Games with Names - Chris Pronger on the 2002 Gold Medal Game | USA vs. Canada

Episode Date: April 14, 2026

Chris Pronger is in studio! The Hockey Hall of Famer is with us to break down a classic USA vs. Canada rivalry game: The Gold Medal Game from the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. We also get into winning the Stanley Cup, lessons he learned from a life in hockey, and his thoughts on the upcoming NHL playoffs.  (00:00) We kick things off. (00:58) Chris joins us on the couch. (43:31) We go back to February 2002. (52:38) We take a look at each star studded roster. (1:16:04) We dive into the game. (1:23:42) We score it.   Support the show: http://www.gameswithnames.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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On our podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to The Away End with Daniel Alarcon and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. February 24th, 2002, East Center Salt Lake City, Utah. After 50 long years,

Team Canada has gold in their sights. But Team USA is looking to protect home ice. This is the 2002 gold medal game. Welcome to Games with Names. I'm Julian. They're Jack and Kyler, and we're on a mission to find the greatest game of all time. And today we have a very special episode with Hall of Famer, Chris Pronger.

And if you haven't already, drop a like and subscribe to Games with Names. Let's go. Games with Names are production of IHeart Radio. How you like in media? You've been in it for a while now. Yeah, doing it. It's good. Yeah, it's, you know, you're going to ask a good question.

Yeah. I'm going to give these guys shit. Like, don't ask that. Because you hate you. Like, I remember watching your media shit. Gotta lay the hammer down on these guys. Yeah, see, I'm in the media. And I, I'm more, I do the studio show.

Yeah. For me, it's like, I approach it like, if you get too in the nitty-gritty of the X's and O's, you're going to lose everyone. You lose them. You got to be entertaining. Yeah. It's essentially what it is.

And I remember I gave up this huge, like, monologue about situational football. Awareness. And you got it. Yeah. And my boss, Shanks, comes up to me. He's like a runner of Fox. And he goes, you know, that was really good. But just use the name brands.

I just, play the hits. Yeah. Just use names and teams. I'm like, basically don't talk about anything. Yeah. Basically, don't get in the trenches. Yeah. No trenches.

Make it surface level and people will love it. Are we ready? Oh, you're back. There we go. There we go. We're back. We're back. You know, hard-hitting questions.

Hard-hitting questions. Prongy. Do they call you prongy? Prongs. Prongs. Prongs. That's awesome. Right.

Welcome to Games with Names. Today we are looking at the gold medal game of the 2002 Winter Olympics, Canada versus the U.S. With Chris Pronger. Chris, in one sentence. Why this game? This was retribution for losing in 98. Not that we lost to the U.S., but just high expectations in 98, odds like gigantic odds on favorite.

And we didn't come away with the medal. And to win gold in this in Salt Lake in North America, with everything that kind of transpired and losing our first game and all the rest of that and how this team kind of just came from. being really down in the dumps to being cast off to everybody a lot of broken ankles, people jumping off the bandwagon

to then being able to handily win this gold medal game was pretty special. Is this the greatest game of all time? 50 years since we had last won a gold medal. That's Canada. I would say probably 2010 only because it was Crosby.

in overtime, the golden goal, the turning of, you know, his, his career and whatnot. But this one here kind of cemented Canada in its rightful place as the superpower. And everybody had us as the target. We need to beat that team. So the superpower because Canada started this sport. Well, technically I don't think we physically started it. From a historical perspective, I don't think Canada started. it, but we claim we did.

So who's the superpower now? Well, well, if we go back to youth, if we're going to go U-18, U-20, World Junior, and now World Championships and now Olympics,

you got to go with the U.S. I just wondering. You just wanted me to say it. I'm just wondering. I'm half Canadian. I'm half Canadian. I love you. one are you claiming. A U.S. That's where I was born, buddy. That's where I was born. Later, the free home of the brave, baby. What's life looking like these days? Pretty good, man. It got the book, doing a lot of public speaking and doing some broadcasting. I've been doing Amazon Prime Canada, do some hockey night in Canada on Sportsnet and then do a lot of local St. Louis Blues games.

This book earned everyone. Unbelievable book. Right? What's the, the full name. It's earned. The true cost of greatness from one of hockey's fiercest competitors. There it is. What did you say to me when I came walking down the hallway? He's the biggest motherfucker I've seen in a while. Actually, I was just with Big Z. So he makes it kind of...

Yeah, yeah, he's got me by a few inches. I mean, that's a large man. He's a large... We just did a thing with Sam Adams. And you... Sometimes it's in hockey, like, the baddest addest, the badass motherfuckers that are like the fighters, the nastiest players.

when you meet them off the ice, they're like the nicest dudes. Very cordial. Very cordial. So you guys are all psychos. We have a switch. We need to turn on and off. Yeah.

I mean, Jesus. You know, I hear you do public speaking, right? So you said that. Could you give us a little fire up public speaking here in the nut house? How does it go? I wouldn't really look.

I don't look at myself as a motivational guy. I look at myself more as a pushing buttons, hold yourself, ownership, accountability, go put the work in, you know, and give people kind of a template to how to put the work in. If they want to level up, you have to take ownership. It's got to come from you. We can leave a Rocky movie and feel all pumped up. And when you wake up the next day, you're like, what do I do? I don't know what I do, but you're fired up.

Yeah. And so you try to give people something tangible that they can take away and implement their lives that will help them level up. Yeah. Now, this crazy story, when you got to St. Louis, John Hamm was a bouncer at one of the bars. He was a bartender.

A bartender. Bartender. And so I used to, I was being booed somewhat religiously by the hometown crowd. Why? And I was traded for a fan favorite, Renan Chanahan.

And probably wasn't living up to my end of the bargain. You know, it was young, didn't come in in great shape. didn't really realize the magnitude of the situation and who I was traded for, expectations, pressure, all the rest of that. And, you know, it was a little in the doldrum. So I would frequent this bar after practice and maybe after games. And John Hamm would notice me at the end of the bar by myself, drowning my sorrows.

And took a liking to me and started kind of just making sure I was okay, feeding me, checking in on me. and then, you know, full circle, you know, see this guy on TV now, you know, he was an out-of-work actor, just trying to survive, bartending and, you know, waiter and whatnot. And then you see him madman and all the stuff that he's done since. It's been awesome to see. Man, that's, that's so nuts. St. Louis, you forget, he's a big Kansas City guy.

Because they're right next to each other. Huge chiefs guy. We hear about him in his text group all the time of all the Hollywood elite. people that have the text group. So that picture there, I've seen a lot of people chirping about that picture. Yeah. They're like, how big is he? 5-7? No. Well, I don't think people realize I'm 6-6. Yeah, no. This guy's a large human being. And he walked up made me look like... He's taking a lot of heat right now. He's actually 6-1. Yeah. You're just 6-6. Yeah, and I get a big forehead. Makes me look taller. It's a 5-head. Yeah. It's all right. Yeah. It happens. Hey, it happens.

What are we thinking about these playoffs coming up? I think they're exciting because I don't think there's a favorite. Colorado's been off and they've been out kind of running and gunning. But I don't know. To me it seems like it's gotten a lot tighter. I think early on they were kind of running away with it. And now some teams have made some moves at the deadline. Tampa looks good.

Buffalo looks scary good if they can defend first time in 14 years since five flyers beat him. Jesus. Long time. Gronk talks about them all the time. He said they weren't very good when he was a kid, but he loves them. It'd be really cool to see Buffalo do some dirt in the playoffs. Because that's a cool, that's a cool part of the country.

Yeah. They love their sports. They love their savers. And now they're back. And they've supported the team through this whole 14-year debacle. And now they're back. The Flyers might make the playoffs? The Flyers are in the playoffs as of right now.

So yeah, they've got, and they've been kind of finding themselves. You know, these teams that go through adversity, as you know, you find that edge and you figure out ways to win. And it's not always easy. And it's ugly, but they win. Yeah. And that's where I think this playoffs in particular, I don't know if there's an odds on favorite. I don't, it all depends on matchups. Who ultimately is going to play who?

And I think we'll see some upsets. Yeah. Who are some of the guys you love watching today? Hold on real quick to go back to the Buffalo Sabres since they've ended their playoff drought. You know who has the longest playoff drought of all North American professional teams? Oh.

The New York Jets. Oh, football. 15 straight seasons without making the playoffs. They beat us the last time they were there. And to go to the AFC championship. So fuck them. We're not bringing them up. This is my fucking show.

Giants, I can take the Giants. Not the Jets. You know who the next hockey team is? I'll give you one guess. Is it the blues? They wear red. Oh,

they wear red. Detroit? Yeah. 10 years if they don't make it this year. 10 years without playoffs in Detroit. That's crazy. Think about that. Hockey Town.

Yeah. Not Hockey Town no more, brother. It's a basketball town right now. They're in number one seed. Out of nowhere, bro. Out of nowhere. Shout out. God.

Wow. Freaking. what are some of the players you like? And we're back. And we're back, maybe. Sorry, Detroit. And we're back. I love a cross-section players.

I love the guys that are highly competitive. Like this Macklin Celebrating kid in San Jose is a stud. Stud. Not only talented, but just his compete. The way he just is always hounding the puck. Hunting. He's like a shark. He's just hunting.

plays for the sharks. He is a shark. He's just hunting, nonstop, always moving. You know, never any wasted motion and just dog it. Determination everywhere. He's a guy I love, you know, obviously the top end guys, but Zach Wrenzky and Columbus, playing in Columbus, people don't get to probably get to see him very much. He will be a Norris nominee this year.

I have to imagine he's having a great year, quietly, again. Team USA guy. Team USA. You know, owners. You said it. Yeah. I mean, they got the target on their back. Now, let's see how they like that.

Let's see. That's the sign right there. That's the hardest thing. You know, when you're the standard to be. Everyone's best now. Let's see what you got. It's a different. It's a different.

Flying under the radar, especially, you know, we all know this is Canada's game. But now you've got the target. Let's see. That's what. Let's see if you can handle that pressure. Your true colors. Yeah.

