OverDrive - OverDrive - February 13, 2025 - Hour 1
Episode Date: February 13, 2025Join Aaron Korolnek, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss Canada's 4 Nations Face-Off victory against Sweden, Sidney Crosby's incredible performance, Mitch Marner'...s game-winning goal and the success in the tournament. TSN Reporter Ryan Rishaug joins to discuss Canada's massive win in the tournament, the construction of the roster and Crosby leading the team. They also discuss Tristan Thompson late-game dunk against the Raptors and Toronto response in the game.
Transcript
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All right, here we go.
It is positive Thursday here on Overdrive.
We're live on TSN 1050 TSN for in the I heart radio app
The snowstorm is over Canada
Victorious in game one over Sweden and what a show we've got ahead for the next three hours
I am Aaron Kroniken for Brian Hayes with my friends Jeff O'Neill and Jamie
McClennan what's going on fellas?
much guys I first have to mention an angel from heaven helped me out today.
Oh yeah?
I'm not kidding.
The snow was no joke.
Oh yeah, serious business.
So my marching orders, late night last night I had to drive home thirty kilometers an hour because of the highway was outrageous
and
jeff you gotta go out and shovel the driveway my lovely wife says and i'm
like
gotta do it that's what you gotta do
i took
to shovels
and i keeled over on the driveway because it was so much heavier than
I thought.
I thought it was just like a fluffy snow.
This stuff had some weight to it.
As soon as I keeled over, and I'm doing this because Hayes is not here and he hates when
we give plugs, this guy with a plow that said, his company is called Always Green, Joe is his name, he
stopped and he goes, are you okay man?
He goes, just back your truck out and I'll just rake the snow out for you.
I'll give you a hand.
I did the sign of the cross and I said to him, bud, look, my buddy is downtown, he's
a lawyer and his family is with him and he won't even be able to
plow that too
no if you need a sprinkler guy a plow guy
joseph show on the upon the guys tires joseph always yeah he did
say sorry keeled over any said you want some help and i'm like buddy urinate
because i was in
first of all my back was gone
and then i was in no mood
whatsoever because I was I probably had a long driveway I probably had three
hours at work men what do you mean healed over like you fell over or there
was actually something blow your back out you can't straighten out yes I do
very well like and he drove right by at that exact same time so Joe you're the
best thanks Joe way to work I mean you were able to get you know your wife
could get to work.
I don't know.
I mean, I don't think people were, schools weren't in today.
Oh, it was a snow day.
That's why I don't understand why I was sent out there to do it anyway.
Well, that's the, I mean, I got out of my house or whatever at 10 a.m. and the roads
were clean.
I don't know.
I was like, why?
What is all the big deal here?
I mean, by 1 p.m., there there was the snow's melting. It's gone. Like I, I mean, I don't know.
I get it. The safety of people. That's a Western hockey thing. No, that's
you're going all Western Hockey League on us. Every time we were driving on the bus,
World Juniors, all the guys from the West NHL, they'd be like, oh, this is nothing
where we came from. We used to drive through the night in this and get to Lethbridge. Okay, so I'll tell you a story.
You're right though. We played at, I remember we played in Saskatoon or
something one night and it was like minus 30, okay, and we were driving
home back to Lethbridge and our bus froze up. Like just, we glided to a stop on a road.
We had to walk a mile to a hotel.
There was five rooms in the hotel and there was 25 of us, so it was five to a room.
Because I was the starting goalie, I got a bed.
But I mean, we could have died out there.
It was minus 35, minus 40 with the windchill.
And our bus literally, like the gas line or whatever froze like that was it like there's horror stories of
Dude, like I remember driving back from the Sioux like that's an all night trip and it
would be snowing it's jet blackout and the bus would just seem to be cooking man and
it was I was like I hope this guy had some coffee anyway aka last night what a night
pal hope this guy had some coffee anyway a k last night what a night it really was and maybe your boy Joe helped you with your driveway is the you know the
snow-blowing equivalent of Sydney Crosby he would be the equivalent because man
what a performance from 87 last night and think just thinking about the lead
in of this tournament and the question surrounding how legitimate would be and
the incredible ceremony they did before the game introducing lamu in the chance of
cross be in the game starts and then the canadian power play gets on the board
mcdavid to cross be to mckinnon and that place was going crazy and it's up on tsn
for here was in
this a truly unbelievable night for Canada. And yeah, say
what you will about the second and third period and heading into overtime. You kind of forget
about that, but an amazing win for Canada. Marner gets it done in OT. So much positivity
coming out from that game, Noodle.
Well, you know it's funny. You're right. Say what you will. But I thought to myself, oh,
you and I were texting a little bit. Like, have gone either way right you're three one and then you don't like the goal
against goal number two and then you know goal number three goes in if they lose in
overtime regardless of what happens it's just that it's a lot different correct I mean like
because your times five like the first period I thought and I believe, and I think we all believed, the first five,
ten minutes, like this was going to be a 7-1 blowout, like this was going to be ugly.
And I think Sweden knew that was coming the first ten minutes and said, let's find a way
to weather the storm.
