OverDrive - OverDrive - January 28, 2025 - Hour 3

Episode Date: January 29, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 3 on OverDrive! Minnesota Wild General Manager Bill Guerin joins to discuss the Wild's season strength, the management at the 4 Nations Face-Off and the tournament views. They also Rory McIlroy playing in the RBC Canadian Open, the Power Slap league, the bracket of individuals of slapping and Bryan gives his FanDuel Best Bets.

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Brian Hazio, Jeff O'Neil, Jamie Noodles, McClennan, we've got Bill Guerin coming up in a few moments. GM of the Minnesota Wild and Wild are in town playing the Leafs tomorrow night, then the Leafs head out west, Edmonton Saturday night, and they're going to go through Calgary, Vancouver, Seattle, and then shut her down for the Four Nations faceoff. We're two weeks away from the Four Nations faceoff, two weeks tonight. Wow. Yeah, it happens pretty quick. Happens pretty quick, and the Leafs, I think they only have five games left before they shut it down.

And they Saturday night Edmonton? Saturday night in Edmonton. Is it the seven o'clocker? It's 7 p.m. Eastern Time. You know it. God, you love that. Well, you know it. It's the front game.

You're not making that the 10 o'clock special. Of course not. It's the front game. You're not making that the 10 o'clock special. Of course not. It's the front game. I'm not staying up late to watch that. I will not adjust my programming on Saturday night. People in Toronto, they need it at 7 p.m. Eastern. It's one of your favorite things to announce. You like announcing Sunday in Vancouver at 7.

Well the next Saturday is Vancouver at 7 p.m. Eastern time. Only Saturday night gets changed because they're playing on Tuesday in Calgary at 9 o'clock. In Seattle I think it's at 10 o'clock start maybe on Thursday. Only Saturday night and that's a hockey night thing. That's why. It's not because during the week or any other day it's what the team you know provides or whatever because Calgary I think is at 9 p.m. like you said Seattle's 10 everything it's just that Saturday night date that's that's a TV thing so right and I think the same thing when they go through California right when they play let's say LA on the Saturday you're playing 10 30 or 7 no they play at 7 on the Saturday yeah the other games during the week or whatever

are generally yeah at 10 o'clock, 10.30, whatever. So yeah, it's going to come quick. The Four Nations faceoff will arrive quickly and then the Leafs will hit the break and they'll come back and they're going to have 27 games left or whatever it is. It's happening. And you know how that goes, man. That flies by 25 games like Bonzo. Yeah.

February flies. The trade deadline's right around the corner. It's going to happen quickly. And there's going to be a lot of jockeying for positions. And the Leafs have played a lot of games. And now they're kind of getting some time off here a little bit. There's not a lot of games over the last couple of weeks. And as a result, other teams are, I wouldn't say catching up, but Ottawa's,

what, six points behind. They play the same amount of games. Florida's a point behind them. Isn't that crazy, Hayes, how Ottawa could just grind and grind and grind. Like they were down there near like Islanders' Philly territory, and now there's six points behind first place in the division. Yeah, exactly. And they can shut out all those times and All Marks not playing and they still have found a way to win a lot of games to their credit. I keep saying it's a five game swing either way.

You have five games in a row you can separate five games winning or five games losing you're back in the pack or worse and that's you're going to control your own destiny down the stretch here. That's that's it. But Noodles I think you would agree a five-game Stinker like right now the way things are jammed up. You're really done like You probably can't make it up You mean you're playing a lot of these teams That's the thing that's right Montreal goes on a stinker right now and drops five in a row there that'll probably cost Well, yeah, I'll give an example tonight like we're you know, Boston's playing tonight

You know Montreal is playing tonight Tampa's playing tonight, you know on the other side hurricanes Rangers like, you know Capitals are playing like all of these teams that in the Eastern Conference. They're all playing and and around you So if Florida wins tonight, technically on paper, they would be ahead of the Leafs. They're not playing. Sorry, they're not playing tonight. No, but it's Tampa that would be catching up or whatever. Bottom line is, everybody around you, like you said, Hayes, is lumping in, but you've got to control your own destiny.

If you're the Leafs, you've got to worry about tomorrow night against Minnesota and let everything else take care of itself You worry about your own and the Leafs have done a good job of that You know like they've they had that three game losing streak a couple of weeks ago all in reg That that stings, you know, but then they rectified that by winning three in a row So, you know for the most part the Leafs have been comfortable They've been they've been sitting atop the division really for quite some time Florida's been behind them, but not far, but Toronto's been pretty comfortably in that

one hole. And again, we'll see what comes of it starting tomorrow night. We know Joseph Wall will play tomorrow. Joseph Wall will play Saturday in Edmonton, but they don't have any back-to-backs. I wonder if he plays the rest of the way, unless Stolars returns. And Stolars did practice with the team today today and Barube did say that they're hoping he returns before Four Nations. So Stolars, if he's prepared to play, they'll play him.

