Puck Soup - All-Star Horseshit

Episode Date: January 4, 2019

Greg, Ryan and Sean break down Alex Ovechkin's decision to skip the NHL All-Star Game, the Dallas Stars' CEO calling his best players "fucking horseshit," who plays in the 2020 Cotton Bowl Winter Classic, Canada blowing it in world juniors, Sidney Crosby rewarding a heckler, Winter Classic ratings and Sean takes on a Lambert "is this an actual movie in 2019?" quiz. Sponsored by Seat Geek!

Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slapshots and goons. We've got sportly commentary to what if you commute. We also cover movies, TV shows, it's in tunes. It's your weekly bowl of hockey and nonsense. Puckoo. I'm Greg Wyshinsky of ESPN. I'm Ryan Lambert from Yahoo. Hey, it's Sean McAnew from The Athletic.

And you're in Puck Soup. Now, listen, some very big news this week, very upsetting news for guys like Ken Campbell, Alex Ovechkin will not be participating in the All-Star game because he is tired of participating in the All-Star game, but also tired of how much hockey he's played in the last year, to which Ken Campbell said, hey, quick fucking question. How can fucking hockey fans be fucking expected to fucking take the NHL's fucking All-Star game seriously if they can't when its own marquee fucking players like Alex Oveskin treated as a fucking minor fucking a nuisance?

Did he say that shit? I said a nuisance, but he said annoyance, but I like the word a nuisance. I'm going to pretend Ken went with a nuisance. Did he say that shit when Sidney Crosby skipped all those All-Star games or no? Oh, let's not, let's pause on that for a second because the Dan Kiengirski of the Pittsburgh whatever subscription site playing the Crosby card when Ovechkin announced this was incredible. Did you see that over the weekend? Yeah, that kicked ass.

Yeah, he immediately went to the, well, Crosby wouldn't blah, blah, blah, blah. And literally all of humanity said Crosby is notorious for doing this. And not even if after years in which he's won the country. up. Yeah. But refresh my memory, though. Has Crosby ever done it like this way where he just says, I just don't want to go? Like, I know there was the year he was mad with the concussion stuff, and there were years where he skipped out and said he was hurt, even though it was questionable whether he was. Has he ever just been like, I just don't want to go. I'm not going, which is pretty much the way Ovechkin did it. I don't think so. I don't think so either. I think he's,

Not that it matters, you know, but it's, it's just, you know, part of me wonders, like, are people mad at Ovechkin for just being more honest about it? Because he didn't even, you know, he's not even really pretending that this is anything other than he's just banged up and he doesn't feel like it. It'd be amazing if Sid actually did that, though. You know, I decided I'm just kind of, you know, fuck off in a Bisa for a week, you know, just decided an All-Star Games, a bit of a hassle this year. So, me and me and some of the boys back from.

Cole Harbor, we're going to go out there, and we're going to really, you know, tear some shit up for about nine days. I would respect that more. Yeah, it would be tight. I got to be honest with you. I got to be honest. I kind of see where the Ken Campbells of the world are coming from on this one. Not that, I mean, very obviously, two things. Number one, the All-Star game sucks.

And number two, if anyone has earned the right not to go, it would. be a guy like Alexander Ovechkin, who has been a whole bunch of times and doesn't, you know, hasn't had much time off. So I don't mind that he's not going necessarily. But at a certain point, like, if you're going to have an all-star game, you kind of want the all-stars to be there. And if one of them just goes, I don't feel like it, that seems to me like the sort of thing the league might want to be a little bit concerned about. Because at some point, where, is what happens next year when it's three guys and then it's five after that and

whatever. Point of clarification. Hold on. Point of clarification. Does the All-Star games suck or does the All-Star weekend suck? Because I do think that there are different tribes here. There's fuck the whole All-Star thing. There's fuck the All-Star game

but the skills competition is great. And then there are people like me that's just like we all-star, whoopee, balloons. So what is it for you? I've really come around on it where, like, I used to be like, oh, it's stupid or whatever, but I get it. Like, I guess that's the point. And I guess I see it as for what it is, which is a reason for hockey people, capital H, capital P, hockey people, to get mad about various things.

They don't hit enough. They don't do this. They don't do that. And this guy got snubbed and this guy doesn't want to get, like, who gives a shit? Like, it's not for you. It's for casuals and it's for sponsors, and that's it. Right. I mean, I think it's still one of those things, and we'll probably talk about this when the

Winter Classic comes up later, that when you're on site for it, it feels much different than when you're watching it on television. Like, it really does feel like a celebration of hockey, and these guys are usually into it and stuff. But, Sean, where are you on it, though? Like, do you hate all of the All-Star things or just the game itself? Does the All-Star Game suck, or does the week? weekend suck. The problem is the game sucks so much that it prevents the weekend from

compensating for it. Like, I like the skills competition. I still think that's fun. I love the draft night that they used to do on Fridays. I understand that this is something that is a lot of fun for kids. I understand it's important for corporate partners. You know, it's not without some value. It's just that the game, hockey is the one sport where you just cannot have a game where the intensity level is zero. Like no professional athlete cares about an all-star game. You know, baseball, baseball, they don't care, but baseball as a sport still works. Basketball, they don't care.

It kind of works, at least on the offensive side. The Pro Bowl is also pretty terrible, but nobody cares because it's at the end of the season. The problem with the all-star game is just, like, the effort level from the players is so minimal that it's almost unwatchable. In fact, it was unwatchable when it was five on five. The going to three on three was a great move because they kind of steered into the problem. They knew that they had. And when I talk about like intensity, I'm not saying, I'm not expecting hits and fights and, you know, block shots.

But just, you know, maybe a slap shot every now and then, you know, maybe try to get it. Maybe if you got a two on one, if you, you know, insist on passing it back and forth six times because nobody wants to even be the one to score the goal, you know, least have the defenseman trying to put his stick in the way or something. You know, you've got to make some play. I've made the point before. One of my favorite plays in All-Star history is when the game was in Pittsburgh and Merrill Lemieux had like the four-goal game. And one of the goals he scores is he comes in and he does a tow drag and he pulls the puck back and you see Ally Afraid, he just kind of slide by and it just looks foolish and then Lemieux rooes it. And it's a brilliant goal and the crowd goes crazy. And it's a, you know, it's, that was 25 years ago.

still remember that goal. But you'd never see that goal today because a defenseman would never go sliding by because a defenseman would never think to make even that minimal effort to try to stop someone. And that's what makes it, to me, that's, you know, I just, I sit down to watch the game and I'm just like, guys, just, somebody shoot. It's, it's okay to try to stop somebody. And it's, it's, and it, it just doesn't work as hockey. And so as much fun as Saturday night is and as much fun as some of the rest of the stuff is,

The games are just so awful. Like I say, three on three, it's better. But I fully understand why a player wouldn't want any part of that. I just don't see how we keep having this weekend if all the players start to figure out that they can just do what Ovechkin does and not show up. No, but I think your points, I agree with your point, but I think that go into three on three fixes two problems. One, it makes it not hockey. It makes it this sort of hybrid video game bullshit. version of hockey, which means that...

