Empty Netters Podcast - Leo Carlsson Officially A Duck And The Highest Paid Player In The NHL w/ David Ayres

Episode Date: July 14, 2026

David Ayres joins the show for an unreal interview about his incredible story. The Ducks officially match Leo Carlsson’s offer sheet bringing back their star center. The boys weigh in on the state of the Blackhawks and the Ducks. The Canes made some interesting choices on who to put on the Stanley Cup. There’s a Powers Ranking of the best chip flavor. A wild convo about the guys strangest behaviors. And the Beer League Hotline is “gold”! Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 02:23 - Leo Carlsson's Big New Ducks Contract 19:40 - Blackhawks, Bedard, and The Future 28:09 - The NJ Devils 33:31 - Canes Owner Puts Family on The Cup 42:06 - David Ayres Interview 1:35:52 - Power Ranking Best Chip Flavors 1:44:30 - Strange Behavior 2:00:24 - World Cup Belgium Vs Spain 2:02:19 - Beer League Hotline PRESENTED by BetMGM. Download the BETMGM app and use code “NETTERS” and enjoy up to $1500 in bonus bets if you lose your first wager!Thanks to our Sponsors!BetMGM: Use bonus code NETTERS when signing up to receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your first bet loses.Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US)877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY)1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR)21+ only. Please Gamble Responsibly. See BetMGM.com for Terms. First Bet Offer for new customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Bonus bets are non-withdrawable. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. This promotional offer is not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Don’t let stigma stand in the way of support. Start therapy with BetterHelp. Sign up and get 10% off at https://betterhelp.com/netters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the Empty Netters podcast. Can you believe what this has become? There was a full 48 hours where I felt like I was like literally Superman. Jumbo loves playing Fortnite, so he gets on the sticks. Did TR show you the sauna cycle, or was that all year? No, no, I invented that. Almost a year now that I haven't taken a body check. That's kind of nice.

So we are back. We are horned up, and we are going deep. Finish tonight with some chicken fingers and a few guineasas and ran into you guys. That's where this pod came to life. Ice is ready and we are back with another episode of the MTV MTA Nader's podcast brought to you by BetMGM. I'm your host, Dan Powers, on the sticks. We caught Grant back.

It's like we're at the Stanley Cup again. Oh my God, we're back. Unbelievable and CP right over here. He's rocking. He's rolling. He's ready to go. As always, take me back to the Bellagio, dude. Yeah, you need that.

Take me back. These two de jails. Not with you, though. I can't. No. Not with you. Bad luck, dude. I'm a mush on the craps table.

I hate to admit that. But I determined it's because my. My number is seven. And that is a bad number in craps. Yes. And unfortunately, I would not play with you if you were sitting there betting the don't pass because of that. Exactly. But maybe you can get a table to yourself and play don't pass and have your fun.

Did you see the video of that guy who just went in and played blackjack single one-on-one? He was just betting $1,000 every hand. Dude, it's so insane that you say that because I opened up IG today for the first time. And the first video that got fed to me was this random video of a guy playing blackjack. and it said, what dreams are made of. And it was liked by Dan Powers. And it's that exact video that he's talking about. So, yes, I have seen it.

And I watched it like an hour ago. And I was like, that is insane. It was utterly insane. All right, we've got a really fun episode for you today. We're going to rip through a bunch of NHL news that's going on. We're going to hit you with a David Ayers interview. So much fun. We met him at the Cup in Carolina.

Great time chatting with Ayers. We've got a fun powers rankings of the greatest chips. of all time. We're going to go through. We're going to draft our favorite chip. So, Zach, you better be ready for that as well. I am so, so, so ready. And then you heard about it last week. We are going to be playing a game called Strange Behavior as well.

And we'll wrap things up with the Beer League hotline. Let's jump right on in. NHL news going on. We haven't talked about the Ducks offer sheet being matched yet. Yeah, correct. Sometimes over the weekend, I forget. I'm like, oh yeah. That happened a few days ago. We haven't talked about it on the pub. On these very airwaves,

I said that the Ducks, my final stance with it the duck should not match. And then whoop-de-do matched. Yeah, but we also said, it's a match. Or at least I said they are going to match. Yeah, yeah. You thought that they shouldn't. We were like, they obviously will. I think that there is a world where Verbeek could not say we will match any off-sheet and then not match it. I really respect Leo and his comments of being like, dude, I want to be a duck. This is where I want to be. And anyone else would have signed that. and I'm like, hell yeah, brother. To quote Love Island, stand on ten toes, dude.

And, and, and defend your decision. Because that was a big thing, right? Like, people talked about it. We talked about it. We were like, damn, is that kind of a motherfucking of the ducks to sign it? But he was like, anyone would have signed it, dude. Like, I, you know, what are you talking about? And I'm like, you know what?

You're absolutely right, man. Respect. Yeah. So here, can I give you some of the quotes? I'm going to give you these quotes. Sure. And I'm going to vote on what I think of them. Yeah.

Okay? He first, Leo Carlson, these are all Leo Carlson quotes. I always wanted to be a duck. It's home too. So just super excited to be back. That one, I give a C. I give a letter grade of a C too. You did not always want to be a duck because you signed an offer sheet to be a flyer.

You said this. Leo Carlson. Flyer. Your signature. So disagree. You do not always want to be a duck. Disagree with that. I think that's a dushy thing to say.

He wanted to be a flyer more than a duck for that price point. He said, done, I'll be a flyer. Then he says, next quote, it's kind of an offer that I think everybody would sign too. It changed my family and all that too. So it's a pretty simple answer there. But I always wanted to be here too. I just really hoped they would match. This comment, I give an A plus because it's like when Dustin Johnson got asked about the live thing.

And he was like, do I well, we should find that clip. It's him. It's Dustin Johnson sitting at his mansion. And he goes, you know, he talks so slow. He's like, they asked me. if I wanted to work less and would pay me way more. And as he's saying that, Pauline Gretzky is in a bikini,

like walking behind him into the pool. And he's like, so I said yes. And I was like, I hear that, dude. So Leo Carlson right here going, yeah, dude, it changed my family forever. So I took the money. And that I do not blame. I do think he would have made that much money anyway in his life,

but I do not blame him for that. Next quote. Trying not to think about it too much. Just kind of work out, do stuff, hang out, play golf, hang out with friends, stuff like that. I tried not to think about it too much. And then I'm going to add another quote later. It was the weirdest week of my life. I love that.

I love that because it's a nice little insight for all of us fans into like this shit is crazy for them. As much as we like to go, wow, this is a crazy week. It's also crazy for him. Yep. And he said his mom is relieved too. Everyone's been stressing. So I think that's a real thing. and then there was one more let me see if I can find it

oh yeah this was cool he was like I've had pressure since the draft as well I'm still going to be the same person one thing I can just do is play my way and I kind of like that attitude it's I wonder Dan if the leaving would have though been easier I know he's like I don't care about the pressure but I wonder if leaving would have been less awkward because now you're just on the flyers and you make a ton of money but he's going i don't care about that i'm just on the flyers now and we good yeah ziggs is here and it's all fine versus now he comes back and everyone's like you got the cutter thing and you got the ducks being like why did you sign that why did you

fuck it you know it's just a whole thing uh listen i never thought that we would have to on our comedy podcast uh try to put up a little sign that says when we're being satirical and when we're being serious yeah but apparently some sensitive people have made that the case so i will say i'm being dead serious right now, I don't think it's awkward at all. Yeah. There was, we talked about all the options. We were like, when you come back, damn, that's awkward. And I think they handled this perfectly. I think Verbeek handled it, how he had to handle it, whether you want to say him stalling, cost the money is true or not. I think that that is true. I think he can kind of admit it. It was like, we got him for a number more than we thought. And we were like, man, is this going to

be weird when Leo comes back and he's the highest paid player in the league? I, there was a period where we're like, that might be weird. It might be awkward for a second. But at the end of the day, all of the teammates, they're professional athletes. They understand how this goes. They all have agents. They all have conversations. They know how this goes as well. And I think right now they're going, we're happy that our Star Center is back. I think it's as simple as that. There will certainly be pressure, not pressure that he can't handle of, are you going to perform or are you not going to perform because now you make $18 million a year. I think he addressed that. And now all we can see is how he plays. And as we've said, he will not be the most expensive player in the league in short order

within a year or less, frankly. I mean, I mean, this season he will be, but it eventually will change. So whatever. I also, Ducks fans are super passionate and awesome and knowledgeable, but they're also not psychopaths. I don't think they are the type of fan base who's going to skewer Leo if he doesn't have 150 points next season. I agree that. I think it would be way more. awkward if it were a different franchise. But it's the ducks. So it's not that awkward. I think they're all super pumped that he's back.

And now it's all about what trades are you going to make to get Cutter? Someone asked us a question today. It was like, I thought when that was offered, we would see what happens with Cutter. Cutter cannot be offer sheeted, folks. Just so you know. Cutter or Gautier cannot be offer sheeted. So there's no rush on Cutter. Now they will take their time to see if they can make moves and then give Cutter a contract,

which they will do. Cutter-Gotee will be a duck is what I think. But there is no rush on it. And also there's the element of other teams in the league now know that Verbeek has to trade players, like a Frank Vitrano or like a Troy Terry or like a Chris Kreider and make room for Cutter and then ultimately Beckett the next year. Yep. So they are going to go, we kind of have you bent over a barrel, bro.

And he's going to go, sure, maybe, but I'm not going to get fleeced. So that's why we haven't seen a trade yet. It's going to take time. Yep. I have two questions. First question. I ought not obviously, but like very likely eventually, as you said, Leo will not be the highest paid player in the league. But I wouldn't be surprised at all. And this is my question to you. What is your level of surprise or expectation? I wouldn't be surprised at all. In fact, I expect when Matthews is up, when McDavid is up, they don't take more than Cutter or Leo. I bet they come in at less than that because they go, that would. be lunacy for me to take that if I ever want to win a Stanley Cup. Okay, I mean, listen, I'm not going to backtrack here. I said, I was like, if you have a player making $18 million, you cannot win a stand a cap. Yeah, I said that on these airwaves, on this very show. I said that. Yes, you did. I'll clip the fuck out of that. And I said, I'm not, me too. And I stand by that.

I think it's really high. But this is what people need to remember, man. It's like, this is what the CBA is. This is what agents' jobs are. And there were a bunch of people who were pissed when McDavid signed his same number. There have been people who've been pissed at Crosby for the last 10 years for signing his same number because they're like, you're hurting future players. I think this number obviously was instigated by an offer sheet, but I bet the number was set because of Crill's number. So I think it is not out of the realm of possibility that a McDavid or a Matthews or a Badaard or a MacLan will take less. I don't think it's. I don't think It's crazy, especially if they're actively going, I want to build something where I am.

But I do not think that that's a guarantee at all. Because you already have the mathematicians out here going, when Crosby signed his superstar contract for the first time at 8.7, it was blank percentage of the cap. Leo's 18 is barely higher than that. So there are already people going, this isn't that high. And it can work. I don't know if it can work. I think it is a dangerous game friendo to start slinging around 18 to 20 million dollar deals.

But I am, I do think I am here to say that in certainly within 12 months, we will see a contract at 18 or higher. Okay, cool. Because I am here to say that we will not. And I think it's going to be interesting to see how the league or how NHL fans, and Ducks fans react when, in my opinion, when Austin Matthews, Connor McDavid, and Macklin Elabrini all come in at like 15 to 16 to 17. I wonder if Ducks fans will go like, that's, Jesus Christ. I think that this is the, I mean, listen, dude, if that happens, it will be electric. Oh, oh, agree. And it's, in my opinion, it's happening. Yeah, and we'll see. Yeah.

I just think they just know better, dude. They're vets. Like, they know if they go, give me 19 because the flyers blew their load. So then you're calling, you're calling Leo Carlson an idiot then? No, because of his, because of his A plus quote, in my opinion, when he went like this, the flyers are morons and put on paper, I could have $18 million a year. I talked to my family and they said, this would take care of us forever. You could break your leg tomorrow. Yeah. I said, I had to take care of my family. Anyone would do this. It was a powerball ticket. I signed it. It is what it is. Yeah. That's what he said. And I love that. Legitimately, I love Leo and that quote. Even though he could have done exactly.

what you said last episode where he could have gone to Verbeacon gone, hey dude, this is going to take care of my family forever. Can you give me 15? Like, it's $15 million less. Yes, I wish she, I still wish he had done that. So that's what I'm saying is like, I actually don't think it's as black and white as you going, they are pros, they know that this fucks a team, because I'm like, I think Leo's a pro too. And Leo, I'm, again, I hear you, I said what I said. And I stand by it.

I think it's too high. But I think this is the game, dude. Like this is, I felt this way with fucking Matthews contract. And then Leon Drysidl signed for more. And there, we have Bowen Byram signing 12 and a half in Chicago. I think guys and their agents are going to go, oh, well, if my family can be taken care of forever, too, that sounds great. And also, man, it was shocking to me to learn that when we were talking about Leo and Cutter, and we were saying on this show, sign them both for 10 million a year.

And what it's sounding like is the starting number for them and even for beak was 15. Yeah, yeah. So I'm like, dude, that's not random. Like I bet Macklin 119 point Celebrini is probably not going, I was going to sign for 10. I bet he's like, give me fucking 16 mil, pal. Yeah, yeah. So now if you are a good agent, you have to go, Macklin, we're asking for 18 and a half. And again, let's see what they do.

Yeah. But I'm just saying there's no, I don't think there's any fucking planet where you unanimously the entire league goes, every player in the league goes, let's make Leo Carlson look like an asshole. And we're all going to sign less, because that is what you would have to do. Agree, and you just said a great thing. It's not, and what I said is wrong. It's not their pros they know better. And this is the benefit of where they are in their career. They already have, my family is completely taking care of money. So they have the luxury. Matthews and McDavid have the luxury of going. I'll take 50. I'm good. Like I could die tomorrow and my family and my grandkids are covered. So I will take 15 in a hope to win a cup.

Yeah. I don't need 19 a year just to go, well, the bar was set by Leo Carlson, which is why I think will. Macklin will be a great test case because he is like, I haven't made any money. So is Bedard. We need to see what happens with Bedard this year. We're also about to get into Connor Bardard. Yep.

