32 Thoughts: The Podcast - A First-Class Gesture

Episode Date: April 26, 2021

Players from the Toronto Maple Leafs recently extended a helping hand to their AHL teammates. Jeff and Elliotte discuss Jason Spezza’s leadership in wanting to financially help his Marlies teammates and if we could see him in a managerial role in Toronto a few years from now. They also chat about the playoff race in […]

leave all the outtakes in Amal leave all the outtakes in Elliot something that I want to say here publicly on behalf of myself and Amal Delich as well it's been a challenging year for all of us and that includes us here at this podcast and just on behalf of me and Amal we want to thank you publicly for shaving off part of your paycheck and sending it our way and channeling that spirit was Jason Spezza and the Toronto Maple Leafs carving off a couple of checks

for their brothers with the Toronto Marlies you two should be paying me yeah for all the Tylenol you have to buy from putting up with our group schedules. That was a nice way to end headlines, I thought, by the way.

And a real nice feel-good story. I don't know who wanted to get out or who didn't want it to get out. I know people like to keep charity sometimes very private. And I get that too. But that's a real- I'm like that.

I kind of wrestled with the story a little bit because anything that I might or might not do, I don't like to tell anybody. I get that, but I'm of two minds of it because if it can encourage other people to be generous and to be charitable, then I think it's a good thing. But I understand if people want to keep it private, I completely understand that. Actually, maybe on another podcast, I'll tell you a certain Maple Leaf story about charity charity with my old baseball coach from High Park Little League. But for the purposes of this podcast, Jason Spezza leading the initiative, encouraging Toronto Maple Leafs players to help the guys in the American League that, you know, aren't rocking seven digit paychecks this year. I don't know how much I can add to it, Jeff, simply because there were a lot of people who didn't make it easy to nail it down, which I respect. It goes back to everything you just

talked about there. I heard about it in the middle of last week and I reached out to some people about it and people were very, very quiet. And, you know, finally someone was willing to give me a couple of details and say, okay, here's the basics of what you need to know, although you're not getting more than that. And so I basically went to air with just about everything I knew. just about everything I knew. And if you look at the American Hockey League this year, the deal between the league and the players was 48% with a minimum of $30,000. And it's hard. Look, everybody out there knows how challenging this has been. These leagues, especially the minor leagues,

are getting buckled. And the bottom line is it would have been a lot easier simply to say we're not playing, but people wanted to play and the teams as much as they could want it to go. So I don't think there's a villain here. I just think it's an enormous challenge. And, you know, from what I heard, Spezza went to a few of the Maple Leafs and they talked about it and they pooled some money. Now, you know, the players weren't made whole, but I don't even think that's the point. The point is that you live in a city like Toronto, it's expensive,

it's a big challenge. And I know that the Marlies really appreciated that the Maple Leafs did this. What they were able to get will certainly make a big difference. And I think that's enormous. Charity starts at home and it was in the organization. There is one very specific way to move this story along. And I want to get to that in a second. But I do wonder now that this story is public, now the story is out there,

I wonder how much pressure, if any, maybe there's none, there is on other NHL teams slash players to do same, if not similar, if not identical with their American Hockey League players. I thought about that. And do you remember the year that John Scott was the MVP of the All-star game in Nashville, right? No,

very. No, I don't think I don't have any recollections of that at all. Elliot. I don't know what you're talking about. And NHL, I had nothing to do with it. That's right.

I totally forgot about that. Now that's fine. I almost lost my job over that Elliot. I thought I was anyway. I'm always, I'm always happy to bring up good memories. So the MVP was Scott. And one of the players on his team was Johnny Goodrow.

And so Goodrow, like remember that season, all of the players who were on the winning team, I think they won about $90,000. And there was one player, and I won't say who it was, on the team said, if you you interview me ask me what i'm going to do with the money because he had a specific charity that he wanted me to throw him a belt high fastball so he could whack it into the fifth deck and right throw out his charity and i was like sure no problem well that player didn't win but i interviewed uh good row and i was like

you know what maybe like i should have set it up with them in advance but I put him in a bad spot like if it if I could do it over again I wouldn't have asked him the question but so it aired and he looked a bit surprised as if I nothing you know and again I'm not criticizing Johnny Goudreau it's just that he probably just wasn't thinking about it and I got hammered on Twitter and people were like, how dare you put them on the spot like that? And that's not fair. And, you know, I thought it was right. I thought it was a fair critique. If you're going to do that, you should probably set it up in advance.

So I kind of look at that as nobody should feel shame if they don't do it. I hope maybe it inspires some other teams to think of something that they can do, but I don't believe others should be shamed. And that's one of the things I'm always wary about Twitter is that when someone says something or puts something out there, other people get shamed into, well, why aren't you doing this?

And I don't think that's what it should be about. See, the one area of this story outside of the actual story that you talked about on headlines on hockey night on saturday where you can sort of speculate on what's next or what does this mean or draw more information slash conversation out of this is about jason spezza himself yeah i mean how many times have we talked about jason spezza and if he wants coach, there's a good coach there. If he wants to manage, there's a real sharp mind there. Like when the news came out that it was Spezza who went around sort of hat in hand and said, hey guys, with who Jason Spezza A is and B might want to be later on in hockey. I don't know that that's necessarily a move that someone makes when they're thinking, I'm getting out. To me, that's a move that someone makes when they're saying to themselves and maybe everybody around that room in the entire hockey world that I'm staying.

Whether I'm playing, I'm still staying. That I'm still going to be here. Oh, I always believed that he was going to do that anyway. I believe that. You know what it says to me? It's that, you know, when you're a star, you'll remember better than me. How old was Jason Spatza when he showed up on the road? Oh, man.

His first year OHL. 15, right? 15 years old. And everywhere he went, he was... But he was on the radar in the hockey world before that. Even before that, getting into the OHL, that was the kid that everybody was drooling about. So here's my thing, Jeff.

How many child superstars do we know, whether they're an athlete or they're an actor or they're a musician or whatever, just somebody who explodes into the mainstream at a young age. And how many of them get corrupted or cynical or everything that you go through as you try to grapple with being that big that soon right yeah and so here's jason spezza now all these years later and you learn that he's still he's 37 he'll be 38 in june you're reminded that he's still a good person. The fame and the money and the success, I know he hasn't won a Stanley Cup, but that doesn't mean he hasn't been successful.

He's incredibly successful. It hasn't changed him. What that says to me is that he should be proud and his family should be proud, especially his parents, that this is 25 years after he first came into the mainstream that he's still at heart a very good person. Yeah.

