OverDrive - OverDrive - December 27, 2024 - Hour 1

Episode Date: December 27, 2024

Join Michael DiStefano, Jason Strudwick and Dave Feschuk for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss Auston Matthews' injury status, Canada's 4-0 over Finland at the World Juniors and more. Mark Masters joins the boys to chat about Easton Cowan learning from Auston Matthews, Matthew Schaefer’s impact and Carter George’s impressive start against Finland.

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What's up, fellas? How we feeling? We all good after the holidays, Strud? How tight are those jeans today? How tight are those jeans? I'm so full. Like, honestly, I love turkey dinners, and I just hammer it down, right? And my mom always thinks, oh, there's going to be lots left over.

But my family and my sister's family and my parents, we just hammer it down. So good. I mean, it's twice a year you get that. You've got to enjoy it there. Yeah, we ended up going with the prime rib this year. Nice little prime rib dinner, some mac and cheese, some salad, green beans. It was a nice meal that we had over at the Stefano household, that's for sure. Best Chuck, you're a hammer.

You probably have a ham at your house. You know what? I'm a ham guy, Strutty. Very good. Ding, ding, ding. You hit it right on the nose. Classy gentleman. I love a good ham, and I barbecued one myself. The oven space at the family gathering was such that my ham was relegated to the barbecue.

You might think that would be a problem, and it kind of was. I burnt kind of the bottom of it, but the rest of it was really good. Still tastes all right. Still pretty good, but I want to talk to Al's brother here, Strutty. How do you pull off, you know, turkey's nice, ham is great, but prime rib is a different animal. How do you order up the prime rib? That's not me. I'll be honest.

I'm not the one at the controls when it comes to the meal on the holiday. I'm still, that was me. That was all the family. They put their work into it. I was just there to eat. Okay. And I put on a nice little feed bag. I strapped one on, and away I went, fellas.

It was a good time. It was a good time. I mean, the holidays are always great. And, you know, the holidays are always good when it comes around to it. Such a jam-packed sports scene over the last couple of days. Like, we had the football schedule. They invaded the Christmas Day games along with the NBA. You had the World Juniors get underway yesterday.

Leafs back in action tonight as D'Angelo gets back into it. But, you know, I got to tell you, you know, I'm watching that World Junior game last night, and I thought the Canadians looked pretty good. Ford up and went over Finland. You had the young kids come up big. Gavin McKenna started things off with a nice goal. And we finally, finally got a goaltender in the works here, fellas.

Go ahead, Tash. Yeah,ender in the works here, fellas? Go ahead, Chuck. Yeah, well, first of all, yes, it's nice to see a Canadian goaltender that actually looks promising. I mean, because we've been talking what has been the last handful of years here, especially in the lead-up to the Four Nations and the Olympics on the horizon about how we can't find a goaltender to save our lives. This young George kid looks like he can play. olympics in on the horizon about how we can't find a goaltender to save our lives uh this young george kid looks like he can play but strutty i mean how do you explain the poise of this mechanic

kid yeah i mean the hands on this mechanic kid i don't know if i've ever seen anybody more patient standing in front of a goal net well you know banging off the pads and then just roofing it what do you do as a defenseman on that strutty? Well, first off, whatever the finish D-man was doing, you don't do that. That was some of the worst defending. I actually rewound it. I'm like, did I miss something? Six seconds. I thought they were on a power play.

I know. Because the finish defenseman stayed on the other side. I think he was trying to take away the backdoor pass. But then he was behind his goalie. I'm like, what is he doing? I know there's other dangerous players on the ice, but McKenna is, you know, acknowledged as kind of the young up-and-comer, and you leave him alone by himself that front end there?

I would have had five shots, no goals, but five shots at the same time McKenna had it. So, yeah, he's really patient. This is a player that I've, you know, he's from Western Canada out here, or I guess Northern Canada, but I've been hearing about him for a few years, right? It's kind of whispers on the wind, and you see him enter the Western League. He's a big guy, he can skate, and the patience is incredible.

And, you know, I'm always just blown away to think that underage players, well, you can see them with the cages, the underage players, how they affect the game. And can they affect it? It hasn't been a ton over the course of history, but they're happening, and they're obviously become great players as they move on.

But McKenna looked great, and so did Schaefer. Schaefer, man. He's a good player. Oh, man. He can move around and skate. I mean, those are two really good players, and they're not even what – maybe it's unfair, Fesh, I'm not the core,

but you don't expect two young players to be leading your team offensively. No, I mean, impact, you expect the returnees to be the impactful guys, right? The first-round picks that come back to play. Like, he's Sting Cowan. You expect to be an impact. And he scored yesterday. He did score a goal. It's not to say that these guys are playing poorly,

but you look at Gavin McKenna and Matthew Schaefer. You talked about him. And I've had a couple conversations. I'm familiar with his coach out in Erie. And he's been telling me about this game for about two years now. He's like, you watch. When you watch him, he gets a chance on the spotlight to play at the World Geo Championships.

