32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Canada v Czechia Post-Game Pod

Episode Date: February 13, 2026

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman break-down everything they saw from Canada's opening game at Milan against Czechia. They get into an impressive debut for Macklin Celebrini (10:00) before delving into Czechia's struggles (13:00). They move their attention to the Americans who defeated Latvia (14:00). They talk about the intricacies of IIHF rules (19:00). The fellas also unpack Slovakia's impressive upset of the Finns (23:00) and the Swedes handling of the Italians (31:40). The FInal Thought is a humourous look at Kyle's lack of air conditioning at the hotel (42:42).Listen to all the 32 Thoughts music here.Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates

I slept so well last night. Didn't wake up pudly today, unfortunately, but I slept so well. Yeah. Let's see what tomorrow brings. Oh, okay. Yeah, it's about time that you slip into your heated cocoon. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast, presented by the Toyota BZ. Go All Electric and a winter ready Toyota BZ.

Z at your local dealer today. Dom, Elliot, Kyle, back with you. All right, all 12 teams on the men's side of the ice hockey tournament here in Milan are into the tournament. One game each across the board as the preliminary round continues, Elliot. It is the early hours of Friday, February the 13th, where we are. We watched Canada in their opener against Chequia, the Americans late on Thursday. night defeating the Latvians. The Slovak crowd to kick things off against the Finns was incredible the day previous. We'll get to all of that. But first, we will begin with Canada and the Czech's 12 long years, Elliot. Finally, it was a sight to behold at the Four Nations. And again here on Thursday, McDavid, Crosby, McKinnon, McCar, Jordan Bennington. Go down the list from there, all wearing the same.

red and white and a dynamite dominant opener against Chequio. That was well introduced, Kyle. Fantastic job. I feel like since it's Friday the 13th, I should be announcing that I'm broadcasting from Camp Crystal Lake. Those of you are horror movie fans will remember the reference Friday the 13th. Yes. And were you a camp counselor at one point?

I was a camp counselor. Yes, I was. as in my late teens and early 20s, I was a camp counselor. Yes, that is accurate, Kyle. As far as this goes, you and Tom just wrote those poor kids. You know, I actually can't lie. I was not bad. I was not a bad camp counselor.

I started off bad, but then I got better. Anyway, you could not have written a better opener for Canada. I don't know. It gets early. We've seen teams start badly, like Canada, and win the gold medal. We've seen teams start extremely well and lose well before the gold medal game, Sweden, in 2002. So I've learned not to overthink the early games, but Canada looked as good as you could hope. they would have looked in game number one.

Aside from the Morrissey injury, and hopefully we get a bit more detail on Friday, there is nothing you could have disliked from that game. Bennington, excellent, the defense, really good, all the lines effective, everybody made an impact, and in different ways, McDavid, the big hit. I mean, who would have thought that the first big hit delivered by Team Canada in this tournament

would have been from Connor McDavid. And what a line from Marchand. Yeah. A good hit, Willie. No, that wasn't me. That was McDavid. Everything that could have gone right for Canada

in game number one did. To be honest, I don't know they could win the gold medal and not play another game as dominant as that one. that's how good they were. I looked back after it, Kyle,

and the thing that really stood out to me was Posternak is a great player. They took him out of the game. Like he just didn't have too many shifts. Like you figure even in a game where you're playing really well, Posternak is going to have three or four shifts where he just embarrasses you because that's who he is and that's what he does.

and that really didn't happen. Nages had one incredible move where he spun Harley around a bit, broke his ankles. But other than that, even he didn't do too much where you looked at it and said, boy, Canada is in trouble here. I mean, look, like they've got another game against Switzerland on Friday. They've obviously got France and then come the elimination games. But I just don't know if they're going to be able to. play another game as good as that one, even if they win the gold medal.

It was clinical. And especially because they've got McDavid, Crosby, McKinnon, all on three separate lines. Yeah. And on paper, you're like, that's a lot of depth and that's a lot of dynamite ability spread out throughout the lineup. I wondered about the McKinnon line a little bit as the game was unfolding, but it seemed to find their stride as it went on and McKinnon getting the power play goal late. I'm sure that's going to do wonders.

