Empty Netters Podcast - 66. 6 AM Campfires with Jack Eichel

Episode Date: December 13, 2023

Jackie Aces joins the pod to tell us all about the Knights playoff run and what has kept them such a wagon this season. He talks BU hockey, coach Cassidy's intense style, and dusts off the Phil Kessel impression. Wait til you hear Jack's pregame routine and his favorite TV show. Plus the boys discuss the Larkin incident and why you should never shit talk Moose. CHAPTERS (0:00) - Intro (04:59) - NO BUCKIE WARMUPS (10:42) - Teammate BEEF in Colorado (18:35) - Kucherov is dominating the NHL (25:37) - HOT ICE (25:40) - Dylan Larkin injury and Perron suspension (37:42) - Should The Blues Move a Defenseman? (43:14) - The Canes Goalie Situation (48:14) - Caps Might Be Moving to Virginia (51:54) - Road to the Winter Classic is BACK on TNT and Max (53:59) - Jack Eichel Interview (55:15) - The BU Experience (1:05:11) - Signing with Vegas (1:14:22) - First Playoff Experience (1:19:41) - Winning The Cup (1:29:27) - Playing for Cassidy (1:33:29) - Phil Kessel Stories (1:37:40) - Team USA (1:40:56) - No Cup Hangover (1:43:45) - Winter Classic (1:46:45) - Pass Shoot Score (2:03:31) - OVERTIME (2:04:15) - Hottest Teams and Games 2 Watch   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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and welcome back. The ice is ready and welcome... Fuck. Were you supposed to do it this time? I thought we had that whole plan. Okay, one of you guys. We're back with another episode of the Empty Netters podcast, and Brian's in a Santa Hat. Ho, ho, ho, bitches. Let's go.

Show the palm, dude. Show the palm, dude. Show the palm, if you dare. Yeah, that's nice. It's on a string. That is good stuff. Looks like a cat toy, not a San-Hat. It kind of does. Fuck that thing, dude.

I'm going to cut to me just playing with it during that. Yeah. We're like, Brian, can you look at this stat and you're like, what? Dude, have you ever seen Will Ferrell's audition tape for SNL? I have not, but I'm sure it's hilarious. You could YouTube that, dude. That's an OG. You're too young.

like that's an OG YouTube for us. He, in one segment, he's pretending to be, he's like a boss, you know, and he's got a sick, sick old school secretary out there. And he's like, like, Karen, hold all my calls and meetings for the next two hours and, like, shuts his door. And then he just gets on the ground and has a cat toy. And he's just like, he's literally just a cat. Like he said, yeah. So when you watch that on YouTube tonight, I want you to think about this moment.

You know what's kind of like, it's like those boxing training things where the guys wear that strap around their head and there's the ball. Brady was just doing that. You see that? He was getting fired up. Yeah. Who was the babe in that video? Dude, well, he calls everybody babe. I know.

But my knee jerk, too, was like, oh, shit, dude. But then it was probably... He was pretty smiley. It feels like it was for a lady. That was on purpose. That was planned. Oh, no. No, shit, dude.

He's so... He knows what he's doing. I like it. Me too. Tom Petty. Tom Petty. We've got an unbelievable episode for you today. Jack Eichel joins the podcast.

We headed down to Vegas for a little day trip yesterday. Day trip. Unbelievable up at the pod with Jacko. Then we did the shrimp that I got bodied. I'm not going to hear about it. Yeah, well. But the deck was stacked against me. It's unbelievable.

I put in a valiant effort, I thought. Tremendous. I ate a lot of shrimp. We had a truly magnificent time with Jack. Shout out Sticky Paw Studios for hooking us up, setting us up. And then big, big shout out to Piro's in Las Vegas. Best Italian joint in the city. Maybe the best Italian joint I've ever been to in my life.

Dude, I had the veal chopped parm. Dude. Sorry for the Pita. listeners, but I had that veal and it was delicious. Ix had the chicken parm, delicious. Red had the meatballs. We had charcutory. The Brussels. Penteola

vodka on the side, dude. And I had some shrimp because you didn't finish. That's, I was going to get into. I did this shrimp bet because shrimp is the food that I feel I can eat the most of, and I love shrimp cocktail. I'm not gassing this place up. I think that might have been the best shrimp cocktail. It was insane.

And as a main boy, that feels insane to say. But dude, it was so good. The cocktail sauce was spicy, had some horseradish. Cocktail sauce was sick. It was phenomenal. Piro is just so, so amazing. The nicest people in the world, whole team. Oh, my God.

I love when you go in a spot like that, and it's huge. I couldn't believe how big it was. So many people in the kitchen, all grinding, so nice. Everyone stopped to say what's up to us. And they didn't, we were in early. Like, they had set us up early. And some of the staff didn't know that. And so, like, we're parading in there.

And a bunch of them came up to stop us. And not a one was like, Yo, get out. Everybody was like, oh, I'm so sorry. We're not open yet. Like, we will seat you so soon. I was like, oh, no. You remember my boy Jack right here? Well, then they looked at us and they're like, wait, you guys, you're the shrimp cocktail guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, we're doing it. Truly the best. It was torture for me, eating that delicious shrimp, but looking at how good your food.

It was incredible. So next time we're in Vegas, I'm going straight there. They shot casino there. Yes, they sure did. We saw the staircase that Sharon Stone was tossed down. We sat in the booth. We sat in the booth. We sat in the casino booth. It was the best. Love those guys so much, Piro's. You're the Best. Can't wait to come back. Old mob joint. Old mob joint. Um, and then also, you know, we'll get into it. We'll, we'll let you guys just tell for yourselves with the interview, but Jack Eichael, just the man, you know. He might be my best friend. Just a homie. Just a total homie. I'm sorry, Brian. So, so, so. It used to be you. No shot it was man.

That's true. You've happened. Um, I'm just so happy for Jack. That's the, that's the last thing I'll say before we get into us. So we're not going to waste your time. We're going to get into this episode so you can get right to that interview. Let's start off with our no-bucky warm-up as usual. First thing on the list that I want to talk about, actually, before I even get into some of my segments here, is last episode we talked about maybe doing the in-season tournament. We posted a clip today about that. Dude. One of the first times I've been, or not one of the first times, one of more recent times, I've been genuinely disappointed in the comment section. Oh. And I'm disappointed in hockey fans. We post that clip being like, we should do an in-season tournament,

and everyone defaulted to the fuck the NBA. The NBA is lame and soft. And dude, I'm You guys all know that I love the NHL more than anything. I think it's the greatest league in the world. I think it's the greatest sport in the world. If you don't think the NBA is an insanely well-run league, you're just not paying attention. You can hate basketball all you want, and I respect you for it. But don't say that the NBA is a bad league, because it's probably the most successful league going of the major sports league right now. And proof is in the pudding.

The in season tournament was a massive success, brought in a ton of money, increased viewership across the board. And what I don't get is people just look at it. at it as the NHL was saying the NHL should do something the NBA did. We were saying, no, this would be an awesome thing. It's what European football does, which is vastly more successful than the NFL. It is a unbelievable thing that would increase money and viewership, things that the NHL desperately needs. And it's a awesome, awesome incentive for players to keep grinding for a great cash price. You have any idea how much NHL guys, certain NHL guys could use an extra 500K? Yeah. Give me a break. So I just,

think there's all positives. I have nothing more to say, but I just want our amazing fans and listeners to, and hockey fans across the board, broaden your horizons a little bit, guys. Don't just poo-poo something because the NBA did it. Yeah. I thought you were going to say, you said this was the first time that you were disappointed. I thought you were going to say surprised because I was surprised. I was shocked. I wasn't disappointed because I was like, whatever, but I was like, oh, wow, I thought it was going to be split. Some people were going to like it. Some people weren't going to like it. and the only part that what I did think was the bad take was just because the NBA did it.

Some people were saying I didn't like it for whatever reason. And by the way, the NBA in-season tournament was a big success for the TV broadcasters for Adam Silver for whatever. I haven't spoke to an NBA player to be like, did you like it? Because maybe they were like, it actually was annoying as fuck and I didn't like it. Yeah, for sure. And that's fair. I do want to say this, though, what could have been bad about? I don't know.

That's the thing that I don't really understand. And another thing that I really love, because this is, for the fans, part of the reason to do it was to cut back on load management. Yes. It was like, hey, teams, stop sitting. Some people save up all the money they can to go to one game a year. And they go to a game and LeBron James is sitting out for load management. He would never.

King would never, dude. Oh, he would. Oh, he sure would. Chris Stavs Porzinga sitting out for load management. Yana, sitting out for load management. They're trying to prevent that so fans get the best product that they can possibly see. I think that's awesome. So like we said, I think some people got confused in the comments too as if we were,

again, I want to move on from this. But I hated the comments that were like, nah, dude, Olympics or World Cup hockey. And I'm like, this is not, it's not one or the other guys. We're talking about regular season games counting towards a cup. People were like, no, we need Olympics. And I was like, we're still going to get that. This is all I wanted to bring up because you're right. But this is actually fun.

So who cares? This is all I wanted to bring up. I feel like people read that as we wanted to pause the season and do an NCST. in tournaments. They're like, dude, pause the season for the Olympics. And I was like, oh, 100% agree. I literally mean a regularly scheduled regular season game just becomes a tournament game. Yeah. And it would be, dude, I, this is something, I will die on this hill if and when we figure out the all the moving. And straight up, it could just be 500K bonus for all the players. It would be a resounding success. Yeah. And it was like injuries.

Go 10 years down the road and the Bobby Orr Cup is sick to win. It's something that you're like this, fuck yeah. We want to have a-laker's hanging a banner, dude. Do you see that? Yeah, I saw people were pretty upset about that, actually. Of course they were. But it's one of those things where right now people are like this, what a gimmick, so stupid, gimmick, everyone keeps using the word gimmick. It's not a gimmick when the players have such a cool incentive. And like to your point, 15 years from now when everyone, there's 15 banners out.

Exactly. I guess cool, you won the first one or whatever, yeah. And if you think, and I don't think this is going to happen, but if you think the next three years, if the Lakers win, whatever, they need to name it, by the way. The tournament itself. Yeah. It needs to be called like the Adams. Silver trophy or something, whatever. Well, not that.

Why? Adam Silver's a great GM? The Cal McCar Trophy. Kail McCar Trophy. Let's call it the Kail McCar Trophy. Dude, NBA in-season tournament. That would actually be a really cool crossover promo if it was like named after the play.

Hey, so Brian, what would the hockey one be called? Who's the Kail Macarr? No, J.J. Watt Trophy. He's a hockey guy. But Kail's not a hoop. Kail's not a hooper. You don't know that. We need the youngest, the youngest, brightest stud in the NBA right now.

Wait, so Kail McCar, NBA comp? Yeah. Didn't you guys say he's like already a Hall of Famer? Yeah, yeah, after three years, four years in the league. I mean, Janice is young and he's already a Hall of Fame. But he's fucking deep. I know, he's like a superstar. What about?

So is Kahl. Yeah, yeah, that's actually a really good company. No, Janus is in the league's longer, though. Yeah, but how much longer? Two years? I don't think it's that one's got to be younger than young. He's like, Yonis is one in finals MVP, MVP, defensive player of the year. But how old is he 28?

Yeah, I mean, I think Cal's, what, 25? Probably. Maybe, yeah, 25? Who's the best 25-year-old in the league right now? I don't know who was 25. He's a Jason Tatum, dude. Tatum, dude. He's Tatum. Jason Tatum's only 18 years old.

Like, Tatum isn't really one shit, no offense. Yeah, that's true. He hasn't. Fuck you, dude. I'm just being honest. It's fair. It's right. We got to move on. We got to say plenty about me.

First or next, I suppose, no bucky warm-up topic. Some beef going on in Colorado. Some Denver beef. See that? Yeah. So, Moose, Miko Ratanin, had a great game the other night. Three points.

got interviewed after the game and he said this, quote, it feels good. And there's actually one thing where I got a lot of extra energy. One of our Finnish NHL players' dads was talking shit about me in the media. That I didn't train last summer like I used to do. And he was just making things up. So I think that performance was for him. If you talk shit, it's going to come back at you.

This was confirmed that he was talking about teammate, Colorado teammate, not just Finnish teammate, Arturi Lechon's dad. Lekinen's dad is a journalist. And yeah, was writing some shit. How do you feel about this? When I first saw it, I saw the tweets or the headlines or whatever,

and I saw him talking. And it was one of those, I had a good comp for this too, and I'm blanking out right now, but it was one of those where 80% of the way through his thing, I'm like, he's joking. Like, this is fine.

And not that he didn't use that as motivation, but he was just kind of being like, teasing. Your dad, yeah, he's teasing. And then he finished and I was like Oh I don't think he finished He finished? Nice dude

And I was like I don't think he's teasing at all At all Doesn't seem like you're joking What I find crazy Is A And I just pulled it up Because I wanted to make sure I was right He's got 34 points in 28 games this year

Yeah He's been tremendous Moose is loose dude He's been tremendous He picked up right where he left off B Do you think he's said Is that the first time he's brought this up

Internally? Like, you know, I'm like, dude, you got to talk to your boy first If you're like, yo, I can't hear your dad said that. Real your dad in, bro. Which I think is kind of whiny anyway. But I'd still be like, dude, I can't believe your dad said that shit Before I did this in the media

Unless he was teasing. Unless he was like, I already talked to him. This is kind of funny. I'm going to pretend to be mad. His dad's going to see this. Maybe it's all a ruse, dude. But if it's not, I'm like, I don't know that was the way to handle this at all.

I think some hockey fans are going to hate this take from me because I think one of the greatest things about the NHL has been how different it is from other leagues where all the drama and the pettiness and all that really seems to be out of the game. You're going to try to NBA the NHL two weeks in a row, dude? Two weeks in a row. I promise.

I do feel like there's been a lot of drama this year. This league, dude, this league. I kind of love it. There's been a lot of drama in the NHL. A lot of rumors. Yeah. A lot of rumors. and I just think it's been wild.