But like it's, but I bet, and we'll find out soon, but I bet Mac goes, the sharks are building something sick. I'm not going to handcuff them that bad. I'll take 15. What pisses me the fuck off about this outlandish statement, by you is I completely agree with that because I think Mac is different. I think Mac is a Cid disciple and I think Mac is going to go give me 14 and a half or something like that and it's going to make you look correct but you're wrong. Well, what do you mean? You're you're lucking into

this statement because of who Macklin is. But if Matthews and McDavid do it too. Though I think those are outliers because they're 30. Yeah. Like yeah like they've signed massive deals and I make an argument here. Yeah. Okay. I think it's also hockey culturally as more willing to do this than any other sport. And I think that you would see this a lot more. Like, I think it is very fair to expect a hockey player to take 15 mil over 18 mil and ego not be involved than anywhere else. I agree with that. But at the same, which is why I was so shocked by Leo. I don't know, dude. Can we break that down? Yeah. Because it's, it's hard. We have had that conversation on this show when every fan is like hockey player culture, hockey player culture.

Zach, when we were talking about this fucking offer to a couple of our basketball friends, and we were like, it's unbelievable how much money. And they were like, wait, how much is he making a year? And we were like 18. And they were like, that's not a lot. And we went, it's literally the biggest contract in the NHL. And they were appalled with how little money hockey players make comparatively. Yeah.

So we've talked about this like the hockey culture thing. Hockey players take less. Yeah. Dude, Chris, we have talked about the days, do you not remember on this show saying the days of Sidney Crosby and Patrice Bergeron's are over. Yep. We have not seen a player take less in the NHL since those two until

McDavid just did it. Yeah, sorry, you said Sid and who? Bergeron. Oh, Berg. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, Byrd was playing at like 6.6 or something. And they had many quotes like this. We all got to do it. It only works if we all do it.

Like, dude, when Taves and Cain signed there like 10 and a half, that wasn't taking less. Those were two of the biggest contracts in the league. Leon didn't take less. Connor didn't take less on his first deal. McKinnon didn't take less. Kale is not about to take, or I mean, maybe he will. But it's like we don't see it that often.

I agree with you, the culture screams that. Yeah. But it doesn't happen that often. Tumani Kumar on the Portland Trailblazers makes $18 million. Household name. Yeah. Walker Kessler just got a bag. I mean, this is, I talk about a Laker.

Walker Kessler just got a bag. I've never heard those letters. put together in my entire life. So I mean, yeah, man, like, I would love to see it too. And I, this one is definitely, now I am backpedal. Because, like, this one is so high. Like, it is crazy. You're backfilling from what you said today, not for what you said the other day, right? Yeah, like I said, I was like, I'm not going to back. No, no, no, sorry, I'm, I'm backpedaling what I said today and that I was like, we will definitely see it. I just, I really don't think we will. And I'm, I can't wait to be wrong, but I really don't think we will. I'm now being like,

yeah, maybe, dude. Dan, can you literally imagine if Austin Matthews, A, doesn't leave the Leafs? No, Austin. And just hear me out, though. No, I won't hear you out because I've already said this on previous episodes about Austin and Connor, specifically. I was like, those two don't need to match this. It's the other guys that do. So I agree with those two.

But it's like all of these other players who are eventually going to be signing a new deal. I'm like, this is now the number. Like it's, but I think Austin, I, I, I, been saying for a long time now, I think Austin's next contract is going to be like 14 mil. I bet he is like, yeah, dude, just give me a bit more than what I make. Because it's also surprising, like when a John Carlson signs for what he's signed for in 8.5 in Tampa, like I was like, whoa. Yeah, yeah.

You're 36. Like, I expect these guys to be like, just sign for 2 mil somewhere. And they're like, and then he's like, no, give me 8.5. I'm one of the best right shot defensemen in the league still. Dude, LeBron, did you see LeBron? I know he hasn't signed yet, but LeBron has already agreed to the, the vet minimum. Yeah.

He's like, I don't care. He's made so much money. He's not fair. He's made so much money. Like, no one does that. Like, guys in the NBA

who have also made billions go, don't care, give me another 50-0. You know, and LeBron's like, dude, I want to win a title. When you're chasing,

it's interesting. Number six. Yes, that's what I mean. Yeah. Thank you for, like, actually, dude, I've had such a roller coaster relationship with the Brabron.

We got to move on. We got to move on. And I'm so back on him after that. I was like, oh, Ron's fucking goaded, man. Like, he's not my favorite player of all time, but he is so goaded. Okay.

We'll see what happens. My take is Cutter, Gautier is going to sign, so trades will probably happen in the hour. Give me your best guess at number. I bet Cutter's going to sign for 12 and a half. That's actually right what I had, and that they better hope he agrees to that. I mean, you're right about the leverage, but like he would be mad. I guarantee it's five as well. Yeah, I guarantee it's five years.

Okay, we're going to move on to the Blackhawks. First and foremost, there are two things from last week that have made me laugh that I want to address is the fact that there were some people who took what you were saying about Spike Ball as not satire. To that, I say that was obviously satire and we're moving on. What I did not like is on our Instagram post. Do you have anything to say about that, by the way? No, I could not care. And dude, by the way, I pray to God he was playing spike ball and faked it. I pray that happened. And then I get to go, sue who for defamation. Dude, I imagined, never mind. Incredible. Again, it is funny and it has been fun laughing about that with other people who also found it insane.

But it's, I get it, man. Like, hey, we're new boot goofing around here more often than not. We like to have fun. We hope you can have fun with us. So obviously it was a joke when we were joking around. round about playing spike ball. But what I did not like is on our IG post, the insane, overwhelming amount of comments who were chitin on Connor. We'll do. The only thing I want to say about that, because I saw that too, is we also, this wasn't in the clip.

So it didn't even have a chance to explode. But we did. We both said in the first round before we actually heard, we both said, if it's a knock, it doesn't matter. if he's out significant time, we both on into the mic said, I now actually am like, dude, we have a durability issue. And now it is surgery four months. So per our point, we both think there is a durability issue. Well, it's a fear. Yeah. That's what I said. Like you have a fear. But the amount of people who were like, he's made a glass, he's a bust,

he's this, he's that, I will not stand for that personally. Because I think way too many, people and I'm going to contradict myself here because it was an injury that did it, but way too many fucking people conveniently forget how fucking good he was last year. Him and Macklin-Celebrini were neck and in fact for a long stretch, Bedard was leading. And I know he has an extra year on Mac, but yes. But dude, Bedard was on fire last year. On fire. And like he, I think that kid

is insanely talented. And it sucks that he got that. He didn't keep the chin tucked. And it sucks now that this has happened. And he hurt his shoulder last year. I think it was different ones, but yeah, shoulder shoulder. Yeah. But like, oh, is that confirmed?

I think I saw that. Yeah. I might be pulling that out of the ass. I swear I saw that. He heard his shoulder last year. Now he has this shoulder injury. But dude, I look at Drew Brees. Also a short guy.

Yeah. Gets a bionic shoulder put in and then he wins a soon. Better than ever. That's true. I am here. Yeah, a lot of different shoulder. I'm gonna stand for Baderd here. I will also never call him Bedsie.

I can't, I feel like such a fucking clown loser when I say that. Why? Because I'm just, to me, like, Bedsie's a cool, young person nickname, and I'm not a cool young person. But that's what they call him. Do they? I'm pretty sure.

I think older guys call him Bedsie? I think so. I just feel like a, I feel like a tool when I say it. What? I don't feel like a fraud. I'm going to be saying it. No. be saying.

I, that's what he likes to be called. You're doing him a disservice. Okay. Say his full government name. If Blackhawks fans can tell me, confirm that he prefers to be called that by people, then I'll call him Bedsie. But until I earn that, I will call him Connor. I'm going to stand up for him here, and I'm putting my chips on the table. I think when he returns, he is going to have, we'll call it point per game, we'll call it plus

minus. I really want to see a big uptick there. I think he's going to have the best season. of his career because you know what i think he's pissed i think he hears i remember last up this was also a thing that got ignored from last episode i think connor bdard has entered cool connor era dude i i agree that got so conveniently like you want to fucking clip shit on tic talk and make a fucking big deal of it and live in outrage culture be my guess but if you actually want to do your homework and listen to the episode we spent fucking five minutes talking about how cool he is now yep and i think coner bard has

entered cool connor era and i also think he's entered grudge connor era now too where he is like, he's hearing people doubt the hawks. He's hearing people doubt him. He's hearing people say he's made a glass. I think he's going to get the surgery, and I think he's going to fucking walk in and come back and be absolutely lethal when he returns. I can't wait to revisit this at the end of his season and go,

look at that fucking stud. Dude, I'm so with you. He is, I said, last step, these young kids heal so fast. They grind on their recovery. Yeah. And dude, this guy isn't that young, but look at Tatum.

Tours Achilles and everybody was like he's going to miss the whole year. He's going to miss two years and then he's like playing game 50. I mean, if we went to Patty Mahomes, dude. Patty Mahomes is probably to come back and look at like perfect. It absolutely terrifies me how true that is. Yep. Like he's going to come back and we're going to get through week four and I'm going to go, so they're winning the Super Bowl again.

Yep. And I'm going to hate it. Yep. Hate it. So already I said last episode, I guarantee you, Connor Bred, they're saying November. I guarantee you he's back early October. And they're going to go, wow, he's way ahead. a schedule. Even if he isn't, which I'm sure he is, I'm completely with you. You even said last

step, this is the perfect time to get hurt. These kids go too hard in the summer anyway. This will put him on the shelf. He'll get his body right, completely fine. He played 69 games. Nice. Last year, and had 30 goals. I bet with miss, because don't forget, the season starts in September now, so he's going to miss some games. So I bet he only hits of the 84. I bet he's at best going to be 72 already, already, if he doesn't pick up another knock. So do I, do I? Do I? I think he's going to score 50 goals with missed time, maybe not. But I'm with you. I bet he's sniffing 40 this year.

I bet he has a monster season. This is not an issue at all. Dude, and I addressed this on Hockey Talk today, too. There are a lot of Blackhawks fans, like, panicking. And I get it because it does feel like the sharks are ahead of you and the ducks are ahead of you now. But, dude, I think the Blackhawks are right there. I, you know, I think.

I'm not there yet, but I think Nays are right there in terms of, you're not right here to make the playoffs. I think they're right here to all of a sudden people go, whoa, trajectory is there. I think Nazar's disgusting, dude. Obviously, Connor is amazing. But, dude, Frondell is so good. I love Boisvert. I love Oliver Moore. And then you've got Byram now there playing with Vlasik also signed for a long time. Leves Schenoff, I think is amazing. I love Renzel. Like this team, and also, you have Spencer Knight, dude. You have the hardest part. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You have the hardest part. Really good call there. I think this team is right there. And yeah, they missed on a bunch of free agents, but when we looked at the sharks, right,

and some of their trades and signings that we were kind of like, ooh, was that the right move? I almost like it better when you're in this situation where it's like you're not putting money into like long-term deals and places where you're like, ooh, that might not be great in a couple of years. Yeah. I feel good. If you're a Blackhawks fan, this is me telling you, I think we're good. I think we're maybe a little behind some of the other teams, but you're good still. They're okay. I wish we had more time.

I wish there was a little bit more firepower around Bedsie. I'm looking at it. And you've got guys that can play, but I'm like, oh, dude, you'll get the sharks. And the sharks are such an outlier, but they have an embarrassment of talent. I know. I think we're going to see a jump, though. I think we're going to see a jump from those young guys. Because of Bedsie.

I also just want to say, too, Sid and head stuff is different. But Sidney Crosby, early in his career. Patrice Bergeron, too. Patrice Bergeron was legitimately like, oh, my God. we might get cut short. His career might be cut short. Like, think about the panic from Penguins fans

in mid-20s Crosby. And then it's fine. That's what I mean. So it's like, to all the glass people. But Dard can have a couple unlucky knocks in the first three years of his career and then just be healthy the rest of the way

and be like, especially for a smaller player, sometimes this is the learning process. It's like you got to the NHL, you have to learn that as a smaller guy, you might get rubbed in certain ways that's not going to work. Yep.

He's learning the lesson. I'm telling you, cool Connor, grudge Connor. Here he is. He's a child. And now he's going to blossom. Yep. And it's going to be amazing. All right, quick talk about the devils. Got a little request from some of the fans saying we haven't talked about the devils in a little while. And no, it was not Pasha. But we do want to talk about the devils for a second. We saw the Nemitz trade and they get the two first round picks. And then we didn't really do anything with it, as we saw. How are you feeling about the devils right now? Right. The big thing. for me is, goaltending is Jake Allen, Nico Dawes, and David Riddick. Is that how they are going

into, do we think they're going into this season going Nico Daz is our guy? At this point, maybe. I don't know what I would say at this point. It's not that late.

There's time to do stuff. But maybe. And I think that is if I'm a devil's fan, that is scary. That's scary considering where I hoped to be three years from now.

You brought up. Pasha. Pasha and I, he put his money where his mouth is, I did not, but I had his back. When, after that Rangers playoff round, Pasha was like, the devils are going to win, you know, three cups in the next 10 years. And then when they hired Keefe, I doubled down with him. I was like, you guys are golden. This is going to be the next dynasty in the East. And like, looking back on that, we look like buffoons. Yeah. So I wouldn't be thrilled if I'm going into this year a pivotal year in terms of the future of this team and it's Dawes. Yeah. I think I'm excited. I don't mean to just be Danny

positivity here with everyone right now, but I think this is a big year. I think this is the 100 point year for Jack Hughes. Okay. I think post Olympics, everything he's been through, all these dumb injuries, and this team has been plagued by injuries. Horrible. But I think this is the 100 point year for Jack Hughes where he finally goes, I am the superstar that everyone thinks I can be. So I think That's very exciting. Heeshire is only getting better. He's literally saving lives. I don't know if you've seen these stories, but, like, Nico, what he do?

Grant, do a quick Google search, Nico Heeshire in the news. H-I-S-C-H-I-E-R. He, like, pulled someone out of a car or some shit. Like, this guy's a fucking hero. But I'm a big Mercer guy. Meyer is maybe not what they expected him to be. Brat is one of the most underrated players in the league. And I think those Erod and Boquist pickups are very, very good depth pickups that they have not had.

Same, which I really like. Erod's money. Save a family in distress in Switzerland. Unbelievable. Literally went home to Switzerland. There was a family in distress saved their lives. Unbelievable. What was happening to them?

They, uh, family had a family of four had an inflatable boat that became stranded near a dam, which caused them to be in distress. And when they were in distress, Nico saw it, had a heroic effort, swam. to them pulled the boat ashore using a throw bag, secured them to police, and none of the four family members were harmed. They were literally in a rushing river about to go over a waterfall after playing a game of spike ball. Yep.

Yeah. And hey, hero. That's satire, folks. Nico was playing spike ball. And then also, by the way, Nico has now strained a lat swimming in the river and then we'll fake an injury at practice and go, I was hurt playing hockey, so insurance cover this. Connor McGregor? Yes.