Jordan Bennington, though, Elliot. John Cooper had the line afterwards that ever since the Four Nations final, in his mind, Bennington was getting this start here in game one against the checks at the Olympics and told him finally the night before. And I, like, as we know with Coach Cooper, he loves. to put out a headline quote every now and then. But I do take him at face value there. I don't think that was just to go on the front page of all the newspapers.

I will buy that for the last almost entire year, in his mind, it was Bennington game one. I 100% believe you. I never doubted it. Never. Not once did I think, as long as Bennington was healthy enough to be on the team, not once did I think he was not going to get this game. And, you know, we debated it in the last pod.

Kevin brought up a theory, which I thought was a good theory, to have Logan Thompson start game one and Bennington play game number two. But to me, it was never a debate. It was never even a question that Bennington was going to be that guy. And, you know, he got run over at one point in the game, and he was calm. I love that shot. He was calming Thomas Harley down. Yeah, it was Tommy Collin Charles Harley down. I love that shot.

So at this event, the way it works is your main change room is in the practice rink, which is adjacent to the main rink. So you get dressed there and you and you walk over to the rink, but the goalies come over on a golf cart. And then you kind of move into a smaller room for the game. So Bittington comes over on the golf cart and he, and there's a. camera watching him and he never, never takes his eyes off the camera. He was locked in. The other thing I really thought was the first shot that Biddington faced was like a gift. It was a total gift. It was like a 55 foot wrist shot. And I remember Martan Broder came into hockey night once and he did a panel for like three or four nights. And he said that when things weren't going great, that, that was a lot of

was the kind of first shot you wanted. And when the other team's goalie wasn't going really well, he would get really annoyed if the devil's fired that kind of shot on a goalie who was struggling. Because it's easy, right? And you just handle it and you're into the game and you feel relaxed. To be honest, the way that Bennington played, I wouldn't have worried about him if the first shot was more challenging. He did make some very good saves. But I just, even, even BX of the way he looked at me, he actually agreed with what I was saying, which is rare, is that you just don't give a goalie a freebie like that. But Bittington, whatever's gone wrong in St. Louis this year, and they've had a really

difficult year. Behind this team, he was a calm, relaxed, efficient guy. And, you know, I said to Duthy, a year ago, remember when he was a calm, relaxed, efficient guy. A year ago, remember when he won that game, we're like, no one's ever going to question Biddington again. And what happened? We didn't even make it a year, and we were already questioning Biddington again. But he's the goalie now. Like, I'm curious to see Friday and against Switzerland, I wonder if they just give him the night off.

If Thompson starts and Kemper backs up or Kemper starts and Thompson backs up, or whatever they decide to do. and Bennington gets the night off and we see him Sunday in France. But I think any question that Bennington's the number one guy, it's over. 60 minutes in, it's his net to lose. Really great.

And I also just wanted to mention something about celebrating before we goose some of the other games that we witnessed the Santa Julia here the last couple of days. Talked with Sidney Crosby a couple weeks before coming over here when Pittsburgh came through Calgary.

And he made a really interesting first when he was talking about Celebrity. So they play together at the worlds. He sees what he's doing there. And he's like, all right, like maybe this guy could help us come the Olympics. And then they skate together in the summer. And he said already just from the world championships to the summer skates, the leaps and bounds his game had gone to in that time.

He was like, okay, this guy's already at another stage. But his point was, and a lot of Canada fans remember this, his rookie year, the year of the 06 Olympics, Crosby, didn't make Team Canada there. There was much debate about it then and certainly in the aftermath with how it ended for Canada. But he said, you know, that year, if you go back and look, he really didn't start to pop. Crosby didn't until the back half of that year. You know, the first half when, of course, he would have been under the microscope of do we bring this guy over to play for Canada. His numbers were just okay.

obviously, you know, impressive for an 18 year old, no question, but compared to other guys he would have been in the conversation with, they were okay. So he said, you know, for Celebrini coming into this year, like you can't be matched. You can't be even with other guys that you're kind of fighting for Swadsboro. You've got to be above as a 19 year old. And that's exactly what he's done right out of the gate as we've talked about through October. And coming into his first Olympics, I mean, the guy not only opens the scoring, like the, the guy. goal is great, but everything about his game seemed comfortable and carried of the mind of a guy that goes, I belong here. I'll be okay. Yeah, I'm with you on that. And I, and you know, Cooper had talked about how having Austin Matthews in 2016 at the World Cup as a member of the North American team, when Matthews hadn't yet played in the NHL, made him understand that you can't assume young guys can't do anything, right? So I think it helps celebrating that Cooper has that experience and respects him as a player. You know, obviously the Morrissey thing, I mean, I feel terrible for Morrissey. He has the worst luck in big games.