It'll come out. Who else? Let's see. Anyone remind you of you? Nah. Not in today. It's, you know, like anything, it evolves. It changes.

The game has, you know, from error to error now. What's changed? These kids don't, from minor hockey all the way up. You know, it's how you're taught. And it's the mindset you have. Like, just, I had that mindset of, if I see you hit my teammate. I know what number you are. I'm going to find you at some point throughout the game.

May not be right now, but I got your number. We'll see. You'll be coming with your head down somewhere or you'll be going to hit somebody or you'll be coming down on me. And just kind of showcase the different things that can happen to you. Be unpredictable.

I might spirea. I might slash you. I might elbow you. I'd hit you. Like poke check and take the puck. Keep you on your heels so that you're thinking, what is he going to do? And half the time I get about it said,

I didn't know what I was going to do. So kind of worked out. But guys don't, they don't have that edge in minor hockey now. It's frowned upon. You know, guys running people over in minor hockey, it's, it's just not a part of the DNA anymore.

Yeah. I mean, there's some guys that still play with the physical edge, but not to that level. Do they find you more now? Suspensions, fine. But I think if we look at the game right now, I think we're now finding that happy medium of physical play with skill and talent.

You know, you look at the playoffs the last probably three or four years. I've thought they've been excellent just in the players showcasing their skill, but also the drive and the will to fight through things. And, you know, guys, what are they willing to do to sacrifice and to win a game? you know, blocking shots with your face and just laying it all on the line. And, you know, it's fun when you see that because you know what it's going to take and you see the toll it takes. Like Florida now, three years in a row and now they're missing the playoffs.

Bound to happen at some point. You've been there. Injuries, all this stuff. It's hard. That's crazy to hear, you know, a legendary hockey guy talk about, you know, it's gotten a little softer. Dude, every sport. Too buddy. Out of all the guys that we interview,

baseball, soccer, football, hockey, gymnastics, anything. We've yet to have. The hockey guys are like the most team guy. Like they're the guy that like would give their face up for the puck the most to hear that you say, you know, it's kind of changed a little since my time is nuts to me. In that regard. That's good point. But, but I will say from a.

a skill and talent perspective. Yeah. That's in all the school. From the bottom to the top. Top guys, you know, they're, you know, top guys to the top guys. But the bottom is so much closer to the top. Just, you know, you think back to, you know, my early days, you think back to a fourth liner, you know, a fourth line.

If the first line was against a fourth line, the coach is screaming to get off the ice. Like, let's, we need to get the other guys out. And now, like, sometimes that fourth line, they're better skaters than the first liners. Yeah. You know, maybe not as talented, but there's not that big of a drop off. So you're not worried about the matchup. Or you're just like, let's let it roll.

So the current state of the league right now is positive, I think. Like, I just think the game is in a good place. You know, I'm sure you'll love that. You play baseball too, right? Baseball, yeah. Don Fear came in from baseball to run the PA. And he brought a lot of baseball's ideology with them. We don't want to practice.

We want days off or, you know, longevity, you know, very career-oriented. And hockey's not that way. Like, you have to lay it all in the line. Yes, we have short careers, but you want to take advantage of it. You want to win championships. You want to win. And I feel like he came in right as my career was ending. And I just feel like he kind of dumbed it down.

And I didn't like the direction of the league. And since he's left, it's skyrocketed, in my opinion. Just in how these players look at. And I think they realize how, you know, how finite a career is and how you're looked at it when you're a champion. And how you're looked at when you win and the connection and bond you have with your teammates when you win a championship or go far.

And you have a tight-knit group. You know, it means a lot. It does. It does. that's it's very similar in all the sports right now with just the work labor laws

you know less practice which the owners and the people that are running the league think it's better but it's that calcification from practice that gives you better execution correct probably less injuries

because you're more calloused for it yeah you know a lot of those we're running into a lot of those problems right now in NFL and you know we're about to expand road manager Load management. Well, they don't do that in our sport because there's only 17 games, but they do it in the practice form. Okay.

And when you can't hit in practice, like our linemen can't hit, then, you know. Are you working on technique? How do you like really feel it? I've been talking, you know, since I retired, I've been in TV for like five years now, four years. In the first two months of the season, we always talk about offensive line play being slow and terrible. And that's because they can't practice. If you can't practice at full speed and have those reps, you're not going to be able to do it on a Sunday, like to a T. You know what I mean? It's just the labor laws. Well, think about our league has gotten a lot younger.

It used to be an old league. When I first came in league was old. And now it's slowly and now it's a younger league. Development. You have to practice. So you get these young guys, you're trying to, you know, slowly bring them into the system and teach them structure and teach them how to play the game. If you don't practice, how you're going to, you can't, you can't teach in a game. It's so hard, as you know. It's about practice and repetition and just drilling it into your brain. Like, this is what you got to do in these situations in this, you know, working on your craft in different ways, depending upon what position you play. That's how it becomes deja vu. It's because it's subconsciously in your mind from doing it in practice.

You don't even think about it. It just happens. You're like, why did I do that? how you play fast. I do it over and over. Practice execution. By the way, right there. That's how you play fast. That's what I hear all the time now with all these teams. If you don't practice and you have a young team, you're not going to play fast. You're going to be thinking.

You can't think. Yeah. Gotta react. Whoa. Opa. Boom. Yeah, we're good. Sorry about that.

Let's do a little word association with guys. Oh, ho. You give me, I'll say a name. You give me a word. Connor McDavid Speed Mario LeMoo The magnificent one

Sean Avery Havery Let's see here Interesting Interesting It'll be interesting after this Bobby Orr Oh man

Legend Um Sid the kid The kid. Well, let's think here. I can't call him that. Consistent. Yeah.

Macklin Celebrini. The next one. The next one. Gretzky. A great one. Mike Keenan. The beginning. The beginning.

Man, this is. I'm motivated. Are you a public speaker? I'm motivated right now. I got a little fired by you. We'll be right back after this quick break. I'm Luke Wilson. Join me each week for Film Never Lies. Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind, and now I've got my own show.

So if you're tired of lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week. Film Never Lies available on all TSN platforms in the IHeartRadio app. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. to never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends,

Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care, so they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target.

He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm John Green. You may know me as the author of The Fault and Our Stars. And now, I guess also is the co-host of the Away End, a brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist.

And John and I have known each other since we were kids. My first World Cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old. I watched every game and I fell in love. On our new podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. For us, soccer, football, is a story we've shared for over 30 years since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team.

Very debatable. And I was their most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game. I love its history, it's hope, it's heartbreak, and above all, it's beauty. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to The Away End with Daniel Auer Kohn and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment.

And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Cliffer Show, starting on April 20th on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. It's funny that you said that about Avery.

Avery is part of the neighborhood watch of my daughter's house in her neighborhood. I don't know if you saw the TMZ where he yelled at the kids. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was in my neighborhood. Okay. And I asked him, I said, you know, I got Pronger coming on. What are you saying? He goes, this guy was the dirtiest player I have ever played against.

But did say you were an incredible player, but dirtiest player. You got to leave a mark on everybody. I want people ice bagged up after the game. Hit the ice bag. That's right there, baby. Hit the ice bag. That's right there. I love it.

Man. I want you to, after the game, I want you to feel it. I want you to know this is how it's going to be every game. Leave a mark, leave a message, send a message. Be prepared. He also asked us, he also told me about, to ask you about juniors with Peterborough. Yeah. What is, what is that?

Well, I mean, there's probably a couple things. One, in the beginning of my career, my brother was playing college hockey. So I played junior B and I was going to go play college. I was up. I was rated second overall for the draft in the OHL. And I told all the teams, you know, this is before you kind of tried to choose where you went. I was like, no, I'm not going. I'm going to go to college.

Don't just don't do it. I'm going to college. And Peterborough took me the sixth round and then slowly tried to convince me like, hey, come down, just see the city, you know, come see how we operate. You know, here's our franchise, a lot of history. A lot of great players have come through this organization. And I'm like, yeah, no, thanks. You know, I'm going to go to college.

And then I went, I played on a team Canada over in Japan for under 18. And had a great tournament, made the All-Star team. And I played with all these guys that were up for the draft. And I'm like, these guys aren't that, like, relative. I'm like, these guys aren't that good compared to me. And I'm like, well, why can't I play in the league they're in? And then that was the moment I kind of flipped the switch. I'm like, well, maybe I need to play major junior and not go back to junior B because the problem was I had to go back to play junior B one more year.

And I felt like I was kind of topped out in the challenge. And throughout the course of the book, I talk about, you know, betting on yourself and challenging yourself to get to that next level. And so I'm like, maybe I have to go. And then I started really kind of think about it. And everybody in the league said, oh, my God, these guys may, you know, hit him in the draft. and, you know, he knew he was going to go there all along. I'm like, no, I didn't know I was going to go there until training camp when I went. Back then, you had to go for 48 hours before you had to decide.

And I got to training camp. And I'm like, no, I can play here. And then I went and the rest is history. But that first year, I really got a chance. So Eric Lindrosk gets drafted first overall. Comes back to junior. This is when he was holding out. Didn't want to go to Quebec.

And until he got traded to Philly the next year. and got to play against him. So I really got, you know, he played in the Canada Cup as an 18-year-old. I got to test my medal against him and some of the other great guys, great players in our league. And it was a good wake up call to what I needed, where I needed to get to get to that next level. Wow.