Yeah, so it no longer looks like what the All-Star game used to look like, or let's be honest, what the World Cup looked like, which was this sort of passionless going through the motions type of hockey where nobody even wants to be there. But I think the three-on-three remedies that because A, there has to be effort because otherwise you're

completely exposed. And I also think that in the case of Ovechkin, like, people were like, oh my God, you know, pity the poor theoretical child that's going to the All-Star game in San Jose and now doesn't get to see Ovechkin play. But I'm like, but hold up a second. We just got done talking about how there's so many young stars in this league and so much talent in this league. And whoever they put in for Ovechkin, be it Kisnetsov or Bactrim or whoever, is going to be an elite skilled player. It should be Tom Wilson, by the way. I completely agree we can get that a second.

is that like in the three on three, you're going to be able to see skill and, you know, fantastic highlight real level plays no matter who you plug in. And in this era in 2019 in the NHL, you have more people to plug in than you've ever had in the last 30 years in this league. So I think lose, like, if the Ovechkins of the world want to take a year off, and again, we're bearing the lead here, guys been in fucking seven all. Star Games or some such, including the last two, including wearing the goofy hat in the sunglasses, including being the most entertaining guy at the fantasy draft, including taking part in the hardest shot competition last year, even though he doesn't have it. You know,

and on and on and on. Like, he's given all he can to this gimmick, the idea that he takes off a year after minting money for the NHL through four rounds of the playoffs last season is absurd. But if you don't have Ovechkin, or if you don't have Ovechkin, or if you don't. don't have Crosby, or if you don't have players 32 and over, you have an absolute galaxy of young stars from which to choose to replace them. Yeah, and the other thing I think that's important to keep in mind here is that now that the guys all split a million dollars or whatever it is for winning, like, Ovechkin doesn't need an extra hundred grand, but like a guy on a rookie deal, ooh, that's nice. That's a nice bonus. So like if you, like Christ, if you want to make it

just like, you know, nobody over 30 goes to the All-Star game anymore? I think that's fine. Yeah, I made a suggestion in my piece that's going to run on Friday that was kind of similar to that. And I saw an idea was tweeted up by Ian Mendez of TSN where he said, like, let's make it where every fifth All-Star game you go, you get like one pass on a future one. Or, you know, or maybe it's every three. Three and you get one off. Yeah, exactly. I wouldn't have an issue with that because then that gives you a little, a little business card when you walk in. And then they use the whole puncher to push out one of the stars. You punch it. You get three stickers and you don't have to go to one. And that would, you know, that would result in a lot of the, you know, the Crosby's and Ovechkins not going as often, whereas the young guys would still go. And I feel like I actually like that idea because it would kind of shift the conversation instead. of being, why do you even want to go to this thing? It would be, you know, some guys have

earned the rest. And hockey players like that word. They like the word earn, you know, like if you're Alexander Ovechkin or Sidney Crosby, you've earned the right to occasionally say, I don't want to go. If you're Austin Matthews or Connor McDavid, you haven't maybe earned that yet. And, you know, I don't know what the right number is or if, you know, if it's based on age or, you know, or whatever it is. But, you know, I could see something like that working. I know, I know of the league probably would feel like, you know, then you're turning it into an annual show of how many players don't want to go to this thing. But I feel like there's a way to spin it where it's not they don't want to go because the All-Star game sucks. It's, this is such a grueling

sport that the veterans have earned the right to some extra, you know, rest and, you know, whatever it is. Because you're right, there are enough young guy. I mean, we, we hear so much complaining about snubs every year that apparently there's 80 guys in this league who deserve to be an Allster every single year. So I would agree that, I would agree that, you know, if Ovechkin doesn't go, it's not the end of the world. But I would also, you know, if we're not worried about Ovechkin or we're not worried about Krosby or any particular player, could we also use this as an opportunity to get rid of the

stupid one player from every team thing and just pick the guys who actually want to go and deserve to go? I don't know how I feel about that. Because listen, when I was younger, the devil's. well shit they suck now okay this devil sucking has bookended my hockey fandom so when i was a kid it was a thrill to see kirk muller or you know john mclean or whoever get on the all-star team because honestly they didn't belong there there was so many amazing players from around the league and even within their own division that they didn't deserve to be in the all-star game probably

but, you know, I got to have my guy there and kind of cheer from my guy. So, you know, if you're a Florida Panthers fan, you know, there's incentive to watch because one of your guys is going to be there, albeit that it's Keith Yandel. So, like, you know, I kind of like that rule. Where do you stand on that rule, Amber? No, I think that you should just bring the whatever 40 best players in the league. Because, like, that's exactly what I was going to say. Right.

I don't think most hardcore hockey fans could pick Clayton Keller out of a fucking lineup. And that's like, in part because he's on a rotten team and in part because he's, what, 21, 22. And like, so that's all definitely a consideration there. And I think there is a good argument to be made that, you know, if you want to combine that with the every guy gets the fourth year off or whatever, that's how you get Clayton Keller into the game. game where he otherwise might not have been. But like I was talking to a guy who's a, who's a radio guy in Calgary, um, where he was like outraged. And he said he wasn't outraged, but the classic sign that you're outraged is saying you're not outraged. Um, and he goes, he was like, oh, well, you know, uh, how are you going to leave off Mark Giordano? He's,

you know, in the, in the Norris conversation, all this kind of stuff. And it's like, well, the other three defensemen from that division are Burns, Carl, Nelson and Doughty, so who are you going to leave home? And if you want to leave home, Drew Doughty this year, fucking go ahead. Nobody cares about the Kings, right? So, I don't know. That's kind of my thing with it, is like,

I just want to see the best quality hockey that you could reasonably get with these guys half-assing it. Yeah, and here's... All right, listen. Greg, let me just throw this out. Because I'm, you know, I grew up as a Leafs fan, and they were crappy for. for most of the same period that the devils were crappy.

So I have very, I'm kind of like you. I remember Vincent Dampoos getting to go to the All-Star game and light it up and being like, oh, that's the one leaf this year. But there were 21 teams back then, and there were 40 or 42 roster spots in the All-Star game. And now we've got 31, soon to be 32 teams. Like, there's too many teams to be spreading it out one at a time. You know, back then everybody could get one.

You still had 20 plus spots to hand out to the more. deserving. So if you need it five Oilers or five penguins, you could do it. Whereas now, I mean, by the time we're done given the host team for All-Stars, whether they deserve it or not, there's nothing left. Like, it just gets silly. And, you know, like I say, like who's really tuning in to see Keith Yandel or Clayton Keller or whoever else? I don't think that's bumping the ratings as much as maybe actually having at least as close as you can come to the most deserving players. And if it's close, then, yeah, by all means, go with trying to represent as many teams as you can. But some years, you just don't have an all-star, man.

I'm sorry. Maybe better luck next year. Maybe next year it'll feel like a bigger deal when it happens because we didn't force it this time. So part of the NHL All-Star experience this year is a new thing where they're trying to rectify the fact that the fans don't actually vote for any All-Stars anymore. It's called the last man in ballot. So instead of voting in four people, now the fans vote in eight people, except the other four people are from a carefully curated list of 31 that the NHL released this week. Thoughts on the last man in ballot, boys. Yeah, I mean, it's dumb, right?

I think the fact that they, like, why even have the pretense of involving the fans in the, like, they're not going to, the league, to its credit, isn't going to pick, like, a bunch of schlubs to be on the All-Star team. And they don't trust the fans to not be assholes about it. So, like, whatever, who cares? I just get 40 guys who are good at hockey to show up, and I'm good with it. Yeah, like, this is the idea is being borrowed from baseball. And I would assume, yeah? Yeah, like, this is, I think baseball has been.

been doing this for a few years. And I would assume, I guess it's successful. It's, you know, and they do little social media campaigns and that sort of thing. And I don't know if we'll see that this year. I don't mind them trying it. It does add to the the whole problem with, you know, where you have to get a player in and now you're getting one player in in 10 spots rather than 11. You know, my idea a few years ago was, you know, to do basically this, but instead of the curated list, let each team nominate. one kind of unsung hero guy and then have you know basically you get a john scott on every team but it would be voted by the fans but also picked by the players so you know would nobody could

be too salty about it and you know i i i still kind of like that idea but this is this is okay i just i'm curious to see if we get you know what you see in in some other sports where players are campaigning and there's you know on twitter and vote for me and this sort of thing or whether I don't know, maybe it's the NHL. Maybe we'll get like, don't vote for me. Maybe that'll be the campaign. Vote for some other guys so that I don't have to go. I think we already did.

I think Tyler Sagan already came out and said, don't vote for me. Which is like what you'd expect a guy to say after his owner says, your fucking horse shit or his president said you're fucking, well, I guess the owner agreed. We'll get to that in a second. Yeah, CEO. But, no, I agree. But, you know, when I saw this, my first thought was first off, obviously,

how far we've fallen as a electorate, you know, when it comes to the All-Star, you know, our game. We're back in the day. We're punching out little tickets at the games and electing 10 guys and now we're lucky to get eight. And the last four, just from the NHL's own list, everything I thought was, what a convenient way to pass the buck to the fans. So it's like, oh, look, you know, hey, Patrick Linae, we really wanted to put you on the All-Star team. We actually let the fans choose. And they're the ones who said, fuck you, we'd rather have Jonathan Taves. So, I mean, you're not a snub necessarily. It's the fans that made you a snub.

