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The Athletic Hockey Show
USA and Canada advance to Olympic semifinals after OT wins | Full Episode
00:47:51
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- [00:01]
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- [00:32]
Sean Gentili
Was just looking on ebay, where I go for all kinds of things I love. And there it was.
- [00:36]
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- [00:38]
Sean Gentili
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Ebay had it.
- [00:45]
Sean Gentili
And now everyone's asking, oh, where'd you.
- [00:48]
Athletic Hockey Show Host
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- [00:56]
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- [01:29]
Sean Gentili
Today.
- [01:42]
Athletic Hockey Show Host
This is the athletic hockey show.
- [01:58]
Sean Gentili
Well, well, well. The men's semifinal matchups are set in Milan. It's US Versus Slovakia. It's Canada. Finland. How did we get there? We are about to tell you.
- [02:09]
Sean McIndoo
All the favorites won. Boring, Boring. Day of hockey.
- [02:12]
Sean Gentili
Casual day of hockey. He is Sean McIndoo. I am Sean Gentili. This is a special episode of the Wednesday show of the athletic hockey show. It is now with 100 less Frank Corrado who is doing professional work and personal work taking care of the kids. It's late. We understand. Thank you folks kindly for having us. We're going to talk Canada over Czechia. We're going to talk Finland over Switzerland. In Slovakia over Germany. Germany shortly. But McIndo, we're starting with the last game of the day. Somehow, arguably the most exciting US to Sweden. One Quinn Hughes called. Game over. That's. That's how I will remember that Game. How about you? I.
- [02:53]
Sean McIndoo
We probably will remember it that way because Quinn Hughes saves the day. Absolutely brilliant goal, by the way. I mean, just. I mean, that is. That is the sort of shot that the average NHLer couldn't make one time out of 100. And Quinn Hughes does it with everything on the line. And. And it was everything on the line because, oh boy, if Team USA loses that game two to one in overtime with all the firepower they left at home and all of that, that would have been disaster. I mean, that's the story of the day. Kind of start to start. The bottom is of narrowly avoided disasters. And I'm not sure there would have been a bigger one than Team USA going home after trying desperately to nurse a one nothing lead. The. The.
- [03:47]
Sean Gentili
Yeah.
- [03:47]
Sean McIndoo
The one task that Bill Garon designed this team to do to win a game, one nothing. And if they had, if they had fallen apart and lost, it would have been a disaster. And B, I would be a lot more fun on this show right now. But alas, they live to fight another day.
- [04:09]
Sean Gentili
Dude, here's what I don't want to hear that one described as. I don't want to hear it called a team win or a group effort. I don't want it spoken about in those terms. If the players want to do it, that's fine. That's on them. They have to say that sort of stuff. When we talk about this, when American hockey fans talk about this, it should be about the individual effort of one player in overtime. That's it.
- [04:37]
Sean McIndoo
That's.
- [04:37]
Sean Gentili
That's what it was about. It was Quinn Hughes saying, I'm going to play four minutes or whatever it was three and three hockey wave off a change during a face off and do something supernatural. That's what it's about. It's about star power and individual effort in that factor, triumph triumphing over goofy roster making and whatever else J.T. miller, by the way, lost a board battle that led to because it's been a Jets goal. I don't know if anybody knows that. That's what I'm going to take out of this is that that is a supreme effort by a supreme player and a guy who somehow I don't think his presence, and I'm talking about Quinn Hughes was discussed enough coming into this tournament. That was the variable. That is the thing that changed from four nations is that the United States now have a. A guy in the mix for 28 minutes a night or whatever it is, who in a lot of games for long stretches of the NHL season For the last however many years, has been the best defenseman on the planet. And I think that's what we saw play out.
- [05:45]
Sean McIndoo
It's arguably the single best player on the team. And I mean it, as I don't think it's arguable it might not be. I mean, the end.
- [05:58]
Sean Gentili
Someone who's been stuck watching this team and thinking about them for the last. For the last, however long.
- [06:04]
Sean McIndoo
We love. We love the narrative. We love narratives because of our jobs. But also just as hockey fans, best player on the team goes, all right, guys, enough of this. We're hanging on the brink. It's about to be disaster. We're about to go down in history. I'm not letting it happen. I'll do this one solo. Thanks. I'm gonna go into the menu, I'm gonna access the options, I'm gonna turn line changes off for me, and I'm gonna score a laser beam. And I'll tell you, if that puck is a fraction, a fraction of an inch off to the side and he hits the post and comes out the other way. And now we're talking about a tired Quinn Hughes trying to chase down somebody on team Sweden hot dogging it. But you know what? We're not talking about it. Because the puck wasn't a fraction of an inch over. The puck was exactly where it needed to be. And that's what happens when big players get in big moments and do exactly what they need to do.
- [07:03]
Sean Gentili
It's what makes our job pointless in a lot of ways.
- [07:06]
Sean McIndoo
One of many, at least.
- [07:07]
Sean Gentili
At least. At least. It's one of dozens and dozens of things that makes our jobs frivolous and pointless. Is that every day we write or talk about a game that comes down to fractions of inches more than any other game. And you can. You can go if. If there's. If Mika's abandoned AD is an inch and a half off, what are we saying? Masterclass by the United States. The roster did exactly what it was designed to do. Got a lead, it turned a hell of buck it. Grind it out for, you know, a period and a half or whatever it was. Mission accomplished, Bill Guerin vindicated. You know, nobody has any questions about Sullivan or anything that's gone into the mix, but that's. That's not what happened. And everybody, including me, was ready to lose their marbles over. Over the way things played out down the stretch. Quinn Hughes, superstar number one a, if not number one defenseman on the. On the planet, erases all of it, and he did it by three Quarters of an inch.