But if he's not, why would you not play Joseph Wall the rest of the way here? Especially with two weeks off after that. Well, doesn't the big question have to be is up to Joseph Wall? Like, that's a lot of heavy lifting there, Hazy B. Lot of emotional games, is that what you're saying? Emotional games. Yeah. Well, I would say there's,

I think Stollers gets maybe one out last. If he's healthy, fine, noodles. Stollers is a different beast. He's a guy that he returns to play. But there is no reason if he's not coming back that he shouldn't play all of the games. You've got breaks in between. Exactly.

Didn't you say four games and then there's the four nations break? Minnesota tomorrow, Edmonton Saturday, Calgary Tuesday, Seattle Thursday, Vancouver Saturday, and then they're off for two weeks. Yeah. So like you've got no back to backs, you've had a long break here. If I'm the Leafs, and I would be shocked if he didn't play. The only guy that might step in is Stolarz. If Stolarz returns and can play, you'd probably play him against Calgary or Seattle, right? But if he's not prepared to play, I'm playing Joseph Wall every single night, I'd be shocked if they didn't. Yeah, because this is a big stretch, man. And then the whole league's going to shut down for two weeks. So again, the Leafs head out to Edmonton on Saturday night. But part of that,

they've got Minnesota in town tomorrow. And here is the GM of the Wild and GM of the American team from the Four Nations faceoff. Here's Bill Guerin back on overdrive. How you doing, Bill? Hey guys, I'm doing great. How are you? We're doing well. Thank you for joining us.

And you guys obviously had some big news today. You announced that Kiro Kaprizov is going to have surgery and it's not season ending it's week to week he's likely out I believe you said for at least four weeks but you know you never want to see a guy like that ever go out but is there any do you take any solace in the fact that that two week break is coming and maybe this is the best time for him to kind of figure this out so he's ready to rock come the stretch run here. Yeah I think that's it I mean that's the silver lining of it is that, we do have that two weeks that it's kind of fallen time, no games.

So I guess in a situation like we're in, that's a positive thing. And then, hey, look, we're just gonna have to deal with it like we have in the past when you know when he's been out of the lineup or other you know big players for us have been out and hey look nobody feels sorry for us this happens all over the league all the time so we've just got to you know we've just got to be business as usual. So Bill I don't know if you're aware but outside of your market a lot of people have called you guys

Probably one of the biggest surprises in the National Hockey League as far as you know Where you guys are in the standings to the successful season you've had. I never said that cup final. Me too then, I'll throw myself in there too. Me too Bill, I always believe. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's shined up and polished and he's looking clear into it all the time. Exactly, exactly. But what would you attribute to the successful season you've had so far based on some of the challenges you've had, even the cap situation as well? You know, honestly, I think it gets down to like the details. You know, the details in kind of which we play. Everybody knows where they're supposed to be. Everybody's there when they're supposed to be there. You know, they're they the guys have just

really listened to John bought into what he's what he's teaching them and they play together. And honestly, it's just, I think early on they saw what the results were from playing like that and they like it, they like to win. And I think they just wanna continue to do that. So I really think that kind think that the detail of our game has really grown a lot. Billy, we were talking about injuries last week

and just how players, I think they view them differently now. I think it, when you're playing, I played against you for a long time. You did not like missing any game. I don't think any players did. There was almost a fear of missing games how have you kind of adjusted to the

kind of modern approach to like possibly missing a game and it might not got about bother guys that much yeah it's definitely different i mean with we we played in a different time rate uh... and and there is there i think there is a lot more pressure put on us to play. I think there was a lot less security in our job. Um, you know, you see a lot of the younger players now and, you know, long-term contracts for big money and there's, there's security in that crazy,

you know, with, you know, four nations, Olympics, all these different things. The schedule is crazier than ever and I think guys really feel it, maybe even more than we did and they might need a break and you know, you just, that's one thing. And I think it's changed in a good way that you know what, play when you're ready. We can't pressure guys into playing if you're still banged up, if you're not feeling, I'm not even saying 100 but if you're if you're not at the percentage that you want to be then don't play because We don't want guys out there second guessing themselves And I think that always leads to more injury. So

I don't want you out there thinking about your injury and you might not be ready. I want you out there when you're ready to play mentally and you can give everything that you have, not kind of cut corners and play on the outside. When you're ready, you're ready and if you get out there, you better be ready and you better be playing hard. We're chatting with Bill Guerin, GM of the Wild, Minnesota in town tomorrow night. Another thing that has changed drastically since you guys played in the league was how goaltenders are utilized.