And this one, I'm totally with you. If he was just new boot goofing, I think that would have been super funny. But this to me, the way he approaches it, makes me feel like he must not be cool with Lekinen. Yeah, because doing it the way you did it, not mentioning Lekinen's name, and then have it brought up and people be like,

who is the teammate? And then he admits that it's Lekinen. I'm like, this is awkward now, dude. Exactly. Because it makes Lekinen feel weird. And now someone, you know, someone's putting a mic in Lekinen's face being like, so is your dad talking shit? And he's like,

yeah, I guess. Like, it would have been better for me if Moose just straight up went, what's his name? It's like, Salmo or something, but whatever, Lekinen's dad. Oh, yeah, yeah. But I think you guys just got to go like this. Yeah, fucking Mr. Lekinen was talking shit. You can still be mad

at him. Yeah. But don't make it awkward and not mention Arturi's name because then people are like, wait, who is it? And now, now like me, I'm assuming you guys aren't cool. Yep. So you've got to be like this. My boy's dad is talking shit that I'm not training well. I'm over here with 36 points in 26 games so he can get fucked. There's still saltiness there, but you're not dragging your boy. That's what I needed from him. There are three

options. We can't have turmoil in the avalanche locker. There are three options. Moose and Leck hate each other. Yeah. Moose hates the entire Leck family. Okay. No, don't drag the mom into this. Fair. He hates Leck and his dad. Yes. Two, Moose saw that shit, thought it was not funny, like he was actually mad, but he was like, then he, but him and Leck are boys, so he called Leck over and he was like, dude, your dad talking smack about me in the fucking paper? And Lex's like, dude, I know, I told him not to.

I can't believe he said that. And Moose was like, I'm gonna go, and then Moose went for three and was like, I'm gonna go off in this post-game interview and make sure your dad sees this, I'm faking though. Yeah. It's all a joke. Okay? Ooh. Like, he's like, I'm not, he's pretending to be mad in this, but he's like, dude, we're boys. We're boys. option three is Leck and his dad

are right and they work out with Moose all year and he wasn't working out and they have a source and I will never punish someone for telling the goddamn truth Okay let me go through those I think two is very unlikely I think two's the favorite Because dude what

You're so dumb sometimes I just feel like you live in a fantasy land in that brain of yours and you just want to believe the things that you think might be the most entertaining. Two is incredibly unlikely because it was delivered so poorly if this was a plan by the two of them. No, he's perfect. No. He seemed

mad. No, you could know because it was true anger there. Like you could act. No, you gotta do even better. Bless you. Let it out, dude. Don't hold your sneezes in. That's bad for you. You gotta go harder if it's fake. He was kind of reserved, which made me feel like, oh God, this is awkward. Then again, you're now in my head. Maybe that is the best acting.

Two is unlikely. Three, I would accept if Moose was playing poorly. But he's leading the team in points, I think. But what if he was slack in this summer? What if he was slack in this summer? I don't give a shit. And he went like this. Moose was slack in this summer.

I would go like this. Look at my process. Look at the results on the ice, you horse's ass. Let me look up the Afts stats. And look up Arturie Lekan's stats, because if he ain't sniffing moose, I think Leck has probably 25 points this season. Okay, team leaders in points. Nate Dog, 39 and 28.

Kayle, aka Janus. Yonis Poppest. 36 and 26. Moose, 34 and 28. Big drop after that. Leck has only played 12 games, has 8 points dash 3. Dude, keep my wife's name. Keep my wife's name out your mouth.

Mr. Lekanen, shut your whore mouth when talking about Miko Rantin, when your boy. What if he was slack in this summer, though? I don't care. He's still producing. What did the article say, dude? I don't know. Doesn't matter. What if it said, what if it said, Moose is having a really good year, but he could be having

an even better year because he was slack in this summer. I would still go like this. Shut up, dude. Worry about your boy who sucks. That's what I would say. Or one. On record, Lekidon does not suck. He's a great player.

One. Option one. they hate each other. I refuse to believe that. So it's three. I can't believe that two Finnish boys are on the same team in Denver, Colorado, having just won a cup two years ago, and they hate each other. So it's three. He was slack in the summer, but it's not appropriate to bring it up.

No, I think it's... He was slack in this summer. No, I said I can't believe. I refuse to believe one, but it's not impossible. I think two is impossible. Three is possible. Three is possible. I think three is assured. But I also don't appreciate the snitch in a way.

I said I would be mad about telling the truth, but also just like... It's crazy. Maybe talk to hit him up on the side, dude. I think what he should have done is sewer the dad. Yeah. Pick on the dad. Okay. Leave your boy out of this.

Let's stick with guys who are having monster seasons and head on down to Tampa Bay. We just need to shine a light. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Nikutukuturov, who has been a top 10 player in the league for many, many years now. He came in in our top 10. But... What was he? Do you remember?

I believe he was... On the real to find that. Eight, seven or eight, I think. Okay. And it's become very clear that we underrated Cooch. Should have been won. Cooch is... I mean, this man has 47 points like a sick fuck right now.

I feel as though... God, dude. We need to have a conversation about the possibility that Cooch is, like, getting overlooked. Is that positive? Austin Matthews just scored his 20th goal of the season, by the way. Come on, dude. Cooch's only 30, too, bro. Cooch is 30 years old.

As in also, not 3. He's 30 years old. That is at least six solid years left. And do me a favor and get his career stats right now. And for the last four seasons, read me his games and his points. Okay. Including this year. 17, 18, 80 games, 100 points.

He's gone back way too far. 1819, 82 games, 128 points. Monster. Yeah. 1920, 68 games, but I think that's a full season. Yeah. 85 points. 21, 22, 47 games.

Again, I'm pretty sure that's a full season. No, no, no. That was the year. He was hurt and came back. Remember, he came back at the end of the year, I believe, and people were like, fucking cooch is still coming back. Yep. And they won.

No, that 20, 21, this is? 21, 22, yeah. No, that's Colorado year. They beat them. the insects. Yeah. Have six. Yeah. 47 games, 69 points. Last year, 82 games, 113 points.

28 games, 47 points this year. I mean, the man is absurd. Way over PPG. Way over. He makes a mockery of the NHL. In fact, Dan, he's only been under his first three seasons in the league, and even those were pretty close. And he's been over every year since. Yeah.

This is what I'm trying to say. Cooch is just, you know, Sean Avery, went had a really awesome clip pop off last week talking about cooch and how he thinks he's the best player in the league he was like this guy has austin matthews shot he has you know ovi's strength he has mac david's skating ability he has dry sidles passing ability it's yeah he is crazy dude crazy because he does it he does it on both. He's not one of these guys that has a hundred and twenty eight points and a hundred of them are assists. He scores.

Monster playoff production too. He scores, he wins cups, he takes his shirts off, and he gassed beers, and he sewers the Canadians. Like, he's just, he should be more of a face of the NHL, I think is what I'm trying to. And is I will hear you here, Dan, in that even on his own team, I feel like

headman and stammer and Vassie. get a lot of the praise. They get more of the shine. Everyone talks about them and they go, Cooch, obviously. Yeah, yeah, for sure. No one forgets about him. He's not the first out of people's mouths.

And I think he should be. Like, I think he's like, I am the best, I will die the best player that played for this Tampa Dynasty. Cooch, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that take. And I think you're right, dude. Me too.

I think of the last five years, he has been the best player on that team. And I think when people look at this John Cooper, Tampa Bay Lightning Dynasty, Nikita Kocheroff is the best player. That's pretty crazy. How many career points is he at? I'll tell you.

He has 776. Yeah, I mean, he's going to go way over a thousand. Yeah, way. Way over a thousand. Yeah, I love it. Love it. He, if they make the playoffs this year, it'll be because of him. Yes, honestly.

Quick love to a couple of teams that I think we put a little spark under for opposite reasons. Islanders. Fuzzing. Second place in the Met right now. Yeah. Second place in the Met? The Met is a mess, though.

It's just, it's chaos. And I love it. It's a Met. So the Islanders have shot up the second place in the Met. They're playing out of control. Our boy Matt Barzel, dude. Talked about he needs some rookie season flare. Let me tell you what.

He's got it. He has nine goals, 20 assists for 29 points in 26 games. already creeping up on 10 goals, dude. Already. Yeah. Not even 30 games in the season. Almost has 10 already. That's a big switch for him over the last couple years. Yeah, because score 30, dude. He's gonna. Score 30. And after we talked shit about Horvatt and the Islanders and the little Vancouver

visit, they've been buzzing. So, yeah. Great job, Iles and great job Isles fans. Believe in, keep believe. And then the Flyers. Hold on, actually, just on the Islanders, that's a fucking emotional statement win to have Horvett score that OT after Johnny Toadrags gets his thousandth point to tie the game with five seconds left. So many things going on in that game. It just was, and I'm not saying that's going to make or break your season, but it's just one of those games where it's like fucking Toadraggs is back. He hit this huge milestone in my face to tie the game.

You just lose that game every time if you're the Islanders. You just lose it every time. And then not only do you win it, but Horvatt hits the winner. Dig deep. You know, that just felt like a fuck you bitch win. And I was like, nice. It felt like a weird different win. Yeah.

Yeah. And then yeah, the Flyers. We talked about the Flyers last week. Flyers are fun. Flyers are in third. Flyers are a hoot. Absolutely. Yeah, we don't have to do the whole rundown again.

But I just want to say for a long stretch here, I have been, I haven't been a believer in the Flyers maintaining this. And I'm still not, admittedly. But I will say this. Previously, I wasn't a believer. and I was like, go away. Like, gosh, I don't need this in my life. And now I'm like, I'm still not a believer, but hot damn. Yeah.

And this is cool. And I've long said, I don't care for Philly sports. The Sixers, Eagles, the Phillies were always kind of fun. I was like, I'm all on board with the Phillies, whatever. But the Flyers, I was lumping in with the Sixers and Eagles. And I don't know what it is about this Flyers team, but I'm like, I got not a bad thing to say about you. Yeah. haven't hurt me yet.

Yeah, very. I hate you, Philly. I hate all your teams, and I hate you because I respect you. Yes. You are just gritty, grimy people. You love your teams, and your teams are dangerous. I hate danger.

Keep it away from me. Yeah. And this Flyers team I do like because they haven't hurt me yet. All right. Let's kick it into some hot ice. First topic, kind of sensitive. Yeah. Crazy Dylan Larkin hit and play that happened last week.

Before we even get into. it obviously the only thing that we want to say first you know with with this biggest emphasis is that we hope larks is okay comes back just as strong as he was has no long-term issues with a head injury stuff like that is scary as hell terrifying seeing him fall to the ice like that playing the ottawa senators what we saw was play in front of the net mat matthew joseph made dangerous contact with larkin's head who then bounced off into parker kelly who also hit him in the head larkin was clearly unconscious as he went to the ice. Then David Perron comes over and cross-checks Artem Zub up high, catches him towards the dome.

There was some hand, shoulder contact as well, whatever. Big scrum. End of the play. Kelly and Joseph both get two minutes for roughing. Peron gets a match penalty and now a six-game system. Yeah. And a fine. So this led to some conversation online.

our boy Nick at Hockey Collective talked about this, looked at the fact that Prawn was having a hearing, and then had six games and was like, what the fuck is going on here? A lot of people have talked about it. I don't want to sewer anyone, but we had a particular Sends fan jump into our DMs because I had said on the story that I think Joseph needs a suspension here. Because it's similar to me to the Jacob Trubas. Is Joseph the one who hit him first? Yes. Okay, keep talking. Similar to me to the slashing.

of Trent Frederick in the head, and I'll explain that in a second. But a sentence fan jumped in our DMs and was like, you fucking biased loser wings fan. Nothing. Joseph didn't do anything wrong. He is a clean player. Peron should be suspended for 20 games. And I was like, lull at you calling me biased when you have Ottawa senators in your Instagram bio. And then you say something like that, Peron should be suspended for 20 games.

So what I have to say here is Peron getting suspended, totally understand. I think the biggest issue with Perron is why'd you go after Zup? Dude. Like, Zoom's probably saying like, what the fuck? Absolute fucking stray. Yeah. That's like, I do not want to make light about this that much, but that fucking killed me. I was like, dude.

Jesus Christ, because that is, that was a mean one. I love Peron standing up for his captain, his teammate, his leader. I do think what he did was aggressive. Like he came in hot and high. He deserves a suspension, but to me, it's a one game sussie dude. one game. This guy has never been suspended once in his over thousand game career. He's a season veteran. He's a Stanley Cup winner. I think giving this guy a six game suspension for standing up for his captain in a very dangerous and scary situation. Giving him six games to me is just the player safety going like this. We have no idea what we're doing here. That pisses me off. Now to get to the Joseph thing. Okay. Joseph and Larkin have history. Joseph cheap shoted the fuck out of Larkin last season, I believe, and then Larkin suckered him because he was like, fuck you, you scumbag.

Yep. I want to be very clear. I don't think there was anything premeditated with this play whatsoever from Joseph. It's a play in front of the net. But like I said about the Truba situation, dude, it is acceptable to get a suspension if you don't intend to do something. You can still make a mistake, have an accidental play, but do something that's like, ooh, that was bad, dude.

And you should get a suspension. to show that that shit it does not belong in the game because if you're in front of the net, dude, and you're trying to clear players out, a puck squirting out, you're trying to prevent a goal situation, and your fists are flying around

and you crack someone in the side of the head who's not looking and knock them out cold, yep. Dude, you're suspended, in my opinion. Agree. And I just think, again, one game, and the no suspension, I'm kind of like, whatever.

