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- [00:01]
Sean Gentili
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Shayna Goldman
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Sean Gentili
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Shayna Goldman
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Sean Gentili
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Shayna Goldman
Call 1-800-granger click granger.com or or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. 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's 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 is 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. This is the athletic hockey show. What up? What up? The athletic hockey show. February 19th. I am Sean Gentili. I am joined by Shayna Goldman. We will shortly be joined by Haley Salvian from Milan. Shayna. The US Women are gold medal champions in Milan. There were three easy narrative routes to this game. Tell me, tell me if you disagree with this. I feel like at the start of this there were three doors to walk through. One, sheer American dominance, right? Because that's what, that's what we've seen in the tournament before this. It's what we'd seen at Worlds. It's what we'd seen at rivalry series. Two, Marie Philippine legend, building goat status, craziness. That felt like it was absolutely on the table. Gold medal games. It's what she does. Option C, which is what we ended up getting. Another incredible game with a new hero and that's the one. That's one we walked to walk through USB kina two one and OT on a goal by Megan Keller completes a 7, 0 tournament for the Americans. This is after undefeated gold at Worlds 4 lopsided rivalry series games against Canada and also in their last 18 games against top competition, the US has dismantled opponents 8415 including 33 to 2 at the Olympic Games. Wasn't a dominant win, controlled it for long stretches. But the results, the result, Megan Keller is the hero. And it's just another all timer to add to what's the best rivalry in the sport, isn't it?
- [03:43]
Sean Gentili
Yeah, yeah. And the narratives you said very easily could have gone that way. Right? Like changing of the guard, USA takes over and what's the plan for Canada? We could have gone there and it felt like, oh, we will just differently now. Right. And if not for that, it was like, okay, reflect plan. Fourth golden goal crushes the soul of all Americans once again. And yep, I was prepared for that 100%. I was like, if it's not planned, it's going to be Laura Stacy. Laura Stacy was three overtime game winners in the PWHL and who was having an excellent game.
- [04:16]
Shayna Goldman
But we set up, set up the first Canada goal on a, on a shorty that Chris, no, Neil, who we're going to talk about in a minute. It was Laura Stacy making the play and putting, putting o' Neill in the right spot there too. So she had, she had already made an impact in this one.
- [04:32]
Sean Gentili
Yeah. But I feel like we got the sweet spot of like it was a banger of a game. We were talking about literally every part of the narrative. Right. We talked about. It's Taylor Heisey setting up the game winning goal. It's Layla Edwards setting up Hillary night. It is the veterans that we know we love. Some of us love thriving, excelling in these moments. And on the other hand you have it where it's, you know, the, the tension of this game, which you felt from puck. I think the second the puck dropped it was like, okay, we're not getting USA dominance, yard one out the door. And it's like we are stuck between two and we still are, right? Because we still have to talk about Poulin even though she didn't score and, and we will.
- [05:11]
Shayna Goldman
Let's talk about Hillary Knight first because I think this game in a lot of ways turned into I, I, I, it's, it's crazy to me that I, I, I, I missed the tip, I missed the tip on, on the, on the, on the game time goal there on the point shot from, from Layla Edwards. Of course, it was night in front of the net. It was the US Olympic setting or the US Career setting record in Olympic. In Olympic Games. There was the, the 15th goal for her, which was a record that I'd forgot that she was chasing at some point over the last couple days. I, it had been an uneven tournament for her. She's playing through something, I think, I think that was, that was clear. But what a just remarkable capstone on one of the best careers in the history of American hockey. It wasn't just that they won. It's that, it's that they won almost literally because of her. Because with, without, without that little ramp up tip, man, we're talking about a completely different result.
- [06:12]
Sean Gentili
Yeah. It feels like as close to a storybook ending as you could have gotten. Right. Like the only way it would have been storybook would have been had she actually scored the game winner. But her impact, I think you felt it all over the tournament in the beginning. And I kind of feel like they weakened her line a little bit putting vertical there. So I think changing that up today helped, but it just felt like as right as it could be.
- [06:35]
Shayna Goldman
We do have Haley. Haley's. Haley's in, in Milan. Taking a couple minutes to talk to us. Hello. Hello. You're in there with audio only. We don't have video. That's okay.
- [06:45]
Haley Salvian
Yeah. I thought I could stand in front of the most nondescript wall possible, but apparently that's also not allowed.
- [06:52]
Sean Gentili
Too exclusive.
- [06:55]
Shayna Goldman
Who knows where the wall is?
- [06:56]
Haley Salvian
There's a white wall in my hotel room. You don't know.
- [06:59]
Shayna Goldman
Could be on the street somewhere.
- [07:02]
Sean Gentili
It could have a very, very specific type of paint on that wall.
- [07:07]
Haley Salvian
It's alabaster white.
- [07:10]
Shayna Goldman
Yes. It's Sherwin Williams finest agreeable gray. Yeah. Haley, what was the scene like in there? I know we were talking throughout the game. I know you had plans that went in the trash basket two or three or five different times. Yeah. What was, what was the vibe there once you knew that the result was, was, was locked up?