Did you end up being teammates with Lindrosse in Philadelphia? No. You missed. Actually, Team Canada. 2002. Yeah. Yeah, we played together 98 in the Olympics and then 2002. That's so crazy that you, like just the whole.

schematics and operations of hockey where you get drafted. I'm not going, you know. And then you can decide if you want to go, go to hockey, go to college. And now, and now the rules are all different. Now they change the rule. You can go to play, because Major Junior, it was such a stupid role. Major Junior was considered pro because there were pro players drafted, but they're being playing in Junior.

and because they're signed to a pro team that now this league is considered pro, but they're 19 years old, 18, 19 years old. And now, and so you had to decide. You either played major junior, you went to college, you couldn't do both. Now you can play in major junior and then you can go play college. Wow. Which actually, I think for these colleges, they're excited about because they want older players. If you look at a lot of college hockey now, the average age is 20 to 24,

which is pretty old. It's the guys that can't make it in the leagues. Well, but it's also guys that are, you know, they hold you back. You get drafted. Let's say you play in the USHL or you're playing Canadian Hockey League and whether it's the dub, the Q or the O. And maybe you're not ready to go to the minors or maybe you're not drafted. You go, you go play college.

Now you got four more years of development. So a lot of guys ultimately then, you know, have a great college career and they get another chance. Can they plug you after your second? and you're in college. They can plug you whenever. Whenever. If you're, let's say you're undrafted. Let's say you go, you're done playing in the CHO,

you go to college as a 20-year-old. After every season, if all of a sudden you have this meteoric rise in development and you have a great start to your college curve, they can sign, you know, if you want to, you can sign any time after that. Wow. And now sometimes, and now there's been players that have gone back to college because of this whole new, all the stuff, like,

it's there's a lot of gray areas that they need to map out are they paying the hockey guys oh yeah in college yeah a couple guys that this Gavin mechanic kid who's uh who's up for the draft this year yeah i think he's making 750 or made set oh they're done now i heard that made 750 that's it's it's all i mean it's it's all i mean it i think it's gonna for us and you got guys that are making five six million bucks in college yeah and so i think for the professional leagues it's going to be easier to weed out the guys that can't handle the money right of what you. It's going to change. And I think it's good for football because it allows these guys to develop a little more in college.

And you know what I mean? They come out sometimes so raw. They understand the business of sports now. Yeah. Yeah. They have to. It's crazy. I just don't like the portal.

I don't like that they can move that off. Executive signed, I believe. No more portal. Yeah. Really? I think they limit the number of times you can transfer. Can you move one time? Is it one or two?

I don't know. I think I would be all for moving once. Or signed contracts, like a year or two, just to have some sort of like consistency. They just get to move. Oh, I know. Is the reason do you think we're talking about this game in a little bit? Yeah, one they say that Canada hadn't won a gold medal in so long.

Is it because the junior leagues were considered professional and they couldn't compete? So why 98 was so important is that's the first year that pros were allowed to play in the Olympics. So it's always been amateur. So all the best players playing in the NHL. and there was no back then there was no Europeans Yeah So you had Russia winning a lot

You know on all these teams The US 1 and 80 There's no pros So all the good players Canada anyways We're in the NHL Yeah So

What happened in 98 I talked to Tony and Monty For a while And he said the fuck He said it was the time difference But so fuck And like Well that

Yeah but that That wasn't really the reason You know we We had a lot There was a lot You know We had Zach. We had Eisenman. We had all

Ray Bork. We had all these guys. And we had Patrick Wannette. We had all these guys. And for me, I was a young guy. I was 23. I was like, I just felt like we were playing not to leave. We weren't playing a win. We weren't leaving. It just just felt like

there was just a lot of pressure on our team to win. And I don't know if we handled it great, but you also got to remember we also lost in a shootout. Yeah. Like, we were losing one nothing at that game. We scored a tie it. We go to overtime. It wasn't very long. It was like we're trying to kill the clock so they could get to a shootout. And then, you know, the ice is not great. You got Haschik and Net for the check.

Unbelievable. And you think five shooters each, there was one goal. Like that's crazy. Yeah. It's also got to be really different for you guys going to single game elimination. Yeah. And so then. You know what I mean? Especially first time pros. You guys are used to the series. Yeah. Whenever you're used to overtime just going. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, a lot of that is, you know, that's just like when you watch the NFL guys go play this flag football game. Yeah. It's a fucking different game. It's a different game.

Totally different. Okay, it's a different game. You can't just go out there, strap it up from the night before at the club and thinking you can go beat Team USA, the flag football team that's been preparing for this thing for fucking two months. Yeah.

Longer. They hung up 40, 50, whatever it was on. I mean, it's crazy. We never heard of these guys. I got a question. Why are goalies so weird? Well, if you're going to sit there and have a guy take a slab shot from 10 feet away going 100 miles an hour, you got to be a little weird too that you want to take on that potential encounter with a round hard piece of, what is it called now?

Vulcanized rubber. Vulcanized rubber. Vulcanized rubber. that's got sharp edges that can actually cut you if it hits you hard enough. Kill you. Yeah, well, yeah.

You hit in the neck? I always shattered my wrist. They got the little neck things out. Here's a kid in my youth talking about. Yeah, goalies. I mean, I don't know. You want to do that. And oh, by the way, you're the last line of defense

and, you know, parents, fans, everybody are just like, let me, guys, stop the puck. Think about that. That's a lot of pressure. It's kind of like... You've got to be a little out there. It's kind of like a kicker.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, good come. You know, like, well, the kicker is. You know, they're always in the locker room by themselves. They don't... McAfee don't look like he's all there. That's a punter.

Different. Oh, he was a punter. Punter. But he used to do kickoffs. Okay, that's why. The point still stands. He's on the place all there. Yeah.

He seems all there with all the checks. The guy's making a lot of... He's casting his checks. Oh, my God. Yeah. Oh, he's all there. Yeah. What are... Hockey guys are always superstitious guys.

What's the craziest superstition you ever saw? I think it's more when guys, if you win a game, the shit that you keep doing, I just, I would put, I would, I wasn't really paying attention that much, but you just get used to it habit. It's habitual. You, I would put the right side on before the left.

You do whatever, but some guys are like looking at the clock at 604. I need to put on my left skate. At 605, I put my, like stuff like that. Like some guys are like super religious about their rituals. And then if they win a game, like, oh, I tapped you. So I got to tap you again. I can't do anything else. I got to get that tap.

I just people are. They get a little out there. Now, I didn't give a shit. Your accountability guy. So who, who'd you call out the most over this shit? Because I know you say, all right. Hey, hey, 30. We don't need the fucking this.

Hey, hey, hey, Peggy, we don't need that. Which guy did you call out the most? The funniest one is if guy, you know, like Cory Perry used to put his, stick in the garbage can because he's greasy and he wants garbage goals so thought it brought him good luck guys are spitting in there and throwing their shit in there and his sticks in there like stuff like that you're like oh my god is this really working is this really working he's still in the league still yeah he's still doing it what makes for a good D pairing you need to have a good ying and yang So some of my most fun, like in Anaheim, I played with Sean O'Donnell.

He was a big, strong, burly guy, and I would always be the guy going back getting the puck. And, you know, he would get it over me. I'd make the play or, you know, he'd make a simple play. And just you get that relationship, kind of like a receiver and a quarterback. Like, you, I just have to look at him and he would know what I'd want. And you just, you'd get that tightness, that ability, that chemistry, the ability to understand how you each want to play the game and put one another in positions for success

where you know his strengths, you know what he's good at and you can kind of, you know, and you get a read on, you know, he was a tough guy, so you're like, let me go stir some shit up and get him involved. You know, he needs a little wake-up call. Let's get him going. Things like that where you can kind of really kind of stir the pot,

get your teammate going, get the crowd into it. That's, I like that. And a lot of that is, earned in practice, right? Correct. Yeah, it is. I see what you did there. I see what you did there. I see what you did there. There you are.

No, it is. Tall guys. Always make a phone of short. Oh, there you are. Walks in. You know, I think not only that, but then once you play with somebody that long and play with them three years, two and a half years,

and I played it with them again in Philly. and you just have that bond, that relationship, especially when you win. That obviously makes it a lot tighter. But, you know, that practice, like my partner in Philly, Matt Carl, it was just like you start doing things in practice that feel uncomfortable. And the more you do them, you more you're doing them, like I was always a guy. I just, you hold that blue line.

You do not give the blue line. I don't give a shit if it's a five on two. You are holding that blue line. You are not letting them in. and just how to kind of take ice away, pressure, force, make them maybe do something they don't want to do, catch them thinking that they got the advantage, but they don't. And it's uncomfortable because you feel like you're on an island,

but your partner has to be there supporting right away. And once you do that and practice a bunch, you get into a game and it's, you know what's coming. Spatial. You guys know he's space. You're like attached with a bungee cord. You know where you're going to be all the time. That's what you always talk about in NFL, about great.

defenses, they look like they're attached. This guy's moving this way, they're moving that way. If he's moving this way, they're moving that. There's never open space. In sync, right? In sync. Foreographed. Speaking of In sync. Who are you in Insink?

Who are you in sync? I don't even know who's in sync. Timberlake all that, maybe. Who is it? How much? Is that Timberlake's band? Yes. Oh, he was in that? Yeah.

Because like with a deep pairing, it's like, you know, two guys. How much is a coach influencing deep pairings? Or like, do you kind of find a guy and you want to stick it? Are they like tweaking it up? Like how much is a coach getting involved? Well, sometimes, yes, they're looking at that. They're looking at the analytics. They're looking at film.

They're looking at all that. And sometimes it's like, you know, we got to get this guy going. So we're going to put them with you. And sometimes it's that, just that simple. Yeah. Like this guy's struggling. Let's put them with you and let's, you know, make it easier. on him and get him more confidence.