To me, that's incredibly successful and rewarding considering how many people we've seen who were stars at age 13 or younger and everything they've had to go through. I just think that this is a guy that, and this is such a douchey term, an on-brand move. Yeah. You know, for, for Jason Spezza, like nobody was shocked that this was a Spezza move. No one's shocked. Okay. Well, that it all sort of makes sense.

And if you're Kyle Dubas, if you are Brendan Shanahan, if you're, you know, anyone in Leafs management, how do you not look at that and say, I'm not trying to wind up this guy's career. This guy can still play hockey as we can see. But when you look at where this person's head is at, not just with himself or his team, but the guys in the American Hockey League affiliate. himself or his team, but the guys in the American Hockey League affiliate, don't you look at that and you say, whenever his career is done, we got to figure out a place for Jason Spezza? I don't know why anybody would think for a sec that isn't going to happen. You don't bring a guy at age 35 and sign him to back-to-back one-year for in his hometown where he lives without an eye for this is going to be a lasting relationship at this point i'd be more shocked if he wasn't part of the organization when he retired it's a great point uh for that we'll kick off the podcast coming up a little bit later

on gil corto you want to stick around for this interview. Really fascinating guy. He is the commissioner of the QMJHL, a junior league, for those that don't know, in Canada that have actually gone through a regular season and will conclude their playoffs. Fingers crossed, but it's looking good. With that, we kick it off. Welcome to 31 Thoughts to Podcast, presented by the GMC Sierra 1840. He shoots and scores! The big man, Milan Lucic, puts the puck on net. It appeared to change direction between going through the paths of Caden Primo. And the Flames take a 2-1 lead.

Centers it. Gaudreau scores! What a pass by Andrew Mangiapane. and what a goal by Johnny Gaudreau! Ryan busting in, Setters, and Richie scores! Second goal of the game for the Flames, fourth line, and they've got a 4-2 lead. Two wins down, one win to go in this must-sweet three-game miniseries versus the Canadians. In less than 24 hours, the Flames have gone from being eight points out of the fourth and final playoff spot in the Scotia North Division to four points out of fourth in the North. They won 4-2 last night. Four points out of fourth in the North.

They won 4-2 last night. They win 5-2 tonight, setting up a huge game against the Habs on Monday night. Welcome once again to 31 Facts, the podcast. Thanks so much for the download, for the attention, making us part of your day slash week. Tonight, if you're listening to this podcast as it drops on Monday, huge game between the Calgary Flames and the Montreal Canadiens. Calgary's just won a pair over the Montreal Canadiens. That's the team they are chasing for that fourth and final playoff spot in the Scotia North.

Montreal cannot seem to score goals right now. It's been a challenge lately for the Habs. One of the questions is, can Calgary really do this? And the second question is, how did Montreal get themselves into a spot where, as Chris Johnston was talking about on headlines on Saturday, they can't right now bring in Cole Caulfield to give himself a look.

Here's someone that's scored at every single level. How did they find themselves in this situation after piling up all these hockey bodies, going back to the moment their bubble burst against Philadelphia and Marc Bergevin went to work almost immediately. First of all, I'm as excited for this Calgary-Montreal game as I've been excited for any game all year. The lead could be down to two points, Elliot.

And Montreal still will have the one game in hand, but they're going to be coming across the country and the Leafs are going to be sitting there waiting for them on Wednesday. This is a huge, huge, huge game. What I'm curious about is what happened around the trade deadline? They've never admitted the Tony D'Angelo thing, but I believe it. They were hoping to get Tony D'Angelo. They put Victor Mete on waivers. They trade for Gustafson. They definitely had something going with Tony D'Angelo who would not agree to terminate his contract.

So that fell apart. I've wondered about this too. And here's how I look at it. Yeah. They waived Mete thinking they were getting D'Angelo. Or something else. And then the D'angelo thing didn't happen yes mette got claimed by ottawa and that's when they went to philadelphia to get gustafson yes and then they moved a couple of their defensemen because the thing that everybody has to remember is after the deadline you only get four call-ups. So you waive Mete, you trade for Gustafson,

and you know that he has to go through a quarantine so you don't have him right away. And he used two of the call-ups. Three, actually. Three of them right out. Well, two of them on D. Alexander Romanov and Xavier Ouellette on D. And Paul Byron was called up as a forward.

Correct. So you only have one call-up left that isn't an emergency. Yeah. Now, the other thing that happens here, because of Caulfield's salary structure and Primo's, Caden Primo's salary structure, you can't have them on the roster at the same time. So the only way, even in an emergency, and they could be in one again because Tatar is hurt, the only way they can put Caulfield on

is if Lindgren backs up Jake Allen or starts. Primo can't be on the roster, the game roster with Caulfield there. Like, I really hate sometimes looking at things in 2020 hindsight. I have a rule. My rule is if I'm going to look back at things in 2020, I have to say, okay, here's what I would have said at the time, and that sticks.

The one thing I would have done, and I said it then, and I feel now with Montreal is I would have just said Mete's got to stay this year because he was making not a ton of money 700k yeah and number two he could play in a pinch instead of doing those three roster moves or two on D that they had to move. I remember saying at the time, if there's one thing that I would do, if I was Bergevin here, as I would have said, Victor, you've got to suck this up the rest of the year. Like I'm with you. I hate the 2020 stuff.

I get it. Now the other argument is, well, we don't have the same information that the general manager has so maybe i agree having said that listen man they played 11 and 7 on saturday night and then that went down to you know 10 forwards in the third with uh and they knew tatara was playing hurt well and that's it like afterwards you find out okay tatara wasn't 100 going into that game there was a chance that he wasn't going to finish it. And he didn't. Now, all of this goes away.

Like all of this story, everything we're talking about right now becomes moot if they make the playoffs. My only question is if they don't make the playoffs, how much goes into any decision about a coach, about a general manager, about anybody with this organization? All these things, whether it's Mete, D'Angelo, about a general manager, about anybody with this organization. All these things, whether it's Mete, D'Angelo, Gustafsson,

the salary structures, the three call-ups right away. Well, I think it all goes into it, right? Like everything goes into it. Like not making the playoffs this year in Montreal is not an option. And the math is still with them. Yes. You know, I was having a debate yesterday with somebody.

