Empty Netters Podcast - Rutger McGroarty Is Sidney Crosby's Heir, Has Won USA Gold, And Loves Billie Eilish | EP.221

Episode Date: August 19, 2025

Rutger McGroarty is so fired up for this season in Pittsburgh and he tells the guys all about it. His stories of captaining the US team to a world junior gold medal set a standard for how he is as a teammate. Plus his time at Michigan was electric, don’t miss out. Also, CP has started reading hockey smut and tells DP the gory details. NEW EPISODES EVERY TUESDAY & THURSDAY! 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! 00:00 INTRO 02:47 RUTGER MCGROARTY 1:07:25 FAN MAIL 1:19:05 PUCKED 1:36:29 BEER LEAGUE HOTLINE 1:40:05 BLIND RANKING Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I don't know if I'm a lot to say this, but, like, we were getting, like, B. No way. Through, like, DM and stuff, yeah. So, like, we didn't really want to, like, leave the hotel. Ice is ready, and we are back with another episode of the empty netters podcast, brought to you by BEDMGM. I'm your host, Dan Powers, and along with me,

a man who once tore his groin off the bone riding a mechanical bull at a New Year's Eve party in Seattle, Washington. Chris Powers. Played through it. As always. Seeing you the next morning, limping around while we had to record an episode, limping around, looking like Kaiser Sose.

And I go, damn, had a crazy night. That was a fucking spoiler. Well, that movie's very old. Well, that was a fucking, that was a fucking spoiler. I didn't say what movie it is. You mean either. That was crazy. Road to Mechanical Bowl, you're so old and decrepit that you tore your groin, you fucking

loser. Just wanted to stay on two more seconds. Holy shit is this episode sick, Dan. Oh my God. This kid, I don't even know what to say. Me neither. I don't even know what to say. We've been teasing it.

We've been teasing it since the end of last week. Teased it on hockey talk. We've got Rutker McGrody, University of Michigan legend. Yep. Gold medalist. Yep. Fucking beauty. and now stud prospect for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

I'm not kidding. I said this to you. Rutt, 21 years old, our boy, has completely changed my outlook on life. I'm not joking. Me neither. It took a kid, just a great kid to come in and change me a guy in my 30s, my entire outlook on life. Since speaking, and we've known him for a while now,

but since talking to him on the pod, doing research on him, listening to just, just the way he goes about himself, I have been the happiest I've ever been since speaking to this guy because he just changed my entire outlook on the way to walk through life. I think that we are... You change my life. We're always rooting...

Just about every single person that's ever come on this show, I've become a fan of and I'm now rooting for, you know? Yeah. But this kid, I want... I feel like his... Well, I already have a child, I guess, but I was going to say, I feel like his parents. All I want is his happiness.

But that's the thing. That is what you will hear from him. It's like that's exactly what he exudes. And we want you to feel it. So let's kick it now to the interview with Rutgers McGrady, Pittsburgh Penguins, future superstar. If not already. We are joined today by a Lincoln Nebraska native, the 2022 Biosheel All-American Game MVP,

an all-Beg10 first-team All-Star at the University of Michigan, a world championship silver medalist, a world junior bronze medalist, and the captain of a world junior gold medalist team, the 14th overall pick of the 2022 NHL draft to the Winnipeg Jets, and current rising star of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Rutger McRourty, welcome to the Empty Netters podcast. Thanks, guys. Wow, what an introduction. Long time coming, dude.

Thanks, guys. Yeah, honestly, I'm excited. I've been looking forward to this. Dude, before we dive into all the hockey stuff, you got to give us a quick. highlight of the golf trip. Yeah, that was incredible. I mean, Arcadia Bluffs. We went up there.

Like, it's kind of the trip that made out of the group chat. Like, we've been saying, like, oh, like, let's do this, let's do this, let's do this. And then I'm best buddies with Cutter-Gocchio. And he was like, all right, we're doing this. And so he got all the tea times. We got the Airbnb. And then two of his Boston college buddies came out. And then we golfed Kingsley, Arcadia Bluffs, the South Course there.

And then high point. Oh, my God. I didn't shoot good. Who cares, dude. I'm not the best golfer. But, like, I hit one drive down the fairway. The only one I hit down the fairway and the lake was in the background and, like, the hills. And I actually felt like primary for a second.

Yeah. I'm like, wow, that was incredible. That's so huge. Dude, is that rare for cuts or is he kind of a planner of the group? Um, I would say Cutter definitely, he doesn't, I would say, yeah, that's, that's not rare. I feel like Cutter definitely plans the stuff. He, he acts on it. Um, I feel like Cut is, he's a dog and he, he loves that stuff. I was going to say, I can actually see that from him. Like, I can see him one, like, listen, we've been running our mouths about this. I'm going to make it fucking happen. But you need that guy in the group. That's huge. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Dude, he's pretty good, too, eh? I think. I was texting the other day about the fucking pro athlete golf tour, which you guys all have to come to next year. Yeah, yeah. But I was texting about that when I was inviting you too. And I was like, how are you? How's your game? And he was like, uh, like not good.

You know, I'm a, I'm a five or something. And I was not good, dude. Yeah. He's down to a 2.5 now. Yeah. Oh, God. Dude, no. He was sandbagging you.

Yeah. No, he's sweet. Dude. Like he's, he's the. type of guy that like if he's not good at something like he'll find a way to be good at it and that's a part of the reason why he's so good is because like he just he's the first guy in the rank first guy to leave the or last guy to leave the rank like just that kind of mentality like he's a dog it also frustrates me so much too because he's um you know i post a video of one of my drives and we're out

golfing and he you know text me and he's like swing looks good and when i know he's a stick i'm like Fuck you. Fuck you. Don't patriotism. Yeah. Yeah. No. He's like, let me know.

He's like, comment long drive if you want a lesson, Dan. Yeah. No, it sucks because, like, he's my best buddy. And, like, we go out golfing. Like, we golf probably two to three times a week. And he's like, all right, how many strokes do you want today? Yeah. Yeah.

He's still. He spends what kind of mood he's in. Yeah. Give me all of them. Yeah. Stop messing with me, dude. Yeah. That's amazing.

Oh, my God. So as we jump into the hockey stuff, man, there's one thing that just needs to be at the forefront because I feel like it's every hockey person's dream. But, you know, it's a pressing matter. But there's a really funny clip of you on social media when you just got called back to Pitt on your 21st birthday and you're playing on a line with Sid. And you said that no one, not in your family, not Kay, has ever gotten you a present that good. So I want to know what was that run for, what was that run like for you when you're out there all of a sudden on a line with one of the greatest ever do it. Yeah, I mean, obviously, like, everybody knows what he's done in this game and

the great person that he is. And I think the coolest part about Sid is, like, he could just be sitting here, like, on this pod and, like, be talking, like, a normal guy. And, like, he's just such a genuine great human being. And I think when I got up and, like, I saw that I was playing with him and, like, first practice, like, he made me feel so comfortable and, like, feel great in that environment. And then obviously, like, starting the game and, like, seeing him during the national anthem and then lining up for that first face off with them, like, it's super cool. But then I think in the game, like, at the end of the day, like, we're all hockey players out there. And so, like, I'm just trying my best. Like, it's my first time getting called up since the start of the

season. So, like, I want to play my best and do my thing. So I think playing with him is unbelievable and it's so cool. But there is a moment where, like, I have to be. And I have to go out there and play my game and do what I can do. But like, there's like, like one thing that stands out was like I gave him this pass. It was just like like an absolute flutter like horrible pass. Just a pizza. Like then he grabs it with his skate and like continues a skate full full stride. Like I'm like, that's not normal. Like you can't do that. Yeah. I'm like that's unfair. Like you cannot do that. Um, but yeah, I think I can't stress enough like how great of a guy he is. Like people talk about it online and like this, that, but like, Sid is such an incredible human and such a great

guy and made me feel so welcome. Well, what's interesting, man, is I feel like it doesn't matter if you're a rookie or if you are a 10-year vet. Playing with him for the first time is one of those larger-than-life feelings, I would imagine. In case anyone listening doesn't know, I never played with Sid. So, but what are some of the things that he does? Like, maybe even those little things, whether it be in the locker room on the bench or on the ice, that try to make it for you, like it's not that big big deal. It's just another shift with another teammate.

Yeah. I would say the big thing with him is communication, like making sure I know, like, all the face off plays, all the different things. Like, if you see something in the game, like, he'll let me know, but not in like a bad way, but like he's just like, hey, like, maybe do this next time. Or like, if you see me running this route, then you run this route.

Like, it's just like normal hockey talk. And, like, he makes, like, he puts me in a comfortable environment that, like, I'm used to. And, like, he talks hockey with me because, like, obviously my life has revolved around hockey. So, like, I think that, like, him talking to me about that stuff, like, puts me in a comfortable environment and, like, allows me to play free and, like, allows me to, like, pick up on certain things that he does. And then especially, like, things, like, he was asking me, like, what I like to do, what I like to do are, like some of my, like, habits that I do during the game. And so, like, I could tell him that. And I'm like, well, that's pretty cool. Like, Sid's asking me some of my habits.

So, um, like, just saying that's, he meant like on Saturdays. He's like, I like, I like hike and go, and he's like, dude, go back door. I actually, I actually love carving pumpkins, Sid. I don't know. I actually love, and really enjoy carving pumpkins and eating pumpkin seeds. Um, and chipping my tooth on dill pickles seeds. Yeah. Um, no, but he, he's, he's an incredible guy.

And I think in the locker room, too. is like I think he loves like seeing us and like we got like a really hungry group especially down in Wilkes like we had such a great crew this year of competitive like hardworking guys but also like great guys so like when we came up like it was pretty cool for us to see how mature they are and like why they've been so successful and then also for us like our goal was to go in there and like give them some juice and um help help the team win so i feel like uh playing with sid was was definitely incredible yeah oh dude well actually that's a perfect transition because i wanted to talk about the team right now and it's interesting because it's kind of in a weird spot where it's

like that chorus had such tremendous tremendous success three cups and you know they're getting old i guess sid's not getting older because he's like 25 still somehow but that guy can play until he's 70. It's nuts, dude. Absolutely nuts. But, you know, they've missed, the Penguins have missed playoffs for the last three years, right? Which is not the standard that has been set there over the last two decades, basically,

during Sid and Gino's tenure and Tangers tenure. As part of the youth movement on that team, does it feel like there's pressure to, like, we've got to write the ship, we've got to get back in playoffs, because there's all that smoke that's like, people don't want Sid to go out this way and stuff. What does that feel like as being one of the young guys on the team? for me I would say just like I'm a competitor like I feel like everywhere I've been like I've always played on winning teams and like I always help try and be a part of that so I think for me like going into camp especially just going in there and not having any regrets and going in there and guns ablazing and try and play my best and then hopefully I make the team and then just bring that juice. I think there's no really pressure. I would just say go in there every day with the same attitude. And I feel like that's, that's what I bring. I feel like that's what a lot of the young

guys bring. So I think, I wouldn't say there's any pressure, but I would definitely say that, like, no one wants to lose, like, obviously. So I think going in there, having good attitude every day. And like, it's super cliche to say, but, like, it's a hard thing to do. Like, yeah, dude. Like going in there every day, bringing the same juice, bringing the same energy, playing my game every day and just being consistent, I think is the biggest thing. What's the vibe like with how split the locker room is from an age perspective? Obviously, it's not split, or I would hope it's not split from a vibes perspective, but you've got so many, you know, all time, Hall of Fame veterans in that locker room. And then you really do have this great next wave with guys like you. is, does everyone do a great job of meshing together and just making it feel like this awesome

culture that's been there for so many years? Yeah, absolutely. Like, something that stands out to me was, like, my first time up, like, at the start of the year, like, doing team dinners, like, hanging out together. And, like, especially in the locker and, like, it would be very easy for those guys, like, not to talk to a, I was 20 years old at the time, like, and they're established guys. And, like, they're making me feel so welcome. and like it's a family.