The illness last year in the final, he got hurt in the playoffs. And, you know, we'll see what this is. John Cooper said he told you that they tried to come back. So we'll see. You cannot, Canada cannot add a player now. Once you've played your first game, you cannot add new players. So everybody's locked in. One of the reasons, now Travis Sandheim's the D that didn't play,

so he'll undoubtedly get in against the Swiss. I assume they'll give Morrissey the night off. But one of the reasons that Canadians really like Sanheim is he can play both sides. And now that you're down to 7D, you're going to need someone like that. Doughty also, too, I thought he played really well in this particular game. He hadn't played well this year, but he was very good. And, you know, someone, someone sent me a clip, how out of sorts were the Czechs? Well, Martin Natchez was doing an interview with Czech TV post game.

He started speaking English. So this was a completely forgettable night and confusing night for them. But you know they're, you know, they're going to be a lot better. Like, that team is just too good to have a night like that. And I would expect, you know, obviously the next game against France, that's, that's, got to be a W for them and they have Switzerland left too. I think we're going to hear a lot more from the Czechs before this tournament is over. I would be surprised if they went down, Kyle, so meekly.

Yeah, especially the Czech crowd heavily outnumbered the Canadian fans. Yes, they got booed coming on the ice. No, and how about like they were jumping in the stands before the players walked out to start the game? And then once the puck dropped, I mean, Team Canada really never gave them much of an opportunity to cheer for much throughout the game. But I'm with you. They will be back. All right. The nightcap, so, I mean, Germany over at the Roeis Arena, the other rink across town from where we are, they look good.

Three to one, they come out and beat Denmark. But where we were, the late game was USA Latvia. So I think for the Americans, it's a tough. one. Like, is Latvia a hockey power? No. They certainly will give you an honest effort. So can it be a little tricky to gauge in terms of how they looked, I suppose? But I kept being unable to take my eyes off of Jack Hughes after how he looked through much of the four nations. And again, understanding the opponent. But I just think for, A, as Mike Johnson point out on the broadcast, I looks healthy. He looks fantastic. And just to feel good about himself rolling around in the offensive zone and it looks like him and Brock Nelson could have something cooking here. But I felt if nothing for the Americans, other than getting a win, having him feeling great about his own game must go a long way.

I was going to talk about Quinn Hughes too. Quinn Hughes, I thought in practice the couple days before the tournament began, nobody looked better in practice than Quinn Hughes did. Missed the tournament last year. You could tell he was really wired to play, excited to be here. I thought Hughes was a little bit off in game number one. He got hit hard twice, Kyle. And you don't normally see that happen to him.

And I want to talk more about the hitting. Remind me in a couple minutes. But, you know, the thing about Jack, and I know there's some Devils fans who are really upset about this, I had to talk with one of the managers about it. Not, you know, it's not his. Tom Fitzgerald's here with Team USA. It wasn't, it wasn't Fitzgerald. But I had to talk with one of the managers about this.

And, you know, we, we had a conversation about the Olympics and injuries and things like that. And he certainly did not shy away from giving. me the impression, more than giving me the impression, he basically out and out said it, was that the managers and the teams have kind of been told, this is really important to the players. It was their number one thing in bargaining. I think that the league kind of used that to get some things they really wanted, like, maybe like one last year on contract terms and things like that. Like, this was a big bargaining topic for the players.

