Puck Soup - No Fun League

Episode Date: May 14, 2020

The boys talk about the 24-team playoff format and why it could work, the AHL cancels season, Brett Hull's "hockey's no fun" comments, our four formative video games, Boba Fett returns, the return of the Puck Soup Threesomes game show and O/U/F/LF breakfast cereals. Brought to you by Raycon!  

Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slap shots 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 Hagi and Nonsense. Oh, too. Hey, everybody. I'm Greg Wysinski of ESPN, home of Disney Plus, which is home of the Mandalorian, which is,

home to Boba Fett in season two. Is that true? I didn't... Oh, God damn it. Wait a second. Okay. How is that possible? I thought the timelines were...

Well, we're trying to figure it out. Well, here's the thing. One, he's being played by Tamara Morrison, who played Django Fet. So there's that. There's some speculation that maybe it's not really Boba Fet, but maybe somebody just cosplaying as Boba Fett.

it could be a flashback to when Django Fet when fucking Boba Fett and the Mandalorian were running running buddies, maybe. Or, and this could be the other thing, you know, there have been, I believe, not canonical,

but I believe there have been stories in which Boba Fett blasted out of the Yeah, he survived the Sarlac pit. That's the great pit of Carcun. Let me... I don't think it's... I'm reading, I'm reading Wuketipat, right now or Star Wars fandom.com's wiki.

Is it legends now? Is it? And it ends with him solo, still somewhat blind, inadvertently knocked Boba over the side of a desert skiff into Jabba's sailbarge, and then he tumbled into the pit of Kharkoon. It does not say that he blasted his way out of the pit of Kharkoon, but I do remember there was a comic or something where it said that he did. Yes, he survived.

As far, until Disney changed the canon, he survived the Saralak Pit. Okay, hear me out. What if this Boba Fett is just the grandchild of the original Boba Fett? Ooh. And they just come back and it's like the same thing you used to like, but now it's a different, no, okay. I'll give you all of my bounty hunting energy. Spacks me down. I do like, I know what you meant, but I do like when you said maybe it's someone

cosplaying. Like, I love the idea that in universe there were already Star Wars nerds who were just, like, dressing up and being like... Well, but that's canon too, because Darth, the fucking... What the fuck? Darth Mall?

No, not Darth Mall. What the fuck? Kylo Ren... Kylo Ren was cosplaying Darth Vader, basically. Like, that was part of his character was that he was sort of a Vader obsessive before we got into the whole

you know, a familial aspect of things. I don't, I can't find the thing where he, he blasted his way out of the Sarlac, but you and I both know that it happened somewhere. Yes. But in, in, in, in this, it said that it was, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's still in the, the, the, the Sarlac being digested. But he's coming back for the Mandalorian, so we'll see what happens. You can tell there's no hockey news this week that we're, oh shit, right into the Star Wars breakdown. Hold on. You guys didn't even introduce yourselves. I dropped this boba bomb and you got thrown off, of course. I'm Boba Fett from Star Wars.

Who cares? It's stupid. I'm Sean Magner from The Athletic. I'm wearing my Boba Fett helmet right now, which is making it difficult to talk. That's good for social distancing. Yeah, exactly. I believe. Full face mass for everyone. Lambert's Lobophet is very close to Lobot, Lando's guy where, beats headphones and walked around doing his duties in Bespin. That was Lobot. I know who Lobot is. Listen to this guy.

There's lots of hockey news. The NHL apparently is, according to all the reporting that I've done and others have done, is souring on the idea of trying to complete the regular season we may just skip right to the playoffs. Hooray for good thinking. But an expanded. playoffs that would involve pretty much everyone other than the really bad teams. But yeah, I know that. I mean, that's the right call.

Like Pierre had a piece this week on the athletic where he said that he didn't say what the team was, but he said he talked to somebody high up on one of the bad teams and that they were under the impression that they did not need to come back, which is the right call. Like there's the, the Los Angeles King should not be dragged back to finish off a season just so that the Tampa Bay Lightning have somebody to get to 82 games against. We don't need that. Yeah, I read that, and I wondered what else Doug Wilson

had to say. The, uh, no, I, I, I think what the league has heard clearly is enough players from those teams being like, I ain't fucking coming back for 12 games just so you guys can meet your

contractual obligations to the local bail bond place. you know, like fucking, like, they don't care. They don't want to come back and play games that are completely meaningless if they're not going to be part of the postseason. And it seems like everyone who's sub-500 and points percentage is not going to be part of the postseason. So why come back?