And you could argue that Sweden got better as the game went on and and you know, Canada was you know doing their job and
And but to me, you know, they tie it up and I just I had this pit in my stomach and it was you know
Oh, you and I were texting going in do you like that goal? You'd like that one?
I'm like, I don't know and and if just even if like Bennington made two unreal saves and overtime one of those go in
We're talking something different today. But I mean, I'm glad Even if, like, Bennington made two unreal saves in overtime, one of those go in?
We're talking something different today, but I mean, I'm glad McKinnon was unbelievable.
Mitch Marner gets it done.
I didn't think Marner had a great regular game, but I thought he was brilliant in OT
for that play.
But there were just lots of storylines, but let's start with the positivity.
They got it done however which way you wanted it.
Lots of great play, lots of great
play, lots of individual great play, and to me that was just an entertaining game.
Oh, what did you feel?
After seeing Mario come out on the ice, who is royalty, maybe the top of the food chain
with Gretz royalty, like as soon as I, I'm a broadcaster and a fan of hockey. As soon
as that guy walked out and I have a relationship with him, I've had dinner with him a bunch
of times. I played against him for a long time, but I just said, Oh my God, what a stud.
What a stud coming out on the ice with that kind of wave is, you know, I'm amazing. I
love the wave. Like that guy is just outrageous. It was so cool.
The fans chanting his name.
The Canadian power play.
And my first thought was, imagine keeping this type of spectacle and that type of hockey,
and all the players commented on it too, guys, where they said that was the fastest game
we've ever played.
Like imagine depriving the hockey fan base of that type of hockey.
And I know there's a bunch of really difficult high end stuff and hoops that need to be jumped
through to make this stuff happen.
But what a shame that we haven't seen more of this throughout the years.
Like it's just an incredible first period.
But I would think guys, like great ending ending the crowd chanting Crosby's name
noodles you mentioned Marner I did not love his game there was probably five or
six guys games that really need to elevate but I think the coaching staff
would say you know what I don't think we were that great like we had flashes even
Connor McDavid like he had some plays in the first period where you're like wow
he's humming yeah but if you put his total game together, I think if you ask Connor
himself, he'd say, I didn't have my best stuff. That line didn't have their best stuff. And
things need to kind of elevate if they're going to continue to grow because guys, maybe
I'm wrong and we're going to find out tonight tonight But that USA team is all business and their real deal Holyfield
And if they fall asleep for two periods like that on Saturday night, they'll get their ass handed to them
That would be my prediction. Yeah, you're right. Okay. I don't know how you felt about it
But I just think there's so many things you can pull on, you know from a positive standpoint
You know the Marner goal I thought Nathan McKinnon was ridiculous in overtime, ridiculous.
I mean, Gustafsson made what, three or four great saves alone on McKinnon because he just
kept winding it up and winding it up.
Outside of Sid, I thought McKinnon was their best player.
He was shot out of a cannon.
But that being said, if you're Vegas today, you're happy to say
Theodore man like that. That I don't know if that's a broken wrist or whatever that
is, but that's not good. You know, what do you feel like?
So what do you mention Mario the mute coming out? That's the exact same thing that's going
to happen in 20 years when Sidney Crosby comes out and they're playing the Olympics or they're
playing the World Cup Cup of Hockey in 2045. That's the type of reverence
that Sidney Crosby has amongst Canadian hockey fans and it is absolutely deserved. And last
night, think of those three assists that he had. Number one, they were all primary assists.
That pass to McKinnon on the power play, the pass to Mark Stone was ridiculous. And then
that final play where Crosby with all the brains in the world the way he enters the zone
to withdraw past two mariner and the way he comes back out of the zone to stay
on side
and marter does the rest i mean
and absolutely unbelievable performance from cross being it's up on tsn four
year
al-qaeda the rest in rudas like there is only what ten seconds of powerplay time
well you're actually right here i should actually gave us a couple more cheesy ones to say, you know what?
I gotta see more of that. The people need more of it. That's tripping.
They didn't call anything just high sticks right on for both teams.
One high stick for both sides. First period. I literally said to myself,
I'm like, Sweden, why don't you guys pack up your yellow gears and just go home?
Trey because it looked like it was just like, I thought Jamie, you just mentioned
seven to one.
I thought the exact same thing.
I'm like, yeah, you, you had you, this didn't just, uh, sneak up on you, this tournament.
You guys knew about this and you're playing like that for 60 minutes.
Just take your yellow gear and go home.
But they, they hung in there, man.
And we talked about the campaign goal.
