Empty Netters Podcast - Please Not Again Detroit and Are The Wolverine National Champs?!

Episode Date: March 26, 2026

The Utah Mammoth invited the boys to the Delta Center and they had the best time ever. This wild card race is going to take years off our lives. And now the Senators are in it?!? Shoutout the Wisconsin women for back to back national championships. On the men’s side, the boys give out their brackets just in time for puck drop. The Professors try to bounce back from their worst week yet. And are we all taking Mormonism for a spin??  Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 01:50 - Wildcard Madness 10:18 - Mammoth Game 28:50 - Frozen Four Brackets 45:18 - Professors Puckline 56:19 - Mormon Culture 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. Find LUCY near you at lucy.co/stores, or save 20% on your first online order at lucy.co/NETTERS with promo code NETTERS. For more information on compliant messaging and to dive deeper into each product for your own education, please refer to LUCY’s in-depth guidelines HERE. 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 guineasasas. Right into you guys. That's where this pod came to life. Ice is ready and we are back with another episode of the Empty Netters podcast brought to you by BetMGM. I'm your host, Dan Powers. We are remote.

We're here in Utah and Salt Lake City having the best time of our lives. But that doesn't change a thing because we are still joined by Dr. Watkins with the best hat on I've ever seen. Yeah, this is fantastic. The hat that you said is for giant heads and my head. I was going to ask if that was a lot of fun. Do you have a big head? A huge head. Wow.

Runs in the family. I'm so glad we got those extra larges. That's fantastic. Give me all of them. And then over here on the other side of the screen, a man that... Tiny Head. ...are comparing to a character from Shrek 2, Chris Powers. As always.

You did it again? I'm pretty sure he's like, he's not Prince Charming, but he's got like a nice name. I'm thinking Lord Farquod is in Shrek. Shrek 2 is the other guy who looks like Jamie Lannister. Not bad people to be compared to. Yeah, I love me of Jamie Lannister. Unbelievable. Speaking of unbelievable, we've got an unbelievable episode.

We're not going to waste any time, folks. We've got some great hot ice. The wild card race continues to be insane. We're breaking down our predictions for the Frozen 4 bracket. We're talking about the Wisconsin women's coming in clutch again, winning another Natty, and the professors are here to provide some picks after a rough week. Let's get right into it. Let's talk about the wild card rundown.

We had some crazy games last night and crazy results, so we've really got to break down what went on. holy schnikes folks and Dan while we were while we were enjoying our first Delta Center experience there was a near frozen frenzy on Tuesday we had a crazy games and it's nuts because we're doing stuff we're doing Utah stuff

all day and then I don't even know what's going on in the league and then I pull up my phone and all hell is broken loose and by the way people we are nearing playoff like we are the wild card race update is going to be every every episode because we are going crazy Oh, and that's what the people want. Yeah, yeah.

Let's go game by game. Let's talk about Bruins' Maple Leafs. The Maple Leafs beat the Bruins after a whopping 35 shots to Bruins 20, 4-2 in regulation. Now, Bruins are obviously in a wildcard playoff race as well, but this is big brain stuff because they can't let that Maple Leafs pick get into top five because it's protected. They're giving them a point so they can jump up in the standings just a little bit. Just so that lottery goes in their favor. We want that sixth pick, Bruins fans.

That was big brain stuff. Don't worry about that loss. That's actually an incredible call, Dan, because I was going to say you cannot be losing to the leaves. And you also cannot be having Maddie Nyes go new. I mean, Maddie Nyes is nasty, but embarrassing you. And that was a tough loss in these trying times. When you didn't even look good. You didn't even look good.

And we were sitting next to, Dan, we were sitting next to a Bruins fan and a Leafs fan, both wearing their respective jerseys at flanker watching the game together and then Lindholm's Gordon I was like ah good good night to be a bees fan at this bar incorrect but I love I love the big brain get the six pick that's that is that is special stuff yeah it's unbelievable uh canadian's got a massive win over the hurricanes 5-2 strengthening their playoff situation and then I hate to say it, brother, the aides of March do apparently continue because the Red Wings lost to the senators after outshooting them 35 to 21. They lose 3-2 and that ain't going to get it done, folks. That is not going to be a way that you get into the playoffs. So the scaries

are going to continue for the wings. And the problem is that one was in regulation too. don't even get a point and the senators are breathing down your fucking neck so Red Wings fans listen it's the 25th of March and I unfortunately feel like we have to say like the aides of March

happened because this was just another bad loss so on the wing so actually let me kind of attack both of these at the same time the Habs dude 5 to 19 shots to 43 shots from Carolina Freddie Anderson gave up four goals

of like, fucking 10 shots. They were like, you got to get out. You got to get out. Which is why we always play bussy, Dan. Which is why we always play bussy. Yeah. But that dude is the exact. So look at this situation.

Habs kind of drastically outplayed, outshot in a big way, get a 5-2 win. On the other side, the wings drastically outshute the Sends 35-21 and just can't solve it and get a 3-2 loss. And, you know, it's not, this is written in stone. It's not apples to apples. But I'm just saying, my God, dude, it's this. time of year when you just need to somehow win a fucking hockey game when you're not playing your best, which

is what the Canadians did and what Detroit has just not been able to do for fucking years now and then so far again in this month all over. We need Larks back in the lineup so, so fucking desperately. It's unbelievable because that guy is a winner and he's going to motivate

everyone to win, but it is so painful. Also, Cole Caulfield can't stop scoring. I love it. He is at 50. Dude, he's going to win the rocket. Like, I know we said this. But I'm telling you, he's going to win the rocket. It's going to be fucking incredible.

He's going to score 50 goals and win the rocket. McKinnon's finishing at 49. Fucking pencil it in. Get on your bed MGM app. Start hammering that shit. You can use your winnings to buy lids like Evan has, and then everyone's happy, dude. And then everyone is happy.

It's unreal. Going to the Met, two big, big results. The Blackhawks beat the Islanders in regulation. Tough loss for the Islanders. And look at the shots again. 47 shots on goal. Like they showed up. But fucking a tough loss in their race.

But the team that keeps getting it done, the Blue Jackets beat through Red Hot Flyers. And I am calling them Red Hot. That was a massive win. Three two in regulation. Massive win for that Met race and that Wildcard race. And the Blue Jackets are now currently in second place, brother. Yeah. Let me pull up the fresh standings, actually.

I want to get a good look at this. So the Habs gave themselves a little. little breathing room actually that was a fucking massive win and then blue jackets into second yeah holy shit dude that's unreal how about that and then the sends are in dude the sends are in holy fuck it is crazy like the ottawa senators are in a playoff spot right now dude it's fucking crazy this is going to be such like after all of this the islanders and the wings are now out of playoffs it's wild after being like god which one of them like they both need it and now it's gonna be fucking sends and flyers.

Bs are going to lose. Sends and flyers in. All hell broke loose. So the penguins lost to the abs. Just a good straight-up game. Nate is also going for that rocket. He got his 46th. I believe that was it.

Yeah, he got his 46th last night. But that was tough for the pens, as we saw. Columbus jumped them. Caps lose to the blues. The caps keep falling further. You can't lose that game. I mean, like, I deaded them last. episode. So I have to stand by that, but you just, you can't lose that game. You cannot lose to the

blues. And then here we go, CP, Preds. Yep. Sharks have been struggling very, very badly. They have completely lost all mojo. All the vibes we've been talking about all season. I think they're on a five-game skid. This is brutal. But the Preds just keep on ripping. Philip Forsberg playing some of the best hockey of his career right now. The young stud, Matthew Wood, man, I keep fucking telling people. I know I gave them a bit of a hard time last episode, but Matthew Wood has been so good all season. He gets on the score sheet. Stammer just fucking keeps pumping in goals. Thank you, dude.