Oh my God, dude. I can't even begin to talk about that. That guy is such a piece of shit. That is insane. I still love their D. Seganthalor, Dougie, Luke Pesci, Brendan Dillon and Kovacevich. Like, that's such a good deal.

Dude, their team is stacked. I look at the lines and I go, how could you possibly be bad? The Devils Man are like, they're just, there's something there still. And I feel like people forget they have like they have Salive too

I believe put it this way I believe in the New Jersey Devils I believe in Harvey Dent and I do think with Sunny it is time to make something happen here but I do believe dude

you gotta I don't it's not that I don't believe in Nico Daz I'm not sure I believe in Nico Daz as a horse as they're like you are playing 50 games dude so I'd love them to maybe look at an Aiden Hill trade, maybe look at a Hellabuck trade.

And then my last thing of the devil's is... Hellabuck would be numbies. Yeah. My last thing on the devil's is, do you think that a Quinn Hughes move is still in the cards? Um, I have long been on... I am firmly on they are all playing together, you know that, or certainly Jack and Quinn.

I was always on Devils, Devils, lately it's shifted to Minnesota or elsewhere. Um, and weirdly, though, the, the... downward spiral of the devils is somehow making Quinn coming there more likely to me because it's their last Hail Mary desperation of like we how did we mess this up so bad we stink just go get Quinn Hughes um and then but now the wild has have had a weird off season too yeah so they also need Quinn Hughes who doesn't need a Quinn Hughes damn we all need a Quinn Hughes um so I still think it's

unlikely but maybe I've I've moved my meter up slightly more likely just because of what a debacle they've been in nice I like it we'll keep checking that meter as we go through the summer Okay, last bit of news before we jump into an ad break and then the David airs interview. We got to talk about the Dundans on the cup. Yep. I'm trying to find. Oh, here we go. I got the pick.

We didn't really talk about this all week because I was kind of laughing, watching a bunch of the pearl clutching that was going on. And I just think it's, again, it's more outrage culture that leads to, like, hate speech and negativity online that I would prefer to avoid. but as the dust has settled, I would love to say this is so lame. Again, I'm not going to sit here and go, one of the most egregious things that's ever happened in NHL history, but it is objectively super fucking lame. So I woke up to this news and I hadn't even heard about it. And you guys go, Dundon put his wife and kids on the cup.

Yeah. And, dude, Dundon's the man. We have had a great chat. I love the experiences with him. Yeah. She is a predatory loan shark, though. Well, you know, you got to make your money. And I don't like that. You got to make your money, Dan.

Being a predatory loan shark is pretty tough. So he goes, that you guys go, he put his family on there. And I go, sick. And then Lazz and G and, who else were? Oh, Colby was on that. They go, I actually think no one got omitted. And so then I go, oh, then literally who cares? I cannot believe people are mad.

That was like my original take. I was like, if no one who should be on there is left off, then this is just corny. Yeah, yeah. But I love good cornball. Yeah, but then there were, again, the outraged brigade. Like, yeah, they were mad already. Well, there was just like people were throwing around certain names and I was like, I genuinely still don't know who should be on and who should.

But I feel like some have been kind of confirmed, right? Oh, okay. So I have a few. So then it was like, actually no, some people, were omitted. So Joel Nystrom, and I believe 41 games, if you play 41 games for a team, you are on. You are on the cup,

period. And a person who plays less than that can be added to the cup by the team. If they go, this person was incredibly valuable. And if you play playoffs, you're on, period. Or maybe it's like two playoff games or something. There's a minimum playoff game also. Joel Nystrom, the defenseman, played

38 games for the canes. Missed it by three games. And dude, he's like, so, I looked this up. Nystrom is, he is under contract with the Kings, though. Yeah, like he... Because, like, if you played 38 games and then you got traded,

I'm like, you should not be on the Cup. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't give a fuck. That's what's tough, right? Like, you could play up to the trade deadline, and if you get traded, you're not on the Cup. Yeah. And I'm like, yeah, you're on a different team.

Yeah. He is under contract. So I'm like, are you fucking kidding me? This guy's not on the Cup? He's on the Cades. 23-year-old, on the Cades, played through, missed it by three games. He gets jacked.

Brutal. He gets jacked for an 8-year-old. And this one actually really hurt my feelings. Bobby Gorman, a veteran equipment manager who has been with the franchise since they were the whaliffs. Dude, has been grinding on the cane's gear to get them ready for the game. Deleted for an 8-year-old. Dude, deleted. Also, is that guy in the cup in 2006?

Great question. Because if he got double-goosed, that is absurd. Yeah. That wouldn't be Dundon's fault. but if Bobby Gorman is not on the cup in 2006 either, that is insane. Did our Sharpen Skates guy make it that was listening to the podcast? Holy fuck. Whoa, dude.

We got to find that out of the year. He's listening. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He's listening right now. Yeah. Please, Texas. I need to find out.

If you were not on the cup, then I'm going to, I'm going to show up at Dunden's doorstep. Yes, dude. Seriously, are you on the cup? Dude, do you find out if Gorman is on in 2006? It says his name was not engraved on the cup. His name, however, did appear on the cup back in 06. so he got on.

But I mean, I just think you've got to... I mean, if you're on the first time, you're on this time. Oh, that's what I'm saying. This is bullshit. Yeah. So, this is crazy. That's nuts. I, and then we'll put, we'll have Evan edited in this picture, but Sully, shout out Sully,

who's also listening, sent me the funniest picture I've ever seen, which is the, for the audio listeners, the people, you know, when you see a sticker on a mini man. Yeah, the bumper sticker. That's like, the family. You're in me and my kids. It says Caroline Hurricanes 25, 26, and it's just like, dad. Again, dude, my take was, as the outrage was going on, I was like, if no one got left off, this is just corny. Yep.

But it is clear, at least by our standards, like Joel and Bobby not being on there is mental to me. And like there's some minority owners, but like that's kind of I'm like, like, when Big Cat owns Swansea, like if they won Premier League, I'm like, you don't. If you own like 0.01% of it. I don't think my name should get on the cup there. but I mean these ones are crazy to me and I yeah again like I'm not gonna I'm not going to act outraged I'm going to laugh about how fucking stupid this is a little crazy though for these get for the now that I've seen no no it's again like I think that this is lame as fuck but again I'm going to laugh about how lame it is because I think that's just way more it's just it's just such

absolute power it's like oh yeah like this is this is where ownership I'm like you donkey what are you doing what do you think the conversation was like like when they were like hey I want to throw the family on the cup. Like, what? It's also so, I'll also say this, they're the first names listed. Yeah. Yeah. I saw that, yeah. I don't give a fuck about that. Like, if I were a player on the team, I'm like, I don't give a shit where my name shows up, I'm on the fucking cup. But it is all, it is just another use of like, dude, he's so unapologetically was like

this, me, my wife and my fucking five kids and my fucking, and my dog and my cat. And I'm just like, dude, calm down. The maid, the nanny. And also, I actually wonder if these kids. are going to grow up and be like this. Why the fuck did you put me on there, dude? They're going to get roasted. His kid is going to get roasted at the middle school table. It would be like, you didn't do shit to get that cup. Grant, God forbid if those kids grow up and play hockey, if I ever played against them, I'd be like this. Oh, great point.

Your name's on the cup, pal, huh? Like, what was that? What was that run like? Do you fucking grow? Like, I would chirp this shit out. Dude, you never touch that, huh? Because it's, it's the curse if you touch the cup, if you touch the cup without before having won it, you'll never win it. Yeah. If your name is engraved on the cup before you ever did dick. Brutes. I don't know, think, that is actually an incredible comment, dude. I wonder what would happen with their hockey groups. That is a tough one, dude. And I, I can't believe he has five kids, too. Is it five? I just do that number of kids. It is. It is. It's the only one. It'd be

a little less bad. Joel Nystrom would be on there. Seven names, dude. Outrageous. Outrageous. Come on. Okay, let's take an ad break. And then when we get back, we were going to kick it to our interview with our buddy David Ayers. You were going to love this one. You know some of his story. You will not believe the whole. whole thing. Also, a hell of a dude. Just a, just a great hang, hilarious guy, unbelievable life experience, unbelievable attitude and the way to give back to the world. Grant, you would love that. You've got to listen to it. Oh, yeah, can't wait. Can we shout out somebody real quick? Yeah. Can we shout out, Ev? I mean, you guys set that interview up too, but I know Ev was no,

huge, great point. Ev was dialed on that. And like Dan said, we met him in Raleigh. All four of us. We met him in Raleigh. We were doing Stanley Cup live. He even said to us in the interview grant. He was like, God, I went up to the year guys show a Stanley Cup live and fans love you guys. I was like, hell yeah. Very nice. Hell yeah. So we'll be right back with David Ayers. All right, we got three, four, four games left in the World Cup because I actually forgot that the World Cup does the bronze medal game, which is pretty sick. Four games left in the World Cup. It's already been an incredible tournament. And if you haven't been paying attention, you can make this tournament even more dialed because Bet MGM has the cool.

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We are joined today by a Whitby Ontario native, the oldest player ever to win their debut NHL game. Pretty sick stat. I like that a lot. A man who retired with a career undefeated goalie record in the NHL, former Zamboni driver, soon to be Hollywood icon. David Ayers, welcome to the Engine Netters podcast. Thanks, guys.

Thanks for having me here. We're pumped, dude. We were just chatting early before we got going here, that we were able to run into you during the final down in Carolina, and this was able to materialize. So it's awesome to finally have you on the show. Yeah, it was wild. I mean, just to see you guys there,

the crowd and stuff like that. Like, people loved you. It was wild. These guys were just killing it down here. What a place to be, right? Dude, the Keynes fans. Was that game? They're the best.

Was that game two or five? I think it was five, right? I think we were a little deeper into the... When I saw you guys, I think it was game two maybe, because it was... Oh, was it? I thought so too. Yeah. That's right.

It was. So, dude, I'm actually pumped to chat with you about that the Keynes did it. Because when we met, it kind of felt like we were maybe in trouble here. You might go down. So that was a nice little turnaround for the boys. Yeah. That was a crazy series. Like that was just, I've never seen anything like that.

It's like a whole long, get down a bunch of goals, come back, storm back. Like I was at being three at the in the outdoor thing and we left after the second period. No way. This is terrible. Yeah. This sucked so bad. We ended up watching the game on the phone on the way back and I'm just like, are you freaking? Are you kidding me right now?

Like it's a comeback and we left and I mean, the crowd was loud. but I just couldn't do it. I couldn't handle it. The game was terrible. Game three was terrible for the Keynes at the start. And then all of a sudden, it was just like,

I'll just leave and I miss all the good stuff. I mean, dude, we were joking. We were at a wedding. That was the only game we missed. We had to go to our boys' wedding. We got to go to our boys' wedding.

And it was hilarious as we had all these bets on the game. And as it was all mapping out, people were freaking out because we had like, you know, the over and Ikel point or this and that. And then it was just like, bang. Everything flipped on its head.

And we were like, what is, I ran up to Chris at one point and I was like, this game's in overtime and he was like, dude, I was supposed to say that. Dan came out to me on the dance floor at the wedding and just holds his phone up and it was 4-4 and I was like, oh my God, dude. I can't believe that's what we missed. That was crazy. I mean, how do you not love that series?

And that, I mean, the amount of people that probably tuned in to watch what, the last couple games of that series, I mean, after hearing how crazy it was for the first three, I mean, I'm sure being four, game five are just like wild, the attendance and the people that came. I know in Carolina, the crowd from the first game one to game two to game three, like it all started to build outside. Game one outside, you know, I may have had like, I don't know, 5,000 people. By time game three and game four around the place you couldn't stand out there at all.

That's awesome. Dude, it was funny too because I had some people watch, say they watched game six, and they were like, it was kind of boring. And I was like, yeah, well, every other game was awesome. We're all exhausted. Yeah. Yeah, I did it right. But I mean, I think people would be interested.

to know. So, I mean, like, you're talking about how you had to literally leave the game. You are, like, you are a true Keynes fan, right? Yeah. I mean, ever since I played that one game with them, they treated me so well. I met so many people in Carolina. I've had so many friends now from North Carolina, like Charlotte, Raleigh, all those areas. I mean, I've met so many people and become so close to a lot of people. And their fan base is unbelievable. How can you not be a fan of them? The way that Rod does it, the way that the management, the whole team, the way they do things outside, the way they get their fans incorporated and everything.

That's awesome. The way they just do it is awesome. Other teams should kind of take the hint and get after it like they do. It's truly so cool. And we were losing our minds with the tailgating. I mean, it is, I think it's one of those things that we've kind of offhand said so many times over the course of the history of this show. We go to football games and things like that. And you're reminded that tailgating is so awesome.

And we're always kind of like, why doesn't every sport do this? hockey should do this. Meanwhile, down in Carolina at the Lenny, they're like, we do. We do it every day. And it's absolutely incredible. So it was just really cool for this final, for the world and the rest of the hockey community to be able to see how

well they do it and how fun it is. It's incredible. But you mentioned, so you're outside of Charlotte now, you're living in North Carolina. Tell the people, what was the start of your hockey days? When you were growing up, when did you get into the game? Was it immediate? Did your family play? How did you really

start to fall in love with the game of hockey. Yeah, I still live in Canada, actually, but I'm down here quite often. But I mean, being a Canadian kid, this is what you did. Like my dad was a goalie, my older brother was a goalie. And so I really didn't have an option. It's like, here you go, here's your brother's equipment. Yeah. I know those four sizes are too big for you because he's four years old and you can get after it.

Like, so I'm wearing equipment that's up to my hips. And I knew we didn't have a lot of money growing up. And by the time I was done like that equipment, it was down to my knees, right? Yeah. I wore those paths for three or four years, but I didn't really have a choice. So my parents were just like, you're a goalie. And my brother were playing road hockey with my brother and his friends. And who do they want?

They want the young kid who's going to go in net and they can just rip the ball at. And I'm not going to complain about it, right? Because I get to play with my brother and his buddy. So, you know, hockey was my passion back then. And I just kind of did what I had to do to just play. And I just love to do it. So, I mean, I was taking shots off the face. I was just putting net in the stupidest times.

It was great. So your dad, Bob and your brother, Chris, were goalies as well. Did you ever veer out of that? Or was it just like, nope, they gave me this equipment. This is what we do. This is a family trade. You're like working in the steel mill for generations, essentially.