That's what you're looking for when you're hanging around
You're looking for a ref to maybe toss you a five on three and you're like here's our chance
And you're also looking for that muffin if it goes in you're like alright boys. We're one away now
We're one shot away from taking this thing to overtime and then you never know but Jamie you detailed the saves and overtime
Those were huge because
if they don't get that done in overtime, I think Aiden Hill is probably in that. But
yeah, I mentioned it last night on SportsCenter. If you're going to talk about gamers and winners,
I think you can not have your best stuff. And there's two, the two best examples of
it being a gamer and a winner were mitch marner
and the goaltender bennington because they didn't have strong kinda
it wasn't a game of perfect in you you work in a say that they were the best
players
but come clutch time and there was two saves in overtime by bennington
and mitch marner got the winner
i hope that that
that that goal
and you ever know how us like a like an individual play like that
and one goal can help a guy but you would think that that would be as good a
player as Mitch Marner is one of the best players in the world that would
help his confidence massive. You know what I can play in a playoff game
and not have my a stuff but you know what when the chips were down I
contributed and that's what they're supposed to do that's what they've
always been looking for a goal a play and he did it
It was great stuff. Yeah, I agree because you can draw confidence off of it
There were a lot of guys that didn't have their a stuff during the you know during the game
But you still found a way to get it done. I agree
I think there's there's so many ways there was almost like a fork in the road like okay
You know we kind of took our foot off the gas now give Sweden credit
They got going and they were able there was no time and space for a lot of those big guys to get going
But you know in overtime there was nothing but space and you know, Willie
He was cheating at the far blue line. Yeah, and he was for that blue line
He had one in tight noodles and he lost it. There's a bunch of times a Seattle Vancouver
He's been losing the puck a little bit
Yeah, I don't know if the lies on a stick are all jacked up
But he had the game on a stick to an overtime
Yeah, he did and you know what he was sniffing and you know this one here it rolls off of them
Oh, yeah, that was right there man. I was I was like this is over
Yeah to me like I I think there's guys on both sides
It didn't have their best but man. Oh, man that was it ended up being so entertaining
I thought halfway through the game
It was kind of boring as it slowed down and and and kind of wasn't a lot of space
But I can't I talked to a few people that were in the building
They were like that it was electric and what what an unbelievable place like Montreal regardless if you're a Habs fan or not
They did it right last night. They did it right they ever they were cheering for Marchand
Which you know he never gets cheered in that building. They're chanting Crosby. You know Lemieux comes out
I mean amazing it was just you could feel it through the TV
You could feel the energy from sitting on your couch.
If you weren't, and I'll admit this, I'll be the first to admit it, I wasn't so engaged
in this tournament because I just thought, what are we going to get?
Where are we at here?
I told you I was at 20%.
I got to like 60 to 80% leading up to it.
I'm all in right now if they continue to play like that.
I thought that i think
that has a made the statement of this is not a joke all-star game
because you can see the mandate on their team
whether it be the grants or the studs
it's like we got a skate and we got a hit and they all did it
and that was basically probably laid out for the guys this is not a joke
and if you have any uh...
aspirations about being
on this team next year at the Olympics you better hit and you better skate and they did
it man.
They did it.
And we're going to see the USA play Finland tonight I'm a little bit skeptical as to what
the Finns are going to be able to do considering what they've got on the back end all the injuries
but I...
You never know man.
You never know you're actually right you never know you never know a lot of people
are riding off Finland I'm not ready to do that yet
We'll see that game tonight eight at eight o'clock but back to Marner
Which I think is a really interesting question and it was actually posed to John Cooper his
Confidence following that goal and what it could do for him in his NHL career
I got Carlo Colli Acro this morning on first up referred to the Marner goal as potential turning point for his career
Which may sound
a little bit dramatic.
That's probably how I would refer to it because again, it's the first game of a round Robin
tournament against Sweden at three on three in overtime, not the gold medal game, not
the Stanley Cup playoffs.
I think if Mitch Marner is going to prove that he has become this big game player, he's
got to do it in the Stanley Cup playoffs or maybe the gold medal game against the United States a week from
today. That would be fine, but here's how Cooper was asked the
question about Marner and his confidence post game last night. John, what do you
think a goal like that can do for Mitch Marner? I don't know, if you're saying that like is that a confidence building goal?
That kid oozes confidence so I thought it was a big time player making a big time play
at a big time moment and that's why guys like him are on this team.
He was fabulous.
Look at the ice time last night amongst forwards.
Number one Connor McDavid. Number two Mitch Marner. he was uh... is fabulous look at the ice time last night amongst forwards number one car mac david number
two
mitch marner john cooper
loves
in some mitch marner
i don't think he was great though like to i agree i i i i don't think that that
top line with reinhardt
and i think there's a just that you have to make
because mitch plays the type of game where he commands the park and then once
he does it's get away from me and get open
and i'm gonna make guys come to me and i'm gonna put it to you when you're
going to be open
now he's playing with Connor McDavid who does exactly the same thing
everybody talks about like the greatest player on earth he is
but he's more of a playmaker first as opposed to a shooter
so both of them do the same thing and they do it differently. Obviously McDavid does it at a high rate of speed. So
they're gonna have to make that work on the fly. So maybe Mitch is gonna have to
say to himself, the only adjustment is I gotta maybe get into more of a shooter
mentality. And he doesn't exactly have the Austin Matthews release. It was a
great shot last night. But just put yourself in a different spots. Play like
a like a true traditional winger
And I don't think that you would you would view him as like his route running and his positioning on the ice
I don't think anything what about it would be conventional or like a traditional winger type stuff
So maybe that's the one thing he's got to change like straight lines go to the net
maybe fan open for some one timers because McDavid is so good at like before like the puck comes to him he doesn't even stop it
he'll just pass it for a quick one timer so just maybe get open and run some different
routes to make it work because there's not much time because even though he scored the
overtime winner if that line stinks to join out in the first period tomorrow night I guarantee
they're not skating out there in the second period I would guarantee that I thought you know you look at the dynamic of the two you're right like
Connors more of a east-west but actually sorry Connor is north-south with speed Mitch is east-west and
Reinhardt's not a burner. He can get there, but he's not a burner so there
It's a unique line it looked a little bit disjointed during, you know, we'll call it the first three periods.