And that's a convincing argument. I mean, it's like, what's in it for them to do this? Yeah, Rob Blake said it. Eric Carlson said it like this week, I think. So, yeah, it doesn't make sense to have all those. have all those teams show up and, you know, lose a bunch and lose games that look terrible because, you know, they're not going to be trying. Yeah.

It'll look like, you know how everybody complains about, oh, there's no defense, no hitting in an all-star game? Every game will look like that involving a non-playoff game. Or you're going to have games where one team looks like they're at all-star speed and the other team is actually trying. And then it's like 12-1. Yeah, of course. Like that's like the, the only argument to bringing them back other than pure revenue is you've got to have a legitimate finish to the season for the playoff races.

And you can't because you can't bring the Red Wings back and expect them to even remotely give a crap. So you're not. It's whatever teams are playing these teams are going to get easy wins. And it's, it's going to be a messed up playoff race anyway. So find a different way to have a messed up playoff race that doesn't endanger people. who clearly aren't interested in playing along with that. Find another way to mess this up is an NHL mantra. So you're a wrong point there.

A different slightly better way to completely screw everything up. Oh, you're in Puck Soup, by the way. So then we get into a discussion about what the playoff format should look like. I mean, obviously there's going to be people saying 16 teams will make the most sense because in theory, if you're going to do this restart, you want to make it as least complicit. as possible. You want to not spend as much money as possible. And you want to streamline the whole thing because you don't know how much time you have

for it. And you just want to kind of get it done. Right? So like 16 teams is the argument there. 24 teams is the argument of wouldn't it be fun to get Chicago and the Rangers in this, too? Wouldn't it? That's kind of the only way that I see 20. Right.

Right. Having their people watch the games. Because I don't see what the. argument, I mean, the argument for 24 teams, I guess, Lambert and I briefly got into it on Twitter yesterday about this, would be to rope in some teams that are sniffing around the bubble. Like, the Rangers are only two points out, so they've got a bit of a gripe if they can't restart the season. So you do catch more efficient your net if you make it 24 teams, but at the same time,

like the Chicago Blackhawks were in last place in their division. Why the fuck should they be a playoff team? Well, they're only six points out, Greg. You know, they win three games in a row. They're right back in this thing. But six points out with 12 to go or 10 to go is completely different than fucking two points out with 12 to go. This is the most NHL thing of all time. Like this, if you would told me-

All the coyotes are four points out and so is that? If you had told me at the beginning of the year that the NHL GMs were going to just get together and vote to have 24 teams in the playoffs so that all of them who were anywhere near a winning record can all make the playoffs. I would have been like, yeah, I wouldn't have seen the pandemic part. I would have just been like, yeah, that sounds like something they would. randomly do. Yep, absolutely. To make sure everybody got in. I don't know, man.

Do you think most GMs like expanded playoffs in theory they should, but yet we've not had them forever? Yes, they do, because they get to go to their owner and say, we made the playoffs. See, you know, Florida Panthers, I told her we made the playoffs. We said we would. Stan Bowman gets to go into his new boss and say, we're a playoff team. You've got to keep us around. It's, yeah, they love loser.

They love anything that pads their resumes with things they didn't earn. So, yeah, I'm surprised they're capping it at 24 and not going to 28. I say again, though, like, why hasn't it happened, though, yet? Is it Batman trying to preserve the integrity of the tournament? Batman hates the idea. And I think they know that there'd be no appetite for it among the larger fan base, so they wouldn't try to do it permanently. But one year, if you can slip it in and go, well, because of recent events,

Yeah, absolutely. They're going to sneak it in there. I think you're discounting the fact that there are 200 hockey men that are the GMs in this league. And I think a lot of them probably want to keep the integrity of the playoffs. Look at the standings page and tell me the GMs care about the integrity of the league over their own accomplishments and job security. Like, this is this is settled science, man. They clearly don't care as long as it makes them look good. So 24 gets in the Blackhawks and the Rangers.