Is it a good or bad thing for Montreal that Calgary and Vancouver play each other at the end of the season? If you look at the schedule, yeah. Calgary and Vancouver at the end of the year, they have it set up because of all the way that this had to be redone where they play each other the last four games may 13th 16th 18th and 19th and i was having a conversation yesterday is this good or bad for the canadians and i thought it was good because

they're going to be feasting on each other. And the only thing that the other person said to me, what could be bad about it is three point games. Yeah. So you could really be sweating if you're the Canadians and you don't put these two teams away. Now, the one thing about Vancouver is their schedules,

like their first week back, they had four games, but it was Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, right? They gave them a break with the schedule. schedules like their first week back they had four games but it was sunday tuesday thursday saturday right they gave them a break with the schedule that's about to change sunday off day today they've got a game in ottawa so that's their first cross-country trip and they're going to play monday wednesday ottawa thursday saturday toronto it's their like their schedule starts to really tighten and i think the guy i thought kelly made a really good point if you watched thatcher demko Thursday, Saturday, Toronto. It's their schedule starts to really tighten.

And I think the guy, I thought Kelly made a really good point. If you watched Thatcher Demko on Thursday, it was a struggle for him to get to the bench on a delayed penalty. He's feeling it. So this is going to be a huge challenge for Vancouver. But someone made a really interesting point to me. He says, if you're Montreal and you don't put Calgary-Vancouver away and they're playing three-point games at the end of the season, you're really going to be sweating.

That can really ding you. But the math is still with them. The math is still with them. Okay, so at the end of all of this, and who knows what's going to happen down the stretch here. You mentioned Calgary and Vancouver playing against each other and the math's still on Montreal's side. And momentum's a funny thing.

You don't have it until you do. How much do you wonder about Mark Bergevin here? Look, like I said, not making the playoffs this year in Montreal is unacceptable and there will be consequences. He looks stressed out to me, absolutely stressed out.

And there's no way he's enjoying this. No way. No way. No way. You know, like honestly, with what we're going through in Ontario right now, Jeff, last week was the toughest week on me. Like just the, the feeling of kind of being trapped since this whole thing started. You know, I took my radio hits off last week and I'm doing it again this week because I just feel like I feel exhausted and I can only imagine what these players are going through.

I can only imagine what these executives and coaches are going through. You know, we, we saw what Robin Leonard said last week. Well, another thing, you know, I was going to address a couple of things here without stepping on anyone's toes or whatnot um i feel like uh responsibility to say something here for for myself and for other people throughout the league and i understand that i will have haters and whatnot no matter what i stand on the subject i am on these things but a month or so ago when i got back from from uh from my concussion you know we got approached to take the vaccine and basically how that turned out was um we were shown guys the vaccine is available

if you take the vaccine x amount of players uh leaders in this team or around the league takes the vaccine new set of rules are gonna come out we were shown the nba protocols promised the nba protocols to get back some type of normalcy and i understand my track record i mean i talk against kovid you know covetous dangerous been crazy crazy thing for everyone but we were approached and promised things to change for our league if we got vaccinated so after our second vaccination 10 days after we were gonna start enjoying life again because people don't really know we've been in total isolation we can't get out of our house we can't go out our hotel we can't do anything and it's been over a year now and no one ever talks about the mental health impact about that stuff and you guys might not about the mental health impact, about that stuff.

And you guys might not have the statistics. I don't have the statistics. I just know people reach out to me throughout the league, throughout, you know, normal people, people in all day life reach out to me. And I know and I've seen the consequences of a lot of these things. And to be promised something's going to change to take a vaccine where some people some players were on the verge of even taking it i was one of them that i wasn't sure but i took it for my mental health and when we did it now they changed now they said it's not happening i think that's wrong for first but then i have a couple of calls with the league and with the NHLPA yesterday.

And this is why I want to talk today, which makes me furious. And I don't care what happens to me or whatever people are going to do to me in the league or whatnot. I don't know. But they told me yesterday that they're surveying all the teams to see who has taken the vaccine and who has not taken the vaccines. And they're not going to change the rules for us as players until all the teams have the vaccines at the same time. So it's not a competitive edge. And that made me go crazy, to be honest, because that shows me that now I've taken the vaccine and it's been a tremendously hard time and i talk to players around the league that calls me

that and also people i've helped through the program and get help and all that stuff i know more than a lot of people knows what's going on and they're talking about competitive edge instead of human lives we We're humans too. And not taking away, everyone else, society, doctors, everyone that's had to sacrifice stuff tremendous to them. It hasn't been fair. We've seen a lot of things going on. It's not been great.

You know, got to give credit where credit's due. NHL's done some really good things too. I love this league. I don't want to destroy anything i i want this league to do good but when i breathe a percent that you put competitive edge because some teams that has gone through the process still has to go through this mental health craziness that is a fact it's killing a lot of people in covid too and we might see three to five years how many people is getting drug addictions,

how many people is going to commit suicide, how many people losing their jobs, businesses, all these types of things. Bergevin, the stress on him just looks enormous. Like I just wonder, and I'm talking about it in context with him, but I'm wondering about it in a few places. Like how many people in this league this year, after this year are going to say like,

I need a break. A lot. I think everybody will. I think players will. I think, listen, coaching is always, you know,

you can make the argument, maybe the most stressful position. You're at the rink early. You don't go home until late. You barely see your family. It's just you and you see your, your video coach more than you and you see your your video coach more than you you see your significant other and you're not really supposed to go anywhere the thing about this right now is none of these people really have any release valves in their life yeah they don't. Like things just go in and they stay there and they sit there and you can't go anywhere.

Like sure you can, you know, you can work out. Sure you can go for a run. But the minute that's over, then the stresses just begin again. Yeah. Like sports is bad enough to begin with. Like seasons are tough enough to get through generally in non-pandemic years non-pandemic seasons this just compounds it but the thing to your point about mark bergevin i've kind of felt like that about him all season long yeah that he just wants to get the regular season done

and he's you know make moves make moves make moves make moves and we've talked about it at times laughed about it he's not done making moves don't believe him when he says he is yeah i get the sense that not that he just wants it all to be over with but maybe part of him just does and i think a lot of people are like that like i think a lot of teams like that right now are like that a lot of teams are going to play empty calorie games down the stretch here and that's going to be hard i think there's some general managers even with teams that are headed to the playoffs that just want to get there to just get past the regular season and just get to the playoffs and see what happens and right now maybe it seems like there's extra stress on bergevin right now because part of this is i just need to get there and it's not

guaranteed right now yes and we're in a little bit of a slump and this is not the way it's supposed to go this is not why i made all those moves with jake allen and josh anderson trade and you know cory perry comes in eric stall comes in everything right up until deadline and doing the trying to make it work with uh with anthony d'angelo like all of it this is not the way it was supposed to go this year. So maybe that, of course, adds to his stress. But I've kind of felt that he's one of the more, one of the GMs that has the most stress on him. Oh, there's no question about that. But like you wanted to talk about Columbus in this podcast.