- [07:35]
Haley Salvian
Well, I mean, I'll say I knew this was going to be like a 2:1 overtime game when I wrote a 1,000 word story about the Americans dominating and then a 700 word story about Canada, like beating Goliath. So I knew this was going to be somewhere in the middle. The vibe was pretty crazy here. This was my first Olympic gold medal game in person. I've obviously covered this in 2022, covered Women's World Championships. This is, this is just different. You know, the celebrations by the Americans, the fact that it was Hillary Knight who ties it, you guys were just talking about it. It's Megan Keller who scores the winner. Like I talked to Megan Keller before this tournament and she said, you know, they don't need more, any more motivation to win something like this, but they wanted to go out and do it for Hillary Knight. Knight and Keller have been so close for such a long time. I think the fact that it was those two was incredible. And like for everything that was made about the young players on Team USA, it was like two vets who got it done for Team USA. I mean, a 26 year old Aaron Frankel too. And the young players played well as well. But this was. The fact that it was in her final Olympics. Hillary Knight got her crowning moment was unbelievably cool. I really can't put the atmosphere into words because I think it was just like utter chaos and madness and I think I blacked out on national television because we had to talk about it right away. So I didn't answer your question because I, I don't know what the vibe was.
- [09:13]
Shayna Goldman
I love that it was Megan Keller scoring that goal. She's a player who, who we've talked about, I think the three of us. Haley, just you. I think she popped up in some of the pre tournament coverage, you know, when, when we were kind of going back and forth with predictions over this one. Yeah, she's been such a good player for so long and I think she's been overshadowed and in some respects by, by a player who's a little bit older than her and Knights and now in this next generation, the KK Harveys and the Layla Edwards of the world, I, I think Keller to some people unfairly has gotten lost in the shuffle. She's a remarkable player. She's a great player for, for the Boston Fleet.
- [09:52]
Sean Gentili
Yeah.
- [09:52]
Shayna Goldman
But just the steadying element that she brings to that team when she's on the ice is really something that we saw that on Hillary Knight's goal, by the way. It was a great job by Layla Edwards putting it on net and whatever, but Megan Keller settled things down and ends up getting the puck to Layla to set that up. So I thought it was fitting in a lot of ways in terms of how the game went, but also how Megan Geller's career went, that she was know, the person making the play at the end. It was, it was fun to see.
- [10:21]
Haley Salvian
Yeah, I mean, I think the fact that Team USA has put Megan Keller beside Layla Edwards, the player who's switched from forward to defense, speaks to the steadying presence that Megan Keller brings. The way that she can balance out a deep hair, she can lock it down, she can, you know, be the. The player to let Layla play free. Um, so, yeah, I agree with all that, Sean. Like, Megan Keller's got a bomb of a shot. I asked Abby Murphy earlier in the tournament when Keller got, I think her first of the. Of the Olympics. I said, like, could Meghan Keller win a harder shot contest? And she said something to the likes of expletive. Yeah, absolutely, she can. So, yeah, I mean, Dom and I had Megan Keller as the second best defender heading into this tournament behind Caroline Harvey. I still think Caroline Harvey is like a more dynamic offensive defender because of the skating and the speed. But in terms of an overall package, Megan Keller is. Is up there as one of the true, like, two way forces in the game. And there's a reason she got the tea in Boston. When Hillary Knight left an important, important leader for. For Boston and for Team usa.
- [11:26]
Sean Gentili
I don't know.
- [11:27]
Haley Salvian
It was very cool. Kelly Panic just walked through the mix zone with a banner that says, in Keller we Trust.
- [11:31]
Shayna Goldman
Like, that's great.
- [11:33]
Haley Salvian
I don't know where she got that from, but someone's like, at the ready.
- [11:36]
Sean Gentili
Has a cricket, like, hiding in the stands.
- [11:38]
Haley Salvian
Right, Shayna? I almost tweeted that. I'm just like, this was either incredible foresight or quick cricket work. But then I was like, I don't know if anyone's going to get that. Like, I know, like, does everyone know what cricket is? That might be a deep cut for us to appreciate.
- [11:54]
Shayna Goldman
So you're working the game for the cbc. Obviously, we need to talk about Marie Philippe Lin. I think that was some of the most compelling visuals post game, where her, you know, at one point she scooped up some ice and she's going to each player individually, you know, thanking them and whatever. Whatever individual conversations were taking place. I. It wasn't. I. She gets them all again, right? If anybody's ever deserved it, it's her. I. She's injured earlier in the tournament. I don't think she was. I don't think she was at her best. But, like, what's. But what is.
- [12:28]
Haley Salvian
Like, it can't. It can't always be her. Like, I'm not well.
- [12:31]
Shayna Goldman
That's why. That's what I was.