I would have done it afterwards, and it's mostly because if you're suspending Peron, Joseph deserves one too. Okay, several thoughts. I was just watching it again because I want to see this Lomo. Peron is

turned, it's a scrum kind of because they're trying to hit Larks in the bumper there. Peron's kind of turned around. I'm sure you can feel Larks getting body behind him, but he doesn't see anything. And then when they all fall, Zub falls over Larkin's feet. I know. So by the time Peron turns back around,

Zub's like climbing up off Larkin's body and pops So I'm like I don't think he knew Zub wasn't the guy Was neither of the guilty parties But to your trouba point Like I think it should be a factor

If you pop a dude Who was not involved at all And I don't care if Peron Got confused That shouldn't be a factor in his favor Of course Because I'm like you popped a guy Who had nothing to do with this

And he's like I thought he did Sir And I'm like I don't give a fuck what you thought You popped a guy Had nothing to do with this So I'm kind of like I'm already in a pretty decent suspension just for hitting a third party for no fucking reason

even though he didn't mean to and I believe that he didn't mean to I thought he did it so I'm already like well fuck you you hit a third party and he went too hard and too hot here's my other point Dan the I'm all for sticking up for your captain I'm even more stick up for your captain than you are in terms of even if they get hit clean I'm like yeah you gotta fight him

and I think and you're not on record with that but dude you gotta fight him you gotta drop literally Peron should have fired his gloves off and even if he suckered Zub in the face with his fucking fist, I would be less mad than what he... Not I'm not mad, but I would be less severe

than what he did. We cannot... I have no problem dropping the hammer on people fucking cross-checking someone in the face. That is fucking cowardly. Do not fucking do that. Dude, suckering someone in the face

is just as if not more dangerous. Yes, probably suckers wrong work because I don't want it for coming from behind, but if he walked right up to him, if he threw his gloves down and walked up to him, grabbed his jersey and put one in his fucking nose, and before Zubb could even get his hands up, I'd be like, well, you know, not great,

but... You still suspended. Yeah, but it's the, dude, just leave your stick out of it in everything, in my opinion. So I'll pause here before we get into the Ottawa players, my opinion on that. But I am kind of like, this was intense, this was an example for sure. But I can kind of live with the example here because I'm like, don't do that, dude. Yeah, again, I agree, like I said, Peron should be suspended. But six games, I think is a fucking clown show.

adds up it's six game suspension with no pay adds up to almost $150,000. Yeah, steep. What Chuck get? Five? Four? Four.

You know, because I'm kind of like, that was a high hit and a guy didn't have the puck. This is a guy didn't have the puck had nothing to do with the play and you put a stick across your face. That's not fair. Did have something to do with the play. He got the wrong guy,

but it's not like he just randomly after the whistle was like, I'm going to fucking jump this guy. his captain is knocked out cold and he's responding. And that does factor in, dude. And in the rule book it says you can't like players can't get caught up in the moment. That doesn't help your case, which I think is fair and smart. But at the end of the day, a guy who's played over a thousand games and has never got a suspension, we talk all the time about like prior stuff, does that count in?

And I'm always like, fuck you. But at some point it has to come in to an extent. And like Joseph, a guy who does have history gets nothing here. I don't know, dude. You know what? My thing is this. If Joseph was just standing in front of the net and Larkin turned and hit his shoulder or Larkin turned and hit his stick, then I'm like, that is a complete accident, dude. Like Joseph didn't do shit.

But Joseph is flailing his arms around. He's trying to cross-check him in the back, trying to move him out, which is legal and fine. And he hits him in the face. That I'm like, dude, that's more than roughing to me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, fuck yeah. You sucker a guy who doesn't have the puck, by the way, in the side of the face, completely accidentally, I'm like this, you're suspended. Yeah.

I also will say to argue against myself, the, you know how we just saw this in college football where it's like, in the rules, it says if the, if the other team loses their quarterback for the rest of the year, that you can weigh that into the voting. I am kind of like, I know it's in the rules that the heat of the moment can't matter, but I am very much like, if someone's captain is lying unconsciously, on the ice, there is more leeway into the response. I don't know that fights in the face of heat of the moment, but I'm just like, dude, what did you want him to do? Like, the response from his team and his coach and the bench and the fans, like would have been chaos if he didn't go pretty nuclear. And I just said he went too nuclear, which he did, but just like, that was not good.

Everyone on the Red Wings, including their coach, Lalonde, is like, this is fucking bullshit. Yep. They're not saying fucking bullshit, but they're like, listen, you know, it is what it is. David stuck up for his captain. And I'm sure Paran's like, I would do it all the fucking same again. Obviously, you never want to hit someone up high. And I don't think he meant to hit Zub up high. Yeah. That's why I said. He came in too hot and too, and too

too high. And he deserves a suspension. I think it should be two games. And it is what it is. I just think the, at the very least, honestly, talking this out, I'm willing to say Joseph should be fined. Truba gets fine. Oh, oh, oh. The maximum allowed, right? You got the $5,000 fine.

Joseph should get that fine, too. Because, dude, Senators fans, if you were fucking stamping your feet about this, one of your players suckered a dude in the head, in the side, by the way. It's like the back kind of, I think. It's dangerous as fuck. And again, I know it wasn't on purpose, but you need, we're screaming at Truba. You need to be in control of your stick. Yeah.

You need to be in control of your fucking fists, too. It's kind of like a, it's not even an act. I don't think he's, she's not just trying to hurt him. No, not at all. He's like hitting him in the back of the head to just get him out. It's like a one-handed thing. What I think is crazy, and I can't really know this. But I feel like it's Kelly that knocks him out, though.

Like if the Kelly wasn't there, he would have just, and Kelly didn't do anything. That's what's crazy. I'm not sure about that. Because how could anyone be sure about that? But the reason I don't even bring up Kelly is because Kelly's standing there and Joseph does something that then hits into Kelly. So I'm like, Kelly did nothing.

And I think if Kelly wasn't there, Larkin literally would have just like fallen onto his knees and turned around and slashed him on the shin pads. And like we would have been moving this would, it was just like a freak accident. you know, at least that's what it looked like to me. I made that very clear. I understand this is a freak accident. No one got to do anything. Joseph's shitty, like stupid play, but not like that dirty even.

Just kind of like, dude, put your fucking hands down. Like that's honestly my response if Kelly's not standing there. I'm like, keep your hands down, dude, as I like shrug this away. And now. That right there, though, to me, shows that there was something wrong that was done. You know what I mean? This isn't someone driving down the freeway in a snowstorm and they hit a patch of ice and then crash into someone else.

That's not someone being negligent or doing something that is out of bounds. I think Joseph did something slightly out of bounds that accidentally caught someone the wrong way. And he has to pay because of the actions. Yes. Yeah. I'm honestly talking to sell, like I said, I'm fine to dial back the one game suspension into a $5,000. Yeah. Because I'm almost like it's not even a fine because if Kelly wasn't there, it would have been barely a penalty.

Yeah. But I guess the way. Someone was there. To me, the way Sends fans and some people are talking about it, and I don't mean to lump you all Sends fans. But the way some people are talking about it is as if Joseph cleanly checked Larkin. And then Larkin fell back and hit his head on somebody else. Yeah, okay. That's the way they're talking about it. It's more than that.

It's more than that. So we're pretty much aligned there. And I'm a harder on Faron than you are just because I accept it was intense, but I don't mind the example. Because I'm like, dude, I know you didn't mean to get them that high, but you can't be cross-checking people in the phone. And I disagree with you that I do mind the example because it's too much. Yeah. Too many games. If you play over a thousand games and never get sussy.

When you hear the money, it's crazy. Yeah. A lot of those games that Perron played were with the St. Louis Blues. I want to talk about some of their defense. Nice. Nice. St. Louis Blues are currently sitting at six in the Central, right around 500. We were pretty spot on about them in our preseason assessments.

And another thing we said in our preseason assessments was this, brought this up. They're quote unquote, big five defensemen. are all 30 years or older. I think it's Falk, Krug, Perako, Lettie, and Scandela, and those top four are making like 6.5, 6.5, 6.5, 6.5,

and 4. Good contracts. Good contracts. Most of them are, I think Pareko is like deep. He's got like four years, four or five years left. Okay, yeah. And he's only 30.

Falk and Krug have three years left, I believe, including the season. So I think maybe two more after that, something like that. I think we talked about, I think some of those guys need to be dealt. Just good business for the Blues if you're not making a playoff run. I don't think this Blues team is making a playoff run. Me neither.

And I think there are a lot of teams right now who are contenders who need defense. I'm thinking Toronto right off the bat. I'm thinking Dallas big time. I think Dallas needs a defensive guy. Yeah, okay. Go on. I like Who else do I like here?

Edmonton, sorry. Oh, yeah. I think you use another defensive defenseman. By the way, Evan Bouchard is going to have like 100 points this year. I know. I like a lot the idea of the blues making a good move here, a good future move,

and moving one of these guys. Now, Krug is obviously not a defensive guy. Yes, this is what I wanted to get into. Krug, to me, is hard. to move because while I think Krug has a ton of value on a team I'm like crew to me would maybe be good on like

Vegas Vegas has six really good defensemen all who play really good defense and a crew could maybe like exist in that world but he doesn't they don't need him so to me I'm looking at Falk and Pareco I don't think that they're going to want to move on from Pareco I think they look

at him as a leader and a future part of that team and organization but Falk, I look at as a really, really valuable trade piece on a good contract that could go to one of these teams. Yep. 12 points this year. How much ice is he getting?

22 minutes. Also, dude, you want to talk about teams that need veteran leadership and teams that need defensive guys? Buffalo. Yeah, right. That's a situation that maybe the summer comes up, but, you know, because I don't think Buffalo Buffalo ain't in any place

to be talking about playoffs right now. Yep. But, yeah, folks, folks not a bad option, honestly. My fear,

when you brought this up to me in our prep, my fear was that it was there, none of them is really giving you the D. I'm not chirping any of these guys. They're good hockey players.

But what's it, what was it? Who did Toronto trade for last year? They traded for. O'Reilly and then they brought in a defenseman. Shen. Shen.

Yeah. And then who else, did the hawks move someone, McCabe? Where did he go? I think there. Oh, he also went there. Oh, yeah, yeah. They got them both. Yeah.

Anyway, my point was kind of like, I watched moves like that. And I think at the time, both of us were like, okay, here we go, Toronto. And it just felt like when it came down to it, and they ran into that Katz buzzsaw for sure. But when it came down to it, it was like those defense. aren't exactly moving the needle come crunch time, come playoff time. And certainly teams aren't excited to be parting with defensemen that do move the needle. The defensemen that do move the needle don't grow on trees. It's not easy to acquire them.

But I just don't know how much a Justin Falk changes the Oilers playoff run, changes the stars playoff run. I'm not chirping these guys at all. But you know what I'm saying? Like, I just, is that it? Maybe, but I don't think so. You need, they need more help than some, some guys that we're talking about here that I'm like, you're kind of, you're like, you're a good, you're a good defenseman, but that's it. And I'm like, I think they might need more than that.

Thoughts. I think that you're right, but. It's good business. Trade them if you can. That's kind of where I'm. Like, if you're the same, blue is trade them, 100%. Do what everyone else did. Load up Toronto.

You want to load up again. Edmonton, load them up. Take them all. Good business that way. I'm just saying if I'm the other teams, I'm not sure I'm like beating down the blues doors to get Falk. I don't know that I'm beating down doors,

but I think Falk makes you, I think Falk links Dallas better. Yeah, I agree. They need depth on D. I mean. Yeah, depth is a factor. We talked about it's like, you know, Pete's system is not designed

great for defensemen, in my opinion. And I just think that there's a world where better depth. And I think Falk is a good defense. Yeah, yeah, he is. He is. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Also... That is one to keep an eye because I don't think the blues are very good. Another team with some struggles

right now. This time, not so much on the blue line in goal tending. Cains are on a skid. Yeah. Last week, this time they were in second place. All correct. And no excuse. but they're on a tough road trip. They're on a tough road trip. It's not easy.

But it is crazy to see in a week's time they've gone from second to sixth, which just again goes into how fucking mental the net is. It's a mass. It's unbelievable. But they're on a brutal stretch. Losing right now. Freddie, obviously, out, you know, brutal situation. We're wishing him the best.

But in his games, his stats are at 2.87 goals against 894, say, percentage. And then let me pop you the other two. Ranta has a 3.40 goals against with a 0.86, say, a percentage. Horrible. And then Kachetkoff has a 3.12 goals against and a 0.873. Yeah. So this team was a team that we saw load up this summer.

Their defense got better. They got Orlov, who has been, I think, quiet. and Freddie was playing great last year. Obviously, Freddie being out is brutal, but... And Ranta was pretty good too last year. Yes, he sure was. That's what's crazy. They were one of the better goal of tandems.

And obviously, Freddy's out, but when he was playing, he was not playing great. And these two goalies now are playing very poorly. And this Kane's team is struggling. They're out of playoffs currently, and they just got hit with another blow in Svetchenikov being out with no timetable to return. Yeah. So my question for you is, what do you do right now if you're the Cains? Are you in full panic mode?

Holy shit. We just lost one of our best goal scores. Our goalies are playing terribly. We're going to miss playoffs. And do you do something and try to scramble and trade a piece for a goalie? Or do you just go, we'll figure this out. We'll write the ship. Dude, they head up to Buffalo and beat the Sabres in a really good win, 6-2, and then flew

to Western Canada and went. Two one loss to the jets, six one lost to the Oilers, three, two lost to the flames, four three lost to Canucks and they're losing to Ottawa right now. Still have Detroit at the end of this road trip. Nightmare fuel run. Nightmare, Chris. Nightmare fuel run. The reason I am not panicking, and by the way, this is not me endorsing the canes and saying

they're going to be sick this year and all is fine. I am not panicking because they are four points out of second place. Yeah. Like the Met is so jammed together. They could win four straight games and all of a sudden be... And I, me, Chris Powers, not the Canes. They're not saying this in their locker room. Not Rod, certainly.

But I am like this. The Islanders are horrible. The Flyers are horrible. And the Capitals are horrible. Hey, the Flyers are fun. The two of those are fun. Three of those are fun teams. Those are super fun teams.

But I'm like, those teams aren't good. They are going to miss the playoffs. The Devils are going to jump them. The Hurricanes are going to jump them. It feels like, to an extreme Colorado last year when everyone's like, the abs are out of the playoffs. And I'm like, the abs are going to win the Central. So wake me up in fucking June. And then I was right.

So we were right. So my point is, I am not panicking in terms of where you are. Yeah. But, dude. You got to write this ship. Yes. And dude, the one in Sveche, no, what was it? Lower Body?

I believe. I can't remember what happened to. That was one of their fatal. They had a few fatals last year. And him being hurt was one of them, right? So like, this is not good. They're not quite deep enough offensively to lose that scoring, not quite. for a long period of time.