So it's basically that in exchange or to honor what the players fought for, the teams were basically told, unless a guy's really out, like say Jonas Brodine out or Braden Point out, players were going to be allowed to go. That teams were going to have to suck this up. And players were going to have to be allowed to go. And, you know, he was talking about the Jack Hughes situation. He said the really tough thing there is, is that there are players who could make arguments

that they were a little bit banged up or a little bit hurt last week, but they could play this week. And some of them knew that their fans weren't going to like that. But they were, it was, they were kind of. of told that if that was the case, they would have to be prepared to lose that argument. That's how big all of this is and was. So I think everybody knew here that if they had a case similar to the one that Jack Hughes and Jersey had, they were, the player was going to be able to play and they'd better know

how to deal with that. I found that conversation very interesting. Yes. And you're right, he looked revitalized out there. And I think that's very big because I think, you know, Hughes had a tough tournament last year in the Four Nations, and the Americans were trying to find ways that he would be better here, and it started very well in game number one.

Yes. I can still see, though, how many teams going. There's a lot of them. That's never going to go away, regardless of what's bargained for. You know what, Kyle, you're right. I understand you groaning, but that was the trade that was made. Yeah. So the goal that was called back on the goalie interference.

Yeah. With J.T. Miller, his skate was in the creaning. didn't necessarily make contact with Elvis Merslikins. I thought we should just touch on this here quickly for fans going, all right, well, what the heck is the standard here going forward? It's different under double IHF rules. We talk about in the NHL, if you go in the crease yourself, you are asking for trouble.

It feels like it is that statement on steroids in international play. Stay out of the blue. contact or no contact. I guarantee to you, Kyle, that every team in this tournament is showing that goal or disallowed goal to all their players as a reminder. We have seen a major change already in this tournament, and that is the way these games are officiated. This is not international hockey, Kyle, as we know it.

No. There's only one game that I've seen, and I didn't see. Denmark, Germany tonight because we were working USA Latvia at the same time. But the only game I've seen so far that really turned into a penalty fest was Switzerland, France. Yeah. That one had quite a few. But the rest of them have all been fierce, nasty, mean. Like that Latvia, US game got really mean in a couple of spots.

And they're letting them play. they are really letting them play you know initially i wasn't sure about the nick suzuki penalty that knocked out the mckinon goal in the canada game but kevin bxa thought that was a legitimate penalty and i was reminded that the night before there you know elias peterson should have had a goal against italy and he was tackled and i heard that that was a call that kind of went around as that was a missed one so i bet you just some of these officials were being a lot more careful when it came to scoring chances. But this has been a huge change from what we're used to.

But the one thing someone did tell me, Kyle, was that we would not see a change around the net. And the double IHF sent out a memo to that effect and actually made a social media post to that effect that we are not changing the way we govern the crease. And if you go in the crease, A, the. play can be blown dead. But if you go in the crease before the puck is there, it's going to be on you. And when I saw that, I was like, this is not going to count. And I, you know, I'll say this. I'm of two minds about it. It's soft compared to the NHL, 100%. Like there were some people on social calling that soft. And you're right. But also, even though that's true and that's the case, it's also much more of a line. Like sometimes we all get confused.

used in the NHL by what's goaltender interference and what isn't. And you've heard Jared Bednar this year consistently saying he has no idea what it is anymore. I think in international hockey, you know exactly what it is. Exactly. And I'll bet you now after this one, you're going to have players making sure they stop at the crease outside of it. And they won't go in there until the puck goes in ahead of them. better it happens now. Yes.

The Americans had two goals taken off the board early against Latvia, but did not derail them. I give them a lot of credit, actually. They could have gotten unnerved or unglued, but they handled it perfectly. And I love, remember Austin Matthews pointing a couple years ago? Yeah, we showed it. When he was mad at disallowed goals, it's right. There was Brock Nelson, too. I thought the U.S. team showed excellent composure in winning that game.

Yeah. So good start for the Americans. The start of the men's tournament as a whole on Wednesday, Elliot, Slovakia, Finland. One game in, we had our first true upset of the tournament. It's incredible. Like all the talk for us leading into it, and I'm sure a lot of other outlets around the world that were covering this tournament. tournament was about 17-year-old Yuri Slavkovsky burst onto the scene four years ago, seven goals, MVP, the country wins its first ever medal in men's hockey. Now he's the guy. All the pressure is on him to deliver. He's the face of the country. He's the biggest hockey star in Slovakia. And the guy just comes right out and completely lives up to the height. He was sensational. Halavi, the goalie, was incredible. The Finns have some questions that they have to answer on their end.