- [12:33]
Haley Salvian
She doesn't need. I know, I know that's what you're saying. And this is the thing is like, yes, it would be a storybook if Mary Philippe Poulain scored another golden goal. But, like, quite, this is a player who's playing on one leg. It would be completely unf for Canada to sit here and be like, go do something again. Like, it was time for someone else to step up. Chris and o' Neill did like, a PK specialist, their fourth line center. I give her a ton of credit. I thought the Stacy Turnbull Clark line was incredible, as always. I thought Sarah looked better than usual. But, like, yeah, I wouldn't even say Poulin gets a mulligan. I would say, like, I don't care. Leave her alone. It can't always be her, especially not when she's not playing 100%. But yeah, like, those, the visuals, like, that's her leadership. You know, I think Cassie Campbell Pascal said it on the show. Like, that's an area where Kulin has really grown, as you know, I think early in her career she maybe wasn't the most vocal captain. She was like a leads by example type player. But now we're seeing her, like, really be with her team and be in the moment and support the young players going down the line. Like you said, Sean. So I don't know. Canada wouldn't even be in the gold medal game without her, so it was time for someone else to step up. And honestly, that's, like, unfair too. I, I, I think Canada came into this with a game plan that they executed for 57 minutes and it was Hillary Knight in her final Olympics who got it done and sent them to overtime. So I don't know. I went into this thinking it was either. Yeah, like I said, it was either going to be a blowout because the Americans were that good or Canada shocking them. So shouldn't have been surprised that it was 2:1, OT could have been 3:2, right?
- [14:20]
Sean Gentili
Like, that's the one I was expecting. Every time I'm boring and I'm like, three two, 100%. So, Haley, also let us know if you need to go or anything at any point, but with I probably have to go.
- [14:32]
Haley Salvian
Okay, but go, go ahead, Shayna. Sean's been asking all the questions, so if it was Sean asking one more, I would say no.
- [14:39]
Sean Gentili
That's fair.
- [14:40]
Shayna Goldman
Yeah.
- [14:41]
Sean Gentili
Do you think that, like, Canada, Canada, like, adjusted enough for her injury? Because it did feel like their first game without hers against usa, they didn't have any time to practice and just had to throw out a lineup without her and figure out what they look like without her. But do you think it did feel like in the semifinal they were over Reliant on her a little bit. Like, do they have a succession plan? Do you feel like for future tournaments as she ages out or just in general that they can like, adjust on the fly better for this? Like, in case of emergency. Here's our backup plan.
- [15:09]
Haley Salvian
I mean, I'm not writing her off for 2030. I said this on air. Poulin's going to be Sidney Crosby's age by the time the Olympics are in Nice. And I mean, Sidney Crosby just had that injury to still very.
- [15:25]
Shayna Goldman
But like, there's off putting off putting similarities between them continually.
- [15:29]
Haley Salvian
Yeah. So, like, I am not putting a timeline on Mary Philippe Poulain because she has shown us time and time again that she can sustain just an unbelievable level of hockey. And the fact that she was able to come back from the injury, like, just going back, it was like 10 days ago that we're all writing columns saying, like, oh, shit, I think this is it. Like, that's how bad it looked. Clearly in pain. Like she took the golf cart into the game on the semifinals. I think there was like a pill on the bench at one point, you know, like she was 100%. And like, I would take Murray Philippe Poulin at 70% in a gold medal game any day. But to your question, China, like, did they adjust enough? I think putting her with two elite wingers was a fair adjustment. Like, you let those two kind of play with the pace of Poulin can't. And they gave her some rest. Like Turnbull took shifts up there. Or like Kristen o'. Neill. It was mostly Kristen o' Neill taking shifts up there. Brianne Jenner. Excuse me, not Turnbull taking shifts up there. So, like, I think they made the adjustments to save her for the moment. But like, that American team just came in waves. And honestly, like, Canada failed to capitalize on a power play when they were up one nothing with five minutes to go. So that'll be kind of a big one for me. Is is not taking advantage when Brita Curl Salemi was in the box.
- [16:54]
Shayna Goldman
Do you need to go?
- [16:55]
Haley Salvian
Okay, now I have to go.
- [16:56]
Shayna Goldman
Goodbye.
- [16:57]
Sean Gentili
Bye.
- [17:02]
Shayna Goldman
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- [19:10]
Sean Gentili
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- [19:13]
Haley Salvian
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- [19:15]
Shayna Goldman
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- [19:18]
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Sean Gentili
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- [19:38]
Sean Gentili
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- [19:40]
Shayna Goldman
Now, we kind of started talking about this, but with Haley. I. I think you alluded to it in your question to her.
- [19:50]
Sean Gentili
What.