There's no more 70 start guys and everything's about tandems. Obviously Gustafson's been great for you this year, but there's Marc-Andre Fleury still plugging along. He's gotten in 17 games this year and he's still a big personality. What does he still bring to your club? What does he bring to the dressing room that you value most in terms of his approach to life, approach to the game and everything that that flower brings to your team? Yeah I think you hit you know a bunch of them right on the head there like he brings energy, brings life but he brings life,

but he also brings that professionalism, that competitiveness that's made him a great player. You know, when guys see him at 40 years old, you know, preparing for practice, preparing for games, they look over and they see, you know, a Hall of Fame career and they're, hey, look, this is how a Hall of Famer approaches the game. Um, yeah, you know what? He has fun and he's smiling and he loves to play practical jokes, but when it's business, it's business and he's ready

to go. And I just think that he's got such great balance in his life that that's a, that's a good lesson. It can't just all be hockey and it can't all be screwing around, but a balance is really good. When you played with him, did he ever get you? Was there ever a time where he got you? No, he knows better. He knew better. There are certain guys that will punch you in the face with some force if you do that type of stuff. We're one of those guys, Bill. Some guys get you back with another practical joke, another guy just punches you in the face. Different routes for retribution, I guess is what you're saying, but that's got to

be a wild experience for you, Bill. I mean, that was obviously at the end of your career, but you won a cup with Flower, and that was in 08, 09, and then 09, 10, you were with him in Pittsburgh and he was young. But now you're his GM. What's the relationship like? We're always curious about that, players with GMs. Maybe another thing that's changed in the game where Owen Noodles used to say, they'd never talk to the GMs.

There was no relationship back in the day. Has that changed at all in terms of the GM player relationship on a, I guess, day to day basis? Oh, definitely. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. Well, first of all, it was prerequisite that before I traded for him, he would agree to

call me boss every day. Right. So, but we've had, we have fun. Listen, I don't know what it's like on other teams, but it definitely has changed. I think throughout the league, you have to have more of a relationship with your players now because you have them on these longer contracts they have more they have more input and it's good you know for me also like you guys know me I I like to you know crack jokes and you know have some laughs and stuff. And I haven't changed.

I don't want to change. And I like to get to know the players because I think I can help them more if I know them better. And I feel like I can understand them better as people. So if they're playing well, how things are, or if they're not playing well, how can I help them? So I think it's really important for coaches and GMs to have better relationships than we used to.

So how are you going to be able to separate yourself with the foreign nations face off when you're working with guys that you're going to be trying to win a Stanley Cup and you'd be dealing with guys from Dallas and guys from Vegas, you name it, right through the league. Is there a separation? You kind of got to just separate yourself from the wild and just say, hey, I'm in management from this scenario and treat it for two weeks and then go back to the regular season? Yeah, 100%.

Like hey, you got to take it where I am today. And when we start the Four Nations and we've got guys on Sweden, and well, great, good luck to them, but we're with the US. Now these are my players. And then when we get back with the Wilds, yeah, you go right back to it. Listen, they're always our players, but we want to win. And you have to do, have a certain mindset and do certain things in order to do that. And I think being all in with the group that you're the general manager of or coaching or playing for, you

have to be 100% in. We've been kind of curious what to expect for this tournament and you played a lot of international hockey. You played the World Juniors. I know you were on that 96 World Cup team and there were some legit brawls when the US played Canada like fights and massive hits and animosity. It was crazy. It was an awesome tournament.

Awesome. It was a great tournament. I think there are much different rules. Well there are actually rules now. And it's midseason as opposed to the beginning before the season, but I expect this to be very competitive. I mean, hey look, you can say what you want and guys, you know, people have asked me that question before. Is it going to be kind of like an all star game? No, no. The players in this, in this league and in this tournament are so competitive,

they want to win. So they'll, they'll do whatever it takes to win. I think you're going to see some really high level stuff. Okay. That's, that's what we're hoping for for I mean, it's been a long time, right? It's been a basically a decade like it Yes sucks for younger players like you got you know again We keep saying back in the day back in the day but so many the all-time great players always had an opportunity to play on these big big events and guys like McDavid and Matthews and Hughes and McCarr they haven't had that opportunity and it's long overdue.

