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Commercial Announcer
Now's a good time to remember where tequila's story truly began. In 1795, Cuervo invented tequila.
Ethan
Cuervo.
Commercial Announcer
What are you doing here?
David Amber
Cuervo. Anytime someone says Cuervo, I show up.
Commercial Announcer
Well, I do know that to be true. But even during ad reads like Cuervo, I think he could lay out, especially for one of our great partners.
David Amber
Sweet, delicious Cuervo.
Commercial Announcer
Since then, Cuervo has stayed true to its roots. The same family, the same land, the same passion.
Ethan
Cuervo.
Commercial Announcer
So enjoy the tequila that started it all.
Roy Bellamy
Cuervo.
Commercial Announcer
Cuervo, the tequila that invented tequila. Roximo. Cuervo.com Please drink responsibly.
Ethan
Cuervo.
Roy Bellamy
After the first month of the season, the standings are looking crazy. This is the Hockey show. That's David Droik of the hockey news. Ethan is in the Yoda studio. Rose is in Boone, North Carolina, with Lucy Rodin. My name is Roy Bellamy. This is the Hockey show. The hockey show is on YouTube. Please follow us at the Hockey Show DLS. We got TikTok at the Hockey Show 7 and on X Instagram and threads at Hockey Show DLS. The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays to win the world Series. The Hockey show, I understand that, but there's a hockey connotation to this.
Mike
You just introduced the whole hockey show, and the first thing you said was the Los Angeles Dodgers. Yeah, you threw me off.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah, I'm sorry.
Ethan
Enough with the Dodgers. I'm tired of these guys.
Roy Bellamy
Thanks, Ethan.
Ethan
I'm tired of that.
Roy Bellamy
Are you tired of Dodgers winning the pitch clock? You can find all that on the pitch clock and with Jeremy Tashay. Jeremy, thank you for doing whatever the hell it is that you were doing back there. I don't know. Thank you. But. But anyway, I love you.
David Amber
Yeah, that's great.
Roy Bellamy
I appreciate that.
Ethan
Shout out the Hockey show.
Roy Bellamy
Thank you. Shout out the pitch clock. I mentioned the Los Angeles Dodgers because the Blue Jays are Canada's only professional major league ball club, right?
Ethan
They are, yeah.
Roy Bellamy
So the series had the intention of the entire country, especially game seven. So much so. So much so that they actually played game seven during the Blackhawks all this game. The entire game head on The Jumbotron. Game 7 of the World series at Rogers place.
Mike
During the hockey game.
Roy Bellamy
During the hockey game. Yeah, during the hockey game. In fact, on sportsnet west, they got caught up in a moment because they thought the Blue Jays had won in the bottom of the knife. But that is not what happened. He rides him into the boards. Henry creates drive back behind the Blue Jays have just won the World Series.
Mike
Or not.
Roy Bellamy
Or.
David Amber
No, they're calling them at home.
Roy Bellamy
Forced out, two out, ninth inning.
Mike
Wow. But I get it, though, because, like, the whole. Everybody in the crowd got up and started cheering.
David Amber
Yeah.
Mike
So there was like a fake break by the entire fan site.
Ethan
Like, what A job by the announcer, like, that is so difficult. He's calling two games at once. Right. He's calling the hockey game. And then also all the people that are watching the hockey game, which are probably only a select few, probably care about what's going on in the World Series. So he's got to help them know what's going on in the World Series. He's calling two games at once. That's a very difficult job.
Mike
But he didn't do a good job.
David Amber
That's the problem.
Ethan
I mean, he acts up. It's pretty hard to do. Like, all credit to him. The fact that he was able to.
Mike
Then adjust on the fly is win or loss.
David Amber
Like, well, that was a close play.
Ethan
At the plate, man.
Mike
Let's be clear.
David Amber
That was a close play at the.
Ethan
That was crazy.
Roy Bellamy
Well, you mentioned that everybody was watching the ball game at Rogers Place, and apparently that included Connor McDavid because he got distracted during the Blackhawks all his game because he was busy looking at the Drumble Tron watching the ball game and he got distracted. And you mentioned in the post game.
Unnamed Hockey Player
It was really, really strange. Obviously, we're all on the Jays bandwagon and everybody's wanting them to win and it's so disappointing, obviously, but strange. Strange to have it on during the game. Listening to the crowd was distracting, for sure. I'm glad they. They shut it off there for the third when.
David Amber
When, you know, they're showing. They're showing it. Not only showing it, but they're showing it with sound during the TV timeouts as well.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah, that's. That's.
Unnamed Hockey Player
It was bizarre. Yeah, it was bizarre. It was bizarre. I found myself. Was it bizarre, the Jays game, sitting on the bench, you know, listening to the crowd while I'm on the ice. You know, what just happened? It was. It was very strange. But, you know, what historic moment couldn't be more gutted for those guys. You know, obviously we know what that feels like. It's.
Roy Bellamy
You sure do.
Unnamed Hockey Player
You know, for it to be the way it happened twice, you know, just completely gutted for those guys. Been a fun run and been a lot of fun. They've given Canada a lot to cheer about and they should be very, very proud of themselves.
Mike
You know what I kept thinking as I watched that was that David kept talking. Other than that, he's really good at cleaning up his own comments.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah.
Mike
You know who would not do that? What the, what the others did.
Roy Bellamy
Who's that? David.
Mike
The Florida Panthers would not distract their players.
Roy Bellamy
Well, because of.
Ethan
Well, first of all, yes, but second of all, the Panthers might do that, but they wouldn't then go and complain about it afterwards. No, they wouldn't hate fun more than Conor McDavid. Like, let the people at the, at the game watch the game. They care more about the World Series. There are plenty of people that probably felt like, hey, I spent a lot of money on this ticket. I'm going to put this ticket to use. This is good hard earned money that I put to use to go to this game. But I want to watch the World Series and know what's going on with Canada's baseball team. So hopefully they'll have the game on. And they did.
Mike
Such a millennial.
Ethan
And, and it's just what a loser. Like, like, let people have fun. We get it. It's a. It's a game in. It was November. Connor McDavid. It's like the 13th game of the year. Like, let people have fun for once in their lives, I guess. Losers know how to sympathize with losers, man.
Roy Bellamy
Well, they're currently in a wild corn spot. It's losers.
Ethan
Yeah, well, they've lost back to back years in the Stanley Cup Final, just like the Jays just did.
Roy Bellamy
I mean, they. Yeah, okay, sure. The conference champions for back to back seasons. Yes.
Ethan
And they're Stanley cup losers twice in a row.
Roy Bellamy
Okay.
Ethan
If you're not first, you're last, Roy.
Roy Bellamy
I mean, at least you want to con smite, but whatever. Not a near.
Mike
Go collect your trophy.
Ethan
Yeah.
Roy Bellamy
Neither here nor there. Congratulations to the Dodgers. And we'll talk a little bit more about that. And all wins or fails. But let's get over to Alexander Ovechkin, who scored his 900th goal. I say this as if this is a normal thing. I mean, nobody's ever done that before. Nobody probably will ever do that ever again.
Mike
Well, every goal that he scores from here till the end of his career will be the only player to score that many goals.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah.
Mike
Which is kind of cool. Every time he scores, it's a historical.
Roy Bellamy
I think he can actually reach quadruple digits if he decided to play four or five more years.
Ethan
But is he going to do that?
Roy Bellamy
No.
Ethan
That's a big question. Right? Like he's got this is the last year of his contract he slowed down so much. Like at this point, he's, he's kind of a one trick pony, you know? Although he had two assists last night against the.
David Amber
That was funny.
Ethan
He had the two assists and Crosby had the two goals. That's like switching roles there.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah, that's great. That 900 puck, the one that he scored, was swiped. It was stolen. Or at least Jordan Bennington tried to steal it. The culprit was caught red handed by linesman. He tried to hide the puck in the back of his hockey pants as he skated towards the corner.
Mike
See, he knew this was going to happen. I've got a really interesting thought here on this. Jordan Bennington knew that he was going to give up Alex Ovechkin's 900th goal. Yeah, he just had a feeling, right?
Roy Bellamy
Yeah.
Mike
So he goes to the game, he finds a game puck, he shoves it in his pants, he goes out and he plays.
Roy Bellamy
He's gonna sell on ebay.