- [19:50]
Shayna Goldman
What are your thoughts now that we've seen however many games worth of this Canadian team at this tournament? Look, the makeup of it. The. The roster making decisions, you know, met some criticism early on. I think to some degree, they were. It was. It was. It was born out here. What, what. What are your thoughts on. On some of the calls that they made, you know, going order and what have you. And now that we've seen them, you know, with the benefit of hindsight now,
- [20:22]
Sean Gentili
it's wild to me that it feels like in 2022, we were having this conversation about Team USA. They went too old. They're not trusting the young players, the bench is too short, the power play is bad. This, that and the other thing. And Canada was like, on the ups. Here's an infusion of new talent. Here is the next wave of Canadian hockey. You have nothing to worry about. And the fact that the conversation is flipped only four years later to me, is kind of unexpected, like, heading into this year, I should say, because we kind of got a sample of it at the rivalry series, and I don't take a ton of stock in the rivalry series. At the end of the day, it's for pride. It's not for a medal. It's totally different. And even the preliminary game, I'm like, I'm still not super worried about Canada in the gold medal game. That being said, you're seeing where all these holes develop. And it was not just that the roster had flaws, but then the coaching decisions only expose those flaws, right? Like playing Jocelyn LaRock 24 minutes at this point. I get it. Her, Renata Fast have been amazing forever. But it's time to adopt.
- [21:24]
Shayna Goldman
She. She wasn't handling those minutes as well as you would have liked here. I don't. I don't want to make excuses for the Canadian coaching staff or the Canadian front office, but. But I don't entirely know who the players like, who. Chloe Primarino could have been there. Gosling could have been there on. On defense. That. That. That would have changed the look of things for that. For that team. I think that's where they were deficient in a lot of ways, was having offensive talent on the blue line to help connect with the forwards. That was the ongoing issue. I think for them that. That, to me is the nitpick because they. Because I think Canada suffers by comparison right now because they don't have. And we'll see what happens with Chloe Primarin. She's a teenager and she's playing her first NCAA season, so she's got work to do. She's not Caroline Harvey yet, right?
- [22:25]
Sean Gentili
Yeah.
- [22:26]
Shayna Goldman
Caroline Harvey is the franchise at this point. There isn't A Layla Edwards. There isn't, you know, there is even a player like Casey o' Brien who didn't even make, who didn't even make the final, the final roster. Like, that's how, that's how, that's how deep we're talking here. Like all these, all these players through, up and down the lineup. A player like Joy Dunn, she's 21 years old, she's playing bottom, bottom six minutes and doing, doing a hell of a lot with them. There's not really any analog in the Canadian system right there. So, like, yes, this team was old. Yes, there were decisions that are completely fair to second guess. But I also, you know, I'm not willing to blame Troy Ryan and Gina Kingsbury for. Not for, for leaving players home that don't exist. And I think that's a larger question. That's a, that's a 20,000ft, like, zoom out question about the way they're developing, you know, elite, elite women's talent in Canada. But I also don't think there are any plug and play, you know, plug and play options that they screwed up.
- [23:29]
Sean Gentili
Yeah, I would have liked to see Chloe there, start changing up the guard. Let her, it's fair. Let her learn with pulling for a minute and with LA Rock and with that experience. But my bigger issue is with the deployment, because like you said, like, you look at Team USA's roster and there's multiple players who go top five in the PWHL draft, and then you go a little bit lower in the lineup. And like you said, it's Joy Dunn, it's Tessa Janicki, it's Kirsten Sims. Like, you have the depth and the big guns are both young. It's totally different. And that was always going to be USA's advantage. But if you're Canada, you should have adjusted accordingly beforehand. Right. Like that game in the prelims, you see Blair Turnbull taking extra minutes when you could lean on Sarah Philly more. Like, that's where it falls short. And then you look at that fourth line. Jennifer Gardner is not playing that much. Julia Gosling is not playing that much. Gosling was playing really well in the PWHL heading into the tournament. Like, she could have had more of a scoring impact had you played her more. And then on the back end, it's leaning on Jake and Ambrose more. I'm sorry, Jake's and Thompson more. And they played them together and it didn't really work out well. We saw it against usa, like Claire Thompson getting beat, I think it was by Abby Murphy. In the game and it just wasn't working. And they found a better balance of it by splitting up Shelton and Ambrose and splitting them between Jake's and Thompson and that work. But the insistence of it having to be Laroque Renata Foss I think was like mistake number one. And yes, they adjusted her minutes like since the USA game and heading into today she was sixth in average ice time after being top two. So good adjustment there, but it just felt like they could have just balanced things a little bit better and a little bit sooner. And it felt like they were so stuck in, like this is what's worked in the past instead of trying to blend the new that they had with them.
- [25:14]
Shayna Goldman
It's also a tough. It's a tough tournament for Sarah and her. She goes from 18 points four years ago to no. No goals at all in, in this one. I know she's coming back from injury that, you know, basically robbed her of the entirety of the PWHL schedule so far. So. So she has a completely legit excuse. It's tough. It's tough to go from not playing to, you know, playing on the Olympics team. But she's a really important player and I think, I think the lack of production from. Her lack of production from. From Brian Jenner like those, those players who act as like necessary connective tissue between Poulain and Darrell Watts and like the, the producers on, on this roster, I think they're. I think their issues were. Were pretty serious. And I think that in a lot of ways too is what, is what the Canadian women were missing here, you know, in this tournament is that second layer of production. And I, I think nurse is kind of the face of that problem.