Yeah, three on three, anything's, you're wide open to it, right?
Like, I mean, it's just a, it's a different game.
I don't know, the bigger debate is, do you want three on three hockey in the regular season to extend to 10 minutes or eight minutes?
Because they got it done, you know, it didn't get it done in that first five minutes.
If it was five minutes of three on three, we're doing a shootout last night. And I was like, that
game didn't deserve a shootout. That game deserved a goal and it got it. But it was,
what was it, seven, eight minutes into the?
Yep, eight minutes.
Yeah. So you're, to me, I think that extends the debate. But getting back to that top line
with McDavid, I think they had a little bit of juice early on. But you know, Sweden, that top pairing, like that at home
and them started to lean on them a little bit, Brodean, and there wasn't a lot of space.
And you know, you could tell they kind of got blanketed and couldn't really get it
going. But we'll see if they've got some chemistry heading in Saturday night. Because I think
in theory, Cooper wants to play Marner
with McDavid, but if it's just not going to be the chemistry,
they're going to have to switch on the fly pretty quickly.
Jamie, would you have had a nervous breakdown
if it was dark in the entrance before Mario came out?
And right before Mario came out, the guy says,
Mario Lemieux and Jason Strudwick and they
were both holding the banner I honestly think that I would pass out and die
yeah like the most random it's like yeah silver medalist from what's the name of
the Spangler Spangler silver medalist Jay yeah cuz he was going if he went
through his resume from the Spangler Cup and said Jason Strudwick I honestly I think I would I would die on the floor and I could not get up
Well, I think there were only two guys out there with Mario holding the banner
There were only two guys who got booed in that entire process and one of them was William Nylander and the other was Austin Matthews
And they were getting for just showered with booze and do the leaf hatred never gonna be and it was good
It was good for the tournament because it was just you know
Brad Marsh and is hated too, but Marner got love and overtime
Marsh and got love when he scored and those guys being introduced like the enemy they're gonna get it
That's just the way I just I looked at everything last night guys
And it was obviously there would be a lot different mood today and we this whole tone of this first conversation would
be way different if that's a loss because they'd be they'd be in a jam if
they lost that one last night big time jam well this just the way the
tournament goes I mean it's so short yeah you know is one week that one you
lose Saturday you're out you're cooked the Americans, the same thing applies tonight.
They pretty much have to beat Finland to catch up to keep pace with Canada.
Sweden picks up a point, Canada picks up two points by winning in overtime, but regulation
wins are worth three.
So, the Americans, and I think a lot of teams, I think the Americans, I think the Canadians,
and I think the Swedes probably look at Finland as must-win games.
Those are games we can't piss away because of the quality of the other teams, but we
have no idea what this is going to look like with regards to Finland.
They still have Barkov and Rantinen and Aho.
It's not like they're complete walkovers.
I get it.
Their second pair is Oli Mata and Henry Yokiharu, but still.
Who cares, man?
You saw last night, night 10 second power play goal
You get a couple five on threes or something and you just don't have your legs for a 10 minute span
You get Patrick line a rip in one timers and Barkov doing his thing Sebastian Aho
I'm telling you man. You cannot we said it yesterday like we're overlooking these two teams and that game went to overtime last night
I agree. I kept looking you're like, oh yeah, Kempe's on that team. Yeah, you know, everyone's had
Nylander but it's like Kempe and you go right down the line. I'm like, yeah, the good players
like Brad, Erickson Eck, like Brad. Yeah, like just your top players from a lot of teams
throughout the league and you forget, oh yeah, that guy's Swedish, forgot that guy's on the
team. Like they were a good team in Canada Canada press but they came out on top when they needed to and that's that's what you needed
Was a big win last night huge win for Canada two points for Canada the US play Finland tonight
Canada back in action on Saturday against the United States, which should be something very special
I know oh you'll be in the building for that and I'm sure you're very fired up for that
That's as good as it gets and we have a man joining the show just after five o'clock who played against the Americans for Canada
And probably the biggest moment since is Eric Stolf the golden goal. He was there playing on a line with Sid back in 2010
Just had his jersey number retired, right?
I would have loved to have been there but nobody called me so that
What's going on with that. You must have got something on the way out there man. Like they just somehow they're like...