People are going to be talking about him right from the get-go. And here we are after the first game. And it's all McKenna. And it's all Matthew Schaefer like those two were unbelievable it's the poise with the puck like just I have the kid can skate with it makes correct decisions I really think that uh Canada's got a bright future this is now what three years in a row where we've been you know kind of pleasantly surprised by some of these young kids I mean I guess Bedard wasn't a surprise but the way that he took stranglehold of that tournament a couple of years ago and then last year, Macklin Celebrini was an undrafted player who took control of the tournament

and he was an unbelievable beast. And then now this year, you've got this Gavin McKenna kid. You've got Matthew Schaefer. You know, there's a lot of really good, young, up-and-coming talent for Canada. Canadian hockey is in a pretty good spot. And finally, goalie. Like I say, you get a guy out there, 31 saves. I don't think he's playing tonight, though.

They're going to the other kid tonight when they take on Latvia, which this is going to be. What do you think? How many goals? What's the total in this one? Over, under, how many goals do you think we see in this game? Last year was 10-0. 10-com. 10-0.

Can't have beat Latvia. It's a shame that the Russians aren't a part of this because you get games like this. Not that you don't always get games like this. You often get games like this in this tournament, but without the Russians, you get one more game like this into the fold, and it's a shame. But, you know, look, can't take them lightly. I mean, you know, Canada at the fold, and it's a shame. But, you know, look, can't take them lightly.

I mean, you know, Canada at the Olympics, Mike Babcock had to squeak out a 2-1 win over Latvia in 2014. Oh, yeah, it was Kristaps Godlewski. That's right. One heck of a game. Game of his life. Let's not take him lightly. But, Streti, what do you make of the fact that we've sat around talking about this being a 19-year-old tournament for so many years,

and largely it still can be and often is, but when you have these 17-year-olds wearing the full cages and showing, as Al's brother points out, showing the poise with the puck and the patience in front of the net and obviously just the raw skill and ability, you think we're seeing a sea change sort of in how kids develop, or what do you make of this? You know, I've been at the NHL now for about 12 seasons probably,

and since that time I've been working with young kids. Like I run camps, and I'm not saying this to pump myself up, but I've seen kind of what is going on with youth hockey, and it feels like the skill level has never been higher in youth hockey. You know, things that you're able to coach at a U, I guess, U11 or U13 and U15 level, those are things that I personally didn't see until much deeper, you know, maybe until I got to pro hockey. You know, the way that the sophisticated breakouts

or sophisticated power play breakouts or the offense they're doing in the offensive zone. And that's not to say we're overloading these kids with systems because to perform systems at a high level, you require a high level of skill. And the skills that I think that are really important are passing and skating. And those two things are really, really important.

If you watched that game last night, you could see the way that the D-men are jumping off the blue lines. You know, you can call it high cycle or you can call it whatever. Scissoring, whatever you want to call it. But there's the skill to do that, but then the desire and the heads up to make those plays. And those kids have been seen or being taught those for a long, long, long, long time.

So I think that what, you know, 10 years ago, you years ago maybe an 18 or 19-year-old was doing, now we see 17, 16-year-olds doing, and more of them. The top guys always did it, but more of those guys doing it. So it's encouraging more kind of play together and the kind of position this plays. So it's crazy to watch it. And not just what all these athletes are doing, the Americans, Canadians, and all that, but just go down.

If you haven't watched youth hockey in 10 years, go down to your local rink and watch a U13 game and the things they're doing. It really is incredible. And you think, ah, they can't do this. So you try it and they do it. Then you try some more and they do more. It's like you can't stop feeding them.

They're just starving for this. Just soak it up and want to learn. When we played, it was more like you were told this is what we're doing but these kids they want to be able to do but they want to understand why and when we do it yeah they do it and i think that's that's maybe the piece that was missing at times in the past well i think like you keep a look at the nhl and a lot of news like this lacrosse goal 10 ago, like this was not a move that was being done at all realistically. It's a pretty regular move now. Like you see guys making this, you know,

every few days you kind of see an attempt, and every now and then it works, you get a goal. But now it's like it's not, it doesn't even have that wow factor like it did a couple of years ago when like Sveshnikov kind of pulled off one of the first that we saw since it's become more of a daily occurrence. And now it's okay. Bedard's trying it.

And now you see, you know, Matthews has tried it. And Nylander. And you're just seeing all these great players. And everyone now at this point is giving it a go. And it's become almost like the norm. Like it's just part of the game now because these guys are just so skilled. So skilled. And it's really quite something to see.

So we'll see if we can see anything like that tonight. And again, Canada taking on Lafayette. That game's going to be a 7.30 puck drop. Also tonight, got the Leafs back in action. Taking on the Detroit Red Wings. And, well, yesterday Detroit decided to make some news, actually. Firing their head coach, Derek Lalonde, out. Todd McClellan hired he's back

in the saddle back behind an nhl bench for tonight and uh strutty i'd imagine that you've gotten to know you know tom mcclellan a little bit uh being out in edmonton when he was there at the oilers for so long um you know what what are you expecting out of tom mcclellan here with this hire well he comes in with a lot of experience and Actually, I believe he was with Detroit at one point, then left. But he brings a lot of experience, and I think an understanding of what it takes to be a really good team. Not that Lalonde doesn't understand, but not as a head coach. And he comes in here after L.A. where he played the trap,

which I did not like. But his time at Edmonton, I think he really helped some of those top players like Leon and Connor understand how you have to play with but also without the puck. And, you know, I think that's an important piece of this whole thing. We look at a young team that's rebuilding, and they've got a lot of young pieces there in Detroit. But, you know, it's funny because at times they can't score, but then they can't defend.