We don't want to make this one too long. But like I look at Columbus, okay? And I see a whole organization of people that needs a break yeah but they won't get one well they are going to get one well like the players are going to get a physical break do you think Yarmulke Kalanen is getting any breaks here you know I don't necessarily disagree with you on that I mean you know you you will in the sense that can you really go anywhere in the sense that you know your team's not playing so you don't have to travel right you obviously you have work to do but there's a limit on how much work you can do

like this whole thing with lenner last week okay yeah so when i made the calls last week about robin lennar's comments everybody i spoke to was very careful because everybody understands where robin lennar's been and they respect the fact he's been very honest about some of the challenges he's been through and you know nobody wants anyone to think that they disagree with his point of view, that people need more of a break, or that nobody wants to pick a fight with him in any way, shape, or form. I don't believe the NHL ever told anyone that the protocols were going to lighten. I think they've looked at what's gone on in Colorado where some players got sick after they were vaccinated because there's that window there that we're not sure of yet. And I think there's some teams who've been vaccinated, who've been on the league to say not just Vegas, but to say, hey, okay, we need to lighten this up a bit. And the league told the GMs on the call last week they're not doing it for at least the regular season.

Now, I think if everybody gets vaccinated and they look at some things potentially like slight let-ups in the playoffs, but generally I think the league is not inclined, while we're still so much here we don't know, that they want to loosen it up too much and like jeff we live in ontario amal lives in ontario too we see what's going on around us how much you know cases are rising and we're locked down and people are really struggling like i think that the toll on the league this year and i'm talking about now not

just the league office but everyone in it i think it's been enormous i really do i think like why one player would tell me with a bit of a laugh he said we're sick of each other like the players on our team and they're a team that's not going to make the playoffs. He said, like, we are sick of each other. So, like, I wonder if there's going to be people at the end of this season who say, I'm going to step down or I'm going to try to ask to take a lesser role or I'm going to take some time off or I'm going to take a break. Like, as a player, it's very hard to do that. But I wonder if some coaches and executives are going to do that.

I think so too. I just think that there are some that will be able to, and there'll be others that just, they just can't. I'm with you. I think Columbus is one of those teams that just can't. But I honestly, it's almost like, you know how I feel about it, Elliot? Do you remember when you were in kindergarten and at a certain time during the day, the teacher would come around and say, okay, class, now put your heads down on your desk and it's going to be a 15 minute nap or a little half an hour timeout.

That's what we all need right now. Players need this. Coaches need this. Media needs this. We need someone who's in charge here. We need whoever's in charge just to come around and say okay stop doing what you're doing go have a nap that's what we all need right now yeah because every because everybody feel like elliot i feel it yeah i do too you said that you had a challenging week like i don't feel as strongly as you do right

now but i know that maybe my time is coming like this may all change on a dime tomorrow and i'll have a really hard time getting out of bed or getting out the front door. I'm not arrogant enough to think that I'm strong enough to quote unquote handle all of this. I know there's a great chance that that'll happen to me as well, but I do feel it too. Yeah. Like there are moments, there are moments where I'm just like, everything's just, you feel like a shortness of breath and you just feel overwhelmed and you gotta just, okay, deep breath, go for a walk walk push away from the desk like to go go do so go in the backyard go to the frisbee with the dog do something else everybody feels that

yeah like last week i really thought was the perfect week the week after the deadline we did one pod and then and and by the way i i feel an enormous responsibility to keep the pod going because there's a lot of you out there who have sent us DMS, both Jeff and I, and I'm sure almost to like just saying how much the pod has helped everybody like just get their mind off things. So I feel an enormous sense of responsibility to keep it going. I really thought after last week I would feel much more refreshed.

It just had a busy work week. Like it was a busy schedule. So now I know this week I'm feel much more refreshed it just had a busy work week like it was a busy schedule so now I know this week I'm looking forward to this week I only have two games and I think with another week just to sort of like not say stupid stuff on the radio and only stupid things on the podcast I think I'll feel a lot better like I haven't felt I've been very fortunate I haven't felt like this too often I've generally over the last year and a bit I haven't felt, I've been very fortunate. I haven't felt like this too often. I've generally over the last year and a bit, I've generally felt pretty good. I just felt that last week it caught up to me and I was thinking about Leonard and I was actually thinking about Bergevin because I was thinking about the, you know, like you think about guys like Bergevin and Brad tree living and Kekeleinen and the, and the coaches

and players on those teams and in a lot of situations. And I'm thinking like, if I'm feeling like this, I can only imagine what all of these people are feeling. Like, I will tell you one thing, Jeff, I think this year, like, you know me, when I make my harshest criticism, I like to save my bullets because I like it to really mean something when I do it.

I really felt this year I've pulled even more punches than normal because I just think that what is being asked of everyone to go through here this year, I think it's so hard. I think it's a thousand times harder than the bubble. That's the sane response, Elliot. That's the sane response. I think going into this season, I think. That's the same response. I think going into this season, I think we all said the same thing. I did, you did, Amel did as well. And thankfully

Amel did because we give him plenty of reasons to be frustrated at us. And that is cut everybody a lot of slack. This is the year that, like honestly, listening to this podcast right now, first of all, thank you for listening to this podcast. Second of all, everyone in your life right now, cut them a lot of slack. You know the one thing that i've learned this is an aside here we're

going to get back to hockey one thing i've talked to you about this before a couple of different times the one thing that i've learned this year is the power of the word like and how much that word is powerful and meaningful not to disqualify how you may love someone, but in a lot of our relationships, love is already baked into the pie. My son said something to me a while ago, where he just, my 10-year-old, he turned to me and said,

Dad, I really like you. And he said he loved me plenty of times, like my whole life, or his whole life, rather. He's always said, oh, I love you, Dad, I love you. And he just said, I like you. And it really made me think that something like like is really earned love. And a lot of our relationships is baked into the pie. It's just there, especially as it accumulates over the years. Not that the word doesn't mean anything, but like has an impact because like has to be earned. I don't know if I agree with you on that but i understand where you're going listen dude the next time someone that you love actually says they like you as well because there's a there's a

difference i gotta tell you for me it's the reverse one of the things that i've learned through all this because now you know to the point about the player you were talking to says you know i'm sick of these guys because we're all confined to our units. And a lot of it's just based on family. The one thing that I've learned through this is, and thankfully, is that I like my family. I've always loved them. Like that's without doubt. But the one thing that I've learned

is I really like them too. And that's where I see a distinction. Love, when you're with someone for as long as you can, you care about them, that becomes assumed. Like is a different level. Like is a different level like is a different level and one thing i've learned is i really like my family well first of all i'd say congratulations because i do think that's very important i don't know if they feel the same way about me you know what i gotta tell you i wasn't gonna make that you pour your heart out like that like i'm not ripping you and saying jeff i hate to tell you this but they

can't stand you they tell me this all the time uh claire called me last week she's had it with you you can't you you can't rip a guy after that heartfelt a statement it's not now it's just heartless thing to do i actually feel the reverse but you know i i respect you i respect your opinion let's do a little bit more hockey because almost got an early meeting meeting on Monday and we want to get this out. Let's do some hockey here. The bottom line is, I know Bergevin is under siege, right? Sure.