The goalie thing is a major issue. Because if that goes, it's just fucking gone, dude. Like, I am very hard pressed to find, to point to a season. And I would love a listener to hit us in a DM on this. I am very hard pressed to think of a goalie season where he was not good. And then halfway through the season was like, wait, I am completely nasty again. I've seen it in kind of playoffs. Like, I would say, Aiden Hill last year.

Like, there are guys in playoffs where you just catch fire. Playoffs. Yeah, 100%. That's actually maybe a pretty good one for the blues. I can't remember if he did that or not. Again, he got called up. I think there's a difference. I mean, like, Sway started a little slow last year in the beginning of the year and was one of the best goalies in the NHL at the end of the second half.

So I think it can swing, but the big difference there is Sway wasn't bad. Yes, that's what I'm saying. They're playing poorly. They're playing poorly. Yeah, they're not, they're like, eh, you're kind of whatever. They're playing poorly. Yeah. I mean, 8-60.

You can't win with those numbers, dude. That ain't, that ain't cutting it. That's like not NHL level. That's, I mean, we've got issues here. So, yeah, agree. There needs to be some serious changes in the next 10 games in that department. Otherwise, you will have to do something. Make a move.

Yeah, like, it's like, yo, dude, bring in a goalie. Yeah. So it's crazy stuff. Staying in the Met real quick, crazy news that kind of broke today. But caps might be on the move, dude. Dude. So let me read this time. A group of Virginia state lawmakers voted Monday in favor of a deal to bring the Washington capitals and wizards to a new arena in northern Virginia, according to four people with knowledge of the situation.

Under the plan, which would still require approval from the full General Assembly and local officials, both teams would move to a new facility anchoring a massive mixed-use development in Alexandria's Potomac Yard neighborhood, according to three of those people and four others. All of them spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss these of the plan, blah, blah, blah, blah. A Virginia Stadium Authority would own the larger complex and lease it to monumental sports and entertainment, which owns the capitals and the Wizards. So we're possibly moving the caps and the Wizards to Virginia. I hate it. Don't want it. Don't want it at all. I will say the Maryland-Virginia situation is fucking tapped for people that don't live there, which includes

me the like I'll be in D.C. and my friend I remember being there playing college games and it's like my friends would be at Maryland or whatever or or even like they'd be like oh I go to Maryland and I'd be like sick where's your apartment? It's like in Virginia and I'm like the fuck dude and then it's like a four minute drive and I'm like where am I? Yeah. So like I will say because I am the most anti, both at a collegiate and a professional level by the way. I'm the most anti having the stadium be far away human who could ever live. Like, if you're in college and you were trying to go to your school football game, you've got to get on a bus, fucking

blow up the stadium, then the bus, then yourself, and don't do anything. If you are a... I went to college for four years in the Greater Boston area. I never once went to a Patriots game because I was like, why the fuck would I get in a car and drive all the way to fucking Foxville? It's ridiculous. It's insane.

I go to Seattle, we're about to be there. I go to Seattle, and if you hit a fucking home run at the T-Mobile park, it might fucking land at the 50-yard line the Seahawks Stadium. I don't know if it actually faces that way, but you know what I'm saying. Yes, I do. Point is, I need it in

and among the people. I know traffic's fucking tough, but like most cities have fucking public transportation. Like, get in the mixer, dude. Dude, shout out Pittsburgh. I think Pittsburgh's got one of the best situations ever in that all of those stadiums are like right next to It's fucking gas. So I got to play, we played George Washington, I think. Yeah, we played George Washington. I can't believe this is turning into some fucking hero

college story for you. I had 15 goals, Brian, in the first period. I had 17 in the second. I think I might have 30 in the third. Such a respectable move in my eyes? Yeah. Wake me up when this is over. All I was I was going to say was we got to play at the rink.

And it was fucking awesome. Yeah, it was a great spot. We had a great time. The fans were going nuts. It's a good anecdote. And I, again, I don't know shit about the geography up there, but I'm here in Virginia, and I'm hearing that it's our nation's capitals team,

and I'm here in Virginia. And I don't like that at all. I don't like it at all, dude. and I just don't like, I was about to say, I just don't like Virginia. You know, Virginia can get fucked as far as I'm concerned. But dude, as far as hockey is concerned, I do feel that way.

Virginia, fuck yourself, dude. And I know that UVA has a fun club team and, dude, blow me. The Caps playing in Virginia makes me physically ill. But maybe it's super close. I don't care. And maybe the ring's going to be sick. I don't care.

But right now I'm upset. Yeah, I do not. I refuse to live in a world where the, Washington Capitals play in Virginia. It's fucking stupid. So I'm all out on that. Last thing we'll talk about before we get to this amazing Jack Eichael interview is some good news.

The Road to the Winter Classic is back. Oh, yeah, dude. Road to the Winter Classic. Greatest thing HBO has ever done. I mean that. Yeah, fact. Is back four episodes unscripted, unscripted. Leading up to the Winter Classic

in Seattle, Vegas Golden Knights, Seattle. Cracken, airing tomorrow night, 6 p.m. Eastern on TNT and Max. There's some great characters on these teams. At the very least, you've got to be happy about that. I don't know if, I don't know if this is the case, but do you know if Leavv is narrating? I think so. I don't know for sure, but I think so. I don't either. He fucking better be. But if you guys are listening to this, when it drops on Wednesday, Wednesday night. Oh yeah. Check it out. Road to the Winter Classic is back. Check it out. Amazing news.

let's keep this hot momentum and let's go right to this Jack Ikerl interview. Dude, Jack is the man. It's the fucking best. Love him. All right, everybody, hold up. We have to talk, BetMGM. Do you like $1,500? I like $1,500.

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You can bet $1,500. You can have the worst money line call of all time, and you get your money back to try again tomorrow night. BetMGM use the promo code netters, N-E-T-T-ERS, for this incredible opportunity right now. Disclaimer, betmgmgm.com for terms and conditions. 21 plus to wager. U.S. promotional offers not available in D.C., New York, Ontario.

Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler for Colorado, D.C., Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wyoming. Call 8778 Hope N.Y or text Hope N.Y for New York. Call 1,800, Next Step for Arizona. 1,800, 327-50 from Massachusetts. 1,800-327-1 for Iowa, 1-800-270 for confidential help in Michigan in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. We are sitting here in Las Vegas with a North Chelmsford native. U-18 gold medalist. As a member of the BU Terriers, listen to this one.

Hockey's rookie of the year, hockey is player of the year, hockey's scoring champion, hockey east tournament champion, hockey is tournament MVP, bean pot champion, NCAA rookie of the year, the second freshman ever to win the Hobie Baker Award, the second overall pick of the 2015 draft, and member of the NHL All-Rookie team, a three-time NHL All-Star, the true winner of the shrimp bet heard round the world

and the 2023 Stanley Cup champion. Jack Eichol, welcome to the MTV Nerds podcast. Wow, that was a great intro. Thank you. It was the whole thing. Thank you, yeah. Off the cuff too. Yeah, I made that up on the fly.

How many times you practiced that? The entire flight, dude. You're just like muttering it in the Uber right over here. It's unbelievable. Made the pilot do another lap over the airport. I was like, hold on, I almost have it. But dude, thanks for coming on. Yeah, no, thanks.

It's a long time coming. It's a great to happen. We talked about doing this. Probably pretty late at night. Yeah, actually early in the morning. I got a verbal commit from you and maybe not the most sound state of mind. Listen, if I verbally commit, I got to do it. You only a man to your word, right?

That's how you're learning a lesson. Exactly, dude. Man your word. Yeah. Dude, so I want to jump into this right off the bat. We're all New Englanders here, which we love. We were just talking about college hockey. And I wanted to walk through your decision to do BU.

Because obviously you went to the Dev program. I know that you had, I think BC and BU were both knocking on your door before 15 years old, right? And I think you were a BC fan growing up. Is that true? You got all that right. Yeah. So I grew up in the area, obviously, college hockey. Hockey East is huge there.

Yeah. always dreamed of playing in the bean pod, something I always wanted to do. So I knew at a pretty young age. I think college was the route for me as opposed to going to junior. But as you get older, I think you weigh every option. And as your career goes on, you're trying to think of what's the best way to get yourself to the next level. But also have a great experience doing it. So, yeah, I went through the recruiting process, visited BCU is my first visit.

I was actually on vacation with my family and got a call to go take a visit to BC It was always my dream school to go there Had the opportunity to go on a visit You know, they offered me a scholarship I didn't expect it, right? You don't know what to expect. I think it was the summer going into ninth grade

So before ninth grade And yeah, they offered me a scholarship I think I went to B you the next week went to Northeastern and UNH, went to those four schools, narrowed it down pretty quickly to BC and BU. Then I took eight or nine months to make that decision. Yeah, BU, you know what? I think you can't really miss in any of those places.

You go to Harvard, you go to Maine, you go to, like, just hockey east is incredible. I think you have a great experience wherever you go. I think as I went through the recruiting process more, just felt more comfortable at BU. I felt like it was more of a fit for me, so I ended up making that decision and I'm really happy with it. Well, you were like Chest on Hills lame.

No. I don't want to be going to hang it out here. My coach at the time, Chris Masters at the Junior Bruins, he was a BC alum, played hockey there, his brother. They owned the Junior Bruins, so they were both BC guys,

and they were pushing hard. Yeah, I bet. Like, we'd have practice, and he'd called me up to his office, and he'd be given me the sales pitch on BC. And so I think he was a little bit, I think a lot of people were shocked. I ended up going to BU, and I think he was a little bit bummed out. Did he give you any shit for that? Oh, it gives me shit all the time. I see him all the time.

I golf with him in the summer and stuff, and he still gives me a hard time for going to BU. But that's just the rivalry between the two people. Yeah, of course. But I'm super happy BU. I mean, you know, a lot of my closest friends now, you know, I met at BU, played with there. My relationship, you know, with the university and, you know, the athletic director, coaching staff now. And just to everyone, it's incredible. Go back there every summer, you know, train, skate there.

So it's nice to be back on campus. For sure. Dude, I read an awesome quote from Jackie Parker who was like, oh, when the Icles came here, his parents were asking about class and all, like hockey was the last thing they asked about. But I'm like, I'm pretty sure you were like general studies major, not doing too much there. Well, I was, but you'd be surprised.

The general study school at B is pretty hard. Yeah, it's basically all your like pre-rec classes before you make a decision on what school you want to go into your junior and senior year. It's two-year course. I didn't think I would be there for more than two years. You never know, though. but a lot of the other freshmen were in general studies,

so I went with that one. Good group. Did you have a period of, you know, like you said, BC was your dream school, and then after you had the visits, and I imagine talks with the coaching staff and people in the program really helped swing you towards BU. Did you have a moment of being like,

shit, I'm not going to my dream school? I mean, like, when did those tides change? And it also is kind of awesome that it sounds like it took like nine months to make the decision, so you clearly thought about it for a while. Yeah, it took a lot of time, yeah. you know, went back, watched games,

visited a lot, talked to a lot of people that were current players there, past players, just tried to take as much in as I could. I don't know if there was exactly a moment. I think I actually went and visited BU in the spring. This is prior to me committing, so this would have been, you know,

months after having taken my visits, I went and visited there and spent some time with a couple guys in the team and, you know, we went to a, I think we went to a Red Sox game. Nice. You know, it was like half a mile from the dorms, you know, living on Bay State Road and the brownstones was beautiful. There was just a lot of things that I really liked.

I liked that, you know, B.C. is in the city, obviously, but BUs, you know, more in the city, I guess. I liked that aspect of it. And I committed to Coach Parker, who ended up retiring. Crazy. Yeah, yeah. prior to me, you know, being on campus, but, you know, David Quinn was, he was incredible and somebody who's still a very, very close friend, you know, saw him last night after the game,

keep in touch with him. So when he got the job, you know, we were able to build a pretty good relationship quickly, and I felt pretty comfortable that, you know, I had made the right decision. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, you heard in my lawless intro that you accomplished a lot at BU in that one year, right? So just tell me a little bit about the highs and lows. Because, I mean, obviously when you're like,

I think college hockey is the best path for me, you start dayduring about what you might accomplish there, what you might pull off, and you damn near hit everything. So talk to me a little bit about winning the bean pot, which you always dreamed about, win in hockey east, and then obviously coming up just short in the natty

after that insane bad bounce, you know? So big highs, big lows. Yeah, I mean, prior to the season, BU had had a tough year the previous year. So I don't think there was a ton of expectations, expectation on our team. We had a big turnaround. There was 10 freshmen coming in, you know, some guys left. But everyone was really confident in our group going into the year. We had a really good start to the season. We had all the pieces. Coach Quinn did a great job with us.

So I think pretty quickly the expectation went from being competitive to, okay, well, we could win. and I think as you go more through the season and you're at the top of the rankings, you're winning games, I think it becomes more of a reality. And yeah, the bean pot, that's one that you want to win. It was Gris, right? Gris O.T. Gris scored OT, yeah.

Well, we played Harvard on the first game. The semi-finally played Harvard, and pretty sure it was a double overtime game. And we had played Harvard earlier in the year. They beat us, I think, great before Thanksgiving. So it was a, we knew it was going to be a tough game.

They had a great team that year. You know, some guys that played in the NHL now, Kerr-foot, Jimmy Veezy, they had some good players. And, you know, they were an older team, Ivy League team.

It's never, you know, those are never easy games. So we ended up winning in double overtime. And then that winter in Boston was pretty crazy with the snow. Yeah.

So I think we, I think the bean puck got canceled the next Monday due to the snow. Not about that. So we didn't end up, we played it a little later, and then obviously you ended up playing Northeastern, who we had played a few times that year,

and it had always been really competitive. They hadn't won it in a minute either, so you couldn't blow it out. Dude, the team has another gear. I know. I swear there are years where Harvard and Northeastern or kind of whatever in that tournament, and then you get to the tournament,

and they go, balls out. Right. It's unbelievable. I mean, it's always competitive, and that's a great thing about college hockey. Anyone can win any given night. It's, you know, it's like the NHL. But yeah, we ended up winning in overtime.