Mike
So when Ovechkin gets his goal, he reaches in his pants, pulls out the fake, gives it to the official, and now he will forever have Alex Ovechkin's 900th goal put.
Roy Bellamy
So this is like a home run ball that's caught by a fan. A fan, exactly. Pulls out a baseball, making the switch.
Mike
The bait and switch.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah.
Ethan
What if he, what if he went for the fake but accidentally grabbed the real one? Like there's two back there.
David Amber
He's an idiot.
Roy Bellamy
And that, that's how, that's all there is to it. He's an idiot. If that's, if that's the case. Look at him. Hands stuff down his pants like Albert.
Mike
I've done that many times in my, in my hockey playing prowess, but it's usually just to scratch myself. Yeah, but like, we need to hear from Jordan Bennington because it's been a few days now. It's been like, what, two days? I think it happened Wednesday.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah, yeah.
Mike
We have yet to hear from him at all and whether he's going to tell the truth or whether he's going to make something up. I, I, we got to hear his take.
Ethan
Like, didn't he say that he was going to give Ovechkin the puck back no matter what?
Roy Bellamy
Well, here's the situation.
Ethan
Was to give him the puck.
Roy Bellamy
No, he's personally, I don't know.
Ethan
I don't know. But he said he was going to give him the puck like he was.
David Amber
Going to steal it.
Roy Bellamy
So damn selfish, man. Just let the linesman get the puck out of the net and have him toss it to the trainer so they can put the tape on it and he can write 900 gold. How simple is that? That's just selfish on Jordan Bennington's part.
Mike
Okay, so here's the quote I figured. I basically had an assist on the goal there, turning the puck over. I didn't think he'd mind sharing it. I had full intention to give it back to him.
Roy Bellamy
That's a good quote.
Ethan
I like this little public. Pablo Torre finds out Esque video we've got going on here where we're really zooming in trying to get him red handed here.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah, we see a hand work. You see a hand, we see pants, and we see a black puck inside those pants. Boy.
Ethan
I think it was just an honest mistake, honestly. No, I think he was just. I truly believe he was going to give the puck back to Ovid, man.
Roy Bellamy
Bullshit.
Mike
We always wonder, if the linesman never went up to him, what would have happened?
Roy Bellamy
Oh, he would have kept that puck for himself. Like, screw Reskin. This is mine. You're not getting this.
Mike
No. Then he gets like, hit later in the game and.
Roy Bellamy
No, he gets a puck out of the. Out of the refrigerator in the pony box.
Mike
Like.
Roy Bellamy
All right.
Mike
The puck fridge.
Roy Bellamy
The puck fridge. I'm gonna do something that I don't usually do.
Mike
Smile.
Roy Bellamy
You can kiss my ass, but you're smiling. I have no choice but to smile. You shot me out. All right, so I'm gonna do what I don't usually do. I'm going to give the Islanders a bit of props here. They did a good thing. It has nothing to do with their roster construction, has nothing to do with their play on the ice. It has everything to do with their concessions because they have a new item on the menu. It's called. It's a cinnamon roll. Bacon, bacon, egg and cheese. This is a breakfast sandwich that they're going to sell in the concession.
Mike
Oh, my God.
Roy Bellamy
Cinnamon roll, bacon, egg and cheese at UBS Arena.
Mike
Wow. Aside from the egg, because I don't eat eggs.
Roy Bellamy
Right.
Mike
But that looks quite delicious. Yeah, I'm a big fan of mixing sweet and salty.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah. So, yeah, there's not better than.
Mike
No, I don't. I don't keep kosher, Ethan.
Ethan
So why do you not eat eggs?
Mike
No, because I just don't like the way they taste.
Roy Bellamy
He doesn't like the texture.
Ethan
I didn't know if it was like a. Like a dietary restriction.
Mike
No, it's. It's a taste bud restriction. And every few Years. I'll try it because, like, the whole concept of eggs seems delicious to me. Like, omelets mixing, delicious. No, not really.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah.
Mike
Flavor.
Ethan
Yeah.
Mike
So, yeah, I'd love to like eggs, but I just don't.
Roy Bellamy
So you don't like scrambled, you don't like omelets, you don't like.
Mike
Every couple years we'll go to, like, IHOP or Denny's and my wife will order me, like, a little sampler of different eggs to try just to, like, make sure that I still don't like it hard boiled.
Ethan
Well, go to a good. Go to, like, a high quality diner.
David Amber
Go to, like, yeah, like, go to Waffle House.
Roy Bellamy
How about that? Go, go, go over there.
Ethan
Yeah, Yeah.
Mike
I mean, I never need an excuse to go to Waffle House. That's amazing.
Ethan
Roy. You know about that matzo bry. You know what matzo bry is?
Roy Bellamy
No, I know what matzah is. I don't. I don't know the actual eggs.
David Amber
And it's.
Ethan
It's just matzo brine eggs or matzah and eggs mixed up, fry it up, boom. Good.
Mike
This is the second day in a row that I'm hearing the word matzobrai, which you don't often hear. And the reason I heard it yesterday was pretty. I was like, just debating in my head, do I share this little story? Yeah. So my wife was. She met, like, one of her first clients yesterday. She used to be an interior designer before we had kids. And the way that she remembered this guy and his girlfriend at the time, she's like, yeah, he showed me a picture of his girlfriend completely naked with matzo bride covering her privates.
Roy Bellamy
Oh, man.
Mike
Legitimately. That's like verbatim the text that got from my wife yesterday.
David Amber
Food porn.
Mike
And I'm like, A, I don't remember this story at all. And B, this guy's, like, trying to get my wife into a threesome. Right, that. That's why you show swingers. Well, I'm saying, why else would you show up?
Roy Bellamy
Trying to get you in there, too.
Mike
Of your girlfriend. You kidding me?
Ethan
The hockey show every Friday.
Roy Bellamy
Ladies and gentlemen, that is David Story.
Mike
We got to talk more about our personal lives.
Roy Bellamy
That's great. Let's get into the mascots for a second. Specifically, the mascot for the Philadelphia Flyers. Now, if you. You probably don't remember. I mean, who watches this show? But you probably don't remember us talking about Gritty a month ago when he was axoring. That's right. He is a accurate.
David Amber
He's a Savant axis.
Roy Bellamy
Yes, he is very much a savant. All right, so he did this without deadly weapons. He was at Wells Fargo center throwing Nerf balls with tails at the end. Very accurately. It was a trash can about, I would say, six to eight feet away from the goalie crease. And he was throwing it from his little platform from second tier, the second tier of the arena. And he was on target.
Ethan
How about the fact that he gets the first one and he missed the first two, then he gets the third one and he just starts nailing him.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah, it was the wind. It was definitely.
Ethan
And he just kept hitting them. Amazing.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah, he's got an arm on him.
Mike
What is the job application or what? You know what the job qualifications when they hired the guy who plays Gritty. Because whoever's in there is really good at a lot of shit.
Roy Bellamy
I would say chaos.
Ethan
Yeah, like, you got to be able to bring the chaos with Gritty.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah, Prerequisite there.
David Amber
No, but he's like.
Mike
He's clearly insane, but he does so many things well. There's like. It's like Al Pacino.
Ethan
Billy's got a couple good ones, man. The Fnatic and Gritty.
Mike
The fnatic's also awesome.
Ethan
Is Gritty the best mascot in hockey?
Mike
I don't.
Ethan
He might be the most versatile.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah, we.
Mike
We have to pause on that because we got to give Tusky a little time.
Ethan
I like what he's got going on. I'm a big fan.
Roy Bellamy
I wonder if Tusky and Ellie from the New York Liberty, if they got together, what we're having. It should be interesting.
David Amber
So Elephant love roses.
Ethan
Rose is saying in the chat she should apply to be gritty. I think she would be a. She would make a great gritty griddet.
Mike
She could be Gritty's wife. Like the Philly fanatic has a wife.
Roy Bellamy
She said chaos and crazy. As if that's not almost the same thing. I'm just saying, though. Anyway, it's time for Puck Luck is sponsored by DraftKings. DraftKings. The Crown is yours as I almost spilled my water on the floor. David.
Mike
No, I'm glad you didn't spill it.
Roy Bellamy
I'm sorry. So am I.