- [26:15]
Sean Gentili
Yeah, like USA had numerous lines clicking and it was very obvious like. And even when the night Carpenter line slowed down and you know, maybe the tweaks that they made contributed to that. You still have the fourth line going. You still had a third line that could produce with Kendall Coin and you still had that Heidi Bilka Murphy line. Like there were so many different options when Canada didn't have it. And like this territory thing is really interesting to me because I feel like we don't have this as much in the women's game. And I think we're going to get to this point now in the men's game. We see it all the time with world juniors and with the Olympics of how much a quick tournament can boost someone's stock versus what an 82 game season does. It made Slafkovsky jump up to the number One overall pick. And while Montreal looks good now, it was questioned then. It's, you know, it's happened so many different times on the men's side of it. We're gonna start having that conversation now that so many of the best players are in one place, right? It's going to be like, okay, now we see him across a full PWHL season with more consistency than we've seen in the past when it was the nwhl, the cwhl, the pwhpi. They're all here mostly if they're not in Europe. And we're gonna get a better idea of what this player looks like across a full season and not just in a tournament setting, because it is the easiest way to get enamored by a player and boost their stock. And I'm not saying that people shouldn't be enam with Sarah nursing that she wasn't amazing last time around, but I think it set the bar in such a high way that now if she didn't come close to it this time, we're having this conversation.
- [27:41]
Shayna Goldman
Well, we have more data points now, don't we? Like, like we can say that Daryl Watts is a, is, is a great example. You know, she's at her, she's at her first Olympics. She'd been, you know, an afterthought with it, with the national program for a huge chunk of her, chunk of her career. She played her way on this roster over the last three PWHL seasons. It was, it was undeniable. There was, there was no way to leave her off because she had more points than every, than every PWHL player of the last three seasons, except for one, I believe. I think she's second in career PWHL scoring. Good luck leaving that player off a national team roster. Right? She made it undeniable. Someone like, you know, Julia Gosling is, is another one, plays her way onto the roster just by, just by being a productive PWHL player. Katie Tabin, on and on. Like, there's, there's, there's. There's a list of Canadian players in particular who forced the hand of management in the coaching staff, you know, just, just by virtue of how good they were in the, in the PW setting. And I think we're going to get more of that. I think, I think we're going to get more of that on the North American teams. And I think it's going to benefit to the Switzerlands of the world and the Finlands of the world and in the Swedens of the world because the, because Those players are in turn going to be able to by playing, you know, 40 or 45 games against, against elite competition that they otherwise wouldn't get.
- [29:06]
Sean Gentili
Yep. And it's going to be interesting. The more the league expands and the more space there is for players to play those big roles, it's going to be a chance for them that maybe they wouldn't have had before. Right. Like you start out with six teams, you start out so small, it's a little bit more difficult to get everyone top six minutes. But say, you know, we just had expansion here with Seattle and with Vancouver. Obviously they're very, very, very talented teams and the expansion rules played into that. But it still now opens the door to other players stepping up into these meaningful minutes and getting that chance to be like, hey, I'm actually sick as a first line player, which on an Olympic squad you might be a third liner. Like, who's to say? We know, you know, that's how it works, but it's just a good opportunity to show what you do on a regular basis. And also, you know, it's more coaches looking at you and figuring out how best to use you. We've seen that at the Olympics before where it's like this player generally doesn't kill penalties, but in the Olympics they've had to. And now they're going to bring it back to their PWHL team. Like there's going to be all different elements of this that's only going to get better from here. Especially with multiple European teams and programs improving the way Sweden has and the way Switzerland has and Czechia, you're going to have even more talent to go around across the world.
- [30:15]
Shayna Goldman
Who's your MVP for the US and in this tournament outside, that's probably not the best way to phrase it. Who's the under the radar MVP for you? We know we, everyone rightfully is going to talk about Hillary. Everyone's rightfully going to talk about Meg Keller and Caroline Harvey. But who's, who's someone who you've seen over the last couple of weeks that's, you know, that plays kind of an outside role in this for you.
- [30:39]
Sean Gentili
I mean, listen, you can go Aaron Frankel, but I think she's one of the bigger names. So to stick to the under the radar. Aaron Frankel.
- [30:45]
Shayna Goldman
Aaron Frankel, by the way, 26 years old. Fun fact. I think people treat her like she's 31 or something. Or that. Or that she's like the seasoned vets in Gwyneth Phillips is, you know, whatever green, like, like like some. They're like 18 months apart. So, yeah, Aaron Frankel is a staple. She. She ain't going anywhere.
- [31:05]
Sean Gentili
I feel like people have like learned so much better from her, like NCAA days and now like her incredible start with the fleet that it's like, oh, yeah, I know her. I've heard about it. Like, this is her first Olympics. We were talking about how she should have been here last time and she wasn't. But okay. Under the radar. I'm going to say Hannah Bilka.