Did you ever stray or were you like, no, I'm a goalie? I think I played, you know, sometimes you get those father-son games and I was able to let one of the other kids boring my goalie equipment and I wore the players equipment. I'm like, oh, this is awesome. I can't skate worth shit, but this is awesome. I love doing this. I mean, I play out now. played a bit and I could skate a lot better now than what I did back then.

But I just, I don't know, there was something about being a goalie that, you know, you want to make your dad proud and your brother proud. And I think that's kind of why I stuck it out for so long and just stayed in that. Dude, it's funny usually, or at least I feel like I see often the brothers have one goal because you need a guy to shoot, you know, someone's going to shoot on you. But I love how you guys just went straight down the list. Like, we're all playing goal, generations. They just get a pitching machine going, just firing pucks at them all, just down a line.

three goalies. That is amazing. I was lucky enough that our neighborhood had like 20 kids. So there's all the whole neighborhood that was 20 kids. They were just out there. Everyone wanted to play hockey. And they're always like, just put David Nett. He's a goalie.

They'll just leave him in there. And so I just always had somebody who wanted to shoot the puck at me or shoot the ball at me. It was wild my neighborhood. Dude, I'll say too, I almost, our dad was a goalie when he was young, young. And then transition to defense. And I almost got the goalie bug when. I was a little kid. Like when we would be playing knee hockey, I always wanted to be a goalie. I love John Van Viesbrook, all these legends, Coojo. And it was, I do think there's something maybe,

I think in everyone, but maybe just guys like me and you, Ercie, but it's like, I something about an incredible save is cooler to me than an incredible goal. Like if you make a highlight real diving save, I'm like, man, that's a special endorphin hit, dude. I never wanted it. I never wanted any of that smoke, didn't want to touch it at all. You know what, D.A. I had the, I had the benefit of, I'm a lefty. So whoever's house we were at playing street hockey, the goalie stick was always for a righty. So I was always like, I can't play. I can't take a turn.

Don't know what you guys want for me. I can't do it. Yeah. But one of my good buddies was a lefty too. And he just messed everybody up. Like they come down on him as a goalie. And they're shooting high glove and he just blockers it away. Like it's nothing.

Yeah. Like man, it's still to this day I play with him and he still has the same thing. People are going to go glove on him and it's just blocker. So you're right. Like a great save as a goalie. There's nothing like it, man. like you just go out there and your game's tied or something like that, you make a sick save. And then that just, that feeling is unbelievable.

Like all the parents, and all the parents afterwards come up to you, be like, yeah, man, you were the best in the game. Like three quarters of the game, you stood there and did nothing. Yeah, yeah. And all of a sudden, you made an awesome save. You were the player of the game. God, you want to scream. I love it.

Yeah. That's amazing. Well, so many people will know about your unbelievable story and your game with the Cains, of course. It's legendary. But I don't think many people know that in 2004, you actually had a kidney transplant, which is such an unbelievable. part of your journey.

How did that materialize? When did you find out you had kidney problems? Was this something that you were aware of, or did it kind of get sprung on you a little bit? Yeah, I had no idea. Man, I was in good shape. I was going to go play or try out, at least for the Laredo Bucks in the Central League that long ago.

And so one of my buddies, his brother was the captain. They kind of got me an invite to go down there. And then all of a sudden I got sick. And I just felt like I had the flu for like two weeks, three weeks, and I just couldn't kick it. So I go to the hospital and like, I don't, something's going on here. Like, I don't know what it is. And they check my blood pressure.

And it was 240 over 120. Yeah, the doctor kind of like taps, taps the blood pressure machine. Like, is this thing all right? Like, what's going on here? And then they went out and got two more blood pressure machines to check it out. And next thing I know there's the doctors, a couple doctors come in and they said, you need to go to the emergency room, like right away. Your blood pressure is so high or afraid that, you know, going to have a stroke or a heart attack

or something like that. And me being stubborn, I'm just like, I'm, you know, 25, 26 years old. in good shape. And I thought, that's just something I'll be able to kick, right? So I go home and I eat and then just kind of a couple days go by. I finally go to the doctor. It was right during SARS at the time, which is, you know, that stuck too. Yeah.

And so I'm in the hospital. I get put in the ICU because I was just not doing well at all. I was in there for a while. And they at first thought it was my blood pressure. That was the problem that was kind of killing my kidneys. So they put me on meds from, I think it was May, the long weekend in May, until October, when I finally, I was Canadian Thanksgiving, I was at my parents' house and I'm eating and I passed out standing against the wall. And I was like, I should probably go to the hospital again.

I go to the hospital. They do blood work. They're like, yeah, your kidneys are at like 10% between both of them. You need to go on dialysis right away. Yeah. I'm like, what's dialysis? Like, what's going to happen to you, man? Like, I'm a healthy dude. Like, why am I, what's wrong with me? You know, so I go and they put me on dialysis and they give me this book. And it's all about basically what's what's going to happen in your life now kind of going forward like what's the process of dialysis what's the process of having a transplant and all that kind of stuff so i sat there and i read it and there was a nurse that sat beside me and i said you don't you don't have to stay here like i'm good like i'll just read this book and she goes no i i have to stay with you i was like why she goes because when people get this kind of news

sometimes they don't you know want to live through it basically and so she's like i'm you're kind of watching watching making sure that you're okay and i was like oh no i this is a challenge for me like i'm I'm going to read what's going on and I'm going to try and kick this. And there was a basketball player, Alonzo morning. He was having a kidney transplant at the same time I was. And so I had this little challenge in my own head of like, I want to get back in shape and go at least go down and get to my tryout in hockey and be able to play pro hockey and stuff like that. So that's kind of what motivated me to to keep going and get through the whole kidney thing. Obviously my mom was a donor.

And the first thing she said when she found out, she goes, how do I donate? and not a thought against it, nothing. I think my dad got it. He got tested, but he was diabetic, so he couldn't donate. And so my mom ended up donating. And it was exactly a year from the time I first found out I was sick to the time I had my kidney transplant. Wow. That's it remarkable.

And you know what, man, I think, you know, with stories like these, people look at you now, you're obviously a healthy guy. You stay in shape. You're active. You've done so many amazing things. It's kind of easy to sort of skirt by those times. and be like, oh, yeah, that was challenging. But, I mean, it must have been unbelievable. You were on dialysis for eight months.

What was that process like? How did you get through it? That sucks, man, to be honest with you. I would never want that. Happens in my worst enemy. It was horrible. I was average 205. Like, I wait 205 now pretty much,

and I was in really good shape more so back then than I am now. But I lost 45 pounds. By the time I had my transplant, I was 160. And you could only eat certain things. you could have maybe a cup of water every day because your body just wouldn't filter it out. So it stayed, whatever you drank stayed in your body.

And so your feet would swell up, your legs would swell up. Like I went to a like a pro-am camp. And I couldn't even play the last day because my feet were so swollen. I couldn't fit to me in my skates. So it's not just a physical aspect of everything. It's the mental aspect of it all the three.

Because you're such a, you're so used to being able to do whatever you want. You're supposed to be able to like, you're so fit. You can go to the gym. You don't feel like crap. Like, you know, when you go on dialysis, man, that, like, it's brutal. I still played hockey through it.

I had the pick lines in my neck. And I went out and played hockey with my buddy still as a goalie. And my doctor was just like, well, what are you doing? Like, you got pick lines in your neck. If those things get hit and blow up, like, you're going to start bleeding everywhere. You know that, right? I'm like, well, if I go out playing hockey, I'll be a happy guy. That's the way I looked at it, man.

I wasn't letting it hold me back. I was just like, let's go. Like, whatever happens happens. I'm, you know. Dude, I love your boys, too. I love your boys, too. I love your boys, eh, who are like, all good, dude. None of the friends were like, dude, go home.

No, they're like, this is iconic. Just keep going. That is awesome. As long as I was in that, they had a goalie. I mean, that's how it is. Nobody wants to play without a goalie. So, like, who cares? You can be on your deathbed.

If you're going to play for us, though, have that it. Yeah, as long as you're there for puck drop. Like, don't be late, dude. Yeah. That's exactly it. But they were good. I had such good support from my buddies. But they were also like, hey, if this is what you're going to do,

like, we'll support you. Let's do it. Yeah. And that's what you needed to get through something like that because mentally it kicks your ass. Like that thing was, uh, you know, you go through. And at that time, I was married at the time too. And something like that really gets you.

And it really, it's hard in your relationship, too, to try and get through a marriage. When you're that young, my worry was, hey, you're probably not going to want to be with me as I get older. Like, who wants to deal with a guy who's taking medication every day just to live. Yeah. Potentially can't have kids, which it turns out I didn't have any kids. So, like, those things were mental issues that you had to get over and I had some really, really dark days because of it. But, like, having a good, you know, support team around you is pretty helpful.

Oh, dude, it makes all the difference in the world. What was the process like for Mary to, because you have to be a match, right? Or is it, or is it, or is it, are you automatically a match if it's, if it's. No, you have to go through all that. Yes. Dude, was it cool when you've, I mean, obviously you're going through an incredibly difficult time and a transplant is no easy thing. there's so much stress that goes into that. There's so much physical and emotional gymnastics that you have to go through.

But your mom, who immediately stepped up to the task instantly, then you find out as a match, was there kind of an awesome moment when that happened? Yeah. I mean, my mom was super pumped about it. Obviously, it was like. What a weapon. She's like, let's fucking go. Get this thing out of me.

He was. That's exactly what she was like. And my mom was like five feet tall and just like a farm girl. She grew up on a farm. Like she's just like, let's do this. And she's like, I don't care what it is. I'm going to give my kidney to my son and he's going to stay alive. And my mom and I have always been close.

But obviously, you know, that brings you even closer. But she was just out of the hospital, I think four or five days after giving a no way. And back then, back then they went through your ribs. Now they go through like your belly button and just suck it up and take it right out. But now, well, she went through a pretty good operation. And I think she was home day five and she was outside gardening. I'm like, Mom, you just had mase her shirt.

He'll out a little bit. But she, that's her, man. She just goes and goes. And so for her and I, that's a huge connection. Also a big part of the whole story that kind of people are interested in because a lot of people are worried about donating, you know, kidneys or organs. And kidneys nowadays are fairly easy to donate. And, I mean, you can save someone's life.

But like, it just goes to show that you can get out of the hospital in four or five days and you're completely fine. My mom has been fine ever since. That's unreal. And how long was your recovery? Like, you know, when were you, you know, up and running again? That was a tough one. I mean, I was, I'm just, I tried to go all the time and I wanted to work out.

So, you know, I'm trying to lift things. You're playing gold, dude. It's my thing, yeah. My scar keeps ripping open on me and they're just like, you just like, you just settle down. Yeah. You guys are fucking nuts. So many, I mean, like, good. The fact that you just still had zips in and you're doing it is mental.

I had, yeah, I had, I think had 28 or 30 staples. And I was still out there trying to do some stuff and, you know, trying to get back in shape. Because I thought, you know, in September was coming around. I thought I was going to go down and have a tryout. So this was May. And I'm like, oh, man, I could probably get myself in shape by September. It was not a good idea to do that. But, I mean, it was just, you know, you ripped to pieces, but you're still going at it.

And so, like, I think full recovery, maybe a year until I felt like myself again. But, like, they cut you so big. like the scar was, I don't know, probably 10 inches long, if not more. Yeah, man. So, uh, it's a big one. Actually, when I got out of the hospital, I remember not being able to really move my leg properly. And I was to go back a little bit, I had rejection right away.

So I ended up being in the hospital for 21 days until they figured it all out. Yeah. And so when I did get out, um, I'm trying to cross the road, downtown Toronto, trying to cross the road out of the St. Mike's Hospital to get to the car. And I'm limping. Like, I could, couldn't, I think the, the, I think the, The stoplight went like once or twice. People are honking at me to get across the road.

I could barely move my leg, man. Give me a break here. So it took me a lot to recover and it was a pain in the ass. But yeah, probably a year until I was fully recovered back to where I wanted to be anyways. Yeah, my God, dude. Okay. So that is a massive moment in anyone's life. And I'm sure there was a lot of mental toll on the hockey of it all.

right? Like obviously you're, this comes first, second, third, fourth, fifth before any hockey career. But I'm sure there was a little bit of a period where you're like, fuck hockey is kind of, my hockey career is over in a way. Is that right? Done. I thought it was done. I thought I was never going to play hockey. Actually, one of those one of my first questions to the doctor after I transplant. Like, can I play hockey again? He's like, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Let's, you know, try to make sure you're healthy first. Don't worry about hockey right now. Yeah, right. So, you know, you could never imagine where this takes you. But, you know, life goes up. and you're picking up jobs here and there, staying around the game of hockey, certainly. And then, you know, we find out, you become the, our boy,

I think I told you this in Raleigh, our boy was the e-bug for the Kings this year, our beer. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So we kind of have the lay of the land and know how it works. But you are the third string practice goalie for the Leafs and the Marleys.

And I want you to tell people that are listening what a normal day as an e-bug is, days you don't get into the fucking game. Like what like because DA like I don't think people know. I mean, we talk to Parrish all the time. And it's like when you hear eBug and then you learn what it is, people are kind of just like, oh, that's cool. But it's like it's kind of a wild journey for you every single game day. Yeah, game days are wild for sure.

I mean, a lot of the times because I was a lot of practicing with the Marley's and Leaves, especially during the last year of it. So I would practice sometimes with the teams in the morning, sometimes both teams in the morning. Yep. And then I would go to work. And I worked down the road at Maple Leaf Gardens, like where you see. to be, I guess it's Toronto Metro University now. But so then I would get out of work at like 5.30, I guess. And so, I mean, it's not a far drive to get from one old rank to the new drink,

but like out of the rank, but the traffic is nuts, man. Like, there's times where I could have walked with my equipment on my back down there faster. You know, you just get, for me, I got there. You know, I parked underneath where all the players parked. They were really good to me. And so you just kind of leave your car or the truck and you go up there. And I stood in the same spot, Section 317. every single game I was the emergency goalie.

And I mean, buddies are like, yeah, you got, you know, season's tickets to the least. You get to watch every single game. Like, it's good when the team's playing well. But if it's a bad game, man, the crowd gets on them. Yeah. Half the teams, half the players are, I mean, half the fans were gone, three quarters of the way through the game. So, but I loved it. Like, I loved every second of it, obviously.

But when you do get the call and you got to go down there, your heart's racing, man. Like, you're standing in the stands. All of a sudden you see a goalie go down and you got to text being like, hey, don't put your gear on. Yeah, get ready. And it's such a mix of I'm excited because this is awesome. Like, you know, I have a potential to play in the NHL to, oh shit. Like, what if I actually do have to play?