They're trying to figure out everything at once. I think that this is the guy that now comes in, Trent Yanni. I don't think we can overlook that hiring as well. I really like Trent's assistant coach. So they're getting stability there and a voice, and this is it. This is how it's going to be because if it doesn't start working after this, he can only change the coach. You've got to look somewhere else.

It's incredible to say this, but maybe Steven Eisenman is on the hot seat or some of the young players or the players that have been there for a while, they move out if they don't start trending the right way here, Fast Chuck. Yeah. Well, that's just it. I mean, this league, Strutty and Al's brother, they make it too easy to fire the coach, right? I mean, what is it now?

In the last calendar year, you now have 15 coaching changes by firing and then bonus resigns. So it's basically half the league has changed out their coach in the last calendar year. Right. And there's just not many guys that last very long in this league. And there's a lot of GMs and presidents that last a long time. So I guess they're,

you know, they're, they're the guys that do the firing and they're the guys that figure out how to survive. It is a survivalist game, but it doesn't feel to me like coaching is the problem in Detroit. It doesn't feel like coaching is the problem in many places where they change up the coach. And Steve Eisman might have some explaining to do in very short order if McClellan can't turn it around.

I look at the team, and I look at the construction. I'm just not sure what they are. You know what I mean? This is a team that for a while it seemed like, okay, Eisman's in there, he's going to draft and try to develop, and then actually we're going to go out and we're going to pluck, go out and grab Andrew Kopp, and then, oh, we're going to go and get David Perron,

and, oh, we're going to bring in Patrick Kane. It's like, I don't know what this team really is. And then they didn't allow those young youth to develop as well. Like, Lucas Raymond's a good player. Mo S player most cider like those two have developed pretty well but a lot of those other guys like have not i think yet turned into the players that they're hoping to there's still obviously a lot of time but it's like a mismatch of a team like i don't know what their identity is strutty like when you look at that group is that something that tom mcclellan is going to have to figure out with this team?

Well, I think that the challenge for any coach is to understand what you have and then use it the best way you can. If you have a bunch of kids that want to skate and play fast, you don't stick back and play a trapping-type style. Same thing if you have some plodding players. They don't do that either. So it would be really interesting to see how this all shakes out when they do get that time together. But McCennan will have a plan prior to even entering

it all oh yeah i mean it's it's it's easy to have a plan but we'll see how it goes i mean this is like five plus years for the eiser plan and i mean that's not a particularly long time you think about hey we're we're past the 10th anniversary of the Shanna plan in Toronto, and there hasn't been a lot to speak of in terms of playoff success. Of course, Eisenman hasn't made the playoffs. Yeah, at least they're in the playoffs. Exactly. And that's

surprising. When you think about the reputation Steve Eisenman had leaving Tampa to come to Detroit, he was largely credited with building the team that won those Stanley Cups for the Lightning that has, you know, to this day is still a force in the Eastern Conference on a yearly basis. But, Stratty, what do you make of that?

I mean, you know, why has Eisenman struggled to sort of figure this out in a new place when he obviously had this incredible legacy with the Lightning. Well, I mean, Steve Eisenman, everything he's touched has turned to gold. When you look back as a player, obviously with his work there in Tampa, then he decides to take on this project in Detroit. And, you know, I think that, I'm just guessing here, but as a GM you come in and you place bets on young players.

And then, you know, two, three, four, five years down the road, you're maybe like, oh boy, maybe this, maybe Jason Stratton isn't what we thought he was. And then you try to plug it with a free agent or try to pluck it through a trade like they did with the Brinkhead, I think it was a trade. So you're trying to add to it and then try to figure out how does it all fit together and how does this work. And I guess Dylan Larkin is a really good player.

There's no doubt about it. Is he a true number one center? You know, I guess that that's, that's a hard thing to say. If you're, if you're, I know I'm not a Red Wings alumni, but you know, that that's a hard question to ask. Is he a true number one center? Would he look around other teams in the league? Look at, look at Toronto, you know, look at, well, you know, Edmonton. Look at Vancouver. Just go around. Where do you place him amongst his peers? And is that a tough place to start if you don't feel that he's a true number one guy? No, I think that's it.

I think it's just roster construction. It's what it comes down to. I don't think that this is a team that is all that good ultimately. And they're a middle-of-the of the pack team and they have been for quite some time maybe even a little lesser than that and they've been in the conversation as like one of those three or four teams last couple of years oh which one of these guys are going to make that leap and you know you keep thinking Detroit might be able to do that and they just have not really and and they've added pieces like last year they went out Patrick Kane this year they went and

grabbed Vladimir Tarasenko and like maybe these guys will score some goals and get us over the hump but ultimately it really hasn't done much of anything like they're still in the same rut that they've been in the last couple of years i don't know if they need to retool again take a step back and you know that's where the the eiser plan i guess goes out the window and do you need to completely reset things i don't know but i'd imagine that this is the final bullet that he has here, right? You go out, you fire your coach, you bring in a new guy, and like, Lalonde was Eisenman's

guy, right? He brought him into Tampa Bay, and he tried to go as long as he could. I mean, I think Lalonde made it a lot further than a lot of other coaches had, right? Like, he'd been there for a few years, and now all of a sudden, alright, it's finally not working, we're not winning games. It's like 3-7-3 in the last 13 13 just hasn't been going well so this is it this is the final straw i think for you know eiserman to try and get it done if if mcclellan can't turn this

team around i i'd imagine he's going to be on the hot seat moving forward well it's hard to know right we we've said many times on this station in the wake of another Leaf playoff failure that Brendan Shanahan might be on the hot seat, and yet he survives. And so it's difficult. At least they're winning. I know they're not winning in the playoffs, but at least it is a winning product and an entertaining product. I'm not sure you're getting that out of Detroit.