Yeah, I mean, the NHL having a fair amount of contempt for its hardcore fans is a pretty common practice at this point, right? Like, the NHL is always, always, always chasing casual fans who don't fucking exist. Like, no one's vaguely interested in the NHL. And this is just another one of those things of like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we know all you psychos are going to watch this shit no matter what we do, because you all like hockey already. But the people who don't like hockey, those are the people we think want to like hockey. But who of those people are going to vote for this last man? Like, I mean, it's not like there's a lot of household mayors. Yeah, yeah.

That must, yeah, that might be it. I don't know. I mean, I don't know. I feel like I'm at a point where I'm so down on the All-Star game that I really can't criticize too much when the NHL tries to do something different because I've already crapped all over whatever they did last year. So, you know, I don't mind. Let's see. I don't think it helps or solves many problems. It doesn't bother me that much, though.

And if people like it and get into it, then I guess that's fun. but it's, I am interested to see how it goes and see if fans get into it or if it just, and, you know, of course, we won't know that because the league won't bother to tell us who got how many votes or what the race looks like or anything like that. They'll just send out a press release one day saying, you know, Morgan Riley is on the All-Star team now and that'll be it. But if they did it that way, it could be fun. So there's potential.

Yeah, thanks Steve Dangle for starting the John Scott. campaign. Now, if you guys want to go see the NHL All-Star game, might we recommend the best way to go about procuring tickets would be through our friends at Seat Geek. You know, getting tickets online can be far too complicated with hundreds of sites and varying levels of reliability. It's hard to know, hubba, hubba, hubba, who do you trust? That's why Seat Geek is the way to go. They pull millions of tickets into one place so you can easily find the seats that you want for a price you're willing to pay. Plus, every purchase is fully guaranteed so you can shop for tickets on. on Seekkeek with confidence.

Make Seekkeek your go-to ticket source for everything from sports and concerts to comedy and theater. I've used Seekek a lot this year, in fact, for theater. I went and saw Brian C-Geantzden in Network through Seekek recently and had a fantastic time seeing one of the best performances I've ever seen on Broadway. Best of all, listeners to Buck Soup can get $10 off their first Seekkekekech. Download the C-Geek app today. Edge of the promo code soup, S-O-U-P.

soup. That's promo code soup for $10 off your first Seekkeek purchase. Seekek, life's an event. We have the tickets and you have a camera phone and take pictures of yourself at the game when you buy your tickets through Seekkeek because they really like it. We referenced Tyler Sagan just before. That's a big story that happens since the last Puck Soup. Fucking Horshit Gate, I believe, is the shorthand title for it. I have never seen anything in my entire life like this before. where the president of a team torches its two best players in such a profane and wonderful manner. Oh, and by the way, interesting side note, journalistically.

Apparently, Jim Lights is much like Ray Shiro in the sense that he's always talking like this, but guys like Mike Haika know not to, like, quote him verbatim. But Sean Shapiro, God bless him at the athletic, either didn't kind of know to leave that shit off the record, or he's like, I'm at a place where we can curse like sailors in our story. Fuck it all. And just left it all in. Lord knows it's a much better story with it in there.

Yeah, and my thing with that is, like, Sean Shapiro writes in the story that, like, everybody clicked on or whatever. By the way, I asked him, like, four or five times. This is all on the record, right? And he's like, yeah, write this shit. Nobody else is writing it, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, I don't know how much more leeway,

like, the team, because, like, I thought that was bullshit from Hika to be like, now I wouldn't have gone out and printed all the F words and C words and all that kind of stuff that he said. And it's like, yeah, dude, like, if you want to be buddy, buddy with the owner, I guess that's fine. But like, that's kind of not, like, that's access journalism. And it's not really like what you should be doing if the owner's pull, or the CEO's pulling you aside and being like, yeah, these two guys on my team, that they're the two best players we have by a mile. and they're our highest paid players and they're fucking garbage. Yeah.

And that's, it would have changed the meaning of the story to change the quotes. Like if, if he pulls you aside and says, our bleepin power play has to be better and you want to just change it to the power play needs to be better, you haven't really necessarily lost much. But when he comes in and just goes total,

you know, like early 90s Bill Hicks on the entire organization, like you can't be to clean that up would have been misrepresenting what he said so you know I don't know how you know they're bleeping horse bleep you know you just what do you go with like there there would have been a lot of parentheses in that story if he hadn't if he hadn't quoted him directly so I don't see see I was I was going to say late 90s Dennis Leary but then I realized we both made the same reference yeah yeah sure Sean are you are you moderately surprised that this didn't happen in Ottawa.

You know what? Here's what would have happened in Ottawa. First of all, somebody would have tackled Eugene Melnick before it happened. And the other thing that would never happen in Ottawa is you'd never get an email or a text or whatever from the owner saying, I want to speak to reporters at 1215 and have only one person show up. There would have been like a lineup out the door. I would have been there.

I don't, you know, I would have been, I would have been like cutting off school. buses to get there, because you know something's going to happen. So, yeah, I know Ottawa fans are disappointed. Like, you know, you work all year long to build up your reputation as the biggest, you know, and you're sitting there going, there's nothing left. There's nothing that we haven't done. There's nothing at all that we haven't done. And then, uh, sure enough, these guys come along and, and it just blow you out of the horse bleeping water. They really miscalculated though, don't they? don't you think? Like, they kind of, I think they did this.

And they're like, all right, this is going to fire up the boys. You know, now we're the, I turned, I did a heel turn. And I've, I've pissed all over our two best players in the room will come together. And they'll play well. They're going to be like, fuck you, management. We're standing up for Tyler and Jamie. And then like, 24 hours later, they're like, holy shit, we just alienated every good player in the league that would ever sign here. Oh, it's that.

And like, no one's going to come to Dallas. Yeah, it's that. And like, the fact that, okay, boy. if you get Devin Shore really fired up, he might go out there and, well, he might put up a quarter of a point, a game for the next week. Whoa. You know what it reminded me of? Right, exactly. Have you ever heard that Kevin Hartbit where he talks about his mom sending him to school with a message for the teacher? And he's allowed to swear in the message.

He's supposed to tell the teacher to mind her damn business. But then when he gets there, he gets so overly. excited that he just freaks out and starts dropping F-bombs left and right and get suspended. And I feel like that's what happened. I feel like they were sitting around. Because at first when the story came out, you thought, all right, this is Jim Lights going going rogue and he did this on his own. But it became apparent that it was a calculated thing.

And the owner was on board and Jim Nill knew it was coming. It sure sounds like they sat around going, all right, you're going to rip a strip off these guys publicly, but they weren't expecting him to just to go completely Looney Tunes in the process of doing it. And I can just picture, like, I would have loved to have seen the look on, like, Jim Nill's face when he read that story or, you know, and just realized how completely off the rails the entire thing had gone, because it just seems like that was not, like, I can't imagine what possible benefit comes out of doing it the way that they did it.

Right. Did they deserve it, is the question? No. No. That fucking team's garbage. But they've not been that... No, they haven't been... The rising tide of scoring...

Yeah, the rising tide of scoring in this league would indicate that they should be better than what they are this year. Well, so a couple of things on that. One, they missed... They didn't have Radjolov for 10 games, and they had to skate around with, like, Jason Spetz or whoever,

and it's like, oh, yeah, it's probably not going to result in as many goals. But the other thing is, like, he goes off on this thing about, we want the Jamie Ben that made the All-Star team, and it's like, okay, so you want, like, the Olympic team, And it's like, okay, so you want 24-year-old Jamie Ben?