I play with a lot of guys. I think the nine years I was in St. Louis, one of the PR guys was looking. I might have played with like 40 D partners. Jeez. Like it just, we rolled through, you know, guys that got called up,

guys get heard, guys come in, just guys get traded. It was rolling through guys. Yeah. And with someone like you can put a traffic code next to you and you're going to be pretty good. It doesn't matter. I mean,

they might not like it. Yeah. Because I'm yelling at them trying to get. them, you're teaching them at the same time. You're trying to tell them how you want to play because it's not like there's like a stock way to play. It's how I like to defend the blue line, how I like

forcing all the time and pressuring guys and not just sitting back and letting them dictate. I want to dictate from a defensive standpoint. Yeah. There's so many little nuances that I don't even know about that I could see you talking about that I'm like trying to put in

like football terminology, but I'm like, nah, it's probably not. No, it is. like defensively when you talk about when we talk about how it's choreographed and bungee cords and all that there is certain parts of the ice which's very structured

where you you fall back like you see five guys fall back to the slot and you know when you get tired you fall back in and you just let them work around the outside got to clog everything up you know there's just there's moments where you all

move in sync is you don't want to open up any of the middle ice that's where there's a problem Yeah. And you'll see when teams get tired, somebody will break that. And that's when there's scoring chance. The moment it gets broken, there's a chance. Teams are so quick to act.

And this is also coming from the last defensive man to win the Hart Award. Right. A heart trophy. What was that like being? Is that what that is? That's a trophy? He called it the Stanley. You called it the Stanley trophy one time.

I almost had a brain aneurysms. No, I didn't. Hey. You're wearing it. in the hat, bro. I've had it in here. Not the Stanley Cup we've had on the show with Ray Bork, but not in the studio. Not in this studio, in Boston studio. One quick question, too, about, like, you played with Al McGuinness.

You played with Scott Niedemeyer, some all-time great defensive players, but they weren't really your partner, right? Was there like a level of you guys want to, like, get together? Or are you getting enough time on the pop penalty power play that, like, you're getting time with them? Would you like, hey, let's do a super D lineup and get them on the same pairing? Like, we would, we would play... Late in periods, late in games, I'd play with Al. Sometimes in the power play, I'd play with Al. Same with Scotty.

Normally it was like a 1A, 1B. Yeah. Spread the depth out. Yeah. Or if he's out there, then I'm getting ready to go out there. And, you know, same thing in Philly with chemo team in it. I was out there or he was out there. And you just go.

That way you have one of us out there at all times. You know, if you're able to play close to 30 minutes, you're able to cover the whole. cover a lot and, you know, and I guess in the coach's eyes, you're like, very trusting. And, you know, if you're a fifth or sixth defenseman, you're not getting a lot of ice time. Or you're getting thrown out with me or out or Scotty or whoever. Jeez. And you got thrown out a lot, eight times to be exact, eight suspensions.

Which one was the biggest bullshit suspension? Well, there were a few. There were a few that, you know, I probably deserved. But that which one, there was one that you did not deserve? Well, um, well, it depends on how you look at it. So you deserved them all? Well, I mean, if you're looking at the rule book, maybe, you know, there was a few in there that were,

maybe they were either reactionary or on the line. I tried to skirt the fringes of the line, the gray areas as much as I could, which is probably what Avery's talking about. He doesn't know anything about that. By the way, he's wanted to talk. All-time kettle calling Pop, Black. Zip! I think he's in Rome right now doing a movie.

No way. It's not safe. Avery thinks he's an actor now. Yeah. He's full actor. Getting after it, huh? Was it a movie? on here where he's talking about mushrooms?

Maybe. Well, my synapses are firing now. Oh, my God, my memory's amazing now. I'm like, oh, really? Interesting. We'll be right back after this quick break. I'm Luke Wilson. Join me each week for Film Never Lies.

Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind, and now got my own show. If you're tired of lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week. Film Never Lies, available on all TSN platforms in the IHeartRadio app. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes.

And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends, oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover their friends, all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me?

The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe.

On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm John Green. You may know me as the author of The Fault in Our Stars, and now I guess also as the co-host of The Away End, a brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist, and John and I have known each other since we were kids. My first World Cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old. I watched every game, and I fell in love. On our new podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. For us, soccer, football, is a story we've shared for over 30 years.

since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team. Very debatable. And I was their most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game. I love its history, its hope, it's heartbreak, and above all, it's beauty. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important.

Listen to the away end with Daniel Auerkone and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what y'all saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions,

my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes,

creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Cliverts Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be.

Listen to the Cliver's show, starting on April 20th on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at you. Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. How do you get the nickname the Beast? Beast. Oh, man. He's being 6-6.

Being 6-6 and just, well, I had a couple nicknames. I had unit, beast, prongs. I mean, that one's easy. Yeah, and Beast just, I think, I took charge. And, you know, laid it on the line, laid a few guys out. took full advantage of the size that you saw. Large and in charge. Fucking large right in charge.

Imagine this guy on skates. You know, well, you said you're with Big Z. I'm his height with skates. That's how big he is. I know, I know. Oh, man. Well, I can tell you a Z story. His rookie year, you know, so I'm in St. Louis,

his rookie, I used to once in a while go to the front of the net, right? I go to the front of the net. I think it was his rookie year. And he cross-checks me. Like, hmm. Like, okay. All right. We're going to play this game?

So the puck goes over in the corner. I kind of move around a little bit. Slowly, he's staring over here at the corner. I come around him behind him. I'm like, oh, yeah. Boom. Cross-check him. He just kind of fly.

Did you just hit me? God. I'm like, all right. Well, there we go. Fucking Z. I'm going to go back out to the point now. Good. Take a one-timer instead.

You know, anytime he... 6, 9, 270 pounds, 4% body fat. Oh, I know. He like... Yeah, like, there you go. Anytime I see him, he hugs me and he makes me feel like a little kid. Like a little kid. Frankenstein from Big Daddy.

Bro, 15 marathons, you said? Yeah, he's ran 15 marathons. Unbelievable. He used to train, so in the summers he'd go train and do the tour to France. Think about... Now you're talking my life. The bike that that guy's got ride, number one. Six, nine.

going up and down those hills. You would see him in Boston riding the fucking bike. Give me a break. I'd be out in Boston. I'd be like, is that fucking? Who's that large? Oh, it's Z.

You see a fucking monster on a bike in the north end. It would be fucking Big Z. Think about the wind coming into that frame. Could draft off of him for sure. Oh my God. A whole village could draft off him. My goodness.

All right, let's move on. Let's go back into time when the game took place and talk about some pop culture. This game took place on February 24th, 2002. I was in high school. Shout out. Number one movie, Queen of the Damned? What's that? I was like a vampire movie. It was notable.

Who was Ashanti's last film? Who was in that? Ashanti was the notable person. Part of the song is that also- Jarlu. No, no, no, no. Jha Rila. Pardon me, Alia. Yeah, yeah, before she died. The film was released posthumously. So that was

the big note on that one. Number one, song was always on time by Jarl Rul featuring Ashanti. American Idol premiered. Wow. I used to love that show. Wow. Did you watch it?

You were saying, yeah. I used to watch it back in the early days. Early days? Yeah. So like, what are you? How old were you in 2002?

I was in high school. I think I was a freshman. Freshman high school, sophomore? Freshman? Nice. Like 4.11? Just didn't hit puberty yet.

Getting ready. Getting ready. To sprout up. I was getting ready to sprout up. It sucks because everyone's sprouted and I wouldn't sprouting. A lot of fighting over that. John Q, a big fat liar, beautiful mine, super troopers.

Super troopers. I love super troopers. All-timer. What was life like for you back in 2002? 2002, fresh off of the Hart Trophy. So Norris Trophy, Heart Trophy. Life is high. Unfortunately, broke my arm the next year.

Plate put on. So 2002 was very painful. Yeah, I wasn't feeling it back then. How was it getting your wrist back with all the wrist work? So when I first, when I, you know, so I break my arm. They put a plate on it. Olna. Yeah.

Look at you. I broke mine too. Brokers too. And then my radius. Put a plate on it. Yeah. Put a plate on it. Told me, we're going to put the plate on it.

It'll help the healing process and you'll be able to play. And it'll, yeah. But then they told me, but we can take it off in the summer. And I'm like, okay, that makes sense. Fine. finished the year. We go all the way to the conference finals, lose the Colorado the year they win the cup with Ray Bork.

Yeah. And boom. Like, okay, season's over, take this out. And they're like, oh, we can't do that. Told me you were going to take it out. That's why I said you can do it. No. So I trained it.

So the next year, my arm is just aching. Like you said your arm went dead? My arm was like awful. Like no muscle, just dying. And I was training and because I couldn't move my arm properly. now I was putting pressure on my elbow and my shoulder and kind of like subluxing when I'm doing pull-ups and stuff. I'm like, this is not good.

And so then I go in and I'm like, okay, now this titanium plate is forcing this bone to grow and it's growing into my hand. So now I can't articulate my hand properly. And it's my bottom hand of my stick. So then I'm like, okay, this summer, I'm going to get it fixed. Well, then I blow up my ACL in 2002, 2003. Go in, get it fixed.

All right. 2000, yeah, 2002, 2003. Miss that year. Go in, get this shave down, come back to camp. Doesn't work. They had it locked like this. I can only go here. Yeah.

Well, if I'm rotating to shoot, I have to go like that. I couldn't, that's as far as I can move it. It was locked. So then I'm like, I go to the owner. I'm like, you know, I got to get this thing fixed. And he's like, grabs it. I'm like, no, no, try to move it. And he's like reefing on it.

And it's not moving. I go, you understand the dilemma now? And I went on this traveling road show for doctors. And I find this doctor in Baltimore, Dr. Tom Graham, takes a plate out, you know, cuts this bone out. Right here, I don't have that bone. Yeah, it doesn't you see it. Derek, Derek procedure, it's called. And immediately, the moment I woke up in the surgery, I'm like, oh, no pain, no nothing.

I'm like, oh, this is perfect. This is going to work. It's going to work. First time ever in the process. sports. Anybody did that procedure. Jesus. And then, you know, came back, played a year, and then we got locked up. And then

it was a process. Like, it just took, it took from the time I broke it, put the plate on, three years. Because it was so down by the wrist where the break was. Down in here, yeah, it was closer to the wrist. See, mine's right up here. So my, I still have the plate in there too. You see it?

