Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - A couple of Penguins struggle at the Olympics and your winter games hot takes!

Episode Date: February 13, 2026

The Winter Games are in full swing, and so are the Penguins who went to the Olympics, but it wasn't a great day for two Penguins' stars. Patrick and Hunter begin this Friday edition of Locked On Penguins with an Olympic-themed Fan Take Friday where they react to your Olympics hot takes, thoughts about Sid, and if the NHL, IOC, and NHLPA should consider moving the games to the summer. (0:00) Then, they recap Team USA's big opening victory over Team Latvia. The U.S. quelled some concerns with their play, but there's still a way to go in these games. (16:58) Finally, Erik Karlsson and Rickard Rakell found themselves on the losing end when the classic rivalry of Sweden-Finland went off on Friday. They recap that game as well as get you set for a jam-packed weekend of Olympic hockey! (28:10) Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!QuoMake this the year where no opportunity — and no customer — slips away.Try Quo for free plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go tohttp://Quo.com/lockedonnhl. FactorHead to http://factormeals.com/lockedonnhl50off and use code lockedonnhl50off to get 50% off and free breakfast for a year. IndeedNow, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to https://indeed.com/lockedon right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelThe Winter Games are on. And there’s no better way to follow them than with a bet on FanDuel. FanDuel - Play your game. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Plenty of Olympic hockey has been played on both the men and women's side in Italy in the last two weeks. And because it's Friday here on Locked-on Penguins, we're going to do your hot takes for Fan Take Friday and Olympic edition right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome in to the Friday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms at Synonym 4Wet. Joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

You can give our show's Twitter account a follow at L.O. underscore Penguins. You can find us on Instagram at Locked-on underscore Penguins. and TikTok at Locked-on Penguins. Of course, as always, we appreciate you making us part of your daily routine. Don't forget, we're free and available wherever you get podcasts as well as YouTube. And if you follow us on YouTube, make sure you've turned on your notifications. That way you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes. Just because the Pittsburgh Penguins as,

a whole are on break for the Winter Olympics. That doesn't mean we're going to stray too far from tradition here on the Locked-on Penguins podcast. It's a Friday. That means it's Fan Take Friday. And because we want to have some fun going into the weekend, we usually end our Friday show with fan take Friday. But because it's the Olympics, everybody's talking about it, everybody's having fun with it. We decided we're going to do hot takes right off the top for this Friday. And Hunter, before we get to the fan takes, I am going to drop my hot take about the Winter Olympics to start the show. I believe if we lived in a world where this was possible, the United States women's hockey team could very much hold their own in the men's bracket.

Would they compete with the United States, Canada, Sweden, who we will talk about later on in the show? Probably not, but France, Italy, even Finland a little bit, Swiss. I think they would put up a pretty good fight because that is a damn talented and damn fast hockey team. I can see part of it for sure, especially when you watch them just skate circles around so many of these other teams in the women's bracket. You know, Pat, you and I are watching the women's game right now. I also have the Canada game on against Switzerland. And by the way, that has been a great game.

Connor McDavid going Godmode. There's not much you can do when he does that. Switzerland is playing really well too to keep this to keep the minute, excuse me. but obviously I got two screens going. I'm watching the U.S. versus Italy. The U.S. is badly out playing Italy so far. Italy's goaltender is just standing on her head, much like Clara on the men's side, Pat.

He was standing on his head in that first game against Sweden was the only reason. Something about those Italian goaltenders this week, huh? Something about them. It's crazy, but both have just been fantastic in this tournament. But I expect the U.S. to eventually pull away in this one. to the semifinals where I believe if the bracket holds and if the U.S. and Canada do win, the U.S. would play Sweden and then Canada would be in the other semifinal. Again, I think it's probably going to be the U.S. versus Canada in the women's final,

which I think everyone wants that rematch, especially with Marie Fulipoulin, potentially going to be healthy for that game. We all know how she has crushed the United States throughout her career. So for this one time, I want her in this one, Pat. if we get USA Canada so that the U.S. can beat her this time. But I hear where you're coming from, excuse me. A couple takes, though, this comes from Theodore Belmont. Canada needs to win gold or else Pittsburgh.