And they had a couple guys actually on Northeastern that had left BU and transferred to Northeastern. So, you know, there was definitely some bad blood between the two teams. And yeah, just winning that was a dream come true, getting the walk in the Tees Pub on calm ass with the bean pod. And that was a heck of a celebration. Yeah. Of all the accolades, do you think that's your favorite? At BU, I mean? At BU, yeah, that would have been it.

Yeah. Yeah, that was... I mean, that's electric. I know. Especially, I know, you know, like, you never knew how long are you to be there, but it kind of felt like, you know, this might be my one shot. So to pull it off was awesome. Yeah, we, yeah, I mean, I can't remember who it was.

You can, if you win the bean, I don't know if it was Jack Parker that said it, or you can lose every game, but if you win the beanpot, it's a success for the season. Good year. We had a good year, but winning the beanpot was big for us. Yep. And then talk a little bit about the Natty, because just killer game, but, you know,

obviously hell of a playoff run there. too. Yeah, it was a great run. You know, kind of storybook season for us. You know, won everything. We had the opportunity to play the regional in Boston or Manchester, but, you know, close to home. O-T there first.

Didn't you sneak by Yale? I'm trying to remember. We snuck by Yale. I had a great team that year. We snuck by Yale and overtime, we had a really tough game against Duluth. Evan Rodriguez scored a highlight real goal at the end of the game. We ended up winning. And then the National, the Frozen Four was in by.

Boston that year at the garden, which was awesome. I played North Dakota in the semis and Providence in the final. I wish we could have that last eight minutes back, but that's the way the game goes sometimes. And, you know, credit to Providence, they had played us tough all year and, you know, they did enough to win. Yeah, yeah, unbelievable. So you obviously go off to Buffalo, you do some amazing things there, and then the injury happens, the surgery stuff goes on. When it came down to the period where you're like, all right, you know, I got to get the surgery that I want to get, and it looks like you're going to move on. It seems like there were a few teams that were kind of in the mix there with Vegas.

And, you know, we read that Carolina, Calgary, and Colorado were kind of in the mix there. When that period was happening, were you hearing about that? Were people talking to you like, these are the teams that are possibly in contention? And did you have any thoughts in your head of who you might be playing with or where you might be headed? Well, it was a long process, right? So it started in the spring. time and I got hurt and I think as as it went on different teams came in and out of the mix at the beginning there were some teams out east that were in the mix trying to make things happen

and the whole medical part of it was definitely a big component the team obviously had to be okay with the surgery that I wanted to do the injury you know a lot of things had to be made you know how to work. So I think as the summer went on, you'd always hear different teams call, you know, whether it was the Minnesota or the Carolina or, you know,

there was a period in the early fall where it was Colorado and so. But I think as you're going through it and looking back on it, until it becomes, like, realistic, you don't really want to believe anything. Yeah. And, you know, with trades,

there's so many possibilities of things that could happen. and, you know, I had switched agents in the middle of it, too. So when I brought on my new agent, you know, there were some new teams that became part of the mix. But when it came down to it, towards the end, it was between Calgary and Vegas. That was the last two. Those were the last two. Interesting.

Was other than those, was there any, I mean, it's such a good point saying it's like you don't want to believe anything. Were there any that came up that you were hearing more rumblings? You were like, oh, shit, this might happen. because I hear Colorado and I'm thinking to myself like you playing with Nate Dogg and Kail and Miko like that would be insane Right so there was

That summer I had started training with Andy O'Brien So I was spending some time in Halifax And you know I had known I had known Nate for a while We got to know each other through the team North America World Cup Kept a relationship So when we were training together I think he was kind of pushing the abs on possibly trying to make something work I think they entertained the idea.

The surgeon who I was working closely with was based in Denver who had a relationship with the team as well. So they were okay on the surgery. There was a lot of things that worked there. But yeah, I mean there's so many other moving parts, whether it's cap space, you know, what pieces are moving where. There would have had to, there probably would have been another team in the trade to facilitate it.

And, you know, it just ended up obviously not working out. But, yeah, so at the end, after that, it kind of narrowed down to Vegas and Calgary. Okay. And then how quick from, like, when it was it, was it those two for three months you were sweating it? Or was it like, yo, it's going to happen any day now. It's one of these two. No, because the Colorado talk was probably early fall, September, August, if I remember correctly. And then when they got out of it, yeah, it just seemed like for maybe two months.

Two, three months, it was, yeah, it was Calgary and Vegas. Yeah, I was sitting there for a little while, yeah. I was sitting there for a while. Yeah, and obviously you're super pumped to be here and everything's been going fantastic. But in that moment, are you just like, you know what? Chips so far where they may, it's not my decision. Or are you like, come on Vegas, Vegas, Vegas. Do you, were you kind of lean in one way or is it just like, ah, it's out of my control, man?

During the process, I, there was definitely teams that I wanted to go to more than others. And this was one of those places. So, yeah. I was very happy with the outcome, and I just thought Vegas had, it checked so many boxes for me. Competitive team, great organization, you know, amazing environment, great fan base.

Yeah. Great place to live. Team that wants to win. Yeah. I mean, those are just, those are additions, obviously. But, you know, they want to win every year. Yeah, it's the best.

It's just a great organization. and to be a part of that. You know, I just wanted the opportunity to do that. And you look at some of the guys on the team, I mean, the opportunity to play with some of these players was a huge, you know, it was something that I wanted to do. So I think Vegas checked a lot of boxes when you're thinking of teams that you could potentially go to.

And so I was definitely happy that it ended up being worked out there. Yeah. As far as the surgery, I mean, I think it's that whole ordeal as a fan, you know, an outsider looking in, that was such a, in my opinion, amazing moment for sports and for athletes, for you, you know, standing up for what you wanted and then really also amazing for other teams like Vegas, obviously, who were open to that and wanted to support you and what you thought was best for your career, for your body, and for your personal life and health. What was maybe the hardest part of that surgery coming back from it?

Because, you know, it's obviously a huge surgery. There's got to be some nerves going to something like that. And then getting back on the ice in the most competitive league in the world, it's like that is no small undertaking. Like the first time you got smashed where you're like, oh, God. Well, the first game we played was Colorado, right? And they were an absolute wagon that year. So I was jumping right into the fire.

You know, with the surgery, I was really confident in it. Yeah. I was confident that I had done my homework. Obviously, I had had a lot of time to, I had a lot of time to research and make sure I was doing the right thing, talked to as many people as I could. but nobody had done it. You know you're taking a risk anytime you have surgery. So I understood that.

I think the hardest part was as much time as I had off. I was off for almost 11 months, 11 or 12, almost a year. Yeah. You know, I got hurt, I think, in March the year before. And I didn't come back until mid-January. So I had taken a lot of time off. My timing wasn't there. You know, I just didn't feel like myself.

You're obviously trying to get your body back in playing shape and find your confidence again. So the surgery itself, neck feels great, felt great. I had an amazing group of people that helped me through the surgery, the rehab process, and getting back on the ice. So I felt confident it that way, but it's still in the back of your mind. I think any time you have an injury, there's a mental component to it. And this was the same, you know, no difference.

So I tried to get out there, I think, the first game, and, you know, have some, you know, a little bit of contact really, just to, you know, put myself at ease. But, yeah, it's definitely in the back of your mind when you first get going. Definitely. You drop the gloves for a shift. It's like, whoa, Jack, Jack. Stop it.

I just pump into someone. Like, I probably threw a couple checks. I don't normally do. So just trying to find, you know, a little bit of ease and comfort in there. But, yeah, it came back. And, you know, the first, whatever it was, 25, 30 games that I was here. It was the year I was to miss the playoffs. You know, it was by no means my best.

hockey. I was trying to get my feet under me. The team had some injuries. You're trying to, you know, fit into a new environment. You move to this new city. I think there was a lot of things that, you know, there was a lot of moving parts there. For, you know, myself, our group, a lot of different people coming out of the lineup. It's probably one of the reasons why we didn't, you know, make the postseason that year. But it was good to have a full summer of training to come back the next season and feel good.

What was the sorest part about that? recovery. Sores part about their recovery out. You know what, to be honest, like post-op I had had really good care and, you know, I had full range of motion, you know, about 10 days after surgery. Damn. Yeah. You can leave that day, right? I went to dinner that night with my parents. Yeah, crazy, dude. I mean, you're a little sore, like your throat where they make the incision. I don't know if you could see. I have a small scar there. Yeah. So they go in through the front with the artificial disc. So my throat was a little sore.

You're obviously guarded a bit. So just getting some of that. What did you have for dinner? Fucking soup? No, I went to true foods with my parents and we were in Denver. Yeah. I don't know what I had for dinner. Part of me is thinking like, don't eat solid foods.

No, you know, it wasn't bad. I actually was on the ice a week after I had surgery, which is crazy. That's unbelievable. I don't know how many people know that. I got on the ice and my sweats and just put some headphones in, and it was just part of it, you know, getting back on the ice. You know, something that I had missed for a while. So, yeah, I had really good post-op care,

and I give a lot of credit to that. Yep, that's amazing. So your first full season with the night's grand success, but you make the playoffs for the first time in your career. And I saw some nuts stat did. I don't know it off the top of my head, but it was like your BU points, like 60% of them were like third period or overtime.

You know, you're a guy who's won at every level, stepped up in big games at every level, but you've never been in the playoffs in the NHL. So of course you were super excited. Was there also like insane nerves there too of like, Christ, dude, this is it. I've been waiting my whole career for this. I hope I can pull it off.

Yeah, there was nerves, little angst. Like you've accomplished something that you haven't done yet so you can check that box and a lot of the naysayers and the people that have been calling you saying you never made to playouts, blah, blah, blah, all that stuff. All right, so that's out the window. Now you just have to go out and play. But you never played playoff hockey, so you don't understand it.

It's the same game, but the emotions, everything's heightened. And I think to start, I was, you know, I remember that first game. I don't know if I was minus two or three against Winnipeg. I played awful. And, you know, I was doing stuff trying to play a whole different game than I normally do. And I think it was, yeah, it was Chandler-Stevenson after the game. He's like, man, just relax, like play your game. It's the same game we played all season.

And as soon as I was able to tennis. To you or to the team? Just to me, yeah. Because I was like, man, we're like, what was that? Yeah, what the fuck is it? He's like, like, I got hit by a bus. He's like a lot of times, like the first, first game in a series is really chaotic. And, you know, it doesn't feel like the normal game we play.

Just relax. Like, it'll just play your game. Do it. Do what you do. And I was able to settle in. I think I scored in game two, which obviously helps you out a little bit. And, yeah, you know, just. just tried to play my game as much as possible.

You know, all the outside noise, all the other stuff that goes on, just tried to eliminate that and relax. I'm playing hockey. So, what was the thing you noticed the first, like the biggest difference in game one, that you were like, Jesus, this is a different game?

Guys are just running out of their way to finish checks, and it's just a little bit of, like, helter-skelter, like, it's chaotic out there for a little bit. And then I think as the series goes on, everything settles in and it just becomes hockey again. But I think at the start of a series is always, you know, it's a little bit chaotic.

I know I keep using that word, but it's the best way to describe it. And it was. It was chaotic a bit. We didn't play well as a team. You know, we didn't even really play great in game two, period one. We found our game in game the second period of game two. And, you know, we were able to kind of cruise from there in that series. But you just, you got to do what makes you successful.

Like I remember trying to like finish checks and run out of my way and stuff. I'm just like, that's not me as a player. I just got to, you know, move my feet and try and create offensively, be good, you know, responsible in our own zone and play within our system. We had such a, we had such a great team. You know, you just want to be a piece of the puzzle. Yeah. Chandler was like, if you could just lead the league in scoring, that would be sick. Do that.

And you were like, yeah, yeah, no problem. I was going to say, I mean, it's batting a thousand now in playoffs. That's pretty fucking great. Unbelievable. Speaking of those playoffs, dude, the, I just. just need your take or more so what it was like for you during that Chuckie hit. Like what the fuck happened in your mind? Because from us, obviously, you know, you're a guy.

That hit. And just the way you reacted, we were like, oh, my God. I think he snapped his collarbone. I think I told you this too. That was fucking scared. That night or whatever after you won it. But we had stepped into the concourse or whatever. Yeah, that's right.

And, you know, like the TV feed, like in the rink is like, six seconds behind live. So I'm looking at the TV and you pick that puck up and you start to go and then I just hear like, oh, from inside, but I couldn't see you in the rank

and I was like, oh God, because I just knew something for what was going to happen. So yeah, it was jarring. Yeah, I mean, you know, listen, it was a clean check and, you know, I kind of toe-picks him at the last minute.

He's coming off the bench. You know, I obviously shouldn't put myself in that situation. I didn't see him come into the last minute, kind of get out of the way. He finishes a clean check and, you know, I get the wind knocked out of me, but that's more what I meant. I just want to know what you felt because, like, you were

kind of like shaking your head and I was like, fuck, what just happened? I was trying to get some air. I got the wind knocked out of me. Yeah, it was probably, yes, the worst I'd ever had the wind knocked out of me, but yeah, just went back to the locker room and kind of regrouped. Yeah. It was actually with the toad, it was pretty

miraculous how well you adjusted your body to, like, take that. It was like, it was caught. When you look at the slow mo, you're like, wow, well done. Actually a ballerine out there. Seriously. Fucking the Matrix shit out there is unbelievable. Yeah, you know, you just, yeah, I mean, you don't want to put yourself in that situation,

but it was a great, it was a great advertisement for disc replacements. Yes, dude, I swear. I guess the disc replacement worked, right? Oh, God, I just saved your surgeon just has a picture of that in his office now and is like, see, you can send me a funny text after. He was like, man, I was holding my breath, but I'm happy to hear that you're all right. I'm happy to hear that it wasn't, uh, you know, your neck's good and, uh, looks like the surgery was.