And I think they made a mistake. Like I said, with 20-20 hindsight, I felt that way with Mete when they did it. Look, there's a limit to this year how much I'm willing to grind people. There's just a limit because I think that there's a lot of people who are in the sport who are competing and in their various ways. And I think they're on the edge and it's like,

I just look as a human being and I say, there's a limit to what I'm willing to hammer them here. And maybe that makes me soft, but that's just the way I feel. And nobody's changing my mind. No problem with that. Let's hold Columbus for the next podcast this week then. I want to end there.

Coming up after this quick break, Gilles Courteau, the commissioner of the QMJHL. Moments, 31 Thoughts, the podcast continues. Please be joined now by Gilles Courteau. He's the commissioner of the QMJHL, has been in that capacity going back to 1986 before we get going with the qmjhl and the playoffs and everything that's happened so far this season i know one thing very specifically about you and that is you are a lover of all technology um and so that includes social media as well. You, you run your own Twitter, et cetera.

Have you always been like this, Gilles? Yes. You know, I'm a big fan of, uh, technology and, uh, you know, personally, I, I think that, uh, this is something that I have to try to be up to par as much as I can just to make sure that I'm, you know, going to keep the flow because this is what happened. I remember when I start in the league, you know, that was a fax machine. That was the newest stuff that came on board. And after that, you know, it's been in the evolution.

But to me, that was very important because if I want to be able to keep up the pace with our staff, our fans, our media, sponsors and all that, you know, we have to be part of it. Now, are your players aware of that? Because most, you know, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 year olds think that people of our generation are complete dinosaurs. Are they aware that you are technologically successful? Yeah, they are. Yeah, they are because that's a good question. I remember two years ago, it was just after a game and I just walked by a couple of players

that they were leaving dressing rooms and all that. And one of the players just stopped and turned around, and he says, hey, Mr. Corteaux, just to let you know that we really appreciate the fact that you're on Twitter. I'm not on Facebook, but I'm on Twitter. And he says, it's very nice of you, your comments and everything.

So we really appreciate it, that our league commissioner is on social media, and we're able to follow him. And, you know, we really like the fact that you give opinions and make comments. And it's nice when I say, hey, congrats to Joe Smith because you've reached 35 goals this year. And, you know, you had a good season.

Best of luck for the rest of the season and all that. So they like it. And I know that sometimes, you know, it's not always nice and easy to be on social media, but it's part of the game, you know, and go from there. Do you follow individual players, perhaps maybe just as a way to remind them that the commissioner sees all?

No, no, I don't. No, I don't follow individual players. No, Jeff, because I think that, first of all, that won't be fair just to follow a couple of players and don't follow all of them. No, I don't follow any specific players because of that, you know, because I don't like to, you know, look like, oh, maybe he preferred that one instead of me or something like that. No. I would also think that maybe there's a,

there's probably a little bit of big brother there too. You don't want the players, the players should be able to have fun, even though the world is looking at our feeds now, nobody's in a vacuum. They probably would like it better knowing that the commissioner isn't following them specifically. I agree with you, Elliot. And that's a good point. And, uh, you know, I think that, uh, players need some, uh, uh, what I can call liberty, uh, and, and, uh and what they do on a daily basis, the way that they act and react on social media. And I don't think that's good for them to know that there's someone on top of their shoulder and looking at everything they're writing,

commenting, or something like that. I think it's respect. To me, I show them respect and I, you know, have faith in them that they won't write or do something wrong. And if that's the case, you know, I'm going to call the GM or our communication person is going to get in touch with the player directly.

Just let him know, say, be careful, big guy, because of ABC. I want to go back to the beginning of the season. And this was a season and has been a season like no other. And with your league, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, you are involved in the playoffs right now. And it is full steam ahead to award the President's Cup. Can't say the same for the Ontario Hockey League. They will not play at all.

The Western Hockey League announcing there will be no playoffs, just the games that have already been scheduled and announced. When you go back to the beginning of the season, Gilles, and you look at all the challenges that were in front of you, what was going through your mind? Take us back to your office, your decisions, all the issues that were out in front of you. Yeah, it's a very good question because, you know,

back in March when we had to shut down our regular season and a couple of weeks after we announced that the playoffs were cancelled and followed by cancellation of the Memorial Cup. And don't ask me why, but right away, I, uh, you know, I called for a staff meeting and I said, okay, guys, uh, let's, uh, turn up our sleeves because we'll have lots of work to do. If we want to play hockey, uh, next year. Uh, and I was talking about 2021 and, uh, everybody right away embraced that challenge

and they started working with me to make sure that we were to do everything we can to bring back the players on ice and have a season, which we did. And before we went there, you know, I will always remember I called an owner's meeting and I said, okay, guys, I think that we should do everything we can to have a season. I know there's going to be some hiccups, issues, roadblocks throughout the season because we don't know what's going to happen. walk throughout the season because we don't know what's going to happen. But, you know, if you're ready to spend the money that needs to be spent and if you're okay with it, we'll work.

And, you know, at that time, there was lots of talk about public health in each and every province where we have a team and all that. And the toughest province at that time was New Brunswick. We had Martin Lavallee from our office put together a group of 50 people that they were working on the return to play protocol, sanitary measure, medical protocol as well. And after that, we went to public health. And the first one we went to was New Brunswick.

We present them our return to play protocol with all the documents attached to it. And they've agreed to let us get back on ice and have a training camp and all that. And after New Brunswick, we went to Nova Scotia and we finished with PEI. And in the meantime, we were talking to Quebec Public Health. And what happened is the owners of the six teams from our maritime division, they told me, they said, you know, for us, the most important thing is to be back on ice

with fans in the building. Forget about the government financial contribution and all that. You know, we want you to put your effort on, you know, having us back on ice with fans in the building. And we've been able to accomplish that at the beginning of the season. It's not been easy. And in Quebec, we've been able to negotiate something

as a financial contribution because Quebec told us that you won't be allowed to have any fans in building. And I said, okay. So we negotiated a financial contribution and we've been able to start our season in October. And I will always remember the first game.

We had one game that night, and it was between Armada and Sherbrooke Phoenix. And 48 hours after that first game, boom, both teams were hit with a high number of players being positive with COVID. So I said, wow, that's going to be a good test for our return to play protocol and medical and sanitary measures. And we went through it. And a couple of weeks after, we had a situation in Drummondville.