- [08:11]
Sean McIndoo
And it's crazy. The other theme of the day is going to be in a single elimination tournament. You know, they do ask how and we'll get into the how and who played well and what does it mean. But at the end of the day, win, win in advance.
- [08:27]
Sean Gentili
Yep.
- [08:27]
Sean McIndoo
And if that means sudden death, then you work a little overtime. So be it. And I mean, that was, it's, it's the, the. Just the margin between. The conversations we could be having right now, like you said, are unbelievable. If it's not, you know, if it's not for Hughes, if it's not for his advantage yet, if it's not for Lucas Raymond making that pass, which I will tell you, I spent the last probably 10 minutes of clock time watching team Sweden going, shoot the puck, guys. You're not going to pass it into the net past Connor Hellebuck having a great game. At some point, it's not going to be tic tac toe. It might have to be an ugly one. And sure enough, because I'm an idiot, it ends up being the beautiful cross ice path pass that sets it up. And again you talk about the margin. That's a pass we would be talking about for years and years to come, except now it goes in the bin with, you know, Zach Parise tying the Golden Goal game with a minute left.
- [09:36]
Sean Gentili
And, you know, I knew you knew you were going to do it. I knew you were going to bring it up. Connor Hellebuck, too, like he was, he was great. He was, he was really, really good in that game. If they lose, that turns into a legacy game for him too, because he, because he's the goalie and probably unfairly, he allows with them on. Absolutely unfairly. But we're having the discussion because of the way things have gone for him over the last calendar year, going back to the Four nations tournament. He'd have to answer some, some tough questions too. So Quinn Hughes, all time bailout of a half dozen different people. They can all, they can all thank him.
- [10:12]
Sean McIndoo
And one more person may or may not be thinking of is Cole Caufield, who avoids being the number one trending topic on Twitter for the next 48 hours. Because I. Everybody was thinking it, right? Here's the NHL's three on three goals leader. Sitting at home. Yeah, and.
- [10:36]
Sean Gentili
Sitting at home with the dog. Feels like he should be somewhere. Can't quite put his finger on it. It's. It's a replay. It's a replay of the Phil Kessel situation. Oh, brother. What are your Other takeaways from. From that I'll start. Dylan Larkin is built for international hockey. He, he's a, he's a great player for the Detroit Red Wings. But there's something about him and we've seen it in world. He's, he's like an exhibition hockey monster. We've seen from him in All Star Games. We've seen it from him. You know, it, it Worlds. He was great at four nations.
- [11:12]
Sean McIndoo
There's a speed skating. He was a competition. Yeah, he was. He's. He's gonna get gold in that. Yeah. You know, kind of been, been waiting a little bit for, you know, for him to for sure his thing but, but got there today.
- [11:28]
Sean Gentili
I feel like I've given this goes. We'll like, we'll talk about this as it relates to Canada too, I think in some regard in it. Because Sean, you kind of brought it up with Larkin. I don't know if it's because the preliminary round games were so boring and generally non competitive and it was such a small sample size. I feel like I just did like I, I, we're starting fresh now. I'm like, yeah, like Dylan Larkin was whatever for a few games, but he's bringing it in elimination time. So, you know, clean, clean slate. I think you could say that about some guys in the Canada game as well.
- [12:08]
Sean McIndoo
You could, absolutely. And look, this is how it's going to go and we're going to forget about most of this in a couple of days because it be replaced by whatever happens in the semifinals, what happens in the gold medal game. I mean, I was looking at something talking about the. When Canada won Gold in 2014. And it was talking about, oh, you know, when they beat the Team USA 1 Nothing in the elimination round. And I was like, I have no memory of that happening. I'm sure at the time it was the biggest thing. It probably, you know, my head probably exploded and now, you know, I'm sitting there going, yeah, no memory of that. It's. It's crazy. Like this tournament is so compact, so intense that it's, it's almost ridiculous how, you know, how you can be the biggest bum on the team, get out there one shift and change the entire narrative about you. Change everything.
- [13:08]
Sean Gentili
Yeah, it really does. It feels like we've just gotten the swing of the scheduling at this point too. And you know, Sweden's gone. Right. Like, it's wild how quickly, how quickly things can change. A word about Sweden too. That's a tough break for them. I think they were coming into the Tournament in a little bit of a. In a little bit of tough shape because Leo Carlson was the 1C monster that we've all kind of been waiting for them to have over the last cycle or two. They lose him, obviously. He's. He's out with a thigh injury that cropped up over the last few weeks with the Anaheim Ducks. I think that made them significantly less interesting coming into the tournament. And then at some point midway through the first period, we realized that Victor Headman was only sitting on the bench for moral support. Right. Like he was there. He was there to make everybody feel good, but he wasn't actually, he wasn't actually going to play because he hurt himself during a warm up. So I think it's, it's a little bit of a tough break for them. The way the preliminary round shook out was. Was difficult for them as well. The end up drawing the United States in the, in the quarterfinals. That's a tough break, but just bizarre lineup decisions, I think, by them too. Down to the, down to the end. We said Jesper Bratt show up in the, in the third. In the third period, like out of nowhere, which was incredible. We saw some weirdness with it with Philip Forsberg earlier in the tournament as well. So it's, it's an uneven effort by them. But I think it's just more proof, man, that you can never, you can never, can never sleep on Sweden and you certainly can never sleep on Finland, which we learned once again in something we're going to talk about in a couple minutes here. The crazy thing, I think is that that was the game of the day, is that that turned out to be the game of the day. When that started midway through it and midway through the third period, that felt like a kind of anticlimactic end to it, to what had been what had turned into a pretty remarkable day of day hockey.