Let me get in my fucking DeLorean, and I'll see if I can dig him up for you. Like, you signed a guy until he's like 34, 35 or whatever, and you're mad that he's not 24 years old anymore. And it's like, yeah, this is how linear time works. I don't know what the fuck you think was going to happen. And the scary thing for me if I'm a Dallas-Stars fan, and I wrote about this last week, is the whole comment about, you know, they need them to score more goals. So just go to the scoring areas. Go to the areas where you're going to score.

Just try harder. Anytime in the NHL that you hear a team where their answer to a problem is just for everyone to try harder, you probably have a good indication that they don't know what the problem actually is or that they're not willing to actually address the issue. Like the problem with the Dallas Stars is not that they're too highest paid players just aren't trying. It's a whole long list of other things. And it kind of, you know, it would be one thing if they had correctly identified the problem and then gone overboard in how they attempted to address it. Yeah. But if it certainly sounds to me like they're sitting around looking,

you know, and by they, I mean the front office and the ownership are sitting around looking at the roster saying this roster is good enough to be a contender if only Jamie Ben would just try harder. And if that's how they've diagnosed the problem, they're in more trouble than maybe we think. It's like if my dad became the CEO of the Dallas Stars. I don't what the problem is they don't want it. They don't want it right now. If they wanted it, they win, but they don't want it. Is your dad a hockey commentator in Canada?

Because that sounds like 90% of the analysis that we get up. You just got to up the compete level and be harder to play against. Jim Lyds shouldn't be the fucking guy. Who's yelling shoot in the press box on the powerplay? Just let the hockey people do their fucking jobs and like maybe, maybe hold Jim Mill accountable for building a bad roster. And the other thing is, you know, they're like, Jamie Ben's got to go to the scoring areas.

And then you see like a heat map of Jamie Ben's shots this year. And like he's practically standing inside the net for most of it. It's just a dark circle inside the, like where's he supposed to go? I mean, I don't... Well, that was my other favorite... My other favorite part was like Sagan's hit like a billion crossbars this year and that was bought up to Jim Lights. Or like, Sagan's hit a billion crossbars this year and he's like,

so what? Never happened before. Maybe he needs to try not to. Yeah. And to his point about it never happened before, why'd Sagan get one out of Boston again? Is it because he hit six posts in the playoffs and only scored one goal? I had some Boston Herald reporter saying,

was he was bad in those playoffs to me and it's like we watch the same playoffs right like he yeah he lugged um dan pie a round for for three rounds or whatever and looked good doing it right yeah oh i remember that yeah and i you know look back and you know it's sagan's linemates i mean it was garbage and you know you get a bunch of boston knuckleheads they're like yeah ira this is exactly why we didn't want him i'm like yeah of course yeah couldn't couldn't use him on the depth now. Definitely not. With the Bruins, right? Jesus God Almighty. All right. Well, there you go. Horshitgate. It was a great time. We'll transition to another Dallas Star's topic, which of course is the 2020 Winter Classic. A pleasant surprise in my book

that Dallas is getting the Winter Classic at the Cotton Bowl. It seats 90,000. Gary Bettman corrected being said, I think it's like 80,000. By the time the NHL reconfigures it, it's probably going to be around between 70 and 80,000 fans. Who do they pick to fill this? What is the team that goes into that game and their fans travel to make up the difference from the Texans that don't attend the Winter Classic next year? It should be Vegas, but it won't be. I think what they're doing is hoping against hope that the stars make the playoffs and get some sort of first round or further matchup that turns into a really big deal and kind of creates a rivalry. because I don't, you know, I don't know if Minnesota is going to do it.

That seems like the obvious one. But that's a long way to go. You know, especially, I mean, if you're a Minnesota fan, do you really want to travel all that way to see like your ex's new place and how well they're doing? Like, I mean, that's what it is. That's the appeal. Hey, this used to be your team.

It's like, yeah, okay. So I don't know if that does it. And would Minnesota travel? is the question. I think they would. They travel for the University of Minnesota hockey team pretty well. So I think you could get, you know, if you make it an experience and all that, yeah, I think they can probably get, you know, 15, 20,000 people to show up.

But is that enough? I don't know. And it's certainly not good for like the national audience if it's the winter classic. Oh, God. Who gives this shit? A fucking, fucking Basil McCray dropping the first puck and that's meaningful to about 25, Right, but just like, you know, come on. Who on the wild is anybody tuning in to see play hockey in 2019, or I guess 20, 20, right?

That's why the Buffalo thing's interesting. Like the Sabres have star players. They have history with Dallas. I think more people in the hockey world give more of a shit about the skate and the crease thing than they do about the North Stars. Like, if you wanted to play a nostalgia card, you bring the Sabres down there and they're fans with travel. Yeah. Here's the thing with that.

If I was the NHL, I would be saving the sabers in my back pocket for the Maple Leafs, maybe a year later. Oh, of course. Because that would be, I mean, yes, they would travel to death. But, I mean, you'd have those two teams play outdoors in Buffalo. I mean, that would just be a madhouse. Well, they already did Ralph Wilson Stadium, though, right? Or whatever it's called. Yeah, they'd need to figure out somewhere to do it.

Or maybe, you know, maybe you do it at a neutral side. wherever, but that I think is... Oh, no, you do it. You're floating rink on Niagara Falls, and whoever is leading at the point in which the rink goes over the falls, wins the game. That's it. That's my only thing I want to see.

Done and done. My choice is Nashville. Yeah. I want a fucking hoot-nanny. I want a CMA Awards winter classic that is all about Texas and Tennessee and that like make it look like nothing we've ever seen before

and I think if you put Nashville in that game down there it would look like nothing we've ever seen before it'd be a really different feeling than like trying to shoehorn a northeastern team into this Texas thing

and you get star power that feels right yeah there's star power the predators are a regional team you get fans from Alabama and Kentucky making the trip like that to me seems like the most logical choice

they're a division rival maybe that speaks to what you were saying before about how, you know, if we get Nashville and Dallas in the first round, exactly, and it's a little bit more heat to it. They're really crossing their fingers that they're going to see those two teams cross pass and not just in a first round series, but, you know, give us a great series. Give us, you know, a seven game classic. And then you announce that, you know, it's classic booking, right? Like you have the big, you know, the big blow off and then you announce the rematch. And, you know, I think that would, that would be great. But, you know, if they don't make the playoffs or those two teams miss each other, then I'm not completely sure what you do. I mean, St. Louis isn't good now. Winnipeg's already booked. They say it's not going to be Chicago,

and it, you know, thank goodness for that. Yeah, I don't know. Lambert, you seem pretty damn sure that it should be Vegas. Why? Because you're not going to be able to have a game in Vegas until the Raiders stadium gets built, whatever, two, three years from now. And it just seems like, you know, if I recall correctly, the Golden Knights' first game ever was against Dallas.

And then you... No. Oh, yeah, on the road, maybe? Yeah, I'm pretty sure, because they, that was another thing I said the NHL fucked up was they didn't open their inaugural season at home. At home, yeah. But I just think that, like, you know, it's kind of regional. They're both in the Southwest, although I guess Dallas is probably more just the regular South. But, like, you know, I don't think the Dallas Stars are a team anybody in, like, outside of hockey cares about.

Like, nobody could name anybody on the Dallas Stars. But if you say, hey, you ever heard of the Vegas Golden Ice people, be like, oh, yeah, they were great. So it just, it kind of delivers. delivers that star power just in franchise name, even if nobody can pick Jonathan Marcioso out of a lineup. Right. And again, you've got a situation where even though they're different divisions, that could potentially be a first-round playoff matchup if Dallas goes in as a wild card. You know, there could be that crossover. So, you know, that's my gut feeling is that Nashville's number one, but let's wait and see who they end up playing in the playoffs and see if anything comes out of that.

that maybe gives us a better storyline to latch on to. Oh, and who the stars are playing in the playoffs, by the way, is the ninth green at Pevel Beach. They're not doing it. I don't know why anybody thinks this team's turning it around. You know what's going to be funny is when they've, like, they run off a win streak and they're securely in the playoffs, and then everyone starts writing stories about how Jim Light inspired this team and he lit the fire. And then, like, all the players look at each other, like, no, we're not. We're not doing this, and then they go right in the tank and miss the playoffs.