35, bro. He's going to finish with fucking 40 again, just like he did two years ago and everyone can suck it. Big win for the Preds as they can keep securing their spot in playoffs. Quick shout out though, Will Smith got his 20th in 21st, but that's awesome. We love Willie. And I think you

you just called him out, but the, and it was two games ago, but the, did you see the fucking between the legs skate pass by Flip? Yeah, it was disgusting, dude. He's playing out of his mouth. God damn. And I deaded them last episode, but the Jets win a big game over the Golden Knights. And the Pacific continues to be the biggest poopy-poop battle that has ever pooped.

And all the top teams in the Pacific just stink. And the Jets are just not going away. So like keep an eye on them as this playoff race continues. Because you know who slipped up was the Kings. Yet again, losing a shootout game to the fucking. Calgary Flames so, so bad for their hopes. That point is just so needed. And to let that one slip hurts so bad.

But somehow the Kings still remain in third in the wildcard race. There are only three points behind Nashville, but that one point would have been helpful, just like the one point against the mammoth would have been helpful. And the Kings are just consistently losing games and now down the stretch here that you cannot be losing. and it's painful. And Dan, the Cracken also,

and the credit to them because they were down 4-1 to the Panthers, but the Cracken came all the way back tied it and they also lost in a shootout. So it's like, I am now, it's so weird that I now want the Jets in so badly just to prove this point that it's like they came back

from the death and didn't care at all. But those teams ahead of them can't get out of their own way. It's insane. It's crazy. The Ducky's got a nice win to keep strengthening their situation at the top of the Pacific.

and then the Oilers had a great second third period performance to take down the mammoth. Perfect segue into. Let's talk about our experience in Utah here. The Utah mammoth, I have no amount of time to show my love to this organization to everyone here. Shout out Christine and Meredith hooking us up, showing us such a good team. Time. Shout out to Tussie. And a good team.

Showing us a good team. And a good team. This experience has been all time. dude. Like I, we've said before, we come to Utah every year to ski. We don't spend time here in Salt Lake City. This place fucking rocks and this team rocks and what Ryan Smith and the Smith group have done. This is going to be one of the premier destinations for every NHL player for the next fucking 50 years. It's unbelievable. Dude, all right. We're going right. And hey, strap in because this is the Utah section.

This is about to be a Utah mammoth stroke off section. Get ready to do. Soak because we're going for it. Okay, so Ev, we're going top to bottom here. Ev, we get here and they've got to set up in the Grand America Hotel. That's what it's called. Nice. We walk in and it's the least American. It's the most European hotel I've ever been in.

Bidays? Did you get badez? There is not a bidet. There should be, though. So, but dude, it's like incredible. And by the way, I didn't even realize this. I don't know if you knew this, Dan. Across the street is the little America Hotel, which I, which I, which I,

which is like a mini version of this play, of the grand America. So, dude, we walk in and it's like, oh, there's like high tea. There's high tea at, at, at, it's three or four. Will you get your fucking shit together, dude? Afternoon tea. High tea. Yeah, there's weed in it. It kind of sounds like you're saying high C.

Like they give you a little juice cups. That would be awesome. Just another example of how uncultured, Chris. I've never had a high tea. And now I'm here. And now we get high tea. You still have it. You had afternoon tea.

Yes, yes, correct. And dude, we walk in and we go, Dan goes, Dan meets, we meet this guy. His name is Stephen, right, Dan? Downstairs? Yes. And we go, you mean, Steve, and this place is amazing. It must be 200 years old. Must be older than the country.

And Stephen goes, it was actually built 20 years ago. It's actually very new. But they're going for this old vibe. It's incredible. The road teams actually stay here a lot. So, you know, I thought I thought they always might be here. So this place is to die for. Anytime I come back to Salt Lake City, I'm staying at the Grand America Hotel.

So then, dude, we get ready to go to Delta Center. This is now on Tuesday. We hit up fans going, where should we go pregame? And I give one of my boys, Scotty lives here. So he hit up his boys. And he goes, hey, the netters guys need like the best before a mammoth game. Where's all the fans going to be? So they reply with three bars.

Uh, the, the green pig or the great pig, Dan, green pig? I think it was great green, green pig. Green pig, flanker, and then trails or something. I think it was called trails. Yeah. And then they go, they go, trails will absolutely knock their socks off. They should go to trails. So we go, okay, trails it is. So we're getting ready to go to trails. And then we look it up to just get the address. And it's a gentleman's club. and I was like, boys, tip of the cat. Well played gentlemen. Okay. We almost went, dude.

We almost went just for the story. You know, like check out the buffet. You should roll up at 5 p.m. for the early crew? The 5 p.m. Tuesday squad. Yeah, that's some good clientele you're amongst. So then we hit up a bunch of people and everyone kept saying flanker. Flanker, flanker, flanker. So we ripped a flanker, which is across the street from the Delta Center.

Then this will, if you guys are listening to this pod, go back to yesterday, because we put up a midform of the whole, come to us, come with us to a mammoth game on YouTube. So you'll see Flanker. We get into Flanker. The area is incredible. Just the outside area of getting into the place. And then, dude, the bar was awesome. It was Dan, Dan was finding secret compartments, secret rooms inside a flanker. Dude, it was unbelievable. They have a saloon out back. There was a private lounge on the side that you. you can, you know, rent out seats. It's like table service for big, you know, fight nights, super bowl, stuff like that. But then back there's a full-on saloon speakeasy bar with a bull. They have a mechanical bull back there. They had everything, dude. And it was such a vibe of, like, cowboy hats hanging from strings, you know, like in the ceiling.

And TVs everywhere. I hate a sports bar when the TV situation isn't actually that good. And, like, remember Rush Street, Dan, which was one of my favorite places to get brunch ever, but if you were actually watching a game, I was like, there's kind of only TV's above the bar, and I'm straining to see. This was dialed.

TVs, jumbo screens, everything you could ever want. We didn't eat there, but the menu looked epic. I could have had 10 meals there, and just a insane drink menu. What did, um, oh yeah,

I was like, what did I show you? They had a pistachio, like rum punch. I was like, oh, shit. Yeah, yeah. And I love me some pistachio.

Yeah. So we hit up Flanker, met a bunch of Mammoth fans there, and then we want... Get us to the game, dude. You fucking take so long with these goddamn stories. Get us to Delta Center. Dude, you act like people want us to just not say what happened. They're like, this anyway, we got to the game and we skipped all the fun stuff. This is the only reason people are here, to hear this exact story.

Flanker is great, but you're spending 30 minutes on Flanker. Hold on. I want to know a lot. I want to know about this back room, guys. Yeah, Evan didn't get to see this. I saw the footage. It's good. It's pretty great. That giant Dolly Parton mural on the wall. There are a lot of cool art on the wall. It looked awesome.

That was, let me tell you, I'm glad that that was in the back. People forget, I think people forget the Western culture prevalent in Utah, you know. True. Very true. Very true. So then we go in early. We get to Delta Center. And what happened right away, Dan? We did a tour with Craig. Is that the first thing it happened? Yeah, we just, Craig Amazine.

unbelievable guy with the Utah Mammoth brought us upstairs, showed us all like the media rooms, all that good stuff. They got the Nashcast podcast. That's awesome. It was just a really cool walk around the nuts and bolts of the media side. At the ESPN team. Yep, that was sick.