Oh the owners of Bozo that's what it is. I'm not getting into that. What I'm saying though is you are a
Carolina Hurricane legend. Yes. Eric Stahl was my first linemate and I
didn't even get a phone call but we'll move on to have a lot of will cost all just after five o'clock ryan
reda do not bring that i want to talk to you maybe listens and watches overdrive
who knows maybe he's already a prize as to what's going on pierre lebron
will be on the show in a third hour keegan matheson
jays pitchers and catchers reporting ross atkins
updates on blad juniors contracts dude is it true that they offered Bregman a seven-year deal
I think there's some conflicting reports about what they actually are that really blows like if they offered him a long-term deal
And he said no to
Like you're creeping up with Boston now
120 million, but yeah 40 40 million year for Bregman's a lot
He's got opt-outs in the deal
But we'll get Keegan's take when he joins us in the third hour of the show
what a start here in our one that's noodles that's the O dog I'm Aaron
Krollnick and for Brian Hayes Ryan Rashog live from Montreal where apparently
there's a huge snowstorm there oh I don't know if you've been checking the
weather yesterday here in Toronto there was a bunch of snow apparently
Montreal with you yes have him drive you in the snowplow.
Dude I'm telling you this guy saved my life today. Always green. If you want your
driveway plowed or your sprinklers done in the springer, give the guy a call.
Put it in your background there. I'll get it. I'm gonna hook the guy up.
I literally was like an angel. I keeled over and I looked and he was sitting in his truck with the window down.
He goes, you need some help pal?
And I said, yes Joe.
Joe the angel, I love it.
Alright, Hour One of Overdrive continues on TSN4 and TSN1050.
Hour One continues on this Thursday afternoon.
You're listening to Overdrive, TSN4 for TSN 1050 the I heart radio app
Koronek in for Hayes with noodles and the oh dog you would think after a big win like last night
Maybe Cindy Crosby Nathan McKinnon stay out late
Sleep in relax. No. No, they were on the ice
They were actually the first two guys on the ice for Canada this morning following that win
And I mean they just live it.
They breathe it.
And they are by example players.
And I think that's a very good example of it.
It's like Ryan Rashog and Pierre Lebron.
That's it.
I think it's very much the same.
They were probably at the rink practicing
different types of interviews and comments and stuff.
And they said, let's make this. This is like a dream scenario and when we go on
sports center let's make it perfect like sit in mckinnon let's welcome in ryan
rishag is that an accurate description of what happened this morning ryan
yeah no so what here and i do every hit that we do
uh... we need to really had back to the hotel we call it up on the internet we
sit and take notes we do self-critique so many critique each other we exchange notes
and then we do the same thing again the next day before we take our first hit so
it's a it's an endless pursuit of excellence but it's the commitment level
that we have oh you should look into it but everybody's got their own style. I'm driving there.
Duffy apparently is on a private jet early tomorrow morning and he's the only one which
is insane.
I don't know why I couldn't have hopped on that.
But Rish, everyone's got their own style, pal.
I know you like to jot down notes and stuff.
I like to just let it rip.
Oh, dog, you should ask Ryan about your question to me when Mario was getting
introduced. Rish, you were in the press box. If Mario came out and they started talking
about the Spangler Cup accomplishments and Struddy came out holding the banner with Mario,
would you have fell out of the press box? Yeah, the story would have been he would have thought that all the standing ovation was for him
He'd have been talking about it for a lot of months and months. His head is already big enough fellas
We don't need to fill it with more ideas like that
No take us through last night
I mean Oh dog mentioned Lemieux the incredible ovation for team Canada. It looked absolutely
Electric on TV. What was it like to be there in person?
Yeah, it was it was pretty cool. Now. I've covered playoffs series here in Montreal
It was not to that level. I'm gonna be honest with you. It wasn't and maybe they're saving that for Saturday night
But it was still awesome
It's one of the it's one of the if not the the best buildings in the league to come and see events like this.
The fans were fantastic. The cheer they gave Mario. The booze. They rained down on Austin Matthews.
He was just so in the spotlight. It wasn't like it was an announcement of a starting lineup where it lasts like three or four seconds.
It was like they announced his name. He's got to walk all the way out there shake hands stand there spotlight
on and the place just absolutely crushing them but you know hey man you
take that as a sign of respect they were willing to cheer for Mitch Marner a
little later on in the night and that just goes to show you but not really
good not quite playoff style I would say say, yet, but high end and really
fun and just an awesome night.
And the hot dogs, top shelf.
I kept it to one, the Schenzo, but top shelf.
So Riesch, what was your biggest takeaway from last night's game?
We talked about it.
Obviously, they get it done in overtime.
Early on, it looks like it's going to be a route kind of a 7-1 game I felt like
and then Sweden crawls back into it and really makes a game of it and I thought
they were the better team kind of the second half of the game what was your
biggest takeaway or maybe a couple of them yeah okay so I'll start with this
how many times have you guys on your show over the last four or five six
months had the debate how hard are these guys gonna try?
Like what's it gonna be like?
Is it gonna be a glorified exhibition game,
somewhere between a playoff game and a regular season game?
A million times we've done that.
Right, a million times.
And I don't know where you guys landed on it,
but we've talked about it a ton too.
And the truth is, I thought it would be pretty good.