- [15:09]
Sean McIndoo
Yeah. There were there other games. I'm, I'm trying to. I'm trying to track my break. All right. Yeah.
- [15:16]
Sean Gentili
Should we just.
- [15:16]
Sean McIndoo
Let's just do Canada now. We don't have to. We'll. We'll. Hey, speaking of clutch, Mitchie, we always said, I'll tell you, you know what. What makes this guy so unbelievable? You talk about Dylan Larkin being built for international. Yeah, here's the deal, right? Because we saw Mitch Martin, remember, last year, has an overtime goal in the Four nations, and then is the guy who sets up Connor McDavid. Here's the thing about Mitch Marner. I know people go, oh, Mitch Marner doesn't Produce in the playoffs. Okay, Leaf fans will tell you that's not true. Mitch Marner produces in the first three or four games of a playoffs and then Mitch Marner disappears and you never see him again in games five, six, seven. Well, you look at international hockey, guess what? There is no game five, six and seven. It's just a bunch of game ones. This is Mitch Marner's world. And yeah, you talked about that being a beauty by Quinn Hughes one on three in overtime. Not too shabby. Not a bad one by. By Mitch Marner. You talk about legacy games.
- [16:21]
Sean Gentili
You know this. You're. You're Maple Leafs historian. Did they ever consider lobbying the NHL to change over time to three on three and make it mandatory that they had to play against two non NHL players during it?
- [16:33]
Sean McIndoo
Yep.
- [16:34]
Sean Gentili
In those. In those scenarios, we know Mitchie's. She's the man.
- [16:37]
Sean McIndoo
He's pretty good three on three. He can handle business would have been it, by the way. Just. And. And hey, as. As Canadian in America talking here. We love overtime. After what we just saw today.
- [16:52]
Sean Gentili
Can we talk. It's a joke.
- [16:54]
Sean McIndoo
Real quick. Three on three.
- [16:55]
Sean Gentili
It's a disgrace.
- [16:56]
Sean McIndoo
It. No like with now. Now I can't even.
- [17:00]
Sean Gentili
I hated that. I hated watching it. I hated. I hated the thought.
- [17:05]
Sean McIndoo
I didn't hate it while it was going on. I mean, I'll be honest.
- [17:08]
Sean Gentili
Right.
- [17:08]
Sean McIndoo
This is the sort of thing where people go, what did you turn it off? Did you do. No, no, I didn't do. I didn't do that. I watch. I watch and enjoy three on three. Even when it's the best players in the world circling back and getting. Regrouping and all of that stuff that we saw all day long. I didn't mind that. But you would think with something like this 12 years in the making, let's do a period of five on five.
- [17:34]
Sean Gentili
Yes.
- [17:34]
Sean McIndoo
And. And let's also, if we then have to do three on three, do it until the end. Because we dodged the shootout bullet so far. We still got two games to go. There's no shootouts in the gold medal game, but we could still see it. We could have seen it today, which would have been absolutely awful. Thankfully, we got three actual winning goals, including good old Mitch.
- [18:03]
Sean Gentili
Mitchie. I would like to personally thank him for a variety of reasons. I'm psyched to have the Maple Leafs at the center of the discourse, which is always good.
- [18:11]
Sean McIndoo
Sure. Yep.
- [18:13]
Sean Gentili
But I would. Another reason. Thank you, Mitchie. Is that it? He saved me and he saved all of us from hearing about. Check his Go ahead. Goal for the rest of our lives. Turns out it's easier to get odd man rushes when you've got six men on the ice, which was the case with Czechia. Yeah, McIndu, I know you were, you were all over it. Like were you preemptively like frothing at the mouth over that? Like how much were you thinking? How much were you thinking about that down the stretch?
- [18:42]
Sean McIndoo
I mean I, like everybody else, I did not notice the moment. I don't, I don't think I saw it until after Canada had tied the game. I, I, you know, I think that's when you started to see some of the, the screen grabs going around. I mean on, on the Canadian broadcast, at least they didn't, they didn't catch it, they didn't refer to it.
- [19:02]
Sean Gentili
Six, six, six blue helmets in the, in the celebration was really, really funny.
