Empty Netters Podcast - Tage Thompson Is A Weapon and Lake Hours Have Magical Powers w/ Wyatt Russell

Episode Date: April 20, 2026

The Sabres have a a comeback for the ages and give the city of Buffalo and unreal game 1 win. Wyatt Russell comes by the studio to back up his Sabres bet and dish about his incredible hockey journey. The Flyers and Wild are thinking upset. Vegas could be back. It could be the Canes year. And the Kings aren’t ready to go down without a fight. Chapters: Intro - 0:00 3:32 - Bruins vs Sabres Game 1 19:49 - Pens Vs Flyers Game 1 29:29 - Bolts Vs Habs Game 1 43:30 - Wyatt Russell Interview PRESENTED by BetMGM. Download the BETMGM app and use code “NETTERS” and enjoy up to $1500 in bonus bets if you lose your first wager! Thanks to our Sponsors! BetMGM: Use bonus code NETTERS when signing up to receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your first bet loses. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US) 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY) 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR) 21+ only. Please Gamble Responsibly. See BetMGM.com for Terms. First Bet Offer for new customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Bonus bets are non-withdrawable. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. This promotional offer is not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Dr. Squatch / The F.O.X. (Foundation for Odor Excellence) Upgrade your stick. Head to drsquatch.com or find Dr. Squatch in stores. Let your stick do the talking. Head to Factormeals.com/netters50off and use code netters50off to get 50 percent off and free daily greens per box, with new subscription only, while supplies last until 09/27/2026. (See website for more details). Get brand new Netters gear for the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at https://almostfriday.shop/collections/empty-netters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

So we are back. We are horned up and we are going deep. Finish tonight with some chicken fingers and a few guineasas and ran into you guys. That's where this pod came to life. Ice is ready, babes, and we are back with another episode of the Empty Netters podcast, brought to you by BetMGM. And boy, does that feel weird to say. I don't think I've ever done that in the history of the show. You know, what's funny? Our episode count is complete bullshit. Like, we have a doc that's like episode blank. And I'm like, this is fucking nobody has any idea. So however many it's been, I've probably done that twice, but it felt good on the sticks. You're not, Dan. What the hell? What is happening? We've got Dr. Watkins on the sticks coming at you, licking his wounds after a first game one loss.

It's playoffs, baby. It's all good, man. It's going to, you can't win them all in one game. And I don't even have to insult myself. I think I can just say, and then the coolest cat in the world. Yeah, do you want me to like say some shit about, yeah? You got terrible hair. No.

I love your hair, by the way. Oh, you got a new cast. You got you rocking a new cast. I got my new cast. We're feeling good. feeling fly. People get, I gotta get a silver Sharpie.

Everyone's gonna sign it. Listen, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we got a situation in the playoffs, as I think is maybe on our, Ev, will the new banner be on this episode? You mean the new,

like, lower thing? The YouTube banner of like, you know, this is when, yeah. Yes, yeah. So there's probably a new banner up. During playoffs, we go live every Monday,

Wednesday, Friday morning. Pods drop Tuesday, Thursday. This week, we are flying to Tampa for game two. The schedules in flux. This has been recorded Sunday night. The quote unquote pod is coming out Monday morning. We will go live from Tampa with a special guest on Tuesday morning.

You will get a pod Wednesday morning. We will go live Thursday morning. We will go live Friday morning. So you're still getting your every morning content, but it's going to be a little change due to our flights because we can't record live from 35,000 feet. Dan is on his deathbed. Dan could be dead. We actually do not have proof of life. in Nominy Patri, Spirit de Sancti, I don't quite know what that is, but there's some Gossom Latin.

I hope he's dead asleep, honestly. Yeah, me too. He's got to get that rest. We literally have to be, Dan and I have to be at the airport in like five hours. So Dan, we pray. He might actually still be in the air coming back from England. So Dan, we need Dan rested and ready to go because we have an onslaught of stuff coming for you in Tampa. but it's going to be incredible.

So Ev and I are here, and we are going to give you a, because listen, Ev, playoff hockey's insane. And I know we know that, but then you see it and you realize it's like even another run from what you remember. Yeah. So we had to just drop something. We have an incredible Wyatt Russell interview for you, which we kind of teased in that Friday clip because he was doing the Lake Erie jump, which is amazing.

So you're going to get all that in this episode. But Evan and I just could not sleep tonight without giving a rapid fire weekend recap. Absolutely. NHL playoffs back. Yeah. Personally, I got to start in Buffalo. What a wild game. What a game, dude.

And man, I said this to you. I might have said this on the pod already, but I said this to you in text. It is such a unique feeling in a playoff matchup to love the team you're playing. Because normally I'm like literally everyone on the other team die and just go away. But it's like, God, that. That barn, I think you said you saw a fair amount of that one. That barn looked like it was literally shaking. Like literally, I thought the fucking rink was going to collapse.

Well, yeah, after they scored, I mean, before that, they were, they were, a lot of those Buffalo fans were pretty upset that there were no goals for the first half of that game. And they were sitting there. I heard there were some booing happening. There was, dude. Dan was texting us like, I'm not sure about the Buffalo fans booing the boys after a 14-year drought. I was like, you know what? They're greedy.

Like, I need them to rally the troops here. Like you haven't been in the playoffs. It's their first game. Like, of course, you're not scoring. But I do think the fans needed to not go to the booze that quickly. Yeah, they could have been a little more supportive. And maybe it's because they haven't been in the playoffs for so long. They don't know what their role is anymore.

Right. And they forget, like, shouldn't we just win every game? And I'm like, this is a playoffs, baby. Like, this is a blood bad. You've got to calm down. Yeah. So, man, it's crazy because I love Tage so much. I love Tucky so much.

I love the city so much. It's like, it's so hard. to be in a playoff series against a people and a team that you really are excited about. Right. So I'm wrestling. I'm having some sick thoughts, Ev, that are going through my head. But man, dude, it was a killer for me because Sway was a brick wall for, for, you know, 50 minutes.

And you got geeky scoring who, as a Bruins fan, you're like, geeky's got to go or we're in trouble. Like, you got geeky scoring. Who had the second one? I can't remember. But it was just like everybody was firing. and I was feeling so good and Sway's getting so happy. I'm getting so excited about our, apologize to Jeremy Swaim and Sherrots.

I'm just like, this is perfect. This is a perfect game. It was. Lynn Holm had, Lynn Holm had goal number two. It was great. And you've got to see Kim's, you know, it's just like,

this was a perfect game. As a Boston fan, you go, Buffalo's going to be over their skis in game one with emotion. Steal this on the road. Then you can lose game two, come home, split. No one cares. And, you know, I picked the Bruins to win the series.

I was like, this is perfect. Everything's going amazing. And I put this on the, story, I think, but geeky, I don't know if you were watching it at, but geeky had that open net in the first period, like literally gaping net back door and tried to pass it. I was just like, God, you don't want this to come back and bite you, but that's what fucking happens in playoffs, dude. Playoff hockey is like capitalize on your chances or you're dead. So that hurt. And what kills me the most is this Buffalo was outplaying Boston. I got a lot of Boston friends in my DMs and my texts like, you know, up pissed that you pukees. That you pukees. this game up. But Buffalo was everywhere. It was really sway. It was just like, you know, he was shutting the door and it was like, it almost felt like for me, I was like, Boston is stealing this game because they, well, they were getting outshot for 100%. They got outshot the entire game. And also, as I said before, and I've said this on the pod before, it's like, I, as a Penguins

fan, I never want to play Boston because they are so opportunistic. The way that they, like, they could be down, they could be getting half the shots that you're getting and still be up on goal somehow because they're just fucking their their their weapons you know what I mean. Yep. So I'm so good in that way. And have experience, right? As I was watching, exactly, they're experience. So as I was watching the game, I'm going, oh, man, they're doing it again.

But, alas, that wasn't the result, you know. Oh, dude. Was there a moment other than just Tage getting that one goal they needed that broke it open? Was there, because I didn't track it, but before he got that goal, was there something that like shifted the momentum or was it just he had to get that goal? Not really. He just got that one. And I was still.

was stuck between like, oh, did the floodgate just open or the B's going to survive this still and win by one or get an empty editor to get me paid? And it was like, man, and what kills me is both Buffalo goals to tie it. You go back and watch Bruins' defensemen have that puck on their stick with chances to clear or possess. And they were not lazy, but just it was aggressive forecheck, whatever, but those those turnovers and playoffs are kind of the difference usually. And I know both guys who played great otherwise are going to be pissed at them so no one's more mad about than them but they're just like oh my god because you just go you want to get beat on a good play not like a fuck we had the puck on our tape get it out a turn over situation yeah and that dude

the rap tage is like behind the net dude like he's so go go gadget he wrapped that around from from dead yeah i think his arms yeah he extended his freaking arms you know fuck so that was insane i i was still clinging to belief after one when it went to two i was like we are so fucking dead. Nate's in the thread. Like, you guys are going to win in overtime. I'm like, shut the fuck up, Nate. We're dead. Just let me die. Yeah. Oh, dude, but it's, um, I went through the, this is why I remember, you know, you go, oh, I forgot how awesome playoffs are. And then this happens and you go, I fucking hate the playoffs. I'm miserable. This all sucks. Because I went from this emotion of, dude, chill out. You lost a road game. You played, you were, you could have won. Boston can

easily win this series still. You hate to do all that work and lose the game, but you're fine. And then I, but then I, but then my, the devil on my other shoulders like, you're dead. You needed this game. Now you're getting swept. You're a fucking idiot. You know, like, oh, it's just so toxic. You want, you want game two immediately, you know, because it's just. Oh, yeah.

It's, it's a complete, like, for, especially that game, it really is the example of the fucking emotional roller coaster. Totally. Between that and the Montreal, Tampa game, or the two that I'm. Yes. Oh, God. What a, what a, what a ride on both of those. But yeah, man, I mean, it ain't over till it's over.

I mean, look, I still believe Boston is. incredibly fucking adapted. It's going to be a long series. Yeah. I stand by that. It's going to be a long series. The Bruins aren't. I promise you this too.

The Bruins locker room isn't worried. They go, fuck us. We puked that one, but it doesn't matter. And you know what? The impartial fan in me, Ev,

the impartial fan in me is fucking thrilled for the Buffalo fans to get game one. Because like, what a moment, dude. The place was going insane. The outside was going insane. Like, take away my Bruins fan.

I'm fucking awesome. I love Buffalo and, like, so sick. Like, give me the game. split, but that was awesome. And we love Wyatt Russell, who you will hear about. And you know what? Later in the, later in the pot, you can't hear the interview about him. You know what? We can't have Wyatt jumping in Lake Erie and losing game one. You know, like they would run him out of here. They'd never let him back in town. They'd be like, he's a bad luck guy, get him out of here.

They had to have this one. And Jeremy Swam was incredible. I'm not worried at all. He was unbelievable. He's going to do it again. Fantastic. So let's kick it back to Saturday. Kane sends open up the playoffs. Yep. Open up a fight. We get an absolute tilt. Stahl Brady like, holy shit, that was insane. And that was like, welcome to the playoffs, dude, for like the general fans who are new to hockey to Sierra being like, oh my God, that was awesome. This series, I think we all have, or no, you had sense. Did you have sense?

I did, but that was just me kind of just being. Listen, buddy, they looked good. They looked really good. I think this series, everyone's talking about the level of hockey in, you know, let's say the Minnesota Dallas series. This series has sneaky, some of the best hockey I saw in all. the game once. This is going to be a fucking tilt. I loved

this game. I was surprised by the Freddie Anderson's starting goal and not Bussy. I texted some of my boys that are Keynes fans and they were like, actually, I think it's easier to go to Bussie. I've heard a few reports saying they're going to tandem, which I think would be crazy. But the Bruins tried it in 2023,

so maybe. But just so much stick taps to Freddie Anderson, who's been through a million things and a lot of criticism and some health scares, I forget what they said, but it was like his sixth playoff shutout or something like he just what a dog um that was really cool i was pumped for him on that um i also want to shout out our boy set jarvis set jarvis is the leading score on the canes and he is diving in front of shots with a minute left in that game and it's like

you want to you ask someone what playoff hockey is it's that it's set jarvis taking slap shots to the sternum with a minute left because he's like this is how you win this is how you win this Superstars have to be grinders in the playoffs. You really have to do it all. So you were talking about the goalie situation too. Is it feel more like this season than most that there's a lot of tandem goalie shit going on? Like it's just way more than normal. You've got the woods.

You've got the situation in Pittsburgh. You've got this situation. Carolina. Yep. Yeah. It's like what's going on? I mean, is it just that goaltending is kind of down overall, do you think, or what? And, Ev, I think it's a weird thing where the league is going.

wow, it actually makes sense to tandem during the regular season because it keeps our goalies fresh. But then playoffs roll around and they go, wait, should we keep tandeming or do you want a guy? And isn't the point of tandeming in the regular season to keep your guy fresh for playoffs? Right. But then they go, well, tan doesn't work. You know, it's become this like metrics debate and no one white, like the world hasn't solved it yet. No one knows what to do yet. Yeah, because it does tandem work.

It's such a head game too for goalies that you're worried that if you like have somebody who's hot and then they one-off game and you pull them, then you can't go back to them once you've pulled them because you've insulted them, or not even insulted them, but maybe you've made them fragile, you know what I mean? Yes. Even in the Wyatt Russell interview, he talks about that. He talks about how goaltending is a mentally fragile game, you know what I mean? So that's got to be part of it, I would assume.

Exactly, dude. And I think I've talked to defensemen too who are like, I kind of like knowing what I'm getting, because each goalie does it differently, right? They play the puck differently. They prefer to see shots differently. And defensemen go, dude, I want to know what I'm getting next game. I don't want to have to ask the coach, who's starting? Are we flipping again?

So it's an interesting debate. And I'll be really interested to see because at this point I'm going, play Freddie. Right? Like, who cares? You want to go to Bussie later? Fine, but just play Freddy. Yeah. But this series, I think I might have said five, Carolina.

And I regret that because Ottawa really came out hard. I actually thought they came out. They were a little, they appeared early in the series overwhelmed by the Leafs last year and they obviously found their game. This was like, man, these are going to be, even if Carolina does win in five, this feels like every game is going to be a one goal slug fest. Low scoring one goal slugfest. So I was really excited about that, but again, I love this Carolina team this year. I think they have a chance to do something special. So I'm really proud of that win. That was a really strong, really gritty win where they got it from it. They got

contribution for everybody, which is a Rod the Bod team if there's ever been one. So get him that fucking squat rack and let's go. Great, great win for the kids. Yeah. Okay, let's go Dallas, Dallas, Minnesota. Okay, yeah, this was the one game that like Dude, kind of blew up more, because it's been pretty close with a lot of these games.

This is the one where, wow, Dallas just got. Absolutely. And man, I was shocked. We all picked Minnesota, which surprised me. I felt like Minnesota was right for game one. I think Ray Ferraro said it on one of these games this weekend. I can't remember which one, but I've always felt this.