I didn't think that they'd come here and slack off,
but I thought maybe a little bit of a wink wink nudge nudge
Let's not hurt each other but play as hard as we can
So there was a moment early in that game guys, and I'm sure you felt the exact same thing
So the puck drops play goes for like whatever 10 15 seconds
Nathan McKinnon has an opportunity to four checks hard in the corner first game first period first shift of the tournament and I audibly said
Do it like I said it out loud
The corner big hit in the corner and as soon as he did that I went we have a tournament
Like for Nathan McKinnon first shift to just send a message to everybody
Yeah, we're here to play and then he drew a penalty shortly after that we also what happened with the
power play jobs connect me running around out there like that
the level of physicality in that game guys answered all of our questions
probably surprised most of us
and i i love the way they began and set the tone for that so just felt like
oh yeah and it may be even feel more like I can't wait for Saturday night
Reish Sydney Crosby, obviously the crowd chanting his name the three assists It was such an incredible night for him
But if you look at like the team game and sat down and had a candid conversation with John Cooper
Do you think that he would be a hundred percent all-in on like the total team game?
Because as much as I got the win and it was exciting
I think the coaching staff would say there's definitely room for improvement actually quite
a bit.
Yeah, but I think your answer will come tomorrow at practice though.
I think what you guys are talking a little bit about today, I don't think they love their
game but I don't think we're going to see a ton of changes.
I think they feel like they guessed right on a lot of this stuff. You know I don't think you're
changing the Crosby line. I know you guys are debating the McDavid Marner line a
little bit but here's the thing on that. So they started fast, some great
individual moments, McDavid with some great plays, some brilliant defensive play
from Sam Reinhardt through that game right to break up in front of the net
get an amazing shot blocked too, that was clutch.
Here's the thing, it was tough through the middle part
of that game and they were dumping the puck in
like they were gonna be a dump and chase, go get it line
and they just, nothing happened, right?
Like Mitch Marner, a few puck retrievals
in the corner guys, like that's Zach Hyman's job.
That's what Zach Hyman does, puck goes into the corner,
he goes and gets it.
And Mitch Marner's not necessarily the guy for that.
So I was sitting up there thinking,
oh boy, I don't know if this is the right mix.
And then what John Cooper did in the third period,
he leaned into that line.
Even though it wasn't going fantastic,
he leaned into it.
He played him a ton down the stretch,
played him a ton in the last couple of minutes,
put him into defensive situations, trusted them, double shifted them and got great results from them.
So I really liked the patience that Cooper showed and then the fact that he leaned into
those guys and of course you need to have him out there in overtime.
But to answer your question, definitely things they didn't love, but I don't think we're
going to see a lot of changes.
One change we will see is on the back end as Shea Theodore breaks his wrist last night,
which is just tragic, right?
Coming from Vegas, 20 minutes into the game, less than 20 minutes into the game, this guy
breaks his wrist, he's done for the tournament, he's going to miss some time in the NHL schedule
as well.
Travis Sandheim will slot in.
Ryan, can you explain to us the injury replacement or lack thereof protocol with this tournament?
Yeah, lack thereof would be the thing.
I know our insiders are kind of chasing their tails trying to get answers today and I think
you guys said you had LeBron on a little bit later.
So he'll be able to dial in the details even more.
But bottom line, the original set of rules were if you had 18 skaters and two goalies,
there was no replacements allowed.
Now it didn't matter the mix, forwards, defensemen didn't really matter.
Once you got below that 18 healthy skaters that's where they started talking about being
able to bring guys in.
I think they've kind of tweaked that a little bit here because you don't want forwards playing
defense in the tournament, right?
And team Canada is an injury away from that potentially happening.
They're going to allow them, I think basically if there's another injury, then you can sort
of circle a guy, have him ready to go.
But the idea that you're going to just bring somebody in right now that's going to be with
your team and practice with your team and go to all the meetings and be part of the
team, that's what they're pushing back on.
They're not allowed to do that right now.
You can have a guy aware, you can have a guy ready, you can have a guy in mind, but you can't bring them in and make
them a full-time part of the team every day here. And I think there's some back and forth
happening right now. Because bottom line, like what rule book are they falling back on? Like what,
what, what, this is a one-off. So I think they're trying to have common sense rule the day, but I
think there's some back and forth-forth happening about what's reasonable
yeah i would make no sense for them not to be able to replace
up injured player man i would be totally absurd glad that they are going to be
can't well no but i think there was another in another team and the idea
yeah so san jose and will slot in for june b
insane to see a travis connect near sam bennett playing on the back and noodles
i know I mean
It's gonna be a tough situation. I mean either way because Theodore is a huge loss
What did you make of Bennington's game? And you know to me I thought he made a couple big saves in OT
But you know I think there might have been a few shaky moments had they lost that game
We might have been talking about Aiden Hill. I don't know. What do you make of it?
Yeah, so here was my thought. You know, heading into the third period, you're like, okay,
you know, hasn't it's been okay. And then all of a sudden, Sweden completes that comeback,
and you don't love some of the goals. And we're sitting there going, oh, boy, we'll be talking
about some serious goalie issues here. Moving forward, it's going to be part of the narrative.