Well, you're right. I mean, it's that, like, Brendan Shanahan can, you know, when he's in the boardroom with his bosses can say, hey, look down the 401 to Detroit and notice that they haven't been in the playoffs since they ended their 25-year streak how many years ago, eight years ago. Look down the QEW at the Buffalo Sabres. They haven't been in the playoffs for the longest time in pro sports in North America, 14 seasons this spring if they don't make it, which they're not going to.

So Shanahan at least has that to lean on. But the other thing you can lean on, guys, like when you look at the team the Leafs are playing Saturday night. They're playing in Detroit tonight. They'll be at home to Washington on Saturday night. Stretty, I guess that's like a really good endorsement of just when you think this team is irrelevant and this season was going to be all about Ovechkin's chase of Gretzky's record, suddenly they have the number one points percentage

in the Eastern Conference, and they're not just a showpiece for Ovi. They're a real contender, and I'm not sure many people saw that coming. Well, I think a lot of us thought that what was going to happen is that they were going to try to keep this thing alive on life support until Ovi breaks the record, and then he does whatever he does, right? He retires or continues to play, whatever, but then it's over. But instead, they were able to kind of get a few pieces in the offseason, including a guy like Manji Apani, although he hasn't scored like he has in the past.

PLDB, he's come in and he's doing pretty well, right, compared to what he was doing there. So those are two live veteran bodies that come in and help the play of Dylan Strome. And then even Alex himself, I know he's been hurt, but, I mean, guys, he was almost on a goal-a-game pace, I think. Oh, 15 and 18 before the injury. Unbelievable. So there you go.

Like, I didn't see that. Remember the start of last year? He looked slow. He did look like he was getting in position. And then all of a sudden he's like, oh, the race is on? Okay, I'll start. He gets going. And then started out this year like a house on fire.

Gets injured. What is it? Five, six weeks ago or whatever it was, and that is unlike him. He rarely gets hurt. So even trade for Lars Eller. Lars is the guy who's been there. We know what you're getting with him.

So I think you've got to give credit to both the management, but Spencer Carberry. I think you've got to give credit for him to fit the pieces together in the right way but still manage Ovi, right? His chase. Because every time you go to a city, they're like, hey, are you going to break the record? It's a lot for a coach to manage and a player to manage,

and they're doing both, winning and managing that. I'm guessing Ovi will be back this weekend, it sounds like. Well, it sounds like he's coming back tomorrow. And, I mean, things are going to get real noisy. You come into Toronto, you're going to have everybody and their mother asking, oh, you think he can still get the record? Like, what, 27 goals away? 27 goals away, and I think there's 47 games left?

48 games. 48 games left to do it? Yeah. Like, he was at it. It's not impossible. I don't think it's impossible. Like, you look at the stretch that he was on earlier in the year. Now, I don't think he's going to rattle off

15 goals in an 18-game span. We didn't think he was going to do that before. We didn't think he was going to do it after the year that last year. And he did it. So I think you've got to keep in mind, guys, the excitement of a playoff run, and if the team's playing well and he's playing well, he gets

hot. And when this guy gets hot, it's really hard to stop him. So I think we've got to... he's going to get the record for sure. I think we can all agree with that. It's just when does he get it. This year or next year. And knowing that he's this close, if he comes back and he gets a couple in the first couple games, what do those next 40 games look like?

It's only one or two hat tricks, and that really brings down the number of games. And I know I didn't score any hat tricks, but what does it mean 27? You score, let's say, two hat tricks. Now you're down the number of games and i know i didn't score any hat tricks but you know what does it need 27 you score let's say two hat tricks now you're down to 21 yeah in 46 games yeah like that's not crazy that's not a crazy total you're asking for him to do and the excitement the excitement of something that maybe he didn't even think they could do which is be a a strong playoff team rather than limp in like they did last year guys yeah it's just incredible like you think about the like he broke his, like a broken leg,

broke his fibula back on November 18th. And it's tomorrow's what, December 28th? And he's back at it like five weeks later, and he's ready to go at 39 years old. It's quite incredible. It's crazy. Freddie, I mean, you talk about, you know, the keys to the success of Alex Ovechkin,

and you can talk about the incredible shot from his sweet spot on the power play. But to me, it's as much a story. It's obviously a story of ability, but it's a story of durability. Because you're looking this up. I mean, he's missed 16 games with his broken leg, and he's expected to play tomorrow against the Leafs. That 16-game stretch, Shreddy, is the longest stretch of his career absent due to injury.