I would legitimately prefer to be the road team to start the playoffs because there's so much pressure on game one. You got to win at home. It's like, dude, who gives a fuck? You could lose both games on the road and just come back and win your home games. It doesn't matter. So I would rather be the lower seat. I actually believe that.

And in this case, I was like, this is good for Minnesota. You're going to get no Rupé in game one. You can go out there, play free. Who cares? We'll see what happens. Everybody, and maybe I wasn't dialed enough, but everybody's telling me Gus is starting in goal. And then it's like, bang, the wall of something.

St. Paul is starting, which I was shocked by. And pregame, we're getting fucking Quinn Hughes is sick. I'm like, he's sick? Like, is he fucking terminal or is he playing in the playoffs? Because this is it, dude. This is the series. Usually when I hear sick and they miss a game, it's like stomach, diarrhea, like, shitting. Because if you have like the sniffles or like a flu, you play.

But if it's like, if it's like shitting themselves. Yeah, then you can't. Obviously, you can't play with diapers, but. Right. Yeah, but Quinn could. Like there's, if there's any guy that would strap up an adult diaper, it's fucking Quinn Hughes.

Don't hit him. Don't get him against the force. Can you imagine? Immediate change. You're like, oh, no, that's so funny. So I'm like, we got to get Quinn out there. I have texting some boys. I like the wild in the series.

I like the wild today, especially if Quinn plays. Wall of St. Paul shocked me, but whatever, dude, they know what they're doing. I am shocked how dominant Minnesota looked. And I don't think that's indicative of the series. I'm not saying, oh, my God, Minnesota's going to roll now. Dallas is way too talented.

But I was shocked how much Minnesota came out on the fucking gas pedal. And dude, did not let up. And it is not easy to suffocate. Dude, don't forget. Remember the game, I forget when it was, but it was recent. It was like one of the last games they played in the regular season. Minnesota went up like 4-1. And then Dallas won that game 5-4 because they are that good.

And they have no fight. And one of my boys in Dallas texts to me like, this is game zero, you know, of the incoming seven game series. Yeah. Yeah, totally. Get into your head game. Yes, and this is a same deal. I'm like, okay, here, you know, but get ready for the Dallas pushback. And then Robo scored, I think it was 4-0 already, but I'm like, here they come.

And it was like, Minnesota was not here for it today, dude, stepping on fucking throats in an electric atmosphere. That is a great rank. That is a great rabid fan base. And that, I mean, that has to be the most impressed we are by anybody, probably, right? You look at the seven game ones we saw. Like, you leave that. It was decisive.

That was a decisive statement. Obviously, it's too early for all of these for us to call anything. But if you're just analyzing that one game, it's like Minnesota came here to play. And I think that makes a difference with a lot of these teams. It's like, and a lot of times it is the road team that shows up and shows up more ready to play than the ones who maybe are at home, who maybe haven't played a meaningful game in the past week or so. Good point. Who now have to fucking get their shit together. You know what I mean?

Absolutely, dude. And you also go, think about the pressure game, too, if you're doubt. where you now go, I have to win game two. I cannot go back to Minnesota down, oh, two. I know it's happened, but it's like, and maybe they even did it to recently. I feel like one of these stars here's recently, they like lost two at home to Vegas

and came back in one or some shit, but you just don't want to be in that hole. And now, not only did you lose, but you got fucking dog walked. And I'm like, uh-oh. And it's like, is Rupay coming back? You know, there's, you're down some horses in a fucking tilt.

And this is not good. And this one pains me to admit, of Jake Ottinger, Like take the krill goal Absolute fucking Snipe show whatever That team's talented They scored some good goals

But at the end of the day A lot of goals are going into your net And Jake Ottinger Who I have loved since B-U And is the man And I truly believe One of the most talented goalies in the league And then comes in rookie year

And puts on one of the greatest Seven game clinics I've ever seen In a loss to the flames Which gave him all this playoff height I mean dude You have his coach Calling him out last year Pulling him in game seven

and then going, he can't beat these guys. And then his coach gets fired over it because they're like, oh, Otter's our guy. Eventually, if you were going to be this theoretically Vezna caliber guy, eventually you need to touch the sun again in the playoffs. And if this play, if they get popped, dude, if they get popped by the wild in five games and Jake O'Donjolets in four goals a game, like some heavy big boy questions are going to get asked about that contract in that position.

And I don't want that for him. I don't think it's going to happen, but I'm just saying like, holy fuck. Here's another stat for you on this one. They're about even on shots on goal at 29 and 28 here, but Minnesota had 17 block shots. Yeah. To Dallas is eight. I mean, that. It's like Marty said, right?

Like, they're like, I forget what he called it. Like a solid steel or skill or something. I forget what he said, but he's like, they're heavy skill, you know? Like, they're here to fuck you up. And that stat plays right into that. You know, they're standing in front of Pucks. Okay, so then we go to your boys, Ev, pens, flyers. We actually, yeah, you take the floor here.

What did you think? All I'm going to say is it's game one of the playoffs. Why are we wearing the third jerseys? Guys, come on. This is, dude. Take it seriously. It isn't a fucking mid-December fuck-around game against, like, you know, Dallas or a team on the West that you never play.

I just hate it when they're like, because then it makes me go do crazy things and say like, oh, it's because they were the third jerseys. That's why they lost, which is just me fucking around. But yeah, I mean, again, we were talking about like, you got to be ready to play.

The penguins were not as ready to play as the Flyers were. They just looked a little flat for the first half of that game. And here's the thing about the penguins. Their identity is scoring skill, speed when they can have it. And it's been lackluster. But lately, they've had some younger guys who've been speedy. So when the penguins don't score, they start to get frustrated.

The Flyers identity is hitting and bodies. And so they don't have to score to feel like they're playing their game, right? So I think the longer the penguins go without scoring, the more frustrated they get. And I've seen this happen to them before. And they start playing into the shit. and then they make mistakes and Philadelphia capitalizes on it and they're a younger team

and sometimes that's all it takes to put you over the edge in a game like this. I'll say this, Ev. The Flyers, first of all, Port Martone is a fucking superstar. I'm so excited for his NHL career. He scored four goals in his like seven regular season games scores a game winning goal in his first fucking playoff game.

I thought Stuart Skinner was pretty good. I don't think he was a problem by any means. I don't know what you thought as a Penns fan, and maybe he wants that porto one back, kind of, because he kind of just got beat up high, but I thought Stewart Skinner gave you what you needed. No, I mean, honestly, it would have been like three zero in the first if Skinner had not come up with some pretty big saves that you worry about weeks ago, and now you see him. And I came out of that first period, zero zero.

And I'm like, all right, well, I feel pretty good about that because at least we can rely on him. And all we need to do is get that big goal and maybe that'll open the floodgates, you know. totally so I'm happy about that I think the pens so here's where your points really astute don't forget you gave us the stat of this is the highest scoring pens team ever they had like the fifth most goals in the league or something this what I'm really excited about because the pens had no offense in that game none they had 12 shots or something like late in the third period you know yeah they were they were like doubling us up on shots for some of that game it feels ridiculous yeah the flyers went to a one

113, whatever you want to call it, trap. You saw the Kings do it a couple years ago. The Flyers went to a one, one, one, three, even before they were up. Like when it was 2-2, they went to a one-one three, and the penguins weren't yet willing to just chip the puck in. They were still trying to carry it through the neutral zone. Flyers were breaking everything up. And I thought it was a great call by Talk It because he, like you said, he's coached that

team. He knows what he's up against. I will be very interested to see how Dan Mews responds. This is my favorite part about a seven-game series, right? You get these chess matches of like, oh, shit, you want to go one-one? three, okay, hey boys, let's mix in a cross-ice dump. Let's just go get behind them and bang bodies behind the goal line and make them turn it over in their own zone. I'm really excited to see the chess match here. I don't expect, I think it's going to be a long series. We all had it pretty

deep. I'm really excited to see the Penguins' response because I don't expect them to be many more games, the series where they go, yeah, we can't even get shots. I'm not saying they're going to win, but I'm just saying they will answer the strategy plays by the flyers and that'll be cool. Yes. Yeah. And I think, A, we talked about this pressure at home was part of it. And even though the Penguins have not been in the playoffs for a while, there's always pressure when you're Sidney Crosby, when you've got Malkin, when you've got Carlson-Littang. I mean, you know, these are some big names. And they feel, and probably they feel like, hey, we're entitled to, not entitled in a bad way, but we're entitled to be, you know, winners here. And the fact that they weren't able to

pull that off decisively quickly, it gets frustrating. There's another thing. I think you got to put Rust back with Crosby. Okay. And because if you're going to, because if you're going to get, uh, past that, that neutral zone that gets clogged up by Philly, Rust and Crosby play better as, you know, grinders. Rust is very good at that kind of hockey where you chip it in and you get into the boards

and you just get some dirty goals. You just got to get shit on that because it's, and especially that, uh, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the goldender for fucking Philadelphia was pretty fucking good. I mean, I know he had, he had numbers. And he's been good. Yep.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. numbers were better than Skinner's and I don't think he outplayed Skinner per se but he was not was asked to do less. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, they're going to have to, yeah, change up there. So I think get Chinakov back with Malkin. Let that be your second line and put Russ back with Crosby. I just, that's what I was. I fucking love it, dude. I love it. Let's take a quick ad break and then we'll get

into some Sunday games. The NHL playoffs are here, which means every single night is a battle. That's a fact. That's NHL playoffs. We are going to battle every night. And with BetMGM's Hatrick Jackpot, you have the chance to get in on this action and win your share of 10 Gs in bonus bets. That's how I like to battle. So I recommend that's what you start doing right now. It is so simple. You log into your BetMGM account and you place a bet on an anytime goal score. If that person scores, congratulations. Cash that bet, baby, you won. But if that player scores three or more goals in that game, you win your bet and you get your share of 10 Gs in bonus bets. If you aren't skating with the BED-M-GM team yet, now is the time to join.

Now is the time to show a little fight. Now is the time to battle. Use that bonus code netters. That's N-E-T-T-E-R-S, and you receive your welcome offer at sign-up. You get to participate in the Hattrick Jackpot, and you get to be a part of the BAD-M-G-M family, just like we are, which means you get to make it legendary. Okay, starting with King's AFS. I got to say, Ev, I don't know how much you saw of this game. Kings lost?

I fucking loved this game from the Kings. loved it. They, they, they, they held on for so long. They held on

as long as they could. There was an early abs goal that I'm curious what the comment section thinks. It got waved off for goal interference. I think it was maybe

Parker Kelly hit, hit Forrest, Forrestberg, but Dewey hit him and then he hit the goalie. And it's always tricky because you're like, he was forced in,

but I'm kind of like, yeah, but he was forced in and there was, there was gap, like, I don't know, he went to the,

do he's allowed to do that basically. Like, Dewee did not commit a penalty. Dewey held his ground. The guy ricocheted off Dewey and then drilled the goalie. I liked the call. I'll be curious what the comment section thinks. Because of that, it was zero zero for a while.

Do not forget that Dewey had a fucking grade A. Panarin had a great A. I'm talking like open nets, not just like a good shot from the slot. Like open nets that they both missed. Different game, right? Kings go up early. It's a different game. The abs are impossible to withhold forever. Like you were there going to break through. You're not going to beat the abs one nothing.

you knew it was coming, but I just loved the game, Ev. Like, I thought they frustrated them. Adrian Kempi is the fucking man. And he's, he's in the mixer. Dude, he's your best skill player, but he's also facewashing kale behind the net, not afraid to mix it up, fucking get into it with the crowd. Like, that is just your perfect hockey player. Right?

That's how the Kings can have a fighting chance. Definitely. Some personality from him and, like, you know, prodding them along and saying, yeah, well, the abs may be better than us. literally every stat line that you could think of, but we've got heart and we've got grit. And I really, I was watching the first half of that game thing and like, holy shit, the Kings are, they might fucking,

they could pull this off. Of course, they didn't. But I don't know, man. Which I think you made him think a little bit, a little bit. I'm not saying, right, the aves won. They're not worried, but I just think you go, the abs wanted to win that game 5'1, right? And they're like, we're going to roll these guys.

And now the abs are going, every game is going to be a battle. And if the Kings can steal two, like we were saying last episode, Now it's a fight. We'll see. And maybe the abs win the next game seven, nothing. And we're like, oh,

fuck, never mind. I'm just saying, if you're going to lose, I really like that game from L.A. because the abs are going, well, we dodged a few bullets on those early chances.

And they're not afraid of us. They're ready to fight. They're going to stifle us all series. And if they score a few, if they get a few breaks, like, holy shit. And I thought Forrestberg was good and goal.

Like, it was, no real glaring issues, right? Like, the goals, the abs scored were good goals. You know,

there was no massive breakdowns. I worry about the team's special teams still, because they got a few power plays where I was like, oh, you get one here, get one here, it's interesting. And they just kind of never, they didn't even threaten that much.

There was a couple good byfield chances, but I think they do, they are going to need a little bit of a breakthrough on their power play if they're going to make this interesting. Well, that's something to work on during your practice. It's like how do you, how do you now adjust based on what you saw against game?

That's literally all I'm doing. Yeah, any skates they get between games, I'm literally just like power. Just find the score fucking powerpoint. Yeah. Practice on this power. Yeah.

Holy shit. Yeah. It was, I mean, it was a good, good fucking game. And here's the thing. This game like a lot of the others in this game one sort of slate, like a good feeling out period from most of these teams. It was like very low scoring at the beginning. Like a lot of these games and this was another one where it's like not much happened in the first period score. You know, on the score sheet.

So it's, it's to me that that's a good sign for the Kings. Absolutely. Okay, then we're going to Tampa, Montreal. Unfortunately for me, this is the one I got to see the least. I had it on a split screen, but I was just watching Buffalo, Boston with audio and stuff. So I was kind of like jumping to Montreal as I could. Here's my takeaway from what everything I saw. I've seen all the highlights, obviously, everything I saw.

Headman, no, headman obviously is one of the great defensements of all time. And there's times where I'm like, you'll be fine. I want to save my Vegas steak, Patrangelo, but I have a similar thought where it's like, you're good. But it's, it's in these, like, massive playoff moments where you do miss your, one of your best player, one of the best players to ever live, which is like, duh, Chris. But it's just these are moments where you're like, fuck, I wish we had him. Montreal is a great team, which I think last episode, we all picked this. I think we all picked Tampa, I think. Maybe you, yeah, no, we, no, I did. I picked Tampa too.