Mike
This week for Puck Luck, we have a four leg parlay, so it's not for the faint of heart. Tonight, Chicago is in Calgary. I'm taking the Blackhawks moneyline. Calgary's 12 straight after their horrendous 9. 2. 9. 2. 9 and 2. Excuse me. 2. 9 and 2 start. Chicago something off. A big win in Vancouver, but the Flames are playing well. The Blackhawks lost three or four, so you're getting good value with Chicago on the money line. I think they're going to take it to Calgary. And in that game we're also taking Connor Bedard over two and a half shots. He's hit that number in nine straight. Roy, he is in fuego right now for Chicago. He's really driving play. And another late game tonight, Winnipeg in San Jose. We're going to take Connor, Kyle Connor over two and a half shots.
Roy Bellamy
So many Connors.
Mike
He's hit that number in seven of his past nine. And the Sharks give up the second most shots on goal in the NHL. And then just to sprinkle a little bit more juice on this parlay, we're going to take the jets money line because the jets are good. The Sharks kind of suck. And yeah, the jets are coming off a 3 nothing loss in Los Angeles, so they're going to be extra pissed.
Roy Bellamy
What are the odds on that?
Mike
610 plus 610 odds. Always subject to change. Thank you for the reminder, Ethan, but I think this is a pretty juicy little parlay.
Roy Bellamy
Subject to change. That was PuckLuck. Sponsored by DraftKings. DraftKings. The Crown is yours. We appreciate everybody who watches and listens to the show, however few or many that you are. You guys can ask us questions on our vast array of social media handles that I gave out earlier in this show. We have one from emonhuntermog who asks, which goalie are you most shocked by so far this year? And it could be a positive or negative performance on the season. David.
Mike
It's kind of a tie. Jacob Dobit has been amazing, so I'm not like terribly surprised. I did call it last year and I'm going to dig that up at some point that he was going to be the next great NHL goalie. But Logan Thompson, 1.45 goals against average.938 save percentage for the Capitals. Nobody's talking about Logan Thompson at. And he is playing out of his mind right now. So for me that's, that's a big one.
Ethan
He did the same thing last year. Logan Thompson like quietly was one of the best goal. Yeah, maybe. Well, at a time like his numbers were as good as anybody in the league and he's been phenomenal again this year. What about Lucas Dell, guys? Yeah, how good has he been out in Anaheim? He is currently fourth in the league right now behind Spencer Knight at the top. Then Logan Thompson and Connor Hellebuck in goal, saved above expected with 8.7 goals saved. That's above him expected this year. He's been awesome. That Anaheim team is so much fun. And it's not just that they're scoring. They're getting really good goaltending on the back end as well.
Mike
They scored seven goals again last night.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah, I was going to mention that. The Blackhawks, man, they're looking. They're looking decent for what they should actually be. And they are pretty close to a playoff spot in the West.
Mike
They might be in the mix, like Chicago. Like, I don't think they're. They're hitting above their weight right now. I think that they're. They're playing some really good hockey.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah, good for Spencer Knight, who is currently and will be for a pretty long time, the franchise goaltender. And the Ducks are going to make the playoffs. So that's the situation over there. Now it is time for Rosa in U Minuto. Rose is in Boone, North Carolina, and she has recorded her Spanish version of this. So take it away. Rosie.
Ethan
Milagros.
Roy Bellamy
Was that a bed? Was she lying in a bed?
David Amber
I think so.
Ethan
Looks like a hotel in Boone, North Carolina, probably.
Roy Bellamy
Oh, no, not the Holiday Inn. Oh, no.
Mike
Oh, my goodness.
Roy Bellamy
All right. That was Rosa in Un Minuto. Thank you for that, Rosie. And now it's time for Rose in a minute in her stead, it's Michael Ferrante. Go ahead, Mike.
Ethan
Guys, my best friend's here. It's Mikey Fuentes.
Roy Bellamy
I said, hey, kids, this is one.
Michael Ferrante
Minute of hockey with Rose, and this week, we're headed to Calgary. The Flames finally lit up the ice. A 51 win over the Rangers with Blake Coleman scoring twice and Kadri remembering how to shoot again. Miracles do happen. But then the gas ran out. They lost 43 to Toronto, 43 in a shootout to Ottawa, and 42 to Nashville, though Huberto and Shevagan Govich. I hope I said that right. Try to keep the spark alive. And then look, when it looked like the fire was out.
Mike
Boom.
David Amber
Hubert.
Michael Ferrante
Or scored two more goals and beat Philadelphia 2 1. And finally bring some heat back to Calgary. So two wins, three losses. Not great, but at least the flames are still flickering. Let's just say the gas in Calgary's got an attitude. Turns on, turns off, and nobody knows when it's gonna blow up. That was one minute of hockey with Rose.
David Amber
Yes.
Michael Ferrante
Your weekly recap of puck passion and a little bit of chaos. The flammable kind.
Mike
Standing ovation.
Roy Bellamy
All right, Hand me that script. I want to see the name that you butchered.
Mike
I think it Was Igor Sharon Govich.
Ethan
With Sharon Govich.
Michael Ferrante
Just like I said it, Roy.
Roy Bellamy
Awesome.
Mike
That's a perfect representation of Rose to. She would have butchered it, too. That was perfect.
Ethan
That was amazing.
Roy Bellamy
All right.
Mike
Bravo, bro.
Ethan
Thank you for bringing us the Updates from Tate McRae. Country.
Roy Bellamy
All right, Than you, Mike. That was Rose in a minute. I appreciate you. Thank you. Let me see this. All right. I had the script in my hand. I think she misspelled it. Sharon Govich. Right. And that spelled correctly. S H A R. No, that looks.
Mike
Like it's spelled phonetically. Sharon. Sharon Jovich.
Roy Bellamy
Oh, no. All right, all right. It's time to get serious because we have a sponsor. Here is Angermeister because it is time for wins and fails, sponsored by Jagermeister. Serve it code or don't serve it at all. Jagermeister. Damn. That's code. For more visit jagermeister.com Drink responsibly.
Mike
She got it right. That is how you spell his name.
Roy Bellamy
She copied and pasted.
David Amber
Dave, what's your good job?
Mike
My win of the week is Rose for spelling Igor Sharon Govich's name right, which I couldn't have done.
Roy Bellamy
All right, so that's your first win.
Mike
My second win. Kraken goalie Joey Decord. He's actually off to a pretty good start this season. Yeah, for. For the Seattle Kraken the other day, he took not one, but two attempts at an empty net against the Blackhawks. Seattle, they're 141 and 2 in home ice. They're. They're good home team, but, dude, I love it. He took a shot at the empty net. It didn't go through. And he's like, you know what? They're going to dump it in again. I'm going to take another shot. Awesome. For him. And then he put up a tweet. Shoot or shoot?
Roy Bellamy
Yeah, man. This man's a.
Mike
He's a goalie being a goalie. I love it.
Roy Bellamy
I was going to say he. Oh, he's Chauncey Billis, but that's not probably a good comparison right now.
Mike
Yeah, maybe.
Roy Bellamy
No, he's Robert Horace. That's what he is.
Mike
I say like the Wayne Gretzky quote would apply really well for that situation.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah, absolutely. All right. My win of the week comes from Dodger Stadium. As I mentioned earlier, the Dodgers defeated the Blue Jays in the World Series. The Dodgers held their parade, which eventually ended up going back to Dodger Stadium. And former Miami Marlin Kike Hernandez must.
Ethan
Have left the most important accent mark in the world.
Roy Bellamy
Thank you, Dave Damoshek. He must. Kike. Must have left his heart in Miami and South Florida because he had said something while he had the mic in Dodger Stadium that might be a little bit familiar to Florida Panthers fans.
Ethan
And I want to take this time.
Roy Bellamy
To apologize to absolutely nobody. The trouble chat does what the. He wants. Captober out. Deuces. Deuces.
Mike
I mean, he did a good job. I mean, he. He did what? Kachuk, or what was it?
Roy Bellamy
Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk? They both did it.
Mike
Yeah. Oh, Bennett did it at the club, right?
Roy Bellamy
No, Bennett.
Ethan
No, Bennett did it at the parade.
Roy Bellamy
He was the one that said the first one.
Mike
Okay.
Ethan
He was the double champ. Does what he wants.