And I feel like those guys are super competitive as well. So competing with each other in practice. And I think there's no divide at all. I think that they have done such an amazing job. And especially those three guys have done incredible. Like I sat next to Malkin my first time up and then I sat next to Sid my second time up. And just talking to those guys, they're still great guys, great hockey players.

Like, yeah, they've had a long career. but they're still unbelievable guys that make you feel so welcome. There's a reason that they're talked about as the best leaders to ever do it. It's because they know how to run the ship. They know how to make everybody feel welcome and create that family environment. Yeah, no doubt about it. Does Gino pretend he can't speak English to you? No, no, no.

Geno's been great. Like, especially after I scored my first goal, like he came up to me in the locker in St. Louis. and he's like, congrats, record. Congrats. I mean, you got that, you got that pick, that epic pick of you with the Gino shirt on. So, you know, he had to show you some love. That's unbelievable. No, totally.

That was when I was like 10 years old. That was my first ever time playing in Honeybaked, like in like a tryout tournament in Pittsburgh. And I was wearing the beginning molligan jersey. So sick. I had used the word pressure, but maybe actually from what you're talking about with the attitude down in Wilkes and what you guys were building there and all the development people they were bringing in for you. guys maybe it's more excitement right yeah like maybe that's the word where it's like you guys are excited about what you're going to be able to do i think the things that they've done in pick

especially with like the development is the best like there's there's nothing that can compare to that like how can you it's elaborate on that for the people like the quality it's not just how much we do it like it's the quality too like they have the best at every position if it's skating, if it's skills, if it's wall work, if it's, like, it doesn't matter, like, they have it. And, like, the amount of video, like, and Kirk MacDonald and the A, like, the head coach, like, did such a phenomenal job. And I think, I would say that it is excitement, because I feel like we're all, like, we can see it and, like, we can see the improvements throughout the year and we can see how much better we've gotten. And, like, especially for me, like, at the start

of the year, I've said this before, but, like, at the start, like, I was just surviving out there. and then when I went out, like, the second time, I felt like I could actually make an impact on the game. And, like, my game still isn't where I wanted it to be. Like, I feel like I can still improve. And, like, this summer's been huge. But, like, I think that, like, I actually got better throughout the year. And that was the coolest part for me.

So I would say it's a lot of excitement of, like, how much we're improving and how much better we're getting and, like, like, eager to, like, go and, like, help and, like, go, like, bring that juice and bring that energy. Well, I think you are such a good example of, of the right attitude to have when you have had that experience of going from the A back to the show. And that's not something that everyone has. When you said you are, you're a competitor, you've played at the highest level your whole life, you've been on really good teams your whole life and you yourself have been a star, a contributor

on all those teams. What is it about your mentality that allows you to have that positive outlook when you do things like, listen, you don't want to be in the HL, you want to be in the NHL. But when you've gone, everyone we've talked to, all of your coaches, all of your teammates, say that you've just had the best attitude ever and you take that everywhere you go. What is that mentality that you carry that keeps you that positive making you want to get to the next level? That's a good question.

I think for me, like, I wear my heart on my sleeve and, like, I don't fake it. Like, you know what you're going to get for me every day. And, like, that's something that I've really taken a lot of pride in. And, like, especially, like, my mom and my grandpa, like, have done such a great, like, they're just the two, like, happiest. go lucky humans I've ever met my life. And so when I've been around that, my whole life, like, it's just, it's hard not to be like that. So I feel like walking into the rink with a smile on your face and the dog days of February when it's super cold outside.

And, like, you might have just lost two, three games in a row, like, coming into the rink and, like, bringing that juice and, like, being competitive in practice, like, getting the guys going. Like, I feel like that's something that I've done such a great job of throughout my career. And, like, I'm going to keep doing. so I think like I just I don't fake it I feel like I think just wearing my heart of my sleeve and being who I am and just hopefully getting the best set of it yeah well going back to your early days you just mentioned your family and how they were such an integral part in your game you played in the brick invitational and from there it was off to Detroit and then the dev program it's an amazing story but I'm fascinated by where it all started I mean you attended your first hockey game at three days old which is an

unbelievable. A wild is that. It's so sick, dude. I can't believe they allowed that. Dude. I agree. Not to do that. I was like,

I was like, I was like, I was like, I was saying, like, you can't even let dogs touch grass for like three months.

And there's like, you're fucking newborn in a rink. I was like, it's insane. Yeah. In Omaha Nebraska, too, at that point.

Like, like, of all places, like a small hockey market, like a three-day-old at a playoff hockey game in the USAHL. It's unbelievable. But, you know,

you love to play, you love to skate with your friends every chance you got. You're the first kid from Nebraska to play at the Dev program, the second ever drafted player and the highest by far, and only the fourth ever to make the NHL. Talking about your family, those first experiences, where you come from, where you grew up, what does it mean to you to be all of those things for the state that you're from and your family and friends who helped you get there? It means everything. Like honestly, like the, again, that's a cliche answer, but like it truly does, like, thinking about all the kids in the small hockey markets.

Like my dad and I just went to Oklahoma City to run a camp this summer and like giving back to those small hockey markets and saying like, you'll get your shot. Like, just work hard. Like, be the kid that you are. Don't fake it. Like, work as hard as you can. And like one day, like, you'll get your shot. And like if you don't get your shot in hockey, then you'll be successful in life. Like, I just think like nowadays, like, you just, you got to want.

it and I think that that was the coolest part for me was like my dad that was a lot of my dad and mom like when I was younger is like just like teaching me the grind and like embracing the grind because like 82 games a season like that's what you're working towards to play in the NHL like that is a grind and like you got to be able to like bring it every day and like it's all about consistency so I think being in Nebraska and like my parents teaching me that and then like giving back to like the small hockey markets like because that's all about. I was once that kid. And so showing kids that, like, hey, like, it's possible. You can do it. And so I think especially hockey is expanding so much, especially after four nations, like, like hockey is, like, growing so much and it's so cool to see. So, like, I think my dad and I are going back to Nebraska next summer to run a hockey camp. Like, I just think, like, it would be so cool to go back and talk to those kids and

hear their story, too, because, like, talk to them about, like, AAA tournaments they've done or double eight tournaments they've done and like maybe try and help them out. And even if it's not in hockey, like just being the most successful human that you can be. So I think that having an impact on those kids is super cool for me. And it's really cool that I can do that for them. You know, I feel like you kind of answered the next question I was going to ask, but it seems like you have a ton of love for Nebraska and that community. And growing the game more and more there is important to you.

Yeah. Absolutely. I think that, like, I just, I love hockey so much. Like, it's been my whole life. Like, I moved away at 10. Like, and it's been all I know. I would say when I went to Michigan, I expanded more and, like, got to meet, like, new people, which was really cool for me. But I think, like, I just want people to enjoy the love that I have for hockey. Because, like, it's such a beautiful sport. It's such a fast pace, like, physical, hard, like, especially, like, mentally, like, how much your, how fast your brain has to move. Like, I just love everything about the sport. And so, like, if I can share that with someone or, like, get someone to play hockey or something like that, like, I just think, why not? Because, like, I want someone to have the love that I have for it. Like, it's so cool. I look at places like Nebraska, too, and I'm like, become a hockey state, dude. Like, Arizona did it, dude? Yeah.

Like, come on. It's like that. Like, you and L, like, the cornhuskers, like, if they got a D1 team. Oh, could you imagine? Especially, like, down south, like, they're talking about, like, getting, getting D1 team. Could you imagine if the South got hockey teams? Dude, they're going to. I'm not positive.

In the next 10 years, it's gone. Right. We were actually talking about it a few episodes ago because a lot of these club programs, which is actually really solid hockey. It's like I think it was the University of Tampa, 1-1, Miami-1. And then you see these club teams and they're like seeing the University of Miami hockey jerseys. I'm like, oh, my fucking. Alabama, dude.

Like, dude, bye-bye Boston schools getting good hockey play. They're all going to go down to the ACC. Imagine. Imagine. Oh, that would be so cool. It's so sick. It's coming. And the jerseys would be nasty.

That's what I'm saying, dude. We'll send you a pick. The Miami club team uniforms are fucking gross. They're so sick. Gosh, that would be so cool. That's crazy. Rutz, did your dad sneak away a spare key to the ice box still? Could you guys get in there and get a few laughs?

I don't know about anymore, but the icebox was my home for a while. That place was incredible. Dude, being able to just go skate with your friends is unbelievable, whatever you guys want. It's amazing. Like, I feel like that's really where, like, the love of the game starts is, like, being, and like, you guys know this, like, going out on the ice when you're seven years old and, like, there's no structure, nothing, and you're just snapping the pill around with your boys and messing around and maybe someone hits someone, someone goes down crying, like, it's like that stuff

where, like, the competitive juices start to flow. and like I think it starts at such a young age to like to teach someone that like about like the competitive juices and like just how to be a good person. So I think that starting that as such a young age was huge for me. Not only on the ice, but like just as just as a human too. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well, we have, I have a lot.

I want to ask you about Michigan. But my first question is you originally committed to play at Notre Dame and then a little coaching change took place. So tell everyone about that. Yeah, so I committed a Notre Dame at a very young age. I think I was 13 when I committed. And then over the course of the year, or throughout the years, I just honestly, I had a change of heart.

And I just wanted, I didn't know what was best for me at such a young age. And then I decommitted. And then when I decommitted, Brandon Nerato became the head coach at Michigan. And I worked with NAR since I was like 10 years old. old. Like, I remember my dad was a scout for the Hamilton Bulldogs and the O. And so I would be like the little kid up in like the Scouts box like munching on my popcorn like just talking all the scouts like talking to Division 1 scouts at 10 years old. Like I'm like, hey, like who are you? Like what's your name? Like I was just the little shit running around like. And they, uh, and so Brandon Nerato one day had like, it's crazy. crazy to think about because he just struck up a conversation with a little 10-year-old. And then he was like, oh, who's your dad? And I'm like, Jimmy McGrady?