But none of us had it easy. We were all like, this is going six, seven, like, out of respect to Montreal. Maybe I'll get chirped because I was like Tampa will be embarrassed if they lose to Montreal, but I stand by that. I'd say it again. Um, my takeaway is this, Slaff, what a fucking journey for Slav. Like, from being a fucking first overall clown show to, like, I'm nasty and it's about time people, I think people are going, oh, he's a bust. And all they've swung to is, oh, he's actually not a bust at all. But he's not that good. And I'm like, still incorrect. He is that good. Yeah, three goals. The overtime, he scored an O.T. I mean, come on.

three peepers, I think, right? We're all three power plays? Every time I looked up there on the power play and he was sniping. Three power play goals, including the OT winner on the fucking road in Tampa who everybody and their mother is picking to come out of the east. And you slap them in the face. What a moment for him. I'm truly so proud and so happy for him.

He took a lot of criticism. He's never wavered. He's stuck with his game and now look what he's doing. You're in the fucking greatest jersey of all time, Montreal Canadian sweater in a playoff game, having a three peeper. three people Hattie to beat the bolts. Like, holy shit.

I mean, this was a really fun fucking game to watch because there was so many like, lead changes and of course going to OT and then they go into OT you know, with that power play.

Exactly. And Tampa's like just kill this. Yeah. Fucking Jake, what are you doing? But again, it's one of those things. Crazy play, bro.

I know, but like, holy shit. It's like, you know, and he had such a nasty assist on the Hagle goal to tie it on the paper. And I will say this too.

I also want to shout out Brandon Hagel because I fucking love that dude. He was fierce. Did you see him? That's what I was right about to say dude. Nothing makes me more happy. This is like this is OV always says this shit. Hegel's scoring that goal, losing his shit on the ice and then getting on the bench and the camera stays on him and he's looking down. Everybody

let's fucking go boys. Right fucking down. And I'm like, I will die for this man. Like, Hagle is a fucking dog. That's the type of guy you want on his team. He's a hundred point guy. He can do everything. you can kill penalties. He can fight. He can score power play goals.

Absolute stud delivering in the biggest moments and just the energy. I mean, obviously it's playoffs. Everybody's fired up. But just the energy that he shows there is like, that's why you play, dude. That's why I love him forever. Yeah, go. I was just saying, like, you know, it's an OT fucking win from Montreal. So it's, again, this is one of those things I say.

Like could have gone the other way. Like, it really, like this to me, it shows the tenacity of Montreal. all, I, I don't know that Tampa Bay is worried too bad because, again, OT on a, on a fucking power play, you know, this is whatever. They're going to go to game two and go like, ah, let's just put that in a Ruby mirror. Agree. Agree completely. There's too much class in that locker and there's too much class on that staff to be worried.

But again, little pressure though, right? Like game two at home, we're going to be there. We're going to be in the building. We're going to be there with the, in the mixer outside. We're doing the river walk, doing everything. but it's going to be tight but holes, Ev in the first period in that crowd. I promise you,

they'll be tight but holes. Yes, they need to score first in game two. And I will say this, and I'm not trying to get Tampa people mad at us because we're on the way there in three hours. But you, and I guess I'm doubling down on the like embarrassing thing,

you got to, you have to win the series if you're Tampa, in my opinion. I just don't think, dude, after all the shit talk of like, this is how good we are, I picked them to fucking win the cup last year. It sounds like they're going to get by Florida and go.

and you lose to Florida and there's no knock on that. But I think if you lose in the first round again this year, you have, there is some, there is some awkward questions. I'll just say that. Like you lose to Montreal. If you lose game two at home,

you're like, holy fuck, what are we doing? So a lot of pressure, but I'm with you. They're not worried. No one in that locker is worried. And I expect them,

I would pick them to win comfortably in game two. But a lot of pressure. Well, they better because we're going to be there. Yeah, and I need the crowd. We need to have some fun. Okay.

And then we did Boston, we did Boston, so I'm going to Vegas mammoth. Yes. Here's my takeaway from this one. Logan Cooley is fucking gross at hockey. He opened the scoring after an incredible pass. He hammers a one-timer home.

And then he almost had a second on an absolutely disgusting, oopsie-dazy inside, outside. Honestly, I think if he had, after he went back through the guy's legs, I forget what defenseman that was, I think if he had gone the backhand right away, he might have scored. But just like, that kid is a shining star. This Utah team is not going to be pushed. round, they are completely here to win this series. I actually thought they played better. I thought they were the better team. I don't think it was dominant, but if you're making me pick, I thought they were the better team in this game. Vegas is interesting because they should be nasty, right? And they were kind of underperforming this year. They get torts. They go, oh, 7-0-1. I'm like,

holy shit. Now there, here comes the cup favorite. And then, you know, down 1-0,000, down 2-1, I was like, wait, do they stink? And I think we both agree they probably stole this one, but they are relentless now. And I don't know if that's just torts or whatever. It's the roster construction, but this team did not stop. Did not stop. Yeah, they know how to play in the playoffs, right? Yes.

I think it was like unsurprising that Vegas knew the intensity level of the playoffs, even though part of you at the beginning of that game was going, oh, will the real knights please? stand up. Is it the one from a month and a half ago or is it the nights from like a week or two weeks ago, right? Exactly. And then the other, but the other flip of that is you're looking at the mammoth going like, these are these first times they're in their playoffs and they're fucking, they're all over the ice. I mean, they're happy to be here. Yeah. Exactly. And they were really passing the eye test for me. And even though they didn't win the game, I'm looking at them going,

wow, they want it. You know what I mean? They really do. So on the stat sheet, they didn't, they didn't do any better numbers than the Knights did necessarily, but it just felt like they had some juice, more than you would expect. Agree. And I'll say Carter Hart, the second goal obviously was crazy, but I don't think that was Carter Hart's fault. Like, he's making a save,

it hits a defense, and shit happens. And he made some pretty big saves in that game. If he plays top-tier goalie, Vegas becomes a different team. And even if it's not Carter-R, if they get top-tier goal-tending, Vegas becomes a different team.

I thought he really answered the bell in game one. he gave a goal on a great, Logan Cooley, on a great backdoor pass, one T, and then a second fluky goal, and that's all he gives up. And Vegas,

they lost a couple games last year, to Edmonton specifically that, I think, where you're kind of like choking up late leads or whatever. See them flip the switch in game one where they go, dude, let's get it done. They never wavered. They get a Markstone power play goal to tie it.

I think that was in third, and then bang, and then an empty netter, and like now you're rolling. That's a gritty win. That is a gritty win from Vegas. I still think that'll be a tough series, but Vegas,

I'm not saying they answered questions for me, but I was like, I almost, they're halfway through that game. I was like, Vegas is going to lose this game. I don't think they're out of the series, but this is where Vegas dumps game one and they go,

well, we'll figure it out. To have them come back in battle, showed me something, I guess, is how I'll phrase it. That's the torts effect, baby.

Yes, I actually think so. That's what's cool. Yeah. So fucking rights, man, we are here, we are in playoffs.

All these series are going to be awesome. Not a single one feels like, there were a few last year where you're like, oh, they're going to roll. that one's in five, whatever. After having watched seven game ones, I'm like, these are all going seven. It does feel like we are in some pills.

Yeah. It's just so much fun, man. And again, it's like I felt like every team did have sort of a strange feeling out first period. It almost felt like. And then beyond that, it just got, the fucking doors blew open after that first period for most days. Incredible, dude. Yeah. So let's take an ad break.

And we're going to come back within all time. Wyatt Russell interview. I hope you enjoyed as much as we did. What an epic hockey career the guy had. And then just to pivot into an all-time Marvel superstar acting career. And on top of that, just one of the great homies I have ever met. It's like. Such a cool dude, man.

Legitimate. Just unpretentious, fucking nice as hell. Dude, I didn't even tell him this. We have mutual friends. And we, since we moved, I've been like 13 years. We kept like just missing each other. You know, he did that Lodge 49 AMC show. I was working at AMC.

We just kept missing each other a million times. And I was like, I feel like I'm destined to meet Wyatt, but I just haven't yet. And then this happened. And now my only feeling is I'm so mad I didn't meet him 13 years ago. Like I have wasted so much time being his friend, not being his friend that I'm so excited to be it now. I know you guys could have been barely getting it together. Oh, I'm going to get him out there. I'm going to get him out there.

I'm going to get him out there. Unreal dude, ad break. Enjoy Wyatt Russell when we come back. Guys, for me, I love to eat healthy. you all know this, but it's not even a willpower problem. I feel like that's always the narrative. Like, oh, man, I just don't have the willpower eat healthy. I actually do.

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You got to get some. Go check it out right now. All right. Well, this intro is going to be special. Oh, God. Yeah. Because we are joined by an L.A. native who had a long, amazing hockey career, winning a world championship as a Peewee in Quebec. Boom.

And a British Columbia Regional Championship in juniors. He played D-1 at the University of Alabama Huntsville Chargers, played pro hockey in Germany and the Netherlands, and participated in the 2022 NHL All-Star Sports. Skills Competition Breakaway Challenge. Yeah, I did do that too. Injuries took him out of the game and he said, let's give acting a shot. And you are now absolutely crushing it. You know him from things like 22 Jump Street, Black Mirror. Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Thunderbolts,

Goon the Last Enforcer, our personal favorite, everybody wants them. Oh, nice. And now, Monarch, Legacy of the Monsters, just to name a few. You've been nominated for eight awards. Have I? Oh, yeah.

And you have upcoming projects, including Steven Spielberg's highly anticipated Disclosure Day, and of course, Avengers Dooms Day. Namco Steinhaff, a.k.a. Wyatt Russell, welcome to the MT Netters podcast. You guys do the research.

Wow. Oh, my God. Before we get into anything, walk us through Namcoe Steinhott. Okay. This is like starting at the end. Yeah. We're Tarantinoing this shit. I totally understand it.

I, so, I, hockey's a blue-collar Canadian sport, right? Yes, sir. And northeastern sport. It wasn't the greatest thing in the world that my parents were famous. My parents are Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. Yeah. Walking into like Abbott's, when you were 16 years old into the into the Abbey arena, which was like 2,000 people,

but like all right on top of you. It was amazing as junior being. That was difficult because they all wanted me to die. Yeah. They wanted to see death on the ice because that would be awesome for them. But you had to, you know, I grinded through that. God, I miss junior. It's the, it was the greatest.

I know. Chilliwack and like, you know, before Chilliwack built their new statement, it's not new anymore. It's 20 years old. But when I was playing, it was new. you'd have like drunk people throwing beer bottles at you and like, like, oh yeah. And the stadium was built like that.

So you just like, right on top of you. Right on top of you. Oh yeah. I remember again, getting off track. Sorry. But there was a game where you're firing me.

Where we were, it was like three to two and there was a big fight in the third period. And that place was like the loudest place I've ever been in my life. And it was so, so intimidated, but like it was such a special experience. Anyway, that was the environment.

So people wanted. blood, you know, and like salmon arm and Quinell. They just wanted blood. Oh, yeah. So when I got through a plan, and also wasn't always the greatest with coaches who didn't want to deal with some of the bullshit that came along with it. And I didn't have anything to do with it. It just did. Yeah. So I didn't blame them. Yeah. And so when I went to go play professional hockey, I was with my friend, Peter Grinney. We were at his house in Colorado. And I had a little break in between when I was leaving there and leaving Colorado and going to play hockey in Germany. And I was like, I don't want my name. Yeah. I just want to go play hockey and have nobody know who I am and just play.

And so we came up with the name Steinhaug first because that's my mother's maiden name, my mother's mom's maiden name. My grandmother's maiden name was Steinha. And I was like, perfect. I want Germany Steinhoff blend right in. Yeah, they're going to think you're a local. Right. And then Namcoe was, remember that like, There was like a game company. Okay, that's what I was wondering if it was. It's like an old school gaming company. There was an old school gaming company.

I was like, I think I was probably stoned. Yeah. And I was like, Namcoe Steinhoff. And it just made us laugh. And I was like, that's the name I wanted to do. And I really tried. Dude, like, you were definitely playing Sega Genesis. And like Namco popped up.

And you were like, fuck, that's a sick name. 100%. And so that's what I want. I wanted to just go play it. And of course, that was an insane idea that would not worked. but it would have really backfired, I'm sure. Because then they would have found out who you were. I'd been like, this guy changed his name just to hide from us.

Exactly. Like, yeah, it was not, it was never going to work out, but the story remains a good one. The name I thought was fucking great. It is great. When you come up with it in that moment, you're like, this is gold. Yeah, totally.

I can't believe it hasn't been a character of yours yet. Like, we need that deep cut. I've never thought of introducing that to a director. Like, it got an idea. Just hear me out. I'm looking at the script, and I like this name. It's good. Have we ever thought about Namco Steiner?

Yeah. I pitched it to Steven Spielberg. He didn't like it. Yeah. It wasn't the name of the movie, but yeah, I'd love to pitch Namcoe Stein. That is just incredible. Unbelievable. Well, dude, you actually have, we were talking before, you got a little bit of Maine and you

too because we grew up in Maine, you know, beach. Yeah. And I think this is right. Your dad's grandfather buddy. Yes. Was like had a cabin up there, had a buffet in Sabago. Is that, is that the origin story? Yes.

So my great grandfather buddy, who my, my great grandfather buddy, who my, son is named after. Yeah. He was a pilot in World War II and he was the first float plane operator in Maine ever. Come on. And we got, I believe, on the can a little homage to. An homage to Bud. Yes. Special. Yeah. So part of Lake Hour was that the story goes, he crash landed on a kind of big a lake. And this was like pre-war, I believe. And he said like of I'm, I'm a to buy this lake one day. I'm going to turn it into a business. And that was his vision.

Yeah. He did buy the lake or he bought the area around the lake. He built the road into the lake that's still called Bud Russell Road. You can look it out. So strict. And he created the first fly fishing only lake in Maine. It was right next to Grant's camps, which is across the lake. And then a hunting cabin.

So a hunting camp. So like my dad would start the fires in the morning for the hunters. And like that he built 32 cabins. And then he would sell one off every year. And that was his retirement. But they had an incredible, like, buffet that he called the American plan. And it was, you go up and it's all you can eat. But the buffet, I've seen pictures of it.

You hear stories and you're like, yeah, I'm sure it's amazing. Yeah. It's a buffet. It was a buffet. Yeah, like the red lobsters in my mind. And this was like, this was like epic. The pictures are epic. It's the greatest buffet you've ever seen in your life.

Yeah. And they had people, he would fly people in from Florida. He used to fly Yankees back from Springtime. Yeah, yeah. No way. And so, like, that was his job, you know. And so my grandfather, Bing, Buddy's son, his godfather's lefty Gomez, because Buddy would fly a lot of those guys. And then Bing got into baseball.