Roy Bellamy
Now, I want you to keep in mind that Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk did it the exact same way, but on Face off on Amazon Prime. They only took Magicachuk's version, so it seemed to me like it was a bit rehearsed.
Mike
Yeah, he had time to prepare, but he did a good job. That. That was the point I was getting to like.
Roy Bellamy
He.
Mike
He may have been, you know, pulling what they did, but he did well.
Ethan
Florida Panthers trendsetters.
Mike
Yeah.
Ethan
Can you believe that?
Mike
Championship trendsetters.
Roy Bellamy
I mean, if you're reading off of a script, then, yeah, sure. Trends. Ethan. What? You win.
Ethan
All right, I've got a couple of things this week. First of all, I want to shout out my boys with the rubber puckies. Here's some video. My buddy Ross, they he this beer league team, and they actually got to play at Amarant bank arena last week. This is from last week, but here's him walking in. Look how handsome this guy looks. I mean, amazing in the suit and the tie, walking in. And then the boys were out at the arena playing on the actual ice where the double champs get to play. So that was really cool. Shout out to the rubber puckies. Thanks so much, Rossi, for this jersey. I absolutely love it. And, of course, we got a rep. And if you want me to wear your jersey on the show, always, always send me any jersey.
Roy Bellamy
Ethan, I want you to turn around.
Commercial Announcer
Yeah.
Roy Bellamy
And show.
David Amber
Yeah.
Ethan
This is the best part.
Roy Bellamy
Back of your jersey. They got your name wrong.
Ethan
Yeah, I don't. You know, that's, like, my pet peeve is when people spell my name with an I, but it makes the jersey a little bit extra special, so I love it. And. And it's special. It came from Rossi.
Commercial Announcer
It's.
Ethan
It's awesome. Shout out the rubber puppies. We love our rubber.
Mike
The first person with the same last name and Hockey nickname. They sound exactly the same. But the hockey nickname has the I and your last name has the.
Ethan
Yeah, well, my hockey nickname on our shirts, it had the Y, specifically because I love Budski. Budsky. Yeah, specifically because I hate when people spell my last name with an eye. But again, but this jersey is amazing. Yeah, Yeah, I know. Well, you know, they. They gave the Russians a Y and.
David Amber
They gave the polish, and I like Sky.
Mike
Yeah, Sky.
Ethan
Yeah, but it's our name. Also, wasn't Badowski when we came over to Ellis island, but. Yeah, that's for another.
Mike
I was always at work.
Ethan
My second win of.
Roy Bellamy
Well, we're all.
Ethan
You were always a dork.
Roy Bellamy
Well, country. I'm just saying.
Mike
Yes, we are.
Ethan
Yes, we are. Our second. My second win of the week. This is extra special to me this year, Bob. Every year, he does a Hockey Fights Cancer. It's Hockey Fights Cancer Month across the NHL. Sergey, one of the best guys around.
Roy Bellamy
In October, correct?
Ethan
No, no. Now in November. And so Bob's got his special mask that he rocks every month in the purple. And it's extra special because one of my friends, one of my dad's friends, recently found out he had a. He has a brain tumor. Gabe from the Jacuzzi Boys, you know, a Miami music legend. We're thinking about you, buddy, and we love you. And I just wanted to take the time and shout you out because we're all thinking about you here at the show, and we love you and can't wait till you make a strong recovery, hopefully. So Hockey Fights Cancer Month. It's the best, and it has a little extra special meaning this year. And I love what the NHL is doing. So shout out to Bob. He's the best.
Roy Bellamy
We've all been touched by cancer. We've all had family members who have gone through that idea. I know my mom and my grandmother have gone through the same thing. So it's really nice to see that the players are going out on the ice and showing off this initiative. So that. That's excellent. All right, let's go to the fails. David, what's your fail?
Mike
This one I dedicate to you, Roy, even though you were kind of nice to the Islanders.
Roy Bellamy
Hey, listen, it's the cinnamon. It's the cinnamon bun. All right? It's a cinnamon roll, bacon, egg and cheese.
Mike
Yeah, I told you. Other than the egg, hook me up. I'm delicious. Maybe substitute the egg for some sausage or a little extra protein or, you know.
Roy Bellamy
Extra protein.
Mike
Yeah, or hash brown, maybe.
Roy Bellamy
Oh, a hash brown. Interesting.
David Amber
Salt.
Roy Bellamy
With the salt with the sweet.
Mike
Yeah. I'm telling you.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah.
Mike
And put a little syrup on there. Well, you might not need the syrup.
Roy Bellamy
No, no. You got the frost.
Mike
We're getting way far field here.
Roy Bellamy
I'm hungry.
Mike
Yeah.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah.
Mike
My fail of the week dedicated to Roy.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah.
Mike
Another opportunity to shit on the Islanders a little bit. Or their fans, perhaps, as they were owned on social media by Nikita Zadorov. So Zadorov went after Matthew Schaefer.
Ethan
Don't do that.
Roy Bellamy
Don't touch the rookie.
Ethan
Don't touch Matthew Schaefer.
Mike
Schaefer, to his credit, he kind of went in looking for a little bit of trouble. So obviously the Islanders went after him after Zadorov. So did the fans of the Islanders on social media. They flooded his DMs with hate for what he did to Matthew Schaefer. So what does Nikita Zadorov say to them? Get out of my DMs and get to the rink.
Roy Bellamy
Oh.
Mike
Oh.
David Amber
Is that cheer for your team?
Mike
That place was a library tonight.
Ethan
A library.
Roy Bellamy
Wow. Get your ass to the rink and cheer for your team.
Mike
So nice try, Islanders fans, but I think Nikita Zadora. I've got the last laugh, both on Matthew Schaefer and on you.
Roy Bellamy
My failure of the week comes from the Penguins jets game. And David, as a member of the goaltenders union, this is a big no, no. As Arthur Cilox went out to play to Puck. That's your first mistake. Keep your ass in the crease.
Mike
Keep your ass in the crease.
Roy Bellamy
He misplays the puck. It's taken away from him by Kyle Conner. And Cieloffs threw his stick at Conor, which is an automatic penalty shot, and Conor made him pay. It was a nasty Deke. Completely deked him out of his pads. So, yeah, as you say, stay your ass in a. Treece reminded me of.
Mike
The goal that I think Carter Hades scored against Boston in the playoffs a few years ago where Linus Olmark tried to clear the puck and he shot it off the boards, and it literally just went off the boards and went right back to him. And for Haig, he went around and scored. But I do not have a problem with him throwing his stick to try to try to stop a goal.
Roy Bellamy
Well, the league does.
Mike
No, no, it's a penalty, and I.
Roy Bellamy
Think it's a penalty shot. No, it's not a penalty. It's a penalty shot.
Mike
I don't have a problem with that. And you take the penalty shot because.
Roy Bellamy
At least you can stop it.
Mike
Yeah, I don't. I have a problem with playing the Puck. That was a big mistake. I don't have a problem with throwing a stick to try to stop the goal because you do whatever you have to do. You're a goaltender.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah. Ethan, what's your failure?
Ethan
Guys, I don't know if you saw it. We're getting really close to the Olympics and Team Canada released their jerseys for the Olympics. And unfortunately, I am not a fan of this look at all. Let's put this up on the screen here. They went with a black leaf on the red jersey and the black jersey. The black jersey, for whatever reason, the material, it looks like a garbage bag.
Roy Bellamy
No, you know what it looks like? It looks like the gimp suit from that is terrible.
Ethan
It's really, really bad. And the biggest problem here is that they did such a great job. I should have put a picture in. But if you can kind of remember or if you can go on your phone and Google it. The four nations look for Team Canada. This year was so good. They looked so great this year. Oh, what do we got here?
Roy Bellamy
Amino has totally talked about this.
David Amber
You guys are nuts. These.
Ethan
You guys like these?
Michael Ferrante
Fire.
Ethan
No, no, those are. These are fire. These are all.
Roy Bellamy
How do these look good?
David Amber
How?
Ethan
The white is not horrible, but the white. The red stripes are two different logo.
Mike
Looks ridiculous.
Ethan
That black jersey is incredible.
David Amber
The only. The only suggestion I would have made with for the red jersey. The leaf should have been white, right?
Roy Bellamy
Yeah.
Ethan
Or a white outline around it.
Mike
But the black on black, black on black.
David Amber
Oh, I want one.
Ethan
Let me be Canadian.