- [19:08]
Sean McIndoo
Because I mean if, if, if people, maybe you're, you're just getting home or online and you, you missed it and you've heard that there was, oh yeah, checks out too many men on the ice on what would have been the winning goal and you go, okay, so somebody was a little too close to the boards or not. Oh, six guys, four forwards. One forward blocks the shot and the other three forwards go the other way and you're going, oh, that's man, that's a pretty good offense. I'll tell you this. Mitch Marner saved us. Save the discourse. I'll say it right now, Mitch Marner may have just saved us from too many men. Replay review. Coming to a hockey rink near you and if you're like, if you're going, well that couldn't be that bad an idea, right? Imagine, imagine all the little mystery five foot lines on the bench and oh, we're going to challenge this goal because that guy was a little close and he, his skate touched the ice. Mitch Marner, I thank you. Thank you. That may have been even bigger service to the hockey world than, than putting Canada through because I mean that, that would have been an all timer that, that is all joking aside, I know, I know there were some, some dicey calls and non calls in all four games because they're hockey games and this is, this is what happens. But you know we, we all had a laugh at the check coach talking about how felt like we were playing against six guys out there because of the rest. But he, I mean he had some, he did have some valid complaints on some of the calls and some of the non calls. But it's one thing to Say, oh, you know, I thought that stick kind of got in on the hands there. Maybe there was a bit of a hook. It's another thing where, I mean, there are so few calls in the rule book in hockey that are, to use the term black and white always called. No doubt about it. Six guys on the ice hugging each other after a goal should be one of them. And somehow we all missed it. I mean, just nobody. Nobody picked up on it. And I'll tell you the last thing I'll say on this. I did see the quote where I think it was. It was. Nathan McKinnon said that he had. Had seen it because it was. Pierre asked him and he's. And he said, you know, did you see it? And he said, I saw it. But the refs didn't. No, you didn't see it. There's no way. Nathan McKinnon, no way is sitting on the bench going, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Oh, okay. Well, they didn't call it. I mean, I guess I'll just sit here nicely. Nathan McKinnon would still be on the ice.
- [21:33]
Sean Gentili
That's just that famous. That's just that famous Nathan McKinnon sense of humor showing itself. He's a really funny guy and he likes. He likes. He likes making jokes.
- [21:41]
Sean McIndoo
I mean, it's just. It's a game to him. I mean, what are we going to do? You win something?
- [21:45]
Sean Gentili
Not that big.
- [21:46]
Sean McIndoo
I have never. I mean, I believe him about the, I don't eat, you know, sugar and white pasta thing, but I do not for a moment believe him that he understood that there were six guys going up the ice to score what felt like a disastrous goal. Because, man, I mean, a lot of what we said for Team usa, you could say for Team Canada as well, which is. This would have been disaster. This would have been unforgivable.
- [22:12]
Sean Gentili
And it was right there, a great national shame. Would you have already started working on a post that you could refer to in situations like that? And it could be like how to know if your team had six players on the ice during. During. During a crucial goal.
- [22:28]
Sean McIndoo
Yeah, it's, you know, flowchart.
- [22:30]
Sean Gentili
Yeah.
- [22:31]
Sean McIndoo
Old school fans to, you know, weigh in, you know, how many is okay. If, you know, you hold up one hand and you start counting, and if you run out of fingers, then, yeah, you're. You're maybe on to something. Hey, since we're. Since we're giving guys the hero treatment today, especially in some cases, guys who hadn't done a whole lot so far. Nick Suzuki, O. Wow. And I'LL tell you that tying goal by Canada that Nick Suzuki ultimately ends up getting. A couple things that I will remember about that goal, first of all, is the Czechs had a scoring chance. They're going down. It wasn't quite a three on two, but it was like a three on two and a half. Guy getting back at the very least, a scoring chance on, you know, a chance to. To put a decent puck on Jordan Bennington, who had been up and down throughout that game. And they just dumped it behind the net, you know, almost. Almost a dump and chase from, you know, the. The side. Sideboards. Face off server. Just played it super safe. Just dump it behind the neck. And they never touch the puck again on that shift because Nick Suzuki gets it and he goes in and, you know, eventually looks like he's just going to dump it in on a change, but realizes he's the only guy. So kind of does the thing where it's like, I'm just going to go in here by myself, and I'm sure four guys will hammer me into the boards, but, you know, hopefully somebody will be here to grab the puck by the end. He merges with the puck, ends up going back to the point, gets the beautiful deflection. Nick Suzuki, you. This is. What were the odds at the beginning of this day that it was going to be this. This Leafs fan. Talking about, yeah, the Habs captain and Mitch Marner, my two favorite boys.
- [24:21]
Sean Gentili
Your two favorite players.
- [24:22]
Sean McIndoo
I just. Boy, I knew you guys were going to come through. That was a heck of a. That. That was the Nick Suzuki shift. And I feel like, certainly if Canada wins this tournament in five years, you will say the words Nick Suzuki shift and people will know exactly what you're talking about.
- [24:40]
Sean Gentili
We got to talk about why Nick Suzuki was in the game in the first place. Unfortunately for Canadian fans, I suppose, and certainly Pittsburgh Penguins fans, if Sidney Crosby isn't out of the game. Nick Suzuki's staple to the bench, honestly, that's the reality of the situation. The reason he was in there, Sidney Crosby, lower body injury. Got. He went down awkwardly after a hit by Radko Gutis, I guess is the easiest way to say it. Essentially immediately leaves the game, doesn't come back. Not a ton of answers from Cooper post game. We'll. We'll see what happens. I think there. I think you could probably classify it as, like, vague optimism, but what's. What's he going to say? It certainly, certainly didn't look great. How is, how. How much is the Crosby situation on your mind? Right now, as a. As a Canadian, as a Canadian fan, like, did that. Did the way that game ended with. With, you know, almost choking it away and then bringing it back, kind of blunt the impact of it. Because I feel like tomorrow morning when, you know, the. When we're out of the aftermath and we're out of the afterglow of the way that game ended, I think the fact is we might be looking at life without Sidney Crosby in a way that we haven't in a very, very long time.