We'll get a grumpy old man said when he comes back. I think he's going to be fired up no matter what. Will he be upset? Sure. But I think no matter what happens, whether he wins gold, whether he doesn't, he's going to come back pretty motivated to get this team back to the playoffs. I remember, you know, at the end of last season, you know, you remember when Pat and Act, if he had like that big night out thing at P v.

P.P.G. Pinserradah, and Crosby came out, Malkin came out, Latang came out. Paul Skeens was their big band and a bunch of other people came out. You know, Sid addressed the crowd, and he even said, yeah, you know, I really wish this arena was going to be packed for playoff hockey and all that. He has been trying to drive this team back to the playoffs throughout the season. So I think no matter what happens, he's going to be pretty fired up for the final six weeks of the season. I mean, I got to disagree with the take. If Canada doesn't win gold, we're going to get a very angry, very motivated Sidney Crosby,

who when he gets into that mode, even to this day, good luck trying to stop him because he has a will that is really unmatched by many, if any, in the world. Another one from Theodore that I really enjoyed that is something I actually wouldn't hate to see happen, saying he would prefer if they did the hockey tournament in the summer Olympics, because pausing the NHL season in February really sucks. I don't think that's the worst idea. The NBA does it with basketball. That's true. Summer Olympics rather than the Winter Olympics.

The NBA doesn't pause their season to send their players to the games. And it does feel like that would be a nice middle ground, I think, for the NHLPA, the NHL. in the IOC where you're not going to have this pissing contest between all of them, where the owners are complaining that, oh, we got to shut our arenas down for two weeks. Go take a look at the calendar for every arena across the United States and Canada right now. They have events going on. Monster Jam or PBR, whichever it is, is it PPG this weekend?

They're going to get some revenue. And the players would still get to go do international competition at the high, level, the IOC would get the best players there. I really wouldn't be against seeing hockey at the summer games. Yeah, I think it's an interesting idea. You still have to be a little bit careful because you're probably coming off a really long grind for the Stanley Cup playoffs, especially for players that, you know, are in it on their teams, you know, almost every season.

You know, it's maybe a little bit different for teams that are missing the playoffs. But you do have a long grind. you have players that are playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs and they're giving it the role every single shift. You have players that play, you know, into almost mid to late June still. So, you know, are you having a few weeks off and then starting this back up in, you know, late July into August? Again, it's an interesting idea. I just don't know if the league would ever go for it. I think personally, they prefer it this way where the season then resumes right after. And yeah, I know GMs and teams in general are probably scared about some of their players getting hurt during this break.

But I think for them, it's easier to do it right now, especially during the winter, than it is to do over the summer. I think it also just messes with some of the offseason programs for some teams and also the players as well. So I think they're, I don't know, again, interesting idea. I just don't think that's ever going to happen. I also think this is an underrated part of it as well that I think actually would pretty much, would keep the owners and the rights holders happy as well. We talk about what a condensed schedule this season is

because they have the two week break that we're right in the middle of right now, technically three week break, if we're going to be honest, you would still have to, I think you could have a condensed schedule in an Olympic year where you don't have a break because you want to get the season done by at the latest, the first week of June. So players can recover, players can get some rest.

And then July into August, you have your summer games where you have the players go. And then I also think from the hockey standpoint as well, this could actually help the competition of the NHL in general. because a lot of those players will come to camp in better shape. They will come to camp more ready to go. And they're carrying that into the regular season. So I do think if they wanted to do this in the next few years with in conjunction with the IOC, the NHL, the NHL, the NHLPA,

I really wouldn't mind seeing the hockey at the summer games just so that you can just kind of keep everybody happy. The players get to go to the Olympics. The owners don't have to whine and complain about shutting the season down. You'll have a condensed schedule every four years where you're getting more games and less time. So I do think it's actually a pretty good idea, but let's keep Fan Take Friday moving here. This one, it's a bit of a long one from Penn's Fan for Life, 1986. First, he asks, whatever happened to Marshall Mondays with Jesse Marshall.