Very, very cool. They put this on the broadcast, but Logan Cooley changed his knob this year. Like he had a pretty normal knob. And then now he does like the fat. It looks like a goalie stick. Like the fattest knob you've ever seen. Confirmed, Evan.

Logan Cooley has a big fat knob now. Okay, great. I've seen some fat knobs in my time, but Chris, you're saying to... Haven't we all? Haven't we all? A lot of people were wondering, Logan Cooley's knob is in fact massive. Massive. All right. So we hit that and then, oh, then we got miced up. So then we got miced up for the whole intro and first period. And it was really sick because they were shooting us from across the rink, you know? And so everything that's happening, we're just running our mouths the whole period. But it's funny because you can talk to them. I'll be like, I put on some sunglasses.

I'm like, should I wear the sunglasses in the rink? And you see someone from across the rink like, I'm like, hell yes. So we get dialed in. The warmups were sick. Dude, they do the they do the iceberg, Dan. They drop the iceberg with tusks coming out of it. What are you talking to me for? Like, I wasn't there, you fucking dip shit. I was in the ring. It was cool. I was saying, Dan, now talk.

Now you can say something about the iceberg. Yeah, listen. A lot of these arenas do a show. We talk about Vegas all the time. a big show. They've got the night out there. It's a whole thing. This place, the way Utah, the way Salt Lake City has embraced

the mammoth and embraced hockey culture, this is a hockey town. I'm sorry to the jazz, but you have been overtaken. This is mammoth country now. There are mammoth walking up and down the streets. And the show at Delta Center was electric. There was a

laser show on the ice around the building. Like CP said, they dropped down this ice with tusks on it. The boys come ripping out of that. The place was going nuts. They handed out white tusk up t-shirts to everyone in the barn, sitting on every seat.

Those things were flying around. It was a vibe. It was not at all corny. It didn't feel like a typical show that you see at games. This was, I was juiced. Chris said it. Chris was like, if I had a hype up like this every morning, I'd run through a brick fucking wall.

And that is what the mammoth delivered. I mean, I was fired up for this game. Yeah. So Tusky found us, Ev, and you've seen the footage, but we had done a blind ranking of mascots and put him second, and he came by and fucking faced us. Absolutely faced us. I said it in our midform that's coming out, come with us to a mammoth game. Never has someone shot up the rankings faster, and my respect for Tuske is through the roof

after that chirp. He doesn't forget that. He's an elephant. rained in. You know, elephants don't forget. Chris. So spot on. I mean, he took that, he took that blind ranking as a shot.

And he gave the shot right back. And he nailed it. I mean, putting us below the Nash cast, giving us that solid chirp, that was high quality stuff. Right then and there, I knew we were, we were experiencing something special at this same time. Same game. So, dude, um,

And, Ev, Dersie and Weigs have been on the pod. We always say when we're in attendance, guys, friends of the pod do well. Jersey opens the scoring with an assist. Weigs gets an assist in the second period. It was... On the peeper. All the boys were firing. So we get a lot of action going on.

And the mammoth crew, like the whole staff is being so nice to us. They're coming, taking pictures. We're doing some selfie videos. And at one... And so our row, we actually had a huge Oilers crew in front of us who were so nice. And we're having a blast. They had, like, their whole family. It was epic.

And then the people behind us were mammoth fans. They were so nice. And, you know, everybody can tell something's going on. So the, the Oilers fans recognize, but the people behind us are like, who the fuck are you guys? Because, you know, like, Tuskees coming to hang with us and all this shit. And one of my favorite fan interactions was this, like, tough guy, little kid. He felt like a New Yorker kid who, like, hangs out on the stoop and, like, throws dice or something. Hey, buddy, what are you doing?

Yeah. He very much was like, yeah. Let's play Jacks. He comes up to us, Evan. He's like this. Hey, hey, you guys famous? And I was like, not really, dude. And he was like, what are you, content creators or something?

And I was like, yeah. And he's like, can I get a pick? And we were like, yeah. And we were just died. This kid just going to go home, show his boys. Like, I got these picks with these guys. I don't even know what the fuck they are. But I just could tell Tuske was hanging with him.

But he was like the toughest little Utah kid I've ever seen in my whole life. He was crazy. He's terrifying. Yeah. So in the second intermission, we get access to the Toyota Club. So we get to go down there. And, dude, this place is massive. First of all, Dan.

Like that was bigger than, you know, like, is it the Delta Club at crypto? Yep. Yeah. It's like 1.5 times bigger than that. And a whole awesome spread. Just like food all over the place, but the desserts, F. The desserts were fucking incredible. Let me tell you what, man.

We're going to get into this later, but we've discovered that Utah and Mormons love their sugar. Oh, I know. I've been. I remember walking into a bar and thinking that, like, it was a traditional bar because I saw all these bottles. I was like, all right. And then I got it and I got closer and they were all bottles of soda.

Yeah. And I was like, oh, this is a soda bar. The way this arena smelled was indescribable. It was the best smell I've ever smelled metal. You walk around the concourse. They have 50 different ice cream shops and really high quality gelato sit stands.

They've got churros. They've got candied nuts, which smell so good. And they've got Swigues. the dirty soda stuff. Shout out all the Swig gals. So can you explain what a dirty soda is? Because I'm not entirely sure. A dirty soda and this place Swig again,

shout out the girls at Swig who just hooked us up. They were so awesome. Dirty soda is just any soda. I mean, they have like a preset flavors and names and cool stuff on the menu. It's just soda, any soda you want, with pumps of syrup flavoring and then cream. Yeah, like a whipped cream flavor type thing.

Nice. So it's just like pump. up the sugar levels with different flavors. That's literally all it is. And they're delicious, but they also will give you the sugars real quick. Did your foot go numb during the game? Dude, I was like tweaking after three sips. And Dan had to sub, Dan had to modify, Dan modified into a diet. And mine was a sprite with some blue stuff and then a shark gummy candy. It was called shark attack and it comes with a shark gummy candy. I was given three sharks, which is unprecedented, but I was given three sharks instead of one, which was incredible.

And Christine told us that the mammoth players, they did a thing, like in the preseason video of everybody make your own, create your own dirty soda, whatever you want. And dudes, we're just filling the cups with candy. And then, like, putting some soda over it, which was exactly what my dirty soda would be. It would just be a cup of Sour Patch Kids. But those were incredible. Credit to the Oilers, they stormed back, had a nice 5-2 win with an empty. netter, but didn't matter at all.

We said in the video that you'll see, never have I been less phased by a loss being at a game where I'm rooting for the other team because the energy was just electric. The show that the mammoth delivered us, the fans delivered us, the city

delivered us was truly unprecedented good times. We wrapped things up. We went over, was it the Asher Adams building, Chris? Is that what it was called? I think so. But we went over to this place. It's an old train station. We got a nice gloss of wine in the train station to cap off the night, then came back. Anthony Davis was there. That's true. Anthony Davis was there. Wizard are in town. Yeah. I was like, oh. And then today, man,

we got to go to the facility, the new practice facility that they've built brand new this season in September of 25. The boys have all been in there. It's just the most elite setup. The rinks are fantastic. The gym is all time. The setup in the lounge where they're, they're getting. getting these, you know, Michelin Star-level meals with these cool lounges, TVs, the video rooms out of this world. They've got hot, cold tub, sauna steam. They've got the workout pools where guys are on the treadmill doing swimming in there. They've got that hyperbolic chamber, like swim tub thing. It's like a silence chamber with like the waterbed thing. You put the headphones on and the glasses so you can just completely log off. Is that like where Aaron Rogers

goes for three months of the year? Yeah. Yes. Exactly. Correct. And they're building a new jazz facility right next, like connected right next door. They got a barbershop, Ev. They got a barbershop in the fucking building. And then you can get your haircut. We're going to, this will be a midform too. So, so make sure you check our YouTube page because you can, you'll see the whole tour. But it really was one of the coolest facilities I've ever seen. So were you, were you, did it feel like a 34 year old building? Because apparently the United Center or sorry, yeah, the Delta Center, I mean, is 34 years old. I mean, it's, it's one of the probably. one of the older arenas, but it seemed like it's pretty good. So what we're talking about is the new practice. Right. I'm taking the new practice one, yeah. Yeah.