- [31:20]
Shayna Goldman
Love it.
- [31:21]
Sean Gentili
I feel like this was the Hannah Bilka coming out party because I think we all saw she was very good coming up the ranks at world championships before and it was like, oh, look, Hannibal, go with Hillary Knight. Like, look how good she can be. She adds a lot of speed to this line. She has a spark. And we saw it with Boston and then we get to see it with Seattle now. And then they start the tournament with the all Seattle line and it's Carpenter and night getting a lot of hype. Rightfully so. They're scoring the big goals. But Hannah Book is playing such an important role. They flip her to that second line with Heisey and Murphy, which Murphy, to me, I thought she was going to dunk on the lesser teams. She didn't. And Heisey has all these chances but wasn't, you know, it was like missing that extra oomph in that early goings. They put Bilka there and she's the spark that now that line. We can't stop talking about it. And it's like Murphy now looks so much better and Heisey and I think she elevated them, but I think she was like low key driving what happened with that line. And you see how that top line was not scoring as much once Hannibalca left and they, you know, they put Brita curl and it didn't work as well there. And I think Joy Dunn was a better choice in today's game and gave them a little bit more jump, which they were missing. But to me, Bill is like becoming more of a household name and I'm very excited about that because it does feel like Bill and Heisey are, you know, along with Murphy, along with Edwards are like the future of this team.
- [32:41]
Shayna Goldman
Bill could compliments Heisey, I think, because he's an interesting player. She says it herself. She's like, she's not pass first. She's pass all the time, right? Like, that's just, that's just who she is. Like, she's a setup guy in a. In a. In A very, in a very profound and very productive way. But I think it seemed like which you saw her taking more shots and creating more, you know, around the net because of the stuff that Bilco was doing too. So I think, I think that's an important thing for the future of this program is having Heisey take that next step. Good of a player as she is, she is already obviously taking nothing from her but adding, you know, more like just more pure goal scoring to her, to her game. Because that's, that's, you know, that's, that's what's next for her. If we're talking about Taylor Heisey is like, you know, an all timer. Four or five or seven years from now, it's going to be because she added, added a little bit more. And I think a player like, like Bilka seems like she's, you know, she, she can bring it out of her.
- [33:41]
Sean Gentili
Yeah, like put her with the two playmakers because Murphy's a great passer. Like she can score highlight real goals but like she also, and we got to see that with, you know, she had a couple highlight real assists here. Like put her with some playmakers, which I get it on paper you're like, why would you do that? Why would you stack your best playmakers together? Like that could be a problem for the Frost. No, no, no. Like let her become the best version of herself because sometimes I think players get comfortable in their roles and then they don't want to, you know, stray from it. That's your bread and butter and it's good to have that. But if you want to be a franchise cornerstone center and I think she has the chops to be that like it's, that's how she levels up totally.
- [34:18]
Shayna Goldman
But before I move on to the men, we should notice or we should note 2. One Swiss win over Sweden in the bronze medal game. Another. Another great game from Alina Mueller. She, she scores another metal clinching goal, which she did, she did in 2022 as well. We, we knew, we knew that she's an elite player. Right. We, we didn't, we didn't need this tournament to cement that. But it, it is, it is cool. You know, seeing her, you know, I, it's. She's establish Switzerland honest. Like we, we need, we need, we need to treat them consistently as, as, as the third best team on earth right now. And I, I think a lot of that has to do with, you know, yes, the play of Andrea Branley who's fantastic in that, but also, also Mueller is she's a bar raiser. She's like, she's a tone setter and she's the kind of, she's the kind of talent where you know, if you're a country like Sweden, if you have her at the top of the food chain, you know, everything else makes a lot more sense.
- [35:17]
Sean Gentili
Yeah, absolutely. Like she's a superstar. There's a reason why she went so highly in the PWHL draft. We already knew, you know what she brought to the table from her time at Switzerland, from Northeastern. She scores big time goals, big moments and it doesn't get enough hype. She's fourth all time in Olympic scoring, 27 years old. Like she's probably going to own a couple records. I think she's 10 points off Marie Philippe Poland who said in second place all time at the Olympic scoring too. And she has I would assume two minimum Olympics left. So yeah, I feel like she is spearheading Switzerland's rise. And Switzerland, listen, men and women's side, I think we're one of the biggest surprises for how good they were. Switzerland upsetting Czechia earlier in the tournament. To me I was completely shocked. And now to see them go up against Sweden. Another great story. Like there's players from Sweden on that roster that was on their U18 team that upset USA and you can see that next wave finally coming in and it was a long road to get to this point, but they're finally here. And that's why some say it's just USA and Canada. It is, but the gap is getting smaller and smaller and it's because teams like this are finally growing and developing
- [36:21]
Shayna Goldman
and now we can have the conversation too where it's not just group, group A and group B with you know, US and Canada in whatever, whatever tournament group they're in and then everyone else, you know, can, can fight it out. I think now there's a pretty legit argument to be made because of the rise of Sweden, frankly, who is stuck in that second group, has been stuck in that, that second group at various points over the last bunch of years if they can sustain this. I think the overall health of the women's game is, is, is on the rise up because something like something is going to need to change with, with, with the way the tournament breakdowns take place and it makes it a lot easier if you can rely on Sweden to, you know, pop in tournaments like this. So yeah, that's a, that's a big development I think.