20, to me, would make the most sense, a 20 team tournament. Then you do your little play-in-game shit down the lineup a little bit. 22 is the number that's favored by Dom from the athletic. And he's a big brain. So maybe there's something to that. Is there a preferred number for you guys? Do you want to go 24 if they do this? Oh, it's zero, I think, is the right number this year.

but, yeah, you know, it's, it's all fake. Who cares? Yeah, I really, like, I keep saying it, but it's true. Like, oh, well, if, you know, if 24 teams make it, what about the draft lottery? Well, you know, it turns out you can only move up one and a half spots if you win the draft lottery. And it's like, okay. As the more I think about the draft lottery part of this, like, the more angry I get that they were detainable. determining policy and like reverting back to old rules that they got rid of because they wanted

to go anti-tank because somebody out there is concerned that the same team that could win the draft lottery might win the cup. Like I'm kind of getting angry about it. But you know what? Just because we did the whole lottery discussion last week, but I said at the time, I have yet to see an explanation of why they would make that change. What problem is this solved? And I actually did see one.

and it was in Elliot Friedman's 31 thoughts where he suggests that actually what has happened is some GMs complained about exactly what you just said some team's going to win the cup and the lottery. The NHL rolled its eyes at how stupid a complaint that was and then came up with an alternative that was so dumb. So bad, yeah. That they figured that the GMs would be like, oh, well, we can't do that and would then go back to just accepting a more reasonable explanation. And it may or may not have backfired in that GMs might have taken the obviously stupid fake idea and been like, yeah, we could go with that. So that's my new pet theory that I'm going with on where this came from. It's the old, Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

We're going to put the most horrible jokes in our movies so the NPA cuts them. And so we can get the jokes in that we really want. I like that theory. Yeah, exactly. And then they leave in the Saddam Hussein penis and take out something else. in your like, man. First time in Bucksup history, Saddam Hussein penis

has been uttered, I believe. The NHL's new draft lottery plan is the Saddam Hussein penis of hockey ideas. Dash Sean McIndoo. Put that out there. There's your poll code

for this week's episode. This picture Bill Daley punching away at his keyboard right of that memo, should I say Saddam Hussein penis or should I I think, I mean, I fully expect they'll go 24. I mean, that's the discussions they've had with the GM so far.

My preference is 16, but if you're going to expand anyways, like you're going to break through that wall of credibility or whatever of expanding the playoffs, you might as well do 24. Get as many as he can in there. Like, it's... Hear me out. NHL, KHL combined. You get both the Stanley Cup and the Gagarin Cup.

50 teams in the playoffs. Let's fucking. go. Let's fucking go. A real world champion finally. I love it. Is there anybody on this podcast who would give a scintilla of thought to doing a 31 team tournament this year? I don't care. It's all fake. It's all fake. So they can do whatever they want, and I think it's fine. Because they're just going to do whatever they're going to do. And I'm not going to get too worked up about it. You're talking to the guy who suggested they do a Royal Rumble style where just they start with two teams and the winner stays in and a mystery team comes out every night for a month to challenge them.

So yeah, I'm willing to accept anything. I think that would be a terrible idea, but we're in the land of terrible ideas right now. So let's steer into the skid and yeah. You know, this is the first time speaking on behalf of my Measen pod partner, Ryan Lambert, that I put two and two together that last chance kitchen. is essentially the Royal Rumble, except, because there are times when you do have multiple chefs. That's right. Like, interesting.

Never thought of it before either. Never thought of that in those terms before, yeah. But now here it is. There you go. The Mizum Pod Paxi crossover you all been waiting for. I like, you know, the more I think about the 31 team thing, and to speak to Lambert's point that I don't fucking care because it's all fake, the more I am considering whether there's a path to do it

where you could seriously weigh the tournament against the dregs of the league, I don't know if you can. I mean, they don't have to play each other. Like the sharks and the fucking Detroit's and people would all have to play each other just for the right to get into the larger, the next step of the tournament. It's like the raid. Like you start on one floor, then you go to the next floor,

then you go to the next floor. Like, the shit teams play each other, then they play a slightly better cut of shit team, and then those teams get to sit at the adult table. Like, that would be the only way to do it. Yeah, it's like, it's like the F.A. cup in English soccer where, like, guys who are just playing in a Sunday league, like, are technically competing in the same tournament as like Manchester United and Liverpool. But, you know, at the end of the day, it's going to be fucking Liverpool in Tottenham or whoever in the final. just like it always is.

First of all, I did not know it worked that way, and I'm intrigued. I kind of like that idea. Yeah, you can, you can't remember. There was a team like five or six or maybe ten years ago, for all I remember, where, like, they were like a sixth division team or something like that, and they made it, you know, and they were playing, they played like an actual Premier League team. Hey, boys, we need one more.