Like, this guy just hasn't missed games. 51 games to injury in 20 seasons, and he doesn't exactly avoid contact. Well, I think that's the point we need to address. I remember when he came in the league, you're like, okay, good, This guy, you know, he's a scorer and we can, you know, that was all the hype, right? How he could score goals. And then you play against him a couple of times and he's taking runs at you. You're like, are you kidding me? You can't hit us and score. Like you got to pick your lane, big guy. But I remember the first time I played against him and I don't want to make

it think like I was hard matched against him. In fact, it was most likely the opposite. When he came on, they wanted me off. But he was so strong, so heavy on his feet, like in a good way, like not slow, but just he was heavy and strong on his stick and would drive the net, and then he kind of changed the way he attacked and scored over the course of his years, although his power play spot is still his power play spot. But he's been so consistent but weathered so well

because we start seeing players break down. I mean, how many guys have we seen through no farther than their own, just the grind of getting, you know, done for the season. Done for the season, Serge, you're done for this and that. And him, he hasn't been there. He's just every day, like the sun rising, the grade eight is on that wing, ready to take home slap shot bombs.

And it's truly incredible what he's accomplished. To be honest, I didn't think anyone could do what he's going to do, which is break the record. Well, and the contrast there, when you look at here in the city of Toronto, the big time goal scorer here, Austin Matthewthews not expected to play tonight against uh against detroit still with that nagging injury feels feels better according to the coach feels better but not expect to play tonight not expected to play tomorrow so like austin matthews look at it those two two the

generational goal scorers of the last 20 25 25 years. But there's one key difference between those two. And the difference to me is durability. So you talk about this goal scoring record that Ovi has. I remember last year kept talking about how Austin Matthews, like Ovi may not have it that long. Matthews will be right on his heels. You look at the goals per game, you know, on pace to break it. The problem that I have now is I look at him like,

how much confidence can you have that he's going to even be healthy to play enough games to beat that record? That's the question that I now have when it comes to Matthews, if he can live up to that Ovi goal-scoring record. Difficult to have confidence right now. And you think about it, Matthews is not even halfway through

his ninth season. Ovi's playing in his 20th season, and Matthews has already missed more games to injury in his career than Ovi's playing in his 20th season, and Matthews has already missed more games to injury in his career than Ovi has in his. And it's not like Matthews has been a band-aid. I mean, he's been available for about 90% of the games, but Ovi has been available for 97% of the games he's been supposed to be playing in.

A little bit of a difference there, Strud. It is. You know what, though? And I'm sure you noticed this. When I started playing, the guys were built like trucks. They were big and thick and heavy. And I remember, I'll never forget the night when we had the year-long lockout, and then Shanahan and all his buddies came up with new rules

where he couldn't clutch and grab anymore. I remember thinking, I've got to lose about 10 to 15 pounds. Like, it was just right away, because've got to lose about 10 to 15 pounds. It was just right away because now I didn't need to be super strong. I could be faster and lighter and try to get around quicker. If you look at hockey players now, the way their bodies are built, they're much slimmer and there's very little upper body, carrying on a lot of extra, I'd call it armor. Put armor on to make sure they're very slim.

Like look at Conor McDavid. I've never seen Matthews with a shirt on, although it's not like I've seen McDavid without a shirt on, but I can see it through their shirts. They're very slender guys. Where you look at Ovi, Ovi is a square, right? That guy is a square. So he has lots of armor to kind of weather those hits and bounces.

And so, I mean, everything has its plus and minuses, right? You're a little bit faster when you're lighter, but you're not maybe as resistant to injuries. And it's not just Matthews. I'm talking for all of them, right? They're just so much slimmer than they used to be. I think guys like Marty LaPointe, that guy was a brick, a little brick. Who's the player today that's built like him?

Not many, not many guys. And the game's evolved. And the sport's always evolving. So you're not saying it's better or worse, but there's always give and take on every side. Yeah. I mean, we'll see what's in store for that game tomorrow night. No Austin Matthews, but a good chance that Alex Ovechkin makes his return to the lineup

after that injury. But the Leafs, they go on tonight. They'll be playing the Detroit Red Wings and uh to join us to talk about that mj will join us in the six o'clock hour mark master is going to join us next we got picks to make today too luke wilson gonna join us they picked the loser last night they picked the loser we're up plus three going into the week 17th slate so make those picks and more coming up you're listening to Overdrive on TSN 1050 and up on TSN+. The weekend brings Hurry Up Tomorrow to Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles on January 25th for one night only.

Get there with iHeartRadio. Two tickets to the show, flights, and hotel from tripcentral.ca plus $500 cash. For your chance to win, enter every day at iHeartRadio.ca. And iHeartRadio experience the weekend in LA. Powered by tripcentral.ca. The smarter way to book travel. Overdrive continues on TSN 1050 and up on TSN+.

Live is life? Life is life? Who knows what the name of this song is? continues on TSN 1015 up on TSN Plus. Live is life. Life is life. Who knows what the name of this song is? Apparently it's uh, everyone has a different interpretation of what it's called. Mike DiStefano aka Al's brother, in for Brian Hayes, got Strutty and Dave Festchuck with me today. Joining me on

the line is our good pal Mark Masters, TSN Leafs and World Juniors reporter. What's going on, Mark? How you doing? I'm doing all right. Good to be on with you. Life is life.