- [37:06]
Sean Gentili
Yeah, it's exciting. It really is. Like it's get it's all getting better. It's all up from here. It feels like for a change, for sure.
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Shayna Goldman
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Sean Gentili
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Shayna Goldman
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Sean Gentili
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Shayna Goldman
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Sean Gentili
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Shayna Goldman
And there it was, that hologram trading card.
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Sean Gentili
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Shayna Goldman
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Shayna Goldman
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- [38:39]
Shayna Goldman
All right, we do want to touch on. On the men's, on the men's semifinals, which are tomorrow, we got Canada, Finland at 1040 and then US Slovakia at 310. We're on Sidney Crosby. Watch here. Shay. He's not being rolled out of the Olympics by Team Canada. We heard all that today. Pierre Lebron obviously was. Was all over that. Our colleague John Cooper says he's obviously not ruled out. We've got the best of the best looking at him. We're taking this day by day, and we're not going to put anyone in harm's way. But if he can play, he's definitely going to well, no more again in 24 hours. So I think that's, you know, qualified optimism. I, I think if it probably speaks better to his future with the Pittsburgh Penguins and they're in there in their plans for the next couple months than it does. Than it does. Team Canada underwent testing to see the severity of the lower body injury. Again, no, no firm answers, but a league source told LeBron the crowd is doing all he can in an attempt to play again in this tournament, but it's not clear if that'll be possible. So if it were slam dunk, worst case Scenario. You know, bad news confirmed. I, I, I feel like the news coming out of today would be different. Yeah. Also the bud. Pretty decent recent update from Ryan Rashog. Sounds like he's gonna maybe go for a quick skate tomorrow morning. That's Friday morning. To see where things are at. But he's unlikely to play against Finland, which. That, that's fair.
- [40:06]
Sean Gentili
He shouldn't, honestly. Yeah.
- [40:09]
Shayna Goldman
If he can't. Shayna Goldman, what do your Team Canada lines look like? Do you, do you load up with. With the Mach 3 line from the. Or do you, you know, at least, at least give someone like, you know, Nick Suzuki or someone of that ilk a chance to center? The second line.
- [40:29]
Sean Gentili
Okay. I don't know why it's not called the MVP line. You have three MVP candidates. I feel like we're getting too cute. Okay. I need to start.
- [40:35]
Shayna Goldman
It's all like, here's, here's my, here's my issue with the, with the nickname. I like, I like Mach 3 to some extent, but it also kind of only works if you use the Canadian pronunciation and call it Mac 3.
- [40:49]
Sean Gentili
Yep.
- [40:49]
Shayna Goldman
Because it's Mack Cannon and Mac. David Macklin, Celebrini Mock. Kind of. Kind of ruins it.
- [40:59]
Sean Gentili
One, two, three. In the heart. Voting, like, let's go.
- [41:01]
Shayna Goldman
I can't bring myself to say Mac. Just like I can't bring myself to say Pasta or Mazda or anything like that.
- [41:06]
Sean Gentili
God, please don't.
- [41:07]
Shayna Goldman
The various, the various Sean McIndu pronunciations that I've. That I'm trying to keep out of my life.
- [41:12]
Sean Gentili
No. Too Canadian.
- [41:14]
Shayna Goldman
Who's your t. Who's your 2C tomorrow? That's the question.
- [41:17]
Sean Gentili
Okay, so 2C for me is still Nathan McKinnon. I am keeping that in my back pocket. The thing is, I am tweaking. I'm keeping Nick Suzuki where he ended the game the other day, which is between Marner and Stone. I thought he was excellent there. I think it was exactly what he needed to get going because I just don't think it was working as well before that. And it kind of center.
- [41:42]
Shayna Goldman
He's a center. We can't just assume that. Every center can shift a wing. No problem. Nick Suzuki's a center. Let him. Let him play center.
- [41:51]
Sean Gentili
Yep. And listen, we wrote about this last year at Four Nations. How many people shift to center and have to change their role and responsibilities? I feel like for him, the way he plays the game on me and you.
- [42:03]
Shayna Goldman
Me and you wrote that. Didn't we? Didn't. Didn't the two we. The two of Us specifically wrote that because I remember, I remember talking to Samko about it specifically.