I mean, the Delta Center does not feel old at all because they've done a bunch of new renovations. They're doing even more. The place is phenomenal. And the practice center, you said, was right across the road, or is it? No, practice facility is, it's in Sandy, but it's like 15 minutes away. Oh, nice. Perfect for the players, for the families. And that was a big thing.

They were talking about, I don't want to spoil the video. you guys should go watch the video but the emphasis they put on taking care of the players and specifically their families and just like the communal family environment in there is so so on the surface when you get there and deep through the entire thing it's unbelievable so it was just it was just a perfect perfect trip honest to god i can't imagine a situation where a team takes better care of us like it was the love i have for this for this organization for the smith group for christine for meredith for Chris, for everyone who pulled out all the stops. It was just so unbelievable. And I loved every second of it. And, yeah, I urge everyone to come to Salt Lake City. We were driving around the campus, like the University of Utah campus. Winter Classic is going to be insane next year after looking at that campus.

Winter Classic is going to be insane. So, yeah, man, it was just all time, truly hard 10 out of 10. This, we got a great week, too. It's like 80 degrees here. It's just the Salt Lake City is so awesome. It's just great food, great vibes, energy, and the whole mammoth experience was phenomenal. So thank you so much to the Utah Mammoth, to the Utah fans, the Salt Lake City community. Cannot wait to come back for playoffs because I promise you, you're going to have to beat us away with sticks to keep us out of this city because this was just unreal.

Unreal. If you haven't been to a mammoth game, get to one ASAP. Yep, 100%. All right. Let's take an ad break. and they'll be right back. Every Tuesday of the NHL season, BetMGM is dishing out extra servings of winnings. Did you hear that? Dishing out extra winnings with the NHL odds boost token. Here's how you get in on that full plate of winnings. You log into your BetMGM account.

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That is N-E-T-T-E-R-S. And you will enjoy up to $1,500 in a new player offer on your first wager. Come on, odds boost, new player offers. You've got to be kidding me. Bet MGM, make it legendary. We're back and we're jumping into college hockey. Before we get into the men's bracket in our picks, we've got to give a massive shout out to the Wisconsin Badgers women's team,

winning back-to-back national championships. And here's the thing, man, don't think a lot of people know this. This was the fourth straight matchup between Wisconsin and Ohio State. We've got one of the great rivalries going in sports in the women's hockey situation here. I mean, four in a row is ridiculous. Dude, I got to say, the absolute beatdown that Wisconsin and Ohio State women have been putting on college hockey is crazy. You are, you know, entering a like, Yukon, what was it, Yukon, maybe Tennessee women's basketball. I know Yukon and Gino had won a million, but I think it was that woman Pat, I forget her last name, but those teams were dominating.

And you are in that right now. And that is not easy to do when you have other schools hooking in women's college hockey. So massive tip of the cap to Mark Johnson and the women cooking right now because that is a very impressive feat. Absolutely, man. And this game was a tilt. Yet again, they had a crazy game against Penn State in the semis. And then they come in, play Ohio State. And it's a 3-2 regulation win.

Unbelievable. There was just over six minutes to go. Scores 2-2. And then Claire Enright comes in, usually more of a defensive player, but comes in, tucks a goal and gets the go-ahead goal and they hold on to get their back-to-back championships. Unbelievable stuff. And I think there was like five Olympians on the ice in this game. It's just the amount of talent on the ice, so crazy.

And a crazy senior group for this Wisconsin team. You've got KK Harvey, you've got Enright, like we just said, Lacey Eden, we've got Vivian jungles, we've got Kristen Sims, Laila Edwards, just such a wagon of a crew on this team. And obviously we've got so much love, specifically for KK and Layla, our Olympian girls that we've just been obsessed with throughout that whole tournament in Milan. But unbelievable game, like I said, against Penn State. I think it was Layla and Sims. Yeah, they combined for like three goals in the four-three overtime win against Penn State, which was insane.

But then shout out Layla, past Hillary Knight for the most NCAA tournament goals in school history with 12, which is fucking. wild. I mean, like, just way to, way to perform. But wanted to give Wisconsin a massive shout out. And I also need to just, I am, again, we all know I'm a defense, I was a defenseman in my day, and I love a good defenseman. And I just need to do a quick tire pump for our girl, KK.K. Harvey, who, by the way, we're trying to get on the show. KK. If you're listening, yeah, we're begging you. Please. We need you on the show. But, dude, the greatest year of all time for KK.

This is nuts. Also, just like this rip is unbelievable. So KK just wins a national championship to add on to this year of winning a gold medal, winning the national championship back to back. NCAA all tournament team wins the Patty Katz, best player in women's college hockey, WCHA player of the year, WCHA defender of the year, all WCHA first team. What a fucking rip of. a season for KK Harvey.

So blown away, one of the great seasons you will ever see, cannot wait to see her career just continue to skyrocket. But I was a huge KK fan. We need to just take a second to talk about this Wisconsin team. I think

this is five of seven. Dude, that's what I'm saying. It's crazy. I mean, this is just a generational, dominant run dynasty that you will ever see. Especially the girls that the four-year girls, right? Like that have been there. You just, the amount of success that you've had. It's also, it's almost like, it sets your precedent so high. It's hard to come out of that and be like,

okay, now I'm going to go play pro hockey where you don't just win every year automatically. So true, man. It's like, holy shit. So true. But this, it was just amazing to see dominance at its most ridiculous level. And again, just a massive shout out to to our girls, Leila and KK. And the rest of the team, of course. But it was just so much love for the. those two. And again, hey, put some pressure on the men, eh? Because we, you know, we had the women's U.S. team win, the men's U.S. team win. Women's Wisconsin wins. Now the boys of Wisconsin are going to pick and pick it up. But again, just stick to KK. for this just historic season. So blown away, so proud. Unbelievable stuff. Now, like you just said, let's see if the

men can get it done. Let's go through quick. Rip through all of these games. CPB. R. Sherpa, as you always are. Let's talk about these matchups in the men's bracket coming up here. we think. Okay, and here's what we got, Dan, and if you disagree, feel free to say you want to change a pick, but this is, this is my bracket moving forward, and then Dan's either going to be the same or slightly different. Okay, round one of the bracket, and this is, when you're listening, these games are like tipping off immediately, so get these picks in. In the Albany region, I've got Michigan over Bentley. I don't even need to say that much. I'm proud of Bentley. Dan is not proud of Bentley because Dan hates Bentley, but I'm proud of Bentley for getting there.

The fact that Bentley's even in this tournament and they even have a Division I program absolutely disgusts me. Michigan moves on. Then in one of the first of I would say three absolute first round tilts, I'm going Penn State over Duluth. Kills me to do it because I loved this Duluth team all year. But I just can't believe Gavin McKenna would leave college without winning a single tournament game. So I'm going Penn State there. Are you good with that?