I'm like, am I going to get lit up? Like, this is going to be bad. Yeah, it's insane. Okay, so how many, and I know you won't know exact numbers, but how many games had you ebugged, like, just been in the crowd in 317 before that February day? And how many games had you gotten that text to like get dressed somewhat with the first guy Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know I did, I think I did all, I was there for three years. I think I did close to half, ish on the first season. I did all the whole second season. Damn, okay. And the third season, I did, a lot of them. I think the second season, I only missed a couple for like events and stuff at work. Yeah. But I don't know, man. There was a lot of games. Yeah, you're 80 games, dude. You're 80 games in the building. Yeah. Yeah, there was a lot of games I did. So, uh, I did Chicago, I think maybe my first or second year. Detroit,

Detroit, Toronto and Carolina are actually all in the third year kind of in a row and the Toronto game was like three weeks before the Carolina game that just kind of got in the dressing room and sat by the funny part was

I also did some eBug stuff for the Marley so I backed up for Charlotte yeah Charlotte was February 1st and so I'm on the ice with those guys and it's like almost exactly three weeks later

yeah it's crazy I'm on the ice for Carolina so they were joking around like man you're the fastest guy to get through our system. Oh, my God, you're chirping all the prospects. Like, you guys are pussy. Dude, that is insane. This is maybe kind of speaking to your mentality, but when you're doing all this and when you're there every day, are you, like, locked in?

Are you trying to keep that, you know, athlete mindset that you always grew up with? Or were there times where you're sucking down dogs because you're like, I'm not fucking getting in? I crush Ruben sandwiches every single time I went there. It was so good. first thing is like let's go to the concession stand because I'm hungry right now. You get a thing, right? So I get somebody and then go. Like they cover one meal or no? Yeah, yeah. They covered, they basically covered a meal for for me too. They gave me the money

towards the meal. But it's treating me great. And so, you know, I go up there and I had my routine, man. I just would go to the concession stand. I would get somebody, I would walk around the rink one time up top and then I would go up and stand at 317 and just kind of hover there for the rest of the game. So yeah, it was just, it was a cool thing. I mean, you're going in there you're part of, you feel like part of the guys. You know what I mean? For sure. You're just to basically,

you feel like you're like a healthy scratch who's never going to touch the ice, but like you're still part of the team at the same time. Oh, dude, absolutely. I think it's bullshit that there's no emergency backup defense. I need an eBud. I need an emergency backup defenseman. I hang around the Kings a lot enough that maybe I could get in there, dude.

But it could be just part of the boy. They'd have to lose two. They'd have to go down to 4D. Correct. And then you get to come in. Yeah. I don't even need to come in. Just let me be like,

yeah, Yeah, just the end of bench. I want to be an eBud that's a healthy scratch. Like if two defensemen get hurt, I go in the press box. Yeah. That's fine with me. I don't even need to get on the ice. Move from 317 up top.

That's incredible. Okay, dude, so the day in question, February 22nd, 2020, Heimann shoves Slavin into River. And he plays, he plays like three more minutes. Yeah. You know, he's like, I'm good. And then that, and one was a power player, whatever. First stoppage, he goes, I'm out.

and you get the text. Yeah. Right. So, yeah, what is it just, you've done that before so you're not tweaking yet? Or are you a little like, what's going on? Do you, even when you get to that point, is the excitement crazy at that point no matter what? Or are you kind of like, this has happened before, it's not going to happen? That's exactly.

And I was actually, so Reed Mitchell was my point in contact with the Leafs for the whole time. And he's an awesome dude. And so I text him first. I'm like, hey, it looks like, Rimer's down. He goes, yeah, hold on one second. You know, two minutes later, he texts me, he's like, yeah, come. on down, get your stuff going. And Reed and I were awesome dude.

And every single time he's like, hey, you know, make sure you give him a couple. He's just like a good dude. And I obviously didn't mean to give them a couple goals because, you know, when I went in, they scored two right off the hall. It wasn't my intention, obviously. But I was fine. Like, I was fine.

And I text him. I was just like, all right, come on down. And, you know, same thing. Get down. Your heart does race a little bit. But because it's the third time that year. Sure. And, you know, you're just kind of like,

you know, I'm just going to go get dressed, watch the game on my phone on my lap. And are you in the locker room? Like when you get dressed, do they say stay in the locker room or do you go sit on the bench? Uh, you can't go on the bench, but I, in like a little room behind the visitors room. There's an extra little locker room back there. So I got changed back there and just watched, I had my phone out and I was watching it on my phone on my lap. Yeah. And all of a sudden, my buddies are texting me? You know, you're getting dressed. You get dressed. And those texts change from are you getting dressed to, holy shit, dude, you're going in. And I had no idea. I didn't even know. Oh, whoa. What are you talking about?

Okay. So, because, yeah, then. Then. Then. Then. Then. Then. When Marazic gets run over. And so like you didn't, you're not even aware of what's going on on the ice when, like, so how do they, how do they come break the news to you? What happens in that moment? Yeah. Well, I talked to George and he's the real equipment guy now. And he was the guy who went in for seven seconds for Carolina before they put him in. Yeah.

So he was basically one of the Carolina's first emergency goalies. Again, he practices those guys all the time. He's their equipment guy. So him and I were kind of just talking about it. And then he obviously left to go back out. and one of their PR guys Pace who was sitting with me, he just said, they went in,

sorry, I should put a good part in here because they gave me a jersey, it had 90, had nothing on the back of it. Okay. So I'm like, can someone take a picture of me with this jersey? This is cool.

You know, obviously I wanted the picture. And then they come in and then like, hey, give us your jersey. We're going to put your name on the back. And I was just like, all right.

This, they didn't know anything that, you know, Marzick was hurt yet or not. They just took it. And they were the first team to put my name on the back of the jersey. So it on and everything.

That's awesome. And so I get the jersey back and I'm taking a picture of it and talking to one of their guys and he leaves, comes back, coming to Slater, he goes, hey, put that jersey on. You're going in. I was like, are you shitting me right now? And he goes, no, no, for real. Like, take your time. But you're going in.

Like, Marazic just got run over. And I wasn't watching it. So I didn't know. Yeah. And so he's like, I'm like, okay, let's go. And I get the excitement just builds. Like, you get so pumped about going in. Not nervous.

I wasn't nervous. The funny thing is, I was never nervous the whole time. actually the only time I really got nervous is after I let two goals in. Yeah. And I was like, dude, do you fucking suck right now? Like, pull it together. So that's when I started getting nervous. I'm like, please don't score another goal on me.

This is going to be terrible. But going out to the ice, I wasn't nervous at all. I was excited. And then all of a sudden you see all the fans out there. And you're like, wow, like, you're kind of starstruck. Yeah. You know what I mean? You're not, you're just all of a sudden figured you stepped on the ice and all the

the Keynes guys were at the door waiting for me. Yeah. And you're just kind of like, wow, these guys are, I'm on the ice with a little legit NHL guys in a game. Like, how's this going to go, you know? And so you try and lock in,

but you can't. You can't, there's no way you're going to lock in, not ready to play an NHL game, get thrown in there. When you literally never have. Yeah. Like,

that's crazy. Yeah. So it's so hard to lock in for sure, but you just try and take it all in. And I remember the guy, their goalie coach followed me all the way to the ice, basically tell me, you know,

stay square, you know, don't go down too early. Like, he was just giving me all these tips on the way to the ice. I'm just thinking to myself, like, I mean, I can remember how to play a goal,

but I was more worried about, you know, the people behind are out there are going to shoot on me. I was worried about them. More so than I was worried about the guy giving me goalie tips behind me. So it was, it was awesome. I mean, like I said, they're all great. They were all pumped to see me go in.

And so I go in there and shit to bed, two shots on two goals and two shots. I mean, it's not really fair that John Tavares is the first shot that you get. I mean, like, Jesus, could have at least been a grinder? And he goes five or dude. Like I saw you say, he thought he was going high blocker. I'm like, I can't believe he goes five holes. Yeah, it's

fucked up. That's fucked up of towags, if we're being honest. Yeah. And you know the hard part about that is that you practice them every day. So you kind of get used to where they score on you. Yeah. It's not like I made many saves in practice, but like, you get used to like, ah, another blocker's side shot for Tavares. So in the game, you see him with the puck and you're like, oh man, it just flashed back to practice when he lights you up. Yeah. Blocker's side all the time. I mean, he could shoot anywhere. But I was just remembered him as a guy who beat me blocked her side quite often. And so sure enough, he scores on me. But then Pierre Engval scores a rebound goal, which I almost had. And I was pissed at myself for not getting that one. But then you saw his

celebration. He's like got the hand up and the leg up. And so I remember the guy is talking, I think it was another practice later on. They chirped him about how he had such a big celebration on one of his own goalies. That is awesome. Such a good turn. Dude, okay, well, you said after two goals you were worried, but I'm kind of surprised you, I know you weren't watching intently, but you obviously had a sense of where you were in the game. So coming in, like

is an emergency goal with a minute left, is a big difference between coming in with 30 minutes left in the game. Were you at all like, Jesus Christ, dude? Like, I'm playing so much of this game. Especially in the second period. I'm like, when is this I just want to get to the intermission. I mean, you know, when they stopped,

they stopped, they went to TV time out and I go to the side. I think I was after or maybe even two goals went in. And I said to them, just get me to the intermission, man. I just need to breathe for a second and reset myself here. And so they played so well in front of me. I mean, if it wasn't for them,

they probably would have led in eight goals. But Carolina played so well in front of me, and they got me there. So that second intermission, I get off the ice, and Rimer's still half dressed. Oh, because they don't know what's having with me.

Yeah. So if I shit to bed, they were going to, he was ready to go back in. And so he, I mean, he obviously didn't want to because he had his knee was all messed up. But like, he said, well, if I have to go back in, you know, I'll go back in.

But he sat beside me. And he was one of the main reasons why I kind of was able to settle down throughout that game. He just said to me, he's like, Dave, you're a goalie. Like, you know what you're doing. You know how to stop the puck. Try to, you know, get rid of all the distractions, all the people and just zone in and, you know, just lock in play your game. And so that was huge for me to have a guy, you know, his caliber, a veteran goalie. I knew, I mean, I kind of, you know, when he was in Toronto, I was watched a lot of him play and stuff like that. So to me, he was, it was kind of a role model right then and there. He's like, this is my guy.

He's got my back. And then the rest of the team said the same thing. Like, hey, we don't care how many goals you let in. You know, have fun with it, man. This is your NHL game. Yeah. Go out there, enjoy it. Right?

So, and just to have them have my back on send to them, I think I said, you guys score one more goal. You know, I'll shut the door and win. And they just looked at me like, who fucks this guy? So, and so, but we did. Like, they played so well. in front of me and I just kind of shut the door and I mean, that's how it went.

Dude, you got the win. Like it is like the first time ever in the history of decades of ebugs, you got the win. How? Obviously, you got a million texts and calls from so many people, but we always like to joke when teams win the Stanley Cup, when you win

something big, there is that moment of just chilling in the locker room that is so special. How much did you try to stay in that moment getting back in the locker room after winning that game like gas and beers in the shower chilling like was that truly all time yeah you know I did all the interviews afterwards and the guys were kind of rushing me like you get back into the room and so I was like why why are they rushing me for it I mean I honestly didn't think anything of the first star yeah yeah you know when I got off the ice they had a big celebration on

the ice with the guys and I thought all right we're going to go to the dress room I'm going to get undressed talk to the guys a bit and then they're going to they're going to get out of here and I'm going to go home and so you know obviously you get off the ice and you're first star and then I'm expecting the crowd to be empty, but most of them stayed there and they kind of gave me a standing elevation, which was so cool. Toronto crowd is really hard on a lot of their players and their team, but it was cool to see them stick around. And, you know, they were cheering for me towards the end of the game, which was, which was awesome.

But then to go and do that interview on hockey and Canada, get the towel, also huge for me, you know, being a kid growing up and seeing everyone get that. And then going into the room and those guys were all, you know, ready with water bottles in spring. It was so unreal. I had no idea that was ever going to be a thing or that. I didn't think it was going to happen. And so just to have that and those guys kind of just have such a,

I think it was a huge memory for them, just as much as there was a memory for me. Like that's not a kind of a game that you really get a chance to play. Maybe, you know, never in your career. And now I don't think, you know, obviously there's no ebugs anymore. So, you know, some of those guys will never get a chance to do something like that. Obviously, I'll never get a chance to do something like that. But it was really cool to see them kind of come together as a team.

and celebrate with me. Yeah. Dude, I can't even imagine it is, we're going to get into this in a second, but it is truly like storybook, fairy tale stuff. We had Kujo on, because he was one of the guys, there was a few goalies who never got scored on by Ovi. So there was like, you know,

there was a whole thing, and it was like 10 guys, we had Kujo on talking about that. And I was thinking about you, and I was like, man, you have an Austin Matthews safe. Like that is actually so sick, dude. It's pretty special, dude. Couldn't crack him. Yeah, couldn't crack him.

God damn, dude. But it is like... I think he shot it at the same way. He kind of does that in practice where they kind of go low and then bump it and he just go short side on. He always got me the first time. And the second time I was kind of waiting for it.

But if he had a chance to rip one on me, I can guarantee you that was in. That guy is such an elite shooter and it's unbelievable. You give him this much in practice and it's in the net. Like he's disgusting the way he shoots this puck. Dude, you are one of the only guys

who can get to dance on this grave. Like you have to stick to your guy. He couldn't do it. He couldn't do it. But like Chris just said, I mean, anytime someone hears the story, whenever you come up or a photo of you pops up and our friends who aren't as dialed into hockey ask about it, we tell the story and they're like, this is a movie.

Of course, Hollywood execs felt the same way. It wasn't many days after this unbelievable moment that you start getting phone calls, you get brought into places, and all of a sudden you're telling this story to all of these execs and things like that, what was going through your head when this process was going on.

All of a sudden, you're still trying to come down from the high of winning your first NHL game and now all of a sudden people are telling you they want to make this into a Hollywood production. Yeah, that part was wild. I mean, that was crazier than that.

The actual game, to be honest with you, because I mean, at least when it's hockey, I know, I know hockey, I grew up playing it. But when it comes to someone say, hey, we want to make a movie about you in your life. I'm like, oh, why? You know, I just, that was my first instinct.