First of all, lights the fire, Sean. And second of all, it pissed me off. The boys who do the press box on the ringer do the overworked Twitter joke of the week. And the amount of people who answered, who should the Dallas Stars play in the 2020 Winter Classic, and answered management. It's a great joke, and it was an avalanche of the same punchline. But that doesn't mean it's not a great joke. bought up the Golden Knights. You know, I thought

Elliot Friedman said that the L.A. Kings, for some fucking reason, are going to be the team in the Colorado game at Air Force, the Stadium Series game. I thought, I thought the military fetishizing Bill Foley would have definitely gotten Vegas in that game against Colorado, but apparently it's not going to

be them. Does Army not have heat with the Air Force only with the fucking Navy? Is that, I mean, is it like the Marines don't like the Air Force, but the Army doesn't like? No, I think they all kind of don't like each other. And could the Coast Guards over here being like, boys? Who doesn't like us?

I thought it'd be the Golden Knights, but apparently it's not. But the Kings, though, like why? Right? In that game? Yeah, no. I mean, anytime you get a chance to get a team that's a mile out of the playoffs, and everybody on it is 51 years old into the outdoor game that's not the Winter Classic that the team, that they're playing the team, everybody definitely knows about the

Colorado Avalanche, boy, what an opportunity for the league. Right, that doesn't make it. I mean, it's a big TV market, but it's not a big hockey TV market. So, I don't know. Well, speaking of big TV markets, boys, the Winter Classic ratings up, up, up, 17% over last year where, you know, nobody decided to tune in to watch the scintillating rivalry between the Buffalo Sabres and the New York Rangers at City Field and the highest ratings in the last four years for the Blackhawks and the Bruins. A well-played Winter Classic, a game that I

enjoyed watching. The Notre Dame shit, I guess, made people curious about the game. I don't think they tuned in for Weezer, who, by the way, did play Africa, although they did not show it on NBC. But the Winter Classic, I think, this year was a moderate hit for NBC and the NHL. Yeah, I had a better time watching it than I guess I do normally. It was a better game, and I thought both teams' jerseys were pretty good to just look at, which was not the case last year. Oh, fuck, those Boston ones are great.

The Boston ones are great, yes, absolutely. But the special jerseys last year were garbage, so, you know. Yeah, I mean, the, the, not. Novelty is pretty thoroughly worn off at this point. And I don't, you know, I don't feel like they're, they don't feel like must watch games for hockey fans anymore because you've seen it enough times. But they can still be good games. And this was a good game. And, you know, it was, it was close game to the end.

It was, you know, it was interesting. It wasn't really a big rivalry game, at least, you know, I mean, you had the Stanley Cup six years ago. But that's, that's kind of a ways back to go. But it was still a good, good game, two teams that needed two points. And it was, it held my attention the whole way through, you know. What was the coverage like in Canada? Like, how did Canadian media, how does Canadian media treat the Winter Classic? When it's, when it's not a Canadian team involved, it's, I mean, it gets coverage as a big event, but it's, you know, like they typically, like, they don't send their own people down.

We get the NBC broadcast and, uh, and all that stuff. Yeah, so we got to see Jeremy Roanick dancing around and all of that stuff. It's just humiliating for the sport. Yeah, I mean, I would say it probably gets treated a lot like the All-Star game as sort of like a big event, but not something that you spend a lot of time really thinking and talking about until it arrives. Well, it's funny. I was sitting, I was in the press box next to the two sports net spots in the press box, and there was nobody there on New Year's Eve for like media availability.

And the next day, Sean McKenzie shows up. I'm like, oh, hey, what's going on, man? It's good to see you again. Sportsnet sent Sean McKenzie to the Winter Classic to cover the Gary Betman 10-minute press availability, and then he left. He had nothing to do with the game. He didn't stay afraid of shit. Sportsnet literally sent him to ask a couple questions about the Heritage Classic and then get the fuck out of South Bend, which is a great gig if you can get it, by the way. for sure.

But I was just really, that, that, yeah, that was like a pretty good clue in for me on exactly, like, how they view the Winter Classic, which I, it was, it was kind of eye-opening.

But, you know, I had a good time. I, the only fuck-ups for the NHL at this game for me. One, the gear sale situation was atrocious. They had a temporary, uh,

store set up outside of, uh, Notre Dame Stadium. It was crazy small. Um, smaller than, than, than any of the, like,

the gear stores that currently exist in, in new state, in new arenas that you, that you can kind of walk into. There was a giant line to get in. The line was like 35 minutes long, about 90 minutes before puck drop. And then during the game,

and I'm still trying to figure out how the fuck you do this, they ran out of hot dogs and beer in one half of the stadium during the Winter Classic. Amazing. Like, the Winter Classic does not have a larger capacity

than a Notre Dame football game. I don't know if this is a regular occurrence at Notre Dame or what. I don't know if the priests can only bless a certain amount of hot dogs before the game or some shit. But they ran out a beer and hot dogs at the Winter Classic, apparently, which is crazy. The big fuck up for me is they let the Nazi guy back.

Oh, yeah, we should pause on that. So Bobby Hull, Bobby Hull has now appeared in more Winter Classics, I think. No shit. Then at least two-thirds of the NHL. And once again, he's there, wave into the crowd. And once again, I got to be the guy who's like linking out the AP story where he's like, Hitler was good in the beginning. And I'm not racist.

I just don't think anybody of color should ever get any wealth. Like, why is it on us to recall that this guy is a domestic abusing racist Nazi sympathizer? And the NHL just is like la-di-da. Like, what the fuck does this guy have to, like, what has to happen for him? not to be invited to the party anymore. It's insane. He has to die is what's going to... I'm dead serious.

That's true. Or give $10 million to a children's hospital. That would be right out of town. That would knock him down a few picks. Oh, wow. Yeah, I was so angry. And what's weird about... So every time Bobby Hull comes into the conversation,

The weird Bobby Hull fan club has a new gripe. And this year, the gripe was, it's usually like all that was in the past. He was drunk then, then. This year it was, hey, buddy, why don't you just do some journalism and go talk to Bobby Hull and be like, hey, did you really say this? Or what do you think about it now? You should tell you on your keyboard. Go be a journalist. Talk to Bobby Hull.

I'm like, what the fuck do I possibly have to do? Why is it my job to even do a scintilla of image rehabilitation for this fucking guy who, as of 2010, said he regretted nothing, including beating up his wife? Well, I don't think it's a thing where it should be like on you to do image rehabilitation, but you could really nail his ass to the wall. I think that would be fun to be. So why? I don't know. to, like, why? Like, why? Like, I, because the NFL gets the benefit of, like, acting like he didn't do this shit because it was a long time ago.

But if you, if you get him on the record in, you know, 2019, where he's going, you know, the Holocaust, who knows if it really happened, you know, like. Yeah, but the thing is, is that the, the, the NHL doesn't deny any of it. It's just they don't care. Like, that's my point. Like, me getting, going on and being like, do you regret beating up your wife? No. what do you think of Hitler? Pretty good.

Pretty good guy, nice mustache. Like, the NHL will read that, and they won't give a shit because he scored a bunch of goals. Well, no, I think if you can get him, like, on video or have just, like, the audio of him saying that shit, like, I think,

that would be enough in 2019 to get him shit-canned. I'm not totally confident that that's the case, because, again, like, the team that he, I don't know, does he still work for them? He certainly does appearances for them,

but they're still doing the big racist logo in 2019. So, you know, who knows? Yeah, I mean, granted, it might cost him that appearance fee at Eric Dazze's Ford dealership in Aurora. That's true. But I don't know. I don't think it's going to necessarily cost him a spot at the winter classic because the NHL doesn't care. They clearly don't care. I don't know.

