seeing that video, which I'll. Hey, I'll admit, I laughed. I was just like, I didn't. I thought he might be like, yeah, I shouldn't have done it. So it did crack me up that he just. He. He stuck to his guns. All right. I think he would have eaten that one for Tiger. I think he would have.

[B]

I think we would have. Like, if an NHL guy did that, we would have probably not. Would we have posted it.

[C]

We didn't post the Ottawa Senators in the Uber. And I think it was during Barstool Radio. It might have been after Barstool Radio. And Dave was flipping out on us. You remember that biz?

[E]

Yeah, I just. There's so much more, I guess, to talk about in the hockey. If. If this, if this was happening with a hockey player, I would have said the exact same thing, though. Like, what we just talked about.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

I think the biggest thing is everyone with how accessible it is to get an Uber, or in his case, he has the money to get a driver. People don't feel bad for you and.

[C]

Yeah, exactly. And I don't.

[E]

I don't give.

[B]

I don't give a shit what anyone does. If they drink all day.

[A]

If they do.

[B]

Like, it doesn't affect me. Right. Like, if he was my friend, I'd probably have a conversation with him. But if you're putting other people in danger, that's when people get pissed and they have the right to be pissed about it.

[C]

No doubt. No doubt. But, yeah, it's just crazy to see, like, been a. A tough goal for that guy. And like, anyone, I. I hope he gets. I hope he gets help and gets it figured out, like I would for anyone.

[B]

So, yeah.

[C]

Great episode, boys. Thank you, everyone, for listening. Thank you to Lawless. What a guy. The thumb came back, announced his presence with authority. We got Ernie to come on, please, everyone, check out that sandbagger. It was a blast to do. And those guys are great people, so check that out if you have. And our next episode is dropping Thursday, so we're just a day earlier. Both days this week, Keith and I are going to Cabot Citrus There's 16 of us. We're playing there Wednesday afternoon, Thursday and Friday. I can't wait to. I can't wait to see it. Place is supposed to be sick. So we're going to be together recording on Wednesday morning with. Where will you be busy, Scottsdale or you got tnt?

[E]

I got TNT this week. I believe I'm in Wednesday and then I fly back here and this will pretty much be my last weekend in Scottsdale for a little bit because after that that I. We're going to do coast to coast together.

[C]

Yeah. That's the 17th, right?

[E]

Seven. Right. 17th. But also I have a. A Monday Night Hawk as well. So after this, I'll basically be. After this weekend, I'll be on the road and be doing a playoff mode at TNT in Atlanta. So I'm fired up, like, this is the, the time of the season. And once again, I want to thank the Utah Mammoth for, for having me in the Nash cast and. And Tyson. Yeah, a lot of thank yous coming here. Yeah. Sense the St. Louis Blues and like Kelly Chase even asking me to come in for the puck cancer. Like, obviously I feel honored to even be his buddy and, and go there and I know you guys are slammed and you guys got your families and stuff, but to go there on behalf of all of us to, to show love to a guy who's given back so much to the alumni and so much to his community and means a lot to the hockey community and, you know, it's kind of paved the way for us young guys to know how to, how to act and how to give back and show us what it's like to be a hockey player. Player. A true one. So he's in the fight for his life right now, boys, and it was just great to hug him. And he's still going, man. Like, he had us on his podcast, me and Tyson Nash. He's a machine, bud. He's. He's gonna beat this thing. And like I said, I just want to thank him and the St. Louis Blues for, for having me. And it was, it was a special weekend to see everyone like I was hanging out with. Upbeat a little bit, like, he's a riot. You know, we. I hang out with Bobby Ortuzo. You play with Bobby, you know, Ortuzo. He's working with the Blues. So just a pretty good, like, fill the love tank up week for me, boys, and getting some. Some quality time with some good people. So love everyone. Thursday we're dropping again and as Whit said, watch the sandbagger. I think it's being deemed the best one we've ever done. Thank you to Ernie and the Thumb for coming on and what a pod this was.

[C]

And Ryan Miller. So everyone have a great beginning of the week.

[A]

We'll see you on Thursday. Won't happen, won't happen again A bad habit worth breaking but it's taking time I don't know don't let it go it's gonna happen, gonna happen again.

[C]

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[E]

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