And so, you know, Lou Gehrig and all of these dudes, like Bing had relationships with, which is how he got into baseball. Buddy had nothing to do with baseball. But Maine was where they grew up and where my dad would go every summer from the time he was born. He was, well, he was born there. Yeah. And then they moved to California and then they'd drive back every summer when my granddad wanted to come to L.A. and try being an actor and stunt man and all the shit. Yeah, yeah. So, but that was the origins of the story. And then we still had that camp up until Ui died. My grandmother. She was 103. She lived in Rangelie. What a weapon. Oh, she was unbelievable. Could tell you the parade route from the school down the thing,

each one but like but like wouldn't remember your name after 10 minutes yeah yeah I remember my mom I remember my mom got her like she wanted it was a hundredth birthday we went up and we celebrated on on rangelie like at camp and so and it was cool because you're seeing all the different things that like all the pictures from a million years ago and my mom got her a scarf and I looked at the scarf and it was my scarf and she was like I just needed to get her something she like she won't like we'll take it back from her she'll remember and I'm like I want to take it back from her 100th birthday gift her birthday But she lived and lived the last of her days in the Rangley Junior High School, which used to be, in the Rangley Old Folks Home, which used to be the junior high school that she taught in.

Oh, holy shit. Yeah, it's crazy. A very small world. That's amazing. Yeah. And so, but that's where, you know, every house you go to, I don't know if you guys have this experience with any other northern parts of Maine. But, like, it was like, oh, let's go, like, look at the town.

every house now my cousin's name Philbrick that's their last name is Philbrick we're Russell every house on top of the house Russell Philbrick Russell yeah it's like you can't if you marry if you don't marry your cousin you're weird dude you go up to like the Nubble light area in York there's a lot of that yeah like it's just tiny tiny

town and it's super special and super unique and super what this was to me so when I started the company not to get into the drink But when I started the company, that was the feeling behind it was like, this is, this kind of world is special. It's timeless. It's unique. And like, I just want to be there all the time.

And I want to feel that way all the time. And we can't, obviously. But like that part of the world is very, very, very special to me because it's like who we are. Yeah. That is so awesome. Can relate. Yeah. It's amazing.

Yeah. It's awesome. Well, the hockey story for you goes, you're three. It's like your first memory is you put. on skates in Toronto, bench to bench, dripping around. I think your dad paid the kid 40 bucks to keep on. He's like, he's getting these skates. Yes.

So was it, was it, uh, an, was an outdoor rink or were you inside? It was an outdoor ring. Okay, so like iconic. So Toronto. Toronto. Yeah. So it was just to kill time. Yeah.

So my dad. Because your mom was on set, right? Yes. Yeah. My mom was doing a movie. My dad was like, okay, I was going to kill time with my kid. He's not a hockey player, you know, like, could he skate even or was no. Yeah.

Wow. That's crazy. Like, like, I mean, Like he could glide around. Yeah. Even during Miracle, like, he would come out to some of my, so my goalie, we'd have goalie practices. Yeah.

And on Saturday mornings at like seven or eight, he'd come out with Paul Fricker and I, my goalie coach with a couple of the other guys. And he would like practice skating. Yeah. So that he could do like coach skating. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

He never was like a hockey player. It was a baseball player. Yeah. And so that, that was really special for me just because it was something I found completely on my own. Like it wasn't like he was. playing baseball. My grandfather played baseball. My cousin played 20 years for the Mets and the Braves and the Cubs.

Like that was the track. Yeah. This was something totally my own and I'm like for whatever reason when you're that young, you have these core memories. That was fucking core. Yeah. And I remember everything about it. I remember this guy that had like had jeans on.

He was flying around. He looked like he was a NHoggy player and he probably was like, you know, one of those guys who like hurts kids on the ice at, at pre-skate. Yeah. Yeah. Dude is like weaving in between five-year-olds right now, I assure you. Yeah. And it was freezing cold, and I just, like, loved it. And my dad saw it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, okay. And then he put me in a league. He paid, he paid 20 bucks.

Okay, yeah. He goes, the story was, because I, again, I remember it so specifically, he goes, can I take these skates? Can I buy these skates? I was like, no. You know, the rentals. They're clip-on rentals. And he goes, what if I, what if I steal him and leave you 20 bucks? That was what he said. And the kid was like, okay. Kids high as hell. He's like, yeah. Yeah, exactly. And so we got home and then he put me in Marina City, the Marina City sharks is where the Kings used to practice in Culver City. Yeah, right, dude. It's now a freight shipping, like, you know, place. It's devastating.

But that was where the king, and it's a shit hole. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely horrible. You could stand on one side of the corner and just, like, glide to centerize. Yeah. But that was where I started playing hockey. And that was where the Kings played. And it was so fun because the Kings would come on after we would be there.

And, like, it was, but it was really the only hockey rink within an hour of. Culver City. There were other one. Norwalk was one and then there was other ones other places, but it was there was no there was no Health South or what is it called now? Toyota Sports Center. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was health South when it started. That was the first like they built a real arena and that's where hockey really, it's a long hockey story. I've told it on many podcasts, but basically the Russian infusion into a California hockey was what built California hockey. Yeah. And a couple people who were coaching skills guys and And then you have like Brett Sterling and Gabe Gauthier and Brian Salcido and these guys who played in the NHL, Raymond Macias.

Yeah, yeah. They were all players who came from that time period. And they were all on the Peewee Quebec team. Like my Puey Quebec team was stacked. Yeah. You know, stacked. Now, there were no like future Hall of Famers on the team, but we were stacked. And it's funny to think about it here.

Like the team here was stacked. That's nuts, you know. When you think about it, like, I think about how many Southern California kids. there are. And so we had got we had a one kid, Keith Ocampo, who would fly from San Jose on south, on southwest flight. He would land, come to Long Beach practice and then go home. It's fucking insane. It was the best team to play on. And it's it's it's morphed over the years. But like it's been was a very interesting, you know, trajectory. Anyway, that's that was me putting my dad into hot. My dad putting me into hockey that way here was at a time when hockey was

developing and like you talk about like riding the wave or something it was like a very strong wave that people think Gretzky created right dude that's actually it's a misnomer yeah yeah yeah Gretzky created a huge spike yeah didn't hurt didn't hurt yeah hockey was in in Los Angeles super expensive yep it's very expensive to chill ranks and it's very expensive real estate yeah so that means that all of the expenses that go into a parent paying for hockey are expensive Plus, you have to travel everywhere, right? You're going to Vancouver, Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, like every weekend. Yeah, right.

So you're paying for hotels. You're paying for flights. You're paying for all that shit. There's no, like, greater Metro Toronto League where you're just driving to the, that doesn't exist if you want competition. So the, the, it dropped dramatically until the first Pewie Quebec team won before us. Yeah. And that was with Gabe and with kids who were, you. year older than me. Then we won. And it was like parents looking at it going, oh, my child has a, has a

path to a scholarship. Yeah. Or a path to this league called the W.HL that I've never heard of. Yeah. Or like, you know, there is a future here. There's a future for my kid, not just like this aspirational L.A. King's like, yeah, sure, you're going to play in the NHL, whatever, I don't know what that is. It became like, oh, you can get a scholarship to Michigan or you can get a scholarship to Boston College, Boston University, or play the development program to what is this thing? And now it's a thing. Yeah. It's huge. We, I completely. get the falling in love with skating the first time. Our buddy Marty always says skating is like the closest we get to fly.

Totally. It's amazing. But how did you go from going ripping bench to bench to being like, I want to be a gold? So when I got into the league, yeah. We don't want to hear the fucking bullshit mask story. There's no way that that's actually. No, no, that was later. But that's true.

Yeah. But it was later. It was after I sort of developed into like, oh, this is why I like this. And I was like doing self-psychology. Yeah. You know, because I did. go to hockey games very young and my dad when I was like five years old. Yeah. And you can feel it when you're a kid. You're not fucking stupid when you're five years old. You're just inexperienced.

Yeah. But you can feel when people are different, right, around your parents, for me specifically. I just wanted to fucking go be with my dad. Yeah, right. That was it. This is people don't quite, can't wrap your head around because you're looking at it like, well, it's Kurt Russell. Like, well, to me, it's my fucking dad. Yeah. So I love more than anybody on planet Earth, my mom. I love more than anybody on planet. I just want to be there with them. When I put the mask on, you couldn't see my face, which means, like, I could walk down anywhere and, like, I'm invisible. Yeah, that's pretty sick. It was great. And then, like, you can just determine whether you like me. And it was a, it was a young child, do you like me or not, you want to be, you're seeking approval. If I win the game or if I have really good goals

against average at the end of the year or really great save percentage, like, you can't say anything other than like you're fucking good. Yeah, right. It does not, not a name brand. And you're, there's nothing else you can do about it. There's something mystical about goalies. Like, I never played goalie. And I remember distinctly at a fucking scholastic book fair in elementary school. You get like stamps that you can buy shit with. And I randomly bought a poster with a, it was like, Waw, Broder, Curtis Joseph on it. And I was like, why do I have a goalie poster

right? But it's like, goleys are sick. They look sick. And there's like something kind of mysterious about them. I just love that like, it was something I could manage to control. Yeah. You can control. If I got a shut out every game, I'd be in the NHL. Yeah.

There's no, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, it's, it's, it's, yeah. And so that, I, I, I, like, striving for something very objective. Yes. Everything else in my life was extremely subjective. So that part of it I did like now, but early on, I just liked winning. Yeah.

The feeling of winning was good. Everybody was happy after you won. All the parents were happy at the, you know, like, TGI Friday party. Like, everybody was happy. So I was like, if I play. IBC reviews and Applebee's. Oh, yeah. And I'm sure it's totally, it's totally like, you know, narcissistic personality disorder,

probably if we were to break it down. But I was like, if I'm the goalie and I don't allow any goals, like, we will always win. Yeah. Like, let me be that guy. Yeah. And then I realize, you realize, like, also if you lose and let in three bad goals, like, nobody wants to talk to you. So there's a double edge sort of it.

But I did like that part of it. And it just, like, appealed to me. I liked stopping the puck. I like the feeling of it. I like the feeling of everybody at the end of the game goes down to you to hug you. Yeah, definitely. There's kid approval shit in there, too, that made me want to play that position. And the coach said, I couldn't be on the team unless my dad put me in goal because I would stay down with other goalies.

I was like, two goalies, they're never going to score. Yeah, there you go. We can't play hockey with four people on the eyes. That's so sick. Amazing. That's why. You mentioned winning the Peewee Championship the year after those guys kind of broke the seal. Yeah.

But that's a game. I feel like people don't, especially people. remain mass, I mean, Minnesota gets there. It's like, that's in front of like 18,000 people. Dude, it was wild. And like, you're like signing posters and shit and like having a, like a genuine taste of like, I'm a fucking star early here. How crazy was that?

It was so crazy, but it was even crazier with like our billet family. We had like, you're 13. You're in French. It's French Canadian. Yeah. It's Quebec in 2000 and 2000. So things are a little different with girls. Things are a little different with young boys.

Like, like, like. Like, you know, it was, you're 13, 14 years old isn't young there. It was like a whole different experience. So we were like, well, so you're getting out and girls are excited about it. Yeah. They're developed at a very different way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they did in Los Angeles at that time.

And so like, so like you were feeling that like, whoa, like this girl likes, man? Like, no, it doesn't actually like you like it because you like won a hockey. Yeah, yeah. But they're like, sweet. I don't care. Yeah, it doesn't matter to me. Like, this is awesome. And you walk out of this door.

They still do it. You come out of a door. Everybody comes out of the same door. And at the end of the first game, we won, it was like a couple people there, you know, the end of the fourth game when we were, like, going to the championship game, it was like, holy shit,

there's like hundreds of people here for my autograph. And there's big posters. All of a sudden, you're getting the pin trading thing. And all those people were, like, you know, trading the pins. And, like, your pins, like, super, super valuable. Yeah. And so you're training, like, 10 pins for one pin.

Like, I don't have, I don't have one single pin left. Trading your jacket, like Team Russia and all these. It was just an incredible experience. And still is for all. all of those kids that go do it because it does give you the taste. We played the junior Frontenac, and there was 18,000 people at the game. And it was like, oh, my God, it was wild. And then you could still smoke in the arena.

Like, so you could like smell the smoke. So great. Young lungs, dude. Teach him young, baby. Yeah, it was really wild. So that was something like, I'll never forget that. And it was very formative, you know, being able to achieve something like that at 13 years old. which is like the Little League World Series of baseball.

That sticks with you. It's like, oh, wow. That was the first time really for me that it was like, I was a part of this winning team. That was a pretty special thing we accomplished. Like, I think I can do this at a level. Like, let me really try. And that was the first like, you know, moment where you went, okay, like, let's fucking go for it. Yeah.

And then look at where we're going to go next. Yeah. Did you actually sleep with the goalie stick out of super session? I did. I love this. I did. I would tape it and sleep it with it in the little basement of where me and Scott Cohen and Nathan Grotchmall, Nate Grotchmall, an amazing hockey player, putting in the dub for a while. Mormon went on his, went on his mission. He was like a second, third round draft pick and was like, nope, I'm out. And we were like, really? Became an elder. That's unbelievable. That was his life path. Holy shit.

It was like all the respect to Nate because he's the best dude ever. He's the kids now. I'm sure he's wonderful. I haven't talked to him a million years. but you know it had some really special people on that team and that little like pod we were in it was fucking magic you know but yes i slept at my golyster yeah you got to do you got to have something dude i i you got to have something i and prep school i used to sleep with my skates uh in my bed like up by my feet what position did you play d yeah yeah yeah yeah so we were tight yeah yeah yeah i ate a lot of shots you're right yeah totally perfect love you know you're talking about you know kind of going for it like when you could do win the shit like that you're like i'm doing it and certainly that's what juniors is. You're like, I'm in my, we're going to the

NHL era. Yes. And you know, you play juniors for a while and you had some sick numbers for Brampton, dude. Yeah, Brampton was great. It was very, it was very interesting because I, so when I played in the BZ Jr., it was, I was like, whoa, okay, this is like, it was a step up. We had one regional, the junior B, it was 15 or 16. We'd won the regional and it was like, oh, this is like fucking awesome. And I was highly recruited. into the BCG. Yeah, yeah. And I stayed in Coquitlam because that was close to home.

It was, I wasn't ready for the business of what hockey was. Interesting. Yeah, because you're so young. You're so young. You're like, oh, shit, I can get, like, shipped off to anywhere. Yeah. And I was, and there was a goalie that was ahead of me who was older. And I was sort of like, just, it was a little, I was nervous.

And I felt a lot of pressure to perform because we had moved there. My parents were, you know, it was living under a microscope. And it was very difficult. to perform and not outthink yourself during the game. That was my problem. I would think, think, think. It also was my thing that I was very good at doing where I could think myself through a game.

I can control the puck well. I knew one to freeze it. I had great goals against average five minutes, first five minutes, last five minutes. I understood the game very well. So I could manage the game well. When that goes bad, it goes very bad because you start thinking way too much

and that's, I would overthink things. And so then that season, there was a guy named Brock Bradford. Brock went to the USHL in Omaha. Omaha was one of the best teams in the league. Brock left without getting any compensation from Omaha. And so the BC Jr. at that time in the USHL were competing leagues, right? And it was like, oh shit, we can just lose any of our players with the BC Junior League.

I had a family advisor who I was drafted by Des Moines. They wanted me to come down, do the camp. And I was like, I don't know if that's such a good idea. Well, I got talked into going to the camp. I get back from camp. Our camp then starts after theirs in Coquitlam. I had a great camp. After that, they were like, oh, we're releasing you so that you can go to Des Moines.