I'll just give you the answer right off the rip. Jesse is maybe the busiest man on planet Earth. He has his full-time job. He still does stuff for the athletic. He does stuff for elite prospects. He runs face-off factor. He breaks down tape. And oh, yeah, on top of all that, he's a dad.

So given the time of day that Hunter and I record this show, it's really difficult for us to get the schedules to line on. up. So we try to get him on as often as we can, which as we know is not very frequently. We love the guy to death. There's no bad blood. There's no ill will. He is just an extremely busy dude. So trying to find time where all three of us can hop on and do a show is pretty difficult. But let's keep that moving. He says, I also love the men's ice hockey tournament so far. I wonder if we're going to get the same kind of officiating we get in the NHL. when Crosby was knocked down and being held in front of the Czechianette, all I thought was here we go.

Well, just as rather than a hot take, this is an explainer. The NHL has sent refs to the games this year. It is a blend of international and NHL officiating and NHL player safety is also overseeing officiating. So go ahead and roll your eyes at that one. So yeah, there is going to be a lot of officiating overlap. in the in the Olympics this year because the NHL is playing a pretty big role in it. Yeah. So in every game, at least what I'm noticing when I go to scouting the refs Twitter account,

there's one NHL linesman, one double IHF linesman, one NHF, one NHF, ref. And they're all working in conjunction together. The one thing that's really different so far compared to the NHL is goaltender interference. We're going to probably discuss that a little bit more in depth during the second segment when Pat and I break down Team USA's win over Latvia. But goal-tender interference, while again, that call I felt during that first game between USA and Latvia, why I felt it was a bit soft. There's at least a clear understanding of the rule that if you go on the crease,

you're just expecting bad things to happen. It really doesn't matter. Was it soft? Yeah, but there's a clear-cut rule for it. You can't really say the same thing about the NHL Pat with go-turn interference, where we're kind of just spinning the wheel when it, comes to figuring that out. So if there's one main difference so far, it's that at least the double IHF, they give you

a gold tender interferences, even though I think part of it is a little bit soft with the NHL. Again, you just kind of spin the wheel with that. And then finally, to wrap up this first segment, this comes from Morbius, who says, my hot take, this is the year the U.S. finally break through and win gold on the men's side. I also think the women have a pretty good chance to. I'm pretty confident that the women are going to win it, at least I think so. the men, I still got to see it to believe it. Let's see if they can prove me wrong.

It's very funny to look at the mirror images of the men's tournament and the women's tournament because I look at the men's side, especially after Thursday, it is Canada's gold to lose. And then on the women's side, it's the United States is gold to lose. I agree. They are both very much the heavy favorites. I want to see the U.S. get a gold. I really do. just because

same can we yeah i love the miracle on ice it's one of my favorite movies i will consume all of the content about the miracle on ice but we need another moment man we need another moment we got to get something else beside that it's been too long but yeah i i would love to see it and i'm enjoying the hell out of the tournament so far

but that is going to do it for our opening segment a fan take friday opener for this friday opener for this friday episode of Locked on Penguins. When we come back, we are going to talk about the men's USA game and their victory over a lot via earlier this week. So stay tuned. We're going to talk about that when we come back right after this. But first, we've got to tell you about a couple of sponsors, starting with our friends at Fandul. The winter games are officially here. And if you're anything like us, you're locking in for the events you only get to see on the biggest stage every four years. That is why following the winter games on Fandul just makes sense.

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Fan duel, play your game. And we are not done. We've got one more and that is game time. There is nothing like being in an NBA or an NHL arena. The crowd, the energy, the moment. Getting tickets though, that part hasn't always been simple.