And after that, you know, we put the Quebec division on hold for a couple of weeks and we start working with the Quebec public health and to see if there was a possibility then, in Quebec, we had a protected environment, which gave us a good opportunity to play our regular season. And right now in the playoffs. In the Maritimes, it's been a little tougher because in some cases, public health, you know, 24 hours before next game in Nova Scotia, they were saying, okay, no more fans allowed in the building and you're allowed to have a maximum of 50 people,

including the two teams, the four referees and minor officials. So, you know, I went back to them and I said, guys, that's going to be impossible. We cannot have one or two less coaches behind the bench or, you know, no backup goalie or something like that. I said, we need 60 people to give us permission to 60 people. And in New Brunswick, if you recall, after we came back from Christmas break,

we've been two months without playing in New Brunswick. So the two teams from Nova Scotia province against PEI, they've played 18 times against each other. So you know what that means. You see it at the NHL level. So the intensity was very high some nights, but we went through it. And today we're very happy to have a round-robin tournament

in New Brunswick. The winner is going to play Charlottetown. And we have a best-of-five series in the Quebec division. Now, I have to say, I'm amazed that the playoffs went ahead, Gilles, simply because Ontario never got off the ground and the Western Hockey League canceled theirs. Did you ever think you would never get the playoffs in? I never thought of it because, you know, as I said,

we were in constant communication with public health. We did, throughout the season, guys, over 7,000 tests for our players, coaching staff, support staff, and all that. The discipline of our teams, well managed by GM coaches, support staff, has been tremendous throughout the season. And, you know, we never had a request from the public health to say, oh, guys, you know, because of the variants, because of this and that, you know, we're not comfortable of you guys having playoffs.

Similar with the owners. The owners were saying, okay, we understand that, you know, that's going to be risky. We understand that's going to be tough and all that, but that won't be different to what we've seen since we're back playing. And, you know, they've all agreed that this is how we've been able to put

a schedule in place and organize playoff format. And in the last protected environment that we had in the Quebec division, we had two teams that they've been hit with lots of positive tests Gatineau with 20

people including staff and in Quebec 10 that had been hit

so we had to delay the start of our playoffs in the Quebec

division to give them time to be back in shape and even the series

between Quebec and Drummondville and Gatineau and Armada is a lead till the 28th of April. But the rest of the other series were good. So we've made, you know, when I say we, I'm talking about teams and players and lots of sacrifice throughout the season. But, you know, there's some benefit attached to it,

and we're in playoffs. Will the Atlantic provinces be able to have... You mentioned that the New Brunswick teams, they're supposed to play PI. I understand there's some doubt about whether or not that's going to happen. Where does it stand as we tape that in this interview? Well, right now, Elliot, the Ron Robin tournament is on.

Yes. With the three teams from New Brunswick. And we had a meeting with PEI Public Health two days ago. And we asked them if it was still okay to bring the New Brunswick winner of that Ron Robin to play PEI with the isolation and all that at the hotel and similar restriction as we've been able to put in place in the start of the season and testing before each and every game. And PEI public health response was, yeah, no problem because everybody really appreciate our return to play protocol

and the measure that we have in place since the start of the season so they don't see any issue. Okay. Curious about, I mean, one of the great traditions at the end of the CHL season is, of course, the Memorial Cup. And let me share with you what I've been told, and you can tell me whether I'm right or wrong here, Gilles. He's probably wrong, just so you know.

Well, prefaces, I'm'm just gonna put it out there and jill's gonna shoot it down just throw darts at all of this so last season uh klona rockets um were scheduled to host the uh the memorial cup uh the season got shut down end of the season and the memorial cup went with it i was led to believe klona was offered the tournament again and declined, and then it pushed to the OHL, where it was either going to be Sault Ste. Marie or Oshawa. It was never officially awarded to either one of these cities, although there were some rumors earlier on in the season about, you know, Sault Ste. Marie said we would do it if we could host it, not just this year, but the subsequent year as well. And I don't believe that conversation ever went anywhere. So then the question becomes, if the tournament was never officially awarded to an OHL team, does the Memorial Cup then stay in the OHL next season,

or does it move according to schedule and shift to your league? Yeah, that's going to shift to our league because part of it, Jeff, is as an example, last year, you're right. The offer has been made to Kelowna to see if there was an interest for them to present a Memorial Cup this year. And it's been turned down. And at that time, what we've decided is to respect the rotation procedure and award it to the OHL for this year. And we've not been able to have Memorial Cup tournament. We're not able to have a Memorial Cup tournament this year.

So we've decided to keep the rotation in place and it's awarded to the CUNY next year. Gilles, one thing I'm curious about is the future of the Quebec League. You got help from the provincial government this year, but the challenges that this is going to create, what is going to be the financial future of the league? Well, you know, first of all, the financial support that we receive for the Quebec division teams was for two reasons.

The first one was to give them a chance to return to play for this year and help them out to start the next year's season as well. So that's the reason why we've been able to get a financial contribution. In the Maritimes division, it's not been the case. contribution. In the Maritimes division, it's not been the case. Government has not been responsive as the same as a Quebec province. And I think the six owners, they knew at that time that the Maritime provinces were not that high to contribute financially to the owners. So

the consequences for you know, for the Maritime Division this year, guys, that's going to be a big hit financially. It's going to be a big loss. There's going to be some loss for Quebec Division teams, not at the same level as what the Maritimes will get because of the fact that their attendance percentage changed so many times throughout the season. They went from 25% to 10%, back to 15%, no fans at all and all that.

So we had to struggle with that situation. It was not a weekly basis, daily basis that, you know, there was some changes with the public health because of what happened with a number of positive tests and, you know, when the variant came in and all that. So we have to live with it. And as I said to you at the beginning, I've been very impressed on how the owners have been able to handle the situation.

But to answer your question, Elliot, we'll see what's going to happen for years to come with our league, what's going to be the real financial impact on our situation. Because for the 2021-2022 season, as we speak, we don't know when and how we will be able to put some fans in the buildings. We don't know what's going to be the sponsorship situation, how that's going to look like. So there's lots of question marks.

But, you know, right now we're working on the start of the season during the first week of October, and we'll go from there, you know. And everybody agrees to it it and they're all supportive and we're all expecting that after the vaccination situation that everybody is going to be okay. And we should, let's hope that we'll be able to put fans in our building to, I don't know if at the beginning it's going to be to maximum capacity, but to be able to operate with a good number

and give a chance to our teams to generate some revenue to offset expenses to operate a major junior franchise. You know, Gilles, there's something that I've thought about all season long about you and your league. And I'll preface this by saying the obvious, which is this is the most challenging season any commissioner has gone through, whether it's yourself, whether it's Scott Housen in the American League, whether it's Gary Bettman in the NHL. There's no rule book for this. No one goes to school to learn how to handle these situations.