I am because Penn State got hot at the right time. And Gavin McKenna is firing. I like the Penn State pick. He'll rise up to the next level, to this next challenge. Okay, then we go to the Loveland region. I'm going Western Michigan over Minnesota State. there was Broncos disrespect all season. All season, Dan, and you know I was banging that drum.

They are legit for real. They are winning this game as a worthy one seat. I got West of Michigan. You good? Yes. Okay. And then in the other Loveland, I'm going Denver over Cornell. I was basically ready to take Cornell over whoever they played because they always

fucking do this unless it was Denver. Because just Denver has all the pedigree of this tournament. Like they don't give a fuck about the regular season. This is Denver season. It has begun right now too much class. and it's a home game for them. I'm going Denver. Wow. Just perfectly said.

It's tough for Cornell, but Denver's just too good. Yep. Okay, then we go to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I'm going North Dakota over Merrimack. Merrimack, congratulations for making the tournament and winning hockey east. Pretty cool, but you ran into a fucking buzzsaw also playing basically a home game. Buzzsaw situation. Yep.

And then I'm going Quinepiac over Providence, which is my second of three tilts. Yes. Wittenbach. Wittenbach, your nation's top score, one of the best players in the, the country. And this sucks for the Friars, Dan, because that means they had a really bummer postseason after an incredible regular season. But getting bounced early in Hockey East and getting bounced early in the tournament fucking sucks. I know. Quintap's a great team. I think I'm smashing the over in this game too. I think this is going to be a barn burner.

We always see some of those in the hockey tournament, right? Like fucking 8, 6, madness. Okay, so we're going Quinepiak here. Then we go to Worcester to finish out round one. I'm going Michigan State over Yukon. This is actually my third tilt of round one. I know. you might not even have it as a tilt, but I'm telling you, Yukon's a fucking good team. Yukon's a great team. It's going to be a tough game, but Michigan's, and listen, that's my little brother, man. I would love to disrespect them, but state is a very good team. And I think that they have a big time chip on their shoulder after losing to Ohio State, and this is going to be just a monster, monster, uh, prove it game for them. Yep, totally with you. And then here's,

there's always an upset. We've basically, we've took a couple three over twos, um, but that's it. Penn State three over two and Quinnipiac three over two. We didn't really pick an upset in the round one. This is the one I'm going with. You don't have to ride it, Dan, and it sucks because I just said they need to fucking step up. I'm going Dartmouth over Wisconsin. It's in Worcester, so they don't have to travel far.

There's always one crazy upset. I'm going forward here. It's a total long shot, but I'm telling you, the badgers were up and down all year. And if they just catch the badgers on a tough night, Dartmouth could get it done. You love to see an Ivy sneak through the first round. I mean the ivies can win the whole fucking thing, so I don't mean to disrespect them. But I would fucking love this from Dartmouth. Gimme Green, what do you think?

I like it. I hate to agree with you across the board in round one, but I think that travels interesting. And like, I do think that the women's team is going to give the men's Wisconsin team a big boost. Yeah. But dude, it's also just a sneaky team.

Like Wisconsin doesn't really see Dartmouth, you know, all season long. And they're good. I think they're riding a big high. I think Dartmouth takes that game. Why not, dude? Why not? You know? Okay, so let's go to round.

two. For a trip to the Frozen Four, I'm going Michigan over Penn State. This was actually a tougher call from me than I bet it's going to be for you, but McKenna can't quite get them back to the Frozen Four. It's a hell of a run. It's his only year in college. It's still a hell of a run. I just think Michigan's too good for this Penn State team. Yeah, listen, I'm going to say right now, I understand how things have gone the last few years. I'm obviously picking Michigan to win the national title because I'm a Michigan. Spoiler-al. I have to stick by my guns. So I do think this is going to be a huge game. And I think Gavin's going to have a great performance,

but Michigan will take care of business. Tough for Penn State because I know they definitely wanted to get back, at least when you have McKenna. But I don't think you're embarrassed by this exit if you lose to Michigan in this round. Okay, then I shockingly am going Denver over Western Michigan. I just think it's really hard to repeat. I think the Broncos should be proud of this season. Like I said, there was a lot of disrespect.

But this is a brutal matchup. it's hard to repeat. I wrote down there, there will come a day when the Denver rain ends, but it is not this day. It is not. You can never count out Denver. I have Denver in this game as well. Okay. Denver back to the Frozen 4.

Next one, in a nice matchup here, I'm going Michigan State over Dartmouth. You know, strikes midnight for every Cinderella, and they should be thrilled with the win over Wisconsin. But this Spartan team, like you said, a second ago, Dan, is actually fucking dominant. And people need to not forget that. I think it's 11 p.m. I'm taking Dartmouth. Okay, dude, fucking right. That would be so fun. I think the rip continues.

I think this is a big, big moment for ivies, but also for Northeast hockey, getting team. I know BCB you are always in the mix. But we're trying to make UNH grade again. We're trying to make Maine grade again. And Maine New Hampshire schools being good is big for the game. I'm taking Dartmouth in a massive shocker upset. Dude, and what a fucking, what a result that would be. Like, I'm rooting for it just because it would be amazing.

And then in the last one, I'm going Nodak over Kwynipiac. I've loved Nodak all year. You know I've said that. And Quintipiac is good. Wittenbach's, what's his name? Yeah, it's so good. But this is, this is, no spoilers yet, but I love this Nodak team. So I'm going there.

So I'm on the heavy one seeds. You've got the unbelievable Dartmouth pick. I love that. So this will be a really exciting Frozen 4. Yeah. Man, I think Quinnip could win that game. But shouts Oshie. Shouts Oshy, I do think Nodak is.

solid. Correct. Okay, so then we go to the Frozen Four. So for both of us have Michigan, Denver in one game, which is a bloodbath. Yeah. And I'm taking Michigan, but I am also saying that that is my heart taking Michigan. As we said, we can never count out Carl and this Denver team. And Chris, if you don't take Denver, I think you're lying. I took Michigan because I think they say, I think you're lying. I think you think Denver is going to win that game, and I think it's a good pick. Well, that is a good pick. It's probably the logical pick. I bet they'll be the favorite. But I'm telling you that I think that finally Michigan, because, dude, Michigan has choked. No offense, but Michigan has choked. We have. The last few years. And I just think eventually you got the choking hazard warnings. You read them. You read, you learn. Someone gives you the Heimlich. Boom. Now you're alive. You beat Denver. Give me Michigan here. Going back to the final, because don't worry, Dan, I'm saving a Michigan choke for your dumbass later. So give me Michigan in the Frozen Four. And then my game, I've got Nodak versus Michigan State in another 10. And here's Dan where I think the Spartans fall, which would have been an electric final. Because God, dude, if we get a Michigan-Michigan-State final, it will be extremely cool.

But I'm going Nodak in that game because I just think they're incredible. I do want to emphasize that. How fucking cool would that be if it was Michigan-Mish-Michigan State? God, in Vegas, you shitting me. But then you, Dan, have Dartmouth versus Kwynopiak. So who are you taking in the other leg of your Frozen-For? No, no, no. I took Nodak.