Yeah. Yeah. So like, but I don't, I just don't have any, like, my flexibility when I shoot a basketball, like, really good. It's terrible. It's terrible. Like, I have no consistency. You know what I mean? Yeah, you can't get it to, yeah. No, it's mine. It's serviceable. Let's put it that way. Yeah. Servicable. Freaking serviceable. That jumper still wet though, brother. Well, and, and I told him, I'm like, I am not going to play. If I can't rotate my hand, I'm not playing. You know, and I had signed a big contract and I'm like, I'm not going to play it. I'm not going to play at 25%. Yeah. It's just I'm not going to do it. I, you know, I was going to retire. If this didn't work, I was going to retire.

Thank God we got it to work. Yeah. I mean, you got... The three surgeries. Jesus. And you had 16? Yep. 13 while I played and then another three after.

Jesus. I mean, modern day gladiator. This large man, he's a modern day gladiator. So we got the Olympics here in 2002. That's what we're talking about. Paulo Ano was there. He burst in the scene. what was the Olympic village like?

That had to be awesome. Yeah, it was great. The best one for me was Vancouver. Salt Lake was good. You know, it was good to watch. You go into the gym and kind of stretch and work out, whatever, and just see how other athletes worked out. Kind of pick apart some of the stuff.

Obviously the stuff that the skiers are doing and the aerial guys and girls are like, the things that they're doing in the gym, are just the appropriate reception and all the movements is just keeping their body in perfect working order to be able to function the way they have to for their sports. I actually took a lot away from that and going in the gym

and watching some of these people in what they were doing trying to implement some of it into my training protocols. But it was a lot of fun. You know, you get in there, you're talking to other countries and, you know, trying to... I wasn't big on talking other hockey players, but other sports. Yeah.

And getting to know them. and obviously the country's come together and you're talking all the Canadian men's and women's teams and how they're doing. I mean, when you say you take a little thing from watching people in the gym, my daughter first started doing gymnastics.

I was still playing. I was sitting there like, man, should have fucking did this when I was a kid. You know what I mean? Because like the ankle dexterity and like the strengthening of their glute, like even that little kids that are teaching them athleticism,

which you could bring to your game. You always hear the stories of like football players doing ballet for the flexibility or something. It's real. If you got to sit and watch other elite athletes and how they warm up. Yeah.

That's got to be sweet. All right, let's jump into this. One of the thing from this 2020, 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City was the big skate gate scandal where Jack, do you have more info? That's right. The Canadian team basically got hosed

by the judges. Again. Again, as usual. Yes. Yes. Palletier and Sale and I remember. Yes, it was a whole thing.

It was a big hubbub. Yeah, changed the way scoring works from then on. Dual gold medals were awarded after the fact. After the fact, because they had an insane final run. But because of, they said one of the judges felt pressured, this French judge to reward the Russians a higher score. There was a whole. There was a little of, excuse me.

You need to, you need to hold. 1,000% anything to do with Russia. They changed how they do it after this. It's all different now. Yeah. Their names were. This was, James Sissu,

David Pelletier. I don't know. Were they showing the scores back then, too? I don't think they were. Because it was only two categories. Now it's live. So you're like, a little more transparency.

It's awesome how they do now. If everybody's 9-9 or 9-8, and how are you of 8-2? Yeah, it's full, just subjective. It's kind of like them baseball empires now. By the way, look at their head coach. This is her. Herb.

Herb. Herb. Unbelievable. No, now when you see her. He hadn't coached for a long time, too. Since the 80 or a lot or yeah Well he coached in the NHL for a little bit too

Yeah the Rangers yeah Now easy when you watch the movie miracle as a Canadian You love it? I loved it I loved it I loved it just uh Anything about the game Yeah promotion of the game and just showcasing the game It's a great story It's great story

I'm just making sure you know We had Jim Craig on the show And it was he talked about Highlight of our thing It was incredible It's just crazy to me seeing Herbrooks Outside of like Lake Placid that one moment It's weird

It's bizarre And then he came back. Jack, let's break down this team. Yeah, this team was a lot like the Canadian. USA. This is Team USA.

This is the Silver medal. This is the silver medal. This is the silver medal. Got it. You saved the best for last. All right there. Prongy. Crogs.

Oh my gosh. A little bit like the Canadian team. They were looking to end a metal. Can I help you guys? Can you just look at the top line there with Brett Hall? Can you add that up for me? Yep. Oh, my goodness.

Add that up. All right. Hold on. Who was on the top? Let me see. Wait, and up. Add it up. Add it up.

Add it up. So goals? Add it up. Brett Hall. Add it up. Okay. Wait. Add it up.

It's not fucking nine points. Oh, wait. They're saying the first line. Look at Brett hole. Look at Brett Hall. Three goals. Five assists. Nine points.

Add it up. Thank you. Thank you. Jack. Oh, jeans. Wow. You don't earn shit. Accountability.

I take accountability for that. Details, gentlemen. Thank you. Accountability. Jesus Christ. We got on this. What are you doing over here? I thought you were saying the first line of Team USA.

Yeah. I was trying to do like multiple. There's not a good to get you. He got me. The box scores on Olympage maxups are hard to look back on it. They are. I'm trying to get my guy, Hully, that extra point over here.

Nothing gets by prongs. We know that on the ice or off. Seven future hallfamers. Like the Canadian team, looking to end a little bit of a metal drought here. Hadn meddled since Miracle, Which is crazy because there's only, was there, 14 U.S. Would you say? How many?

So they were in the Hall of Fame at this time. There's like 18. Currently, there's not that many Americans in the, in the hockey L. I think there's like 18. This is seven of them right here. Yeah. And then also if you want to go further, there's a lot of bones of this team in the current USA Olympic team, right?

So Bill Garrett on this team is a GM. Keith Kichuk, former team of yours, his kids. Yeah. Anyone else? I'm trying to look here. Chris Dure was assistant GM. Yeah. Legend.

Let me look here. Was John LeClair part? I don't know. No. What do you remember about this team? Oh, they were good. Yeah, really good. They, uh, it was a, it was a close game.

Like, it was three, two going into, I believe it was three, two going into third period. And you guys shut them down. And then we fucking, Joe Sackick scored goal five and it was over. Partial breakway, like, we had closers. Yeah. We had, uh, we had guys that could close. Now, when you're playing in a tournament like this,

you got for your country, would you play any of these guys, you're on your team? So, it's so funny enough, you ask. So I was, Kachuk was on St. Louis. Doug Wade was on St. Louis and Scott Young was on St. Louis. So we had actually a Western Canada trip after we beat these guys. So we're, you know, stay overnight, whatever. And then we fly to, you know, we're on a private jet to go to Vancouver.

Well, Al and I have our gold medals on. And they did not have their silver medals on on the plane. I could tell you that. They were not very happy. But, you know, like anything else,

it was, and the fact that we went to Western Canada, every city we went to, they had it a ceremony, kind of like you're doing now with all the U.S. guys. Ceremony was in Canada. And it was,

yeah, it was pretty cool. Not so much for them. No. No, but when you're playing on that, you just don't even realize it. Yeah.

Yeah. And you know what? It's like, and then after you're down, you're like, all right, now we're on to like, we want to win. That's the crazier. I'm going to think 2002. Who did we play in the playoffs? I can remember.

Well, that's what I was saying after this year's. I was like, man, these guys are all celebrating. They got to go back to like regular season. It may have been a little egregious. I mean, it's a big. Yeah, but you can do that after the season. I mean, when you take the sport from the originators, you know, you got to go out.

It's true. And in O2, they had the All-Star game too and then the Olympics, right? Yeah. That was crazy. Now it takes a place of... See you. Man.

Any Brett Hull stories? Oh. Plenty. Any for the audience? Oh, yeah, lots. No, he was great teammate. Obviously, a great player. Hall of Famer.

One of the greatest school scores ever. Father's son duo, pretty impressive. But no. He was... You know, it was my early days in St. Louis. But he was a great teammate, great for me. You know, he's, as you very well known, very opinionated. Yeah.

And I just used to love every time somebody got called up or any time somebody came in the room, immediately grabbed their stick. Ah, now I know. Just like it, go, what are you doing? Fuck it all. I mean, oh, classic. I just, I don't, like, he would sit, I can't do it anymore.

He'd sit like in a sit like this with his butt almost on the ground, like stretching his groins, whatever, doing his crossword puzzle. And he would sit like that for 45 minutes. And I'm like, that was kind of his like warm up, stretch, like just sitting there doing the crossword, stretching. Yeah. I'm like, that's not very comfortable. No.

Not for me. Well, you're six, six. Yeah. But for him, I don't know. I always just used to see him. I used to sit kind of on this wall, and he was over here right here. And he'd just sit in front of his locker and sit like that and do the crossword, whatever. I'm like, a little much for me.

You know, it's so, like, sick shot. When I first got there, just watching him shoot the puck, that little toe hook, he just pull it and rip it. And how accurate he was hitting, like, he could get the puck to go on the side. like as he shoots it, he could get it to turn and go into like little corners and areas of the goal he couldn't get. Like just incredible shot. Just the touch in his hands,

the way he could manipulate the stick and the puck and just everything was impressive. There's a reason he's got 700 plus. Did Brett Hull check Gretzky's stick when he got in the locker room? 100%. Did he? Oh, yeah.

He's like, how do you have so many points? How do you use this? this thing. Oh, here's, oh, look at our team. Oh, how many Hall of Famers on that one? 9. 14. 14.

Yeah. I mean, it's your sport. It was that this time. Yeah. This is the first game we've done. By the way, I only had one point. How rude? That's not true.

You had two, right? Well, it says I only got one. Yeah. Double check. I'll double check my match. But it was an important point. Oh, my gosh. my gosh.

I was there to defend. I was not there to get points. That goal made me Canadian for a moment. That was unbelievable. Did you give Mario an assist? You got to give him an assist on that, right? I can't read. They didn't give an assist. Yeah, he should have seven.

You should give an assist on there. We should. Was that team captain? Oh, yeah. Okay. Oh, yes. No, I saw 66 and I'm like, get him the puck. Yeah.