We're playing leads tonight. is your cousin available Kind of like it I like it too Here's my other idea to throw out there Since we're throwing crazy ideas 31 team round robin tournament Every team plays every other team

So you're going to play 30 games You get it's total points Two points for a win But you start off with You start off the teams that were higher In the standing start off with a bonus So of the 16 teams It would have made the playoffs

The Bruins are number one they start with 16 bonus points. Whoever was second, I think St. Louis starts with 15, and you work from there. And it's whoever gets the most points at the end of the tournament. But you got a bonus based on how you did during the season. And, of course, the non-playoff teams would start from zero and would need, would be big time long shots, but would still have a shot at it. It's not a crazy thought. I thought you were going to, I thought you were about to describe the regular season.

And just leave it at that. When you said two points to a win, I thought that's where you were going. Yeah, it would be kind of like that. I can't in good faith have any playoff format in which the Detroit Red Wings are part of it. I just can't. Yeah, 30 teams and the Red Wings are the only ones that don't make it. Yeah, that's the only way I to accept it. And they'd have to accept that.

They'd just be like, listen, you have a fucking 0.75 points percentage this season. Like, fuck off. Like, you don't get to be part of the party. That's the only way I could possibly accept it. I wrote about the Red Wings this week, and I tweeted this stat, but they, played 71 games this year. Do you know how many games they won by more than one goal if you take out empty netters? One game out of 71. That's like, that's incredible. That's crazy. That's mathematically impossible. They had, they had one win by three goals. They had six wins by two,

but they all had empty netters. And like, it's, it's insane. And they lost one out of every five games by at least four goals. Like, just... No, I'm going to leave that. I just looked up the extra preliminary round of the F.A. Cup this year started on Friday, August 9th, 2019, with two matches. One's between Skelmersdale United versus Penniston Church, and then the other one, that was a 1-1 draw. And then Hackney Wick defeated by Framlingham Town 3 to 1. We always said if Scelsleydale was ever able to unite and send a united team, they would be really hard to beat in a tournament and it happened. Framingham Town, of course, they're currently members of the Eastern Counties League First Division North.

So, right. The real thing that we've definitely all heard of. Yeah. Fradlington Town sounds like the thing that you say when you get caught in a lot. about your fake girlfriend. Where does she live? Frambling sound, of course. This kind of reminds me of the great, one of the great unknowns or what-ifs, if you will, in NHL history, which was what if those guys won that lawsuit and the Stanley Cup was able to

be played for by random teams during the 05 lockout. Cool. Yeah. That was fucking, that was like what of the great, the one great what if is what if the NHL had gone to replacement players during the 05 lockout. The other great what if is what if in the charter for the Stanley Cup, it was determined that any team could play for it. And then you have like beer league teams playing for the Cup that year.

And there's, and like Gary Bettman is furiously trying to sue them out of existence, but he can't. Yep. Yeah. There's no rule against dogs playing for Stanley Cup. Like basketball. Right. That would have been incredible.

That's about it for like, I mean, there's, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, Return to Play Committee has met a couple times this week. You get into a sense that, you know, a return to training facilities is on its way in some way shape or form. The NBA is already there with a couple of its teams. The NHL is going to have to figure out a way to open up, but also respect the teams that can't open up. So we'll see what happens there. And then the only other big news this week was the formal cancellation of the American Hockey League season, which is a tough look.

And, you know, the more I've talked to people from the HL for stories this week, the more it becomes apparent that, one, they have no problem opening up their season before the NHL does next season, which is interesting. And two, that might not happen because they sure shit ain't open in their season until people can come back to watch the games. So they may not be back for a while, which obviously has huge ramifications for the NHL and in a number of ways. So, yeah, we knew that was coming, but still a pretty brutal situation all the way

around. The other thing that one of the owners that I talked to this week said that I thought was intriguing was the idea that there could be a demographic shift amongst fans where, like, the 45 to 65-year-olds that buy a lot of AHA season tickets might be hesitant to come back to places where there's 17,000 people, you know, or 12,000 people or whatever, and that the, it's younger fans that might be okay coming back to arenas first, um, which is a huge fucking change for a lot of minor league teams. And I imagine something that NHL teams are probably figuring out right now, too, is like, you know, fuck, have you ever been to the lower bowl