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And then the third period happened. And Arter Shilovs got in, only gave up one goal. But we got to talk about the game as a whole. It was not without drama. The United States really looked like. they were going to take it to team Latvia right off the rip, but a couple of challenges by team Latvia. And the game was a little bit closer than I think most of us would have expected. Well, at the end of the first period, yeah. I liked how Latvia was pushing during that period.

They were at least in this game going into the second period. And then team USA just absolutely took over and it was belt to ask for most of the final 40 minutes, five to one final. Awesome seeing the Kachuk brothers link up for the first goal of this game to make it one nothing. It looked like it was going to be two nothing. That goal comes off the board and then you have another one to come off the board. So one was the offside challenge. I do believe that one was the right call.

And for the goaltender interference, again, by the letter of the law, is it right? Yes, when you look at the double I-HF rulebook, I just think it's a little bit soft. That's all. That's just my opinion on that. But no harm, no foul. I love when Brock Nelson literally. pointed down to the goal after he scored. And by the way, what a game for Brock Nelson yesterday.

Last year for the Four Nations, I pushed back a little bit on him being on the team just because I didn't think he was having that good of a season on the Islanders. I have absolutely no problem with him being on the team this year. He has been fan-friking-tastic for the avalanche this year. And then some. He's been really good in his own zone. But he's especially been great offensively.

So for just this year alone, Pat, he deserves to be on this team. And you saw the chemistry that he had with Jack Hughes. And it's funny, I tweeted this during the game. I had real people coming into my mentions telling me that Jack Hughes should be scratched. And while yes, they did only play Latvia. Hughes looked fantastic in that game, looked healthy. He was slicing and dicing the Latvia players up. And obviously the U.S. is going to play better players. So we'll see if he can string together more performances like this. But again, when Hughes is on, Jack, that is, there aren't too many better forwards than him in the NHL. When you combine his speed, his shot, his playmaking ability, everything. I find him a joy to watch. And he's on the fourth line, which is crazy.

That just goes to show how deep this U.S. team is. Tage Thompson, roof job, nasty goal. Very glad that he is on the team. I thought he should have been on the Four Nations team last year before he got the golden goal in the world championships. He is awesome. I really like that line with him, Larkin, Kyle Connor. Conner, I still think, needs to be a little bit better going forward.

I'd like to see Clinton Keller get in there still. I thought Wrenski played a really good game. Quinn Hughes, he's just so fluid with everything he does on the ice. So just a lot of really good standout performances from this game. It's a good start. You beat a team you're supposed to be. You should be able to beat Denmark. You should be able to be Germany. Yeah. We're going to get really tested when we get to the quarterfinals. But so far, so good. My favorite. part of the Tage Thompson goal. And I don't know how many people caught this. It took me a couple of rewatches of the highlights to notice this that the broadcast

did it. When Thompson scored that goal, they very quickly went to the camera that was on Latvia's bench and their coach just had a smile on his face that basically said like, how do you, how do you defend that? What do you do against that? That was gorgeous, man. And another player who he didn't get on the score sheet for the team USA other than one penalty, but I thought had a really good game.

He was all over the ice. He was creating offense. He was doing what he does best other than score was Jake Gensel. I liked his game a lot against Latvia. He was involved in every play he needed to be involved in. He was making a difference. And it just feels like with. Gensel at this tournament, it's only a matter of time before he really pops off and has

himself a game because this is just what he has done throughout his entire career. You put him on a big stage. He rises to the occasion. So it's just a matter of time for him. I can't say enough about Brock Nelson in yesterday's game. He was, he did more. I can't cheer for him now that he's not a member of the Islanders anymore and he's not a penguin killer every time they play the islanders now that that.

That too. And the other thing that is is really, really was really funny to me about his game. He did more in the first period than most players do an entire, an entire game. Disallowed goals, goals, penalties, hits. He was, I don't think it's a stretch to say he was probably team USA's best player. Yeah, you can definitely make an argument for it. There's several that I think you can make an argument for. Brock Nelson for sure.