It's such a bummer. also a bummer of course is well I mean at least for one third of this show oh all right we should probably we should probably talk about it wow um canadians uh for the first time i believe in the nation's history will not meddle in world juniors i might i might be wrong in that stat it is it is the first time Canada will ever not meddle in a world juniors that were held in Canada they were held in Canada okay so which is kind of amazing because you figure the pressure would be so tough on these kids and they are just kids great just kids playing a children playing a game they love exactly um that you'd figure this would have happened before but yeah they lose to finland

uh they had a penalty shot that maxim comtois had correct i'm saying his name correctly uh and uh did not score and uh and then finland did score in overtime and canada lost um now there have been many, many reactions to this World Junior Defeat, many of them from Ryan Lambert, but we'll get to that in a second. So there was a statement put out, the official statement on social media comments by Max Comtois' representatives.

So these are his representatives, not his agent because he can't have one yet, but the people who advise him, I suppose. And this is what it says. he's the ultimate example of a hockey Canada athlete who has grown through the ranks to become a selfless leader. No one is prouder to wear the maple leaf on his chest. That's, I mean, John Tavares, obviously. These young men understand and accept the pressure that comes with their roles in the hockey world.

It is shameful and incomprehensible. I'll push back on it. That a few cowards who can hide behind social media could make. such vicious attacks on these young men's character after they have battled their hearts out for their country. We will make this one and only statement on this subject, so not to validate any more of the cowardly comments made on social media. It was Maxime's idea

to use this as a learning moment for all of the youth of Canada that cyberbullying is a real problem. And like all bullies, we all need to stand up to them and call them out for what they are. Thank you for shedding a spotlight on a major problem in our society. Now, listen, cyberbullying is very real. I am honored that our first lady, Melania Trump, has taken upon herself to try to snuff out cyberbullying herself. Is it really cyberbullying when you fail at something and you get called out for it on Twitter?

No. Get an athletic competition? Is it cyberbullying if, you know, Russell Wilson throws a pick in the NFC title game and gets return for a touchdown and the Seahawks lose. Like is it cyberbullying if a Seahawks fan is like, you fucking failure, never play football again? Is that cyberbullying? No, I mean, like, is it cyberbullying when, I don't know, like, all the Islanders fans are just adding me and Sean because we don't think their team's any good? Like, you know what, in that case, I will say that it is cyberbullying.

And those people should be in jail. But, no, like, of course it isn't. It's just like, like they said in the thing, they understand and accept the pressure, but please don't do mean ads to them. Like, okay, dude, you know, it's really one of those things. The bigger problem to me is that all these Canadian guys are adding CCM or whatever about the guy's stick breaking. Oh, right, right. This is the kind of cycle we're dealing with, right? Like, they're not even adding the right stick company.

They just thought of a stick company. And some social media intern at CCM had to spend the whole day like, I think that was actually an Easton or whatever. Now, here's my question for Sean. Yeah. Which of these excuses and or analyses do you like the most about Canada's loss? All of them. Don Cherry's, this is why you don't really.

up the score on Denmark because it's bad karma. Do you like the typical, these are just kids and we put too much pressure on them? Do you like the, all of our best players are in the NHL right now, where they hear he would have won? Which of the cornucopia of these things do you prefer? And also, should Canada begin a new national commission on the quality of hockey sticks after that one broke in such a critical moment? Yeah, they might have to do that.

I think the excuse is going to be the broken stick. It's going to be the, I mean, it's, it's an excuse, but it's also the truth that this is now a tournament where there are legitimately four or five teams every year that can win. And, you know, no one's, no one's going to win it every year. I feel in a way like I'm letting you guys down a bit because I get this sense that there's this like anytime Canada loses in a major tournament, there's this appetite for like, all right, here comes the big Canadian. meltdown. Canadians are freaking out. And I don't get that sense this time around. Like, I really don't with this one, because we have done it before. I will make that very clear.

And there are certainly times where Canada loses in a tournament, and it is a scar on our national psyche. But this, I mean, this was a, first of all, I think it's well understood at this point, that the world juniors is something that Canadians care very, very, very much about. in the years in which they win and they care somewhat less about any year that they don't win. So it's kind of one of those things where as soon as Canada goes out, the importance of the tournament, the dials down a bit. So I don't know.

I mean, maybe I'd be singing a different tune if they had won and we were talking about them going into the semifinals or whatever. But the thing with Canada that you have to understand is it is very, very important to our national psyche that we be able to perceive ourselves. as the best hockey nation. We have to be the best country at playing hockey. And anything that dents that significantly is a big deal. So when we go 50 years without winning a gold medal in the Olympics,

that's a big deal. When we lose to the U.S. and the World Cup, that's a big deal. When we go to Nagano for the first time best on best and don't get a medal, that's a big deal. And when we don't win the world junior seven years in a row or whatever it was up until the Sydney Krasby year, that is a big deal. And that's when you get Canadians, you know, panicking and freaking out. When we've won every major best on best tournament without even losing a game over the last,

you know, whatever it is, three tournaments worth. And we won the World Junior one year ago. We don't get to that level of psychosis for losing one. Even though we lost at home, even though you're not even going to meddle. You know, the perception heading into the tournament was that this wasn't a particularly strong Canadian entry. You know, this wasn't one of those years where they were necessarily the runaway favorite. They were the runaway favorite this year. They absolutely were.

Were they? Absolutely. Yeah, no, like, I know that everybody in Canada has this real vested interest in being like, oh, this is a lunch pail team of first round picks. These guys, you know, the international rules, it's not fair because the OHL doesn't play by international rule, and all this shit. And it's like, no, you care right up until you fucking lose. And I'm not saying like you personally, Sean, I'm saying like Canada in general is like,

the boys are going to do it this year. And then the second they don't, it's like, and who gives a shit about World Junior anyway? Yeah, I mean, to an extent, you're, I mean, you're extreme, but you've kind of got the general gist of it. I don't, I don't dispute that as soon as, you know, yeah. Yes, if this exact team had won the gold medal, they would be being lifted up as, you know, this fantastic thing. But, you know, it's, again, there are years where, and we all know, right, anyone who has ever listened to Canadian hockey fans and knows every year there's a lockout, that's the year when Canada's going to dot because we have all our NHL players and, you know, we can actually send our best players and blah, blah, blah, and on all of that. And there are other years where, you know, if there's a Connor McDavid or somebody, like this, this team didn't really have that. they were at home. So that bumps them up. You know, you still expect that they're going to, uh, that they're going to do well. So it was a dissu- I mean, to not win even a medal is definitely a disappointment. I think it, I think it is going to have an impact on Tim Hunter as far as his prospects of, of coaching in the, in the NHL. I mean, that that's the kind of the risk you take when you take the job. But as, you know, as far as there being, you know, like panic in the streets or, you know, we're going to have another national commission for a tournament that they won one year ago, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's,

I hate to let you down, but it's just, it's not really there this year. How many times do you have to lose before you guys start feeling completely inferior? I mean, I'm just, just for my own edification. Well, you know, it does kind of all mix together. It's not just the world juniors. The world juniors is the biggest annual tournament because nobody cares about the world championships, unless we win, in which case the world championships are a completely valid way to determine who the best hockey country is. Of course.

The most, right, when Crosby goes and you guys win, it's like the single greatest, most important tournament in all of hockey. Exactly. Exactly. But when we don't, then, yeah, then nobody cares. It's, you know, what happens for us to, you know, there's a case to be made that actually Canadian fans should be panicking a little bit more than they are. And that once the kind of, you know, that that 2005 World Junior team, which was like the Crosby. Berseron. Yeah, Bergeron,

and Webb, like all those guys, that that team that came in and just rolled over everyone and then formed like the core of what would go on to become all the Olympic wins, you know, that team is into their 30s now and that if you advance a couple years in the calendar and those guys aren't

your prime players anymore, suddenly it's kind of like you look around and it's, you still got Connor McDavid, but the rest of the countries look pretty pretty equal, if not more so. So there's a case to be made that Canadian fans should actually be a lot more worried and panic than they are, that their grip is slipping.