And he's like, Jimmy McGrady? He coached me in juniors. And so I started talking to him. My dad and I ended up going to a hockey school called TPH. Dude, total package. Yeah, you were in there. And so we were there for, I think, half, like five years. and I worked with NAR

and then I would continue to work with him throughout the summers and then I decommitted from Notre Dame and he got the head coaching job at Michigan or he yeah he was coaching at Michigan and I'm like

well this is a no brainer for me and like a couple of my best friends were going like Luca Fantilli Adam Fantilli Gavin Brinley Shames Casey Frank Nazar like and I'm like

30 minutes from home with my best buddies like this is a no-brainer. Dude, I have to know what, first of all, the idea of committing to a division one program at 13 is such a clown show to me. Like, it's like slavery. Like, I don't think we should be doing that.

What was the conversation like when you decommitted? Like, did you handle that? Did you call up the coach? Did you not handle it? No, I gave him a call and just let him know I wasn't going to Notre Dame. And then, yeah, because like I wanted it to be like a mature conversation. and like I didn't want to go behind his back and like yeah like it's my decision that I'm making so I I'll face it head on and and tell him yeah which I respect because you were a child like hey

but I do wonder you know like everyone keeps tabs on everything like I'm sure he saw the fact that for sure Naur was going there yeah not NAR is now the coach you've been working with him you've been at the debt like he was probably like fuck we're going to lose rut here for sure honestly when I decommitted at first like it had nothing to do with not like i had no clue where i was going to go and then i started talking with my parents and i'm like like well how about michigan yeah and they're like how about it like and then it ended up happening pretty pretty good spot so you just named some names and you guys had such an incredible two years there right yeah played with dudes who are several first round draft picks guys

in the n hl right now you go to two frozen fours quinny lewis quinipiac in the first one eventual champs BC in the next one, two Big Ten championships, one you win and you have an epic game in that one. That was sick. Yeah. So was that experience everything you dreamed of? Adobe Acrobat Studio, your new foundation. Use PDF spaces to generate a presentation. Grab your docks, your permits, your moves.

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Yeah, honestly, the reasons I went to Michigan didn't end up being the reasons that I loved it. Like, obviously the best friends reason was incredible and NAR was great, but like how I managed to like balance my life between school, hockey, best friends, in meeting new people.

Like that's something that I really wanted to do was just like my life was 100% hockey up to that point. And so like meeting the cool people at Michigan. Like meeting people from all over the world, the smartest people I've ever met in my life. Like I'm in classrooms and I'm like, shocker, shocker, I didn't get into Michigan off academics.

I'll say it now. I didn't. And so I'm sitting in a classroom with people that are way smarter than me. but just like picking their brains about different things. Like it's so cool because they're the best at what they do. And so there's a lot of similarities between sports, um, academics. Like there's an in between of like how hard you have to work, how hard you have to study like the brain power behind it.

Like so like you can actually relate about like so much stuff and it's so cool. And like I talk to people all the time still that I met at school. And like it is the best university in the world hands down. I'm a little biased, obviously. No, dude. You're right. You're right. But like it is the coolest, coolest school ever.

And like the guys I went to school there with, like, are going to stand up in my wedding. And like, I met like some just incredible people. And like being on that campus is second. Like, it is incredible. Like, incredible. Yeah, I saw in an interview that you were like, you got there and you met like an art student. And he was like, yeah, I make art. And you were like, whoa.

I've just been head out with. I'm in the. Dev program, dude. You don't play hockey? Exactly. Like, I think it was either my first or second day and we're like hanging out in South Quad, like the dorm. And like, I just start shooting it with one of these guys.

And I'm like, what do you do? Like the classic fresh. You're like, no, no, Dan, Rast is like, what position do you play? You forward, you forward or D? Oh, are you forward or D? You're in the hockey team. You're not a bunch of goalie, right? You know, there's 35,000 students that go here, right?

Like, it's not just hockey. I think that was the coolest part is just like opening. my eyes to the world and like how much there is in the world. But like I start I start shooting it with this guy and he's like, I'm here on a full ride for art. And I'm like, holy shit. That's awesome, dude. Like, show me some of your paintings.

Like, yeah. Like, like, like, we're the next Picasso at the University of Michigan. Yeah. Was he a painter? Like, was he literally a painter? I don't know. I don't know what he was. Oh, my God.

We got to get this guy in. There's so much, there's so much in art. But like, to me, like, I just think painting. And so I'm like, show me your paintings. Yeah. But like, we didn't talk for very long, but it was, it was awesome. Dude, I'm going to be honest, getting a full ride on an athletic scholarship is pretty sick. Getting a full ride for being an artist is one of the biggest flexes I've ever seen in my life.

Could you imagine? Imagine being so fucking fire in your high school art class that you get a full ride to Michigan. You're just like, yeah. What do you do? What's your major? Yeah. Art. Art?

God. Jesus. sure dude um we'll be hard to pin down one but just what what's like a favorite game that comes to mind maybe it was big 10 champ or one of the duels in the d whatever but like any any epic games come to mind from that run you guys had oh wow I would say um it's actually such a um I would say my favorite memory is game one versus Wisconsin in the big 10 playoffs um Um, we like horrible snowstorm. Yo sells out every night.

Oh, yeah. It was probably half packed. And it goes to overtime. We score a late goal to tie it up. And we're in overtime and like we're just, we're working. Like we kept going, kept going. And I get the puck in the corner and I move, I move it low to high to a guy named Stephen Holtz.

Um, he had no goals in his college career. And it's actually such a crazy story. Like he had a, um, he was put into a medically induced coma earlier that year. Yeah, earlier that year. And so, like, just the battle he had to come from, like, from that point to even just playing hockey ever again, but, like, being in that game.

Being on the ice in overtime. The guy's, like, everybody loves him. Like, he's an engineer. Like, he is the smartest guy in that locker room by a mile and everybody's favorite guy. And he scores his first career college goal in overtime. in the big 10 quarter finals and like just going up to him and hugging them and like guys were like emotional in the locker room after like it was just such like a heartwarming like amazing story for him and like he goes and sell he's in front of the children of yost and like he was just like it was by far the coolest story that I've ever been a part of I can't believe I didn't know this dude that is so awesome oh my chills dude I literally just gave me chills listening to that story yeah that's epic that's incredible what an answer do so I mean I I hate doing this, but as a big Michigan guy,

I need to know with you being there on such good teams. Earlier when you were mentioning all the guys, it's like it's absurd how many of those dudes were on this team. Yeah. Is there a part of you that every now and then when you think back on those days with as much love as you have for it that you're like, how the fuck did we not win in Addy? Oh my gosh.

Every time we get back together. Like, yeah, right. It's like we'll be sitting there like at a dinner and we'll be like, Are you kidding? Yeah. Or like, how, how did we not win that? And then, like, guys will start chirping each other. Like, like, I missed, I missed an open night.

Polly robbed me. And they're like, well, for up, baby, this one. Yeah, yeah. And, like, we're just, like, messing around with each other. Yeah. But, like, it's, it was such a tight group. And, like, the leadership group we had that year, like, taught me so much about, like, being a pro, but also just, like, being a good person.

Like, like, it's human nature. Like, I've only played hockey. went to NTP, just got drafted 14th overall, and I'm coming into Michigan. Like, I got a little bit of swagger. Like, I'm feeling good. And, like, just them teaching me, like, how much I've learned and how to, like, just be a good human, like, oh, like, I can't thank them enough for, like, how much they help me with everything.

And just, like, yeah, I just, I can't thank them enough for how incredible they were. and I think that how tight we were, like, it's a shame we didn't win. And, like, good for Quinnipiac. Like, they had a really good team. But that freshman year, like, we were so good and so tight. Like, we, like, after, like, we come back on campus. And, like, I remember, like, sitting there, like, crying with my captain. My fifth year captain that I didn't even know who he was before that year.

And, like, now, like, I'm best buddies with him. Still texting to this day. Like, he's, like, one of the best humans. best captains in college like I just yeah it was a shame we didn't win that year yeah yeah still epic and then sophomore year was I can't even especially with cut I know dude I still hear about it well I turned over the puck at the blue line for I think it was the second goal to cutter and like him and I will start chirp and he's like cutter go chate steals the puck from rocker mcgrory and I'm like here we go I don't understand how you guys are friends

If he brought that up to be like, watch your fucking mouth. And he's better at golf, Dan. It's a fucking nightmare. Yeah. I know. I know. Well, they lost two, dude.

They fucking blew it too, so whatever. Yeah, exactly. My last, my last, I have one more Michigan thing, unless you do two, Dan. No, it's, it's going to be the same thing and it needs to be discussed. Okay. Please, if you can, because I understand that there's locker shit, whatever. How did the Brock Flaw nickname come into existence? Brock Flaw.

Doc Cloud. How did you pull that one? What a name. We got our sources, pal. We were, I think it was like summer. Like, and I forgot what time it was. But like, it was not in season. I think it was like two months before the season started.

And like, it was just a weekend where like everybody was in town, alumni, all the players, everybody. And he, and we were sitting there. late night sitting on the couch chirping and Brendan Burson goes, um, you're a mix of broccoli and cauliflower. You're Brockflower. And like it was so dumb in the moment. Like the dumbest thing I've ever heard,

but guys just started rolling. Like everybody was rolling. And Brendan Bersan is one of the funniest guys I've ever met in my life. Yeah, we know. Like incredible guy and like, oh, He, I, I do not have enough nice things to say about that guy. Like, he is awesome. And he was rolling all night, had the guys rolling all night.

And then that, like, he closed off with that. And I'm like, all right. And now it stuck. And now the boy shortened it to flow. Okay. So guys would just be like, flow. And it got to the point that season, it was before our sophomore year where, like, Gavin Brindley, like, would be calling for the puck.

And he'd be like, flow, flower, flower. Yeah. And I'm like, well, no one else is calling for the puck. Yeah, yeah, that's my ball. boy for sure. Wisconsin isn't calling for the puck calling me flow. Like, I'm going to trust that guy behind the back scene past to get on really.

It's like, it's like an under the radar code word. Like no one's going to talk with you and they're saying, you know that's your guy. Now, sign me now. Yeah. Yeah.

God, that is awesome. I can't believe it was Brendan. Dude, that's amazing. Yeah. No, I know.

Well, another area where you had a lot of success and got to play with a lot of these different guys that you came up with is when you got your experience with world juniors. And I know that meant a ton to you. And obviously, we just mentioned cut, getting to be on a team with him, getting to have those experiences. How awesome was that for you? Not just putting on the USA jersey, especially after the dev program stuff, but also

captaining the team. And then my favorite element is the getting a second chance in sports is not always a guarantee. and the element of getting bronze and then being able to come back, go into Sweden, play Sweden in the gold medal game, and win. And we know talking to Leno and some of those boys like, that shit got chippy. And the Swedes who are notoriously kind and peaceful were getting a little aggressive during that tournament.