I would go Jack Hughes just with the way that he was flying all around the ice, the way that he was setting up players. Again, his pure playmaking ability and his speed were very much on display. I think that's the best I've seen Jack Hughes look in a team USA uniform. Yeah, I know. The bar was low after what we saw during the Four Nations, but he was fantastic. I would say he was their best player.

Nelson right up there too. Quinn Hughes was great. I thought Austin Matthews had a really good game as well. Boldy, I think, is going to have a big tournament, too. He was really good during the Four Nations. That is someone who I still think is slept on a little too much from some other NHL fans. Matt Boldy is the truth.

I'm really excited to see more of him here during this tournament. I thought Werensky was once again really good. I want to see a little bit more from Sanderson. I think he's going to have a good tournament, but was, I wouldn't say lackluster, but I still want to see a little bit more out of him. And McAvoy, I felt was also good once again. The defense as a whole, I thought, had a really good day. And it was, I have to give him credit for it just because I know he's taken so much flack on this very podcast.

But whether it's him, whether it's the coaching staff as a whole. But one thing I really liked that Team USA did, especially from the back end as a whole, whether, again, it was Mike Sullivan or the entire coaching staff. the defense did a really good job feeding the transition game for the forwards there was not a ton of lugging the puck there was not a ton of stretch passes or anything like that it was the defenseman realizing hey we are mobile we are good at outlet passes let's feed this talented forward group and just send them on their way we will be their backup when we need to be and it was a really good fluid game for the united states and you just have to say it. If it ends up being USA versus Canada, either in the knockout round or in the gold medal game, that is going to be the way to beat them. You are going to have to keep the puck on your stick off of theirs

in the type of game that they played against Latvia will help them in that goal. Yeah, that. And you also have to really try your hardest to keep Canada to the outside. I know. That is easier said than done when you look at the high-end elite talent that Canada has. As I said earlier, when Connor McDavid goes, God, no, there's really not much you can do. In both games in the Four Nations last year, he was obviously great.

He got the game winner in the Four Nations final. He also scored that beautiful end-to-end goal pat in the first game where he just torched Team USA and Connor Alibuck there. But again, we'll save that discussion for potentially later down the line. we do see Canada versus the U.S. in the goal. But hey, game by game, you beat a team you're supposed to beat. Now go do it this weekend with two games. They should be able to beat Denmark.

It doesn't look like Freddie Anderson is starting, so that's a pretty big advantage. Even Germany. They should still be Germany. I know Leon had a good game yesterday. I know Tim Stutzel also had a good game. But even if it's closer than some might expect, team USA should still win that game and go into the quarterfinals

with an undefeated record. It's in that quarterfinal, who are you going to get? Because I'm going to tease this right now. Group B is the group of death in this tournament. Sweden's one in one. Finland's one in one. Slovakia is two and no. Getting one of those three, especially one of Finland or Sweden,

potentially in the quarters, Pat, could get a little scary potentially for the U.S. I can't tease it better than that. So that's going to do it for this segment. When we come back, a lot more to talk about for the, Olympics and we will do that right after this. But first, we've got one more sponsor to get to, and that is Quo. New Year, new systems, this is the time of year when a lot of us look at the messier parts

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Wrapping up the Friday edition of Locked on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes. and we do have a couple of penguins that we got to talk about who didn't have themselves a very good morning on Friday morning, and that is Ricard Raquel and Eric Carlson and team Sweden, who lose 4 to 1 to Finland in what Hunter has deemed the group of death group B. You were not kidding, my friend. That group has thrown the men's tournament into complete and utter

chaos. Yeah, this is a crazy group, man. And there is a legit chance that all three of Finland, Sweden and Slovakia, get to the quarterfinals. So the way it works, the winners of each of the three groups, those three teams, they automatically go to the quarterfinals. And then the best second place team also goes through. Everyone else, you play a play in game, those eight teams, whoever comes out of the winner of those four games goes to the quarterfinals. And, you And with that, again, there is a really strong possibility that all three of the three teams that I just said are going to go in the quarterfinals. And that's scary, man. Finland you saw today, when they turn it on, even without Sasha Barkov, that's a scary team. UC Soros was invincible in that third period.