But I don't think you're going to really see that until Canada loses a legitimate best-on-best, which is like World Cup or Olympics. If they're still rolling on those, then that's it. I mean, that's how you determine the best of the best right now. But as soon as they lose one of those, that's when you're going to see, some Canadian behinds clenching. Just like, for example, like if a team had

Austin Matthews and Jack Eichel and Jack Hughes Oh, sir. Some magical dream team that had that, sure. I mean, that would be... Oh, oh, oh, and let's be honest. You know, as much as we goof on you fuckers for the way you depict your extraordinarily talented World Junior team was a bunch of fucking people that

showed up one day, like scabs at an end of replacement camp. the moment that the Americans win a gold medal in hockey over Canada, we'll treat it as a miracle. We're never the best at anything. We'll treat it as like, oh, the stars aligned and the boys came together and we'll cast Kurt Russell's kid one day as coach whoever the fuck. It'll be a whole thing. We do so, we do so much of our own sort of mythology. when it comes to our victories. Oh, yeah, for sure.

And the differences that our entire national identity isn't wrapped up in being good at hockey, right? Like, we have a lot of really horrible things that we love being good at. And so, like, if we lose in hockey or, you know, when USA basketball was dropping all those Olympic medals, despite sending, you know, the best rosters in the world and all that shit, like, we didn't really care because we didn't have to. because we were like, hmm, sure,

we're not good at hockey or basketball or whatever, but we are good at global empire. And as long as we're propping up a bunch of insane dictators in various countries, who cares?

Right, exactly, exactly. All right, now it's time for the first quiz we're going to do on Puck Soup 2.0. The Triforce is assembled, of course,

and that means it's time for a quiz. If you remember, the first time all three of us did a show, it was revealed that Sean doesn't really know a lot about pop culture, to the point where it was suggested that if Ryan Lambert gave him a series of fake movie descriptions, that Sean would have no idea which ones are real and which ones are fake. So we're going to put that to the test today. Lambert has compiled a collection of descriptions. Some may be of actual films in 2019. Some may be complete poppycock. And so it's going to be on Down Goes Brown to figure out which is which.

We're calling this The Great 2019, which movies are bullshit and which ones are real quiz, administered to Sean Meckendow. And so Lambert, please begin the quiz. All right, Sean, so I just want you, I'm going to read like a paragraph description of each movie, people in it, that kind of thing. And I just want you to say, is this movie real or fake? All right. That's it.

Okay, we're going to start with an easy one. Once upon a time in Hollywood, in what he says will be his final film. Quentin Tarantino, the director of Pulp Fiction in Django Unchained, directs Academy Award winner Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt. Starring as a TV actor and his stunt double respectively, they accidentally get roped into the Manson family murders. Future Puck Soup guest Margot Robbie from Suicide Squad.

I, Tanya, co-stars as murder victim Sharon Tate. Is that movie real or fake? First of all, I want to say, I have heard of Quentin Tarantino. All right. So I want that on the record. All right. And some of those other people, too. Man, okay, see, you're putting effort.

Because I wouldn't know when this was fake if you had named actors who hadn't already been in a bunch of Quentin Tarantino movies. But I feel like you didn't say Samuel L. Jackson. But, you know what? What? He plays Charles Manson. To do a movie about Charles Manson would be completely inappropriate. So I'm going to say that's true. I think that's a real movie. It is a real movie, yes.

Yes. Yes. All right. Now, there are five of these, so three means a big win for Down Ghost Brown. All right. So I just got to hold home ice now. That's right. Hold the line, yes. All right. Number two, spies in disguise. This animated film says Will Smith from Men in Black

and Independence Day, Tom Holland, who plays Spider-Man in the Marvel universe, Rashida Jones from Parks and Recreation, and Grammy Award-winning producer of 10 top 40 singles, DJ Khalid.

It tells the story of the world's greatest spy who, for a secret mission, is transformed into a pigeon. I know who Will Smith is. I got that going for me. Man, I was feeling it right up until the pigeon. I feel like the pigeon is, yeah, I'm going to say fake. Spies in disguise is a real movie.

Oh, boy. All right. There it is. Okay. A pigeon? Yeah. Pigeon, right? Yep.

Pigeon. Okay. All right. And the sad thing is, that's an animated movie. That's one of the few that I might actually see. That'll probably be the. only one of these movies I will end up seeing. All right.

So you're 500, which means you're in a wild card spot right now, probably. You're never in trouble until you lose on home ice. I'm okay. Number three, fighting with my family. This biopic of a retired... Oh, that's wrestling. Yes, that's a real one. That's the rock and page.

Don't try to slip a wrestling question by me, right? You can't be doing that. All right. There's no. Okay. All right. That's me fucking up. I believe.

I believe, I believe Sean just layeth the smackdown on this quiz. He should have given you the scouting report on that one. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Okay. But so. That was the scene in Jurassic Park with a little girl sits down. She's like, this is a Unix system.

I know. I was way too excited about that. So the reason that I thought you might be. be thrown off if you didn't know wrestling is that this movie was written and directed by office co-creator Stephen Merchant. Oh, God. I, I,

all I know about the movie is it, it's, it's, okay, now, it's the rock. Yes. Is he even in it?

Yeah, he's, he's, he's executive producing it, and he's also, like, has cameo throughout the movie. And it tells the story of page,

and wish back me up here, but I feel like it's fair to say that, that this is like the 14th, most famous WWE Women's wrestling I wanted to mention that this is at best

a mid-level women's wrestler Yeah Yeah but she was a two-time Women's Champion And also She's like she's a She was like the Smackdown

Commissioner, right? Or whatever And also was involved in a leaked sex tape If memory serves too, right? That I don't know about All right That might not

not be her. Or maybe it is. Who's to say? You've got to watch the movie to find out. Actually, that might have been, I might be thinking of Diamond Dallas page. Actually, on that one. Any guy that goes around saying fan all the time, clearly has a sex tape. All right, so you are two for

and one down. So you've got two cracks at this pinyon to make the candy spill out. All right. Number four, Alita Battle Angel. This cyberpunk CGI Fest directed by Robert Rodriguez of Sin City and Spy Kids fame, stars Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz from Inglorious

Bastards, Jennifer Connolly from Requiem for a Dream and A Beautiful Mind, and Mahershula Ali from Moonlight and the Hunger Games. It's about a robot girl with giant eyes who finds a secret new robot body and becomes the greatest fighter in the world. Is that movie real or fake? That can't be real. That's fake. That's 100% real. Oh boy Yeah That's a very real movie It's produced by James Cameron

It's a long in gestation Is it a cartoon movie? No it's live action No Okay It looks But she has giant cartoon eyes Because it's based on a Japanese comic book

So like they made this one character Look like the character from the manga Uh huh Yeah it looks insanely bad. So, we're down to the last one here. Number five, game seven, that's okay. Overtime. It's like a penalty shot in overtime. Too soon, Greg. Too soon, Greg. Sorry. Number five, Detective Pikachu. A genre-bending sci-fi comedy film noir entry into the Pokemon universe. This live-action movie stars Ryan Reynolds from Deadpool as Pikachu, the world's greatest

hard-boiled detective. Pikachu investigates the disappearance of a former Pokemon trainer's private eye father meeting many famous Pokemon on the way. For the first time in my life, I'm glad that I have kids because I have had to watch the trailer for this stupid thing multiple times. That is a real movie. It should not be. Pop, culture, master.

That is a real movie. All right. Culture. Wait, did you go five for five on the real movies? Yes, I just picked the dumbest movie concept. Wow. That was okay. And now you've learned the ways of Quizmaster Lambert. That's really impressive.

I'm very impressed that you knew that. I feel like this is a combination of you having kids, but also Ryan Reynolds is from Vancouver. So that probably smelled some Canadian truth to it as well. This is like my Brett Hall in the crease or like the flames, no goal. Like, I won the series, but I needed a Pokemon and a wrestling question to do it. This is, there is an asterisk here, but I'm going to take it. And there is no, there is no replay review in the Hollywood quiz. You, you did fantastic. And I think Ryan and I are both really impressed. And I think you've set the bar way too high for the listeners. A couple more topics to cover. First off, I know you boys wanted to talk a little bit about Peter

Shearrelli and the Oilers trades, thoughts on the aggressive acquisition of two bottom-paring defensemen? They're fixed? Yeah, no problem. Did it? Mission accomplished. Hand the banner. Do you believe that this is Ken Hitchcock going to management being like, I need some bodies?