And I was like, well, I'm not going to Des Moines. Yeah. And they were like, everybody was the weirdest release meeting I've ever had. It was like, we thought we were doing you a favor. You don't have to like pretend you're going to be here. And it's all good, dude. Like you can go to Des Moines. You're an American player.

You're going to go play in the USA Child as we're going to, I'm not doing that. Now I've nowhere to play. Fuck. That's crazy. That's how then I went to Chicago and I was like I really felt fucked up and I went to Chicago and it was this really horrible situation where I just was lost. I was just like a lost puppy. I had won an amazing game, probably best game I've ever played one of the, and then backed by one of the worst games I've ever played. In that time period, I was like, I don't know what the fuck I'm going to do. I have to, I want to play hockey, but maybe I don't. I get released by Chicago and then I find. this team in Toronto that basically doesn't have a goalie. Yeah. And it was no, it was in that, it was in the good division in the OPJHL.

Camp Talbot, we played for Hamilton. Yeah. And I was like, fuck it, fine, let's go. Like, as long as you have nobody else behind me, like, I'm good. That's when I started to go. I was like, I'm going to go skiing. I'm going to fucking do whatever fuck I want. Yep.

Fuck all of these. I'll take, I'll get in the fucking hot tub after every game. Watch me. And then like, I went like, you know, like 17 and 3 or 16 and 3 or something. I had a great season. And then all of a sudden, everything came back around. Scouts were back. Everything was back.

And then I had another good season, but I was riddled by injury. I ended up having hip dysplasia, which I didn't know. But I did get a scholarship to UAH with Cam. We played together. And it was like the best thing that ever happened to me was going to Toronto and just being given the keys. Yeah. And like, here's the keys. Go play.

Like, you've got no one behind you to just have a good time. And I learned to love hockey again through the people in that organization who gave me the opportunity to. Yeah. and get me to Alabama where I had a great time. I just couldn't stay healthy. It was my problem. It's a story for a lot of us. Yeah.

Rediscovering that love is such a good feeling. Yes. And it's happened multiple. It's just happened to me again. Like I didn't, you leave hockey, and I don't know how it was for you guys, but when I left, I was like, I'm fucking done. Yeah. Like, I signed all of my pads away to the kids in the arena.

I was like, goalie pads, boom. I don't want to go home. I want to pay the $160. bag fee. Here's the glove. Blocker. I only kept my helmet. Dude, I remember, like, when I stopped playing the first time I got back in the ice, there was like squirrels in my bag. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. This makes sense. Like half of my blade was like rusted out and couldn't reach it on it. So for the first five years after that, I was like, hockey. Like, no, thanks. I'm good. I'd play some beer league out and have fun, but like I was like, I'm never playing goal again.

And then as I've gotten older, I'm almost 40, that I've really gotten to be a fan again. Yeah, that's awesome. Where you feel like you can't be, you know what I mean? There was that time period where you're like, I can't be a fan. I'm trying to do this. And then you're like, no, you can be a fucking fan. Like, have fun. It's so fun.

I got season tickets to the Kings. Like the NHL is better than it's ever been in a long time. It's the best. About three, four years ago, I really started to become like a fan again. Yeah. And I've had the most fun taking my kid to a game. And just like getting back into it, it's been so great for me because it's part of what I love in this program that I was talking to you about, the Colorado Extreme program that they started in Carbondale near where I live. That has really brought me back as well because you can see in the kids.

You can see you in that kid who's seven who's like obsessed and cares. Yeah. And they want to do something. And you're like, okay, I got it. know what you want to do. Like, let me, let me see, let me see how I can help. Yeah. And that, that part of it's been really exciting. It's like, I've gotten older, you know, because you do have knowledge, you know, you do have expertise and knowledge that you realize like, I do, I do know how elements of this work, especially mentally for, for goaltenders. Um,

so that's been a lot of fun. Dude, that mental battle, I mean, for every player at that age, but especially goalies is so intense. Yeah. And just going through the turmoil, right, of like, oh, okay, now I'm off this team. I want to a new team. I don't know anybody here. all that shit. You're so fraught. The goaltenders are so fragile. The position is built on fragility. My coach and junior would not allow me

to be in the locker room during in between periods, between intermission because he didn't want me like whatever the coach was saying to the team about the forecheck or the back check or neutral zone plan or whatever or who was playing shitty and who wasn't. That didn't pertain to me at all. It was just like I don't

need to hear any of that anxiety that's being put on to you guys. Where were you? in the locker room next to us. So he would bring... Would he sit with you at least? Yes. Okay. So he would come in and we would talk about the period from our perspective.

Yeah, yeah. And you really have to like, you have to be realistic and understand what's going on, but you also have to keep, stay positive in a different way. Yeah, totally. You can't just like, you know, you can't grit your teeth and be like, fuck, yeah, I'm going to go hit somebody and like get this aggression. That doesn't, that's not applicable. Now, was this the goalie coach who gave you the talking to in McDonald's?

Oh my God. dude. Where did you hear that? Did I tell that to somebody? Because that, you don't need to know where I found it out. Oh my God. But I love this story. It's a great story.

And tell everyone because I think it's such an awesome, like this is one of our favorite things about sports and now working in the entertainment industry and just in life in general. Such a lesson that you can take with you forever. 100%. It's amazing. Yes. So Paul Fricker is my goalie coach and life mentor.

So my dad met this guy in Vancouver to tournament. I thought he was a scout. So I was all excited. ended up he was just a goalie coach. But he was the type of goalie coach that's unlike anybody I've ever met, person unlike anybody I've ever met. But he really was about preparing you for life through goaltending, specifically, through hockey. But also preparing you for if you're going to be an NHL goalie.

And he made you say it. He'd be like, what do you want to be? And as a young kid, you're like, I want to be a hockey player. You're like, what kind of hockey player do you want to be? I want to be a good one. Well, where do you want to play? Yeah. I want to play in the NHL.

Good. say it again. I want to play in the NFL. Good. Say it again. He made you state the thing that you wanted to be so that you couldn't hide from it yourself, right? You couldn't give yourself an excuse of, well, I didn't really want to do this anyway. And so he made sure that all of the people that he worked with, including me, that I was being very honest with myself. That was the number one thing. You'd be honest with yourself. You see yourself in reality. You see yourself in real time. And you'll have a better chance of succeeding when you're trying to get from point A to point B because you'll understand what you did wrong. You'll understand what you did right. We'll go over the videotape. We will

assess things correctly. And then you have a better chance of success. So this one game, I was having a stellar season. And I was playing Delta. And we were like, it was like three nothing in the second period. And I'd played like, it was fine, but it wasn't a very, it wasn't like my other last 10 years. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I was 10 enough. Yeah. And so it was like, and in my head, I was like, I need to keep this like perfect record. And like, it's all happening for me. I'm 17 years old. Like now it's things are opening up and holy shit, like, but I can't have a bad game. So if I like just kind of take myself out of this game, basically pull myself from this game because my like knee had been hurting a little bit. Yeah. And I was like, I'm going to use this excuse because I want to hurt my knee anymore. So I want to take myself out of this game. I check myself out of the game. Not literally. They literally skate to the bench, but like kind of was like, ah, my leg. I don't have the trainer come out and like, you know, I knew what I was doing. I was like faking an injury, basically.

But in my head, I was like, oh, my knee hurts a little bit. So I get out of the game. We end up tying the game 3-3. Team comes back. And so in my head, I'm like, I fucking got away with one. Yeah. Come back. I'm going to play the next game.

It's all good. And like, we're all partying and celebrating because it was a good comeback. Well, my goalie coach comes in the room. And of all the only fucking person in the. in the crowd that has seen this. He goes, meet me at McDonald's in 10 minutes. I was like, okay, and it was not, unlike anything I'd ever heard him said.

Did you know you were dead in that moment? Oh, 100%. I was like, this person is the truth, the way, and the light. I've seen it, and I'm fucked. So he takes me to McDonald's and he just sits me down, and he goes, like, if you ever do that again, we're done. Yeah. And I cried.

Yeah, fuck. I was bawling. Yeah. And then he called it the Voldemort game, which means the game that she'll never be spoken about. Yeah. I love that. I love him telling all this on the podcast.

Paul never listened to it. He's a hermit. Somebody might tell him that they saw it. But it was the best thing anybody ever did for me because it was truly like, you can't hide from the ones who love you most. And if you want to do that, then you're fucked. Yeah.

Pretty much. And so from that time, from that moment on, I made a promise myself where I was like, I'm going to go down. in flames as much as I possibly fucking can and not worry about it and not worry about what other people think and not worry about all of these things I can't control and just control how hard I work and how good of a teammate I am and the things you can control and I brought that moment in my life with my children I brought that moment of my life with my wife I

brought that moment of my life with my work now because there's nothing you can do to hide from yourself. You can't do it. It's impossible. It's literally impossible. So I don't want to do that anymore after that moment. I was like, I don't want to hide for myself. I want to be me and unabashedly me and they'll have to deal with it. And that's hard to do sometimes because people don't always respond to that well. That doesn't mean me being a dick. I don't mean that. I just mean like going out and sometimes it can feel a little cold, but you have to do what you have to do to see things the right way. And yeah, so yes, that moment changed my life forever because I still think about it when I go to a movie. It's like I still think about that moment and it's important to me. And that man is

been important to me and will be important to my children because I've learned a lot. At some point, your dad, your mom are like, you know, a broken record. You need somebody else in your life to step in as an example for who you're going to be and how you're going to carry yourself forward into like any industry and he understood that and but he also understood that like you do have a chance of making the NHL it's possible you know it's possible for everybody but but if you don't take these lessons with you yeah so so amazing the Voldemort game shout out the Voldemort game shout out the Voldemore one that we're going to talk about yeah yeah yeah but yeah um I did want to touch on uh Huntsville because first like your journey's crazy man like it's like L.A Quebec Vancouver Chicago

Toronto, now down to Alabama. Yeah. And it's also unbelievable that you get down there and your goalie partner's fucking Talba. Yeah. Like, fuck off. When you got there amidst the insane journey, were you like, Jesus fucking Christ?

Like this stud freshman? I knew. Did you know him from playing? I knew him from playing him. Okay, great. So I didn't, we never met before, but it was like Talbs is like Talbot, Talbot, Talbot's like the Hamilton goal.

He's unbelievable. And there were times where like, I had better numbers than Talas. Yeah. There were times where, but he was a fucking killer in the playoffs. Yeah. And the first year we played,

we played them in the playoffs, and they crushed us. They had a much better team. And like, I played okay. I didn't play great. The second, and the second year,

uh, I got, I got injured during, during our playoff running against Georgetown. We didn't play them, but they went and, like, ran the table. Yeah.

Talbs was always unbelievable, like world class when he, you needed him to be. Yeah. Uh, and, and, and it was, I loved going to Alabama with him

because we had a good, we had a fun, like from a far goalie camaraderie competition. Because I knew he was the best going in the league and he knew I was the only other goalie in our league in our division that could give him a run. Yeah. And I beat him one nothing one time, right? And it was like, you know.

It was fucking awesome. It was like, yeah. But when we went to school, like he was going to be the number one goalie, but I had the opportunity to fight with a freshman for playing time. Yeah. I, of course, got run off the road by a car, and I was in a boot for the first two months of my school. But I was just at that time having so much fun being there. Like, I was having so much fun being a hockey player and competing and doing all the day.

And it also was like sort of the beginning of the end where I was like, I don't know if I want to keep grinding like this. The injuries are piling up. Injuries are piling up, and it was like looking to the future and going Peoria and I'm 29, like, I don't know if that's what I want to do. Yeah. And that was looking like what it was going to be. And I just was like, I don't think so. Now, Talbs went on after I left to go play in Europe to have an experience.

Talbs had the world's greatest CHA tournament of all time, went to the regional finals. Sweet 16, I think, and lost in overtime to like maybe Notre Dame. I forgot who it was. but that's where he got like noticed and the rangers signed him as a um as a undrafted free agent and what i always loved watching about that was goal tendings very interesting when you're playing junior hockey you guys know like it's you have a lot of guys who are fucking great like unbelievable players right like just guys who are head and shoulders better and then you have a lot of guys who are like good they could be there they can skate with it but they can't really

hang. Yeah. And that creates chaos. Right? So well said. So it's chaotic. And so for a goalie, you have to be able to play a goal and stop the puck well, but also like perform well in chaotic areas.

There are some goalies who perform very well in chaos and some goalies who perform very well in order. Cam, I think, benefited from the better hockey. Yeah. Because as you get higher, passes are crisper. plays are more predictable where people are going to be are more predictable.

Systems are more predictable. So I'm seeing the same thing over and over and over again. And so it's pattern recognition for goalies a lot. I know where they're trying to get the puck. I know it's trying to come back to the middle. I know that on this power play

they're trying to get the puck over to that guy for one time. I know the play is in my head in terms of what's happening. So when there's less chaos for goaltenders sometimes, you have a better chance of understanding and predicting the play.

And I think Cam was benefited from better hockey because he was always very consistent and really good at using his body and his size and really good at his angles were great. Yeah. And so I think that like seeing him perform that well at that level was not a surprise to me at all. Yeah. Because he was and always a level-headed guy and open, vulnerable guy. You know, Cam was a great person and a great goalie to play with as a goalie partner. How sick was it a couple years ago as a Kings fan when he was just crushing? We were, we texted a lot then because I have season tickets, so I'd go.

And he was, it was just like, I don't know, it was so surreal. Yeah, it must have been. You know, it was so surreal. You're like, this is the fucking coolest shit ever. Like, you're Los Angeles King playing and I get to like bring my kid to watch. Yeah. It's so weird. it's actually kind of a similar situation

because he obviously started with the Rangers. I'm high school teammates and buddies with Chris Kreider. And it wasn't until he came to the ducks that I like, I was like, oh, you're in my backyard playing every night. Like, this is fucking sick. Yeah.

It's not like, it wasn't one of those things. I'm not, my least favorite people in the world are like, I could have been there because I thought of it. No, that's not what it is. What it is is, is like seeing somebody who you saw were, you saw put in the work. Yep. I saw him at, we called it, you know, like, if you didn't run the mile in college at

UAH, if you didn't run the mile in under 12 minutes, or I think it was three miles. I was like one mile. No, it was two and a half miles or three miles and 12 minutes. So it was something under 12 minutes, it was hard to do. Yeah, yeah. And him and I both didn't do it. And so we had to go ride the bike, you know, like an extra cardio work. Yeah.