Oh, you are going that. You just said they could win that game. Got it. I think North Dakota wins this game. Okay, so North Dakota over Dartmouth. It's midnight now, finally, for Cinderella. Yeah. So then we both have a Nodak, Michigan final, and I am going Nodak. Party in Sin City. They slightly edge out Michigan, and I don't think it's a choke. I don't think it's a choke, because it was a storybook season. It was going to be their first title since 98, but Nodak wins their ninth in school history,

10 years after their last one in 2016. You, Dan, obviously have Michigan. Tell me why. because I love Michigan. That's it. No, this team, like we said, I think this team is stacked top to bottom with insane talent from the net out to the front. And I also think they have done the wire to wire, essentially.

There's really been, we've done it all season. We've been watching the games all season. Really only two times this season have I been like, fuck, that was a bad loss. And like, I wouldn't even call them bad losses. Like there were a couple of splits that made total sense, but they've just never, they've not gone on a skid even once. They've not lost a game that was like, oh, that was brutal.

This team is a fucking powerhouse. And it's time to take the years of choking, the years of shortcomings and go, fucking drop your nuts. Time to win. Since 98, it's, it might be time, Dan. And I do think that there's an opportunity where you can never count out Denver. they don't feel like the tightness Denver they've been in the last eight years. I agree with that.

And I don't think we have like the Western Michigan. They're obviously great. But I don't think that they are as strong as they've been in the past. Even Nodak, it's like this is, the time is now. It's now or never, I would almost say. So let's fucking go. Let's go, dude. And hey, Nodak, Michigan final would be fucking money too.

The Michigan, Michigan, but Nodak, Michigan, what a fucking blue blood battle. I love it. All right. That's our picks for the bracket. Fill yours out asap. The games are about to start. Puck drop is nigh. Get ready.

It's going to be an unbelievable tournament. One of my favorite moments in the hockey season. Enjoy. Now we're going to take an ad break and we'll be right back. Babes, Lucy is the official pouch partner of almost Friday media and the empty netters podcast, delivering you premium 100% tobacco-free nicotine pouches made for the true pouch connoisseurs. You know I love Lucy. You know I rip Lucy all the time.

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with 20% off your first order at lucy dot co slash netters that's n-etts. You're going to use that code netters as well it is fantastic. Lucy products are only for adults of legal age and every customer is age verified. This product contains nicotine and nicotine is an addictive chemical. Welcome back. The professors are here. We are remote. and I have got my spectacles, so I can't see a thing. But... You want to borrow mine? If you could pass them through the screen, that'd be fantastic.

Please, we've made it to the states, Daniel. We're rarely... Rarely do we journey from the homeland to the Utah. Is that how they say, Utah, I believe. I believe that's correct. But we are here in Utah, and we've had a terrible, abysmal week last week. Christopher, Professor, please run over. everyone through our performance because it was quite tragic.

It appears it was the looming travel that had us in disarray. The Mega Parley recap. Pens, yes. Very nice, gentlemen, pens, yes. Knights, no, stars, no, kings, no, sharks, no, spunk, no, aisles, no. This is in all-time, all-time run of disaster. Sends, yes, blues, yes. Wings, no, oilers, no, three and eight.

gutness. Our worst performance yet. But as we've said, many times on this show, we can always do worse. Would you like it over? We'll do it over. This was us delivering

on that promise. It was absolutely terrible. One could argue, one could argue it's difficult to get that many wrong. It's just as hard to go 0 for 11 as it is to go 11 and 0. So you're welcome.

And on the life on the line recap, we did a classic split two and two. I got one correct. Christopher got one correct. We also got one wrong. So you would think that maybe we would have a little bit of satisfaction and a bit of redemption in the Friday fade, the thing that can never ever miss. We picked the leafs, the lowly leaves over the hurricanes and they did lose. It was in extra time, which makes it a little bit more palatable, but it was still a loss, a loss on the Friday fade. You never see that.

You knew the entire weekend was in shambles, Daniel, when that happens. It was a terrible, devastating result. Yet again, this week, Friday, two, two games. So there's sparse pickings. Which one strikes a chord with you, Professor? We have an Atlantic matchup in the wings and sabres, and the sabres are the best team in the world. So you could think we could pick the wings

But their backs are against the wall So I'm not sure we can do that And I look at the Rangers Playing the Blackhawks Well, they are at home They did only manage nine shots On net the other night Which is so, so rubbish

Therefore, we will pick Our Friday Fade The New York Rangers To beat the Chicago Blackhawks We're taking the last place to you The worst of the East East. There are no Canucks. They're no Canucks. But the worst team in the East, they could never win a game. There are some who say that's not much of a fade. When I tell you that the last

place team who didn't manage double digits and shots is going to win a game, I assure you, that is a fade. Now, for our Saturday Selly, we picked young, delightful, Maclin Celebrini versus the Flyers. The sharks were pumped four to one, and Maclin did not score. Pathetic. Pathetic results continue. He had an assist that does not get us paid. This weekend, Daniel, some of my eyes upon, Tage Thompson and the surging sabers versus the spunk at home. That could be a goal.

Wyatt and Robo, near leading the league on the road. You know, I don't know of a road, Sally, but playing the pens who have been a bit porous. Forgive me, Dr. Watkins, but the pens have been porous. Not very good. Not indeed. So Wyatt and Robo there And then Cooch, Daniel Cooch,

who leads the league in points already. We said by the end of the year, he already leads the league in points, and he has 40 goals. Cooch at Home versus the Sends is interesting as well. I like your first pick. Tage Thompson at home versus the spunk that feels like it's going to see fruit.

Let's go with Tage. Let's go with Tage. To round out our past weekend of debauchery. The Sunday hat trick parley. We gave you Tampa Money Line under 6.5 and a Kutcheoff point. Tampa Bay lost. It was

4-3 and overtime for a total of seven. And Kooch had one assist, which feels pointless, considering he had 12 points in the three previous games. A deplorable, deplorable bet. Absolutely abysmal. Now, what do we have this week as we try to get back on track?

The matchups are as follows. Cats at rags, preads at lightning, Habs at Cains, Bruins at Jackets, Hocs at Devils, Stars at Flyers. Now, there were two that seemed interesting to mine eyes. I'd like you to take point. I selected Tage for the Saturday, Sally. Here, tell me what you feel in your gut. This is perfect, Daniel, because I wanted to go stammer bowl, which is Pred's lightning.

But Daniel, remember, we burn and we learn. We burn and we learn. right and the the habs just beat the canes so now we will be burn and then we learn so the canes money line must come home under 6.5 because it was over and a Seth Jarvis point you burn and you learn and you make your money a friend of the program point I love that that's fantastic for our Sunday hat-trick parley now let's get into the mega live on a beach parley run through the games we'll run around the horn Christopher starting with you A near frozen frenzy, gentlemen. Fiction games. We started with me last mega and it was pathetic and gutless. So Dr. Watkins, I will in fact start with you. For the first matchup, we have Sends and Bolt's.

Senators. Senators, doctor. Very nice. Very nice. Daniel, cats at aisles. I will take the aisles. Christopher, ducks at oilers. Give me the ducklings.

Give me the ducklings to take control of the Pacific. Dr. Watkins, wild at Bruins. Give me the wild. Yes, Doctor. Daniel, stars at Penns. I, fortunately, I think I will take the stars. Oh, the poor pens, the poor pens. Bastard!

It's the correct. Christopher. Devils at Keynes. Cains, back on track, Keynes. Daniel, Sharks at Jackets. I will take the jackets. Dr. Watkins, Spunk at Sabers. Have to go Sabers.

Yes, yes. Christopher, Leifes at Blues. Well, give me the Blues. Give me the Blues. Daniel, Habs at Preds. Take the Predators. Dr. Watkins, Jets at Avs. Avalanche. Christopher, Flyers at Wings. Detroit Must.