Even when Sweden was pushing to try and make that a three to two game in the third, he was denying every single chance, 17 saves during that period. He was awesome. And yeah, I know Sweden hasn't gotten to their full-on A-game yet. Yeah, I know they basically tripled up Italy and shots in the first game, but I still felt there was more to Sweden's performance there, especially because Philip Gustafson hasn't played that well for them. And that I really wonder if they consider a goalie change for that final game. But when they're on, again, I think that's the third best team in this tournament.

And then Slovakia, that's a plucky team. They're playing really well right now. They're getting good goaltending. Your He Salkowski continues to play really well. Their other NHL players are playing really good. That's a fun team to watch. And I think whoever also gets them in the quarters, it's not going to be an easy game. And I'll also say this about Italy, man.

I expected them to get blown out in a lot of these games. They're only minus four through two games overall. They're fighting in a good show, both of these games. And I respect them a hell of a lot for it. So good on them. Again, they're probably not going to. to get to the quarterfinals, but I at least respect the way they're playing. They're leaving it all out on the ice.

But in terms of this game for Sweden, Finland, Carlson was really good against Italy. He wasn't against Finland tonight. And I woke up at 6 a.m. for this game, chugged in espresso. I usually do not get up this early people. I am probably running on five, five and a half hours asleep. But I'm like, you know what? Finland, Sweden, one of the best international hockey rivalries out there. Don't get it very often.

I have to get up for it. and it was awesome. It was mean, nasty, he got big hits, post-whistle scrums, no fights, of course, and he got some really good goals as well. But for Carlson, I just felt like his passing wasn't there, felt like he wasn't skating as well as he normally does. His decision-making especially was really poor in this one compared to what I saw against Italy. So that's going to have to be cleaned up for Saturday's game against Slovakia.

Raquel, I thought was fine. He did have a couple of good chances in the third period, one of which came two minutes into the third period. He got a really good chance in front of the net of UC Soros, but Soros just made a really nice save. So of the two Penguins, Pat, Raquel played better, but both were left off the score sheet in this one. Yeah, they had a lot of company as a team today against Finland.

Did either of them play particularly well? No, I think you kind of summed it up well. Carlson struggled today. Raquel was fine. Could have done a little bit more. but at the end of the day, that was not a very inspiring performance by Sweden, especially in a rivalry game.

You would have expected to see more from the Triple Crowns in that game than you did. But here's the other thing we got to get to. It is a packed weekend. I hope you have no plans this weekend because there is going to be a lot of hockey. We're going to focus specifically on the men's. I promise we're not ignoring the women's tournament.

And as I'm saying this, it went from 1-0-0-1-1-1-1-1-1-1. After the first period for the women against Italy, it's 5-0 now. So, that game's over. Yeah, they're pulling away, as we expected. But big weekend starting on Saturday, 6.10 a.m. Eastern time, Arnarsheelovs and Latvia will take on Germany. Then at 310, the United States will take on Denmark. And then also at 610 on Saturday, Sweden versus Slovak. and then at 10.40 a.m. Finland versus Italy.

And then Sunday, we've got Switzerland versus Czechia at 610, Canada versus France at 10.m. And then in group C, Denmark versus Latvia at 110 p.m. And then to close out the day, the U.S. and Germany at 310 to close out the weekend. So it'll be a jam-packed weekend for the Penguins at the Olympic. for the Olympics in general and Hunter, unless you've got anything left to add, we're going to be back on Monday to talk about all of it and any penguins news that might happen between now and then.

So make sure you've hit subscribe. You've got your notifications on. Just because the penguins are on break doesn't mean Hunter and I are. We've got a whole heck of a lot to talk about and we're your place to do it. So for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you as always for tuning in. And we will be back on Monday.