It was like, why? What does it, you know, I get the fact that I just played in a hockey, game. But it was more to it, obviously, with my kidney transplant and my dad passed away of cancer before I could, you know, he could see me play. And, you know, he was my coach and, you know, my best friend and my goalie coach and all that kind of stuff. So it would have been awesome for him to be there. But when you get thrown into the fire, I mean, I went with CAA and they said to us,

hey, we've got like 27 different production companies I want to talk to you about doing a movie. I said, okay, well, how does that work? You know, and they're like, well, we just kind of listen to their pitches. And there was some pitches that lasted like three hours long. Wow. I knew, you know, 10 minutes into it. That's not the direction I wanted to go. Yeah. But, you know, you just kind of let them, you know, give your pitch.

And it was really cool to have that interest in the movie. Back then, we settled with James Corden and Disney. We had a script and everything. And a lot of things changed. They changed within their company. And, you know, so the movie kind of didn't go that the way that I intended it to go. So we switched up a little bit. And me and a buddy of mine, Jim Tamburino from Long Island.

He, we sat down and we wrote the script and we wrote it in a gritty way. Like it wasn't just, you know, a Disney kind of Hollywood way. This was like an inspirational movie. It's going to hit home. There's a lot of stuff about physical and mental issues for people. Me as well, obviously, it's about my life. But, I mean, the roller coaster that life can be and how tough it can be at times and how great it can be at times. You know, so that's where we really zoned in on our script.

Our script is awesome right now. We've got a director right now on it. So this is, it's going to be a go. It's one of those things. I mean, you guys know how it is. It's a slow process until it's not. And then all of a sudden it just goes hard. Yeah.

So that, I mean, dude, it's, it's amazing that, you know, like when something like this happens and all of a sudden people are telling you that they want to make it into a movie and you're working with people like James Corden and Disney and CAA, it's all larger than life so often. was it hard for you to see these iterations and hear these ideas and stick to your guns that, no, that's not the tone that I want this story to me because that's not really how it was because you can so easily get lost in the glitz and glamour of just wanting something to be made and seeing your name up on the big screen. What was that sort of emotional journey like to really kind of stick to your guns and say, no, I think this needs to be this way rather than another way that's not as genuine and authentic? And that's the biggest thing for me. I think since day one, I said, you know, to all the people that I listened to about their pitches, I said, I want it to be inspirational. This isn't just about hockey for me.

I mean, lots of people get a chance to play hockey and different sports. But, you know, my mom gave me a kidney to keep me alive. Like, that's, for me, that's one of the biggest things I want to get across and, you know, how hard it is and how much you got to work to get to your goals. Like, this didn't just come easy for me. And it's a roller coaster. And you got to work hard. And if you keep working hard and you keep at it, I mean, you can achieve. things more than you ever thought you're ever going to do.

I never thought I was going to make it to NHL. I just wanted to get back and play hockey. So for me, you know, when they wanted to say, hey, you know, there was a couple scenes they wanted to make,

especially in the Disney one when they were doing it that just weren't the way I wanted to do it. Obviously, I was grateful that Disney jumped on board. That's a huge honor, obviously. But in the end of the day, you know, the script kind of,

it was a good script, I thought. And it just didn't work out the way it was. But the script that we have now, I think is, like I said, I was the one who helped write it quite a bit. Like we, Jim and I went back and forth with a script for, for months before we even got it out there to the point we were going to shop it to anybody.

And so now we've probably done eight or ten different variations of it. We've got it to a pretty good spot. And so we love the, you know, how real it is now and how nothing in there is kind of fake. I mean, this is just how it went, you know, and we kind of worked with how it went. And so I'm excited to see where we can go with this. As right now, David Boreannis is going to be our director, and he loves it. He's awesome. He's so passionate about sports and hockey.

Hell yeah. Such an awesome, awesome creative guy. So hopefully he sticks with it and we get it done. And so it'll be really cool. Once it's all done, it'll be a lot of hard work, but hopefully it inspires people when it comes out. Absolutely. Dude, well, that great word, because I give you so much credit. And I've obviously never read the either script or anything, but I saw it.

you had said that the Disney one was almost more like a comedy, like more comedic. And you were like, dude, this is not, this wasn't funny to me, really, you know, when you look at the whole journey. And when I think about movies like miracles, sports movies that we love, right, I laugh. Miracles has come really fun moments. But also it hits you emotionally more. That's the point. Yeah, I also cry every time. Yeah, exactly. And I give you a ton of credit because I can see, we've been in a million meetings with these movie execs where I can see the room turning it on you and kind of being like well this is a really light funny thing that happened like what a cool I mean the ebug itself is a light funny thing like the premise of that and the pro so I can see the room going oh this is what I want you to do and like Dan said you having the courage to stick up for yourself against Disney you know or anybody that that big and going this is I want this to be inspiration if the way to get there is authenticity and real, then so be it. But that is what I would want to get out of this movie is inspiration. So I'm pumped. I'm pumped that you guys dug in and made that happen.

I agree, man. It's very exciting. That's the huge part for me. It's like I wanted it to be real. I mean, that's like you said, you know, it's hard when you have huge companies that have big names and stuff. It's not that I really had to fight back against them. I just said to the guy writing who is an awesome guy. He's really smart and really good at his job. And they were just asking him to change a few things. And he came up and stayed with me for a while. And he really wrote a good thing. And they just were, hey, can we maybe tweak this a little bit and maybe tweak this a little bit.

And at the end of the day, you know, I just wasn't, I didn't really agree with some of stuff. And they didn't, they wanted certain things. And I wanted certain things. And it just didn't work out the way that it did. And like I said, I'm grateful for, for Disney jumping on board. And James Corwin and his crew all jumped on board. And they were so good.

but like now it's just this is different man like you'll see you when it comes out you'll just like you said you it's going to be real and it's going to be authentic and that's the way I want to be it doesn't I don't need it to be some superstar film but if someone turns on

Netflix and says hey you know what I've always wanted to do this with my life and I had a medical issue and now I don't feel like I could do that and they turn around and watch my movie and say hey this guy did this I don't know anything about hockey but this guy played you know in the NHL after having kidney transplant, then I'm just like, that's it. That's why I wanted to make this movie.

It's for people like that. So someone turns something around in their life and says, hey, I'm going to do this. I watched the movie, this guy did it, and that's real. I'm going to go do that now and who knows what they can do with their life. That's so sick, dude. Yeah, I love it. What is, can you tell us? Are you allowed to say what the status is?

Like, are you guys script done shopping right now or where are we at? We just finished a trail, like a little sizzle reel. Sweet. And so they're going to start putting that out, I think, pretty soon. I believe CAA Finance has a hold of it. They've got the script and they're really looking to get it done. But yeah, script's done. And now we just got to obviously shop it out and find, attach some actors to it and hopefully get at it.

I love it, dude. There you go. That is so awesome. There you go. So that's the update on the Hollywood stuff. But tell us a little bit about what else you get going on. You know, I wanted to hear about the NPHL stuff. that looked so awesome.

And obviously, I know you got, you do a ton of a, public speaking engagements, like inspirational speaking and stuff like that. So I want to hear, I want to hear all the other things you got cooking. Yeah. So we're actually,

they're actually doing a documentary about emergency goalies too. Oh, no shit. Kevin Foley is the director. He's another awesome guy. We filmed, like, a trailer for that. And then they sold that off. And I'm not 100% sure where it is.

the last I talked to him, he said he thinks HBO is picking it up. That's amazing, dude. And that's strictly about emergency goalies. So all the guys that actually got a chance to get in as emergency goalies, they're all going to be part of that too. So that's really cool. That's probably going to come up before the movie comes up. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That one's awesome. And the senior hockey league around here, man, like that thing's growing. Like those guys, there's some good hockey players. Like Rob Shrempe played there. Brandon Pruss played in the league that I was in, you know. So those guys are, you know, good hockey players. And they're bringing good talent to work. towards to that game.

It's just Canada has so many good hockey players. And, you know, some guys that just finished playing overseas or in the HL, like, they're just jumping on board into this league. And it's competitive. It's good. Some guys get paid. Like, you know, it's, and they're really trying to grow it here. I think they're expanded now this year.

I don't even know how many teams are in the league, maybe 30 across Ontario. So there's a lot of teams in this and it's fun to play. I'm old. I don't know if I could do one more year, but I've had a few teams ask you if I want to one more year. I try to stay in shape. At some point as a goal, your body just says, no thanks. Especially for you goalies, man. I can't.

I can't believe. Sometimes it's like, God, you guys are all over the place. Yeah. Your knees and your hips are just like having no part of it. But my competitive spirit inside of me is just like keep going, man. Like go until you can't. Yes. And so when I coach goalies and stuff

like that, I tell them the same thing. Even when I was working at the university, there was a couple guys at the university. It was like, I don't I guess my hockey career is over. I'm not making it to the HL or the coast. I'm like, go play in Europe. Like, go have fun, man.

Like, you know, go experience what it's like to play in Europe. I mean, there's some really cool leagues over there. And so those guys go and do that. But I'm going to do the same thing. I'm going to play it until basically I can't. Dude,

you are preaching to the choir, buddy. I'm in, I'm in 1,000 beer leagues. And every night, it's like, my fiance is like, dude,

do you want to have dinner together once or another, another 1030 puck drop? And I'm like, another 1030 puck drop. actually. So yeah, dude, till the wheels come off. Those are hard. Well, yeah, for sure. And I mean, the speaking engagement stuff, I love to do that. You know, I've done a lot of things at different charity events. I did a really cool one in Vegas for a company that actually makes the medication that I take. Oh, no way, way.

Yeah, which is awesome. They, they're from North Carolina. They called me and said they were trying to do it for years. Obviously, COVID shut everything down. And so I ended up going down there for for the year-end convention and I kind of spoke there. And it was kind of cool for me. Obviously, they're making stuff that keeps me alive. And to hear somebody like me who's like, you know, kind of help them. Sometimes at work, you kind of feel stale. And you're just like, yeah, dude, should I be here?

And I think for them, a lot of them came up to me afterwards and I said, hey, I'm like, now I can see where the hard work I'm doing at work goes to, someone like you to keep you alive, to allow you to do things that you never thought you were going to be able to do. So for me, the speaking engagement stuff is really cool. I've had people come up to me, not even just during speaking engagement. There's people that have come up to me during like autograph signings and stuff and say, hey, like, you know, your story is so cool. I drove four hours just to come and see you.

I had a, I had a girl in Saskatchewan. I did a signing after a Saskatchewan rush lacrosse team. And she came up to the line and the security cut her short of the half an hour lineup. Oh, yeah. And I saw her back there kind of crying. And I said, one second. to walk over to this girl and she was talking to security. I'm like, are you okay? She's like, I just had a kidney transplant. I don't know, it was a couple of months ago. And she goes,

your only reason why I came to this game was so I could meet you. And so for me, that was massive. Like I just, you know, I just, you know, I was like, that's so awesome that you came here. And she goes, you know what? To be honest, I didn't think a couple months ago that I was even going to live and I didn't really have the will to live. And then she said, I saw your story. And then, you know, I had to come here and meet you. So for me, those are the things that are huge. You know, that's, that's what it's all about for me. Dude, 1,000% special. I was going to ask you how long it took for the game itself to soak in when you finish

and you get to be with the boys, but then you're like, holy shit, that really happened. But honestly, it's the whole journey. The game is a part of that, but it's the whole journey, dude. Like it must be so cool to think, I don't know if you're a nervous public speaker or not, but I was going to say, like, the nerves you have at the rink, it's like you're actually impacting even more people now with those stories and the public speaking and stuff you do because so many people look at you like a role model and inspiration and that must hit even harder. Yeah, I'm an excited public speaking.

Yeah, me too. Real it back a little bit because I want to like tell my story. I want to get it out there. I want like people to hear it and stuff like that and I want somebody to be inspired by it. So I just kind of like thinking in my head, okay, reel it back a second here, Dave. But I, but the thing is, it's just one of those things that you want to get the story across. You want to get the point across. It's like, hey, you know, you can do whatever you need to do in lifetime as long as you put your

heart to it and put your mind to it. Like, you can get past a lot of the obstacles that you, that you get past, right? So for me, it's a huge journey. The day that I saw you guys actually, I had a guy messaged to me on Instagram, funny enough. And he goes, hey, you know, my mom gave me a kidney transplant. Just curious if there's anywhere that I could send like a car or, you know, one of your cars to get signed or so I text them back. I'm funny enough, I'm like an hour away from Rale. I'm born of the game tonight. So if you want to meet me outside, I'll come meet you. Sure enough, I go and meet the guy. Dude.

And I spent the game with him outside. Oh, shit. No way. Yeah. So I hung out with them outside that game that night. And it was just super cool for me because, I mean, that guy got a kidney transplant from his mom. And so did I.

Yeah. We're both kind of, we're still living when we're here and enjoying each other. So for me, it's like, that was awesome to hang out with him. He goes, you don't have to hang out with us. I'm like, man, why wouldn't I? Yeah. Like, you just had a kidney transplant from your mom. Like, this is cool.

To me, that's cool. Yes. You know, so, you know, I love that. That's an all time. story. That's so awesome. It's so awesome. The whole story is so incredible. And there's just there's so many cool things that come from it and so many cool things that you're doing. So it's just so exciting to hear how you're kind of, you know, keeping the spirit of what you went through alive, helping other people and then telling these great stories. It's so, so awesome.

And I mean, like you're the best for giving us all the time that you have. Dude, we love having you on. We definitely got to get you on more often and chop up a bunch of stuff about this. But before we cut you loose and let you go, is there, is there anything that you want to let the people know about, anything you've got going on or any charities, stuff like that that you want to spread the word about? Yeah, I mean, I do a lot of stuff for the kidney foundation. The one thing that I'm really proud of, obviously going through a lot throughout my life. I just started kind of an apparel line, which is this one, fragile strength, which to me means, I mean, you know, you got to have the strength in all the fragile times in your life, which, you know, was basically

how I went about things. So I'm just firing up my website and got all the apparel ready to go for that. So that's going to be a fun thing for me, obviously, you know, just to kind of, like I say, when I'm going out and speaking and going places, you know, people have that fragile strength in their life to move on and do great things. So that's why I kind of started my apparel line just for just for that, for people that are going through a tough time that, you know, know that they can get through. What's the, what's the website? It's just, it's on Instagram right now. My website's not fully up. It's called fragile strength apparel. Okay. And that's, uh, it's on Instagram. I just, I just open that up.

My website should be ready to go. I'm going to guess this week with all the apparel. Okay. Set up and ready to go. I got some demo stuff, which is really cool. So it'll be ready to go in a week or two. Should have it up and running.

But hopefully, you know, it inspires people. Dude, text us. Text us when that gets up because we'll post that up there. And yeah, get the message out with you.