Yeah. Yeah, right? As Apple on the next shift, it was like, whatever. Seriously. Jesus Christ. Okay, so you guys pull it off, you, win the whole thing, insane emotions. You know, your family's there, everything. Just hit us with some highlights of, you know, locker room right after with the

gog, you know, everything's going crazy. And then, like, the run up to the parade. Just like, what went down? How are you guys tearing it up? Oh, yeah, it was crazy. I mean, you guys were obviously here. you know, uh,

you're two assholes you didn't belong out there. No, no. You guys, I mean, you guys, you guys saw parts of it,

the celebration. It was just, um, you know, nothing like I had ever been a part of or had the opportunity to be a part of. It's, uh, it's incredible.

I mean, from the minute you win, you know, to the, like, you're just kind of waiting for the cup to come on the ice. Yeah. And,

you know, everyone's celebrating and then we're just waiting. Like, okay. And then it's, you're a little, you're almost, like,

was a little nervous for when I was going to get handed it. Do they tell you, or is that literally rogue, like someone just walks up to you and hands it to you, or is there? It's rogue, so, you know, I'm sure teams do it differently. We obviously, you know, the misfits had their, obviously, Stoney goes first, misfits had their chances, and then, you know, it's kind of a veteran pecking order. And, you know, I think someone had handed it to Chandler Stevenson, and he had won one in Wash.

He came over. one of my, one of my closest friends, he came over and gave it to me. Yeah, it's just, it's an incredible, you know, how,

it's shorter, you just kind of take a quick laugh, and it's over your head, and you want to hand it off to the next guy. After that, it was like, okay,

where's my dad? Yeah, where's my dad? I was like, just waiting for the families to come out. I wanted to give him a hug, see my family,

and celebrate with them. And then, yeah, you go in the locker room. And we had, we had, had a lot of guys on their team that had won, right? So they had always said the best part is the post-game celebration, the locker room.

And, you know, we were in there for a while. And, you know, we're in the hot tub or whatever. We're getting, you know, all our celebrations, photos, video, whatever it is. And it was just a great time in there. And then they had a, you know, private party for us for a little bit. And then obviously ran into you guys at Omnia. Well, there was a little cup mishap in between there, right? Yeah, I imagine there was a few cupness hats during the...

Yeah, yeah. Boys are a little late to Omnia, if I remember her. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, I mean, that's, the Cups got a lot of... Yeah, he's got some miles on. Was there a one culprit who broke it before it got to Omnia? Allegedly. Allegedly.

Jesus. I'm probably the wrong guy to ass that night. That private party, just shooting Jameson, like it was going on to style. Jesus, I don't even. even know. I'm happy I even got myself to Omnia. And stood on a table, dude. That was the scariest part of the whole night. Dude, the best part about that from our view, obviously, the photo. Yeah, yeah. Father Stoney was just like loop in every one of your belts just to make sure

no one tipped over the stage to fall into the cross. With a broken wrist, by the way, which I didn't even know at the time. What a guy. I'm like, bro. Unbelievable. Yeah, I mean, I'm looking back, obviously, I'm happy. I've, uh, I stayed on my feet there. And I was on stage with a cup over my head. I was well on my way, feeling good that night. And then obviously, finished tonight with some chicken fingers and a few guineasas and you guys.

That's where this pod came to life. That's true. Absolutely. As, you know, Pat's and Brady fans, I feel like something I wanted to know from you, with us as fans watching all Brady's bowls, my biggest complaint with those is that he just made us sweat in every single one.

Was it kind of awesome? because you guys piss pump them in game five. Were you kind of sitting on the bench, like period two, period three, being like, holy fuck, we did it? Like, did you get to sort of soak that moment in, or were you dialed? And you were just like, just get to that final buzzer so we can get the cup?

No, I think after the second period, it was, like, we were all sitting in the locker room and I don't know what the score was after two, five one or six one. Something like that. We had felt pretty good about where we were at, and nobody was really saying anything, but it was sort of kind of everyone knew it was inevitable at that moment,

and it was just like, okay, this is, we just gotta get through these 20 minutes. And I actually remember pretty, pretty well. Nick Waugh listens to his headphones between periods. And I don't know who, somebody was like, somebody said like, Wazi, what are you listening to? And he has two cats at home. He has cats.

by the way, like he's got cats. He's, he's, he's, if you tell me he was listening to a recording

of his cats right now. No, so that's, my fucking mind. So you were like, something he was like, Wazzie, what are you listening

to? What are you listening to? His cat's names pedigree. He's just listening to pedigree meow over and over. And then like everyone started,

yeah, and kind of like broke it. But yeah, everyone was just kind of waiting and then, you know, the third period was super, you know,

super eventful. Stoney gets a hat trick. Yeah. But it was, it took a while for us to get through that 20 minutes, and we were just kind of all waiting, and, you know, what a feeling. Yep.

Yeah. How many hours did you sleep between then and the parade? All right, so we're going to do sleeping. Came home the night after when I was with you guys. Came home. I lit a fire in the backyard. Right when we got back. That was like six, seven.

Seven a.m. A little fire in the backyard. I had some people staying at my house. My best buddy from home was here. Wow, that's sick. Yeah, that's awesome. Brandon Brissan, he was a black ace at the time. He was at the bar with us, so he was back at the house with me.

A little fire, smoked a cigar, had a couple beers. This was probably about six, seven in the morning. Sun's obviously up, went and laid at the pool. Fell asleep at the pool. Yeah, that counts, I guess. That counts? I don't sleep at the pool for, I don't know, an hour maybe, woke up sweating because it was so hot out. Oh, yeah, of course.

It's so hot. Oh, Jesus. I went upstairs light in bed for like, I don't know, half hour, 40 minutes, just couldn't sleep, got back upstairs. I went back downstairs. At this point, my dad was up, made a cup of coffee, had a cup of coffee with him. And then, I don't know, it's 10, 11 in the morning, cracked another beer. Yep. Off to the races.

That was it. That's the only way to go. Amazing. And then, I don't know. night. I think we went out late that night. We actually had a chance to go up to Montana, which was super cool. Oh, cool. Our owner, Bill, who's, you know, just the most generous, you know, person in the world. He has a, he has a big ranch up there, and we usually do a little team retreat at the beginning of the season. Kind of came to fruition that day after we won that guys wanted to go up there. So we flew up there,

the day after we won, took the cup, just golfed and drank all day. It was just, you know, that. It was It was just the guys and their spouses, and it was super cool. Spent the night up there, flew back the next day, and then the parade was on Saturday. So there wasn't a whole lot of sleep there was. No time. Or should there be? Yeah. Give me a break.

And then just real quick, your day with the cup. You took it home, eh? You were back. Day with the cup, yeah. Day with the cup was back home. I got it in the morning at my parents' house, which was super cool. I was taking it to a hockey rink. I grew up playing at Skate 3 in Tingsboro.

and my parents lived like 10 minutes from there. So it was kind of our first stop and had it up there. Just getting it at my parents' house was like, I was just getting a little emotional, taking that out of the case. And, you know, a few photos with my sister, my mom, my dad in the front yard, just thinking about, I don't know,

a lot of thoughts go through your head, right? Like there's just so many things that you've been through in your life. And this is where you started. This is your home. It's always going to be home. Was it childhood home? Childhood home. Yeah.

That's that ad so much. Huck's in the basement, dude. That 100 bucks a day in the basement. You have so many memories walking out the front door going to school, like coming home, hockey pro, whatever it is. Roller in the cul-de-sac right there, dude, yeah. Literally. So getting it there, all the neighbors were outside,

took it up to skate three, had like a, you know, two-hour meeting greet there, took it a few of the police stations locally, took it to the high school, Chomsford High, took it to a hockey store in Bedford, that I worked at actually.

It was my only other job. Yeah, it was a hockey player. It's Wickers. Yeah. So I took it to Zwickers. It's funny. When the Bruins won in 11, I saw the cup at Zwickers.

And then, yeah, it was a pretty full circle moment being able to bring it there. And then, yeah, had a little get-together up at the beach later in the afternoon and then, you know, had a party at night and then party rolled back on in my house. And it was great. It was an awesome day.

They still have a mice problem at Zwickers. I heard you ran to do a mouse or two. too there. Yeah, I used to, yeah, I did a lot of, like, stocking, and, you know, we'd get inventory orders in, and I'd be, you know, putting them up upstairs, and, yeah, ran into my fair share of mice there. They used to just pull pranks on me, too. Like, they thought it was great because I was so, I'm not a big rodent guy, and they used to always, you know, they did, like, tie like a fake mouse to a string and pull it when I was walking by. That's cool. That's a disaster, dude. I don't know about that at all either. Speaking of the Bruins, dude, how nice was

at having Butch, you know, being there, both of you kind of first year, first full year for you at least. And then all the things he did for your game and then vice versa, because I read an amazing article where he kind of said his success was going to come and go with you in a lot of ways because he was like, we're both there together, first full season, there's so much about your game that's going to be instrumental to the success. And then how did that relationship sort of blossom into what it is now? Yeah, he was incredible. I mean, he's such a bright, he's such a bright guy. He knows the game so well.

You see it with the success he had in Boston. They were competitive every year. Obviously, they continue to be competitive. But he's such a great coach. Coming in, I think as a new coach, you know, to a team, you know, older team, you know, that had success. But obviously the previous year we didn't. Everyone was very open to whatever style, philosophy he wanted to play. He came in, implemented a great system.

I think we picked it up pretty quickly. And I think we just kind of took out. We had a really good start to the season. Yeah. You know, over the course of a year, I think you always go through ups and downs. There was a few, you know, bumps in the road where we weren't playing great. You got hurt, though. Like, you were so many guys where you were hurting the middle of that.

I think right before, right before, like, the bi-week, all-star break, we were, we weren't playing our best, came back. Everyone came back pretty refreshed from bi-week and kind of took off from there. but yeah he was unbelievable i think for me personally uh he was very big on the details of the game and i think that that's what helped me helped me succeed um taking care of you know our own zone you know being good everywhere on the ice uh he's very he's really you know big into that so um for me he's done so much for my game um you know and he continues to he continues to help me uh You know, what a great coach.

And just I feel so, I'm so happy for him. Yeah, that's nice. Because he had so much success in Boston, obviously had the opportunity to win, you know, when they did lose against St. Louis. And it's never easy, you know, to get fired or to have to, you know, move your family across the country and go to a new situation. So I imagine it was a bit of a challenge for him at first.

And he knocked out of the park. And I can't say enough good things about him. I mean, he, you know, he's such a huge, you know, reason why we won, you know, some of his, you know, adjustments through the playoffs. He was, he was really good. He really, he really knew how to gauge the temperature of our team, and he did a great job with it. Yeah, what's he on you? What's he on you most about? Like, what's something you do on the ice?

Yeah, because he can be a hard at him. You know that. Well, yeah, listen, and I think that that's one of the best. things that he it doesn't matter who you are like no one gets a pass yeah love and i think that that's a great message to send through your room like he's not just going to be on the guys on the third and fourth line or you're he's going to get on anyone and doesn't matter who you are he's going to hold you accountable and i think that's a great message to send through the room um and it brings the best out in everyone yeah knowing that if you're not on your game he's going to get on you and you know

smaller details, obviously defensive zone. He cares about that, keeping the puck out of your net, you know, your decisions with the puck, making sure you're not turning it over and feeding the other team. And, you know, in the offensive zone, just attacking. But he's been great.

Oh, yeah. It's like, stop trying to go fucking five hole on every break. No, I didn't say. He doesn't say that. Sometimes, you know, sometimes if I'm overpassing or whatever, get on me to shoot it or, you know, start attacking and, um, You know, but he, you know, he sees the game so well.

Yeah. Well, another guy in that room that I will have to ask about, because as Beast fans growing up, you know, is Phil Kessel. So you told some funny stories about him already, but just like any behind the scenes intel you have on the Hot Dog King. And is he always funny, dude? Like, I feel like it's... Always funny.

Yeah. And it's so effortless. Yeah. He's so effortless, and I think that that's what makes him the character that he is. It's, he's just, he's himself. and like I was talking to Shane Knighty the other day about him and Nides was like he was the exact same in Boston however many years ago

when he was a young kid as he is now. Yeah. Like he just doesn't, he doesn't change, he's just himself, he comes into the rink every day, you know, there's,

you know when he walks in the locker room, he's going to say something that's going to make people laugh and he's not even trying to. I'm trying to think of a good story is over the year. Well, The headbutt story with Marshie is one of my favorites. I don't know if you guys know this story.

Tell it though, for the people that listen to. So it was, I want to say it was like maybe early, it was late October, early November last year. And Marci's just, he's another huge personality. Like one of the funniest guys, he's always, he's always ripping on someone. He's always busting balls. Like, that's just who he is.

And, you know, him and Phil always would go back in, four, you know, they sat across each other at the card table. And it was just constant entertainment for Brayden McNabbard, the other two, and myself were their two guys at the car table. It's constant entertainment between Marshie and Phil. So Phil at the beginning of the year, he had obviously broke the Iron Man streak. He'd done the thousand games in a row. He was hit milestone and milestone.

And so we're playing a game in Ottawa. And him and Marcy would always bicker back and forth about who would win in a fight. It's actually a fair question. this is right before the game so i mean we're getting ready to do like your off ice warm up meetings have happened you know 60s on the clock and they're in the change room and they're flinching each other like this yeah like doing that and they go to flinch each other but both of them go forward so they collide heads so they collide heads right and uh i'm i'm actually in the training room doing something and marshy walks in he's holding his

head like this. Just leaking. And he's bleeding. He's got a big cut right here across his forehead. And he's like, the trainer's like, what happened? He's like, I bumped heads with Phil. And then like two seconds later, Phil comes walking in. And he's like, God damn it, hey, Marcy?

Headbited me. He's like, look at this massive egg I got on my head. So Marci ends up missing the beginning of warmups because he's getting stitched up. And I guess when he hit Phil, Phil like flopped on the ground. And he was like complaining about his groin. And everyone was like, is the Iron Man streak up for? Yeah. Is it in jeopardy?

It's over now. And, oh man, that was like one of the funniest. That was like one of the hardest ever laugh. Like when they both came walking in the training room like one after the other. And so we get on the, we're taking a trade to Montreal after the game. And Phil's like, my head is just killing me. It's like, I'm going to have. like I got to have a couple of coax because he drinks a ton of soda.