But my goodness, from the Slovak fans in the crowd to how that team played, I mean, what an inspiring way for this tournament to start. That Slavkovsky goal, so we're above one end with our set. So we were at the far end of the ice from where Slavkovsky scored that, but we were directly behind him. Kyle, we saw that thing on. unfolding perfectly. You could just see him loading up that shot and using the defense runner as the screen.

Like from where we were, Saros was completely blacked out by the defender. And you knew that puck was going in. Like you could see Slavkowski loading it up where he was going to. And then all of a sudden you heard Ping and the celebration. It was a thing of beauty. One of the things I think about really successful athletes is that you can slow down the game and you can slow down the sport so you can control and be a conductor and mold the action to what you want. In that moment, watching Slavkowski do it, like the whole thing slowed down for me and I could see it all unfolding. It was awesome to witness.

I thought he was the best player on the ice. You know, I really did. I thought he dominated the game. I thought he set the tempo. You know, there were some really puzzling. Years ago, I did a piece on Russian hockey, and I did a bit about how Russian coaches, they had a lineup and they never changed it.

They rolled four lines. They never switched guys around. And the Canadian coaches, a couple of them saw this piece I did. And they said, that's why we always beat them. Because they're not creative and we know exactly what they're going to do. you know watching rantanin get used eighth most in that first game even the Swedish thing with Ekman larsen and Forsberg barely playing like the thing i thought that was really interesting about the first games is that

Canada clearly Bennett was their 13th forward and they got him in there now morrissey got hurt so they needed theodore but even if you watch the U.S., you know, their 13th forward was Trocheque, and they rotated him in quite a bit. They got him to play. But I don't know that it's wrong. Maybe it's just a North American thing versus a European thing. But a lot, you know, we talk about North American coaches sometimes in the NHL being rigid. a lot of these tournaments

I deal with, Kyle, they seem much less rigid than their European counterparts. And, you know, I just really thought that Rantan being eighth among forwards there, like I think Finland's going to be a lot better.

I think they're too good. I just think, I just thought Slovakia totally dickens. hated that game. Yeah. Well, I think, and Halavai made them believe as the game went on. Because there were still stretches where Finland had him under siege and he made some

early, early, yes. For sure, but like how critical of a time. But I thought as that game went on, like even Slovakia started taking control that game in the third period. Like they really locked it down. Yes.

They really locked it down. And the Fin said all the right things. You know, we, we, We didn't capitalize on our chances. And again, they'll be fine. But, you know, that, that Lavi, that thing is, that is unbelievable. Like, he's a test. He rattled off.

One of the worst. Cool. Now, I had a couple of people to reach out to me and say that team is very bad. Yes, it's true. But I had someone else say to me, it, like, it's kind of like Bennington. If you look at Lavi's stats internationally, they're really good. really good. It was so funny.

Cernak said, I'd never seen this guy play before. Boy, he's pretty good. Yeah, that's right. Who's the new guy? He's okay. And even Lava after that game was like, he goes,

it's almost two different seasons for me. Like there's my HL season and then now playing for the national team and looks like a completely different guy. So incredible opportunity for Slovakia here. out of the gate. And our producer is Giddy. Oh, yes, Dom.

He was so excited. Congratulations, Dom. By the way, we're looking for a Slovakia jersey for you. Is there a player you like, would you would want? Either Nemets or Slovkovsky. Thank you, fellas. No, worries. We were looking around.

It was actually Kyle's idea. I don't think you were worthy of any gifts, but Kyle thought of it. I cannot take credit. Dom reached out and said, look, if you see a Slovakia jersey over there, I said, no problem. And I think I've got an idea where to go find one, Elliot. Oh, okay. If we ever have a day we're not doing three games, we'll go on a field trip.