So what are some of your favorite memories? How awesome was that to be able to fly home with the gold, knowing that the job was done? Because you don't, you know, those are those fun. finite things, as you know with Michigan, you don't always get a second chance. And eventually the chances do run out. Yeah. I think that first off, any time you get to put on the USA jersey is such an honor.

And at that point, like, it has nothing to do with you. Like, it's the people that, like, truly, like, paved the path before you and, like, work so hard to create USA hockey, those who served, like, everybody that, like, made this opportunity possible. So, like, just being able to throw on that jersey and, like, like I feel like I personally never took it for granted but I feel like it is very easy like for some people to take it for granted especially like at NTP like you throw it on for practice like you throw it on so constantly and like great point I've never heard that before that's a great

it's like it's very easy to take it for granted because you're doing it every day but like just having the opportunity to put that on and represent what it means like is so incredible and especially for me, like, being the captain of that team and like being next to the guys that, like, we lost with, like, the NTDP guys. Like, I just think that that moment was so cool for us and it meant so much more than like what it seems because of like all the history we had. And like we played Sweden and U18 worlds, lost them in the finals, played Sweden in the bronze medal game. And then we were playing Sweden on their home turf for the gold medal. And so like the hype before that game like we knew it was going to be like a chippy game. But like honestly like it was so much fun.

And like when Gabe Perrault scored that first goal, like the juices like that's every hockey player's dream. Like being on the away turf like scoring a big goal like even being on the ice. Like I was just on the ice for the goal. And like going and like jumping on them like it's so cool. And like the adrenaline in that game like you could see guys on the bench like shaking like ready to go. ready to chomp at the bit. And so then, like, I think with probably two minutes left, we scored an empty netter. And, like, at that point, it made a 6-2.

And, like, it was like, all right, like, we should win this game. And then the boys on the bench, like, started kicking the boards, like, getting fired up. And then obviously, like, huddy, the doggy is, got all the fighting them. Yeah. Like, starts it, like, we started getting into it. a scrap and then after that um a couple guys got kicked out but like we just sat by like the bench like behind the bench and so because there was only like three seconds left yeah and coming onto the ice like I'm so juiced up I have no clue my arms are going everywhere like I'm flailing all over

the place and I hop the boards to get on the bench and I've tried to find a video of it for two years but I can't find it I just bite it no on on on the ice and I bite it but like I don't even realize but after the fact I'm like I think I fell like like that like so like I throw the gloves up and like just sharing that moment like especially like with those guys like like like like I've said it before but like cutter is my best friend and like being able to hug him like after and like share that moment together because like you never know when you're going to play together again like that could be the last time we ever play together hopefully not like maybe like international events and stuff but like I think that that sharing that moment with him is like one of my favorite memories ever.

Fuck, yeah. It's the best. That is so cool, dude. I can't believe you fell, bro. Yeah. Well, what's great now is that this story is now on the pod. Yeah. I guarantee someone has it.

Someone was at that game. They were filming the bench and they're going to send it to us and it's going to be incredible. Someone has to find that video. Yeah. What did you guys do after? Because it was 18 there, right? would you guys all get out at yeah it was 18 um honestly nothing crazy like we just rented out like the uh like a place in the hotel um and then um i don't even know if i'm a lot to say this but like

we were getting like death threats and stuff like no way through like DM and stuff yeah like it was it was crazy so like we didn't really want to like yeah you're like we're going home actually yeah but um like we kind of just like back to what i was saying about like those that came before you like just like the people that helped you get you get you there like all the family was there like everybody was there so we really just hung out in the hotel and like enjoyed the night together um before we all went back to our teams um and then we went like we tried going to a place but like it didn't really work and then yeah um so we just we just went to a hotel back to the hotel and hung out no that's epic man that i mean that's that's the vibe we we you know we're talking about with a bunch

of the panthers boys it's like now back to back years it's like they win in florida and they just kicked it in the locker until 4 a.m. And I'm like, that's exactly where I would want to be. You just like, you go to war with these guys. You don't want to leave their side. Yeah, exactly. That's the best party you can have. I love it.

Exactly. Rutz, I know how much being a captain means to you, right? And being named captain of that team. And several of your teammates during that time, Logan Cooley, Isaac Howard, Frank, who you played with everywhere, you know, have talked about how perfect you are in that captain role. I have pulled a bunch of quotes, but it's like, you're competing. level, your honesty, the way you're able to get the boys going.

Were you, did you always feel like that as a hockey player? Is that just your personality? Or what would you say gives you that energy when you're with the boys on the ice? Yeah, I just, I feel like I always try to find the best in people. And I think that trying to get the best out of everybody if it's in practice or like, like, I'm just such a competitor. And like, I hate losing. And I never want to lose if it's a.

in practice, if it's scrabble against my mom and girlfriend. No matter what it is, I want to win. And I'm trying to make a competition out of everything. Who can catch the most fish? I'm always trying to make it a competition. And I think that being that competitive with that group and then also, like, I'm a very, like, vulnerable guy, I feel like. Like, I always, like, I'm okay to have the hard conversations or I'm okay to

wear my heart on my sleeve and like show how much I care and like I think that that really is what I take pride in. Um, and then just how much I love the guys. Like yeah, I'm always the last one. Like, like, like guys are like leaving the locker room and like I still haven't taken my skates off. Like just shooting it. Like just I love shooting it with the guys. Love hanging out. Love being with the guys at all times. Like I just, I love the bowl. boys and I think that's probably what it is. Well, when Chris mentioned, you know, a bunch of the guys had said that a huge factor of why you are such a good leader is how you get all the boys going.

How much of that ability do you think has to do with listening to Billy Eilish before the game? Don't chirp Billy. I love Billy. There was no chirp there. That was legit. That was legit. Like, girl, I love her. Billy fires me up too.

I get it. I actually one of those things, like just being so competitive, like, ended up, like, kind of not affecting me, but, like, yeah, I would say affecting me because, like, it's not super good to, like, get super juiced up before a game. Like, it's good to, like, stay even. So, like, when I would feel like I would, this is, like, a little too juiced up, like, I would turn on some, like, ocean eyes, like, maybe a little bit. Like, it's like, I love it. dude, mellow out. Yeah, just mellow out and, like, kind of like sit there with my AirPods in and just like, just listen to her, listen to her voice, like, kind of sing along a little bit.

Okay, okay. Yeah. I feel like, I feel like Billy, uh, yeah, Billy makes some really good music. So I, I feel like that helped a lot. Still, still Empire of the Sun then Billy, though, or? Empire of the Sun is my number one forever and always. Like, oh my gosh. Every, every song.

I've told my girlfriend a hundred times. I'm like, if you ever are thinking about a present or anything, anniversary, birthday, Christmas, no matter what it is, and Barry the Sun is always around. Yeah, yeah. They're torn. They will be touring and I'm not going to turn it down. That is so funny, dude. Amazing. That's incredible.

Well, speaking about getting fired up, I do just want to touch on. How cool of an arc you had when you went up to pit, you know, you get in there, obviously, you have a few games, you're sent down. We talked about how you're able to motivate yourself, treat everything as a positive to get back up, you do get back up, and you're buzzing. You're scoring goals. Gino's congratulating. You're assisting sit on a sick goal against Dallas. And you're just, you're doing everything right. The injury obviously happens, but it seems like you're healthy, you're motivated, you're fired up, you feel. amazing, how excited are you to get on the ice, to try to make this team, try to be an

impact player, and how much of the elements of Pittsburgh, that fan base, the amazing people in that organization have you just juiced to get going this year? Yeah, I think all of it. Like, being in that city for, like, for however long I was there, like, just seeing how hardworking of a town it is and, like, the college is there, like, the pirates, the Steelers, like how much they love their sports teams is so cool for me. And like, it's such an amazing, amazing city. And I think that being in Pittsburgh at the end of the year kind of gave me a little taste of like what I could do and like gave me things to work on. So like

all summer just hammering it out, wrapping it out, wrapping it out, wrapping it out, and like coming into camp and like not looking back, like just going in there, like proving what I can do, showing them what I can do, and just coming ready to play. Coming to camp in great shape, playing my game, have that confidence. Like, I feel like I've had a great summer and I think I'm ready to go. And it's hopefully going to be a great year. And especially with the guys in that locker room, sharing a locker room with them, sharing the ice with them is second to none.

Absolutely incredible. So learning from them every single day, I feel like. I feel like I'm ready to go. Was that run sick though? Like internally where you like when you cut comeback up and then you're like playing with a fucking goal assist, another assist, you know, where you like, this is amazing. Yeah, I think definitely. But I also didn't want to feel that comfortability aspect of like, oh, I'm here, I made it,

whatever. Like I think like I always wanted to like do it again. Like I love that emotion so much. Like I want to do it again. And like, I want to get back out there. Like, after a game, like, I remember, like, being on the plane after the, after the Dallas game, I think. Like, we scored a late goal. Like, Lizzaa scored a late goal to win in.

Like, I'm like, when's our next game? Like, I want to get back out there. Like, I want to do it again. I want to do it again. And then, like, we're flying to Chicago. I'm like, United Center. This is incredible. Yeah.

And I'm like, so I think that I didn't want to get comfortable, but I also wanted to soak it all in while playing my game at the same time. Yeah. Like, it's just, like, managing all those emotions. I think is huge. So I feel like I didn't want to get comfortable, and I also just wanted to go out there and play my game and enjoy every second of it. Yeah, so sick. God's good.

It's a good to be a fucking awesome year for you. Okay, Rutz, we play a game with everybody before we get you out of here. We call this game pass, shoot, score. We give you three things inside of a category, and you have to rank them pass, shoot, and score. Pass is your least favorite because, you know, pass in the puck's time, but it's not that cool.

Shooting's your second favorite because we like getting bucks on net, and scoring is your favorite. All right, let's go. It's basically, it's basically fuck Mary Kilwell. Yeah, the hockey version. The first one I'm super excited to ask you about because I've been trying to ask Adam Fantilli this for years. And I've in fact asked him this on camera several times and it always has to be deleted because he was underage. And you, my friend, are 21.

So your first category is Michigan establishments. Pass shoot score, skeeps, ricks, or the, the Strayhan Cafe with a little Bill Jerome scramble situation. Score, Strayhan. That's my... Wow. I fucking knew it.

I thought that was going to be passed. No, I knew he was going to score that. That is my safe haven, my dojo, like, everything. That is my spot. Wait, wait, what's your, what's your order? Yeah, what's in the egg? Build your own scrambler with a little...

With all the meats, you can get. in me. And then I, like a little mushroom, not a cheese guy. I don't like cheese. Wow. Really? Yeah. Maybe some spinach in there.