Yeah, it's crazy when you think about it. I think that's why everybody's so excited. This generation of players like the people you just named are, I mean they're incredible hockey players and I don't think the talent has been at this level ever in the game and this many high-end players so you know all the countries so they i think this is a long time coming it's gonna be awesome absolutely uh... we'd be remiss not to ask you about the big news late in the week last week that

obviously happen within your division mico ranton and traded from colorado to carolina as a competing GM in the division. It's a war zone out there with Winnipeg, yourselves, Colorado, Dallas. How did you react when you heard the news Friday night? Oh I was shocked, but then when you take a step back you just say, look they're just trying to make their team better. You never know what's going on behind closed doors for another team. So it's really tough to give, you know,

an accurate assessment of what went on. But like, yeah, I mean, it was a big trade. I guess, you know, surprising, but, you know, the two GMs behind the scenes, they know what's best for their team at the right time. And you know, the two GMs behind the scenes, they know what's best for their team at the right time. And you know what? I give both of them credit for pulling it off because it's a big deal.

And it takes big you-know-whats to do something like that. So I applaud them. Absolutely. Here's Bill Guerin, the GM of the Minnesota Wild End, Team USA for the Four Nations face-off. Good luck tomorrow night and the rest of the way and at the Four Nations as well. Thank you for doing this, Bill. Thanks guys, always good to catch up. You got it.

There's Bill Garan. Man, he was tough, Bill Garan, back in the day. He was like a big, big strong. I like when he said there was security now and the guys are playing, they make a lot of money. Billy Garan was making nine million for a lot of capital at the last time here for sure i made some money many of the career here at a great point he was here's for twelve hundred sixty

three games while he had a nasty guide to i don't know if you remember this but billy garren cross-check one of his own teammates in practice. In practice? That was a hit, wasn't it? No, it was in Dallas. Was he in Dallas at that point? He was playing for the Dallas Stars,

and he absolutely, it was like the worst cross-check he'd ever seen, and it was in practice. And it was caught on tape. He was a real competitive guy, really strong, could skate really well, and when he was just a he was a real competitive guy like really strong could skate really well And when he came off the wall like he was going to the net he was taking that thing to the net He's a really good player man. Yeah two-time cup winner he was with Boston and him and again law had an unbelievable fight right in front of me and

I think eggy broke his finger on like his ribs They were both doing body shots. Their heads were covered so they were both punching each other in the side. I could just feel. You know when you're watching it, you feel those guys feeling the shots. It was an unreal fight. Both of them were real big competitors. He was in Edmonton for a number of years.

He probably fought again a few times like that. Guaranteed. Guaranteed. The two of them, they were kind of cut from the same cloth. Like, he scored more goals, but Billy Garren was a hell of a player. Yeah, right shot, power forward, kind of throwback. But yeah, we'll see what comes of it tomorrow night with Minnesota in town. Alright, best bet still to come. We've got conformer deny after dark. Roy Mackroy and why he loves playing at the RBC Canadian Open in the Raptors now deciding we're just going to win ballgames.

They won again last night. That's four in a row. So that's great. Brooklyn's caught them going the other way because Brooklyn's lost seven in a row. Like, make up your mind. Are you tanking or are you not? Do not start winning games. You can't do it you cannot end up with the eighth pick nine pecky can't it just it'll be a

sickening process for you to go this far that start winning games so get to that a little bit later this hour as well overdrive continues TSN 1050 and on TSN 2 all right best bets coming up later in the hour we Move forward without any football this weekend, which is tough But the Super Bowl will be here before you know it and every incredible playoff moment on TSN is powered by Bud Light a refreshing Taste that's easy to enjoy tuning game day for pulse-pounding action. There was some pulse-pounding action in that TGL last night I got to give him credit and McElroy and Tiger. Guess why though? at TGL last night, I gotta give him credit. And McElroy and Tiger. Guess why though?

Tiger Woods, man. And Rory McElroy. You think if that was like Tom Kim and Keegan Bradley on two other teams that there would be that much pub about that? That's the only reason it worked last night. I know. It was close and Tiger Woods was involved.

It is somewhat astonishing that this is a completely modern new-age ventures any old only key to make it work and he's still the only option they have to make it work and it'll probably be like that until this thing ends people gonna be like this tiger playing tonight yeah and i'll be like i'm not watching exactly kisar like i've been i'm guilty of I'm like, I'll go watch this guy chip chip a ball from a

fake green. You know, like I'll do that and watch him hit golf balls and interact with people. And Macro is not far behind. He's behind, but he's not far behind watching that guy destroy a golf ball into a screen is still incredibly impressive. And Tom Kim is like the modern entertainer where he can act all jacked up and he's probably super pumped that he's buddies now with Tiger Woods. That whole dynamic they had last night, that idea would work. But then when you just bring in six new guys next week that don't have Tiger Woods there, it's like, I don't know who's going to watch it.