Okay. But we should mention like Finland, all of a sudden, Finland, Sweden on Friday is a huge game for the Finns. I mean, it's a big game just because it's the two of them, but a really big game for the Finns. And, you know, with that loss, depending on how this all plays out, Kyle, One of the top seeds in this tournament could get the fins as a low seed in the quarters. Right. Right. You really wouldn't like that.

And the other thing, too, is Saros was really good at the world's last year. He struggled in the four nations. I'm interested in seeing how this plays out in gold. They don't have Lukinen. No, but they do have Lankan. They do have Lankan. the start against Canada and four nations last year, remember?

That's right. So I'm curious to see what they do here. I thought the Swedes, by the way, looked really good. Like Italy, that was a really fun game. It was a great atmosphere. Yep. I don't even think they really got

thrown a scare into them. It was a bit of a surprise. I thought Gustafin was really shaky, especially that first one, but I thought the team in front of him was really good, really good. I thought Edmund was fantastic. I thought Pedersen was really good. I thought the Italians were, they did everything they could to compete.

They were really disciplined in their system, but there was nothing I saw there from the Swedes that made me think I had overestimated them. It's the other thing I wonder about here, Kyle, is that it's the same thing we talked about with Jack Hughes before. I wonder if Neelander's even going to practice. Didn't again on Thursday. You know, we talked about earlier. I'm sure the leaves aren't thrilled about this. You know, I heard what Jeff O'Neill said, bring him back home. But, you know, this is the same.

Boy, did he look good in the game, though. Yeah, he looked great in the game. Like that line with him and Ericksonack and Kempe, when they had the. puck unless they were shooting, that's the only time they lost possession, it felt like. Yeah, they, they were fantastic. They were excellent. But, yeah, there was not, you know, it was interesting because I think the Swedish media thought that Markstrom was going to play against Finland, but apparently he accidentally

said it was Gusasin again. So let's see if he was pulling our tails or it, or who it is on Friday. Yeah, Sweden, Finland, always a big game. As Eric Carlson said, it's like they always seem to go through each other at one point. They see each other on the big stage. So that'll be a perfect one to kick off our trio of games on Friday here from Milan. Also just wanted to say, too, with Italy, like we talked a bit about it during the broadcast. So eight players on that team, Elliot, born in Canada initially and now representing Italy here.

at this tournament. I just wanted to shout out quick, Matt Bradley, who was one of the Italian goalscores from Vancouver. And his inspiration in playing for Italy in this tournament, his 95-year-old Nono, originally born in Italy, immigrated to Canada in 1955, still lives in Vancouver now, would have been watching that game the other night. And I guess he went to a lot of Matt's games when he was growing up as a kid. And even now, he said so his cousin plays for UBC, plays hockey there. And even at 95 years young, he'll go watch his cousin play a lot of games as well.

So I wanted to get that in. You know, I wanted to mention, too, about the Italian player. We talked about Cristiano DiGiacinto from Hamilton and how he's, someone reached out to me during the game to tell me he represented Canada as a floorball goalie. and now he's representing Italy as a forward, and he was driving the Swedes crazy. I got a note from someone.

I'm not going to mention the name in case they're just reaching out with a joke to see if I'd read it. So I'm going to read it because it's funny, but I'm not going to read out the name. He says, if you want another little insider information, I've known Cristiano most of my life, and in elementary school he sang and performed how to save a life by the fray.

Oh, what a track. Now, that was a big song. It was number one for a while. I don't know whether I want this to be true or false, and I'm just reading it because it's funny. Do you think, Kyle, this is a true piece of information or a false piece of information? It's another case of it seems too specific to not be true.

That's right. And it is a very catchy It must have that Gymnasia must have just been Not a dry in the house If he was performing that song This could turn into a good bit Like all these things that he's done in his life

Yeah he's like the next Chuck Norris People just throwing stuff out there We just keep reading it Yeah On the pond By the way Biazza today So

There's one story It was so funny We walk in and we've been taking the same route the whole time to the set. So, so me and Kevin and James Dothi walk in this time. And James says, I heard there's a different way up this way. And you said, yeah, take this staircase up there to the set. And Kevin looks at it and he's like, no, because it's over there and the stairwell's over there, it's closer. There's no way that this is closer than our regular route. And we're like, let's just try it and see.