Which one is it? Life is life? Live is life? I don't want to tell you how many takes I had to do of my previous show story that mentioned this. And looking at it and saying it wrong and coming out wrong and I believe it's live is Life is the name of the song. It sure sounds like Life is Life to me. And they play it all the time at Leafs games,

usually midway through the third period. So you would think something would have seeped into my brain, but it was the end of a long day, and I was just trying to get this. This is the last thing I had to do. Live is Life, I believe I'm saying that right. But it sure sounds like Life is Life to me. It's one of those, apparently it's a Mandela effect too. That's what I've uncovered via the Reddit waves.

Masters, nice tidy 4-0 win from Canada last night, so got to hear that song a few times. What did you make of the effort last night against Finland? Yeah, it was pretty comprehensive. I think the only thing missing was probably a power play goal. Would have been nice, but other than that, goaltending was perfect. Carter George looks like they made the right pick there.

Up and down the lineup, they're getting contributions. The young guys get the party started. That's a pretty good sign that the kids aren't having any stage fright. They're really young kids because they're all young here. But yeah, so much to like. You're getting the blocked shots at the end of the game the crowd into it making their presence felt it's hard to imagine a better better start to this tournament for canada well let's touch on those young players

because i i was surprised how uh confident and how uh deliberate they were at the puck so maybe go over schaefer and and mckenna justna. You're around them every day. Their level of confidence, kind of interaction with other players. Yeah, it's great. I was asking Braden Yager, the captain today, I'm like, does McKenna ever look young to you on or off the ice? He said off the ice, yes. He's messy. Their roommates, his side of the room is a lot messier than his.

So he says I'm still teaching him a little bit. But other than that, he's a total pro. On the ice, you wouldn't know it. Other than these cages they have to wear, you wouldn't know they were the youngest guys on the team. So they handle themselves. Schaefer in particular. This guy is just...

I'm so impressed with him. He's just a stud. He just takes command. He's the complete package, both ends of the ice. I just thought early in the game, Easton Cowan's getting under the skin of Consta Hellenius, going at him after a whistle, and Schaefer just jumps in there,

and he's like, I'm getting involved in this game. So to me, he just looks like the real deal. And I understand why he's picking up a lot of momentum in the 2025 NHL draft class, and why a lot of people think he's going to be the number one pick now so we've been talking about Canadian goaltending masters and not in a good way for a handful of years here and we'll be talking about it more as we head toward the Olympics in 2026 but Carter George I don't want to put too much pressure on the kid but you know a second round NHL pick who looks like he's got poise in the crease and

really great fundamentals. What do you make of his chances to be the next great Canadian hope in net? He sure looks the part right now. He did at the under-18 World Championship where Canada was getting outshot badly by the Americans in the gold medal game

back in May. He was keeping them in there and he won them that game, a lot of the players say. And he certainly, if he was any nerves at all, you couldn't tell last night, he looked ready for the moment, for sure. I like how confident, like, he's just talking about the mental side of things. Like, he was talking about he's working with a mental,

a goalie mindset consultant now, Pete Fry, and he didn't want to. He didn't think he needed one. His parents really pushed him to do it, and he said, okay, and he said it's really helped him. He's discovered that he was too focused at times, and it's allowed him to kind of breathe a little bit and be, you know,

be energized for the key moments, and he certainly, like, looked completely locked in. I mean, 20 saves in that third period after a quiet start to the game. His numbers maybe don't look as impressive in the OHL this season because it's a young, Owen-sounded tag team. But, yeah, there's a lot to like there.

It's funny, like, Ivan Kovic starts tonight, 17-year-old, another 17-year-old gets into the spotlight tonight. And the tallest goalie, 6'4", the guy with the best numbers of the three of them, Carson Bjarnason, who's playing for Brandon in the WHL, leading the WHL in save percentage when he came to the camp. He's the healthy scratch. He's the third goalie. So after all these years of questions about Kent and his goaltending,

the question now is which good option to go with. So do you expect for us to still see a running and try and see what we've got in all three goalies here? Or did you think last night maybe he had made enough of a say to keep the net? Yeah, George is it feels like George was the guy they always wanted. Or like the guy that they identified as he's going to be our guy

if all things go to plan. And things have gone well to plan. He started the first pre-tournament game and he started the full final pre-tournament game and then he started the Boxing Day opener. So back-to-back situation, get Ivan Kovic in there just because he'd like someone to have some experience in this building and having played and just get a feel for it not going too long between games and just give him that in case you need him god forbid an injury or whatever or you know if there's poor play he's

ready to go but I would fully expect Carter George to be back in for the Germany game and assuming everything goes smoothly in that for the New Year's Eve game against the Americans. Masters, how's the coaching staff going to balance the obvious mobility and desire to jump up in the play by this group of D-men they have? They want them to jump up. They think that that's

kind of the identity of this defense is that they're all really good skaters. They can defend with their legs, so if there's a turnover, they can get back. Schaefer's an amazing skater. Mullendijk, that's a big talking point is who's the better skater, Mullendijk and good skaters. They can defend with their legs, so if there's a turnover, they can get back. Schaefer's an amazing skater. Mullendieck, that's a big talking point, is who's the better skater, Mullendieck and Schaefer. They both look like they're floating over the ice at times.