I fucked them last week. They might fuck me again. Give me the wings, please. Daniel, remember that, Kings. another one, it just devastates me to say, but I've just spent so much time in Utah and I love them so much, I'll take the manner. It's too good. Dr. Watkins, Canucks at Flames. And then Christopher, caps at nights. Vegas has been deplorable LT revenge tour, possibly give me the caps. Fantastic. So we have the Sends, Isles, Ducks, Wild Stars, Cains, Jackets, Sabers, Blues, Blues, Preds, wings, mammoth, flames, and caps.

That is your live on a beach. Saturday mega parlay. Now, let us get into life on the line. We went two and two last week. We need to hit this. We've hit this twice before. Let's round it three. Let's make it a roundup and get three.

Who would like to start? I can't remember, Jay. I believe. We need to, it doesn't fucking matter. It does. It does. It does. It does.

It does. It's fat. When is it ever. Every time you say, I can't remember who did it first last time. It doesn't matter. It doesn't work. We should check. We should check the...

Do you feel like going first or not, you fucking imbecile? Yes. Let me proceed. Let me proceed. Leg number one of the life on the line, parley. L.T. was given his Vegas layoff. Yet somehow still the knights hum along. But signing Moner and missing playoffs, that's sad.

Sounds like M. Knight Charmolot. Very good. Give me the Caps money life. Finally, a nice soliloquy that won't send you to jail. A twist ending, if you were. Yes, yes, the rhyme itself was M. Night Shyamalan. Very good, doctor. Very good.

Well done. All right, my first. We love the sharks, but Columbus has a spark. Could it be that the good vibes have run out? Sharks are starting to spiral. They haven't won in a while. Even the horniest fan base is starting to pout. The jackets aren't slowing.

It looks like they're growing. And staying hot is absolutely a must. If there's one thing to know, the cannons will blow because Blue Jackets fans are about to bust. Blue Jackets money line. There we go. Back to the perverted. stuff. There we go. There we go. Daniel. It's only going to get worse. I actually behaved,

I would say. I behaved. Okay. Next leg. Next leg. Life on the line. The Panthers summer was Barkoff and his sorny while Schaefer was doing calisthenics and dry land. Florida still wants playoff love. They're feeling horny. But say it with me, that's the wrong island. Give me the Isles Money Line? How funny is it? He said, I behaved before this. He was like, I actually behaved this week. He tricked us.

He tricked us. All right. And the final leg, The Cole may be old, but truth be told, this Predator's team is a blast. Good hockey and honky-tong, you can bet your badunk-a-donk. Playoffs on Broadway has me at half-mast.

Cole's looking shifty. He might even get 50. But in this matchup, their swan song has been sung. The habs are just infants. Their chances are distant. We know that the predators like them young. The Preds Money Line. Yes, gentlemen, this comes home.

This comes home, I can tell. Oh, good disgrace. So we have the Preds and the Blue Jackets and Caps and the Isles. That is your life on the... line, Pala. Brilliant stuff from the professors. Now, we'll take a break and return. Thank you so much to the professors. We, as we have said many times, we're here in Utah and Ev, we're very happy to have you for this discussion because I cannot be in Utah without just having a blast with Mormon culture. Bring them. We've got it. Bring them young. That's what the name is.

If you're going to bring them, bring them young. Bring them off and bring them young. I have never heard that. That is a incredible joke. It's a friend of mine's grandpa said it. It's a very old band joke. That is a great joke and I'm taking it and now I'm going to use it and thank you so much. I absolutely love it.

We have talked about the Book of Mormon on this show before. One of the greatest plays of all time, musicals of all time. And if you haven't seen it, go see the Book of Mormon. And I think my favorite thing about the Book of Mormon is how good of sports Mormons are with the Book of Mormon. I have talked to many Mormon people who are like, I think Book of Mormon is so funny. But just quickly touching on Mormonism in general, a quick Google search and a quick Wikipedia page reading, the origins of Mormonism is, and Latter-day Saints is absolutely unbelievable. Yes. Like, it is just truly wild stuff. And I love it.

I can't believe how, and maybe this is because it's what you see, but I can't believe how prevalent it is. And I know like that sounds, or that should be obvious, but it's just, it's funny to me that, um, this religion like it started here, right? That's how, that's how this works. Yeah, I think that they moved here for, to create their own space. Yeah. Essentially. Yes. And, and because, Ev, I kept comparing it, because we have friends that have moved here and I was talking about the perks of living here.

because I legitimately might move to Salt Lake City. It's so awesome. I'm not kidding. And I was like, is, is, what's, because we were comping it to, um, Scientology in, in LA, right? I was like, oh, that's, not in a way of the religion. I'm saying like, oh, there's Scientology in L.A., but I don't see it ever. Like I don't, you know, that doesn't impact my life in any way.

Oh, but it does in ways you don't know. Yes, you're right. I'm being controlled. I didn't even realize. But I was like, oh, you probably don't even. encounter any Mormonism here. But that's not true. You do. Like, it actually is so prevalent here, which is actually really impressive that it just completely flourishes. So what's interesting is as the story goes, on September 22nd, 1823, Joseph Smith found the golden plates inside a stone box

buried on the west side of a prominent hill near his home in Manchester, New York. So he found the golden plates in New York. Interesting. I forgot about that. But then Joseph Smith moved Mormonism and Latter-day Saints to Utah. And as Chris said, the way it has taken hold in this state is

nothing short of fascinating. It's amazing. I mean, we were at Flanker and a mammoth fan came up to us, started chatting with us, awesome dude. Great dude. And Chris was like, let me buy you a drink. And he was like, I'm Mormon. I don't drink. And Chris was like, oh, sweet. So he got

lemonade and we were just like hanging chit-chatting and then we started talking about skiing and there's a thing on alta mountain called an altabom that is a shot of espresso that you drop into a beer crazy crazy town and chris was talking to this guy about skiing and he was like dude if you done an altabom i got to get you an altabom and the guy was like again i am Mormon i don't drink and also can't have caffeine and i was like double trouble i overheard it and i was like you can't have caffeine you can't drink And he's like, we can't have tea, brother. And I was like, what the fuck is going on? So.

But can't they have Diet Coke or something? Isn't there some loophole? I think they must be able to have diet. Or maybe it's just coffee. I'm going to look. I don't know. I'm going to look. But every time we learn of these new laws and rules, it's just so interesting, dude.

It's against the law to throw a snowball in Provo. Oh, yeah, that was sick. You can't throw a snowball in Provo. That's good thing. How funny is it? Wow, a good thing I didn't do that. I was there for a week and I was very tempted. If you come to Utah, be aware, you also can't hunt elephants or whales.

Yeah, you can't do anything to a whale in Utah. That's a law. That's a loss. How would you even, if you go to the zoo? You go to SeaWorld with a shotgun? Hey, Evan, that's a great question. I don't know where you think you're going to find a whale in this state, but if you do, you can't hunt it. So just know that. The elephant thing, too, is also confusing. I mean, I know they have mammoth, the mascot, but, you know. You said. There are mammoth walking the streets around here. Okay, Dan, so this says that the restriction focuses on hot drinks only. So there's no ban on caffeine. You just can't have tea or coffee because they're hot drinks, but you can have soda and... Could you presumably have an ice coffee?