And you're just watching people, all of everybody. not just camp all the players who are working so fucking hard to make this thing work and then you see success and the people that you played with have that success and you're like that is fucking so affirming yeah you're like yes put in the work it will happen it might not happen right now didn't happen right then for me but it'll happen if you just keep put it in the work and trying to enjoy it and and and i just have derived so much joy out of watching cam do so well like the dude's like got he's like I don't know 400 wins like over 400 wins yeah he's way up there I mean he's like one of the best undrafted goalies of all time yeah it's crazy I've said that to him

the other day he's like I don't know Sean Burke was up there too and I'm like you're like you shut up I was like you must have you must be you must be the best goalie in history to have played for that amount of teams yeah did no doubt no doubt oh yeah right no question yeah and also like this revival he's had in the last few years of his career of being so good on all these different teams has been unbelievable. Unbelievable to watch. It's so great. So, yeah, nobody's happier than Talbs than for Talb's than me.

Yeah. Probably his family's a little happier. Yeah. But it's right there. But it's right there. You obviously had amazing times down there. I can only imagine playing, you know, hockey at that level in Bama. Oh, yeah.

But you then, obviously, you go over to Europe. Yeah. You play in the Netherlands. You play in Germany, which it's like the fact that there are pro leagues there are so cool. It's a grind, I'm sure, but also so fun. So fun. You win a championship in Germany.

Germany. Yeah. And literally, literally people break into your house to party with you. Yeah. So it was, it was that they took over your Facebook. So like, I didn't put my address anywhere, but like I guess like the team manager did or something. Yeah. And I wake up in the morning and there's people outside the apartment. And I was like, what the fuck? Were they like holding racks of beer and being like, yeah, like, it's fun. And I was like, okay. And then it's like let them up. But it wasn't like, there were some of the super fans who had seen before. Sure. And they wanted to like have a beer and a pretzel and a fucking whatever.

So German. Yeah. Nice worst. They were partying. And I was like, all right. Like fucking let's do it. You know. But it was a little like, Jesus Christ.

How do you guys know where I live? Yeah. It's like after the party. It's on my Facebook now. Yeah. But I didn't know because we had, they do it like soccer. This is in 2007 or 2008. So like there's really Facebook is limited

There's no Twitter There's no Instagram There's none of that shit So I don't know what like How the system works I'm just brought in there like play Play goal and win And so we get to the playoffs

But the playoffs are just like the league Yeah right okay gotcha You know yeah you win enough games You're like we have the most points It's over yeah And you're like oh great Well I didn't realize that when you move up To the Bundesliga in Germany

Well they don't allow import coalies. No way. So you're like, yeah, fuck, we just won. I'm dead now. And I can't play here next year. It's insane, dude. Oh, my God. I was like, very, I don't know if it's the same way now. Dude, it wasn't even a party

they were there to pack his shit up for him. Yeah, I was like, oh, fuck, okay, cool, like, awesome. But it was, it was a total blast and the people on that team were very sweet. Made some of my best friends to this day, who I still am in touch with. And like, and then

going to Holland was another, I would go over to like, oh, your friends are all playing in Europe, right? Yeah, yeah. So you're like, oh, we're going to be in this place on Wednesday. I don't have a game or practice, so we go meet up, take the train. Awesome. And those guys in Holland, in the Netherlands, they allowed more import players there. So they

weren't getting paid as much, but I was like, I don't go to fuck anymore. Like, you know, I just want to have a good time. They were having the best time ever. And they were going to, like, you know, a tragically hip shows, and I'maig. And we'd all, like, take a, take trains. like from all the different teams, all the Canadian guys,

American guys. And so we had so much fun there that that really was about like, that was less hockey, like, focused. Like we had, what was, I fucking forgot his name.

Sergei Yashin was his name. He's like 50 all-time top NH, uh, a red army player. Yeah. Dude barely spoke English at all. Drove a lota because like, like the worst Russian car ever made.

Oh, yeah. He like made sure he had a lot of because he was very proudly Russian. and this guy was making us do like crazy Russian 1975 exercise drills where we'd like carry each other and do squads that's what they were doing in the Soviet army yeah exactly so we were like some of the import players were like

we're good this is my last year we're good I'm gonna go to the bar and sign up for the salsa dance class and I promise I would be here on Saturday and like give you my best Yeah. But like, I'm pretty much out.

That is incredible. Before we move on from Europe, in the Netherlands, you had a pretty interesting cat of a roommate named Harm. Oh, my God. Can you tell us a bit about harm? Okay. So, yeah. I was just excited to go, right? And, like, you don't know the fuck you're going.

Yeah. Your agents, like, get on a plane tomorrow. They need a goalie in Groninger. Yeah. Where's Groningen? And so the Pembroke Grizzlies are sponsored by, like, a computer company, like, whatever. Perfect. It's like a bank sponsorship.

Yeah. Great. Yeah. Awesome. Who cares? Of course, they went under halfway through our year. So, like, we were like... The computer company?

Yeah, the computer company. So we were still playing because all of us were like, fuck it, I don't care. Like, half my pay. We had to get, like, local shops to sponsor us. So we, I get there, and the guy picks me up, this guy, Martin, who's also a black market clothes dealer. Yes. They would go across the border, buy clothes from Bremerhaven in Germany and, like, like,

smuggle them back and then sell them for like a profit at market. So this was like the guy who was like taking care of the hook. He basically the equipment manager. Yeah. And so he comes in and he picks me up. He's like, oh, you have a very lucky apartment, very lucky. I was like, cool. So you drive in, it's cobblestone streets. There's a pancake house on a boat, you know, right over there. I'm like, this is exactly what I want to. Yeah. You're like, I'll stay there. Yeah. By the way, totally. I would have. So I get in and he opens the door above this flooring shop. And I, the first thing that happens is my foot sinks through the floor of this like cardboard thing. And I was like, oh, this is not so great. So we start walking up steep stairs. And then you get into

this like common room. And the common room was like, like, you know, remember lighting in like your, your math class? Like those like lights. Thorescent light. Yep. So it's like that weird plastic grate over it. Yeah. So it had that. Yeah. And I was like, this is gnarly. And then in the couches with like what looked like there were like blood stains on them. It just like everything was really bad. You're like, do you know what lucky means to this guy? Yeah, exactly.

I was like, this is fucked up. So I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, and the bathroom door had a huge hole in it. So like, if you were taking a shit, you'd literally be like, taking a shit and like, look at the person outside. It was this massive hole, like someone who punched a hole in it. And I was like, oh wow, this is, this is intense.

Go, go through the kitchen. It's a common kitchen. Shared kitchen. And there was like rotting eggs. I'll never forget it. It was this big pile of like broken. raw eggs that had like a mold colony growing on it right in front of my door he takes out of skeleton he opens his door it's a very big room with a gas heater that's right next to my bed

yeah yeah i think fucking leaks or blows up oh yeah we're toast the first thing i see is these dudes making a like a rap video shaving their head with a bowie knife outside my house and i was like where the fuck did i land like what is happening and they're and they're like making a rap video and like doing this thing with the bowie knife and i was like i'm just going to stay in my room for a while. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. So I just stayed in my room.

I got a knock on my door. And this guy opens it up. And he's got a tie. And he looks like he's about 150, but he's probably 70. And he's like, hi, my name's harm. How's it going? You hungry?

And I was like, yeah. There's some eggs right. He's, they're making bud and coal. It's like this farmer kale dish. I was like, I'm starving. Sure. He takes me up to his room. I mean my other roommate.

He was a Rwandan refugee named Frank. We were all eating in this circle. he has it's it's totally an apartment that that that's illegal like it's a attic above the above the social housing stuff like they don't know that he's there yeah he's got he's got he's got paper he's he's got clips everywhere of old poetry and newspaper clippings it's like a serial killer's house but yeah but he's like not a serial killer yeah it's like a nice old man who might be a junkie so he has this little cat we're eating it's actually very good and we're talking frank's telling me his story it's kind of wild harm's trying to like you know tell me his story which is a little hard to understand

because you'll understand why in a second his cat jumps on me and i take the cat off i'm like oh the cat kind of like puts its claws in me harm stands up like out of the blue we're just having this conversation and like something flipped in his head he takes a bobby pin and he goes like this is what and he drags the bobby pin down his arm and there's blood everywhere and i'm like holy shit like Frank I look over Frank and Frank's like Frank's like he's like this is like Frank help Frank yeah and he's like you know this is a guy who's seen like this is like oh my god compared to what Frank's seen yeah this is nothing and it's a normal Tuesday for harm a normal two it felt like that yeah I was like what the fuck and he kind of gets up and

and he he takes drops a bobby penny he picks up a rag and underneath the rag is all of his heroin paraphernalia yeah yeah and I was like oh shit okay this guy's like a heroin at it. Takes him, wipes his arm and then just goes back to talking like, nothing happened. And I was like, holy fucking shit, I'm not hungry anymore. Yeah. And, and

but he would like, he was really nice. Yeah. Great guy. You know, he was really nice. Sweet dude. I was. And so he'd come into a room. I had a roommate later on, Chad Euberman. He would come into our room and be like, uh, he'd be like, and he'd be like, I know,

Jimmy Hendrix. He gave me this book. And I want to give me this book. And he'd give me these like lyric books of Jimmy Hendricks. I was kind of like, did you meet Jimmy Hendricks in the 60s? Because you could have. And then I looked him up and I was like, holy shit, this guy was like a beat poet back in the day that was like, if Jimmy Hendrix would have come through, would have 100% been doing drugs with harm. Yeah, definitely.

Sort of famous for writing beat poetry in this very, like, unique way. Of course, he was all in Dutch. I had no idea what I was talking about. But he took me on a watch deal where he's like, you want to watch? And I was like, yeah. And then he took me in this back alley. guy this guy opens up. I'm like, I fucking thought you were going to look. It was like a cool, the Dutch watch.

I don't want like a Seiko, like stolen time axe. Yeah. I don't want that. And then I picketed it outside so we had to move. Yeah. You don't guess, dude. Before games, before games, he would play Nirvana or like Loudoun, Wayne Wright the 3rd.

I don't know why. That was one of it. Loudon, Wayne Wright the 3rd and Nirvana. Yeah. And he would play bongos at like three in the morning. he'd be like, harm, shot the fuck up. Yeah.

Like, we have to play tomorrow. Did he come to games ever? No. No. Yeah, I wish. Yeah, it wouldn't have been awesome.

It would have been awesome. Harms just like cutting himself in front of the other team. It would have been amazing. He would have been, no, he'd never came to a game. But I did pick it outside of the apartment because once we moved out, I was like, this place is like a condemned department.

Yeah. They were going to condemn it. And he was like, no condemning the apartment. You would pick it. And so I was riding by my bike. I'd see him every once in a while. I'd see him every once in like,

Hey, I'm like, well, after we moved. And he was like, come, come, come. Like, pick it with me. And so I picket it outside. Like this shithold. He's like, I always loved you. You're like, save my home. Yeah, and I was like, I wish I had a sign that I was like, you know, tear down this place.

Like, this place is a fucking hell. The cops come up. They're like, do you really want to? And you're like, no, dude. Get rid of this place immediately. Support my drug addict friend. He's probably not with us anymore. But he was very sweet and very delusional and had a lot of, yeah, drug issues that I wouldn't

on anybody, but like, I don't know, dude made it. Yeah. If anyone knows harm. Talk about Jimmy Hendricks. Let us know. Let us know. If harm's still kicking. Groening in somewhere, groaning in Netherlands. If anybody's listening and 32, oh no, my apartment was 32A Pelser Stratt. That was the second apartment. There you go.

Incredible that you remember that. Yeah, I loved it. Yeah, yeah. I had a blast. It's a remarkable place. It was a very lucky apartment. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Oh, man. Jesus Christ. Okay. Okay. I did want to ask. a little bit about everybody wants some. Yeah.

You play Willoughby, who is the most relatable movie character volatile because all any of us want to do is just pretend we can go back and play. Any lie I need to tell to get back on a team, which is incredible. But I saw that you had said something like it felt the most like a sports team because

you were a team and you were doing that. You were all in Texas bonding. And we saw a magazine interview where Glenn Powell was like the fun we had in rehearsals and prepping for that was insane. Do you remember any epic? Did you have like college fun? flashbacks being on that set?

Not as much because it was like hockey is so unique. Yeah, it's so true. And when you've done it and played on a team, one of the big things that was like a separate thing for me was like, I did it. I competed. Yeah, yeah. When you've competed at a level where you're playing junior hockey or you're playing,

junior hockey basically semi-pro hockey. There's an owner. Yes, absolutely. He needs to make money. You can get traded. So you have that pressure. When you start to feel that and then you have a group of, of guys who you're pulling with to make that happen, to succeed at that.

Like, that's a different thing. That's very unique. Definitely. And so when you go to make a movie, it's like, there's none of that. It's all just collaborative, like all of the fun stuff of hockey. But we were all trying to make the best thing possible. And it was a very good team in terms of there was no selfish players. Yeah.

And it turned into that where I don't know if Rick, Richard Link later, made that happen on purpose. I'm sure he did to a degree. but it also was just like the way that the magic notes fell. Yeah. Like these guys were all so great. We were all at times in our lives where we needed this. And so we were there for each other in ways that we probably didn't even know until much later until now. So that part of it was very special in terms of like, you know, creating a character that wasn't there.

Like when I got the script, he's like, you're Willoughby. I'm like, fucking who's Willoughby? I don't remember that guy. Yeah, yeah. But the way we did it was Rick wanted you to come in and he wanted you to like imparting. yourself into the role. Cool. And then write it as we went.

And Rick was Arbiter, judge, jury, and executioner at the end of the day, but if you had some great ideas, he'd want to hear them. Yeah. With me specifically in that role, I related to it a lot because it was this guy who couldn't let go.

Yeah. And that was me. Oh, my God. That's a lot of us. A lot of hockey players who, like, you know, reach, you can't let go. You don't want to let go. No way.

How can I fucking keep this going for as long as I can? So, but there was a lot of wisdom in that character. And so a lot of what I wrote with Rick and what you wrote together, especially there's this one pool scene. I just rewatched it. I've forgotten the scene was in there.

And I'm playing pool with the main character and he's asking me about like, how do you deal with these guys, whatever? And that scene is a direct conversation for the most part between me and my goalie coach or the guy that I was talking about. Oh yeah, yeah. Like you need to be who you are.

You can't ever worry about who they want you to be. Yeah. And when you get to that point, that's when it's fun. Now he's saying something to somebody that he knows as a 30 year old, like you're never going to fucking understand this until you're my age.

Yeah. But that's what I thought was fun, was like, oh, I get to be sort of like old wise man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. In retrospect, and I can actually take some of the things that I learned in hockey and directly apply them to this. And it directly applies to art. Yeah.