Oliver Bonk was saying that it's hard to keep up with Schaefer, and he's not a bad skater himself. So they really like it. Andrew Gibson, he looks like a man out there, not just because of the mustache. So they feel like they've got good balance on the pairs. They feel like they all can skate well, and they're happy to let them kind of push the offense from the back end. They want that to be part of that. They're going to need those guys to do that because, you know, obviously they've got that top line with Easton Cowan getting on the board and then McKenna's coming,

but they might not get the offense from down the lineup, and so it's important to have the defense kind of driving things a little bit. The Masters, Easton Cowan, the Maple Leafs draft pick, rolls into this tournament on a 56-game point streak in the OHL. Scores last night, and I see you've tweeted out an interview you've done with him where he's crediting learning a little bit of some of the tricks of the trade, of the goal-scoring trade from one Austin Matthews. What did you make of that?

Yeah, my ears certainly perked up when I heard that last night. You can't take the Leaf beat reporter out of a reporter, right? So I was like, all right, let's explore this topic a little bit more. And he said he's been picking his brain. How high should I put my stick back when I'm shooting? Where do I hit it? I'm sure plenty of other secrets. It's interesting because how can Austin Matthews, he's such a gifted goal scorer,

sometimes it's intimidating for a young guy to ask him because you're like, what can I really learn from this guy who just seems like a goal scoring savant but it seems like he's got the confidence right cowan's kind of got that swagger to just go up to him and say like what can i what can i learn and they were they were texting right matthews texted them and uh heading into this world juniors and i i what what kind of impressed me was cowan's like yeah i was chirping him because he was telling me to score goals and i was chirping him well you've scored a lot in that building maybe i'll follow in your footsteps, you know, referencing the four-goal debut. So Cowan to me is just oozing confidence right now.

Last year at the World Juniors, he never got going. Like, even he didn't have a good selection camp, and they mentioned that. Management was like, we're bringing him because he's been so good in the OHL. We have faith he'll get it going, and it just never got going. And he wasn't the only one. It was a tough year. But you can tell he's on a mission. He's on a mission right now. He's on the top line. He's on the top power play unit. He's

engaged. He's looking like the Easton Cowan who has put together that incredible point streak in the OHL. Looks like a guy who's certainly happy to go up to Austin Matthews and say, hey, teach me about goal scoring. And his goal scoring has ticked up in the OHL this season. You know, 15 and 20 games, 0.75 per game in terms of goals, which is up a little bit from last year's round,.63. So he's heading in the right direction in that department and looking really good here. Well, I guess we're going to leave question in there to you, Mr. Lease Beat Reporter.

What's your level of concern here with this mysterious Austin Matthews injury that is likely to keep him out the next couple of games coming out of the holiday break? Well, yeah, it keeps getting higher, right? I mean, you know, it's looking like this is something that's lingering, that's not getting better, and it is a big concern. And we're not getting, obviously we don't have the complete picture here, but it's now, what, this is the third time it's pushed him out, right?

He missed time in the training camp, then he was shut down going to Germany for like a month almost, and now he's out again. So, yeah, it is concerning. It's hard to talk too much about it because we don't know the full extent of it, but this is a much different team with Austin Matthews looking like a 69-goal score versus Austin Matthews who's not 100% and is scoring, but not the dominant player that he was last year. I mean, we've been talking about this a lot, Masters, and there's a theory now that, okay, so he goes to Munich, he comes back,

he's still not healthy. Is it not time to sit him for a longer period here? If nine games in the initial stretch didn't work, in your mind, I mean, we're not doctors, but it seems like common sense that if nine games wasn't enough, maybe they need to sit him longer than that. How do you see it? Yeah, I mean, if you told me you sit him down for the rest of the regular season and he'll be ready for the playoffs, he'll be 100%,

this won't be an issue again, I kind of feel like it's no brainer. You can't take everything for granted, right? You've still got to get to the playoffs, but they're in a pretty good spot, and they've found a way to win without him in the past. But, yeah, like, you just want this to be like, that's the number one thing, but this is hockey and guys that want to play and, you know,

he can still contribute a lot, even at not a hundred percent. He's just that good. But yeah, like if it was me, you know, if you know, it's easy for me to say,

but I'd want to, if I, if I was a lease and I could get an assurance that it would be completely healed in a certain time and period before the playoffs, that's the way I'd want to, if I was a Leafs, then I could get an assurance that it would be completely healed in a certain time period before the playoffs. That's the way I would want to go, but obviously the player himself, you know, Austin's going to want to play for sure, I imagine, just knowing

him and, you know, the team, you know, in Toronto, you're only, what, two games, two losses in a row from a fire burning very, very hot, so I can understand why they want to make sure he's in there and helping them out because he still does. It's incredible what he's able to do, even not at

100%. Alright, Mark. Appreciate it as always and good luck on the broadcast tonight and the rest of the way. We'll chat with you again soon, pal. Do we have a line on this game tonight? I'm curious. What Canada Latvia? I would imagine it's quite high.

Nothing last year. Yeah. I don't know. I'll look into it, and then I'll fire you a text. I'll let the people. I think six and a half. Six and a half, I think, is the line, which seems a little short to me. Yeah, that could get, well, you know, the Latvian coach,

he didn't go full Swiss coach. No one goes full Swiss coach. But he was saying that we just got to survive the start of this game. And I was asking how you do that. He says, we've got to play with courage. So it'll be interesting to see how they handle this environment here. You know, Bedard had, what, four against Austria before that Winter World Juniors was canceled. I'll be interested to see the young guys tonight, especially McKenna in a game like this.