But are they putting money in their jeans for this or what they have to be they're not type of scratchy I think they're well they have to get back to they got to get back to Pebble Beach for a pro-am tomorrow they're not flying all the way across the country for nothing yeah listen they're invested in this though too like Tiger and Rory they're doing it for free. I would guess they're doing it because they have a long-term plan to make big money. It's their technology, they're invested, they own it. I can't imagine they're making a ton of money.

ESPN owns the rights down in the States. I don't know if ESPN's paying a fortune for that. I think it's to get it up and off the ground. Yeah, but you think every other Joe blows? No, I think they'd be get it up and off the ground. Yeah, but you think every other Joe blows. No I think they get paid. Yeah, I would exactly I agree with that if I'm Tom Kim or Kevin Kisner or something I'm like I need to make something out of this like what what's in it for me I don't have time to just fly there and like how am I getting there? I'm like you they're not doing it for free. Even if Tiger Woods asked for a solid, right?

I would think they're but the big guys are invested the bit like Mike trout was there last night I'm pretty sure trout put money into it you know like I think they have a bunch of big names that have invested in this the technology the idea of the sport you know whether or not it can work and whether or not it can expand and will other sports try to do it like I was curious about that last like thinking about a last night like is there another sport where you could do this like could you have

baseball like a batting cage type thing i don't think so but i don't think there's any other sport that could do like a simulation type thing baseball would be the only one it'd be a nice sport it wouldn't be like a mainstream sports you'd be a nice sport curling you know darts Yeah, I know it's gonna watch that you just don't have a big enough personality involved What's that one of the big the slapping across the face? Yeah, that that's an insane sport. What's that called again? Slap like I don't having across the face

No, it's it's got a name to it. I don't know what it's called. Have you not watched it? Have you? I don't find that compelling in the least. I don't understand how anyone would be interested in that, personally. Do you mean participating or watching? Both. Both. Both.

There's nothing to it. They just get slapped in the face. I get it. It's, you know, okay. How do you win? Do you have to knock the guy out i don't know doodles i think i had asked i think i have had a high-fived i've got off for the football picks

right in the studio we get one each i can't do that now hard lou wilson lou would get he would not he would not gals brothers had right off his body i would be concerned as brotherhood turned into an owl no quills and hers is do you want to slap each i think do these had would pop right off the spot idea i don't think a charge to allow that proper slap

the idea but you see they wear a mouth guard and then they wear this they use this thing they put behind their arms like it's like a you have to it's it's like a bar like a padded bar you put so that you lock your arms so you don't put your hands up to to guard your face all that you lock your hands it's a bar and then you get slapped across the face of half the people hit their head on the padded dash right on their way down

but i i heard it from a business standpoint like dana white put five million into it is worth like five hundred million dollars I find that that process will to believe like I'm not lying a hundred million the slap of the billion dollar I'm telling you right now fat is it's a very popular It's a very popular who's watching this who who where is the audience? I'll start I couldn't even tell you where to find that mean either other than like searching up on Google's slap in the face It's every like I'm telling you How can it how can it possibly is it selling out stadiums no it's streaming it's dreaming money

It's it's all I like you can't make 500 million on its crop door or something not 500 million You make it in one year the value of that sports that franchise is worth five hundred million dollars I I'm calling fake news on that all right well I'm not a guy Ted Cruz I'm not lying Ted I'm telling you I've I've I can all right you corroborate that report I will corroborate it for you okay Okay. I've heard it, and let me clarify. I've heard that out there, oh yeah, it's worth all this and Dana White's made a fortune. I just find it hard to believe. And I'll admit my ignorance to it because I'm not into it.

I don't see how it's compelling to anyone to watch that kind of stuff. I just thought power slap. How could it possibly be worth that much money? I think because the value, people are watching it. We might not be watching it. Other people are watching it and it's a world league. But who's endorsing it is my question. World league.

In order to get money out of it, you need people to put money up, right? Yeah, but Dana White put the money up. No, I know that, but you need Nike. This round brought to you by Nike. We're going to buy advertising into it like where who's who's advertising? Power slap let me just I will dig into it And I will show you guys that the value of that franchise is worth hundreds of millions of dollars I'm shocked and we go up the chain to see if we can do it for the for a play