And he made the decision to let it go through his feet to Paul for the tap. And you look at Richter, he was like, diving across trying to save it. The whole team would. Yeah. Yeah, that was all 66. That had nothing to do with the CP. Man.

Can we just watch that play real quick? That was unbelievable. Here I am. Jumping in the play. Comes across. Boom, get it. Against John Leclair. Stop up.

Mario. Mario. Oops. Whoa. Rero. I've never seen a play like that before or after. Have you ever seen like a fake like that? I have not.

I see it in volleyball all the time. And his stick movement, too. The way he moves, like, you can see Richter bite on it. Man. Got the whole team. Yeah. We'll be right back after this quick break. I'm Luke Wilson.

Join me each week for Film Never Lies. Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind. Now, I've got my own show. So if you're tired of lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week. Film Never Lies available on all TSN platforms in the IHeartRadio app. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl.

You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends... Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me?

The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

I'm John Green. You may know me as the author of The Fault in Our Stars, and now I guess also is the co-host of the Away end, a brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist, and John and I have known each other since we were kids. My first World Cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old. I watched every game, and I fell in love. On our new podcast, the away end, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. For us, soccer, football, is a story we've shared for over 30 years since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team.

Very debatable. was there most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game. I love its history, its hope, it's heartbreak, and above all, it's beauty. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel Auerkone and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes,

creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life. mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger.

So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifers Show, starting on April 20th on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

We talk more about Mario Lemieux. I'm wearing the Mario Mew, Captain's jersey. What was he like as a teammate? Awesome. He was, I mean, you know, I've heard Gretzky do a couple of podcasts or interviews about Mario. And if you look at Mario's stats, if there's one guy that could have beat Gretzky's points, it's him. Like, I remember when I got to St. Louis, so I'm now, you know, hard for my early day. he's playing against him.

Then he had, I needed a bad back and he had cancer and all the stuff and missed a few years. I get to St. Louis. He returns, not when he was an owner, but when he came back before he owned the team. And we go in there,

we go into Pittsburgh one night. Again, that's my matchup. Dash 5, minus 5, green jacket, just chewed me up, spit me out, laughed in my face. Is that all you got?

Like, just child's play. picked us apart. I think he got, I think he had two and four that night. His byline there was the actual game that we played. I think they'd be us eight or nine one or something. It was ugly.

Needless to say, Mike Heenan was not happy. Now, I'm a big Penguins fan too, so I got to ask now. You were on this gold medal team, 2002 won a gold medal with Mario Lemieux. 2010, you win a gold medal with Sidney Crosby.

What are some of the similarities, differences between the two of them? Uh, I think, demeanor, both very stoic, very quiet, very cerebral. Um, Mario, much different player than Sid, you know, super creative, highly skilled, uh, you know, used a friggin two by four for a stick. Uh, and, and then Sid just super consistent, like just on it nonstop, you know, but the way they approach the game, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the mannerisms and just the, you know, both great guys, great leaders. But, yeah, that's a nice little catch there, played with both.

Pittsburgh's finest. Pittsburgh's finest. Now, what did you do when Gretzky gives you the call that you're on the team? Was that pretty surreal? It was, yeah, that was awesome. And, you know, because I had a relationship from playing with them, seeing them around, all the rest of that stuff. Funny story.

In 2005, we had our summer camp for the 06 Olympics. And, you know, Gratz was one of the GMs of the team again. And so we're in, we're in Calgary. And he's like, hey, you want to go for beer? Let's talk about the team. I'm like, sure. Yeah, we go for beer. We were there 30 minutes.

Six beers each. Like, ooh, okay. This is how we're going to do this. I was like, oh, oh, boy. Six years, 30. Half hour, I'm like, ooh. Well, you know, but like, you know, when you're, you're just talking and you're just like involved.

You're just, you're not paying attention because you're talking about the team. You're talking about what you need. You know, what my role is going to be and all this stuff. So I'm into the conversation and I'm just like, he'd take a sip. I'd take a sip. And we're talking. And next to you know, I'm like, holy shit. Maybe it wasn't sick.

It might have been four. But I'm just like, holy shit, man. I got a nice old buzz going. That was quick. And Grets ain't 6-6. No. He ain't big-ass man like you. if you're feeling it.

Oh, Gritz, man. I've heard. I don't think, you might have been there before I was ever. But just, you know, when somebody like that wants to talk to you about the team, you're kind of like,

oh, you're jacked up. Yeah. You know, you talk about your role, talk about what the team's going to need. Talk about the experience going over to Italy. You know,

what does that look like? And, you know, what do you think we need? That type of stuff, where they're kind of leaning on you for your experience and your leadership and all that. That's when you're, like,

getting to that next level. That's amazing. Now, how... Try to explain to our listener for a Canadian kid growing up playing hockey wearing the Canadian jersey. Like, what's that like? Because I don't know as a domestic guy from our sport,

but like for you, that has got to be... It's the pinnacle. It is, you know, that's what everybody wants. Everybody wants to be on those teams. You know, where you're here, guys, oh, geez, I don't, I don't, you know, maybe not, I'm not. No, you're pining to get on those teams. You're lobbying to get on those teams because, you know, A, they don't happen very often. And B, you look at the cast of players that you're

going to be able to, A, learn from, but get a chance to play with. You know, like, look at these guys. You know, like you get, you know, an older Steve Eiserman who had a bad knee and you're, you're watching what he's willing to do and what he's got to do to play in those games with his knee and all that surrounded that, you know, I get a chance to play with Joe Sackack again and where his career is at. Joe Newendike. Now, Eric Lindross, you know, Eric Lindross went from 98 in, uh, in Japan to being our captain to kind of being the figurehead in our game, so to speak, kind of coming away from Gratz. And, and on this team, he's our fourth line center. Like, how things can change so quickly. Um, but an integral part of

of our team. You know, and that's where I think people kind of lose track of just how important some of these guys are, regardless of what role they're supposedly playing. I would argue that his role on that team was as important or more important than Mario's role. You know, you got a lot of scores on that team. But can you get guys play with a physical edge that could play that are willing to kill penalties and do the dirty work and whatnot. And we had guys that stepped up in spades on that team. Now, how is that dynamic work with the room full of leaders? Who's the leader?

I mean, on that, on that, you're looking at Mario. Yeah. You're looking at Stevie. You're looking at Joe. I wore a letter on that team. You know, if you look, I don't even know if Stevie wore a letter. I had a letter because, you know, I think they wanted to kind of move, have a defenseman, you know, on a couple forwards.

I wore a letter. But again, some of these things, you don't have to wear a letter to be a leader. Like it's, you know, nobody's looking at Stevie going, you're not wearing a letter. Nobody really cares in those environments who's really wearing the letter. You are who you are.

And you get on those teams. I mean, you look at, Rob Blake was a captain in L.A. at the time. I was a captain in St. Louis at the time. Al had been a captain and an assistant captain. Scotty assistant and a captain. Jerome English. I think Captain too.

Joe Fleury had been a captain. Mario was his captain. Korea. Lindrosse, Newendike, Pecka, Stevie, Sack. Like you got probably 14 captains on that team. You know, who's the alpha? Mario was at that stage.

Mario's the alpha. Yeah. You know, and Stevie, really. And Joe, those were the three guys that you know and then on the back end if you see the rolling over from 98 we had Scott Stevens Ray Bork

Eric Desjardin and then there was myself and foot and Blake and out and you know so there was a bit of a rolling over of the back end you know we had a young Ed Jovenovsky younger Ed Jovanoski Eric Brewer so it was kind of a changing of the guard

so everyone's a captain but who's the team asshole that's a good question on these teams we didn't really have one who's the team tire pumper Ryan Smith the moo

the moo the moo who's the tough guy captain Canada on that team probably that line the line of Lindros Nolan I mean you got to be pretty high up on team tough guy

on this roster on the back end we had a lot of we had a lot of beef back there You got Jovo and footer and Blakey. Who's the team funny guy? Team funny guy. We're pretty... Serious.

Yes, you know, smitty. More dumb than... You know, but in those environments, the nice part is everybody's ripping everybody. You're just having a good time. Who's the biggest trash talker? Not a lot on that. Not a lot.

We didn't really have a lot of trash talk. Maybe Theo. Theo Fleury. Might have been the... The trash talk. We didn't really have. And the Canadian teams that I played on, we didn't really have trash talkers.

Let our play speak for itself. Yeah. And if you want a trash talk, then we'll just kick your ass. I like it. There's a lot of talk about like the dream team basketball team that the practices were some of the incredible competition. This is kind of similar to that, you know, dream team.

What were the practices like? I can tell you it, you come in, you get, you get to Salt Lake, and you're, you're tired. You've played a shit ton of games. And now you're in elevation. Great. And the first practice, I was like,

hey, we're just going to go 50%. Woo-hoo. Yeah, good one. No, no way. No way. You're not going 50%.

You start, you're like kind of going half. And all of a sudden, you're like, one guy picks up. And the next guy picks up. Now, next thing you know,

a couple minutes in, you're going 100%. Like, you're not going 50%. No. Every one of these teams I've been on. Guys are like, I'm not letting that guy

look better than me. I'm not, no. You know, guys are like going full speed, you know, trying to, you know, they're, A, trying to showcase their talents, their teammates, but also the coaching staff, like, hey, I'm, I want to play. Put me, put me in the situation to succeed. And in the inner you. Your inner drive. I mean, that will to win.

The biggest of the big boys. You want to show your, these guys that, hey, I'm here to win too. I mean, and who you are, what you're made of. it's like it's kind of like our when you have your first like NFL practice for me it was you know like man by the way look at look at where we finished crazy one one and one hey that's and you guys still it's a pretty stacked pool honestly was sweden and check what was the atmosphere like in salt lake awesome is that a good it's a good hosting city It was a great, yeah, great hosting city.

I mean, people came in from, it's funny. I still meet people. Oh, my God, I was there in O2 when you guys finally won from all walks of life and all parts, parts unknown. Yeah. Like they come from everywhere and I see them. And I'm like, oh, yeah, I was there in 02. I was in the section, whatever, up in the nosebleeds. I just, like, it was the only ticket I could find.