But what I would say is
that he might have done enough in overtime to have kind of, you know, late in the third
and in overtime to have redeemed himself a little bit there. And I'm not sure what you
guys think, but it felt to me like, look, everybody had some shaky moments in that game,
first game. And when a goalie has a shaky moment it ends up behind him right so if
you measure him by the same standard you've measured everybody else by you'd
say yeah was there a shaky moment or two yeah how was he when it really mattered
and I thought he played some of his best hockey when it really mattered in
overtime that probably made them feel a lot better about the original decision
that they'd made guys to go with him because yeah he was good in a big-money
moment and I can't
help but wonder if that maybe didn't buy him a reprieve from what the first 45-50 minutes
might have spelled out for him. What are you expecting tonight, Rye? Like Canadian hockey fans,
especially in a such a fantastic place Montreal, they were jazzed up last night but USA Finland tonight like are
we talking potentially not full barn or like yeah maybe a step obviously it's
gonna be a step back because of no Canada just overall general expectations
of tonight yeah I mean oh we've been in enough international tournaments and
world juniors like we know what it's like at a tournament in Canada when
Canada is not playing right it just it doesn't have the same jam.
Understandably I ran into a guy downstairs he's grabbing a coffee. We
got chatting I said you going to the game tonight? He goes yeah well we were
gonna go home but last minute we canceled and we're staying because of
the weather and so we were able to go to the game tonight. I said how was getting
tickets and he goes oh like 70 bucks there everywhere. No problem
So like it, you know, then there's been talked about the prices, right?
So he same day obviously was able to snag a pair of tickets pretty easily. It's just not it's not the same thing
What I'm more interested in
I mean never mind the fans and the crowd and all that kind of stuff when the puck dropped last night
There was no question what kind of game that was going to be and what kind of tournament this was going to be and I'm interested
to see if they can get anywhere close to that level tonight because that was we had multiple
players world-class players saying that was the fastest game I've ever played in right are they
going to find that same level tonight or will there be a bit of disparity from the intensity and the speed we saw last night to tonight?
What's your plan this evening?
Are you going to be at the game perhaps taking in some other festivities?
No, I am, man.
These are late starts too.
It's messy.
Like 8 o'clock, 8.15, 8.20, puck drop, whatever that was.
We were like, we finished work and got back at 1.30.
So I won't include you in this necessarily
all but for the rest of the world it's tough to have find too much fun after 1 a.m. out
here in Montreal it was back to the hotel and shut her down for the night.
Buddy I haven't seen I haven't like been close to 1 a.m. in five years pal I'll be like I'll
be crawling back to the hotel immediately after the game on Saturday for bed
It's going
Hopefully we can find a nice dinner tomorrow night. Oh you and I overdue pal. Yeah, can't wait buddy Let's have the limo ready to take us out to Brassard tomorrow at approximately 9 a.m.
You guys have never been on the road working one of these gigs
Oh
He just like shows up in the lobby at the time you tell him
with no concept of how we're getting where we're going
or he just needs to be managed.
Like, usher him into the vehicle,
cover his head if it's raining,
and just get him where he needs to go
so that he can, the cameras can go on
and he can become O.
That's right. There you go.
That's all people want.
We'll see you tomorrow, pal.
Thanks for doing this.
Right on, yeah, safe travels. Ryan Rashog. Odog, you tomorrow pal. Thanks for doing this. Right on. See you at Travels.
Ryan Rashog.
Oduck, you and I back in the day, the early days of TSN 1050 had some times on the road.
Remember our trip to Philadelphia for the draft back in 14?
Who was our buddy there that was working with us on the radio that came to Philly with us?
Our boy Zack Summers.
Zack Summers, my man!
Man, we had some good times with Zack. Our boy Zach Summers? Zach Summers, my man! We had some good times
with Zach. We did, we did have a good time. I remember Bruno Caboclo was drafted by the
Raptors that night we were there and that was a long night. You definitely saw after
1 a.m. that night, let's put it that way. We had some good times. We most certainly did.
Some good times for Jimmy Butler last night. Well, maybe not so much. I don't know if you guys have
seen this clip. The underpants cam in full effect in Golden State, Jimmy Butler's new
wear. What is going on?
I don't blame him, like things happen, but the trainer immediately has got to get an ice
Oh, I'm on that say I need to speak to you in the locker room
He me or one of the body be Gatorade right like it's not an actual situation
Right, you never know what you've got is thin layers. You've got some
what are they called spandex shorts underneath the tight shorts and
There is not a lot of material right there. So that is that that's
That's a fast lane right to the white shorts is what it is. I thought that's what you're looking at
He spilled or sat in some orange Gatorade, but it kind of looks like it's stained
It looks like it crapped his pants. That's really what happened. Yeah, it's a tough look for Jimmy.
I'm sure he'll be just fine.
There's nowhere to hide these days, man.
There is nowhere to hide.
Twenty years ago, that's nowhere on the Twitterverse, but now one little thing like that and one
fan catches it.
You are absolutely rinsed.