I'd like to know what's the prop there on points for him in a game like this. It'll be fascinating. I know it's Canada-Latvia, but this will be an interesting game tonight, guys. Should be a fun one. Can't wait to watch it. Appreciate it, as always, Mark. Yeah, for sure. Thanks, guys.

There he goes. Mark Masters, the leader of Masters Nation, a World Juniors reporter. Yeah, I mean, I'm not expecting a very close game. You never know. Could be. But Canada's 4-0, outscoring Latvia 41-4 in those games. So six and a half goals spread. Kind of like Canada in that one.

I would think. I would think so. I would take it too lightly, though. You're right. You've got to go out there and play. You've got to go out there and destroy them. Right, Stready? I think it's early. You've got to come out just early. They're going to be nervous as it is. When you're playing a team that's just that much

more talented than you, you cannot give them a reason to believe. So when their coaches say you've got to have courage, Lafayette's got to come out and play the first five minutes like it's the most important five minutes of their life. They've got to come out and just hang on. Because every minute you go by and you hang it on, it feels good. But if you're down 3-0 in 10 minutes, it's over.

Well, it'll probably be over either way. But if you can hang in there for 5 to 10 minutes, at least it gives you a chance to believe in what you're accomplishing. A little glimmer of hope.. A little glimmer of hope. Maybe a little glimmer of hope. 100%. Don't give them hope. Don't give them any hope.

We'll get back into this, I'm sure, with Mike Johnson. He's going to join us at 6.30. He'll be on the call for the game. So we'll get back into that, get his thoughts on the Austin Matthews situation as well. The Raptors got embarrassed last night. Oh, my goodness. Allowing 155 points in regulation. Josh Lumber is going to join us in the five o'clock hour to talk about that.

Luke Wilson going to join us in the six o'clock hour to get into our week 17 slate of picks. So lots to come still here up on Overdrive. And Mal's brother was strutting a fast truck. Listen to Overdrive on TSN 1050 and up on TSN+. plus $500 cash for your chance to win enter every day at iheartradio.ca and iheartradio experience the weekend in la powered by tripcentral.ca the smarter way to book travel overdraft continues up on tsn 1050 mike di steffano with Jason Strugwick and Dave Festschuk of the Toronto Star. Did you guys see Eric Dickerson sounding off? Doesn't want your boy Strutty Saquon to break his single season rushing record? I kind of like that.

In hockey, I find that guys are too kind of nonchalant. Gretzky's always like, yeah, I want Ovi to break the record. Of course, I think it's good for the game. Eric Dickerson's like, no,, yeah, I want Ovi to break the record. Of course. I think it's good for the game. Eric Dickerson's like, no, of course I don't want him to break the record. He did the same thing back in 2012 when AP was pretty close to breaking the record. I think, was he 268

yards away, two games to get it done? I don't know. I'm curious if he's going to have the opportunity to get it done. If it's a team that's going to make the playoffs, they've already got a playoff spot locked in, are they going to play this guy in Week 18 to allow him to get there? That's the question.

That is the question, clearly. But you're right. Who really wants somebody to break their records? Gretzky's just the ultimate, gracious, great. And Gretzky's always been like that, and we'll never know if he has an inner dark side that's like wishing Ovi breaks another leg tomorrow and doesn't get a chance to beat his record this year,

even though he'll never even come close to saying that publicly. But isn't it human nature to not want guys to kind of top you, Strutty? Well, if I had one record, I'd feel very strongly about it. When you're Wayne Gretzky and you have 100, like how many does he, isn't he like 50 records or something? I might be wrong, but I think at one point he had tons. He's got most of them. Yeah, so it's like, yeah, I could do without that one, right?

I have another couple kicking around. But let me, I just want to make sure I'm clear. Is it one of Dickerson's beefs that it's over a longer season? Yeah, so technically. And I agree with that. I do too. I agree with that. I do too.

Now, the record book doesn't matter. They're still going to give it to Saquon Barkley. But I do agree that it should have a little bit of an asterisk to it. 100%. Because Dickerson did it in, what, 17? Was it still 17 at the time? 16. 16 games.

And now he's getting it done with 17 games. He's got a full extra game to do it. So it does come with an asterisk. I will say that. It's not right. I don't think it's right. It should be apples for apples. But then what are you going to do? Are you going to have two separate record books for like 17 game era,

16 game? Because then are you going to do that in the NHL too? Or average per game. Maybe it's an average per game. Because because it's not right it's not fair to have that happen you know the game evolves this way this was the old roger maris babe ruth argument right the the 61 with an asterisk and you know because ruth did it in 154 and maris did it in 162 and you know there's not there's not much you can do when you change the length of the season a season is's a season, and the seasons change. Well, we can ask Luke his opinion on that. He's going to join us at 6 o'clock.

We can get his thoughts on that, get to the Week 17 slate of games. But Josh Lewenberg is going to join us on the other side. We'll get into that debacle that was the Raptors' loss last night. It's coming up in Hour 2 of Overdrive. You've been listening of Overdrive.