Rudge just getting a meat lover scramble. I love it. Yeah, exactly. And then shoot, freshman year, skeeps, sophomore year ricks. Wait, wait, like freshman year skeeps was number one spot? No, it was. Oh, okay, reverse. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. The hand's always been my one. Oh, yeah. Sorry, sorry. That's your shoot. I would say the memories I have at Skeeps are better than Ricks. So I would say, shoot skips. Pass Ricks.

And just so I can have it from somebody's mouth on the record, which one did fans like more? Same as you? Honestly, I don't know. It's back and forth. It is back and forth between a lot of guys. It's whatever's better that weekend. He did say, he did say now I'm calling him. out because I never got to air this, but he did say it was a night thing, too.

You know, he's like Friday night, it was like this one was popping Saturday night. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Okay, that's pretty good. Special place. I like that. And shout out, Strayhan, dude. That was awesome.

Shout out to Strayhan. Immediate. My dog, Chris. All right, your next one, I'm very, very passionate about this one because I think we have something in common here. Your next one is movies, and they're a very specific type of movie. So your pass-chute score is going to be draft day. Moneyball, and Jerry McGuire, which I'm actually not sure you've seen, but if you haven't,

I'm excited to talk about it. Haven't. I haven't seen it. Okay, so we'll pass that one. So that's my pass. Oh, my gosh. Draft Day and Moneyball are the two best movies ever. I know.

Better than all of the Iron Man's? Oh, my gosh. I'm going, oh, gosh, what, when I, when I point at you. Yeah, yeah. Dude, that guy is incredible. So good. I would say, I would say, shoot, draft a score money ball.

That's the correct answer. I think that is correct. All right. First of all, watch Jerry McGuire immediately. All right. Because it's behind the scenes, dude. It is. It is this role.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, Jeremy is like an agent movie getting his wide receiver a good deal, and there's a great rom-com romance. And it's beautiful. Absolutely. Dude, I love. that you like these types of movies because this is exactly

my vibe and let's just remove the whole element of the trades that go down in draft day probably aren't that realistic it's a fucking blast of a movie and I get so mad at people when they're like that movie's ridiculous I'm like no it's fun and shit no it's not

it's amazing give me David goddamn punting because like you like it I want all my picks back dude I am the type of guy I'm a huge FIFA fan. I think it's called FC now. But dude,

CP will back me up on this. I straight up will play FIFA for hours. And I never play, I never play a single game. All I do is just like develop young players and like do all the GM shit. That's why these movies are the fucking best. Oh, they're the best.

The best. That's so good. Which of the three Iron Man's, which is your favorite? There's one answer to this. It's like asking a father, which child is his favorite. Oh, God, I love that he's a Marvel guy.

Me too. Like, I don't want the other ones to get offended. I know they're going to hear this. You know what you? They'll know now. Robert Downey Jr. is going to hit you up after this and be like, what the fuck? What are you talking about?

Oh, my gosh. Rutger, it's one. It's one. Like, I love them all, too, but it's one. One is special. I, I, I actually, I'm like, I'm stressing out thinking about this. You're going to make me, like, my hands are sweating.

I'm being dead serious. My hands are actually sweating. I believe. They are. They are. Jesus Christ, I can see it. Yeah. Don't answer. Don't answer.

Don't answer. I can answer that. Don't answer. We call it a hat trick, dude, all three scores. Yeah. That's a hat trick. I like it. Yep.

Okay. Your next one is, we're going to fashion and we're going to athletic leisure. Lulu, Leland. Lemon, aloe, Vori. Oh. I would say pass

Vioree Shoo, Lulu, no way. Allo's taken the top spot. That's awesome, dude.

Climmed the ranks. It was awesome. I'm getting big into alo. Okay, I do need to say this, dude. I love all of this shit, too, but I cannot have you being one of these guys who's fucking walking around and going into the bars and joggers and all of this shit all the time.

Like, really? Don't become that guy. Dude, he's this little fancy pants boy. He fucking dresses up to go to the movies. And I'm like, what are we doing?

No way. I mean, how often you, like, especially like, like, in our world, like,

you can't really like go out that much or like go, I guess on the road, you can get a nice dinner. But like, like, I love dressing up when I can't. Yeah, but dude,

you, you got to, expand those opportunities. Like going to dinner with the boys, you don't have to put on a fucking suit, but dress nice, dude. Don't be, don't be going, if I catch you at a nice dinner with the boys in joggers,

I'm going to be upset, is all I'm saying. No, I will not be wearing joggers. I'll be wearing something tight. All right, good. That's all I care about, because I, listen, I've got all this stuff too. I'm pumped you picked aloe. Allo has, I think, climbed to my number one spot, too.

People are sleeping on aloe too much. Dan, right next to roosterfish, brand new aloe store. I know, trust me, pal. I know. It's pretty sick. All right, your last one. This one's going to be sweet treats,

which I know you're not the biggest fan of, but when you dabble, sweet treats, pass shoot score, kit cat bars, the strawberry banana smoothie at Beyond Jucery, or your grandma's vanilla cream cookies. Oh, wow, you guys did your homework. All right, well, if I'm dabbling a little sweet treat,

then I'll throw the, the smoothie at pass because like I'm like if I'm like if I'm really that bad for you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Pretty good. Yeah. Um, kick at it two and then grandma's cookie that one, obviously. Are they, are those the type of cookies where when they come out, all bets are off? You're eating like 10 of them in a sitting.

Oh yeah. Like crushing. That's why I can't have sweet treats because like, like, I have to limit it to like, actually once every two months. Because once I go, I go. I mean, you're a big eater from what we hear. People call you the fridge, dude. The fridge.

Yeah. It's unbelievable. The fridge. It's such a good dick. I can't handle. If I put one, like, if I eat one, I'm like, we're done. Oh, dude, it's a night.

I actually always joke around. Like, I don't really have a sweet tooth, but there is something about it. Like, when they're out, I'm gonna keep eat I'm gonna keep it And like I feel bad the first like two or three But then I'm like

Whatever Rutger that That I actually think that needs to be talked about more That is the most real thing in the world There is there is guilt to a point And then after you've passed it You're like well all bets are off So everything's off I am bearing

I'm gonna eat this entire sleeve of Oreos now Fuck it honestly I'm bad at the movies Like I buy a you know a thing a Sour Patch Kids or whatever. And I'm like, I'll have a few during the movie. And then literally in the whole bag. And I'm like, what is wrong with you?

It's a real problem. Okay, Rutz, the very last thing we do is we ask everybody, we call it your career hat trick. So it's your three favorite goals of your career, any level, anywhere you've ever been. Take a second to think about it. Sometimes people do, you know, first goal here or whatever. Sometimes it's just like a sick one T. So any three that come to mind whenever you're ready, Ruck Your Authority, career hat trick. career hat trick first one for sure first NHL goal so sick especially like the moment of the game

like we're down one with like 25 seconds left like I'm so happy my first goal wasn't like a like up 5 nothing or down 5 nothing like just a nothing like burger of a goal dude insane moment not to mention or deflection or some shit no just seward macklin sorry buddy um so for sure that one and but ruts that was so sick too because um I give you so much credit for taking that to the rack in that moment. You know, if you get that puck down low and it's like, you get a lot of guys on the ice who could get a dish there and you're like, I'll tie the fucking game. Yeah.

That was awesome. And I just buried in a lot. I got so lucky. Like, it just nick the post like it went in. Like, oh, yeah. And then second one probably, oh, I would say my first goal at World Juniors, my second year. because I had a really bad injury. Yeah.

And so I came back from that and just like scoring that first goal again. And like it was like a really scary injury like in the hospital. Yeah, punctured lung. Four days there. Like it was like, yeah, like six broken ribs, broken bone in my back, like punctured lung. Like it was scary. And so recovering from that and then scoring that goal was probably my second one. It's like a we're back moment.

Right? Yeah, exactly. You're like, all right. Yeah, and then you just have some confidence and like you start feeling good again. And then my third one, I would say, like a Michigan goal scoring, selling into the children. I would say I scored a goal against, it's an away game, but I would say the Big Ten championship, my second goal, my freshman year, because I just scored. And then that same shift, like, 20 seconds later, I scored again.

And I sallyed to the same spot. And this one guy was flipping me off. And then the second time, he flipped me off again and I gave him one of these. And like, and like I like sellied. And then like my two best buddies, Adam Finlay until he got Brindley come and give me a hug. And then we ended up winning the game. And like, that was, that was really cool. Yeah.

All time moment. All time moment. I wondered if the teddy bear toss was going to get on there. Teddy beer tossed was really cool. That was pretty sick, yeah. That was cool. But my cellie, I biffed it. Like, I was so fired up, and I'm like, bring them on, bring the teddy bears on.

And then my skate went into the wall, and I fell. And then the boys are dying. You're right. The boys are dying laughing at me. I'm like, all right. I just ruined it. We got to stop falling on the ice and big moments. I know.

My big moments, I just fall. This guy's going to. to win the cup and he's going to fucking drop the thing. Imagine. So funny. Oh, well, dude. All right. Amazing stuff.

Fucking phenomenal time having you on the show. Like we said, long time coming. Can't thank you enough. Before we let you go, is there anything you want to shout out, anything you want to plug? Um, I would just say, uh, my crew here at GVN, the place I've been training. I feel like Brian Galvin and post Maloney, Joe Maloney, he's, they've done a great job. and it's been a great summer, so just grinding it out every day with them

has been awesome. Hell yeah, bro. Say hi to the girlfriend, say hi to the family. And Kaylee, love you, miss you. There we go.

And Mama Mac, Jimbo and Molly. Molly's birthday on Saturday, so. No way. Happy birthday, Molly. Hey, the real athlete of the family, by the way.

Real athlete of the family. Molly, happy birthday. That's awesome. And hey, also, Ruts, I just want to say, too, dude, we've done a lot of these,

obviously, you know, read a ton of articles and listen to stuff and hear a bunch of stories. And your attitude, not about being a hockey player, which is also awesome, but just life, dude, has been such a joy for us to absorb over the last, you know, 72 hours. Just being, no reason not to be happy, dude. And be happy. I truly, man, I was staying a damn before you jumped on. We were on a call and I was like, dude, I have never rooted for a kid harder. So, yeah, we're a pump for you, dude.

This has been an absolute pleasure. us. Thank you. It means a lot. Thank you guys. Massive, massive, massive, massive thank you to Rutger McGrody. I love him. I love him. I love him so much. And I'm not scared to say it. I want to adopt. What's the, uh, what's that from? Mr. Laskerlask. Yeah. Dude, what's, uh, I love you and I'm not afraid to say it. Uh, yeah, he's like drunk. I forget. Well, that's how I feel right now. Oh, I'm not afraid to say it. Rucker, I love you and I'm not afraid to say it.