I'm not gonna know we're doing it in the studio. It's me versus Hayes Luke versus Al's brother It's one slap each and whoever kind of flinches the most they get a point to decide the football Well, that's another question. How and you asked it how what is the judging? What is the scoring system for power slap? I I don't know it. I mean if you win you knock the other guy out I that's all it is. You just go until someone gets knocked out. All I see it is everywhere on Instagram. You see it everywhere on Twitter. You get caught down those rabbit holes and it's like there's men and women. There's the one where the woman gets slapped across the face and she smiles

and blows a kiss to the other opponent and then knocks her out. Maybe they just judge it like my old buddy who used to play in Europe he did this thing and it's really stupid and I don't condone it but he would wrap random people in the pills in like department stores and stuff and he would judge how successful it was by the tilt of which they keeled over and he would act like it was an accident. That's so greasy. Tell me someone grabbed him at some point. No. Somebody would have stroked him in the face. That's dangerous man. He hit the wrong guy. Dude, I get it, but he won the championship in Europe and at center ice the mayor of the town came out with a trophy

and he whapped him and he keeled all, he loved it. The mayor? This guy's got an issue man. This guy should be behind bars. I'm telling you right now, so here's the analytics I was sent in a pitch deck. PowerSlap raised $10 million in 2022. Current valuation of PowerSlap, $450 million. So there you go. So that's the name of the league, PowerSlap. And then there's other, there's Pickleball, Major League Pickleball, there's Slam Ball, there's like there's all sorts of different. And they're all worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

No, no, they aren't. That's the thing. PowerSlap is because it's gotten to that next level. Okay. So it's crazy. I have not had one person say, hey, did you see the PowerSlap the other night? Yeah. What a night.

I get it. I hear it. I hear you. That's the evaluation and that's the evaluation. Yeah. I'm telling you, it's worth a lot of money. We don't watch it. It's not our cup of tea. But I don't watch pickleball. I couldn't tell you how to play it. I think it's tennis with a whiffle ball, I believe. People are playing that though. You don't go down to a gated community in Florida people are slapping each other You know, you have see how much is that worth Dana White started that and but that's a massive empire like that

I can understand UFC has a backing. It's got you know major companies behind it. It's got a huge following. It's got personalities There's a scoring system. It's a combat sport. It's more than a half a second event. And that's another thing. Like it's just, Hey, come watch this guy get slapped. Oh, he's out moving over. They just shovel these guys out. You know, I listen crazy. I'm just telling you like that was the, the information I was listening. You're not alone. I've got people, our boy, Donnie just sent us a text here. He said he's seen 750 million for power slap there you go I was told that Dana and Dana White put money into it and the Valuation of it has gone through the roof because it's a niche sport not everybody's watching it. It's a nice sport

I got you. I got you. Okay like crazy stuff though. Hey, that is great That is wild stuff like that. That's a obviously a Incredible investment. I've been waiting anybody else I've never sat and and streamed a match on in my life But I see the highlights just on you know little clips on sneak I see it too. It pops up Yeah, I bet you're broad Smith Smith would just dummy everyone at TSN. If we had like a bracket challenge, Rod Smith. A power slap challenge? Yeah, Rod Smith would have destroyed everybody.

I think Rod Smith and Gino Reda in the finals. I think that's how the bracketology would play out. Yeah, Gino would be a strong suitor. He would. He would just, he would do a lunge and a quick WAP! Yeah, I'm running through different people that I think could be dangerous Well, you know who would smack you silly? I think Jermaine Franklin would go back. Jermaine's a huge guy. That guy's 6'6". Yeah, Jermaine would dummy all of us.

He would go backhand and crush you that would be terrifying to get smacked by jermaine he would just say i'm going backhand that's not a problem i'm not even going forehand yeah he would backhand and he would not he's a one seed if we're putting brackets together you want to go one seed jermaine rod smith on the other side of one seed Yes, and we all know who would have won it had you know a dutchie?

Oh, dutch would have got she would have smacked right there would have been just a remarkable run by Dutch He'd be a dying home. Yeah, you would be a dynasty exactly, but your name would be up there for sure rod smith for sure There's a few different people that I think could be a little bit sneaky I bet you Sam Mitchell would be sneaky Sammy Sam I was thinking Leo too like Leo Rout's a big dude yeah for sure Leo's all tanned up he wouldn't want it like to me Leo would like he's Leo's just put together he wouldn't want to hurt his hand. It's too classy. Yeah, it's too classy. Yeah, it's too classy. Like, I just- Stevie Caldwell piss drunk? Oh, that is something to tangle with.

After five or six? Like, that's- Yes. Yeah. Yeah, you put Stevie, like, in the Glasgow region? A couple of STs and five or six beers. Sit Stevie on a couch, on a fireplace, with a bottle of brown liquor, and then say, you're up, it's your turn.

Yeah. That guy will go to the finals. Yeah, watch yourself. I'm telling you. He'd definitely be in the running. We got it now, research. Now it's bothering me because you guys called me out and I was right. I was right.