Or do you think this is Peter Shearrelli being like, I'm going to shake up the team with this Alex Petrovic trade? No, it's definitely the latter. and the reason I wanted to bring it up on the show is because somebody went back and found a bunch of quotes from other Chiarelli trades or signings where he described players he sought to acquire as not sexy. He's like, look, the guy kind of sucks, and we all agree. But, you know, you need warm bodies in this league. And boy, if I'm not trying to get every bottom pair slash healthy scratch defenseman,

I possibly can lay my hands on. That was such a great tweet. Like, yeah, I mean, there was literally four other different trades in which Peter Shirelli has described somebody as being not sexy. Incredible. Which, I mean, if you're looking for a culture fit with Edmonton, that's what you're looking for. He actually called, I remember he called Adam Larson a bit of a butterface, which I thought was a little bit over the line.

You know, every time anybody, any team is not doing well, and there's, any sort of pressure at all on the GM to do anything. And they always say the same thing. They say, I'm not going to make a trade just for the sake of making a trade. This is a case of making a trade just for the sake of making a trade. Yeah. But what interests me a lot more is this talk at Edmonton that, like, he's not done. And there's something bigger coming.

Because you look at that roster. And that Jesse Piravvy could be on the block. Right, which would be, I mean, that's selling low. tried to trade Ryan Spooner and nobody wanted to take him up on it. Un-fucking believable that one. What team would possibly trade for Ryan Spooner? Like, what are you going to move that's going to make an impact? You know, you look at the roster.

There's, you know, the only guy that really stands out is someone that realistically you could trade and get something significant for is probably Ryan Nugent Hopkins. You know, which is insane. If you trade him, yeah, you could probably get a pretty good defenseman for him, but then you're left going, oh, now we got this gap up front. We don't have enough scoring. And then you got to trade somebody for that. Right.

And then you've traded yet another skilled forward for yet another defenseman. It'd be the fucking third time he's done it. What are the odds that it would work this time? It's going to be Nugent Hopkins for like Rasmus Ristelainen or some shit. And he'll go, look, folks. You're going to give up talent to get talent. Yeah. Well, what I want to see is, you know, to kind of answer my own question, I don't see anything on the roster that he can do that is makes a, that moves a needle significantly.

So the question is, does he trade futures? And then the other question becomes, can he trade futures? Like, would if he. Well, they let him trade features. Yeah. If he says, I want to trade our first round pick this year for something that's going to help right now, is he even allowed. No, from what I understand, he is not. Probably, probably the right move.

Because, I mean, that's, yeah, I mean, the Oilers are one of those teams. If I'm, if I'm somebody who's got like a rental, they're one of the first teams I'm calling because they seem like they might be desperate enough to, to overpay. But could he? Yeah. That's a good point. And it all comes back to one thing, which is, why the fuck is this man still the general manager at this? It doesn't really make a lot of sense. to be able to do any of this. It's crazy. All right, two quickies before we at the end of the podcast

proper. And by the way, it's the first mailbag week. So if you want to listen to more stuff, the Patreon will offer it to you. The first is Sidney Crosby, enduring himself to everybody by signing a stick for a Rangers fan who had been chirping him incessantly while Crosby was in the penalty box in the first period of their game on Wednesday night. The stick read good chirps take it easy on me next time and then he signed it Sidney Crosby amongst the chirps I wrote the story right before we did the podcast

I talked to the guy who got the stick the best thing he said along with some of the usual you know Sleen Dionne stuff for than you kind of bullshit that Sid's been hearing since you know he entered the league was if Gennie Malkin would have more cups if he had a better a better supporting cast. That's a great fucking line.

It's so good. But, like, you know, I mean, I guess, like, I want to believe that Sid is kind of funny when he doesn't have to be Sid. And maybe this is an indication that he is, or, like, why now? Like, why did he never give a signstick to one of the Capitals fans with a picture of him in a cradle while sucking on a Penguins pacifier? Why this one? He's got the two extra cups, right?

Like, that kind of helps him feel pretty good about himself. But also, like... Yeah, and they beat the Rangers like seven to two as well, yeah. But also, like, to your point earlier, for about 10 years, every insult in the league was just like, how about this one, guys? Cindy Crosby. How about that? And everybody's like, yeah, no, that's fine. But that's all anybody did was just say, like, oh, you're a baby or you're a girl or whatever.

and like you can't reward that shit. Yeah. I just to me, I know everybody in my timeline this morning was going nuts over this and like how wonderful it was that he did this. To me it's just like, this is the most Canadian thing of all time to have somebody just rip on you for three hours and you write them a nice note and pass it over to them. I don't know.

I hope he does. I hope he starts doing it for Canadian. You know what he should do for, I just realized for those, for the Caps fans, he should write, he should start giving. all the caps fans' autographs with like the eye and then like the little angle bracket three, you know, that kind of makes the eye heart that people do online and just sign that. And everybody would be like, how nice he's drawing little hearts for the caps fans and see

how long it took all of those caps fans to realize that he was actually drawing one is less than three. And he let them just run the map on the Stanley Cups. And I feel like he could be well out of town before like suddenly like the one guy stopped freeze framing Tom Wilson. hits and figured out what was going on. That's unfuck and believable. That is perfect. All right. Finally on the show, Alex Avechkin, as we mentioned before, is taking time off, not going

to the All-Star game, utilizing the buy to do some extra-critical activities. We asked you the Puck Soup listeners, what's he going to do? Dan, Colin writes in, change diapers like the rest of us, except in a mansion on a private island somewhere. Megan, our good friend, Meggs, writes in, steal the Stanley Cup and take it around the world drinking local beer out of it wherever he goes. Let's see here. Ronnie McSinner, vodka and steroids, just like every other break.

You know, we don't know if he drinks vodka. R.O.B. writes in, start a real rivalry with Sidney Crosby about who can skip the most all-star games. Errors Oceans says recover from his liver transplant in the offseason. That's from your speculation. Chris Smith writes in, I bet he binges all the shows and movies that he missed on Netflix. Expect Ovi to start posting the Bird Box Challenge memes soon. Did you see that yet, Lambert?

Yeah, it was all right. All right. I haven't seen it yet. I like you guys don't even ask me if I've seen it. Sean, have you seen it? No, I haven't. Okay, great. Have you seen it, Sean?

Okay. And finally, Colin Breyer writes in, get his Russian comrades to hack the All-Star vote to get Tom Wilson in. So there you go. Good news. All right. That's Buck's Soup for this week. Thanks for putting up with my voice. I have sick in every part of my body right now.

I hope I don't. And, oh, yes, you do. And so you can read my stuff on ESPN.com. I have a really fun story today on Spanish language, play-by-play announcers and the words that they use to describe things in hockey that don't exist in their vernacular. And you can find me on Twitter at Wysh-W-Y-S-H-Y-S-H-Y-N-S-K-I, Lambert. Sports.com slash author slash Ryan-Dash-Lambert for all my good takes. I know. For all my good takes. And then also two-line pass on Twitter. And I guess that's it.

You can find me at the athletic, unless you're an Islanders fan, in which case I've probably heard enough from you this week. And, yeah, I don't know, I'll have my Friday call them up. And probably on Friday. That's what I'm aiming for, which will have thoughts on the All-Star game, thoughts on Jim Lights, and also are going to break down an old YouTube news clip of the time, that the St. Louis Blues nearly moved to Saskatoon. Well, you know, you paused on the time, and Lambert and I were really hoping it was going to be a breakdown

of the jerkout video with Morris Day in the time, but apparently not. Maybe next time. Reviews and likes on the iTunes, that's how people find this stupid show. Thank you for supporting it. You're the best, and we will speak to you on the Patreon mailbag,

and then also next week. Love you all. Take care. Bye. Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slapshots and goons We've got sportly commentary To whatever you commute But we also cover movies, TV shows

It's and tunes It's your weekly bowl of hockey and nonsense Bork 2