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I don't know. I mean, dude, people think soaking is a good loophole. Talk about ice coffee. And Dan, I would even argue... Well, I guess you can't have the beer. I was going to say, I would argue the alt-bomb, that espresso cools right off very quickly. You know, like, I didn't, that wasn't hot at all. That wasn't hot at all. Maybe you get an N-A-bier. You get an N-A-b beer. Drop the espresso and let it cool. And a de-calf espresso. Yeah. No, no, no. Is that a thing? No, you can have the caffeine. That's what I'm saying.

That's right. Just can't be hot. Can't be hot. That's interesting. You can have the caffeine, but we can't have the caffeine. That's true. But chuggett the caffeine. But chug a hot coffee. Regular chug and ice coffee, but chug a hot coffee. Yes. And then you're good. What blows my mind, Ev, is the, like, listen, the Church of Latter-day Saints. Yeah. Mormonism?

Fantastic. Do your thing. I can't believe how much it's taken root in government here. Yes. It's like to have a very prevalent presence in the state is not shocking to me. But the fact that it is found root in the law. laws and legislature of the state. Yeah, yeah, they've got like a little local theocracy going on.

It's crazy, dude. You can't buy alcohol on Sundays. It's like there, you, so, Ev, let me ask me that. They've got like the shot measurements on every bottle of the bars. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can't get it, you cannot get a, um, a martini because it's like more than one shot of vodka. Oh, dude, I didn't even think about that. You're never, you're never going to find a heavy pour.

No, dude, your martini, your martini comes out like this bit, you know, like, it's like a cup for a mouse. Yeah, and it comes out. like this bag and you're like, my olive can't even get underwater, you know? The sex in the city ladies would not do well in Utah. I need Utah folks to come into the comments and let us know on this

because I think Chris Scottie said, our friend out here Scotty said that you can order a double. It's just like measured, but no triple. But the doubles are sorry, the regular is a half. So when people are ordering doubles, they're just ordering a regular drink where we come from. You know what I'm saying?

Like the regular drink is this much. So when you go, I have a double, they go, yes. I can't tell if he's frozen or literally. I think he's literally frozen. No, I'm not. I'm not. Is that true?

Yes, Dan. It's a half drink. So a double is a normal. So when you go, can I have a double? They go, yes, but that's just our drink. And then if you go, can I have a triple, they go, no. You cannot. I will say, I was also, because I stayed in Provo for a film festival last October and had a

great time. And I think you're right, Dan. Like, everybody's very polite, very nice. You know what I mean? So it's amazing. But I didn't actually, you know, I didn't do what Book of Mormon does and actually like make fun of their religion in the face. But I could see how that that would track because everybody was very cool and very chill. Dude, I have two thoughts.

And so here's my, because we were talking to Scotty about, are there any cons of moving here? And so that's how this came up, the alcohol thing. And Dan made a good point where he was like, you can't, I was like, you can't buy alcohol on Sunday. And Dan was like, dude, you would get used to that in a month. And you just buy it on Saturday. It was the same way in Savannah. I went to school in Savannah, Georgia for college. And in that county, at least, as far as I remember, you couldn't buy alcohol on Sundays.

Yeah, I mean, Ev, my college was in a dry town. And here's the thing, we just drove to the next town. Yeah, it wasn't difficult. Yeah, drunk. It's fine. Yeah, yeah. Hammer, absolutely shifted. Loaded out, boys.

Yeah. We're not condoning that. Just F-1. Yes, do not. Do not. Do not drive drunk. Uber. So here's my two thoughts.

Number one, and I mean this, this feels unfair. If you want to go, we serve half shots in their drinks, that is fine. Like, I can live in this world. But per Scotty, the price of that drink is what it would be anywhere. Like, they charge the same. And I never begrudge a business to make their money. But you are using less of the alcohol. Like the bar, the only one winning here is the bars who are doubling their profits because

they're serving the same price for half the drink. And I'm like, dude, if you just made these drinks, cheaper too, I wouldn't have any issue with this, where they go, oh, dude, you order a vodka soda in Utah, you only get this much vodka. And I go, I don't give a shit. I only pay half price too. So yeah, I got to order more, but it's like, all good. That's the thing, man.

Think about what is valued here. They're not charging you for the liquor, brother. They're charging you for the soda. To the soda. Dan, this is big soda. Oh, my God, Dan. This is literally all big soda. They've got their own sort of boutique, local soda stuff going on.

Oh, yeah. There's like Utah specific sodas all over the place. Right. And that just threw me for a loop, dude. This is a big soda play. Okay. I actually think then that Utah should go, we offer vodka tap, which I like. Vodka taps are half price because I go.

That's a good deal. I'll drink them. You squirt a lime in there. I'll drink them. Vodka taps need to be half price. So there's thought number one. Thought number two is being Mormon is actually awesome when you don't feel like drinking. And it's like a thing that you're like, I don't want to do this.

I don't want to beer here. I want to be healthy. I go like this. I'm actually a Mormon. I'm actually doing a trial. Their culture is not your costume. I'm not. It isn't a costume, dude.

I'm in trial Mormon for two weeks. Seeing how it goes. Seeing how my body feels. You're going to sporadically go through trial Mormonism every time you don't want to drink. Just to see how it feels, Dan. Try it on. Try it on.

I think that's nice because no one busts your balls at all. When you go, you want to drink and they go, I'm Mormon. No one goes, what the fuck is wrong with you? They go, oh, of course. I'm sorry I asked. Because if you say, Because if you say mysteriously, oh, I don't drink anymore like that, man.

He hit rock bottom. Yeah, I was about to say, because notoriously, if you go like this, I am actually, I am sober. I'm sober now. People go, boo, fuck you. That's what you are trying to fix your life. If you get to go, I'm sober now or Mormon, no one cares. If you go, oh, I'm like, I'm not drinking. You know what?

It actually is true if you go like this. I'm actually off the sauce this weekend, just trying to stay healthy. people like this, you fuck you. Yeah. Like what's what happened? I can't have fun unless your liver gets damaged, okay? Yes. But if you go, I'm Mormon, they go, dude, that's awesome.

I'm happy, never mind. All good, do you want a lemonade? And I go, yes, please. So we're going to see how that shakes out, dude. So as we wrap up here, we are deciding that we're all taking Mormonism for a spin. Take it for a spin. That's going to be fantastic. Let's go for a week, and we'll come back and we'll report our findings.

We'll see you next Thursday's episode and see how it went. We're all be wearing suits and ties. Yeah. Yeah. With a nice book in our hands. Yeah. Hello. My name is Elder Powers.

Yes. Listen, shout out to Utah. Shout out to the mammoth. This was an unbelievable trip and an unbelievable episode to wrap it all up. Hope you had a blast, everybody. Guys, go follow us on all the accounts. Five-star reviews on Spotify and Apple, wherever you get you podcast. Subscribe to the YouTube, all that good stuff.

You're going to see some great videos coming up from this Utah trip. So make sure you're subscribe so you don't miss those. We love you babes. Have an amazing, safe, fun, and happy weekend. And until we see you next week, enjoy some good hockey. And remember the number one rule. Skate hard. This time of year, the school calendar really starts to fill up. Spring activities, testing season, and that final push toward the end of the year. It's a great moment for kids to stay focused and build confidence in what they're learning. That's where I-XL comes in. I-XL is an award-winning online learning. learning platform that helps kids truly understand their schoolwork, from math and reading to writing and science. It's designed for pre-k through 12th grade, with personalized interactive content that adapts to each child's level and pace. I-XL makes it easy to stay on track with instant feedback and clear explanations, skills organized by grade level, and simple progress

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