And, yeah, I mean, you look at our record. It was not great. But the nice part about these Olympics, if you look at each, Olympic games that I was in the four, every game you had to, you've got to get better with every game. You've got to be like trending up. You've got to be finding chemistry, finding line combinations, finding kind of your fit within the team and how you play, and then getting better and better and the two that we won were the two Olympics where we found our game and started a really kind of, like that game against Finland in the quarterfinals. Two one.

Like it was tight, but it was, you know, we were going to win. Was mom going for Finland? Yeah, I think she had cut her ties by then, yeah. Allegiance was with Canada. Was Timu on that team, the finished team? Well, you bring that up. Why don't you show the highlight of him running me from behind? Let's find that.

Salane Pronger hit from behind, 02 Olympics. Cut me for, I can't remember. It was eight or ten stitches right down the middle, hit me from behind. into the glass and the partition split. My face was like in between the two partitions. Oh my, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it, you know, cut me wide open. I'm bleeding all over the place.

There's like four minutes left or whatever it was, three minutes left. And of course I get hit, you know, make the play, get hit. Losing my shit because I know I'm split open. And it hurt. And if you watch the video, he jumps and hits me from behind. No penalty. No penalty.

No penalty. I'm like, I'm sorry. What? How is this not a penalty number one? If I did that to him, I'd be out for 10 games. At least, you'd be spending a ninth time. Oh, yeah. Could have been, I tried.

Yeah. I'm having trouble finding it, but I do have Chris Pronger. There's got to be a picture of it. I've got you elbowing him in the 2001 playoffs. Yeah. Show me. Go me. You're going to find it.

It's there. Oh, wait, here we go. Yeah, you've got it. It's there. We're looking. Now, before the, in the game lead up, before we get to that, the United States were capitalizing, what, 30% of their power plays. Yeah, they were, oh, look at that.

Look at my face. Oh, my gosh. Look at my faces in between the glass. It looks like a cartoon. Yeah. But by the way, he's jumping. He's jumping. Yeah, no feet on the ice.

No feet on the ice. I'm like, I'm sorry. I'm pretty sure he's looking at my numbers. And people, people come up and go, oh, yeah, why are you so mad? I'm like, um, hello. So after that hit, so I had already had a few run-ins, as the gentleman over here would tell you, had a few run-ins with them, you know, always tried to send a message. And, you know, he does that.

We win. Okay, so we win. Everybody goes over here in the corner celebrating. I see him. I beeline right out. I'm like, you are dead. I'm bleeding all over the place. I'm like, you're dead.

I am going to kill you. We play you in two weeks at I got you. Just remember, you know, this may be the Olympics and I can't do anything right now, but you're dead. Just remember that. Two weeks later, what happened?

You know what? I think they might have somebody at the game. Somebody looked that up. We won the game. I didn't do anything. But I'm sure he left the game with ice bags. I didn't get a penalty. Ice up, son.

But he, ice bagged it up. Every single game, I was running at him, every game. Oh, my God. Taking a pound of flesh every chance I got. If he was on the ice and I was on the ice, he was either getting a whack behind the knees, whack on the laces,

cross-check in the back, cross-checking the arm where there's no pad, nice little black and blue mark, little slash here, All these goal scores had the short gloves. Hit them right on the bone. Off the mark. And then what happened five years after that?

And then five years after that, well, four years after that, I'm in Edmonton. We play Anaheim in the playoffs. Still running him. Still, I got to get a couple good photos from the playoffs of me running them over,

running him every chance I got. And then get traded there. And now he's my teammate. And then I want to stand the, That is why he wrote the forward to the buck. And that is why he earned. Full circle, baby. See this full circle moment?

How it all comes together. Oh, my gosh. Jackie, break down this game real quick. We got to judge it. All right, we got to talk about it. I mean, this game was from the rip. This is one to go back and watch in its entirety. Unbelievable.

Flying around off the rip. Canada controlled the first couple minutes and then nine minutes in. They did give Lemieux an assist. Jack added the. I added that. That's a really nice touch. Come on, Prax, we got them.

I'm back. I'm back. Baby, he's accountable over here. We can't wear this. Details, details. Details.

Detail box scores is the final. Earn it, baby. Oh, man. We were up three, two. They get up to a U.S. scores first.

Dougway lays out to get it out of the zone. Finds Tony Monty for a rister. A little two-on-one gets up one-nothing. Then the legendary goal that we've chronicled earlier ties it back up one-to-one. but the Canadians aren't done in the first period here. Joe Sackick finds Jerome McGillough. Chris started that break for a 2-1 Canada lead going into the end of the first period.

Was that a lucky one though? Like, did you get it out there? And he came and got it right before that line. It wasn't your assist, but you started it. Yeah, it was like a secondary assist where you kind of like, you tap it out or you... And then he came out of nowhere. I don't know, but like, and then he came and it was like

two all one. Boom. Yeah. Kind of fake to Gagnet. like coming behind him in the slime. And it was all time, man. What a great pass. But you guys had to withstand some power plays in that first period

because the US was so good on power plays coming into this game. Like seven of 21 or something in the tournament leading up to this. So really had to stand those. How do you stop the power play? Well, number one, Marty Berder was instrumental in that. He made some sick stops. Breder. Yeah, he was lights out.

You know, it's funny. Like you think it's a gold medal game. You think defense. You think, oh, my God. Look at the shot. shots. 39, 33. Seriously. No. I mean, that's what you want to see, though, like, entertainment-wise. Yeah. Entertainment-wise. When did you know it was over? The moment, again, let's score it his second goal of the game with four minutes left. It's four-two. You got an inkling, and then Joe scores partial breakaway five-two. It's all. I mean, it seals it. But when it's four-two at that stage, we're going to lock that.

down. We're locking it down. They're not getting a sniff. They had a couple chances. We already made a couple stops. You know, again, you're trying to protect the house, get in the middle, keep me to the outside. Don't give up anything in the danger areas. But unlike, you know, 98 where we're trying to not lose the game, we went out and won this game. We went out, we won this game. We took it full advantage of our opportunities. We forced, not forced, but

we were we were pushing for that next goal we weren't oh my god let's sit back and try to lock this down we were we were pushing for that next goal yeah we were trying to take advantage of the opportunities we were getting now this was when they were still counting the clock up yeah that was so confusing it's really no good now when the clock hits whatever 20 20 yeah whatever you guys details we'll be right back after this quick break I'm Luke Wilson. Join me each week for Film Never Lies. Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind and now, I've got my own show. So if you're tired of lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week. Film Never Lies available on all TSN platforms in the IHeartRadio app. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes.

And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care.

So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

I'm John Green. You may know me as the author of The Fault in Our Stars, and now I guess also as the co-host of The Away End, a brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist, and John and I have known each other since we were kids. My first World Cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old.

I watched every game, and I fell in love. On our new podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. For us, soccer, football, is a story we've shared for over 30 years since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team. Very debatable. And I was their most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game. I love its history, its hope, its heartbreak, and above all, it's beauty. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things,

football, soccer is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel Alarcon and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football,

or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger.

So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show starting on April 20th on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

You guys get it. You guys win it. Like, what's the first thing that hits your head? I mean, it was thinking back on 98, thinking back on, you know, just all the support of all the people. Like that, that was, I didn't want a Stanley Cup yet. That was the first thing I'd won, really.

One world championships in 97, but this is the next, next championship. So to be able to do it and just with that group of guys and everything that our team had been through, we won one and one, you know, the bandwagon was very small. Well, very small. A lot of broken ankles. And it started to fill up as we beat Finland. and then Belarus. And now everybody brings up Belarus

beat Sweden in the semifinal or the quarterfinals to play us in the semifinals. We had gotten worked over pretty good by Sweden in that first game in that tournament. But regardless, it doesn't matter. We still won.

Still, you can't take the gold away. It's still hanging on my wall. Still hanging on the wall. Still was at the Western Canadian trip in the private jet with the two American teammates. Still flexing it. It's still on their face. So we're not on display.

Never on display. After math of this. Five to two. First Canadian goal. We got a hockey 50 years. Man. 50 years drought ended. What's it with the lucky looney?

The lucky looney. We got to talk about the lucky looney. Awesome. In the mainland? In U.S.? Well, because the ice guy was Canadian. And he snuck a loony right at center ice. Oh, I know.

But at center ice on the red. There it is. Is that regulation? You need something to drop the puck to. Should we aster. this gold medal. We just needed a little mojo. We got a compromise playing surface.

When did you guys know about it? Like that he did that? Hmm. Great question. Did you ever see it? I think we knew about it. Okay. Not fairly early.

Yeah, I kind of, I like, hey, you know, we get the Looney in there. And every time you get to Tim Hortons now, you see the little plaque that they got. Yeah. Yeah. Heck yeah. Wait, what's the go to Tim Horton's order, by the way? Oh, I would do. if I'm going for lunch

Hammond cheese, a couple of ham and cheese sandwiches. I did do back in the early days, I'd do a double-double. And now I just straight up black coffee. I like that. I guess. Black. And maybe six, 10 bits, just as a little teaser.

Just a little something like. Just in case. What about Duncan? Do you like Duncan's? I know. That's a big northeast, huh? Yeah. Don't say the coffee's way better, but I don't know. Allegedly. Allegedly. Allegedly. Allegedly.

Allegedly. Canada and gold, U.S. won silver, Russia, won bronze. This was Canadian 17th total gold medals for the Olympics, right? Yep. Awesome. Joe Sackick won tournament MVP. We mentioned the Lucky Looney. The women team also won. Yeah, it was a sweep.