David Amber
Just so I could get one of those.
Ethan
Their four nations look was so good. They just had to follow the template of the four nations. Let me be Canadian for some other reasons, but also for these jerseys.
Mike
Diverse.
David Amber
A little Olympic patch on the side.
Ethan
The Olympic patch is fired. The Olympic patch is fired. That I can't deny. I can't deny. You know what this show is?
Roy Bellamy
What?
Ethan
Xenophobic.
Roy Bellamy
How?
David Amber
Wow.
Ethan
We love Canada on this show. I mean, I love Canada. I love Montreal.
David Amber
Get out.
Mike
All right.
Roy Bellamy
As I said, that black jersey looks like the gimp suit.
Mike
That's very accurate.
Roy Bellamy
Like, and in those two different red colors on purpose.
Ethan
They had such a good thing going with their four nation look. It was so good, so classic. I don't know why they went away from it.
Roy Bellamy
All right. And I did just spill my water. If you are watching on DKN, you can log on to YouTube.com and watch our next interview. This is Julian McKenzie. He writes hockey. He writes about hockey for the Athletic. Julian McKenzie is coming up next.
Julian McKenzie
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Roy Bellamy
Julie McKenzie writes about hockey for the Athletic. He does an excellent job and he's also written a book that's coming out in February called Black Aces Essential Stories From Hockey's Black Trailblazers. And for that book, he interviewed a lot of people, including Jerome McGinla, Grant Fuhrer, Sarah Nurse, P.K. suban, George Laroque. I like that one. Anson Carter, and Blake Bolden, who's a friend of the show. He interviewed a lot of others. Now, before I get into the book, this idiot in the other studio mentioned Sidney Crosby and Alex.
Ethan
What did I do? I was editing something and I heard this idiot in the other studio.
Roy Bellamy
Like, I was in a good mood. Julia was happy. And then you happened to mention Sidney Crosby. And now my whole, my whole demeanor is gone. And this brings me to something that I wanted to mention in a block. The National Hockey League, who continually stuffs these, this guy Sidney Crosby down our throats for the past 20 years, have done. Has done it again. The NHL PR department, who has a Twitter account, posted this. Cindy Crosby scored his 10th and 11 goals last night. It took him 15 goals to score 10 or more goals with those 15 games. It's the third fewest games to reach double digit goals for a player age 38 or over in any choice.
Mike
You've already lost me. These are getting so specific.
Roy Bellamy
Like, what are we doing here? Stop. Stop. I'm sorry. I just had to get. I had to get that out. All right, back to the book.
Ethan
But your question for Julian was, do these two hate each other?
Roy Bellamy
No, that's not my question. I just want to get off my soapbox. I just wanted to get that out there. So, Julian, what inspired you to write this book?
David Amber
Confused about the hate for greatness of Sidney Crosby?
Ethan
It's, it's, it's a thing. It's been. Since the show existed, since the show.
Roy Bellamy
Existed a lot longer than that.
David Amber
We need to unpack this because, like, as, as a Canadian who, you know, obviously has watched the Crosby vs. Ovechkin battle as long as those two have been in the league, like, I've grown to appreciate the rivalry. The fact that we have guys in the League at their pedestal, who we could pit against each other, who have also had their place in North American sports, mainstream culture. Like, like, like, why. Why are we hating on what we've got going on here? It's like the 99th time these two guys have met, including the playoffs.
Roy Bellamy
No, no, no. This is great. It's not the matchup. It's Sidney Crosby. That's what it is.
David Amber
You just don't like Sid.
Roy Bellamy
I don't like Sidney Crosby.
Ethan
My thing is.
David Amber
So you're just mad about 2010.
Mike
That's.
Ethan
That's exactly what I was just going to say.
David Amber
Yeah.
Ethan
I'm still mad about 2010.
Roy Bellamy
I'm mad about.
Ethan
About 2010.
Roy Bellamy
I'm mad about more than that.
Ethan
I'm still mad about 2010. I'm also mad about the three cups he's won and how they shove them down our throats and stuff. But for me, it all starts and ends.
David Amber
Panther's hat. Of course you have back to back cups.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah, but that just happened.
Ethan
That's something I love.
Roy Bellamy
Listen, like, that's.
Ethan
That's great for you guys and I. I'll be honest. I'll be honest. When he comes down and brings us a third straight.
Roy Bellamy
That's not happening.
David Amber
It's going to be.
Roy Bellamy
That is not happening.
Ethan
Brad Marsh that thought out of your head.
David Amber
You're not getting me in on that. We get enough trouble on that. On the Chris Johnson show with that. Don't do that.
Roy Bellamy
Listen, like, Sidney crosby was drafted 20 years ago beforehand. The National Hockey League stuffed him down. He was the next golden boy. It was almost like he was.
David Amber
He was living up to that promise. What do you want him to do? Not.
Roy Bellamy
I want the league to showcase other players in this league. Not have this guy show up on my TV 18 times a season for no apparent reason. They didn't even make the playoffs last year.
Ethan
Yeah, but they're first place in the east right now.
David Amber
If we want to. If you want to have, like a genuine discussion about this, like.
Roy Bellamy
I don't.
David Amber
I could.
Ethan
That's what you have to understand about Roy.
Mike
Mike has been dropped.
Ethan
That's what you have to understand. He doesn't want to have a genuine conversation. What I want to know is.
Roy Bellamy
No, no, no, no. This leads me back to my original question. What inspired you to write this book? All right.
David Amber
What inspired me to write Black Aces? I just thought it'd be really cool to write a series of profiles on important black hockey players. I was approached with an idea of writing a book in August or September 2020. 3. And the idea came to, just to. Just came to my head. I was, I was in the shower one day and it happened. And then I had the opportunity to approach a couple different NHL players and female hockey players and ask them if they'd be willing to be profiled. And that's what led to Black Aces being a thing. Getting an opportunity to speak to Jaromeginla about his career and talking to other people about Jaro McGinla and his career. Like Sidney Crosby, sorry to tell you.
Roy Bellamy
Come on, man.
Mike
Any excuse to drop his name? Good grief.
David Amber
No, no, but seriously, to get the opportunity to write that book and to write these profiles and to get other people to speak about their legacies and all these other different stories about them, I wasn't sure if we had ever seen like, a project of, of that size. We've seen other books where, you know, maybe two or three players might get profiled, but I think we've reached a point in the league where black people. There's. There's been so many great players who have come over the last how many decades and have made an impact. It was just cool to have that opportunity to write about them. And even if, you know, not every single player is, is mentioned in this book, I've had people for the last, how many weeks say, like, oh, was this guy in it? Is this guy in it? Is this guy in it? I still hope people get something out of the, the people I profiled. And, and that's, and I know you mentioned some of the names off top, but I hope people enjoy stories from, from guys like Tony McKegnie, Blake Bolden, I know is mentioned, but Kelsey Koestler is someone else. I, I think people will be really interested in learning about or Dante Abercrombie, who's in charge of, of a hockey program at an hbcu. I hope people enjoy those stories too.
Roy Bellamy
Not giving the book away, but you talked to all these people. What was a particular story that you believe would be eye opening?
David Amber
I hope people who aren't familiar with Herb Carnegie take something away from that chapter. For those who are not familiar, people regard Herb Carnegie as arguably the best black hockey player to never make it to the NHL. And yeah, there were opportunities, so to speak, but I think once you read the book and you understand further context, you'll know why ultimately his dream didn't happen. But I think the story that resonates, that resonate with me the most. There's a story where he was, I want to say he was really young. He was in his teenage years and he was playing for a local team that happened to be practicing one day at, at the Toronto Gardens. And the Maple Leafs were playing there at the time. And Con Smythe, who at the time ruled everything with the Tron Maple Leafs, he's watching from a distance. He's watching Herb and his teammates practice. And the story goes that Con Spyth got an assistant coach to talk to Herb and tell him that if, if the, if the Leafs could find a way to turn Herb Carnegie white, they'd find a way to put him on their team tomorrow. Like, that's a really messed up story to hear. And while doing research for the story, I came across an interview that Elliot Friedman from Sportsnet did with Herb Carnegie where he's talking to him about obviously his life in the game of hockey, his career over the last how many decades. And when they discuss that moment where Herb is being told by that coach about the story I just told you, he, he gets emotional. He almost kind of lashes back and he full on breaks down in this interview. So I really wanted to talk to Elliot about what had happened. And he was just so shocked about being in there, being there for that moment, and obviously feeling emotional. And I hope that, you know, people read that story and get an understanding of how good Herb Carnegie was. I mean, the name of the book is Black Aces. And I thought if, if I were, if I were to do that book and not have Herb Carnegie, who was considered a black ace when he played on an all black line while playing semi pro hockey up in Quebec, like what are we doing here? Right? So I felt it was really important to highlight his story. And I'm especially happy not only that his story is in there, but the way that chapter ends where you're highlighting all of these other different firsts from black hockey players, it meant a lot to write that chapter.