That'd be awesome. I'm definitely getting some. Yeah. Right on. Yeah, it's cool. So I got a bunch of hats and hoodies and t-shirts and all that cool stuff. So I did it all,

basically kind of on my own, you know, just I don't really have, I'm not a huge techie guy. You know, it has some help from some friends of getting stuff going and some, and the design and everything. But at the end of the day, like, you know, it just, I'm just trying to kind of help people, you know, get inspired and move on with their lives and do awesome things. I love that. I love it. Well, dude, DA, you're the best. Thanks for popping on with us.

Like we said, when that gets going, let us know. And also, we'll get you back on the show here soon. Right on. Appreciate it, guys. This is awesome. Of course, bro. Thank you. Massive thank you to David Ayers, awesome chat with that homie.

What a great story. Dude, he is the man. And I can't wait to have him back on. I love how he's an Ontario boy and, you know, has love for the Leafs and all that. But he's embraced the canes because they've been great to him and he's got the Charlotte Place and all that stuff. But he is a beauty. And that was, I feel so lucky we got to meet him. That was great.

Yeah. Unbelievable. All right. All right. All right. All right. And then we'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by Better Help.

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so many therapists who are great with handling various things. You can do the therapist match to find who is right for you. It's fantastic. So you should check that out right now. Do not let the stigma stand in the way of support. Start therapy with BetterHelp. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com slash netters. That's betterh-E-L-P-com slash N-E-T-T-E-R-S. All right, we are back, and now we're going to jump into a quick powers rankings. We're talking about this with someone the other day. We're going to do powers rankings of our favorite chips. The G-coat.

Favorite chip? Greatest chip of all time. And in honor of Grant being here, we're going to let him start. How many should we do? Three. Three? Powers ranking. Snake draft.

Yeah. Snake draft three your favorite chip flavors. Yep. Let it rip. Okay. Got to go Doritos, cool ranch. Number one. Just bang in chip.

So I have a question, Dan. Is it, do I have to, like, obviously with the Doritos one, yes, you're going to do that. But do I, do you give the brand to, like, do you say specifically this chip? You can. Okay. Like, I think I'm going to. Okay. I think it's bullshit if you take one specifically.

Yeah. Actually, no. It's not bullshit. That's the way this works. If something gets removed and it's just a general flavor, but I think you should be specific out of honor. Okay. Okay. So incredible hammer to start. You knew Doritos Cool Ranch was coming in this list. I did not think it was going to be one. So that's your G-code, dude. That's your greatest chip of all time. That is my greatest chip of all time. I think it never fails. I will give you that. I was going to, I was ready. I have that one in the holster at some point and would have been proud and honored to say it because it does never fail. You like that more than any other Dorito. I like that more than any other Dorita. Yep. Any other chip. Okay. Dan. to murder you here. Yeah, that's okay. I'm going to do it. I'm taking salt and vinegar,

which is, which is in fact the G-coat. I think salt and you made a great, you made a great choice, but unfortunately the G-coat is salt. I think salt and vin is the best, and I'm going to take Cape Codd salt and vinegar. That is my go-to-go-to-goated. Okay. Cape Codd salt and vinegar is goaded. Uh, that is an incredible answer. All right, I have two back-to-back here, which is interesting. For my first one, I am going to go ruffles, sour cream, and cheddar. And ched. Wow. Okay. Okay. I think that chip really had a coming out party in the last few years. Everybody loves that chip now. You're saying they're changing the new chip technology. Yes. Dude, chip technology is improving every year.

Sprinters are getting faster every year. We're running. We're stronger. We're faster. We jump higher. And we make better chips. Okay. A ruffle sour cream and cheddar. Now, this is going to be, this is where the boat gets rocked, as they say, because you two are going to be appalled by this. But I love, oh, man, I actually just don't know which one to say, because there are two of these that I love so much. Okay. And I'm now going to sound like a freak, considering I just said sour cream and cheddar as three, but my four is sour cream and onion. I love that chip so much. It's a very good one. I'm between the lays and the Pringles.

Yeah. Both tremendous sour cream and onion and trees into the contest. Give me the lace. Give me the lace. Lays, sour cream, and onion four. Fantastic. I am now going to go all dressed. I knew you were into.

All dressed and it's tough because I think I want, like what's tough is the lay. The Lays-All dress that we have here is not quite as good as the Canadian-old dress, but it's still pretty good. Yes, it is. And Old Dutch is really good, too, but I am going to say Lays. I'm going to say Lays-All-Dressed. Isn't there, who else makes a really good one? Ruffles makes a very good old-dressed.

But I don't love a Ruffles chip. I like chips being more of a crisp. What about the Ruffles-Sour cream and chip? I mean, they're amazing. I'm just like, a wavy chip is not my favorite. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. Okay, Grant, two in a row here for you, dude. Yep.

So, let's see. I think it counts as a chip. Can I take hot Cheetos as a chip? Oh, yeah, dude, I was ready for some bullshit to come out of your mouth when you said just as a count as a chip. Of course, Cheetos counts as a chip. It is a chip, but it doesn't feel like a chip.

You know what I mean? It's in the chip family. Yep. I would say. And then my number, oh, man. I've been thinking about this guys, literally the entire podcast, too. By the way, I want you to know this.

Signed to decide. All right, that my number three, definitely going solid. Can I count the Schneider's pretzels that are like flavored chips? Oh, fuck. Those are that count? But actually I think no.

No. That's a pretzel. It's inherently a pretzel. But dude, those are so good. Those are impossibly good. So good. All right. So then with that out of the equation,

I'm going to take the oh, the Takis. That's my number three. Okay. Yeah. So you're going to, and Cheetos. It was Hot Cheetos, too? Hot Cheetos and Tokis. Similar entries there.

Yeah, very similar. Grant's got a type. I do have type. My life. Yeah, I'm going to get roasted for this. And I am dead ass here. Here we go, dude. Here we go. I was thinking Grant had the bullshit. It's actually done. My next one is prawn cocktail. Fuck off, dude. Come on. It's shrimp cocktail chip. So my pretzel can't count, but the shrimp cocktail?

It's a chip. Okay. Can I make a Sorry to me Do you can I change a chip entry? Sure Is that or is it once it's written? No, I'll allow this

No no no no I will allow us We can do a quick honorable mention at the end Okay okay The audible mention Yeah okay can I jump to that or do you want to No no no you can't jump to it Yeah I can't do you might be able to take it Yeah yeah yeah okay my last one is

Do you know what it's gonna be? No you could you could know you of all people could know I'm going Frito's flavor twist honey barbecue. Do you know what I'm talking about? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I literally shout out Ben Barrett because we were talking about this a while ago and he was like, you know what the greatest road trip chip is? And I said Frito's Honey Flavor Twist, Honey Barbecue, and he was like, yes.

It's the only time I ever eat them when I'm stopping at a gas station on the way to load up with some snacks. They're always there. They are incredible. And it just makes me feel safe. Like, I, nothing good ever, nothing bad will ever happen to me. And wherever I'm going is going to be amazing. just by eating one of those. Incredible chip.

They had a, on my last trip to SF for the World Cup game, I went in to get a bag, and they had flavor twist honey barbecue, and they also had flavor twist spicy dill. And I got those, and they were also great. Not as good, but also great.

Honorable mentions. Grant. All right. Tostito scoops. I don't know how I fucked this up on not adding this to the original list. That is one of the worst picks I've ever heard of my entire life.

in my entire life. That could not be more wrong. Bro, he just picked a just generic chip, tortilla chip. Yeah, and it's great. Every time it's fantastic.

It's like, sure, it's a good vessel for other. Are you eating those things plain? Yeah. Oh, yeah. That is brutal. Why?

Just eat regular fritos. That's a bad pick. Honorable mention, Cape Cod barbecue. Yeah. Tremendous. And halapeno, Pretty much any kind.

Yeah, I mean, Halapageno, Cape Cod Halapeno, I absolutely love. I'm also going to go ahead and say, I mean, we covered some pretty good bases here. I mean, ketchup is great, but that's very similar to all dressed. But it's different. I'm happy with the list too, but I'm really excited about the comment section to see what we love. Me too. I'm also, I want you all, I'm going to get Prong Cocktail and bring it in and you're going to go, shit, this is great. Unbelievable.

I just still think that's a Dan-ass chip. It's what I'm saying. It's why I said, I'm going to get roasted. I know I'm going to roast it. I'm not trying to win the list here, but it's my list. But it's just not your third favorite chip. It is. No, it isn't.

I cannot wait to strap. I'm going to have edge bias a lie detector and then strap you into it and then have you say that the prod cocktail as your third chair. If we had a lie detector in this office, I think we would change as a company fundamentally. Oh, my God, dude. Just strap it on people while they're having conversations amongst each other. Oh, my God. Yeah.

Yeah. Pretty good. Tough. Tough stuff. Let's get quickly into strange behavior. Yes. This is a game where we are all going to share with each other, something weird that we have done in the past or currently do.

And then we will discuss it. And the other two will decide if that behavior is real or fake. And I would like to make a request. I would like to go last because I have one prepared. But having neither of you have revealed your strange behaviors. but the way you are talking about them makes me feel like my answer is not good enough. Fair enough.

I will go first. I like to fear how yours are and then maybe you need to reassess. Here is my strange behavior. Yep. Ready? When I was a preteen, I used to steal money from my mother's wallet

to buy lotion to put on my legs because I was concerned that it was the only reason that my legs were not growing hair. as fast as my other friends, and it made me feel inferior. So you wanted hairy legs. That was the issue.

All of my friends in baseball and soccer and hockey were getting hairy legs as they were going through puberty, and my legs were bare. And you believed that the lotion was an insta hair growth. I looked at my legs and I determined that the dryness of them was the reason that they weren't sprouting enough hairs. So I began stealing money from my mother to buy lotion because I was also too embarrassed to ask, could you buy me lotion? Yes.

Well, because you would have to explain why in the world you wanted this. Because I'm a hairless bitch. Yes. They would have thought, surely he wants this lotion to masturbate. Yeah. And then, dude. But I was like, that is actually not the case. Yeah.

And if there's a little leftover to masturbate, so be it. Yeah. You know. Win, win. So be it. Yeah. Yeah. That is sad.

That's not even strange behavior, Dan. That is sad behavior. You are making me sad. What? I appreciate your sympathy. It was a difficult time for me. Do you still do this secretly? No.

I am a diligent. Your legs are looking very shiny right now. Oh, I lotion heavy, dude. Yeah, he does. Yeah, this really is really... So that's why you're so hairy. You're pun intended. I believe that this is real.

This sounds like, Dan, there's not a thing that Dan Powers could say to me about him and lotion that I wouldn't believe. That's a crazy ass, David.

Literally? That's a crazy ass statement. I do this with lotion and I would go, okay. This is a puts the lotion on the skin in the situation. Yeah.

That's right. What do you think, Grant? I, just knowing Dan and knowing how Dan operates, It's how he move. I know the way he moves, and we're sitting at the table, how he moved ten toes down. I think that shit is real. I think you definitely are doing that.

Okay. So you guys are saying real. Yeah, for sure, for sure. This strange behavior is unfortunately real. Very true. Yeah, it was the real. Very true. I did in fact do this.

And let me tell you what, guys. Eventually I grew hair on my legs. we will never know if it was because of the lotion or not. Good point, actually. You know what? Very good point. But I was convinced. I just distinctly remember looking down at my dry-ass skin on my legs and I went,

that's the only reason. It's the only reason. So I began lotioning my legs like you wouldn't believe. That is awesome, dude. That was a hard time, man. Did mom ever find out? What? Did mom ever catch you or finding out?

And how much we were stealing? Not that much. Dan? Listen, I wasn't buying top of the line shit. I was going like Juergens. Where were you getting it? How old were you? You couldn't go to the store on your own.

You're 12. Yeah, it was like I would take it. And then when I'd be like riding around downtown York Beach, there were shops that I could buy lotion on. Give me that. Give me that lotion. I got three singles. Let me get your best St. Ives.

No, no. I only have three bucks. I was only pulled three bucks out of mom's purse. Give me the Vaseline then. What's the horrible bosses thing when he's, it's, I'm a, Jimmy Fox when he's... Oh. What, do you know what?

He's like... He robs from his mom, but he's telling that story. Yeah, he says, I've reached my hand. And they're like, no, motherfucker. And he's like, into her purse. And I fucked her good. He says, I fucked my mom. Yeah.

And they're like, what? That's how I got the name. Motherfucker Jones. He just robbed her. Okay, dude. Great. Are you ready or would you like Grant? No, Grant, go ahead.

All right. I had a couple. I had a long, long, long diet try about this. And I just, little inside note for this

that makes even better, I have my family literally sitting off. Yeah, that's dad is literally right. My dad is sitting

right there just right just a few inches away. But that made me think long and hard about the information that I was going to share. But I still think

I let me share this. I, I had one one that was really annoying that I was like okay I might do this one but when I was a kid and I would like you know you're a kid you playing around you kind of get roughhouse a little bit you hit your head or whatever all this stuff and after I would get my head knocked a little loose I would sit there and think I was going to lose brain cells like I thought brain cells were going to fall oh literally out of your head out of my head or I thought it was going to be mushed in some way and I was like very worried that any sort of

head, I was like, oh, CTE is a real thing. You know, they were telling us about it in school all the time. Like, I was, I was so scared about, like, I was going to lose my brain cells. So I would take my, my fingers, and put them underneath my eyes like this. Okay. And the back of my head, trying to make sure my skull was okay. So I would go like this.

You would like, we would try to fill the inside of your skull. I would try to fill the inside of my skull as a way to make sure it was okay. So I would literally, now, Lox does this. You guys know, He does this thing a whole all the time. But I would literally fill the inside of my skull trying to make sure it was okay. And I would sit there and I'd be like, please make sure my head's okay.

Please make sure my head's okay. And I'd have to say it like five times to make sure my brain was like still intact. So even if you hit the back of your head, for example. What? Yes. And you were like brain cells are spilling out. Did you think brain cells only fell out of your eye sockets? It was the only way that I could like grip my skull.

I would still fill around my skull, you know what I mean? Like where the bump was. Yeah, where the bump is. Yeah. How old is the oldest you were when this was happening? Dude, I did this at one point. I'm dead ass. It's going to sound crazy when I say this out loud.

I did this at like a party when I was like probably about like 17, 18 years old. Like I hit my head. I was a little drunk. I fell. And I was like, oh, shit. Hold up. Let me just check my skull. Let me possibly gouge my own eyes out to make sure my skull is okay.

That was the last time for sure. That was the last time for sure, yeah, that I remember. This feels entirely too specific to be fake. Yes, that is 100% Dan. If this is fake, then I need to feel my skull to make sure I'm not living in a fucking simulation considering Grant has the power to make that story up. Correct. So we're going to say that this is real. Yep.