And Kyle, it was obvious. It was closer. Okay. Yeah. It was obvious. It was closer. So we get up there and James is like, well, that was definitely closer. And Kevin did not want to concede. He said, yeah, by like maybe like a minute. I'm like, are you serious? You know that that was much closer. Are you that determined to be right all the time that you refuse to admit it? And even he started laughing. He goes, yeah, I didn't want to be wrong. I was already wrong about Bennington. I didn't want to be wrong about the stairwell.

I was wrong about Slovakia. Oh, gosh. And, Ellie, quickly, I know we didn't get a chance to see it, but you want to weigh in on Germany, Denmark, over at the Roe ice hockey arena. Yeah, Kyle, the only team that I didn't see that I would like to is Germany. They won. They beat Denmark.

Yeah. We were working USA Latvia at the same time so I didn't get to watch any of it. I'm looking forward to seeing them. Stutzla 2, Dry Settle 1, cider played a ton. It's the recipe that you think would work for them. So USA and Germany play last in their. round robin. That could be a big game.

Yep. Absolutely. Because, I mean, even if you're thinking, all right, the U.S. is the favorite, they should win. Okay. But remember, so there's the three top seeds in each group that go right to the quarters. And then there's the fourth, like the next best. And you got to think that something like goal differential maybe could come into play. So depending on how Germany handles things against Latvia, you know, you know,

you know, if they got a chance to at least keep it very close against the U.S. or why not take a swing at beating them? But my point is, even if they finish second to the Americans in that group, depending on how it shakes out elsewhere, like we've already seen some chaos in the Finland-Swedden group thanks to Slovakia, suddenly there's a potential that Germany gets the fourth spot and going right to the quarters. Yep. Any other shoutouts you want to get in before a final thought?

Oh, yeah. You know what? There's a bunch. You know, I tried to keep notes of all the people who came by and shouted out the pod. And I couldn't keep them all. So I got to a few. We're just too popular. Yeah. I got to a few.

I tried to remember as many as I could. There was a guy, Kevin Jones, who's from Ohio, lives in Cleveland, him and his dad, had both battled some health. issues, but they are both healthy now and they made it to the Olympics together. Great story. I wanted to shout them out. There was a fan named Sebastian from Erding, Germany, who listens to the pod, and he was at the Olympics. There was Owen from Australia, who's lived in Italy for six years.

there were Stefano and Harry from Toronto and Ottawa. Did you ever talk to that Italian player's family from Toronto, from Ottawa, excuse me? Not yet. No. We didn't get down there during the game. It's the only because there's a lot more restrictions. Oh, right. You can stand within the arena at an Olympics than at a typical NHL game in terms of doing so.

Anyway, I'm working on. his name again. Jason Seed. Right. So I wanted to shout out Joe Zarnie. He was the person who came and told me about where Jason's parents were sitting. So I wanted to shout him out. Mike and Larissa from Guelph, who are working in Rome for the year, Naur and Mike from Edmonton.

There's a guy named Paul who's from Kitchener, where my grandparents lived after they moved to Canada. And my mother grew up. He now works in Switzerland. there was a Canucks fan from Cambridge, England, Connor, yogi from Germany who said that I always listened to your podcast. And then as partner Mel, she said, yeah, that means I have to listen to your podcast too. She didn't seem as enthusiastic about it as yogi was. There was a Dean from Tampa Bay.

There was a Ryan and Andy. There was a Garrett. And also, I met Kyle. Do you remember the Canadian from Gimley, Manitoba, Carter Johnson, who plays hockey in Italy and sent footage of the arena when he played the test event there a couple months ago. Yes. So he was at the game, the same in Canada, Chequia, and we got a chance to meet up, and I said

thanks to him. And he's engaged to a woman from his hometown named Ali, a really lovely person. And they're getting married this summer. and Carter, you better take good care of her because she's much better looking than you are, okay? So I just wanted to make sure everybody was aware of that. So I tried to write down as many names as I could. It was a great thrill to meet so many people

who listen to the pod from spread out places across the universe. That's awesome. Well done. And so cool how many have made their way out here. Yeah. Like you never really sure. Sure. My nieces who are in exchange programs, one in Scotland and one in Belgium, are coming to the Canada game on Friday night.