- [26:00]
Sean McIndoo
I kind of assume that we are, because, you know, John. John Cooper said that he didn't know anything, but Sidney Crosby's going for an mri, and that's rarely good news. Sometimes you never know. And certainly, you know, Sidney Crosby and what presumably is his last Olympics. I mean, he will crawl with his teeth if he can to get out there, but the fact that he left and that was it, we did not see him again in a tie game. I think at the time, going into the. Into the third period of an elimination game, that. That tells you that whatever happened, it was not good. And it. That has an enormous. Because, I mean, not. Not just as far as you take Sidney Crosby out of the lineup, and this is. I mean, this is possibly a top five player all time. So that, on its own, is huge. The other thing about it, though, is we saw it in this game. Canada having trouble getting the offense going, and so what do they do? They go to that. That supercharged first line, right? The McDavid, McKinnon, Macklin celebrating line. And how can you do that? How can you put all of your eggs in one basket? Well, because they're not all your eggs, because you still had that Crosby, Marner, Stone line. That is the only line for Canada that has stayed intact the whole tournament. It's. That has been the. You know, it's. I. It's their third line, nominally, if you look at it, but it's not the third line. It is another first line. So even if you load up that the. The McDavid line, you still had that second line to fall back on as a line that. That's arguably as good as any other team in this whole tournament can put out as their best. And now we assume that's gone. And, I mean, there's lots of center depth on this Canadian team. You know, half the wingers on this team can play center, and they'll be able to slide something in there. But that. It is potentially devastating.
- [28:04]
Sean Gentili
Who's your guy? Your guy, Sean McIndew's guy. If the Celebrini, McDavid McKinnon line is a permanent thing. Like, if they roll that for the duration of the game against Finland, who's your, who's your two? And if they don't have Crosby, who is your two seat in that scenario?
- [28:27]
Sean McIndoo
I'm honestly not sure, and I'm not sure that you, you can run it from the start now. You know, we've seen them. Them start a few games with Tom Wilson there, and that maybe doesn't. Doesn't work quite yet. But, I mean, you look at the other pieces, and this is where, you know, missing Braden Point is enormous, too, because he's, he's probably next up as far as being on the offensive side. It's, it's, it's tough now. You know, maybe Nick Suzuki can ride that momentum and he becomes a guy. I don't think Bo Horvat's the guy.
- [29:02]
Sean Gentili
I don't want to slag Nick Suzuki because we just watched him turn an incredible individual effort, which you outline well, he wins a board battle against Philip Ronick, right? Like, it was, it was crazy what, what he did in the run up to that goal. Like, I'm not, I don't mean to throw dirt on a guy who just had had a wild individual effort that saved the team's bacon overall, but the idea of them spending a protracted amount of time with him as the 2C after what we were looking at a month ago, say, for that roster is. It's. It's a wild thought. It's a wild thought and it's in. It's a downgrade. It's. Those are just the facts. Apologies to him and any hab superfans that are listening to this. But you're talking about going from Nathan McKinnon to see Sidney Crosby 3C to Nick Suzuki, you know, playing big minutes. That's. That's a, That's a change, and that's. That's something that they're staring in the face.
- [29:57]
Sean McIndoo
The other option, I guess, is John Cooper. Cooper can grit his teeth very, very hard and throw up the Florida Panthers signal. Sam Reinhardt is not a guy that we've seen much of in this term. He's sort of been forgotten. Not bad for a guy who's a 50 goal scorer who's also been a Selkie runner up. You know, that. That would be. It's. There's not a lot of teams ever assembled that could have a guy like that sort of be forgotten. Maybe he's the guy that plugs in there. Put him out there with Stone and Marner, you know, have them play sort of that, that 200 foot game. That could work, but it's, he's no Sidney Crosby and that's no knock on, on anybody at all. Because even at 38, there, there is nobody in this sport who is Sidney Crosby.
- [30:48]
Sean Gentili
Think Cooper tries to dress up Braden Point in a Seth Jarvis costume or something and sneak him, sneak him in. Is that possible?
- [30:55]
Sean McIndoo
Sneak them in? I mean, what's, what's, what's the worst that could happen?
- [31:00]
Sean Gentili
What do you think of Jordan Bennington? I, I, that's another narrative coming out of this game. Because he was ready to wear it. I think he looked pretty bad for the first. Certainly on, on let's say two of the three first goals or two, two of the three goals. Is this, are we getting, are we getting Cooper vindication here with the, with that?
- [31:19]
Sean McIndoo
It's, it's a little weird because it's, this was one of those games that goalies have sometimes where I, I mean, I didn't think he looked bad on any of the goals. One of them was a weird deflection the, the third goal or.
- [31:34]
Sean Gentili
I didn't, I didn't like the one on, the one on the, on the deflection.