I absolutely fucking love the kid. God, dude. He's unreal. So awesome. Such a weapon. I'm so excited for his season, dude. I'm so excited for his season. Hey, can I read you something?

Yeah. Do you want to take an ad break and then come back and read me the first time? Let's take an ad break. It's BetMGM time, everybody. So that means I need you to download the BetMGM app right now. Use that promo code Netters. That's N-E-T-T-E-R-S when you sign up. And then when you make a bet, if your first,

bet loses, you can get up to 1,500 in bonus bets. Wow, that's awesome. And you can get in on all the epic promos and boosts and things they've got cooking all summer. Hockey's almost back. Football's basically back. Bet on whatever you want. They got a big fly Friday promotion going on. You bet on someone to hit the longest home run on Friday, and if they do get the longest home run, you get your share of 50 Gs in bonus bets. That is something very nice that I would love to get involved in, and you can get involved in it if you download that BetMGM app and use that promo. code netters. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler.

Call 8778-8-Hope-N-Y or text-Hope-NY for New York. Call 100-3-2-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-1-2-1-1-2-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-com Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Shout out to our sponsors. I have a letter here that I would like to read to everybody. As most people know who are fans of the show, I recently moved. Yep. I recently moved, had a crazy little homeless spell.

Went to New York for a while and came back to Los Angeles and I got picked up at the airport and my dear friend Kevin drove me directly back to my old house, which was emotionally traumatizing. but I forwarded my mail, but I thought, let me just go check the mailbox, see if there's anything in there. And I found a letter in the mailbox

that was delivered to the Empty Netters podcast, not to me, which is why it wasn't caught in the mail forwarding. And in the letter, it says this, to whom it may concern. I saw your house in several almost Friday TV videos, and it was very easy to find your address based on the shots used in these videos.

I'm not sure if this is a major concern to you, so I just wanted to live. that you know. Nonetheless, I'm a big fan of the channel, and I enjoy the content you make on empty netters. By the way, I wouldn't mind being the first person to go into Craig's party. After all, someone has to do it, which is a reference to a sketch that we did. He's the FBI. Yeah. I love this letter for a few reasons.

This letter, if you can see here, camera A, camera B, is signed with a blue-penned smiley face, and it says a fan. Yep. I believe that this... I believe that this letter is sent with their mind going, these are really good intentions from me. These types of messages, when people go like this,

hey man, there are some crazies out there, I'd be careful. they could geolocate your house, find your address, and send you stuff, or even show up one day. Be careful. And then they do exactly that. Nice catch. I'm like, dude, you're one of the crazies. Dan, I...

It was very easy to find my address from watching a fucking sketch video. What did you do? Pause the different shots and zoom in on an address or... Google Satellite. Just go Google Earth. You fucking rainbolted me. You rainbolted me. me. Yeah. And, and I'm supposed to watch out for the psychos. I think you're the psycho. No, no, no, no. I think that

this person is the, look at this, Dan, there's people, here's this, here's a circle of people who don't find your house from videos on there. He's not in that. He's not in that circle. But he did. No, yeah, this is the group of people that don't find. Oh, that don't find it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's huge. Yeah, it's a massive. He's not in that circle, unfortunately. Yeah, he's outside. Here are the group of people that find your house on internet searches and inside that circle and Dan it's it's as big as whoville okay it's a pin drop wow it's on a snowflake it could does it fit on a snowflake is a collection of people who do it from with good intentions and I believe this person you believe he's one of them I believe he's in that circle so he's in whoville in the little circle he's in the whoville pinprick

of good people who find your house on the on the internet can we talk about how good of an edition that was by Ron Howard. It's amazing. That's not in the book. People forget that. I know. You think he's a good guy. I think he's a good guy.

Why did he sign it a fan with a creepy smiley face? Why not just tell me your name? No, because now we're sharing information that he's not comfortable sharing. Well, he didn't know. He didn't say read this on the podcast. Fair. But I just, like, I think a fan is the most ominous part of this. This smiley face is the most ominous part to me.

Well, they go together. Yeah. That is the creepiest part of it I still I'm I'm hey Maybe he's gonna come get me But I'm still going pinprick I think it's fucking nuts Was it was it mailed or was it

Oh yeah and delivered I don't know I was gone that might have been worse Was it in an envelope? Yeah Okay with an address and a fucking stamp Yeah I'm not putting anything past this guy Putting a stamp and then hand delivering is fucking Batchit you just cost yourself 32 cents

He also on in the last line by the way, I wouldn't mind being the first person to go into Craig's party. After all, he is great grammar. Commas correctly placed. Someone has to do it. Someone is italicized. Pretty weird. It's scary. I haven't been here long enough to understand that reference or I haven't seen it. What is Craig's party? It was a sketch we did where Chet and Elise are having a party. and Will Angus shows up, uninvited. Oh, the one where he comes in like the Uber

or whatever from the past Fourth of July one. Yeah, and everyone's high. I have seen that one now. I don't know, that's what the party was called. That's funny. And I get peed on in that video. I get my face peed on. That's the first one, right?

Yeah, yeah. That was real pee. Dude, I'm actually in this scene, like, I'm behind, I'm in the kitchen. like I'm not in the sketch, I'm just in the kitchen behind this wall, eating chips, but I'm like,

you know, sometimes chips are just so loud. Like, they're like rolling and I'm like, just trying to not make a scene, dude. God damn. That's great. Were you ever one of those kids?

I hated those kids when you were taking exams and they would fucking eat chips while you were taking a test. I'd be like, dude, the whole, the whole classroom can hear you. I didn't have the balls to do that. I would always be that kid

that would try to eat as quietly as possible. Man, I haven't thought about taking an exam in a long time. It just gave me the spook sucks. I hated how quiet exams were. Put on some music. Ooh, I don't like that. I had a professor in college who did that. He would play classical music while you took exams.

That's cool. It was really cool. Did you have another shout out to give? Yeah, I do. Let me see if I can find this guy. I got these photos. The guy never gave me his name. but this is a dagger

absolute dagger so we get a DM over the weekend um I'm gonna see if I can find it because it'd be great to reference it this is really good radio thanks everybody for listening we get a DM

and story from beer league this fucking guy if you're listening DM us again this guy I don't even know if I can show these but this guy in beer league. He's playing in a game. No contact beer league, as most of them all are. And he doesn't wear a cage gets in a collision with a guy on the ice who's wearing a cage. And they just go

face to face. Absolutely mash faces. Must have just not been looking. Smooching. And the cage rips this dude's face to ribbons. Can you zoom in on that? Camera. I'll stand up and Zoom in. Do it. This is... This guy... This is... Fuck.

...gets absolutely mangled. Zoom in on that, Wax. All right. Okay. He'll do it in post. Wait, you touch your phone again. Get... Gets his cheek torn open and his nose...

His nose is gone. Also, I don't know why we're doing this. I'll just send the pictures to Wags and he can put them in the fucking video. True. Knows rip... Like, tip of his nose ripped off. Gone.

Gets it all stitched up. It looks like fucking Voldemore. And here is the crazy part. Wedding in two weeks. He's going to look like a badass, though. Dude, he's going to fucking Frankenstein. Dude, I wanted to die hearing this story. This guy.

I would be devastated. So shout out this dude, whatever your name is. DM us. And we want to send you some merch because that is brutal. And I'm really curious. I think his boy DM'd, right? It wasn't even him. Yeah, but maybe he's a listener too.

Is he getting married or is he just going to a wedding? No, he's getting married. Oh, fuck. Never mind. It's his wedding. like a badass. His wedding. But pardon me though? If I, if, dude, if you're this guy's fiancee, you're, you're murdering him.

And if this is not, again, we're going to send you merch. I'm so sorry this happened to you. If this is not yet another story of, guys, it ain't worth it. You gotta send him a bucket and Kate. Wear a fucking cage in beer league. You are working a nine to five. You're getting married. Do not get your fucking face ripped open.

Do not not lose your teeth. Pre-wedding, you do. got pre-wedding, this was a mistake. Huge mistake. And I feel bad for him, but this was a mistake pre-wedding. This is out of control, pal. I feel awful. I will say, though, I'm kind of, if fiance is pissed and she should be pissed, but I'm

actually kind of on your initial reaction wags where in the moment, I get that this is probably a lot and super stressful. But I think later, this will be sick. Like, I think you will look back on your wedding photos and you'll be like, oh, dude, I had a fucking insane beer league. I just, I'll be like, whoa, dude. I disagree. Like you will, you will, you'll look back at the casual photos and you'll feel that way. But married people like their wedding photos up in their house.

Yeah. He doesn't want this photo. Because you guys are forgetting two weeks after, those bruises are yellow and green. There's probably pus in the stitches. I want an updated picture. And, well, we, we've got the after. I mean, like, the make us, the wedding picture. I want, I mean, he's got a puffy nose. He's got bandages on the tip of the nose still because it was ripped off. He's no nose. He's nosless. He's like Voldemort. Photoshop and AI will fix that. If you get the photographer that wants to do that, it takes a while.

The makeup people, there's hair and makeup, dude. The girls are getting hair and makeup. I'm so curious to see what the makeup artists can do for him. They can help, because it's crazy. They can help the yellow. That's what I'm saying. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? Because you know, when you're getting married soon, you know every time you head to beer league, your fiancee is going, don't get hurt. Yep. Don't get her. Certainly don't cut your face.

Dude, she got a call. And he calls her and goes, hey, I'm in the hospital. And she goes, are you fucking kidding me? And he goes, I literally don't have a nose. She goes, tell me you broke your fucking leg. Please, tell me you broke your fucking leg. Have him, have him send a photo. Tell me you have a punctured look.

A day or two before the wedding. So we can see if he's going to be, the photos are going to be fucked. My favorite is he's going to have a, he's going to get married. The makeup person is going to make him look so good. But then he's going to sweat on the desk floor and just become a monster again. Like, oh. Jesus Christ. Yeah, it's going to be like dripping mess here.

They're going to be like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh God. He's got no nose. That is awful. Okay. I have news for you guys. Oh, God. I don't know what this is. I don't like it.

I've started reading a new book that I'm going to be telling you guys about occasionally on the pod as I go forward. I can't read it? Nope. Is it a fantasy book? Nope. Okay. What is it? It's called Pucked.

And it's by Helena Hunting. Helena, Helena hunting. Could be either. Yep. I like Helena in this context, though. Helena hunting. Sounds better than Helena hunting. Yeah, Helena, sorry if I got your name wrong.

Good apology. Tagline, One Night with Hockey's Most Infamous Playboy. This book... Is about Will Smith. Is book one of a... Stop. Seven book series. Stop!