- [42:10]
Sean Gentili
I feel like we. I mean I'm going to try to find that and I'll tweet it out because I feel like that's an important one to remember. Not every center can play wing and we talk about with Jack Hughes and everyone uses like such a knock on him but like with Nick Suzuki, he's. He's just best at center and I think that line you can trust to play them in any situation, they're a shutdown force. And with Crosby there like that line was unbelievable. So I think Suzuki stays there. I think it's the key is figuring out who to play with McKinnon. I would like to see Sam Reinhardt get a go with McKinnon. I feel like Reinhardt is not getting used enough. I wouldn't mind seeing Jarvis get a look, but if you go Hagel, McKinnon, Reinhart, I feel like that line has enough juice and also like enough of that peskiness. That works.
- [42:50]
Shayna Goldman
I like Hegel, I like Hagel, McKinnon, Reinhardt.
- [42:53]
Sean Gentili
Yeah, he goes so well with like a Lekonen or Nichushkin. So maybe go for those similar skill sets of these really good two way wingers who can do a little bit of everything. These utility guys who are very disruptive and let McKinnon cook. And I also think the fact that Reinhardt's someone capable of scoring 30, 40 goals in an NHL regular season.
- [43:11]
Shayna Goldman
30, 40, 50.
- [43:14]
Sean Gentili
Unattainable one to keep doing. I'm going to say 40 is my recalibrated look for him and Hyman. But like I feel like that takes a little bit off McKinnon and also Hagel is one of the best scoring chance generators in the league. So I think that leaves you with options that then your fourth line isn't too fair.
- [43:34]
Shayna Goldman
I like it. I like it. And that is. That's Canada. Finland again. That's. What the hell, what the hell time this game. It's at 10:40 and 40am Eastern and then it is US Slovakia at 3:10. Are you watching anything in particular? Give. Give us, give us something to look for in. In U. S. Slovakia. Okay, I'm putting you on the spot here.
- [43:57]
Sean Gentili
Okay. I am looking for, I'm looking forward the top six to get going again for team USA because I think, I think the last game. Let's go back Germany. It was the Matthews line. It was Matthews bold againstel and they were outstanding. I'd like to see a little bit more from them because I think they had two really great games. And then it was a little quieter last game. You go back to last game, Jack Eichel was cooking. But here's the issue with it. Brady Kachuk is someone that gets that net front, can score pesky goals, and he's, he's electric in these settings. Like, there's, you know, there's a reason there's always a gap between expected and reality for him because he doesn't have the hands. I don't think Matthew Tkachuk is playing well enough, and I think he needs to move down the lineup in favor of a Clayton Keller. That is my hot take that. I'm looking for Matthew to step up and then for Slovakia, I'm looking for the next wave to add some support because it's been all Slepkovsky, divorce, Ski Nemec. They've been great last game. We finally saw Regenja and that second line of posspasil pick up the pace a little bit and give them, you know, a better one, two punch if they can now get going together. I think that's going to be huge.
- [45:06]
Shayna Goldman
Love it. I agree with all that. I, I think I, I think that's the biggest thing to come out, come out of this. Like you, you know, you're sitting the second wave of Slovakian players. That's true. But I think it's big that they got more from divorce and that they got more from Magenda. So, like, you have that established, right? Like, you can't, you can't completely rely on, on Slafkovsky. You need to have that continued, that continued production. I, I don't care if I'm Slovakia. I don't care who it's coming from. We'll take, we'll take it.
- [45:33]
Sean Gentili
Exactly. Yeah.
- [45:35]
Shayna Goldman
Also, I think, I think international hockey. Dylan Larkin is my, is one of my favorite hockey players of all time.
- [45:40]
Sean Gentili
Oh, yeah. He, that. It's the little things too, right? Like four nations, he had the clutch goals, but it's the little things, the little plays. He, he's so good with his stick and just knocking the puck out of the way or making smart moves. Like he is just this all around threat. Like to me, on an Olympic roster, perfect 3C.
- [45:57]
Shayna Goldman
It was, it was during the, during the Toronto All Star festivities. He was playing so hard, and I remember watching him and just thinking, like, it's, it's a disgrace that we haven't gotten to watch this guy play, play, play in the, in the Olympics. And he's, he's making everyone look smart. For that.
- [46:10]
Sean Gentili
Yeah.
- [46:11]
Shayna Goldman
All right, Gina. Thank you. Do you have more. Do you have more work to do tonight? No. You've done enough today, haven't you?
- [46:17]
Sean Gentili
I'm. I'm. Well, I finished rules court, so I am done.
- [46:22]
Shayna Goldman
See you later. No, thank. Thank you, Shay. And thank you to Haley. Somewhere again, undisclosed location in Milan on
- [46:29]
Sean Gentili
in front of potentially a white wall.
- [46:30]
Shayna Goldman
It'd be anywhere standing. Standing in an alleyway. You never know. Thank you fine folks for watching and listening to this episode. The Athletic Hockey show. Jesse and Myrtle have the next show. That's after the US game on Friday afternoon. I'm back Saturday with McIndo after the bronze medal games. Enjoy it. We'll talk to you real soon.
- [46:53]
Sean Gentili
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