Roy Bellamy
Man, that is a backhanded compliment. And that backhand literally slapped him in the face. That's terrible.
Mike
It's hard to hear. Julian, the names of the people that you spoke to, you talked about Herb Carnegie. Roy mentioned a bunch of more present guys, drummed yellow PK, Suban, Grand Fury, obviously 80s. So I'm, what I'm framing is you talk to a lot of different people from a lot of different generations, right. Did you notice like the storyline, the experiences improving as we got more current with players, or has it been more of like a steady pace of just unfortunate? And I'm having trouble just like coming up with the right words, but like did the way that the players of color were treated evolve as you spoke to people from newer generations, or has it been kind of a straight line of not good?
David Amber
I would say that there's definitely some sort of evolution. I would, I would. The biggest thing, I would, I would think with some of the younger, newer generation players, like, even someone like PK Suban, for example, who, like, I consider that as, like my era, when I was still a fan of a team that was a player, I was like, yeah, like, I want to be like that guy PK Suban when he enters the league. There are players who look like him that he could look at and be like, yeah, like, I'd love to be like, for an example, Kevin Weeks, he was at his camp once upon a time. Right. Or other guys who came up from. From Toronto or Scarborough or any of those neighboring areas, he could always look at for examples. When you think of guys like Jerome McGinla or Grant Fear, there were fewer examples of black hockey players like Drum. McGinley specifically had mentioned a few times that, you know, there would be people who would come up to him and be like, yeah, you want to play, but like, there's no black hockey players. Like, what are you, what are you doing? Right. Like, I think the most interesting thing is seeing the younger generation of players enter the league or want to play hockey, but they know that there are other examples that they could look at. Like Sarah Nurse, like, looked at George Laroque as an example. Like, she's someone like, oh, yeah, wow. Like, that's someone I could play as in NHL video games. But also even to bring it to the women's side too. Like, I also have to mention, like, Angela James is also in this book.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah.
David Amber
Now, this is someone who I needed to have profiled. This is someone I was not able to talk to directly, but I was still able to get some. So many people to speak about her legacy, but we're talking about someone who was arguably the best at her sport at a time when you could barely watch it on. On television. And for someone like Sarah Nurse, they would have loved to have known.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah. Who.
David Amber
Who she was like, as. As a player. It took them years after the fact to realize who they were, but they were still able to watch women's hockey on TV during the O2 Olympics when that started to become more and more of a thing. Right. Like I would say, and maybe this is a long winded way of answering the question, but I think the biggest, the biggest thing to point out in the evolution of older players to Younger players, it's their influences and players who came before them, the examples set before them. There's a lot more of that in some of the younger players compared to some of the older players profiled.
Ethan
All right, Julian, big question here. The book is called Black Aces. There's a very prominent black ace on NHL television right now. Did you talk to Anson Carter about whether he gave himself the nickname Ace?
David Amber
So. So I'll tell you this. When I initially interviewed Anson, we talked about a lot of different things, and the nickname did not come up. But someone. Someone tweeted at me, like, hey, you should get the nickname in. And I thought, well, you know what? It would be cool to see if we can get the nickname there. Not as maybe. I mean, maybe it's a spoiler, maybe it isn't. It's not that. It's not that elaborate of a story. But it is mentioned very briefly how the nickname Ace came to be for. For Ansell Garner.
Ethan
I'm hanging on the edge of my seat right now. Did he give it to himself?
David Amber
I think you got to read the.
Roy Bellamy
Book to figure out.
Ethan
I will read the book. Absolutely.
David Amber
Absolutely. I'm gonna let that hang.
Ethan
John Cooper. John Cooper. Calling him out the other night was really funny. That made me think of it. That made me think of it.
David Amber
That was so good.
Roy Bellamy
At last check, there's about 7% of players of color in the National Hockey League right now. What feels like just above 50 players. What. We're looking at this at a grassroots depth here. What are some suggestions that you might have for the game to grow to bump that number up?
David Amber
I. You have to find ways to make the sport more accessible. I mean, I think that's a pretty easy place to start. You look at other sports like basketball and soccer, you don't need nearly as much to. To get into those sports in terms of an entry cost. And also, if we're talking about black people getting into those sports, it gets so much easier for black people to see themselves in the NBA or to see themselves playing soccer, even. Even Major League Baseball to a certain degree, just in terms of. Just the players that they've seen come before them. But also the. The cost. Like in. In Canada, there was a point. I don't know if it's still the case. It might still be the case where, like, you could spend as much putting your kid through hockey compared to, like, if you wanted to put them through, like, equestrian or horse jumping, like, these. Like, hockey is seen. It's. It's obviously. It's obviously seen as the sport in Canada. But there's so much that goes into buying equipment and, and, and putting them into registration for certain programs. And if your kid is really good, are you putting them in a high level training program year round or, or different parts of the year? Are you letting them, you know, pursue their opportunities to go play major junior or pursue the collegiate route? Like there's so much that goes into putting your kid into hockey that, you know, just you, you get priced out if you are not a family that could afford that type of lifestyle. Like even hanging around in NHL locker rooms where sometimes I'll talk to players and sometimes you'll hear them discuss like the cost of putting their kids into hockey and buying stuff for them. Like it's not cheap. Like I get it if you make a certain amount of money, like you're not thinking about it that much, but like if you're on like close to a vet min, you're thinking about it a lot more, right? Like making 751 mil, like you're thinking about that a lot more. Even the fact that we're at that point is really surprising to me. But I think the fact that there are initiatives where you think of people like the Hockey Diversity alliance that are trying to make it a little bit more accessible for, for, for people of color to get into the game. Obviously there's the player coalition that the NHL started as well. They're trying to do their work too. I think it's a combination of making the game affordable but also accessible and having players of color, having people of color see people who look like them, who are playing the sport and letting them know that there's a possibility where that culture can actually accept them. Which brings us to a whole other thing about just the discussion of hockey culture as it is, right? Where there's a lot of gatekeeping, unfortunately, there's a lot of discrimination still that persists. And it doesn't make a certain space like hockey all that welcoming for, for people who look like you and I, Roy. So I think a lot of that has to change. It's a lot of systemic changes that.
Mike
Have to happen in terms of growing the game. Building off what you were just saying, how much do you think it helps that not just there are players that look like you on the ice, but when young fans are tuning in to watch on tv, they see guys like Anson Carter breaking things down. They can go on to social media and see a Kevin Weeks breaking the biggest stories in hockey. So you would think that that would also help Kind of open the game up for a lot of people, not just the ones that are playing.
David Amber
Absolutely. And if you are someone who recognizes from a young age that you might not want to, or you might not want to, or you might not feel you're able to play hockey at a high level, the fact that you're able to see a David Amber on, on sportsnet or Hockey Night in Canada, a PK Suban on espn, or Anson Carter, as you mentioned earlier, or even if you look at more like regional broadcasts.
Roy Bellamy
Right.
David Amber
Like Devonte Smith. Pelley's done a lot of stuff on regional broadcasts, for example. Or Jean Compared has done work for the Columbus Blue Jackets, for example. Or back in Montreal, George Lacque hosts his own radio show and talks about hockey. Yeah, like, it's, it's so many different guys who have made their names in that space as black hockey players who have found ways into the media space. And I think that could totally resonate with, with young people who, you know, if they don't see themselves playing, maybe an opportunity to cover the sport as another way in. And I'll go one step further. You know, Mike Greer as, as GM of an NHL team, I, I've always been the belief where, yes, it's good when you get people who are featured on air or on ice in this instance, but if you get more people who work behind the scenes, that is a huge key. So seeing a guy like Mike Greer rise up to become a GM of the San Jose Sharks, seeing someone like Brett Peterson become an AGM with the Florida Panthers after being a player agent, or Eustace King, who's a player agent, or John Osetutu, another player agent. Like, it's not just black hockey players or black referees. You got to mention black referees, too. Like, oh, yeah, the impact of black people on the sport of hockey, it's. It's there, it's. It's apparent. And it shouldn't be something that people have to go sifting through and looking for. It shouldn't just be a thing where, you know, if black people decide we're going to go to a hockey game and we watch a game, we're just like, man, it's just these white boys fighting each other. No, there's. We exist, we're in this sport. There's a presence of us. It shouldn't. And the more that's shown at the forefront, the less of a surprise that is for everybody.