And like four or five coaks and like two hours span of a train ride from Ottawa to Montreal. You had like a bunch of coke right before we go to bed, you know, he's just like pounding Coca-Cola. And like, why does that make his head feel better? Yeah, that's what he said. Like they's like, that's where like, Phil, how's it? Coca-Cola going to make your head feel better. But I mean, he was, he was unbelievable. I just, I feel so lucky to have gotten the opportunity to play with him and build a relationship

and get to know him a little bit. He's incredible human being and what he's done in his career. He's a hall of famer, and no one can take away through Stanley Cups, everything else he's done. His points, his statistics, all his accomplishments. Can't say enough good things about the guy.

Yeah. I love it. I mean, speaking of him, you know, all the accolades, Team EOSA is one thing I wanted your take on quickly because obviously a lot of guys, your age and even younger, obviously, have kind of been ripped off from a couple of Olympic runs here. And now it looks like there's a chance of NHL guys getting back into it.

How much does that mean to you is something that you want to do again and represent the country again? And then obviously you're at the dev program. You've played with a ton of guys college as well. Are there any guys who are in the U.S. window here that you haven't played with that you would love to hop on a line with or share the ice with? Well, yeah, I mean, it would be such an honor. It's unfortunate that it hasn't, you know, that that opportunity for, you know,

our, I guess, the newer younger generation to play, you know, in the Olympics is, you know, just to be a part of the Olympics is such an incredible experience and honor. And to be able to represent your country, you know, I've been very fortunate, have, you know, going through the national development program, you learn a lot and you take a lot of pride in putting on the USA sweater. and I've had the chance to play World Junior and World Championships. So the Olympics is one of those, you know, that's an opportunity I haven't had yet, and I would love to have that.

It's something I've always dreamed about doing, and I take a ton of pride in it. So hopefully we get the chance to do it. I think it would be great for hockey, you know, to be back on that stage. Best on Best is such, it's something I think fans want to see. Definitely. As players you want to be a part of. So there's so many great Americans that are doing awesome things in the league right now. You know, there's still that older group.

I know. That's what's cool. Yeah. That's still killing it. It's still unbelievable. It's unreal. You know, and then there's the younger group of guys that have just been getting drafted the last few years that have just been, you know, been doing some incredible things. You know, you obviously look at the, you know, the Hughes brothers or the Hughes trio now.

you know, some of the guys that are, you know, just getting their feet wet in the league that are just doing remarkable things. So USA hockey's in a great place. It would be awesome to see us go to the Olympics. Yeah. I think it's an easy win against Canada right now, honestly. It's unbelievable. I mean, it's never easy.

You say that, but like you can have a... We got the goalies, dude. You go through the lines and you're like, look at how stacked. And then you do Canada and you're like, oh, fuck, it's crazy. Canada, you know, Sweden, Russia. It's always competitive. Finland's always great internationally. Yeah, yeah.

They're so hard to play against. Germany's got good players. You know, the Czech. So, had a slight taste of it at the World Cup of hockey. It was a really short tournament. Didn't represent the states, but got a chance to kind of play

among the world's best in a situation like that. So I would love to do it again. Yeah. Yep. Do you have a dream line? I know it's hard. I don't know. Yeah, there's so many.

combinations and there's so many great American players, it'd be hard to... Yeah, you don't want to piss off. Exactly. Which I get. I can't, that's tough to answer. Let's talk this squad that you guys got going on right now. I feel like in years past, that cup hangover has been a pretty real thing. And I was expecting you guys to start slow.

I was like, they're going to be great. I just think they're going to, you know, short summer or whatever. And the Pacific looks super competitive, by the way, too. It's not like you've got an easy division. The Kings are so hot. The Canucks are finally like, we are actually good now. Here come the Oilers again. But what is it about this squad that has just been able to consistently night in, night out, always battle and didn't miss a beat to start this year?

I think there's a lot of things. I think we have a pretty subtle confidence about ourselves. After going through the run, that experience, what you learn, what you gain from that allows you to take it moving forward. And I think we understood last year, you know, second after the season through the playoffs, what makes our team successful. you gem, you build chemistry. Obviously, guys get closer through experiences like that. We have a really, really tight group that enjoys coming to the rink and being around each other every day,

which I think that goes a really long way. You know, everyone cares for each other. You know, there was no way Bruce was going to let us have a Stanley Cup hangover. Shout to ask him, but he's on that. But, like, he was great during training camp, you know, understanding that we played along, you know, season last year. It was a short in summer and he's been great at understanding when the guys need their rest. Yeah, that's huge. You know, he expects a lot out of us, but he gives us a lot as well.

So I don't know, we just have a really good group of guys and, you know, the depth that's, you know, it's been talked about before, but different guys step up on different nights and I think that's what allows our team to be good. It doesn't have to be the same guy every night. You know, we feel like we have four, you know, very strong lines and we can just roll them over. Sixth grade D and, you know, whatever goalies in net, we feel confident playing in front of them. Obviously, repeat is so hard, rarely done,

and we're far away. So I mean, not like you guys are talking playoffs at all yet. But do you feel that buzz in the room? Like, this team is like, we can fucking win again. Yeah, I mean, I think that there's confidence in our group, like I said. I think we understand what we did last year is last year, but we also know we can do it again.

there's so many challenges that you get presented over the course of a season so I think it's tough to look that far ahead. You know, even towards the playoffs, I think it's important during an 82 game season. Like I said, there's so many highs and lows, I think it's important during an 82 game season to just kind of focus on the short term

and trying to play as good every night as you can. You know, every night's not going to go your way, but, you know, if you play well more nights than now, you're going to find yourself in a good position towards the end of the year. and I think that's kind of the way we look at it. Yeah. And are you guys fired up for the Winter Classic?

And obviously as a team, cool moment to first Winter Classic for this team, and then especially with the expansion teams. But then for you personally, do you feel like you have a little bit of extra excitement getting into the next one and hopefully winning this one? What's the thoughts going on? Yeah, and the Winter Classic is such an amazing experience. Not only for you, but for your family and everyone that else get the, that gets to be involved in it.

You know, I remember the first, first Winter Classic. We played in New York against the Rangers. And, you know, the day before is a lot of fun, getting the opportunity to have your family out there and on the ice and all the photos, just the spectacle. You know, as a kid that grew up watching the Winter Classic

to be able to play in one, you know, was always a dream. So now to be able to do it again, you know, I feel really fortunate. I think it's so cool that it's two expansion teams as well. So awesome. You know, it's been awesome. to see how well Seattle's done, not only on the ice, but off the ice.

It seems like every time we go in there to play against them, the environment's great. It's a really fun arena to play in. They have a great fan base right now. So obviously we know how great, you know, T-Mobile is and what the fans mean to, you know, our team. Well, you're in T-Mobile again. Yeah, yeah. I guess it is. Team-mobile.

I feel like you're kind of the home team, dude. It's fucking huge. So it should be an amazing experience for the guys that haven't, haven't been a part of one to be a part of their first one, for the guys that have done some, you know, whether it's stadium series or, you know, heritage classics or winter classics, you know, to be able to do it again. Everyone's super excited about it.

It's, it's a marquee game on the NHL scheduled during, you know, during the course of a season. So, you know, when you get told that you're going to be in it the previous year, you're looking forward to that the next year. Yeah. Are you happy with the sweaters? I thought they came out really cool. I think they're gas.

Me too. And by the way, I think both are really good. But Vegas is, honestly, it was unexpected, the style, and I think it's sick. Like, you never know what sort of uniform you're going to get for the team that doesn't have a history of, okay, let's just. It was like retro's last year. Let's just take the 1975, whatever, jersey that the team wore. Like, we don't have that, right?

so for them to be able to design something, I think they did a great job, and we've seen some of the gear that goes along with it. I think it's going to be awesome. And, you know, I thought Seattle's jerseys came out great as well. So, yeah, looking forward to it. How many people you bring in? Who knows?

Not as many. I had a lot in New York. It's a little easier travel from Boston, so everyone jumped on the bandwagon and came down for the game. I'll probably have a smaller group here. you know, probably under 10. Okay. Well, if you need two more

in the family section. Okay, perfect. Just the buzz around. Yeah, exactly. All right, dude, we're going to close you out with the game we play with everybody. It's called Pass Shoot Score. It's just going to be some fun stuff,

things that you like. And it's basically a ranking system. So pass, it's going to be, it's great. It's great to snap it around, but it's our lowest. Then up to shoot, and then finally finish it off with score being the highest. I like it.

Okay. All right. Your first category is Patriot Super Bowls. Pass, shoot, or score. Yep. The Rams Bowl. These are like the Tom's recent three on the bats. Rams Bowl, Falcons Bowl, Seahawks Bowl.

I'm going to pass the Rams Bowl. Got it. That was, uh, smart. It was. It was a boring game. Yeah, it was a boring game. It wasn't the most exciting of Super Bowls that we had. That gronk catch is literally the only memorable play for that game.

It was like, If I remember the game, it was like, Gromk had that catch, and Edelman had like 100 in whatever he are. Yeah, yeah. He was fantastic. He was great, and it was pretty low scoring, uneventful. You never were, I personally was never worried that the game was in jeopardy. Yeah.

Now, the other two are tough for me. Yeah. Because they beat the Seahawks. I was at BU. So it was so cool to be in Boston and be a part of a Super Bowl while, you know, living there. But the Falcons Bowl coming back. Comeback is historical.

You get the Malcolm Butler pick. I'll shoot the Seahawks Bowl. And I'll score the Falcons Bowl. I'm the same way. I think that's right. But the Butler pick is the craziest play ever. I don't know. That Edelman catch in the Falcons Bowl is fucking mental.

Yeah, there was so many moments in that Falcons game. I remember I think we were on the road in Jersey or somewhere. We were in Jersey or somewhere. I remember watching the game. and we had like a function team room set up and I think I went up to my room at half time like I'm done watching the shit you know and then yeah you did you fucking no that one I stuck out because I was like this is over whatever

the Hawksbow I was having a meltdown though yeah the Hawks Bowl was the hawks bowl was uh I mean both of them come down to the wire so uh I think you go it's pretty you go either way pretty was it uh and we talked about this in the fall was it uh the Eagles or the Giants Sloss that you smashed your phone smash my phone oh it definitely wasn't the Giants because Giants was really

Eagles loss was tough yeah yeah so I was a couple bucks on that game and yeah the Eagles loss was a little tougher for me I actually think you know what I you know what the game I snapped my phone is when they lost

the Tennessee and the division that's right that's what it was that's what it was snapped my phone in half the Brady final final game fucking brutal that was it all right

this is your your stuff in your pregame ritual. So the things you like the most about your pregame ritual. The Norma Tech pants, the heat pack on the back, and the cold tub. Pass the heat pack.

Shoot the Norma Tech, score the cold tub. There you go. I knew it could be the cold tub. What the fuck is up with your pregame? Yeah, that's the bigger. I don't know. It's crazy. Has this progressed, or is this from like, rookie year?

You've been doing all this craziness. That sports, what is it, Sports Illustrated article? Yeah. That was like, it makes you sound like an absolute psychopath. It sure does. It literally makes no sad. Well, I sat down with the person who wrote the story and they're like, okay, I want you to give me your pregame routine. So I give them the pregame routine.

But they wrote it in the article exactly how I spoke it to them. I'm thinking, okay, if I give it to you, you're going to like work with my information. with what I'm giving you the details of it. But they wrote it exactly how he said it. So I'm like, first, next, then. They wrote it exactly. So it makes me sound like a nut job. But I mean, everyone has their routine.

Everyone gets to the rink. And when you walk in the doors, you know what you're going to do from the minute you walk in to the time you put your skates on to go on the ice for warmups. So I don't know if it's superstition or routine, whatever it is. But yeah, I do the same thing over and over. I just try and cut out as many variables as I can before a game. and if I'm a psycho for it, I guess I'm a psycho for it.

Like you said, routine is good, but I mean, like you take multiple showers. There's a lot of showers. There's a lot of showers, a lot of cold tubs in there. Yeah, I mean, I just kind of like feeling refreshed. You know, you feel refreshed. Obviously, you get your hair wet a little bit. I don't shower when I wake up for my pregame nap. I just throw my suit on and go to the rink. Yeah.

So when I get to the rink, I take a quick shower, especially like you're going in the cold tub and back and forth, take a shower before you get in the cold tub. I think that's just common, courtesy. He's a nice guy. That's a smart. I mean, he's a nice guy. That's a rule. Take a shower. Like, wash off before you go in the cold tub. Oh, my God. So take a shower before you go in the cold tub.

And then I take, like, another one before I get on the nicer warmups. Are you all gear off after warmies? No, I take my top off, like the tops. I take my pants off and I actually get on the bike. Yeah, I saw that. Yeah, hit a hard minute. But I'm glad to know, because all it said was that you have some of your gear on on the bike. And I was like, if you have your pants on on the bike. No, just shinies and it's it. Chinnies and socks.

Is it the same songs, or are you always different songs, or actually the same songs? You know what? That's more or less how I've been going. The same songs? No, so like if I'm playing well... Oh, I see. If I'm playing well and the songs are, like,

whatever I've been listening to, if the game's been going well for me and I've been playing well recently, I'll usually try and filter in similar songs over and over. If I need a little switch up or different mood, like I'll change it up. Changed the playlist. Yeah.

What did you listen to last night? Right now, actually, I've been on a weird mix. I've been doing like older music. Like older, older or like? Or like old shit that we used to listen to? I'll listen to like the Doobie Brothers right now. Oh, fuck yeah, dude. Like I'll listen to like the Doobie Brothers and, yeah, like some Flewood Macs and

things like that. Kind of kind of get going and then have a few different songs. I play while I'm doing my warm-up. Yeah. I'll switch it up. Depends on how I'm feeling. I love it. Okay, your next category is

favorite things to watch when you're just lounged on your couch, okay? A couple episodes of the challenge on MTV. Romantic comedy of your choosing, but maybe preferably the notebook. Or YouTube videos of when someone's dad comes home from the army and they surprise him at a sporting event.