I always wondered, I mean, you took this job. You were 28 years old. Have you ever thought how a 28-year-old Gilles Cartaud would have handled this situation? Never, never, ever, you know, would have thought that a situation like that, you know, I would never expect that, as an example, in the province of Quebec, that we were to deal with a curfew and we had to go to public health and say, okay, what about if we were to produce letters to each and every GMs and coach and trainers and therapists because of the fact that they'll go pass by the curfew time and all that. And we've been able to get it. But, you know, to answer your question, Jeff, no, never, never. I was never expecting a situation like that.

And no one does. But, I mean, at 28, you would have reacted much differently than you would react now at 63, for example. Like, I just wonder about, you know, the nature of experience. Like, in a situation like this, everybody wants to have someone with experience with two hands on the wheel. I wonder how you would have reacted, like, as a new commissioner, well, then president, I guess, of the QMJHL. Yeah, I would have been different because, you know, I will always remember during my second year, you know, our VP Finance came to me and he said, we're going through a tough financial year because of ABC.

So he says, we need to look at something that we could generate money in a short period of time. So I said, let me think about it. And two hours after, I said, okay, let's have, instead of best of seven, let's have best of nine playoff series. And we went to the old Montreal Forum, and we announced that there has been a change in our playoff format. Instead of being best of seven, best of nine, you know,

because it was a short-term situation, and it was not the same about teams, about owners, about players, and all that as it is today. You know, today there's so many things involved in the operation of a major junior franchise. You know, players on ice, players at school, you know, that we're doing everything we can to make sure that they'll have a great experience during their junior career and all that.

So players are more demanding today than they were 35 years ago and all that. So I think that the experience that I've been able to put in my backpack really helped me out this year to go through that situation and make sure that everybody was calm and in control and for what we can we were able to control at that time and we went from there because every time that a situation was happening like a team with positive tests and all that so i was saying okay guys let's have a call with the team and after that let's have a call with the players and the billets and the parents and just to make sure that everybody is aware of the fact that we're on top of it we're doing the best as we can to make sure that

players are going to be back healthy that our number one priority throughout the season i said we will never play a game if players are not healthy or just so-so or something like that. We will never go through this. We'll never take a chance. And I think players, parents, billets, and team management has faith in our protocol, and they've adopted it and they follow it with the result of we've been able to have a season.

I was kind of wondering a bit more about that. I have two left for you, Gilles. The first one is, you know, as Jeff mentioned, you've been doing this job for 35 years. And, you know, I have a family member who in the middle of this just said, you know what, I want to make a change. And her with her husband, they sold their place just north of Toronto. They moved up into cottage country and they said, we're going to live a quieter life up here now. And I'm wondering if in the middle of this at all, you thought about maybe it's time and then said, you know what, I can't leave now. I can't do this. You know, it's a very, very good question because I said, you know,

I talk a lot, you know, with this pandemic, you know, I spend lots of time at home and talk a lot with my wife. And, you know, I said to my wife, I said, this year, it's a tough year, but the next couple of years are going to be, to me, tougher, you know, to bring things to a kind of a normal uh situation and uh i said i don't think that's going to be the right time for me to go to the uh to the owners and say okay guys uh after this year after next year uh hasta la vista and uh i'm gonna take some uh time off and uh enjoy life and and all that first of all uh you know i didn't have time to think about it about the retirement plan or something like that and and secondly i will never want to leave you know a league that has been so good to me for the last you know i've been commissioner 35 years but i'm with this league that has been so good to me for the last, you know, I've been commissioner

35 years, but I'm with this league for 45 years. So the league has been so good to me that I won't let them down, you know, in a critical situation like where we are right now. The second question I had for you, Gilles, was, you know, I asked around when you were coming on, I asked a lot of people about the job the Quebec League has done this year. And I would say the vast majority of people and I think who represent players and know your league, they are very appreciative that the kids got a chance to play, especially the draft eligibles. They will benefit more in Canada than any other league's kids will. And they are very appreciative.

If I heard one complaint, it was that you didn't let players go to the under 18s. Why didn't you let them go? Because in the history of our relationship between the CHL and Hockey Canada was players that they're allowed to participate in the U18 tournament when their team is eliminated. And because of the fact that we had a season, we were still playing. We were planning to have playoffs. That's what I said to our teams. I said, guys, I said, that's the policy.

And I went to Hockey Canada because we're having weekly calls with Hockey Canada and my partners, Dave, Ron, and the CHL president, Dan McKenzie, with Hockey Canada, Tom Rennie, Scott Smith, and Scott Salmon. And I said to them, I said, guys, I said, what our teams went through this year? You know, you cannot imagine how difficult it's been for them them how disciplined

they had to be to go through uh this situation and i said in respect of uh our owners gms and players you know i would like to keep our teams the way that uh it's been because there is something else too elliot that i have to mention to you. Throughout the season, to call up players as an affiliated player was impossible because you had to quarantine that players for 14 days. So we have to call up a midget player who didn't play, was not playing in any leagues across the four provinces that we have. So to call him up for 14 days, that was almost impossible, first off. Secondly, teams were carrying, you know, between 24 to 26 players with their rosters.

So if they were to lose players to go to the U18 tournament, it would have a huge impact on their team for the reasons that I, a couple of reasons I just gave you, plus the fact that they were saying, hey, Gilles, you know, look at all the sacrifice that we've made throughout the year. And I never had a complaint from parents, players, and all that.

Even the majority of the agents understood our position and respect our position. It's been the same with Hockey Canada guys. They fully respect our position towards the situation that we were in. It's not because we didn't want to cooperate. I think that

we did cooperate with Hockey Canada Christmas time for their training camp. It was a different training camp. We let players go there for that period of time. But for the UE team tournament, and because of the policy that we have in place for so many years, like a player is eligible

when his team is eliminated, on top of all the points that I just shared with you guys. That's the reason why that decision has been made. It's your last one for me. And one of the things that anyone that follows junior hockey closely understands about you is, you know, you're kind of referred to as the marketing commissioner. You know, Ron has his strengths. Dave has his strengths.

You have a lot of your own strengths as well. And one of the things that really distinguishes you amongst your peers is you have a sense of marketing and style that is unmatched in the CHL. Anyone that's seen the Quebec League draft understands that. Anyone that's seen various, you know, awards shows, et cetera, understands that you have a real strong sense of marketing. I am curious, take your QMJHL hat off for one second and put on your CHL hat.