Roy Bellamy
I was going to mention the executive level with Brett Peterson being the assistant GM with the Panthers and the GM of USA Hockey, with Mike Greer being the GM at San Jose, with Kim Davis being the executive vice president in the league office. And there's this one. There's the Boyd family doctor. Joel Boyd is the Wild team physician. His entire family's in this sport. His daughter Kendall. By the way, Seattle, probably the most progressive team that we have in this league. Yeah. Kendall is the senior vice president of finance with the Kraken. Kyle Boyd is Seattle's senior director of fan development. And Casey Boyd also coaches youth hockey in Seattle. So my original question was going to be, do you believe there's going to be an uptick of people in color in the executive branches in the NHL and its member clubs?
David Amber
I think the fact that we have presences already, I wouldn't be surprised, right? Whether with executives or even behind the bench, we've seen guys, we've seen an influx in talented black people make their way in those realms. I definitely think we're going to see an uptick. How big of an uptick? That's a different question. Whether slow, though, or fast or however, whatever pace we go at here, I think the fact that there is going to be something to look at in terms of progress is still significant. Like how long until we talk about Joel Ward as a viable head coaching candidate? Right. An assistant right now at the Vegas Golden Knights. That's someone who could easily be in line for a job if an opportunity opens up, whether through expansion down the road or some other opportunity opens up. I mean, we know how to how few and far between these coaching jobs are and how long the lifespan is for certain people. But I think we're definitely going to see some sort of uptick, whether it's a slow burn or maybe it's at a different pace. And that has everything to do with the people who are in place, but also the path that it takes for people to get there. Think of guys like Dante Abercrombie, as I mentioned before, working at Tennessee State, who got to work with a guy like Graham Townsend, who worked as an assistant coach for the Lakes, as a skating coach. Like the fact that a path is laid out for certain people, expect more people to take that path.
Roy Bellamy
And finally, is there a moment in time in the National Hockey League where you can point to that? You can really say that hockey is really, quote, unquote, for everyone? Or has that feeling not happened yet?
David Amber
That's a good question. I think there are moments, small moments, where people of color can look at the game and maybe feel a little relieved and say, hey, you know What? Maybe that is a good moment, but I think there's still so much to go. There's still so many ways to go, right? Like, I think of a guy like Jabril Toure who during a. During a preseason game with the Ottawa Senators in the rookie tournament, you know, he gets into a fight with a couple guys on the Leafs, his helmet comes off and a durag is on his head, right? Like, that's not something we're used to seeing and to see people be pleasantly surprised. Like, I remember talking about it with George Larocque and Devonte Smith Pelley about it. They were pleasantly surprised at the reaction that people had where it was overwhelmingly positive. And of course there were negative comments to come. That's the next step in all this. Like, we have to find a way to see fewer and fewer moments like that. But I think the fact that we're seeing more and more people, at least it feels like that to me. We're seeing more and more people be open to that type of progression. That leads me to think that maybe we're starting to get to a better place. But there's still so many ways to go in terms of the sport being truly for everybody. And I think it's cool that there are people actively working to make that happen.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah. And this brings a memory for me. It wasn't not 30 years ago when for the first time ever, I saw. And this is when Anson Carter grew his hair and George Larocque were in dreads. Never seen that in that sport before and I'm sure nobody else has.
David Amber
That's. That's like seeing stuff like that. It matters to people. And, you know, people get on and say, like, oh, well, why do people care so much about representation and blah, blah, blah, whatever. But like, that stuff matters. If you see it, you can believe it, right? Like, I'm sure you've heard that before. Like, that's something that matters to people. And like, you think I think of answer Carter. You mentioned Anson Carter dreads. I think of him at the 03 World Championship, scoring that overtime game winning goal for Canada beating Sweden. Like that to me is a hockey moment that I will remember forever. I was at my grandmother's house. She has a tv. She had a TV upstairs. I was watching that alone. The review was super long. Like 10, 15 minutes. Like, I think it's the longest review that's ever been done for a goal like that. But like, the, the speed, the wraparound, everything like that is a moment that sticks in my brain. And one of the most vivid things I remember is Anson Carter celebrating and his dreads just like flowing. Like stuff like that matters, I think, to a lot of people and it should matter.
Mike
That kind of leads me to the last thing I wanted to ask you about because we've been talking so much about growing the game and influencing young people. How did you get into the game of hockey? Because you're obviously extremely passionate about it and you have a wide, a vast wide majority or knowledge of the game. How did you get into it? Julian?
David Amber
I'm from Montreal originally, and that's a city that considers hockey religion. You know, you go to school like growing up as a kid in elementary school, all your friends are talking about hockey. You turn on the tv even if you don't have cable, hockey is on. Like, I watched a lot of hockey on, on cbc. Being in Montreal was super weird because in, in the early days when if you were trying to watch on a certain channel in English because obviously Montreal, Quebec is super French. For whatever reason, they weren't going to show a lot of Canadians games. They showed you a lot of Toronto and Ottawa games. So I watched a lot of that growing up. But if I wanted to watch the Montreal Canadians, I'd have to watch in French. And as I got older and I continued to learn the French language more, I watched a lot of, of of French language broadcasts where you'd watch the Canadians and that's how a lot of people, a lot of Anglophones who, you know, who happen to live in Quebec, who might not know the language as well. That's an easy way for them to learn how to speak French. Like, that helped me out a lot with, with learning how to speak French as a kid. So I, I think a lot of that had to do with my upbringing. The fact that hockey matters so much in the home city I'm from and the fact that, I don't know, just, I embraced it for what it was because everyone around me embraced it. And even like, even if my family members were not always the most like, devout hockey fans like my dad and I will, we will watch hockey on TV sometimes together. My grandfather, he immigrated to Canada from Jamaica and he ended up being a Boston Bruins fan. Like, he didn't see himself in the Munchrock and AIDS fan base. He saw himself as a Bruins fan. Like, hockey has just always been a big part of my life and it has given me so much as a, as a journalist and a soon to be author. So yeah, I've just, it's just always been a big part of the video games. I'd even mentioned all the NHL video games I play as a kid. Like it's just been such a big part of my life growing up. So yeah, it's just, I think. I think it had a lot to do with everything I was exposed to growing up.
Roy Bellamy
Black Aces Essential Stories from Hockey's Black Trailblazers that comes out in February. So please go and get Julian's book. It is going to be a good read for everybody. Julian McKenzie from the Athletic, thank you for joining us.
David Amber
Roy David, thank you so much for your time.
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Roy Bellamy
All right, it's time for the Panthers then. The panthers, since they're 43 winning shootout at home against the Dallas Stars, went on the road. They have a four game road trip and they have completed two of those games. They lost to Anaheim 7 to 3 and last night defeated the Kings 5 to 2. They play the Sharks tomorrow and they play at Vegas on Monday before coming back home to have a five game homestand starting Thursday, November 13th. And they have what, 11 of 12 games at home. Once they get back, there's a little pesky trip to Nashville in the middle.
Mike
4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. That's right.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah.
Ethan
The home schedule is loaded in the first in the first half of the season before the Olympic break. If you look at the home schedule after the Olympic break, the Panthers don't have a Saturday home game like after, like January 31st, I'm pretty sure, which is crazy to me. Their, their schedule is really light at home in the back half of the season, so it's good to load up on home points. And their road form has been tough. I mean, they got the win last night against the Kings, but that got them to two and five on the road so far.
Roy Bellamy
Not two five and one.
Ethan
Two five and one.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah.
Mike
The last home Saturday game is January 31st. That's really weird.
Ethan
That's what I'm saying.
Mike
Really?
Ethan
Yeah.