You guys really did your homework on me, huh? I do love it. those videos. We do. Dude, they're so good. I'll pass the notebook. I'll shoot the,

the, the videos of people coming home. And I got a challenge guy. I knew you were, you love the challenge. I'm a challenge to and through her. Like, we just had Johnny Bananas at the game

the other night. Oh, really? Yeah, he was here in Vegas, came to the game. Did you get to say what you met him? Yeah. Well, it was, I had, I've,

Jackson like, I invited him. Yeah. No, I did. Well, he texted. me, he was coming to town. I was like, oh, we're playing. I don't know, I think it was Friday or Saturday. I'm like, you want to come to the game? He's like, oh, yeah, I'll come to the game. So he came to the game. I hadn't met him yet. We've been, you know, we've been chatting for a while. But I hadn't met him yet. And then, you know, T.J. Lavin's local here, too. He runs the show,

so I just started to get to know him, too. He's like a crazy Knights fan. He loves it. He's out of, I had seen him in a lot of the games. And then, yeah, Bananas introduced me to him. so got to know him. So what you call him? What's that? Bananas? Oh, yeah. I'm telling bananas.

Yeah. Do you still watch? I watch it. Yeah. I'm caught up right now. I'm waiting for the episode to come out. That's goad. Yeah.

What is it even on? Paramount? Or yeah, you can get it on Paramount. Well, they've done a couple different ones. So they did the few on Paramount. Yeah. But the MTV ones were the best. Oh, 100%.

Goated, dude. I was, dude, back when it was like road rules versus real world. Yeah, yeah. Those were unbelievable. Unbelievable. The tension. There was like legitimate rivalries going on. They've kind of cut it a little bit.

Like it's gotten cleaner over the years. Okay. The old, the old ones were the vest because it was like, they'd be in the house, they'd be drinking, they'd be cocked, there'd be a fight, hookups. Like, it was just, there was always some sort of drama. The Paramount one, there wasn't a ton of drama. This season's had its fair sure on MTV, but nothing like the old CT days. It was less pretty, yeah, dude. CT, that man was a lunatic.

Lunatic. And then there was that dude, I think his name was Alton, that black dude, who was, Yeah, the goat. Yeah. He was like, did you ever see him? This dude, I'll find him.

He was like... Johnny's the goat. How can you call it? He's got... I'm telling you, this guy, this guy Alton only did it like three years

and he literally won every single challenge he was ever in every single time. And like, I think he left because he was like, this is boring for me. He was the most

dominant person I've ever seen. I'll find it and I'll send it to you because he was a savage. I told T.J. Lavin, I'm like, when I'm done playing hockey, I'm coming on this show.

I'm like, I got to do it. idea like Jack retires in 20 years and the challenge is still going strong. Yeah, season 60. Dude, we were almost going to ask you something about retirement in this. And Dan was like, I bet he'll say he wants to be on the challenge. Yeah, I think you're right. I don't blame me.

I already told him. Like I told Benaz, I'm like, you got to trade me for the challenge. We're going on. He's like, all right, you just got to push my wheelchair. I'll be in a wheelchair by that time. You're going to push it. All right. I know you're a big music guy.

Next one, bands that you love, pass shoot score. Coldplay, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilot. That's... Ooh. That's so hard. Yeah. I mean, can't go wrong with any of them.

Cold play is the best concert we've ever seen. Yep. That's what I hear. So... But I think I'm going to pass them. Yeah. I was like, I feel like STP is close to your heart,

so that wasn't going to be it. It is. And then it's like, you can't pass Pearl Jam. No. So I worried that Colplay was going to get the short end there. Yeah. Cole play is going to get past.

But best concert. Best show I've ever seen in person. Where was it? Everything that they do. Gillette Stadium. Yeah. Oh, fuck yeah. Who do I want to?

That's so tough to shoot or score. I guess STP was probably the first rock band that I fell in love with. Yep. Followed by Pearl Jam. Yeah. And I never had the opportunity to see STP, Scott Whelan, you know, rest his soul, but I never got the opportunity to see them in live with him. Pearl Jam, I've seen him twice.

I love him. Eddie Vedder. He's the man. He's the goat. So I think I'm going to, I'll shoot STP and score Pearl Jam. Very good. I'm glad that I got there. I'm embarrassed to say I was never a big Pearl Jam guy.

And then, did you ever see that movie Into the Wild? Into the Wild, what? It's a really good movie. Neil Hirsch's true story about this guy who kind of just like leaves life. He's like, fuck this, I'm going to live in the woods. And Eddie Vedder did the soundtrack to that whole movie. And I, the movie's fantastic. And I remember watching the movie being like, this fucking soundtrack's unbelievable.

And then looked into it and he wrote literally 12 brand new songs just for the movie. And then I started listening to Pearl Jam from there. And I was like, Pearl Jam is cast, dude. They're unbelievable. Like, you'll hear songs from them sometimes that you don't recognize right away. And you're like, wow. I thought I knew all these Pearl Jam's songs. and you'll hear a different one,

you'll just be like, wow, this one's unbelievable. Incredible. You know, whether it comes on on the Sirius XM, Pearl Jam channel or whatever, and you're just like,

but yeah, had the opportunity to see them twice. They're incredible. But STP's a tough, stuff not to take that. Yeah, but you're a huge classic rock guy. You get the doors on today,

but Rolling Stones, like you love all that shit. Yeah, I love, yeah, I love music. My dad got me into it. You know,

he was a big music guy, so it's kind of a big passion for my... What's his favorite, bam? The beautiful. The Beatles. The Beatles. Okay.

Yeah, good pick. Good pick. Smart, Matt. Okay, we got one more for you. This category is food. Okay. Some weekly dinners at Longhorn Steakhouse with the BU boys. Little breakfast at Rosie's diner in North Chelmford.

Or some late night chicken fingers at McMullins. Ooh. All right, I'll pass Longhorns. Yeah. See you later. We've upgraded. We've graduated. We've graduated from Longhorns.

Those are cheap dinners. I'll shoot McMullen's and got to stick to your roots, baby. Got it. You got some sign memorabilia in there, right? Rosie's, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, when I started going there as a kid, I mean, the restaurant was probably as big as

as this room. God, that's awesome. And they've expanded. They bought the building next door. Oh, that's fire. Yeah. Yeah. Right vinyl square.

What's the breakfast order? Geez, when I was a kid, it would have been chocolate chip pancakes. Yeah. Oh, yes. now probably pretty similar no chocolate chips in the pancakes so just buttermilks with maybe a couple eggs on the side of bacon

and dude stick into the grassroots in the pizza debate are you zesties, brickhouse or chop I probably got to say brick house here I got to say brick house just because they got they probably been the most supportive of me

they got the hey that wins loyalty dude I'll take that I'd probably say brick house but all of them are good. I'll go Brickhouse. I like that.

And I saw your pineapple on pizza guy, right? No. What? You're not in on that? I mean, if there's, like, I'm, I'm probably one of the most least picky eaters in the world. Yeah. So if there was a pineapple pizza right here and I was hungry, I would eat it. Okay.

But it's not. It's not. But if I'm ordering a pizza, I'm not ordering pineapple on it. No. I'll eat it if it's there. It's just, just like a pepperoni or. Yeah. like a meat pizza or whatever.

Yeah. Easy money. Perfect. All right, Jack, we've taken up enough of your time. This has been unreal. Before we let you go, is there anything you want to shout out? Anything you want to plug?

No, I don't have anything to plug. I mean, this was great. Yeah, great conversations. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, we've got to see you now if I can pound down. I was going to say. Yeah, that's happening. Well, we'll save it for later,

but how do you think this is going to go? Well, I was telling my girlfriend about it this morning. And obviously she knew about it, right? You guys have met Aaron. And she knew. And she was actually worried. Dude, I don't need to hear that. We've, like, talked to a few doctors, and it's getting, I'm getting mixed reviews.

Like, some people are like, that's, you're kind of gross, but, like, you'll be fine. And then there's other people who are like, you're going to get gout from this. And I was like, what the fuck, dude? Gout. It's a rich man's disease, dude. He's so lucky. Red meat, red meat, red wine. Do you know that Voracek story, by the way?

No. I think it was, Delzado was just telling a story that like Voracek got gout like in the middle of the season when he was like 27 years old. It's like, Jesus Christ. I know someone else that had it,

but I'm not going to expose it. You're not going to gas them? You tell us later. Tell us later. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, it's definitely going to be a challenge. How many you got, 92? 72.

72. Yeah. I wanted, because you finished with 80, how many points you finished with the last year with playoffs? I want to say like 86, yeah. 66 is the regular season? 26 in the final?

Yeah, no, so, 96 in the playoffs? 92. So it was 92. Yeah, so I put the, see, I wanted the 92. Yeah, but I put the cap. I was like, once he gets to over 71. But I had set the over under a 71 and a half. So he's capped in a 72 shrimp.

They're not cooked. No, it's shrimp cocktail. It's shrimp cocktail. Yeah, yeah. Do we have a doctor on call? Yes. We have an oncol. all? Yeah, yeah. And what if the doctor said that you've talked to? You could get goat? That's the worst thing.

That's the worst I've heard. In the research, apparently it's like one of the best shellfishes you can eat. They're like, it's actually pretty great for you. It's good protein. And I was like, all right, cool. Yeah, but I mean, probably in somewhat. In moderation. Certainly not in servings of 72. I mean, I'm excited to see what happens. Me too. All right. Well, let's go get a shot. All right. All right, man. Thank you. Here we go. Huge thanks to Jack Eichol. Unbelievable time. What a day we had. Truly, man. And like just all the love in the world to Jacko came through, hung with us for so long, did so many fun things with us.

Dude, I will say this too. This is maybe just like a slight brag. Yeah. But he gets to tell even cooler shit when we're not recording. You know, like not to be like a rubbing anyone's face, but like he's just such a nice guy. Yeah. He's just such a nice guy even after the fact. Yeah.

All the stuff we get to talk about that, you know, isn't for like, podcasting. And I love him so much for that because he's just, he's the guy. Me too. It was unbelievable. He was truly the best. We had so much fun. Quickly getting into hottest teams of the week coming in at three, the Winnipeg Jets.

They're dope, dude. They are. And you know who else is? Kyle Connor. Unbelievable. They have four wins in a row. So many guys in that team are buzzing. Makes me so happy because Winnipeg went through some tough slander at the beginning

of the year. People talking about no one wants to play. Well, fuck you, because Shifley and Hellebuck State. Everybody's staying. Kyle Connor is probably going to be the scoring champion of the West, in my opinion. Same. And they are a wagoon. Second place, we've been talking about them, talking about them and talking about them.

Yep. Another four burger for the Philadelphia Flyers. Yeah. It's special. It is. It's special. And eventually they're going to shut me up, by the way. Like, I'm sitting here being like, I don't believe in them.

This is cool. It's fun. Enjoy while at last. You're dead. You're dead by February. Eventually, I'm going to have to eat it. So keep winning. Number one way to get me to eat it is to keep winning.

Keep winning. It's fun. And then the number one hottest team of the week, it's frankly not close. The Edmonton Oilers have won seven in a row. Connor McDavid has 400 points in three games. I don't understand. Looking like CP in college, dude. Truly, dude.

It's unreal stuff. The Oilers are fully back on the shoulders of Connor McDavid and Leon Drysettle, just like last season. But the bad man coming and the Oilers are on a tear. Dude, I have never felt more fucking validated in my life than when I was like, the Oilers could literally be in dead last at the All-Star break. And they can at any moment go like this, we will never lose another game and finish in first. And that is exactly what's going to happen.

I'm going to say the crazy thing for me, though, is looking at that clip of when Leon and McDavid are sitting on the bench and Leon just gives him a little fist bump and they're both like, I know, dude, it's so bad. It made me think something at the core was wrong, but clearly it's not. No. So here we are, right back to normal. Boylers, you're the hottest team of the week. Did you say like CP in college? Yeah.

So based. Let's talk about some friend of the pod goals. Okay. Morsi. Best player in the league. Truly. Dutchie got one. Boom.

My son, Adam Fantilly, three. You heard that news? Kids hot. His, I'm sure everyone saw because he was on the internet, but his grandmother passed away. Yeah. Kids got three tucks in the last two games. Between the leg. Oh, yeah.

Ridiculousness. Sending some love to the Fantilia family. Thinking about them, thinking about him. Hell of a week he's had. Tage. Back on the board. Boom. Brady, two.

Let's go. Nettors bump? Yep. We now get JARV goals and Eichol goals. None to report yet, but that's going to be big. It brings our grand total to 68 on the year on the way to 225. Getting into some. P-B-B-B-B-B-P-P-P-P-B-T-P-P-P-B-T-P-P-P-B-T-T-P-P-P-P-T-F.

Tuff-W-W-T-F. F had a cold stretch for the Devils. Some good wins in there, though, but Toph has 21 and 26. A little slump, but not worried at all. Toph's going to heat up, because, you know why? Toph is the ultimate team guy. So they've had some huge wins here.

He doesn't need to be on the score sheet. He needs to do his job. Make sure they get dubs. That's what they've done. Now that they're hot again, he can get hot again. Tof's going to be a 30 in no time. You got any games to watch? I do.

I got two. Thursday. Yep. Caps at Flyers. Class of the Met. Put up or shut up, bitches. Wow. I'm going to be watching.

That's cool. Two, three, right? Or three, four. Something like that. Something like that. Yeah. Well, I mean. Three four.

Islanders two. And then also. Flyers are three. I think it's. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. And then also that night,

Panthers at Canucks. Sick. Really strong teams. That is sick. I like that a lot. I got one Saturday, 4 p.m. Pacific. So 7 p.m. A little night game on Saturday for you folks on the East Coast.

Rangers Bruins. Second tilt of the season. Absolute. Bees o'em one. Pig pile mess of a game the first time they met up. Rangers took the win. So let's see if the bees can scratch back. Going to be a blast.

That's it for us. Unbelievable episode. We're getting closer and closer to Christmas. I am so pumped. Can't wait to do some ponds skating maybe? Man, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to get back. I'm going to see that frozen sheet.

You think he's going to be frozen? Yep. Better be. We might be back east by this time next week when we're reporting. So, we'll see. Until then, skate hard. You heard it.