It's not, but I understand that other side of it. So I could be very additive to the role of Willoughby and to help out some of the other guys. And Rick, in that way, where like you have a you have a person who's done this before have experienced what these things are and that's why I was good for that part yeah I think Rick understood that definitely and so that allowing us to have that type of um role in in making the the movie what we wanted it to be for for ourselves he was like he was like a like an artistic godfather yeah he was like the coach of a

team yeah he played ball at sam houston state yeah and he was a real athlete and he was a real athlete You know, Rick Linklater is like he wasn't a schlub baseball player. He was really good. So he understood elements of that and he was imparting that to guys who some of the guys hadn't played sports, but they'd all done elements of something like it. Definitely. And we were all striving to perform in a way that was going to be something that people wanted to like go and watch. And so you needed to be able to feel the reality of it. Yeah. And that was like, you know, one of my best friends, Austin Emilio, he plays a left-handed pitcher in it. We've made so many Glenn. Forrest Fickery, who's a real estate agent now here in L.A., Tyler Hecklin, all these dudes that like we just became so tight and we still are. That's sick, dude. And so that's how I know it really worked. It was like we saw each other like last month for the first time in 10 years, all of us. And it was like, oh.

Amazing. No time and past. Yeah. That is epic. I mean, you said before that Rick's directing style is very much like letting a river flow. And like he builds the basin and then lets you all make decisions and impart your own personalities. And you did a lot of that with. like the music rants in that

I have to know, was it your decision to have Willoughby be a submarine pitcher? Because it fits his personality. It's perfect. So the submarine pitcher is Austin, Emilio. Oh, that's, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's the submarine pitcher who's left-handed. And he goes, yeah, he goes submarine. And he's the guy who's

betting all the time. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's terrible bed. Yeah, it's the worst best of all time. And then you just got like that big long wind up. Yeah, like was that part of your vibe? It was part of my vibe, but it's also just how I threw the baseball. So my, I didn't play baseball from the time I was 12. I stopped playing baseball, but my great-grandfather played baseball. My grandfather played baseball. My dad played baseball. And

Matt Franco, my cousin, has played in World Series and played 20 years of baseball. Baseball is in my blood. Yes. I was much better at baseball than I was in hockey. It just didn't fit my personality as well. And so when I got in there, I was like, I called my dad after we were playing because we'd practice and stuff. And I was like, fuck, I should have been a baseball player. And he's like, I told you. Yeah. I could still throw. Yeah. Yeah.

Was the submarine his decision too? The submarine was his decision. Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty smooth. Very smooth. I was like, fucking Jesus. This guy's chucking submarine.

Totally. Totally. So good. Yeah. Did you, we saw that you had, you based some of the Willoughby on like an old teammate you really had who had like a flaming skull tattoo on his ass. Is that real? Just that moment.

Cole Fetzer. He was on our team for like, maybe a week. I can't even remember. One of his big thing was he played with Sidney Crosby. Yeah. He's from New Brunswick. I have no idea like where the hell he was or where he is now or what, you know. But he was kind of like a funny, very loud, like a little annoying guy.

But it was like, you know, a grinder type player. Yeah. I'd been in like 15 different leagues from the time he was like, he was a 21-year-old. And he came and got cut. Stuff was in a black trash bag, how they'd do it. Yeah, yeah. You don't have the bag anymore. Yeah.

He had his black trash pack with his shit over his shoulder. And he takes his pants down. And we all, he had a flaming tattoo, a tattoo of a flaming skull on his ass. Yeah. And he took his pants down and he, like, mooned us.

And he's like, well, boys, here for a good time, not a long time, right? And he like slapped his ass and left. And that's the last time I ever saw Cole Fetzer. Yeah. So when,

when I was leaving, I was like, Rick, I got to put this. I have to say this line. I just got to say this line because it's like one of those lines I said to myself, If I ever get a chance to say this, I'm going to say it.

And he was like, perfect. So I just kind of set it under my breath, not like cold. He made it a thing. I made it like an aside, like sweeter. Yeah. And but it was, it was in its core, it was very sweet. It's perfect. Definitely.

Dude, you leave the mitt too. Like, yeah, leave the mitt on the thing. Like, that's it. I'm done. You know, and that was my thing too is like a little homage to myself. My own hockey career was like, Willoughby's done. Yeah. He's not bringing the glove.

Yeah. It's like signing your pads and leave it off. So that was my little like almost nod to myself. Yeah. Was like, I'm leaving it here. I'm not taking it with me. Yeah. It's the fucking tough.

Super fun movie to do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I told Nelson. He said he's good. No, they'll be fine. We're good for it. But quickly, I mean, we said, you have all these amazing projects coming out. Yeah.

And I also love, it's like, you know, you swerved from your whole family and went on this amazing journey. Yeah. And then you find yourself back in it. And like we said, crushing it. It's so iconic that one of the first things you did and came in an audition for was Captain America. Yeah.

Which you don't get. And Chris Evans does. Yeah. And then here you go. You audition again for like a surprise role. Yes. Get it. And then they tell you like, by the way, it's Captain America.

Yeah. You fucking kidding. Well, when I first auditioned for it, it really, it was like, here, here's some sides to read maybe. Yeah. They probably already had him like, you know, like, like. like like selected. It was just like a,

would you be good for any other parts? Possibly they do that a lot. Yeah. So the story is like auditioned for Captain America. I really didn't. It wasn't like I had a shot at getting. Yeah, yeah.

But it was really just like, what do you like? So the second time around now I had 10 years of a career being weirdos and like different kind of weird people. And I was like, you don't want me as Captain America. What are you talking about? This is a mistake.

And they were like, no, no, no, this is this different character. And he's kind of angry and kind of like, you know, has this dark side to him. And I was like, oh, that's interesting. So that's, but when they showed him to me, I was like, the joke I've always made is like, it's a kid on Christmas that didn't want the gift.

Yeah. You're like, thanks, mom. Oh my God, I love for this. Yeah, like, how do I return this without them knowing? And so, but then they explained me what it was. And I was like, that's interesting. And I can like do something with that. And it's been really, really great to be able to do it.

And like, you know, it's a, it's a superhero show, a character. You've got to try to make him interesting. But there's elements that, like, they allowed me to do things. that were a little bit different than they probably would have let other people do because the guy was just so unhinged. So it's been really fun. Dude, it's been amazing. And I actually love what you just said, like, the career you've had.

I mean, like, you play a fun stoner guy to a serial killer, and now you're here. And I feel like that's why the role is perfect for you. Yeah, it works. But I don't know if you've seen this, but do you ever laugh? Do you know the quote from your Colden July director Jim Mickles saying about Marvel? No. He's talking about your unbelievable range of acting. Right.

And it's a while ago. And this is a while ago, and he goes, I hope he never plays a Marvel Super Marvel, because he's so, but it's like, what's amazing is this Marvel character comes about that is so perfectly. And it has this depth and kind of the internal conflict that is perfect for your talents. You have to, I made, look, I had enough of a transition from like, you know, I was the joke, I was happy going. I was like, I'm here for the audition, but I'm really a hockey player. So after I got, was able to get rid of that, I did understand how like this world is different and you can really, it can. it can be incredible, you know, it can be an incredible thing in your life.

Yeah, if you let it be. Definitely. And so, and I'd created a career over playing, like, you know, making good money, of playing oddball people that were very different.

Now they want me to play this down the middle person. And I said, look, if you want me to do that, like, I'm not your guy. Yeah. Now, if you want me to come at it from many different angles

and turn it into something that's like, I think, I think unique and my ideas are heard, Not you don't have to do everyone obviously, but like my ideas are heard, then I'm the right guy. And they really did allow me to do that. They really gave me a lot of freedom in that first show to be like, who you want to make this guy. Yeah, totally. And that was a godsend because if you feel stuck and you're working like that, it doesn't matter

if you're playing hockey or if you're in a corporate job or like, if you feel like you're like handcuffed, it's not fun. No, definitely not. Yeah, takes the joy out of it. That's fucking sick. And now it's turned to something so awesome. That's amazing. Yeah. Okay.

All these bad parts, I want to talk Lake Hour. Talk Lake Hour. My favorite part is the tagline. A fine time. It's a fine time. Dude, what's so funny, what's so funny, when we first heard about it, it feels so not you to have your own liquor company. 100%. And then when you hear about it, it is so you.

And I think that's why it works. That's why I did it. So Rich Pete, my partner, who lives in Geneseeo, New York, huge Bill's fan. Great producer, by the way. friend, great producer, Neighborhood Watch, produced Jeremy Sonia's new movie October coming out soon. Rich and I became really great friends because our wives are best friends. They were like, you guys should be best friends.

We were like, we're 37 years old, like, I can't have any more best friends. Like, I was great. We met each other. We became best friends. Yeah. He was, grew up on lakes. I grew up, he lives on a lake now. I grew up on lakes in Toronto.

And two hours north of Toronto, Muscoca. Yeah. Absolutely. Everything ever fucking good happened to me on the lake. It was the best place ever. It was, you could be free. You could be whatever you wanted to be, right? And nothing hits like a drink on the lake.

Like nothing. Oh, it's unbelievable. Or like an evening campfire. Yeah. Like having a drink. Stop. Stop. Yeah.

It's amazing. Yeah. It's perfect. It's fucking great. And so we had sold that house about six years prior. And I was like, I just want that to be a part of my life somehow. Yeah. I can't afford a lake house right now.

I can't do, you know, like I can't give that to my kids. How can I like relive that moment? And we came up with this idea of we were drinking high noons in the hot tub. Yeah. And we were like, it's not for me. You know, like a lot of people like them, a little too sugary. I don't like the fake sugar taste. That was my, that was my big thing.

And so we were like, what? There's got to be a way to make some of these without like fake sugar. So we started down the road of like, well, let's fucking just try. Let's like see what happens. And we started trying different flavors and we're like, well, that one's really fucking good. The watermelon cucumber one's awesome. You don't need to use the fake sugar. You don't use the big sugar on the rosemary.

You know, now Yuzu citrus. Yeah. Like, you can't, you know, like, you just don't want to use the, yes, I don't want that. So we developed that first, and then people, like, loved it, because it's fucking good. Yeah, it is. And like, I would do these tastings.

What was fun for me was that I got to drop all of the shit that they sometimes make you do, or it's like, I gotta get dressed up in a suit, and I gotta do like, I don't want to do that. Yeah, yeah. my job. Yeah. What I like doing is like I'd go into do tastings where you like set up and you got your like little cardboard cutouts and people come to the liquor store to get something else because they don't know like how it exists. Yeah. And you'd be like they go over to the high noon and I'd be like, want to taste something? It doesn't taste like shit. Yeah. Yeah. And they'd laugh. Yeah. And they come over and

like, he sold like more than they never sold in 2016. That was super fun because I just got to be me. Yeah. And nobody's telling me what the fuck to do or to say. I can just like like, like, throw shit at the wind and have a good time. That's the whole idea. It's very unpretentious. Just replace it with your IPA. If you're getting a little full, you drink one of these now and they're growing. These things are huge now.

Yeah. And dude, you enrich like, you know, you really did it. Like it was you two from the beginning, doing all the testing, all the flavoring, all that. All the distributor management. All of the compliance. All of the everything. Like I ran. So it's simply like you really do know about every step of the way because you did every step of the way.

And made all the mistakes. and did all, like, did it all, like I was calling Tim at Cub Foods in Minnesota. Like, Tim, how's it going? It's why Russell? Calling the compliance officer in Minnesota and Wisconsin, being like, the guy would call back and get rich. And he's like, did I just talk to why or else with the actor?

Yeah, we didn't hire anybody. We were just doing it all ourselves. We got to the point where we were like, oh, shit, okay, we need to like make this a business. Yeah. And now this summer is like our first real summer where we're going to like push it out, which is, of course, tying back to the,

it wasn't a bet that I made, but it was Yeah, how did this come about? I, this was not, first of all, this was not planned. I want to,

this is fucking not planned. So I don't want to make it seem like, yeah, it's like a stunt, right? It became a stunt, but it wasn't in the beginning. My rich, huge Sabres fan,

Sabre's been bad for 14 years. I very flippantly was like, guys, guys, we're on a Buffalo chat. If the Sabers fucking make the playoffs, this is in November where they were like still below 500. Yep.

and I was like, I'll jump in late. I'll chug a beer out of a fucking beer saber and I'll jump in like Gary. Well cut to, literally when I said that, I started following the team and it was like, fucking greatest hockey NHL run of all the time. December 1st, dude,

they took off. Took on. Right after that. And I was like, oh my God. I was like, and we were making jokes. And then it happened and somebody posted it on our Instagram, one of our own people,

like without me knowing it. And I was like, well, fuck, I have to, I forgot. I mean, I forgot I said that. I have to go fucking jump in the lake, so let's make it a thing. And I loved, like, Buffalo and Buffalo Sports has become increasingly important to me because of rich. Yeah.

And so I under, I never understood it before. Legendary sports. It is fucking legendary. Yeah. The support they give their teams is like, everyone should be so lucky. Oh, yeah. And they're great people and they're loyal people. They're wonderful fan base.

But it's like, it's really special part of the world. And so I've taken a liking to it in a way that made me feel like when I was growing up in Canada, I was 15 when I moved there. So it was very, very similar in those areas. And the people are relatively similar. Loyal, caring, fun, funny, unpretentious, all the things that I liked being. So it was like, fuck, that's our hometown, Buffalo, New York, and Albany and Rochester and Syracuse. Those aren't, it's not Miami's not fucking Dallas. Yeah, not Los Angeles.

Like I would much rather go there. and go to a fucking Bill's game, Bill's game or a Sabres game, jump in Lake Erie and then go to the thing and like fucking... Hell, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So that's what we're doing.

We're trying to get... We're like, fucking anybody that wants to come down from Buffalo, jump in with me. Have you seen the last three days the Sabres admin has been going through like the receipts of people doubting them all year? Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. So like we're gonna make a clip of this and tag them and make sure they know. 100%. You're putting your money where your mouth is. I'm putting my money. And I'm like anybody... Somebody else said it.

Ryan Whitney. Oh, yeah, Witt got roasted. Zero. I was with you, but fucking like, I'm going to call ourselves that too. In our season preview,

we were like doing the Atlantic Division where are they going to finish. We both had them very much at the bottom. So like, we were doubters as far as how they would do as well. It's so great to watch them do what they're doing only because like they built a lot of that team. Like that team was built.

Oh, dude. 100%. From the ground up in like Tage Thompson and, and like, like what he's been able to do. Like that's going to be one of the great trades of all time. Fucking awesome. Like,

you know, whatever they saw on him, because he came from St. Louis, right? Like, one of the, like,

that guy's talent level is like through the fucking roof. And his release, his release is the best release in the NFL. Which is so hard being that lanky. Oh my God. How do you get the puck off that? It's insane.

Did you see that shift this year where he hit like seven, one T's in a row? None of them went in, but they just kept getting it back to him on the power plate. Why wouldn't you try, like, that's fucking, go back to the well,

I'm gonna fucking howitz or. And it comes off his stick. Like, you know, it's crazy. No clue that he's gonna shoot the puck. It's just gone. It's just like in the back of the net. Yeah. So I just like Rasmus Dahlon and the guys that they drafted,

like they're fucking, they did a great job and they didn't leave and they didn't do the thing that like Jack Eichel, they know. Yeah, they got they lost so many guys. So many guys. Holy shit. I mean, it's literally like every year for the last six years, someone on the former Sabres team wins a cup.