Yeah. And then you would go on to win a Stanley Cup in 2007 with the Ducks, and then another gold medal in 2010. Double golds. Stanley. Double, double. Speaking of double double, I mean, I just needed another Stanley Cup to get the double double. Also, you're one of the only few people who

has scored a breakaway or not a breakaway. I am the only player. Not one of. The only player to score a penalty shot in the Stanley Cup finals. Incredible. Let's grade the game. Yeah, baby. Let's grade the game. That's why we're here. We got a list of names of the game that we came up with. If you have a name that you want to call it, we can jump to that. These are the names we came up with. The gold medal game. The Street Snapper. The Lucky Looney game. U.S. v. Canada Part 1. Now there's been three with U.S. Canada and gold metal games. The streak snapper. Gold is coming home game. Which one do you like or do you have something else?

Oh, gold is coming home. Gold is coming home. Gold is coming home. Yeah. Without a doubt. Score the game. Is this the greatest game of all time? Let's score it. Decimals. Encurs. zero to 10 the stakes of this 50-year drought gold medal game. Stakes. Of the 50-year drought gold medal game. This is probably a 9.8. I mean, it's... The stakes were high for this one.

You know, it's... We lose this one. We lose a 98. Now we lose an 02. We got a problem. With the pros. We got a meltdown happening in Canada. I agree.

I mean, I think this is a 9.9 maybe. For me. And I don't ever give that because I know how precious. The stakes were at an all-time high. I just didn't want to give it a 10 because it's a rookie score. Yeah. That's a rookie score. I mean, 9.9 for me is extremely high.

Jack, what do you guys got? Very high. We had at a 9.1. 9.8. Mario, love it. There it is. The star power of this game, I believe, a lot of Hall of Famers. We have a lot of.

Half of the players on the. active roster are Hall of Famers. Yeah. We've never done a game that's even pretty good ratio. No other game touches that? No. That's an insane figure. The way covered. 21 out of the... Hello. Star Power. 9.9. 9.9.

What's that? What did you say? 31 Hall of, or 21 Hall of Famers? 21 Hall of Famers. Out of a possible 40. Not too bad. That's a lot. And then we're not even talking about like Wayne Gretzky's a GM. Her He's in the Hall of Fame.

By the way, you should go into that. Who is the GM for the U.S. team? Lou Lamarillo. Patrick. Patrick. I think he's in the Hall of Fame. I think he might be. Yeah.

A lot of Hall of Fame. He's my guy. Drafted Crosby, drafted Malcon. I'm going to go 9.3. Yeah. I mean, this is your fucking... To be fair, like hockey, I'm a hockey guy. Craig Patrick is in a hockey.

If we're like, hockey people aren't on the tier of like a basketball players worldwide. like LeBron James is one of those famous people in the world. So there's a little bit of that. Yeah. So, yeah, how are we? Give me your star power. What does it mean in hockey or in world? Your score is your school?

No, no, no. But is it worldwide or is it hockey? Like, is it star power for hockey? It's star power for the viewer of this specific game. And how they look at the, the notoriety of the player and the gaming. Yeah, but you know what? You can do yours and we don't know. No, no.

But you got, again, details. Details. We're trying to earn this. Jack had a 9. I had a 9.9. me and you, Chris. You know what? Oh, look at you.

Let's go, baby. Yeah. The gameplay of this game, how it went, became a little bit of a blowout at the end. It was not a blowout. At the end. Nope. It was not a blowout.

5.3. 5. 2. 5 2. Details. I'm trying to earn it. Details. I'm trying to earn it.

You got two late goals. It was a 3-2 game. Coming into the third period. Again, let's scores with four minutes left to make it 4-2. And Joe scores with, almost a minute left. Minute 20 to make it 5 to seal it. So it was a tight game.

Tight. At 3-2, I remember there was a couple scoring chances the U.S. had. They make it 3-3. You never know. It was a good game. Not a lot of games. A lot of games go down to the wire. You had a little bit of a minute or two

where you could celebrate on the bench because you knew it was good. What's that like being on the ice being on the bench? It's over, boys. I remember a guy like, oh, Nolan ran in the locker room, grabbed his video camera. he was on the, you know, back you remember. So 2002. No phones. We're doing the old video camera thing.

He's on the bench with all his, you know, stuff off, video and everything. And, yeah, it was pretty cool. So it wasn't like overtime in 2010 where you're just over rolling. Yeah. So zero to 10. What's the gameplay? Decimals encouraged. I'll give it in 9.6.

9.6. For us, it was a, I mean, it was a good game. For me, as a guy that love. the Mighty Ducks, the movie. Miracle. I needed a, I need some, I need a shootout. I need a shoot out.

Certified on Pucknor. Are we low nine, sir? I'm gonna go with a nine flat. Oh, nine flat. Still a great score. Yeah. No bias here.

Oh, whoa, whoa, eight one. Whoa. I was lower than I thought I would. We've done some incredible games back and forth. Oh, well, see, you know, 28 to three Super Bowl. Like, there's some.

See, with that, you're not giving me details. Like, this is yours girl. We're not trying to. I know, but I'm doing it within like hockey. You're bringing in football. Well, because our show does every sport. But this is your perspective. Okay.

I feel like I short changed it. I short changed it. That's why we do the media. Got it. 10s across the board and then gave himself 11 at the end. And we got the name. Boom. The name of this game, zero to 10.

Gold is coming home. Cultural relevance. How much you think about this game, where this game means on the parthian of sports history. Now, let me ask you this. as we're doing this, do we know about part two and part three? Yes.

Yes. That might actually be a better fit, knowing the significance of this game to history and where it was. I think we're going to have to change the name. Okay. Okay. I think we're going to have to go U.S. Canada part one.

Okay. Audible. Yeah, we're going to do an audible. Now, what's the score for that? Like, if you have a one to ten, I'm going to give it an 8.8 because it's, you know, it's fairly standard.

What if we change the name U.S. versus Canada the start? Ooh, the beginning. The beginning. I like that better. The beginning. Yeah. Now we're going to bump it to nine flas.

It feels very cinematic. I like that. I can't spell. And everyone knows of a trilogy. The first one's usually the best. I'm going to go with an 8.7. Shout out, grunk. Shout out.

I got up my You said 9 flat No no I didn't say 95 I said 9 flat 9 flat I'm gonna need to change mine I didn't know what we were gonna go with And I scored this earlier 5 flats no good

Whoa No way no let me Let me up these numbers The highest score game we've done Let me up these numbers to 7 5 I'm gonna go with a Viggins will fork I'm gonna stick with my 7.1 There are more hockey games

I think about more Well Yeah but that wasn't the question That's how I score for stake Yeah, but that wasn't the question. That's what I score for name. Played by another set of rules. Again, you can't have your own set of rules here.

You said name as it relates to this. 9.0.10. Yeah, we are now our new eighth overall game. Wow. It's just behind the 2016 World Series Game 7 Cubs versus Indians and just ahead of the Snowball game, 2001, the FC Division around game. Pretty high.

Let's go, baby. I mean, it's a good reason. Yeah. Well, it was instrumental in my. career. It's instrumental in the trilogy. Yeah. This is true. It's 0.1, two points behind the miracle on ice. Star power. Yeah. Star power. Not a lot of stars in that game. Not a lot of star. No. Not a lot of star is before the pros. And by the way, what people tend to forget or don't know is the miracle on ice game was the semifile. Yeah. Yeah. Well, they didn't even

really do the brackets in the same way, too. They didn't tell them. And they had to beat Finland. Yeah. They smoked them, though. No, no, I was close. No, it was close. Wasn't it? I thought they, no. They yada yotted it in the movie, but it was important. Yeah, they kind of, oh, and then they had to beat whatever, but.

By the way, it's the 14th. Oh, 14th. Details. That's three times. Chris, we miss anything about this game? Jesus. 14th, they were 14th. What are we doing here?

We haven't recorded in a couple weeks. We're a little rusty. Man. We're like 98 Nagano Olympics here. What, do we miss anything from this game? I mean, it was physical. It was physical. It was a war.

Like, these two teams do not like each other. Yeah. Both teams trying to impose their will. Talent, physical play. It was a quick game too. Fast. Like back and forth. You know, like dump and chase with a purpose to lean on your opponent.

Yeah. make them wear them down. And then last question. Everyone go check out. Everyone go check out earned the true cost of greatness from one of hockey's fiercest competitors out April 14th, tax day. Tax day.

Two days before the Titanic sunk. It's the 15th. Small detail. It was 15. Yes. I thought you said it was a 14th. But sometimes it's a tax day. Oh.

Got my extension. Got my extension. To be fair, sometimes they move it. Sometimes they move it. They do move it. If it's on a Sunday. Yeah. Last question.

You guys put your taxes? What? When do you put your taxes in? What does hockey mean to you? Oh, man. I'm going to be honest. Nobody's ever asked me that. That's deep.

Very deep details. Yeah. Yes. I would say, it has helped me form the better part of my character in just going through the dark days and getting to the top and, you know, kind of learning about myself and what works. Like what, how am I, when and how am I the best with respect to as a person, not necessarily as a player, but as a person, who I am, what I'm all about, what's my character? and hockey has kind of helped form and shape that. Great answer.

Thank you. Chris, thanks for coming on. Great question. Thanks for having me. This has been awesome. I mean, whenever you have the hockey guys on,

you guys are just beauties in your own terms. You guys are beauties. Everyone go get earned the true cost of greatness. We don't have enough time for you. Earned the true cost of greatness from one of hockey's fiercest, competitors out April 14th, two days after the Titanic sunk one day before tax day. We're all about the details in here because of old Chris. Prongs.

I was going to say prongs, but I was going to say prongs-e. Unit, big unit, beast, whatever. The unit. Two-time Olympic gold medal champion. I mean, he's got it all. Plus and respect on it. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you.

Thanks for having me. What a game. And thanks again to Chris Pronger. Old Prongs. Prongsy. Prongsie. I mean, big guy. Big. Oh, my God. Holy smokes.

Hockey guys are just. And they even look like even bigger giants on the ice because you get one of four inches with the skates. I'm still a half. Two and a half. Three. I'm still laying in a big Z all day. That looks like four to me. Four's huge.

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