100% real, yeah. Absolutely 100% real. Grant, do you think, do you believe that you prevented brain cell loss by doing that? To this day, do you believe right now I have more brain cells in my head than I would have if I hadn't been doing that? that depends on the day i would say i mean you guys have known me and seen me i think some days i'm like oh yeah my brain's working perfectly fine and some days i'm like well could have had a couple you know slip out the back there yeah yeah yeah i'm actually concerned that you didn't keep it up now now that i'm hearing all of this out loud i'm like you might have to continue doing that i don't know if

there's a direct correlation between the smoking and drinking that i started doing in my later years or the lost brain cells or it was the you know the natural causes yeah we may never know but I now may I might do it next time I get next time I buzz the old tower I might just make sure

we're good there deep in the eyes are we talking I mean dude I would stick him like like I'm right underneath I'm underneath my eyeballs right now I need you to stop doing it I need I please like I hope to God you don't do that anymore I don't and let's not start again because this might unlock

Fuck new behaviors. Yep. Okay. I'm going to just say the one that I was going to say. The, when we, when I turned 16 and got a car and started driving around with my friends,

you had to get gas. You would get gas at gas stations. Why did you get a southern accent when you said with my France? Because that's how I felt when I got my car. Okay. I felt Southern. Yeah.

All of a sudden I owned a car and I was from the south. and I was pumping gas and do you guys do you do you do the stop at zero thing do you try to like oh yeah absolutely and you try to stop it right on zero or do you just slowly creep up to the zero

dude no I like obsessively try to hit zero are you not filling your tank up fully no like no I'm hitting that way he's talking about like on the round dollar yeah like every single time you're like I got to fill it like I don't you just go until it clicks yeah I go and until the gas tank is full. And then do you go, Oh, I top off hard.

Yeah, top off hard. So in your top off, are you just aiming at a number? Are you going to click the next zero? No, I top off until it clicks again. Okay, so you go boom, and it clicks and it clicks the second time. And you go boom, click a third time. You click three times. I'll go up to six.

Three clicks is a lot. Six click crazy. You are going to be swimming in gasoline. I will go to six clicks. I want the gas literally leaking out the top of the tank. You might swerf away on a wave of gasoline. It says, do not top off, brother. I am topped off heavy at the gas.

They were gas stations. You give yourself a little shower, heavy, topped off heavy. Gas stations all across L.A. are on fire right now because of Dan Powers. So, Grant, when yours clicks the first time,

do you then aim at a zero or you don't even get to the click you're aiming at a zero? No, I, on the, like, to top it off as well and then I aim for a zero. Okay.

Yep. So, and I would say he is in the majority. That would be my guess. Yeah. Most people top off, or they claim for the end and then try to the zero. And that was,

I feel like our dad would do that. Maybe he's kind of just like making it again. game for us when I was little, but then I got a car and I was getting my own gas and I was like, I got to do that. Can I be honest with you? Yep. This, it is the most fucking you thing of all time that I introduced a new game that was meant to be a literal sentence of something that you do.

And we are now on minute nine. Yes. Of you telling a story. Yes. So for the next strange behavior, why don't you get it out of your fucking mouth so we can move on? I eat worms. It's great. Would have been better than this.

So I was trying to get a zero in front of some friends and I overshot it. It was like, like, 05. And they in the backseat were like, you loser. And I was like, I was embarrassed. So I was like, dude, I don't go for zero. You, you loser. I always think of the next important sporting event in my life as a fan, whether it's like Bruin, Southwicks, Red Sox, and then I get the get.

to a number of a player on that team for luck. So that I shot it to like whatever the number was. I can't remember what it was that day. So your solution to your embarrassment was, oh, no, no, no, I don't go for zero. I have autism. Yeah. And I have done that with every gas pumping since. Yeah.

20, 23 years later, every gas pumping, I find a player on a team I really like and pump the gas till the scent is aligned with their number. So, all right, so Grant, I don't know what's worse. Are you checking to see if your skull's okay? It looks like you're getting close. I don't know what is worse. The journey that we just went on to hear that whole story. It was important.

It was important context. Potentially being fake. Or him actually doing this because of an embarrassing moment that happened to him when he was 16 years old. I want to say. Both are so bad. Dude, I will say, knowing Chris, after saying Chris, I could totally see like the stress and his, like the embarrassment stress. And then the idea of like, like, like he had the whole thing with Sandra. Like, like,

after somebody hits a number the third time on the craps table, that's just their number and that is aligned with them. And then they're going to be successful with that number for the rest of time. And he believes that like wholeheartedly with his entire just bone, body, skin, everything. I, 100% believe that's real. Like 100%. 100% don't know. Oh yeah, dude. Ping, ping, Ray Bork, ping, Pedro Martinez, ping Tom Brady. Any number we need, dude.

Sometimes if my team needs a win, I get gas just for shits. I don't even need gas. I have three-quarter tank. I go get a little bit, drop it on 12 before the kickoff. Patriots win, baby. We did it. Unbelievable. This is the ultimate degenerate gambler thing ever.

Unbelievable. I also love how on our first strange behavior, everyone went real. of whatever else stupid is doing. We all just had to get best of shit out, dude. This is therapy. This is therapeutic. It is. Thank you better help. Thank you better help. Man, that is

the fact that you've been doing that for 20 plus years is... Dude, sometimes... Sometimes I miss the guy. Yeah. I'm going for Pedro. And then you go, I have just destroyed the future of that franchise. I have to think of the next Red Sock number. You know, I'm like, oh, fuck.

And then I'm like, wow, okay, that guy's 53. like that I'm topping off sometimes I'm pouring gas out of the street just to get to the number good god almighty also remember when we were younger and you would like you didn't have enough money and you'd be like I can only fill up $20 worth of gas even if you went to like 20 oh six you were like this I'll never financially recover from yeah he was sweating like going out the 10th like going slightly over you're like oh my god I'm sorry I'm sorry I just also what I was going to say earlier is like I wonder how many times like how much time is he sitting there to think of that next player Like, is there minutes going by?

Get in the fucking car, dude. It's the whole pump, Grant. It's the whole pump. Is this fucking grain, man? The numbers are just going. Actually, I would say you were too young for this, but I don't know. Maybe in the south it was more lenient for longer. But there was a long period of time when we were growing up where you would literally

drive up to the pump, fill up your tank, and then go inside and go, hey, I just put 45 bucks, here's 45 bucks. I have seen that out. You could pump before paying when we were younger. It was incredible. But there were those times. Like, dude, when we were young, we only had cash on us. Like, I didn't even have a debit card yet.

Yeah. And I'd be like this, I got 20 bucks. And you'd miss and you'd go like 20-06 and you'd be like, and you'd like walk inside or like, look, dig through your change drawer in your car. Be like, I fucking hope I have six cents in here. When in reality, you would probably go in and be like this, I accidentally put, and they'd be like this. And they'd be like this.

Yeah. Please leave. Thank you for paying at all. Holy shit. All right. Well, fantastic strange behavior. You are a psycho. You are a psycho.

I am a psycho. That's fantastic. What was yours again? The lotion on the lens. It puts the lotion on the lid. He's robbing mom. I was just stealing from mom. Fuck you.

I know. Dad would have found out. Yeah, yeah, correct. Never would have thought that I could do something so terrible. Correct. Okay, should we wrap things up with a little Celsius chat and then a beer league hotline? Dude. Huge.

Is this the right way? Yeah, sure is. Huge shout out to the fellas and ladies. and ladies at Celsius. Dude. For an all-time empty netters, who's next, Dr. Locke's glue guy session.

A couple of these in the morning on Friday, this past Friday got us going, and then bang, off to SoFi, we went. How is SoFi so sick? I forgot. It's such an unbelievable stadium I can't even begin to describe. Outrageous, a World Cup quarterfinal.

Spain, Belgium. after Belgium body bagged us. We had to go defend our honor and say, you will be knocked out by Espania. Yeah. And then we went all decked out, same jerseys, same shirts, Viva Espagna, rolled out of the office, Celsius head to toe, and they gave us a treat, a real treat,

one of the most fun days I have had in a minute. Because, dude, we posted up in that stadium and packed house, heavy Spanish. It was kind of hard to tell because their colors are so similar, which fan was which, but I felt like it was a heavy Spanish crowd. I agree? Yeah. So we were with our brothers and sisters of Spain, just given it everything we had, unreal seats, right at midfield. Like first row of that upper deck, perfect view for soccer, by the way.

Dude, there's nothing more to say other than the World Cup is incredible. The experience was incredible, and Seltie made it happen. They made our dreams come true. We said, when we saw the schedule, we said there's a quarterfinal game in Los Angeles. Our dream is to go as a team, and Celsius made that dream come true. I mean, you guys got to go to a game without me, and I am the biggest soccer fan of the group. So that Celsius being able to level the playing field a little bit for me was really special. They saved you from World Cup humiliation, basically.

And then you were saved by Celsius, and so was I, and we got it. It was unbelievable. All right, let's wrap this episode up with a nice beer league hotline. Grant, are you ready to read that? Dude, I'm actually so excited after watching Sean and Evan and everybody, all of the wonderful people that have produced this podcast read these. I was pretty fired up to have an opportunity to read this. Here we go.

All right. Beer League Hotline, the showers. at our rink, our communal, instead of individual stalls. Just shower heads on the wall around the room pretty close together. We had an altercation after our last game,

a naked altercation, mind you. Fair. Where one dude started peeing while showering. The guy next to him freaked, saying he got hit by some splatter. The pee guy said it was nowhere near him. The golden shower guy said Pee guy shouldn't be peeing in the shower anyway.

Pea guy said he peas every time he showers. Golden Shower Guy said he can pee on his shower at home, but he can't pee in the communal shower. P guy said, everybody does it. And so on. Who's in the wrong? This is a classic dilemma. This is a classic dilemma. This is a classic dilemma. I did. This actually, I'm excited to hear what you say, because I might get myself in some trouble here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. First of all, good clarification about the communal shower rather than stall shower, and I will also say that is how it is meant to be. Stall showers are ass. I agree. I agree completely.

The communal shower is the way the world should work. We should all be standing in the same shower, horns out, join each other's company, making jokes. Like the Romans. Like the Romans did. Yes. Yes. I, I pee in the shower at home sometimes. I pee in most showers.

And I will say it's almost Pavlovian. Like when I get into a shower and the water hits me, I'm like pee. It just comes right out. They pee. Boom. I am also a neat freak and a bit of a psycho, as we know. So when I pee in my own shower, I aim. I do not just pee.

I like pee at the drain. I pee everywhere. I'm sure you do. I try to coat that shower. I'm sure you do. Yeah. Because I do think that I'm trying to be considerate of my partner. And I'm like, I don't need you walking around in my pee.

Yep. And I also would not pee in the shower while. said partner is in the shower with me. Well, I hope you're doing other things. I like to picture this partner is locks instead. It's got it. It's not Alice, it's Gavin. Yeah.

I am passionately anti-peeing at hockey. I think it is that, and frankly, Chris, just seeing the look on your stupid face, even considering being on the opposite side of this, is terrifying to me. Because here's the thing, pal. You don't even wear shower sandals in hockey, which is nuts. Don't need them.

Man, there's just a lot of people in that shower, and you wouldn't want to be standing around in another person's pee. It's sterile. I'm just saying, you would not want to be standing around in another person's pee. And for you to do that to someone else, I think is disgusting. Even in the... I think it is abhorrent. Even in the single stall.

Even worse. Because there's only so many places you can go. Yeah. What if you're aiming? Do you aim right down the drain? It's still, there's going to be splatter. Like, it's just, you'll tell you what. You can't, you can't pee in the hockey shower.

At our prep school rink, the communal showers grant were like this. There were, there was a pole, and there were like five shower heads off the pole. And then there was another pool and another pole. So it was like five guys were showering all around one pole together. So it wasn't like down the wall. You were just like, we were in a circle. Yeah. showering. And we would all pee then. Like, we were all peeing at each other. You're standing out of the pole and

peas just flying, hitting the pole, spraying every way while you're staring at the other guy, looking them right in the eye, ripping piss. Dan, do you remember this? We went different prepsos. Oh, for different preps schools. I don't know your shower was like. I'm just listening to this story. We would stare right at each other, pee going all over the place, landing, hitting everyone on the foot. No one cared at all. So now, you're telling me this guy was peeing against the wall. I guess I I guess I kind of care which way he was facing. That would be the only follow-up I would like from this person. If he was peeing straight against the wall in front of him

and it was just running down the wall, I stand by my position here. You're fine. But if he was flipped out and was just kind of like letting it fly as guys were coming in and out, I'm kind of like, okay. But I'm with the, and I'm not with you. I think it's the Pavlovian nature of it.

This guy pees in the shower, the water hits me a piece. And he's probably peed after every game. He's probably peed after every game. This is the first time this guy got mad. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you're murdering people and no one knows. You are still a murderer. You can't be peeing in the community shower.

It's fucking crazy. And dude, it's also that thing. It's like we talk about all the time. If you're sitting in a pool with your pals and you're just having a conversation and your buddy looks at you and goes, I pissed like 30 minutes ago, by the way. You probably will be like, like, goes, oh, whatever. But if he got up out of the pool and pulled his pants down and pissed into the pool, you would be like, are you insane?

So it's also the fact of like, You don't want to see your buddy pissing, like where you're standing. I, okay, so you're, you can do it in the community shower, just do it discreet. No, it's, it's, you can't. You're okay with the pool. You're sitting in the pool. First of all, I said you, uh, if you, if you and I were standing in a pool and you looked me in the eyes and one like this, I'm peeing.

Be pretty pissed. I'd be like, I don't need to know that, dude. Like, what the fuck? But at least we're in like open water. And there's a, dude, you're just, this is crazy that you're on the other side of this. The answer is The guy who is upset is correct You cannot pee in the shower

You can't Peeing in the shower is better than peeing in the pool I'm sympathetic to the feeling of being like I'm going to shower, I'm going to pee But you can't do it in the hockey shower You can't I think you can and stop peeing in pools I don't like it

Because then I'm just sitting in it dude Crazy I'm actually really excited to see the comments on that one All right that's it Chris is disgusting Grant, it's great to have you. We'd like to have you more often. Folks, rocking some of the new merch.

Check it out. Empty Netters. Dot shop. Amazing new hoodies available. They're fantastic. We got a little zamboni driver right there on the sleeve. Make sure to subscribe everywhere. Please, please, please. Follow us on all the socials. Let's keep spreading around the fun and the good vibes.

It's a great time. You're all the best. Can't we see you next episode. Skate Hard.