Yeah, you're... Listen, I apologize. My bad. But I don't need an apology. What I need to do is do more research on it because it was just... It's stuck in the back of my mind when I saw this thing and I was like how that's worth a lot of money like who's watching same it I've had the same reaction as you Brian who's watching it like when is it one of these tournaments where but it

keeps coming back like it's a World League I guess I saw the other day on Instagram there's a hockey fights league in Russia. Like guys skate out and they like square off, they're wearing gloves, but they're on ice and they're fighting. And I started following them on Instagram and the guy wrote me a note saying, thank you for the follow. And he wrote it in Russia. I was like, all right.

What a business. That guy's a businessman. But it was such a weird thing. But it was like hockey fights in Russia Yeah, that's that's extreme and and I guess again you can get that different parts of the world where there's no regulations And right, you know all that kind of crazy All right. So one sport we are familiar with one event We do love is the RBC Canadian opening and we mentioned Rory last night at the TGL They put on a show

and he was asked by someone down there about him committing cuz he committed last week i believe it was late last week he's coming back to the rbc canadian open up at tpc toronto tickets are available we've been up there when he's there is a rockstar like it's just it's it's rory and i was then yeah exactly night that's not disrespecting everyone else it It's that Rory is a special special beast and this is what he had to say about Continuously coming up here why he comes up here And I think it's a great pitch and I hope other players are listening to it

Why it would make sense for them to do the same here's Rory McIlroy on playing the Canadian Open You know I first played the Canadian Open in 2019 and when I got there and I played that week you know it obviously helped that I won but I went away kicking myself that I hadn't played it sooner. I just the thing to me is I love I love playing in great atmospheres and the Canadian Open is one of the best atmospheres of the year. The crowd and the fans really get into it. We have the rink hole of whatever part three that's going to be. I love playing in front of crowds that are really enthusiastic and are really into it.

That's why I love coming back up to Canada playing. It's a good week as well to see how sharp you are going into the US Open. Ever since I started playing the Canadian Open, my results in the US Open have been much better. So I think my success in the US Open, or my really good results in the US Open, are definitely because I go and I play Canada every year. Yeah, that's a ringing endorsement, man. That is a ringing endorsement. Talk about it like you want to talk about crowd support. Like if people don't appreciate and respect those comments, like they're going to love

the guy even more. Big time. Like and he knows the history, the rink hole, and that it's obviously a par three and the reaction that comes with that. It's a tough challenge and it's an open championship and there's a variety of different players in it and it prepares him well for the open. And it was heartbreak at Pinehurst like we know it happened he missed the two putts and still shocking that that happened but he directly correlates his quality results at the US Open and he has been

in the hunt a lot over the last five years at the open with coming up and playing the RBC Canadian Open you can't ask for a better pitch. If you want to get prepared for a tough test, make sure you come up here. Come up to Canada and play here first. Also what he says about the crowd, he's right. Crowds are crazy, man. It's a wild crowd. It's an awesome, awesome sporting event.

It's a lot of fun. We look forward to getting back up there in June. This year it's back in early June. Because I think the memorial flip, like I think Nicholas was not ecstatic about the way things played out in the past or whatever. So I think the memorial and the RBC Canadian opening are going to flip and it's going to be right before the US Open. So shout out to Rory McIlroy.

Love it. All right. Okay. We'll come back with our best bets, powered by Fandol. We'll get an update from HR if we can on whether or not we can put something on the line for a tie break.

Bracketology, man, and we'll just get to the finals. Yeah, it's not gonna be easy. It would not be easy at TSN. Dude, if you imagine he got in the same kind of pod as Jermain and Rod and like Gino Gino Ret like it would be the death pool. Yeah, it'd be tough man. It'd be really really tough. And there'd be some sneaky sneaky TSM people.

Like Jonas. I want Jonas and Masters. Yeah, I betcha. I bet you little Jimmy Duthie could jump up and smack you silly. I agree. I think he would have something. I think he would too. I think he would.

It would be like a springboard jump and like a kumite type slap. I don't know if you're allowed. I think the rules are you just have to like anchor yourself and smack. So Jimmy would cheat. That's what it would be. Right? If you're not cheating, you're not trying. Right? That's been determined already today. All right. Best bets coming up. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050N on TSN 2. All right, so we're doing some more digging here on PowerSlap, and now we've got all these experts reaching out with all these different details. Everyone's an expert on what's going on here.