Right. I picked up tickets for them. Ooh. They'd leave a mark? Nah. The things we do for family, Elliot. It was a bit like the amazing race. It was the barter system, Kyle.

It was the barter system. A roadblock. All right. Time now for the final thought. You give and you get. You give and you get. That's what happens. Time now for the final thought presented by the Toyota BZ go all electric and a winter ready Toyota BZ at your local dealer today. Okay. So we have an update on Sonagate. The Italian job, sauna style. Elliot's Sleep sack. Elliot's Italian sleep sack.

All right? What happened? Well, obviously we talked about in the preview pod. Yeah. Your despicable joy for sleeping in the heat. Yeah. And Kevin and I were trying to make sense of why there's just no air conditioning is even an option here. Like they do have it, but it's just not applicable in the wintertime.

I had multiple people approach me at the arena who listened to the pod. Are you serious? Nobody said a word to me about it. I'm stunned. Maybe they're just so grossed out by your love for sleeping and sweat. They're like, I'm not even going near you. Anyway, apparently it is like a full-on Italian thing. Like I've talked to some other people that are also staying here for the Olympics at other hotels from where we're at, and it's the same deal where they are.

The hotel has air conditioning. It's just not an option during this time of the year. And the theory is, it's like across the board, I don't know if it's just in Milan or like the entire country, that's just there's like a system that shuts the whole thing down during the winter. winter. Out here, they're like, we don't need AC during these months. And I don't know I didn't look into hard enough. It feels very Vancouvery out here, been very gray, it's been damp, it's been a lot of rain, but it's been fairly mild. I don't know if that's typical for this time of the year, in Milan in particular, or if it's a little more warm than it otherwise would be in February. but we're not the only ones feeling a little warm in our hotel rooms.

And yet, you remain the only one that's enjoying it. I slept so well last night. Didn't wake up pudly today, unfortunately, but I slept so well. Yeah. Let's see what tomorrow brings. Oh, okay. Yeah, it's about time that you slip into your heated cocoon. And by the way, have you seen what the temperature is going to be like in Toronto this weekend?

No, I haven't even looked. What's going on there? I shuddered a gas. I heard it could be like the coldest place on Earth this weekend. Again? Again. Holy smokes. We're at the Winter Olympics and winners in Toronto.

Allegedly. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Well, I mean, I don't know if there's a better time if it's going to be freezing outside than to just stay inside and watch Olympics today. That it's supposed to be freezing. Jeez. Steph got the snowblower gas up and ready to go. Not my problem. Don't all of you go running. Yeah, Dom wrote her boyfriend does.

That's my typical line. That's right. Don't you guys all go running to her and told her I said that. That's outstanding. Okay. That was a final thought presented by the Toyota BZ. We'll take a brief break and then wrap up this quickie edition of 32 Thoughts to Podcasts after this. All right, before we go, so I know we talked about going into this tournament that we would do

quickie pods at the conclusion of each of the days. that Canada does play. And well, because of the fact that Canada opens back to back, obviously beating Chequio on their opener. And then here on Friday, they play Switzerland. We won't do one later on Friday after the Swiss game. The next time you will hear from us will be at the conclusion of the preliminary round. That's on Sunday. Canada wraps up their schedule of the prelims against France.

The last game of that day is USA versus Germany. So after that is all done, we will check back in again and get you set up for the qualification round and then the quarterfinals and on from there. All right? Okay. A reminder, Canada versus Switzerland on Friday, maybe tomorrow, maybe later today, depending on when you're listening to this. We are on the air for that game. We've got a full half hour pregame show coming at you at 2.30 Eastern, 11.30 a.m. Pacific time. James, Kevin, Cheryl. Cassie, Elliot, and the whole gang. Chris Cuthbert, Mike Johnson will be with you leading up to

puck drop a little after 3 p.m. Eastern time from the Santa. Julia. All right. Have a great Friday the 13th. Don't let Elliot near your summer camp. Have yourselves a great weekend. We'll talk to you again on Sunday

at the conclusion of the preliminary round here in Milan.