Yeah. And it's such a great sports town to plan. And if you've probably put the right guys together, because, yeah, no, if you want to be a guy who plays in Los Angeles or in Florida, you're not going to have, you're not going to be having that experience. But if you're like a nose of the grindstone guy, then you're going to love it there. It's the best. It's the best. The best. Tell everyone where they can get this.

Okay. You can get, if you live in Minnesota, Wisconsin, if you live in New Jersey or New York, you can, or Philadelphia, you can get it at Wagmonds. Oh, sick. can get it at like a lot of your big box grocery stores in in Wisconsin, Sendix has them. And then in New York specifically, you have to go to the liquor store. Okay. Because they can't get them in grocery. But we carry like a lot of the big liquor stores.

And if you don't have them, you can always ask your people to be like, hey, let me want some of that shit and let me try it. It's fucking really good. And nationwide online. Nationwide online. And pretty soon we're doing this really fun thing. They're doing like a subscription doc club thing. That's awesome. Where you'll be able to subscribe

and then get percentages off merch and we have like kind of fucking awesome merch like I think so. People seem to love it. You're rocking it right now. Yeah, it's pretty sick. And you can like be a part of the doc club, you know. Yeah.

And there's some fun, fun collaborations that we're going to have with some of the, what I think are the better influencers online. You know, we're not going to be doing anything with anybody who's like dancing around doing viral dance TikTok videos.

Yeah. But some people who are really funny and fun. So, yeah. And also the T's. Yeah. are fucking great. We were talking about it earlier. It's like the tea movement is amazing.

No bubbles. All the flavors are so different from all the other teas that are out there. And we wanted it to taste like tea. Yeah. So some of it is like, again, it's like a little feels like sugar water and then maybe there's tea in here. Yeah. I get it. It's fun and it's great and it tastes good.

But like you really try. Yeah. It's fucking awesome. And it's that one's my favorite. Earl gray, raspberry, blackberry, and the green tea is awesome too. Yeah. And my dad is my biggest fan. The dude will fucking come over and drink me out of these all the time.

And he's like, where'd they go? I'm like, are you drank? You're gone. He's 30 and two days, yeah. Oh, it's unbelievable. All right, before we let you go, we're going to play a game we play with everyone with you. It's called pass-shoots score. Great.

Ranking system, pass the puck's great. It's cool. Shooting's better. Scoring's even the best. Not for a goalie. Yeah, oh, true. You get it. It's basically Mary Fuck Kill.

There are going to be three things that we know you love, and you got to rank them. Okay. Start it off. Your first category is all-time comedy movies. So pass-shoots score. Pass-shoots score all-time? I'm going to give you three, and then you rank them. Used cars.

Okay. Ace Ventura. Okay. Team America World Police. Oh, my God. Okay. Score used cars because it's... Bob's Mix the second movie.

It's one of the fucking... It's so... It's so great. So funny. It's so uniquely funny. and special. So use cars score. Pass.

Fuck. I know. That's hard. Yeah, it's a tough. Pass. Ace Ventura. I can't believe I just said that.

Oh, that kills me inside. Shoot. I got you go, Team America was so unique. Dude, when you said your favorite movie experience ever, I was just dying. That movie possesses a few of the hardest I've laughed in my entire life. 100%.

My dad obviously was in the same. industry a long time and the the pomp and circumstance of Hollywood can be annoying for anybody yes and and can be and has been annoying for someone who's been in it since he's been nine yeah okay so but when we watched that movie together I thought he's gonna have hard at yeah I was like I was like whoa I was like we're because because it makes fun of things that like nobody was making fun of at that time and and and and had no bones about it it and it was just such a you fucking like it was so unique and and and didn't it didn't hold back at all at all dude I I genuinely I had to stop the movie that when the Matt Damon puppet came

it's just so fucking funny it's so mean it's so like look we do that I've always looked at it like if if that ever happened to me you should be so lucky number one and number two is like we put ourselves in the year everybody that does entertainment you guys too it's like as much as anybody. Like you put yourself in the arena to get beat up. That's what I'm here for. Yeah, you're going to take punches.

When someone does it really well, you have to like applaud. You know, you got to. Without question. Okay, your next one is going to be sci-fi movies. Okay.

So pass shoot score, Dune, and you can do the new one or the David Lynch one. Okay. I think you're going to do the David Lynch one. Okay. Event Horizon and Sunshine. Ooh, sunshine score.

Wow, quick score there. Okay. Sunshine is Stanley Boyles. Danny Boyles. It's amazing. It's an incredible movie. And Hail Mary. You guys seen it?

Dude. What a time? It's a fucking perfect movie. It's unbelievable. Chris Miller and Phil Lord directed the director 22 Doms Street. Yeah, yeah. I texted Chris. I was like, thank you for making that movie.

It's just, it's a perfect fucking movie. Ryan Gosling is perfect. The rock alien is perfect. Like everything about it, I just thought was so fucking good. So, but it reminded me of like sunshine in a way because of obvious reasons. Anyway, so sunshine score. Event Horizon, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, do you like the book more? I, it's just, because it was based on, on a, on a, such a, there was so much

IP. Yeah. No, I hear you. It was a third crack at something. And like Dune Messiah's involved

in there too. Yeah, there's a lot. There's so much going on that I love the movie. I love Dune and I love Dune too. I thought they were great. Yes.

But they didn't have the pop of Event Horizon was one of the first all time. So good. You know, like, and it was scary. Oh my God.

You know. That's like the old. It was fucking scary. Oh yeah. I was talking about Stargate. There are moments in Stargate that I remember. Terrified. Terrified.

It was scary. And Dune never really He doesn't have that element in it. It's not scary to me. But I love it for its sci-fi-ness and how good Dennis Villan-O-Nus like, he's a genius. Everybody in, it's fucking great. But, yeah. Are you reading sci-fi books or not as much of them?

I used to. We got to talk sci-fi books after us. Okay, cool. We've got a couple that you're going to want. Cool. I've started reading, like, you know, especially once you have kids, there was something about, like, looking back into the past for me of like what mistakes have we made so I started being a lot of nonfiction yeah okay because they ask you a bunch of questions about life or you're like

I don't know I don't know why we do that yeah such a that's awesome okay your next category is vacations okay so your trip to Greece okay your trip to Egypt okay and your van trip around the northwest oh god uh okay van trip number van trip score wow it was with my wife Yeah. And she was pregnant. Right before the kids. Yeah. She was five months pregnant.

And it was so special. Like it was a special bonding experience. You also, you're living on a fucking one square foot moving vehicle. You really get to know each other on a level you didn't after being together for six years. That's intimacy, baby. It is intimacy. And like,

and we both, you know, you take on your roles. We both took on very norm gender roles. I was like, chopping the wood and cooking the food on the outside. She'd be like, you know, like getting the stuff together on the inside. I'm very organized. She's very disorganized. That was her only thing. I was like, I'd stop by 99 cents.

She's like, why the fuck are you stopping? I'm like, I need more boxes. Yeah. I need more like the knives go here. And then the oil goes up there. The oil doesn't have a box. It doesn't have a place to live. And she was like, you're fucking crazy.

Calm down, dude. Yeah. And I'm like, you don't understand. My brain's going to lose my mind. And if you don't put the controller with the Velcro thing back on that part, like, nobody knows where it is. Yeah. So anyway, so that was a,

very special experience that I'll never forget the trip to Greece I'm going to say that will be past because we've done that multiple times okay okay the the Egypt trip with Pete Cartwright Blair Tessoni and Brian Bales

hey guys I'll never forget that one because Pete fucking left his passport oh Jesus we were all coming from different places in Holland I get there from my girlfriend at the time I was staying at her place so I was like I'll drive there you guys meet me at the airport. Okay, great. This is before smartphones. Yeah. Like, I didn't bring my

smartphone because there was no cell phone plan. I would cost $10,000. So I have the, I have the, you got to press the button 800 times to get the letter. Yeah. And like, the screen is that big. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I, I, so I'm like, hey, I'm here. Fuck, get a call. Pete forgot his passport. He can't find it. Forgot it, whatever. Holy fuck. tomorrow. Get on the flight. I'll send you the information. Now I've got to go get $10 worth of calling card shit so I can get data.

And I'm looking at the itinerary that Blair put together and it's like, you know, you're scrolling, you can barely see it's like one word at a time. And I'm like Australian hostel, like I don't know, I'm on the flight to Egypt. I get out and I'm in Egypt by myself.

And I'm like, to the taxi driver, I'm like, the Australian hostel and he doesn't know where the fuck that is. He doesn't know what I'm saying. I'm trying to show him the address. We're driving around the hostel area looking for the hostel. And I'm like, I don't know where the fuck this is. I can't call them.

I don't know. And finally like found it. But it was very harrowing experience. Like the only white dude. Yeah. Oh yeah. And like I would go out. Anyway, it's a story for another time.

But that was very special. We went to Luxor. We got our diving certificates. Oh, six. One of the coolest fucking moments of my life. We paid a bar owner in Charmell Shake while we were getting our diving certificates. We paid him to stay open because Team USA and Team Canada were playing the Olympics that year. And so we all watched from this Egyptian bar on this tiny TV.

And we texted during this last Olympics because you guys remember where we were last year. Yeah. Unreal. So we watched it from this like little bar where this guy got the game. We paid him like 100 bucks to stay open for us. That is fucking all. time. It was awesome. So that was a very, very special trip, and I'll put it ahead of the other, because that was just amazing. Very good. It was awesome. Yeah, it was awesome. Okay. All right. Now,

your last one, this category is going to be mom's cooking. Okay. And I think some of these recipes might technically come from your grandmother. Okay. The beef stew. Yeah. American chop. Okay. And Shepherd's Pie. Okay. And Shepherd's Pie. No. Oh, really? Shepard's Pie number one. The Shepard's Pie score, American Chop, because it's just so in my, like, DNA. Yeah. Shoot. And then the beef stew is incredible, but I'll be honest, it can hit and miss. Okay.

It's important to know. It depends on how, like, if it's cold when it goes in, it's a little tougher. Yeah, yeah. Oh, God, damn, that's true. That is true. If you get a tough piece, you're like, yes. It's good bomb. Does Shepard's Pie always hit for you?

Shepherds pie always hits for me. It's me too. I don't think I've ever had a Shepherds pie where I'm like, the Sheper Pie sucks. It's like so simple but so perfect and you're like, yep, this is good. So I just had one and we were in London like not long ago and I had like, we were at a fish and chips place and everyone was getting fish and chips. I was like, I'm going to get the Shepherds Pie.

And I got it and I was like, this is the best Shepard pie I've ever had. It had like a pet, that like pea puree. The mushy peat. Yeah. I was like, this is fucking great. Dude, I'll tell you what, King's Head. as a good shepherds pie. Oh, really?

Oh, yeah. Really? I will meander down there on Sunday and have like a Sunday roast or a shepherd's pie quite often and it's really nice. Good to know. Yeah, it's good to know if you ever need it.

Yeah. All right, we've taken up enough of your time. This has been a fucking last. I love it. I can spear all day. Same, same. Before we let you go, tell everyone what's going on in your life.

Anything more about Lake Arr if they need to know it, but any sign off you want. Like, thank you for having me on. Thank you for coming on. I love it. This came together so quickly. Yeah, it's unbelievable.

It's so fun. I mean, just honestly, what's going on now, mostly in my life, before I go off, and I'm doing the Lee Shaw show. We're doing a spin-off in Prague. Hell yeah. We're about to shoot that. I'm about to go do press for Disclosure Day. Have not seen it.

Know nothing about it. You know as little about it as everybody else. I'm kind of really excited. And then the Avengers stuff is all happening. And that's also kind of amalgamist in my life. It's sort of, I like to. to like let things go like that. There's things you could go in, you can't control,

and hopefully everybody likes them. This is honestly what's like the biggest thing in my life now because it keeps, it keeps me tethered to like the reality. Yeah, yeah. It's every day. It's your nine to five, dude. Yeah.

Yeah. It's every day and it's like, it's something that really, it's a product that's out there that like is you in some certain way. Yep. And I don't like to be too in front of it because I like, it's like people, it's not why.

at Russell's Lake Hour. It's like it's what what is your lake moment that you can bring to your own life. It has nothing to do with saying buy it because you like me. It's by it because it's good. And also like it's just something that I think the brand can be additive to your life in a way that's positive where it's we're living in an AI dominated world right now that's at the very beginning where it's like I've always liked the idea of putting down your phone, putting down your shit like leaving all that stuff behind and going and being with your family and your friends around a campfire around a lake and whatever that is for you preach man and enjoying a drink together and laughing and having a good moment as a person to person yeah that's what i like trying to sell i don't always

sell that in my movies right that's not always the main focus of what you're selling but this this is what it is so that's why it's special and important to me that is perfect i love it man well can we say goodbye everyone in honor of the dude that you used to work out with Donald, who would say happy Tuesday to everybody because having, you guys are the best. This is the best interview I've ever done. Having a good day, every day is awesome. So we're going to give a happy Tuesday to the camera on three. Ready? Yes. One, two, three. Happy Tuesday. What a guy, what an interview, unbelievable time with Wyatt. Truly, that was one of the most fun hour and a halfs I've ever had doing the empty of his podcast. I can't wait to have him back on and I'm happy that he, his Lake Erie

dunk got the Sabres a win. I stand by that. He needed it. So why? I need to drink those lake hours that he left at the office. Dude, oh my God. They're incredible, bro. I was actually texting this weekend. Yeah, the ginger one is insane. I mean, you know, I'm the guy that goes to the sushi restaurant and eats like the whole. Oh, you're the ginger boy? Yeah. I'm like, sorry. So I knew I was going to like that one. Unbelievable stuff. He is a legend. Massive thank you to him. He will be back. I can't wait for more hangs. Listen, do not forget. we are going this week we this is coming out you who listen to this on monday Tuesday tomorrow we are going live from Tampa special guests all kinds of action we're going to be in the mixer with the bolts

getting ready for game to tune into that live Wednesday we'll record then late Tuesday night we'll give you a pod Wednesday morning because we'll be in the air again but you'll get a full pod Wednesday and then we're going live Thursday live Friday do not miss any of the action and tune in on the page because we are going to be by the time you're hearing this we are already going to be in Tampa we're going to be doing a come with us to the playoffs video we're going to have a couple tampa alumni special guests on our live maybe on a recording we're going to be doing in-game content so check out the story check out everything tampa is going to be a movie i cannot wait in a must-win game for them against the habs we are fired up playoffs are here ev any other thoughts uh i am about to explode from

excitement and i don't want you to see it so i should log off and we got to go to bed dude we got to bet. Dude, it's like night before Christmas. We got to go to bed. You're on a flight. I'm on a flight right after you. So then, Jesus. Absolutely insane. See you in Tampa. Go buy some merch. Go on YouTube. Subscribe, please. Five stars on everything. Check it out. Tell a friend. We love you guys. See you live from Tampa. And until then, skate hard.