From your point of view, the marketing commissioner, what does the CHL need to do from a marketing point of view? From a marketing point of view, the CHL is going to have to be able to bring the three leagues closer together, market the CHL better, not only for CHL events or Memorial

Cup, but market the CHL. Last year, we were talking a lot about interlocking games between the three leagues and create a buzz because we have to bring something new to our fans. We have to bring something new to our sponsors. We have to be creative.

You know, we have younger crowds that come to our games. We have players that they're willing to participate in the promotion of the game. I'd love to see more actions between players and the crowd during the game with someone behind the bench and ask a question to players about a certain play, you know, say, okay, now you're going on a power play and what do you think that you'll have in mind or your goalie made some couple of big saves

and, you know, help you out and all that. Use today's technology like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and all those things. Use it to promote our league because, you know, the younger fans are not used to buy a ticket and sit for two hours and 15 or 20 minutes in a building and just watching the game. Some of them are, but the majority of them, they're not. You know, they want to see lots of action when they come to a rink

and they want to see things of action when they come to a rink and they they want to see things uh you know moving and uh you know i think that we we have the product to do this we we we have to make sure that we'll do everything we can to promote our games in a way that we will bring a new clientele to our building and raise the knowledge of the CHL to the way that it should be with, you know, doing more and more things amongst the three leagues instead of just a couple of events here and there throughout the season and finish it off with the Memorial Cup tournament. Gilles, this has been great. Thank you so much for doing this. Congratulations on getting through a very challenging season, as Elliot mentions. It's not just the kids, but I'm sure plenty of the parents

really appreciate it as well. Thanks so much for your time, being very generous with us today. And good luck the rest of the way with the playoffs and awarding the President's Cup. Thank you very much for having me, guys. Much appreciated.

I want to thank Gilles Courteau for stopping by the podcast, Commissioner of the QMJHL. We're going to do another podcast later on this week, Elliot, where we'll talk more about the Women's World Hockey Championships, and we're going to see where the story evolves as the week

goes on. But last Wednesday was a tough one for the women's game. The province of Nova Scotia, at the last minute, shutting down the Women's World Hockey Championships was supposed to take place in Halifax and Truro. Whether it was Jill Sonier, whether it was Kendall Coyne-Scofield, we saw some really passionate responses on social media, a lot questioning why the WHF didn't have a contingency, what happens next, the women, and we can understand why, are irate and confused. One person that I spoke to, one player

specifically, just said that she felt numb going back to Wednesday and hasn't been able to shake that feeling. We'll talk more about it later on this week as the story continues, but do you have a thought on what happened last Wednesday? I mean, you know my general distrust of governments and politicians. Yes. It's terrible.

You have to give people a better heads up than that. There's no way that they didn't know that this was possible, that the tournament could be pulled from the players we all want people to deal with us honestly even if it's not the truth they owed it to everybody involved there to be more honest about what could have happened you can't say okay it's okay it's okay it's okay It's okay. Oh, uh, the day before the tournament or everyone arrives, it's off. You can't because governments don't do things that way.

There's contingency plans, right? But the way that they have handled COVID in the Atlantic provinces, which has generally been very strong and very good, there's no way they didn't know. No way. there's no way they didn't know no way and those players and the people involved they were owed a better process so i understand all their anger and their fury one thing i'd like to add to it as well um and we'll pick this up a little bit later on this week is a lot of the players when they're first told when the world championships would take place were surprised at one of the players, when they were first told when the World Championships would take place, were surprised at one of the potential scenarios. So they were presented originally with three different months.

It was either going to be in April, or it was going to be in May, or it was going to be in August. And nobody wanted August, obviously. They didn't want, they'd been training, they're training to peak at this time of the year. They didn't want to stretch this thing out into the deep summer. So you can understand that. The only thing that I would like to add to this right now, and I'll make some calls and inquiries about this as the week goes on, as the days go on this week, is I wonder if that was the IIHF understanding that this might be the contingency if April or May didn't happen

to always have in their back pocket, we also need to be thinking about August here. Because that was a discussion in the IIHF. And I wouldn't be surprised if that ends up being the case now. And that way you go right into your centralization. I can understand why the players hate that because you go from tournament yeah to centralization to tournament yeah but right now we're in a situation where you probably can't you're gonna have to accept whatever situation comes it's just making the best of

a bad outcome right you know edmonton i think is where the CHL prospect event is going to end up. You know, Edmonton might end up saving the hockey world here. NHL bubble. Yeah. CHL prospect event and women's world hockey champs. I can tell you this too, Jeff.

I think there are some people that felt that Canada shouldn't host it because you can't trust this not to happen again here. But, you know, Edmonton, I will say like that organization has stepped up for all of these events. If it happens. You're our only hope, Edmonton.

You're our only hope. Before we get to the close here, you have a quick thought about some of the musicians that reached out to us after the last podcast? You know, I just want to say that, and Amal's in charge of the music for this podcast, because, you know, all of you listening to this should be understanding this by now. Jeff and I should not be in charge of anything. So Amal is kind of in charge of all of this.

We have been blown away and pleasantly surprised at how many musicians have reached out to say, can you play this or can you do this? We just want to say, first of all, that we're flattered, unbelievably. Secondly, we see you. If you send us something, we see it. Maybe you might want to send it back a second time just to make sure, but we see it and we will try to get to everybody. No promises, but we are really trying to get to all the people who send us something. So we just want to say we really appreciate it and we are making an effort. We want you to know that we're not ignoring you. We see it and we are making the effort to do as much of this as we can. We're really flattered and we really appreciate

that you would consider us to be a worthy platform for your work because for all the work that Jeff and I, and particularly Amal do for this podcast, we understand it takes a lot of work to put a song together or a piece of music together. So we appreciate that you see us as a worthy vehicle and we are going to try to do as many of these as we can. And I think Elliot and I feel the same way about it. We both enjoy the secondhand cool

that comes along with being associated with your music as well. This is the first time in my life a musician has wanted to associate with me of any kind. Okay, time now for Elliot and I to enjoy some secondhand cool. Taking us out, an artist whose roots are in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, and that's really influenced his music. Trevor Murphy has been releasing some amazing French first material under the name Sluice the last year.

With his latest single, here he is, Ma Première Drogue. 31 Thoughts, the podcast. I love you, man, man Casanova big wings Cooler than the cool kids If when magic, we gravitate We pre-event each other Young love, young love Madre de Dios Young love, young love

Madre de Dios Young love, young love, my pretty little girl Young love, young love, my pretty little girl Young love, young love, my pretty little girl