- [31:38]
Sean McIndoo
I just, I, I mean, and did like it. And ultimately you need, you need guys to make saves, period. So. But I, it wasn't the goals that concerned me. It was some of the saves he was making where he seemed to be battling. You get a little bit. You know, the, the rebounds are maybe just, you know, kicking out a little bit. He just seems to be moving around a bit more. It was, it was kind of one of those. And yeah, you're sitting there going, here we go, this is, Here comes the Jordan Bennington game that we've all been waiting for, which is where, you know, he, he either he plays his way out of the game or John Cooper has to go down with the ship and, and trust his guy. And instead, much like in that, the, the final of four nations, once the game was on the line, Jordan Bennington went back to 2019 mode. And you know, you say you got to make saves. Beep. Made every save that you could, you could possibly make at that point.
- [32:42]
Sean Gentili
So, yeah, it's an, it's an, it's not, it's an all timer. It's an all timer on Marty Niches, isn't it? Like, that's, that's one that we're gonna work. That's if, if they pull this off in one way or another. That's, you know, on. On the highlight reel for sure. Even though. Even though. Even though. Even though devontae hooked him when he was. When he was free and clear on the break. Queen should have been called for it.
- [33:03]
Sean McIndoo
Maybe a little bit. There's time. Tiny bit of a hook. But what are you gonna do? You know, what are you gonna do? Throw an extra guy out there? You could maybe try.
- [33:11]
Sean Gentili
You should have tried seven guys. How. How many checks can fit on the ice before someone notices?
- [33:19]
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- [34:58]
P1 Matt
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- [35:41]
Sean McIndoo
Par le tu francais, hablas espanol parl italiano.
- [35:46]
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- [36:24]
Sean Gentili
Finland, Switzerland this was in the estimation of a lot of folks, including some of the people we work with. I hear the chatter around Milan. People were expecting that one to be the best game of the day. It still might have been. I honestly like pound pound for pound. I know it doesn't word biased North Americans here so we have to account for that. It delivered. Finland races a late tugal Swiss lead. Wins an OT on a goal by Artsuri Lekkonen. Little bit of a devastating result I think in some regards because it robbed us of an all time Olympic run by, by Leonardo Ginoni who's this whist goaltender, 38 years old, never played the NHL. Started the game with a.962 save percentage in the, in the Olympic tournament. Makes 28 saves against Finland. Really seems like he's cooking down the stretch until Sebastian Aahil makes it to one with a little bit more than six minutes left. And then from there you know it was, it was all Finland, wasn't it? But I mean I, that was like a nice little palette cleanser between, between Canada and the United States for me. I had kind of forgotten about it. And then you phase back in midway through the second period you're like, all right, this is, this is what it's about.
- [37:38]
Sean McIndoo
Yeah, especially as the Canada games going because there was the overlap. You know, you're, you know, certainly up here we're all focused on that game. But then you see this, you know, these, these scores drifting across your screen so it still ends up one nothing. Now it's two nothing. Now it's still two nothing and we're getting late into the third period and you're Thinking, oh, this is actually going to happen. A tournament that has so far been marked by, you could say not a single really significant upset anywhere in this tournament. Playing out as expected as far as the final results today didn't play out the way we expected as far as how we got there, but here it is and here is, you know, Switzerland has been right around it in international hockey for a while now, you know, including the last couple of world championships and, and, and always seems to be the same thing. You know, let's just go out there, get the goaltending, get a nice 2 nothing win, take it home. This felt like this was exactly the game that they would want to play. And full credit to the Fins, they, they pull it off down two with six minutes left.
- [38:52]
Sean Gentili
They pulled the goalie so early too. Did you, did you, did you notice that he was, Soros was out with. It was. They're almost three minutes in the game and it was all Finland from, from there. Honestly, mention Arturi Lekonen. Honestly, he, he gets the game winner there. Low key is one of the great clutch goal scorers in high stakes games of his generation. 4, 4 game winning goals in 2022 for the ABs during their cup run, including the cup winner and including the one to send them to the final. And then he, in 2021 in the bubble, he scores the goal that puts the Canadians in the final two. And now he's put Finland in a, in a, in a semifinal where again they're, they are playing Canada.
- [39:35]
Sean McIndoo
So remember his name because at some point a couple years down the line, you're going to be having a beer at a sports. Someone's going to say name the three guys who scored the overtime goals on that one, on that one day.
- [39:51]
Sean Gentili
First game of the day was Slovakia versus Germany. This, this was the dud. We, we weren't going to get four incredible games. So it goes. Slovakia jumps out to a 30 lead and ends up winning 6 2. Sean, I think the story there is that they really didn't need anything. From your eyes, Slavkovsky, that's like that, that's the takeaway. He was actually on the bench for three for. He hit three goals and 30 odd seconds to really take that, take control of that pretty quickly. He was on the bench getting looked at after, after a ice pack on.
- [40:22]
Sean McIndoo
The neck is apparently the new. This, this might be the new Slovak thing. I don't know if you're, if you're over there in Italy, get to a drugstore and get an ice pack, bring it with You. Because that was. Yeah. I mean, when you do it without. I don't know about best player, but the guy who's been the story of your team, your most dynamic player, your, your scariest player. That's, that's a statement wing and I think it's a statement loss for Germany too. They've, they've got to be very frustrated with how this, this tournament went, especially having having the NHL talent. They do being left out of four nations and. Okay, now here is our chance to show it and, and just never really got it going, you know, had a chance against the United States to, you know, maybe, maybe do something couldn't. And then this game where they were seating wise, the underdogs, but I think a lot of us looked at this and said this, this, this could be Germany's game to lose. And they lost it, as you say, very quickly. This. There was. If you got up at the Alarm set for 6am to watch this game, you were probably back under the covers at 6:30 because there wasn't.