Yeah. But- Fans. Fans are so powerful. Was I right then? It's worth a lot of money, correct? Hugely popular. Hugely popular. right that was i right then i i i it was it's worth a lot of money usually popular hugely popular yet yet whatever money is worth noodles i've never like water cooler talk like putting your golf shoes on at the club i've never heard

one person say a did you see billy bob slap out rec last night on power like that dot i don't know if anyone that's interested in it's just not a nice break now it's a nice if you watch powerslap last night no i've never heard anything of the sort no me neither i don't know but i'm telling you that's why i use the word me

it's if you like it you like it i just put in the group chat that that uh... website or whatever for that the hockey fights or whatever it's if you like it you like it i just put in the group chat that that uh... website or whatever for that the hockey fights or whatever it's called yes fights russia it's called but i guess guys is squaring off at center ice fighting what did they have that years ago over here link gates and tony twist these guys by was a kebec hockey league where there

was yeah like a professional kebec league where there was like a professional Quebec League where it was just a lot of old fighters would go and play it. I don't know if it still exists. That's just the senior league in Quebec I think. Yeah I think so and it just had that reputation. I swear there was like a fighting because I think Brad Myers and guys like that fought. It was like fights, they had a little ring and you fought at center ice.

Now this guy's continued it on in Russia these niche Sports it's all social media. There's no like hey tune in to TSN at 8 o'clock You know slap power slaps on it It's like I think it's on like Instagram and tick-tock and all these like that's how they've gotten big is Throughout the world not the way you can watch it anywhere in the world. It's crazy Absolutely. Well, there you go. We learned you learn something new every day. Yeah. Yeah, I love it Today's best bets powered by Fandu make your picks and assemble a same-game parlay in seconds on the Fandu sportsbook app I'm going under in the stars gold Knights game tonight paying plus money on that five and a half's a total

But I think that's gonna be a great great game and over Blackhawks Lightning I think Tampa likely just blows the doors off Chicago I could see 7-2 tonight 7-3 that parlay paying plus 275 today's best bets powered by Fandel live same game parlays are now available for every NHL game on the Fandel sportsbook yeah please play responsibly 19 plus physically located in Ontario Yeah, Winnipeg, Montreal tonight. It's gonna be a good game. That'd be a good game Yeah, that's gonna be a good game and the Habs they got it. They got a follow suit. They got to keep up Right like Winnipeg's in a great place

But if you're Montreal you've done all this winning over the last month and a half to get back into the race now You got to keep up with Boston and Ottawa and Columbus and Tampa If you're Montreal, you've done all this winning over the last month and a half to get back into the race. Now you've got to keep up with Boston and Ottawa and Columbus and Tampa. Seems early to scoreboard watch, but it's happening, man. I think it is. It is. The bubble teams, it is. Like Vancouver, that's a big win last night against St. Louis.

Big time. Big time. Because St. Louis is chasing them too, right? Absolutely. Every night you're going to watch it. I say it all the time in the broadcast in Ottawa, like you're gonna scoreboard watch down the stretch the whole time, especially when you're in that group.

You're just, every night teams are getting points, right? So you gotta. I'd be so pissed, guys, if I was a Vancouver fan. We've been talking about them all week. But like you get that one year where everything looks to be solidified and they're gonna be solid for the next five years and then all of a sudden all this nonsense pops up. It must be just like, oh, it's sickening.

Yeah, it's sickening. It's sickening because even if you back to one of the playoffs, you have no faith they're going to go on a run. Yeah. None. Yeah. It's like the air just came out of it all at once and it's like, really? We can't have nice things?

Like, we're good for one year and then our goalies hurt and then these two guys hate each other. One has to go maybe both it's just for the diehard van fan you must be watching that saying this is crazy that's the fascinating part is somebody's got to go and it'll be interesting to see what the marketplace is for if you're trading JT Miller you better get a good player back or if you trade Patterson like that's a young guy but he makes eleven point six million like what team could take eleven six

that's the thing and like i i don't think that since i was there at all uh... i don't need any shouldn't be any should not be but it'd be nice you know if it you can't just blame j t miller for everything and you're not enough plan well enough and he hasn't played well enough since he signed that contract. He's got to figure it out. He's got to figure it out.

We'll see if he does because Quinn Hughes is pulling his weight and other guys are stepping up in different areas when need be. Quinn Hughes alone deserves better from his teammates. We. And we'll see what comes of it. All right, Leafs, Wilde tomorrow. We'll tee that up. And it's going to be a fun one as we look forward to, again, Super Bowl Sunday when is it? 12 days away?

There'll be a lot of discussion about Doogie the commissioner, noodles maybe stepping in and what we decide to do moving forward. All right, it's been fun. Thanks to everyone behind the scenes for helping out. Everyone for tuning in today. TV, radio, podcast, web. We appreciate it. We're outta here.

Enjoy your evenings. Enjoy the games tonight. We're back tomorrow at. Set up the power slap as the tiebreaker. Luke Wilson, VA's brother. Watch out, 4pm. We'll chat then.