It's white pants and it is yellowish, brown, whatever, substance. It's not good. It's not good. it is yellowish brown whatever substance.
It's not good.
It's not good.
It is not good.
And I don't think people love Jimmy Butler.
I think they want to pile on that guy.
But there's definitely, you know, there's something fishy there.
He might have to have like.
What's going on with Jimmy Butler?
His next media, somebody might ask him.
Oh, they better.
They might have to actually ask him.
That would be journalistic malpractice.
Yeah, what happened to your shorts?
Ask him.
Yes, that should be the first question.
Yeah, you just signed a $121 million contract, Jimmy, but what was going on with your shorts
last night in the third quarter?
Here's the picture, answer the question right now.
Yeah, that was a tough one for old Jimmy there.
Alright so speaking of tough ones, the Raptors get destroyed by Cleveland but
what happened in the last 10 seconds a major subject of conversation. We'll get
to that in our two. We also have Eric Stahl joining us. 2010 Olympic gold
medalist, one of the great players in Carolina Hurricanes history, Stanley
Cup champ. That's just after five o'clock.
It's the first hour of Overdrive here on TSN4 and TSN Radio.
Overdrive is brought to you by FanDuel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the
final score.
Kowalnik, McClennan, O'Neal with you.
Eric Stahl in about 15 minutes.
The Raptors get destroyed by Cleveland last night, but the last ten seconds a big topic of
conversation
formerly beloved canadian tristan thompson as you can see up on tsn for
the games done he goes full ridley greg
uh... shot into the empty net dunks in the rafters obviously take issue with it
they want to get a tristan thompson who frankly i'm still stuck is i'm stunned
is still in the nba i mean i thought i still stuck is i'm stunned is still in the nba
i mean i thought i was i was on ten years ago still in the nba like is that
you don't want to use any of the do that they have a card at the very bottom
yeah i i think so and he was riding lebron's coattails for years in cleveland
before he left in
dark or a activation rj bareman they were not impressed with tristan thompson
here's darko postgame I think
what Tristan did there was no class and disrespectful I'm not gonna stand for
that for sure and I'm really glad that our guys our players from Jamal that he
was in the court and Scottie and everybody else that they stood up for
for themselves I love when my team stands up for themselves. That was no class act
Pretty sure it's kind of like unwritten rule, you know kind of to not do that man. So
You know proud of tomorrow did what you're supposed to do
Two things three things. They're a terrible team. So when you're a terrible team, you just got to chew on it
Sorry
Yeah
You have been garbage all year and sometimes when people do that to you and punk you like that
You're gonna have to take it on the chin
RJ Barrett wants to make a comment about an unwritten rule
But the for the coach when you have the record that you do you just got to be quiet and say I don't comment on
Other players on other teams very simple like I Like I'm not going to stand for that.
Yeah you are because you just did.
The guy did it to your team.
So just be quiet and say you know what I don't comment on other players teams.
You got smoked man and that's what Tristan Thompson said after the game.
He's like you got cracked by 30 and you're going to like look at this.
Just be quiet.
So you know what?
Yeah.
We stink this year and we deserve getting punked on because that's exactly what happened.
That's because that is what happened.
It did.
You want to talk about an unwritten rule when you're so bad and you're getting cream like
that?
Sorry, all the rules are out the window.
Yeah, but it is that you write all the rules.
It is greasy though.
Like that's the thing.
I get it and you're right.
You just got punked by thirty
tristan's not wrong
but it is there are unwritten rules oh and and like that i didn't like it
i like that guys took offense to it but you're right which you're saying
is not wrong
you want to take offense to take offense to losing by thirty that's
should be pissed at so i mean
not that a guy
but the guy and a hero each of the NBA or second very close to it. Yeah, Cleveland amazing. This guy is so excited Yes, I have an opportunity to score for the first time in probably months
Well, we've seen a bunch of scenarios where a guy's creeping up on 50 and they're killing the other team and he just keeps dropping
Bombs from the three-point range. Yeah, and it's just one of those things
but when you're losing and you're getting crushed like that
Sometimes you're just gonna have to take it on the chin man because you got nothing else to say about
it during the competition element of the game you were nowhere to be found so that's what
you're gonna have to live with at the end why he was doing that his own teammates would
probably pull him aside and say you really need to be doing that man yes you're right
and I would say his tweet afterwards talking about how it's my city and buddy boy
Talking about Darko Ray Acovich and be worrying about the lottery as opposed to everything else
I mean pretty rich coming from Tristan Thompson's one thing if you know a
Incredible play I said it a K. Yeah, don't comment on other players throughout the league
I know I I I I
Respect the Raptors for standing up for themselves. They were disrespected both during the game in the last 10 seconds
I think you have to give them a little bit of credit for showing some pushback and showing some
Fight at least after the game and if only they brought it during the game would have been now would have been nice would have
Been nice our two coming up Eric stall will be on the show
We have Pierre Lebrun coming up as well
We have Keegan Matheson live from Blue Jays spring training
Jam-packed final two hours. Hour two is next. You've been listening to overdrive powered by FanDuel. FanDuel
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