- [41:39]
Sean Gentili
Or you'd not. Or you'd not gotten out from under the covers. Possible.
- [41:43]
Sean McIndoo
Yeah. Because you wisely said, you know what, I feel like there's going to be a lot of extra hockey today. I got to rest up.
- [41:49]
Sean Gentili
Not to point fingers at myself.
- [41:51]
Sean McIndoo
Rest is a weapon, Sean. I don't know if you heard that.
- [41:54]
Sean Gentili
You know what, I've never heard that saying before. But yeah, there's other Slovakian NHL players too. Right. Like it's Pavaro Genda, he scored twice. It's deliberate. Dvorski from, from The Blues scores 1, 2. So I think what you've seen there is them lean on Slafkovsky. Absolutely. Who's the guy we thought he was. I think it's, it's fair to say he's, he's on track for that. But there's also another layer of pretty high end talent there and I think that makes them, I think that makes them interesting. I was worried about their goaltending. I wasn't sure how I was going to hold up, you know, because that's the single biggest factor when you're talking about a team sneaking into the metal discussion. But, you know, here they are. I think, I think Martin Harvey had a, had a kind of, kind of incredible quote. He's having a good tournament too. Caps, you know, second pair guy, really good player. He said, I'm just flat out, I still can't believe we made it to the top four. So he's like, yeah, I'm as surprised.
- [42:54]
Sean McIndoo
As Anybody gonna play for a medal? That's. And I'm, I'm really interested and I know we're not doing. This isn't a preview show. I'm really interested to see how that US Slovakia game goes because in theory, when you have a metal contender, an elite international team, and, and they are, they go to the brink and then come back, you sort of, either you either look back and say that was the warning sign, or you look back and you say that was the chance for someone to put the knockout punch and they couldn't get it done. And you know, you, you don't really have that in Canada, Finland, because they were both in the same situation. But I wonder what it's going to look like with the US And Slovakia. I mean, certainly put it this way, if you're, if you're, if you're a fan of Slovaks, nothing you saw today makes you feel like it's impossible that this journey could keep going.
- [43:49]
Sean Gentili
Nope. It's the best possible outcome, like I said, because we're treating them like a one man team to some extent and they're not. And they showed it today. Slovakia, US is the late game, by the way, on the 20th. That's Friday. That's the semifinal day. Three o'. Clock, Slovaks versus Americans, 10:30am Eastern is Finns versus Canadians.
- [44:17]
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- [44:32]
P1 Matt
Hi, this is Matt from P1 with Matt and Tommy and this episode is sponsored by ebay. The cars you'll find on ebay are just different. They come with a story that you can't wait to share. Like this 1973 Dodge Charger on ebay that has been tucked away in an Arizona Barn for over 40 years. Only 55,000 miles and somehow in great running order, it even has a rare sunroof. Suddenly, a car that was hidden for decades has been being delivered in just a few clicks with ebay's secure purchase, all the paperwork handled. There are thousands of cars on ebay, from unique finds like the Pontiac Grand Prix SJ to daily drivers. And now with a new way to buy them ebay, things people love.
- [45:15]
Sean McIndoo
Par le tu francais, hablas espanol? Parliament.
- [45:19]
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- [45:58]
Sean Gentili
Sean, we have a gold medal game to discuss tomorrow. It's 1:00pm Canada versus the United States. We haven't made a, any personal bets on this. I, I feel like you probably don't. I, I feel like you're probably afraid to do that.
- [46:12]
Sean McIndoo
You might have had better luck about a week ago. Get me on that. I'm all ears. This, how about this? If, if Canada wins, you wear a Team Canada jersey on the next Wednesday show. If the United States wins, Frankie wears a Team usa. Great.
- [46:35]
Sean Gentili
Great.
- [46:36]
Sean McIndoo
Is that, can we make that happen?
- [46:39]
Sean Gentili
Yes.
- [46:39]
Sean McIndoo
There you go. And if it ends in a tie, I'll wear a Team Italy jersey and everybody will.
- [46:46]
Sean Gentili
This, this game, this game is fascinating though truly because it, what, what we've seen from the United States in this, in this tournament, in the prelim game against Canada, in the rivalry series against Canada and in the last world's tournament has been domination in a, on a pretty rare scale. Like in most instances, whether it's the United States or Canada, when, when you're talking about, about women's hockey, there's not an uninterrupted run through worlds and through rivalries and then through an Olympic tournament. And that's what the United States is trying to put, you know, a bow on here. They've been significantly better, dominantly good against everybody, including, including Canada. And now they're really trying to state the claim, you know, not just for this tournament but like moving forward. Because we're talking about Caroline Harvey who might be the best player on the planet in four years and we're talking about Abby Murphy who's been discussed ad nauseam. We're talking about players like Layla Edwards and Joy Dunn. We're talking about the core of a team that's on the doorstep of winning a gold medal and starting another four year quad in which they're all their best players are going to be 20 or going to be under 30 and some, some significantly. So the flip side of it with Canada is, you know, Marie Fleet plans 35, Brian Jenner's in the same age range. Like this is, this is a Canadian team. That's you Know their best. Their best players are also their oldest. So the teams are currently as early as a tomorrow, situated in kind of different directions, you know, in. I don't want to say ships passing in the night, because that's, that's not, that's not necessarily how it works in the sport and with those two teams, because anything can happen in this rivalry. We know that. But it feels like it's Marie Philippe Lens, you know, another chance for her to do something remarkable and kind of unseen versus, you know, an American team that looks increasingly like a juggernaut. So we'll see. Man, the stakes are. The stakes are high. I'm really interested in this one.