What's it called? Pucked. Pucked. Is it just called Pucked? Pucked. Pucked up. Pucked over. Forever Pucked, Pucked under, Pucked off, Pucked Love of the Seven Lopes. Oh, you know what? They started to lose me. Me too. Pucked over is, that's, that's tragic. Okay, boys, here's the story so far. I'm only three chapters in. Are you loving it? It's about a, yeah. Our hero is a girl named Violet. Okay. Great name. Violet has a stepdad named Sydney and Sydney is a convenient name used to coach um like maybe uh college no it's a juniors I think maybe like like a USHL team and is also a scout a pro scout sick her mom um whose name I'm kind of forgetting is uh her mom so they're remarried and Sydney's son Buck.

Place for the Hawks. The Blackhawks. Blackhawks. Do they say Blackhawks? They say Chicago. Place for Chicago. Yeah, I was wondering if you can you do that? Can you do that?

I don't know. Can you publish a book and just say? Why not? What I was going to say? This is fiction, right? Oh, yeah. Are you fucking kidding me? Are you an idiot?

There's crazy-ass people out there that will write, like, actual story books. This is puck-puck. The seven-book series is actually a true story about Sidney Crosby. So her mom, Violet's just graduated from college, but she's living in the pool house of Sydney and her mom. Yeah.

Because she was going to move out because Sydney and her mom are newly together and they fuck like newlyweds and Violet has walked in on them a couple times. So she was like, I can't be here. So then Sydney renovated the poolhouse

to make it like a studio apartment. She lives there, rent-free. She's looking for jobs. Okay. Actually, no, she has a job. She's looking for a new apartment. Her mom is like, hey, Buck's first away game is in Atlanta.

And I don't know when this book came out. Maybe the Thrashers were still a team, but I doubt it. But anyway, the Buck's first away game is in Atlanta. We're all going as a family. Good? You know, we're flying to Atlanta. Violet has dated one hockey player in her life. And she does no much about hockey, but she's dated one hockey player.

And he was an absolute fuck boy. And she's like, I hate hockey dudes. Okay. And Buck, her stepbrother, is a massive fuck boy and is always getting in trouble on the internet like the tabloids are like oh here's buck with his hand up a chick's dress at some bar jesus christ buck so though she's like we got to go violet doesn't want to go but like we got to go violet's friend is like oh my god get a picture with fucking desmond westing house he's sick and she's like okay i'll try but like i don't really like

the fucking hockey guys this sucks if this turns into violet fucking her stepbrother and this is step porn dude if this is step sibling porn mixed with hockey smut. It's not. It's not, not yet. But she did accuse Buck of feeling her up once when he was blacked up. Jesus.

This is not, this is raunchy. Dude, she flies to the fucking game and Sidney's got them first class and all this shit. And at the game, a dude named Alex Waters, who's a nasty left wing on Chicago, gets, like, checked against the board.

She's sitting on the front row and, like, kind of makes eye contact. And she says he's, like, looking at her from the penalty box, the whole five minutes. Five minutes? Five minute major. He got in a fight after that.

Oh, okay. I was like, uh-oh. Don't know the rules. They go to a party after, and like she starts, he sits next to where they start talking. He's kind of smart, by the way. He's not just a jock. She's in a book club. Because I saw you reading during the game.

What are you reading? She says, and he starts dropping fucking Shakespeare references and all this shit. And she's like, oh, my God. This guy's a fucking weapon. Buck gets pissed because they start making out. And he's like, yo, stop. Like, he just got to shut the hawks. Just got traded.

So he's like, I don't even know these guys. well you can't be fucking making out and she packed badly so she's in like a fucking super slutty outfit that she wouldn't have didn't mean to wear but like she's wearing it now the convenient accidentally packed a slutty out yeah dude a hundred gets you every time so then uh she goes and she's saying it a suite with sidney and her mom she leaves Alex because she's like dude bucks fucking pissed here's my number and he's like okay she leaves goes back starts to fucking service herself then we're we're we're pond a replay hey mr. DJing over Bro, way to you hear something with this shit.

She's fucking diddling herself to Alex? So that, and she's in like bad PJs because she packed badly, you know. This girl's got to learn how to pack. This guy, he calls her and he's like, I'm outside the suite. I'm staying in this hotel too. Takes her up to his suite. I thought she left the suite. No, no, she left the party to go to the suite.

Oh, got it, got it, got it. He comes to come up to my suite and she steps outside. She's like, I can't go up with you. Forgot her key. Locked out. What am I supposed to do? Sleep in the lobby? Forgetful violent.

Yeah. Forgetful violent. couldn't possibly go down to the front desk and get a new key. She said she was too embarrassing to the PJs. She goes, I can't go down like this. I'm in fucking pre-teened PJs. My ass is hanging out. And he goes, come up with me.

We don't have to have sex. I'll call the desk, get you a key. She goes upstairs, dude. Let me guess. They bang. They fuck. It did. Alex is a big, is this okay guy?

Oh. How about this? He's a permission king. And Dan, consent is great. He's a permission king. We love permission. There's steps where I'm like, Alex, I think you were good, dude. I think we're good.

And she... On a scale of 1 to 50 Shades of Gray, which I've never read, but I've heard stories, how gratuitous is the sex? So I've got some notes for you guys. Oh, my God. Dude, this is... Are we about to get horned up on the pod? Bro.

Okay, so... And that's where I'm at. She's just banged. End of chapter three. Okay, so story-wise, you're with us? Yes. We are now on board of pucked. Chapter 1.

It's 6.51 on Thursday morning, and I'm 30 seconds away from an amazing orgasm. That's how the book starts? That's the first sentence of the book? How hard did you laugh when you cracked this puppy? And you just went, Jesus Christ, dude. She goes, my muscles are tight, fingers moving at a furious pace. The vibrator, God bless the damn vibrator, is hitting the S-S-S spot. Oh, she's actively coming.

So here's my first note. I didn't know this. Did you guys know this? She goes, her mom walks in. Her mom screams to her to like come down to session breakfast and the screws everything else. How old is Violet?

22. Why is she living at home? I just told you the whole story. She's in the fucking renovated pool house. Yeah, my bad. She goes, and that's the moment my mother's shrill voice breaks all orgasmic magic destroying my morning Jill off. Did you know that it's called the Jill off?

J-I-L-L? Yeah, Jill. Oh, like Jack and Jill. Jack off Jill off. Did you guys know? There is no fucking way. Yeah, because I did not know. There is no fucking way.

Helena hunting. Helena hunting. That is a thing. Because Jill off has said several times. Stop trying to make fetch happen. Jill off. Jill off is not going to happen. So that got me.

I thought that was very interesting. This I did not like it all. They're talking about hot. guys and her oh we're talking about her step rather being an idiot and the mom goes uh and she's trying to guilt her into going to the Atlanta trip and she goes not at all i'm just throwing out hypotheticals and and violet goes do you mean hypotheticals and i was like that was a that was a forced awful awful joke attempt helena terrible zeros across the board okay here we go here's my next one same same scene mom lees after my mom leaves after my mom

leaves, I check the time. I have half an hour to get ready. Nabbing the magazine from the table, I rushed to my nightstand. And by the way, this is like a regular lifestyle magazine. Okay. Grab the magazine from the table. I rushed to my nightstand, grab my vibe, and hit the bathroom. We're abbreviate and vibrator now. First, first, it needs a wash. And I'm kind of like, why? Didn't you, we were just using it on you? Yeah, you got a clean appra. It was 10 seconds ago. It's the same session. Okay, yeah. First, it needs a wash. Then I flip to the milk advertisement. The subject matter is a fuck hot guy who completely misses his mouth and dribbles a glass of milk. What are we doing?

I don't know why it's so hot. A fuck hot guy. I don't know why it's so hot. I mean, milk isn't really a sexy drink, but whatever. I heft my foot onto the vanity and go to town while looking at the milk-porn guy. The orgasm I missed earlier takes me to the floor. The magazine lands on my face. It doesn't matter.

I'm coming and it feels good. And I go, what year is it, dude? Like, is this set in the modern era? and in which case, if you were grabbing your vibe, why are you jilling to a milk ad in a fucking hard-print bag? Is this implication that there are still you've got milk ads coming out? Is that the thing? Is that happening?

Or is this just a random? There's free porn. I will pay money from my own wallet to anyone who DMs us saying that they have ever said the term fuck-hot guy or a fuck-hot girl for that matter. The jilling session takes longer than I expected. More jill, dude. A lot of jill. A lot of jill.

A lot of jill talk. Okay, how about this one? My note is, what? She's at the game. Okay. And she's, I packed poorly, so I have this horrible outfit, and it's, it's whatever. And she goes, I look much less nerdy without glasses, so she wants to put her contacts in. And she goes, plus, glass is fog in arenas.

So I jam my contact lenses in. And I'm like, dude. I think they do. I think people, bet. people in the Greek are wearing glasses. Fucking wild take. Glasses fog and arenas. Everybody knows that, Dan. Oh yeah, okay.

This is, she's with Alex now. This is end of chapter. Oh, wow, she's already with Alex at the end of chapter one. That's crazy. Man, we move at a fucking sprinter's pace and she's shoving her tongue into his mouth. And it says he tastes like chocolate. You're telling me this book, this book, they go like this. Here's our heroine, Violet.

She hates hockey boys. Hates guys. And by the end of chapter one, she's tongue fucking one of them. Dude, it's so funny. He just said that. There's a crazy quote later that I highlighted. So she says, they're making out, and she says, his hand runs a hot trail along my side, and he pulls me tight against him. He's all hard edges and heat, and I can feel, holy, there's a massive bulge pressed against my stomach. And, dude, it just made me laugh, thinking back to, like, middle school dances when I don't know about you guys, but I assumed that,

girls just couldn't feel your boner. They're like, they certainly don't know that I have a boner. But dude, they sure do. Like, in my mind, I was like, they don't know. They can't feel that that just happened. Yeah, oh, buddy, of course. But like, they can, dude.

Yeah. And they like it. Everyone. Consent, consent. Oh, you hope so. You hope so. You hope so. You hope so.

Massive bulge, dude. That really, that brought me back here in that. Okay. The fact that you're noting this book, is so fucking funny. This killed me. So she goes, oh, he goes, I usually live room with Darren Westinghouse, the guy she wanted her friend to take a picture of.

Yeah. Yeah. So she goes, you share rooms and Alice goes most of the time. And then, not a quote here, just her thoughts. Bringing girls up to the room would be a challenge unless they're all into watching or sharing. And I was like, well, yikes. I think the hockey crowd.

Careful. I think you are actually playing in the room. wrong in the wrong crowd violet um okay yeah this also killed me then uh chapter three we're into his where he's she's come up she's not sweet takes his shirt off washboard abs flex under my fingers he raises his arms i lift the t-shirt over his head careful of his busted lip and bruised jaw because of the fight yeah not bothering to hide my appreciation i exhale a low whistle tattoos accentuate each bicep the left he's canadian by the way, she asks,

like this Canadian player. The left bicep boasts a waving Canadian flag and the right, a set of hockey sticks crossed over a puck. Could you imagine what a fucking loser this guy would be if those were his tats? Canada, a hockey player. What a fucking nerd.