David Amber
You know what that means?
Roy Bellamy
More time with the family. No more Saturday night games. But yeah, they went into this Kings game coming off of a very poor effort.
Ethan
Yeah, I was going to say let's.
Roy Bellamy
In the third period. In the third period against the Ducks, a very, very poor effort. They hung with them for the first two periods and then the wheels just fell off. I mean. But it didn't feel like a Panther game though. It didn't.
Mike
It was too much of a rush back and forth like that's not the game they want to play.
Roy Bellamy
No. Could have got the A had a hat trick and an assist. He had a four point night, but Leo Carson, who had two assists hit to the head had a of. Evan Rodriguez had a match penalty for interference and a game of conduct. Two goals in the second came within a minute 43. And the three goals in the third period happened within three minutes and four seconds. It was just a, just a bad effort. Except Brad Marshon and Sam Reinhart, who have been true to form so far.
Mike
Martian's carrying the team, man, like his, his offense has been so good.
Ethan
Yeah, they needed a finisher and he has been the finisher so far because Carter Verhege struggling to hit the back of the net. Reinhardt's finally getting going after a bit of a slow start. I think he had two in his first eight. He's got, I think six straight games with a goal or something like that. Maybe five straight games with a goal. But Marcin has been the guy from the beginning, from the beginning that has just been finishing all of his chances. He had another snipe last night on a breakaway. He's just been awesome. And at 37 years old, I don't think any of us expected certain. I mean, look, coming into the year, right, we thought, well, it would be Barkov and Kachuk and they don't have either of them. But he has been the guy that has stepped up in that, in that gap and he's been phenomenal so far.
Mike
Just thinking in terms of 37 year old duos in the NHL, the Panthers have Brad Marchand and Sergey Bobrovsky, two, arguably two hall of Famers. Is there a better senior duo in the league anywhere on this?
David Amber
Currently?
Roy Bellamy
No.
Mike
It'd be hard to imagine Crosby and.
Roy Bellamy
Don'T shut the hell up.
Mike
And to answer your question, Rhino has got goals in five of six. Marchand has points in six straight and he's got six goals during his run.
Ethan
Sam Reinhardt's a Cy Young candidate right now. He's 71 so far. He's got seven goals to his one assist. He is the Cy Young candidate early in the year, but he's been awesome. I mean, his defensive work is always going to be so strong. Now he's finally getting it going with the, you know, the offense. And last night, guys, you know where the Panthers took the Kings in the third period?
Mike
God, thank you.
Ethan
Finally. It hadn't happened. Their record is now 3:0 when leading in the third period, but it feels like they haven't gone to shut down City at all this year. But last night was prime shut down City. Not only do they get the two goals, but it just felt like the Kings never threatened in that third period. They had maybe one or two chances and Bob was phenomenal last season.
Mike
Well, the power plays had me concerned. They couldn't stay out of the penalty box a little bit. But Then Anton Lundell shut us all up with that shorthanded goal to give him the two goal lead in the third period. But that's probably as they continue on this trip. The thing that they got to clean up is the penalties.
Ethan
Yeah, yeah.
Roy Bellamy
The penalty kill is in the latter third right now in the NHL. It hasn't been good lately. They allowed a power play goal last night to the Kings, but they did get a shorthanded goal from Anton Lundell.
Mike
Yeah, and the two big kills late, so, you know, ride that momentum.
Ethan
Here's one concern I have as well as watching last night. The Panthers have one goal from a defenseman so far this year. And I think it has a lot to do with Barkov missing because they're not trying to pinch in as much because they have to do a little more defensive cover because they don't have Barky back to help them. And look what happened. That Mikey Anderson pass that split Gustav Forsling and Aaron Ekblad and led to the Corey Perry breakaway. Like that's not a pass. That happens against the Florida Panthers very often. That was all the way up the ice from the, I think from the goal line to the, to the far blue line. That was amazing.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah, it was from the face off circle to near the blue line. Corey Perry caught that stretch pass. It just. What are we doing?
Mike
That guy hates the Florida Panthers. Did you see him fighting at the end of the. He was going at it with me. Career in the game. Then he got career at the end of the game. Yeah, that guy, he hates the Florida Panthers like so much.
Ethan
And they hate him and they hate him.
Mike
I don't think they care. I think just like with anybody else, they just laugh. It's like, oh, you're mad.
Roy Bellamy
Okay, two more road games for the Panthers before they return home. The Panthers are five one and one at home.
Mike
You know, they better win on Saturday. Dude, I'm sorry, but they're getting San Jose. San Jose will be on the second end of a back to back. Florida will be rested. Florida will be hungry.
Roy Bellamy
Better than what we. We thought. I know that Sanabrini is that kid's amazing side for points right now.
Ethan
He leads the NHL in points, right? Or did Crosby pass him with his two goals last night?
Commercial Announcer
He's.
Ethan
He's right at the top of the leaderboard.
Mike
Celebrity and McDavid tied at the top of the lead with 21 points a piece. And then there's like six gu right behind him with 20 points.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah. So that's what the Panthers have to look forward to against the Sharks before they go to Vegas and ending this road trip. Thank God. All right, for Gino and Jason, for Ethan and for David, we'd like to thank Julian Mackenzie for joining us as well. Rosie, miss you. Please be able to get back home because right now there are air traffic control, there's an air traffic controller shortage and it's going to be tough getting home. So please, for the love of God.
Ethan
Yeah, they told me so maybe I.
David Amber
Will not get home.
Mike
Just drive. You know, North Carolina's not that far away.
Roy Bellamy
Yeah, I get. Yeah, just drive, rent a car and drive home.
David Amber
Just get back if you have to.
Roy Bellamy
If, if you have to. My name is Roy Bellamy. This has been the Hockey show. We will see you next week, everybody. Thank you for joining us.
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David Amber
Cuervo. Anytime someone says Cuervo, I show up.
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David Amber
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Ethan
Cuervo.
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Roy Bellamy
Cuervo.
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Cuervo, the tequila that invented tequila. Proximo Cuervo.com Please drink response to play Cuervo what's chat about Miller Lite? That's right. Football season is in high gear. The leaves are turning. That means these football games have more consequence. That means you'll be tense. You want to enjoy these games. Well, enjoy these games like I enjoy these games with a Miller Lite by my side. It makes tailgating better. It makes catching up with friends easier. Game day just hits different with a Miller Lite in your hand. From jaw dropping touchdowns to fantasy heartbreaks, it's a beer that has been there for every moment. 50 years of great taste. Simple ingredients in that iconic golden color that you can spot from across the room. Look at that beauty. And here's the kicker. It's just 96 calories, 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. The original light beer since 1975 and still hitting five decades later. So whatever your game day looks like, remember Miller time is always a good time. Miller Lite, great taste. 96 calories. Go to millerlight.com dan to find delivery options near you. Or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Co. Milwaukee, Wisconsin 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.
Date: November 7, 2025
Hosts: Roy Bellamy (main lead), David Amber, Ethan, Mike, Lucy Rodin (& cameo by Julian McKenzie)
Broadcasting from the Elser Hotel in Downtown Miami, the Hockey Show crew returns with a lively, comedic, and informative take on the latest hockey storylines, mixing sharp insights and irreverent banter. This week, Shutdown City is “Back,” as the panel dissects NHL hijinks, mascot madness, strange in-game distractions, goaltending surprises, and a powerful interview with Julian McKenzie about Black trailblazers in hockey.
(00:35–06:00)
(06:19–09:50)
(12:38–14:18)
(14:31–16:34)
(16:34–18:19)
(19:21–20:37)
(21:14–30:19)
Wins:
Fails:
(31:52–56:05)
Memorable Moment:
(60:50–67:14)
The Hockey Show balances sharp analysis with familiar “insider” banter, often veering into comedic tangents and running jokes (like Canada’s obsessions, mascot antics, or Crosby overload).
The Julian McKenzie interview carries a more serious and thoughtful tone, engaging deeply with issues of race, accessibility, and representation in hockey culture.
This episode encapsulates the Hockey Show’s signature blend: breaking news, stats, irreverent group chat energy, and real talk about the evolving face of hockey. If you want to catch up on current hockey storylines, pop-culture crossovers, and why Gritty might be the sport’s greatest performance artist—all while learning about the fight for diversity in the NHL—this is essential listening.