- [48:55]
Sean McIndoo
Yeah. We have seen these two teams going back over 25 years now on the international stage kind of go back and forth. We've seen, you know, it's. It's almost like watching two dancers and one takes the lead for a little while and the other does. We've never seen it like this before. It's. It's almost like that, you know, the monkey paws curling from all the people who said, man, I really wish the women's, Women's hockey wasn't a two team spectacle. It kind of feels now like it's closer to one team event than, than anything else. Now, that being said, there have been a couple times in this history where one, one side or the other, seemed to be getting the edge. And then suddenly the script gets flipped and if you're, you know, if you're Canadian, you're hanging your hat on. Hey, we didn't have Marie Filippo in when we played the US and it's the gold medal game and, you know, none of the rest of it matters. The fact that the, you know, Team USA is, is, I mean, forget about unbeatable. Nobody can even score on them. You only got to do it once. You just got to find a way. You got lots of winners on the team. There's all sorts of things you can say, but this is a, this, this has been a monster performance. And you're right, we're going back a calendar year here that this Team USA has, has looked unbeatable. And now the question is, do you finish it and you get your flowers, as, you know, maybe the most dominant international team of the era, or can Team Canada ruin the party at the very last moment and then none of it's really going to feel like it mattered.
- [50:39]
Sean Gentili
The results can be compelling no matter what, because it's impossible to imagine Canada pulling this off without something remarkable from the best player of all time. Right. So we're either looking at a new era of this rivalry or we're looking at an all time performance from an all time athlete. So it's win, win in a lot of ways for us when we're in the narrative business. Like you said earlier, there's, there's two very clear ones that are playing out directly in front of us.
- [51:06]
Sean McIndoo
And it, and it really does feel like, you know, certainly if you're, you're an American or you're, you're a Team USA fan, you're going to be watching that game and it's going to be one of two scenarios. It's going to be, you know, bang, bang, bang, it's three nothing and it's a coronation and you're going to be watching a two and a half hour celebration of American women's hockey, counting down to that, that final buzzer and gold and all of that stuff. Or it's going to be, oh, they're hanging around and they're hanging around and we can't put them away, don't let them off the mat. And then, and then who knows where goes. I, I don't see a scenario where it's a comfortable team Canada win, put it that way. I, I, I will be, my jaw will be on the floor if that's what we get. But I, you know, it's, it's betting against Canadians in big time international best on best hockey is, is rarely a smart play. But they're, they're going up against an absolute buzzsaw.
- [52:11]
Sean Gentili
We don't do gaming advice here. What are you talking about?
- [52:13]
Sean McIndoo
That's true. Yeah, good point.
- [52:16]
Sean Gentili
I will say if the Canadian women are down a goal late, they should look into putting six players on the ice. I hear that works.
- [52:22]
Sean McIndoo
You can do it. It's fine. It's a, it's an, it's a judgment call. It's game management by the officials. They just, you know, let's, it'll be okay.
- [52:32]
Sean Gentili
We got a comment from Boltman. Tell the Sean's they're legally required to do a few extra minutes on today's show. All the players did. It's only fair. Hahaha.
- [52:40]
Sean McIndoo
I don't, I don't know who that is.
- [52:42]
Sean Gentili
Maxwell B. Never heard of him. No man, we're done out of here. Women's gold game is at 1 o' clock Eastern tomorrow. The semifinal games are at 10:40 and 3:10 on Friday. So put them on your calendar folks. Best time of, I was gonna say the best time of the year. It's the best, best time of every four years. So enjoy it. Thank you Sean McIndale.
- [53:06]
Sean McIndoo
Thank you other Sean.
- [53:08]
Sean Gentili
Thank you producer Jeff, wherever you are. Jesse, Granger, James, Myrtle. Got our next show. It's another instant reaction thing on semi final Friday. That'll be around 6pm Eastern. Potentially later if you know we get to watch ridiculous fake 3 on 3 overtime for a bit. DGB, you and I are back after the bronze game. It's going to be around 5pm on Saturday so we get to do it again. This is how we spend our weekends. Congratulations. We get to hang out on the Internet on Saturday afternoon. Aren't you excited?
- [53:37]
Sean McIndoo
I'm looking forward to it. Make sure you got your Team Canada jersey ready to ready to go a little tryout.
- [53:43]
Sean Gentili
Maybe the sun will be shining a little bit more in this room whenever that happens.
- [53:47]
Sean McIndoo
Oh, you're not. Maybe you'll be out of the witness Protection program by that point. Yeah, possible.
- [53:53]
Sean Gentili
I'm back tomorrow with Shane and Haley. You get to you, you get to chill. The three of us are talking after the women's Gold medal game again puck drop at 1pm Eastern. See you folks then. Thanks for listening as always. Enjoy the games and we'll talk to you again real soon.
- [54:13]
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- [54:42]
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- [55:15]
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