The double hockey stick cross. What a nerd. All time. Okay. All right. Now here, this is actually in. insane. Okay.

They're about to back. For the, for the listeners, Chris is literally crying. I could not. Literally crying reading this. Okay. And like, I don't know how many kids listen to the show, but we are now into very rated art territory. Yeah.

Turn this off if you're young. Okay. She's taking his pants off, all right? Hand goes down. I feel I am wildly uncomfortable right now, but go on. listening to Chris read a smut was not on my bingo card nor enjoying this

soft hot skin in cases the hardest dick on the planet it's as solid as tungsten carbide and there's a lot of link I need to see this thing a lot

a lot first things first Did you say, I need to see this thing? I got to get a glimpse of this thing. Alex Manskeeps. I know some guys do this to make it appear bigger. In this instance, I'm positive. I'm not gawking at an optical illusion.

It's huge. Sometimes people exaggerate how big a guy's dick is to make it seem better than it is. Like, it's clearly impossible for someone's dick to be that big. This isn't one of those times. Alex Waters is an aberrition of cock. What is that? The question is in name. But honestly, what the fuck am I supposed to do with this?

Alex chuckles nervously. As appropriate, as is appropriate since I'm holding his dick, and I'm clearly not saying. Quote, I mean, I know what it is, obviously. Do you have some kind of condition? Like, this is Book of World's Records excessive. I did not just say that out loud. It's not that big. His erection slides in my grip.

This kills me, dude. I can't stop staring. My thumb and middle finger have over an inch before they can meet. It looks like The roll of tape, dude Stanley Cup, Dan Roll of Howie's tape I was like,

Jesus fucking Christ Oh, Jesus Christ Dude, dude Yeah, licking my lips, I glanced at his cock. Yeah, Licking my lips,

I glance at his cock. He's uncut. It's like pretty accurate, actually. Oh, yeah, yeah, alien. Oh, this one,

just, this is hilarious. She has a lot of metaphors. Like, she's like, I melted into him like gummy bears on the paper.

in the sun. And I'm like, okay, that was crazy. Like a slab of butter on top of the pile of lap jacks. But I'm like, at least that kind of makes sense. How about this one, dude? This is another what? You know, Alex shifts his hips forward again. You're pretty damn good for my ego.

I'm not even going to read the next line because it's insane. But she says, his voice travels over my skin like marshmallows drenched in hot chocolate. And I was like, what? What? Wait. Is he the marshmallows? Are you?

Are you eating chocolate or the marshmallow? I don't want to shit talk to writing, but this is... No, no, we can. We don't know, Helena. It's fucking horrendous. This is like when I was in like third or fourth grade trying to write a creative writing thing. I'm not using as every like comparison I can.

Yeah, truly you're given the best you got. Yeah, that was good, right? I think those are my major highlights. Those are my major highlights from the first three chapters. That was, that was a journey. I am so excited to take you guys on this adventure. Buck's pissed. She's going to have a relationship with Alex.

I'm worried about meeting Darren because I think he's going to be a player, both in the story and a player. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Buck's going to do something stupid. Buck's going to get in a fight with someone at practice. Holy shit. If you think that this isn't going to turn into step porn,

you're out of your fucking mind. I'm afraid it might, David. Why is that even a step-price? Why is that even in the story? Chapter 4, what was I thinking? Can't wait to dive back in. I commend you for reading this. Like, it's fucking insane.

So funny. Dear God Almighty. Let's do a beer league hotline. Yeah, no better time to transition that into a beer league hotline. Wags, what do we got? I've been playing with the same team for 10 years, but attrition has begun. We've lost some guys to adulthood, kids, moving away for work.

Our GM asked me to get one of my buddies to play. He agreed. He's added to the group chat and pays for the gear, home and away, jersey and socks. Four days later, a former teammate moved back to town and the GM reached out to me and said, we don't need my buddy anymore and wants me to break the news. I don't want to do that because it's a shitty thing to do

and we need the offense that my boy brings. I'm frustrated and don't know how to proceed. What? How big is your squad? Oh, I was like, I thought you were mad. at the kid, dude. And you're saying how big is a squad? Well, in what? What are we talking about here? Yeah, right. And do you have perfect attendance every week? Yeah, like, who, who, what? Who's on a beerly team? Where you have the luxury of cutting bodies like this? I actually think that even if it

sounds, let's say they have perfect attendance. I even think if this guy made 11 every week, you're still like, whatever, dude. Come. Because it's fine. Yeah. It'd be annoying, but it's like, whatever, you already fucking bought, dude, he bought the jersey. And what are we talking about? And socks.

And sox. And sox. And sox. And also, I don't know how close this kid is it is to his GM, but you got to go back to the GM and be like,

fucking no. These are times. If he is getting cut, I'm certainly not doing it. It's my friend. So true. These are times, yeah,

like this is on the GM. If you've got to do it, it's the GM's job. I need people to be less of bitches. Yeah. More often. Yeah.

And I mean that from every side. GM, you're a bitch. If you need this to happen, don't tell your, like, don't be like, hey, man, you got to break the new, no. You can tell you're, this guy, dude, this sucks, but I'm going to tell your buddy he's gone. And then you can have a conversation. So you're a bitch. And then also, home boy sending in the message, you're not a bitch, but don't be afraid to tell your GM to fuck off. Yeah.

That's where I mean. People need to just speak up more often in life. Like, he needs to go, with all due respect, dude, obviously not. Obviously, my boy, who is a good player on our beer league team and just paid for jerseys and socks is not getting cut from the team because someone came back to town. They're now both on the team. If you're paying, you're playing. Is there a number that you'd be like, we have too many people? If perfect attendance, you are over 13.

probably that skaters if you're if you're getting to four forward lines or 5d 560 that is too much for beer league yes and again perfect attendance but you just got a bump crazy already if they were they were at 13

lost one guy and they were like call your boy we need a guy well that's what I'm saying just bump him to a sub even if you have perfect attendance you're telling me that never no one's ever missing you proceed like this you call your boy and you go hey I'm so glad you brought the jerseys and the socks

and you run the group chat because you're on the team. Please produce because that would be cool because we need offense and you're good. Then you go to your GM and you go, you're a bitch. And my boys on the team, he'll be staying on the team. And if we need to bump someone because we have 14 guys one night, it will be you. You have now been sat for being a twat.

Yeah. I like that plan. Done. This is crazy. Tell the GM he's being a cock. At the very least, this guy is a sub. And what are we doing? Yep.

Done. Done. Okay. Now it's time for a Bower Hockey blind ranking. Come on. Bower hockey's got all the best tools to improve your game. Like the Twitch, like the Reactor Dangler. Like all of their workout gear?

I work it exclusively in Bower Gear now. It's amazing. And on this Bower Hockey Blind Ranking, we are going to be blind ranking the remaining RFAs. Wow, I like that very much. Wags hit us. I feel like I don't. Yeah, okay. Connor Zeri.

It's our boy. Friend of the program. Friend of the program. There are so many RFAs right now. A couple of exciting ones. Like this one. Yeah, Zeres is great. Do you think, are we doing it on like

specifically how good they are? Or is it like how important of an RFA are they to their team? Let's combine them. Yeah. In that case, I would go... I like a three here. I normally hate a three, but I actually don't mind. I like a three.

three here. I actually don't mind that. Could even be brutal. I can go four. I hate to do it. I know. But there are some tough RFAs right now. I know, but what about

four the flames? Like that's a fact. I know he's very important. I think four. Hate it. I hate it. Okay. Four.

Marco Rossi. See, that one's tricky because I think he's great. He's monumentally important to this team. I think it is fucking hysterical that they are considering trading this guy. Yeah. You actually are pretty high.

Everyone goes, I said he's short. I'm like, you have no centers. Okay, maybe one. Honestly, it's not a crazy one. Like, maybe one. Maybe two, but maybe one. I think Marco's going to be our two.

Maybe, maybe one. Maybe. You think? I think he is right now, right now, maybe the best player. Interesting. of an RFA that could come up.

Yeah, he's one or two probably. If they, I mean, that's funny about RFA is you just can't lose guys. Yeah. But if they were to lose him, if they were to trade him away for dick, for dick, and you're the wild, you go, oh. Oh, no. Fuck. I'll go one. Let's go one.

All right, one. Mason McTavish. Fuck. Has to be two, I think. Yeah, and that could have been one. Yeah, I think it's like these two... That could have been one. Because, yeah.

He's a... But his, I'm buying potential, and he could have been one because I actually think he maybe is more important to the ducks than Marco is to the wild. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But Marco's better than him right now.

Right now. I think that probably might be true. But this is two. Okay, two. Definitely two. Yeah, yeah. Luke Evangelista. Oh, dude, what are we talking about?

You're an idiot. If this Luke is I fucking love Luke He is such a good player But five I think Because

No he's five He he I'm telling everyone right now He's about to have a monstrous Breakout year Yep But the one that is about to come Is going to kick you in the fucking

Ball sack We're dumb Not come I know exactly who's coming No Yes No You don't know

Wags could do anything I promise you I know exactly who's coming, I'm not even going to react, I'm just going to stare at you, when this person is now three, and he's the obvious one. Why? Why would it be my fault? And not your fault, too. Because you, you're the one who's in my head, like, it's a wand and blah, blah, blah, blah. That's you. I bet, I think we should put Evangelist to three and hope we get a different RFA name, and then it will be a perfect five. Evangelist is five. Why don't we put him at three, and then it'll be a perfect five? No, because now you're

trying to backtrack. I'm trying to save the list. No, I think Luke's a, I think he's a five. Five. Okay, five, and I'm not even going to react, I'm just going to stare at you. Luke Hughes. Huh. Huh. Hey. Hey. It's not. Hey. Hey. Hey. They're rich with D. They're rich with D. You're fucking idiot. You are too. No. You're, you're dumb. You, you're dumb. You, you're dumb. You, you're You should have known. You're the defenseman. Except responsibility. You should have known. I respect half. I accept half. God damn it. I accept half. We were on too much. Hey, we were too hot. Yep. I think we had two perfect ones in a row. Except half. Absolute disastrous blind ranking.

But a fantastic episode. Thanks to Rutger Magrorty. Shoutouts to him for coming on. We've got some great stuff coming for you guys. A lot of changes coming for you guys. A lot of changes. We've got a really, really fun Mystery Alaska episode that's coming out.

Can't wait for that. Can't wait for that. Breaking down Mystery Alaska with a boy Jack Lawler. Guys, subscribe to everything. Subscribe to the YouTube. We're going to have some fun midform. shorter videos dropping very often on the YouTube. Make sure to watch those.

Send them around. Beautiful stuff. More guests coming on. Got another Florida Panther coming on. Oh, yeah. Oh, baby. Beautiful stuff. We will see you next episode.

And until we see those beautiful faces of yours, remember one thing. Skate hard.