at some arenas and seen who's sitting in the first five rows? And, like, it's either corporate bros or people in their, like, 70s that have been season ticket holders for decades. It's going to be interesting to see how many people actually do come back, you know, in 2021. Yeah, I mean, I think it's going to be interesting to see how the league can come back in 2021, right? Like, that's the real issue is they might still have to play in empty arenas. You know, I, the only thing I can really compare it to right now is, like, I have, or, I, or, I had scheduled for this summer. I was going to go to a handful of concerts or whatever,

and a few of them just got canceled outright. And a couple were like, we're going to push to October and November. And it's like, is this really going to be over by then? Because I'm not super confident in that, you know? Yeah, it's going to be interesting. And there have been some sort of little drops of information from NHL people about, you know, the possibility of,

of playing an empty arena is to start next season, and then the fans come back at some point. But the thing about next year for any sport, be at the AHL, be at the NHL, be at whomever, is I think by the time that they get to their 20-21 seasons, you're going to have fans back at MLB games and you're going to have fans back at NFL games. I truly believe that. I can't, especially the NFL, which is obviously like a fucking craven operation when it comes to, you know, being America's lifeblood and fans coming back to the stadiums and blah blah blah bullshit. Like both of those sports, I think, are going to have people in their buildings by the time the NHL comes back for next season.

Yay or A on that. I think they will find people who are willing to go. I don't know that they're going to be selling 60,000 tickets anymore. And I think there will also be a difference between those teams that play indoor stadiums and outdoor stadiums. I think there is the potential that either the science or the science that people want to cherry pick and choose to believe

so they can make more money will say that it's safer to be outside than that indoors. And obviously that's another strike against the NHL as far as, you know, that could be a very frustrating situation for hockey fans. If you're watching the NFL and Major League Baseball playing and they've got at least some fans in the stands and you're being

told that you can't, at least in some markets, because that's the other thing. Some places might open up. Some places might be okay to open up and others won't. And how come my team doesn't get home mice advantage, but I got to go play in front of fans. And it's going to be a mess. It really is. Even the best case scenario is just a total mess at this point. And I guess see how it plays out. Yeah.

And again, I think the intriguing thing is how many things these teams are modeling. and how many things the leagues modeling with the knowledge that a month ago, this shit looked different than it did today. In some places, better, in some places worse. So we'll see what happens. But I do think that fans will come back for football and baseball by the time. I mean, people are going to come back to freaking going to Applebee's, right? Like, it's going to be all those same people, though, like the guys who can't find their Halloween stuff

are going to be the ones who are going to these NFL games. I mean, they're already going to Red Lobster to beat the shit of the people. The Tim Robinson thing? Yeah. But, I mean, Leverts right. People will get tired of this. They will not want to be tethered to their homes anymore. Speaking of being untethered, today's episode of Puck's episode of Puck'sup is sponsored by Raycon.

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Raycon, a proud sponsor of Puck Soup. Brett Hall said some shit this week that we'll briefly touch on. In his defense, he said that Brandon Leipzig and his friends shouldn't be idiots about the comments that they were caught making in that leaked Instagram chat that got Leipzig released by the Capitals. But he then lamented the loss of... He said, hockey's no fun anymore

because now guys can't go out the strip clubs without somebody taking a picture of them with their iPhone. He also said that guys are in their hotel rooms playing Xbox because they don't want to go to the strip club and get their picture taken with somebody's eyeball. Cutting edge reference by Brett Hall there. Yeah, you were playing... their freaking Nintendo's out there?

The fuck up, who cares? I mean, this is a bit of a part ofay for me. There's a part of me that does agree that the behavior of celebrities

in the normal course of their lives has been affected by social media, by camera phones, and by the pervasive culture of fans. That's undeniable. And I do agree with him on that one. Like, example, the Broad Street Bullies documentary that was on HBO,

did you boys see that when it was on back in the day? No. Okay. It was really good. It was about the flyers in the 70s. And they would talk about this bar that they'd go to in South Jersey. I think it was in, like, Cherry Hill. And they would drink amongst the fans.

hands. And they would party and they'd have a good time. And nobody's taking their phone out to take a picture because there are no mobile phones at that point. And if you ever tried to use a rotary phone to take a picture, it doesn't work. And there's no like reports in the local newspapers about what's going on there. They just had a really wonderful spot and you could go there and drink with the flyers. And obviously that can't exist today. So I always think about that in the context of when Brett Hall or anybody is like, I can't do X because of this. There's a part of me that, like, relates that and understands that in a way. So that's one point.

That said, the boys can't be boys argument is something I will never fucking agree with when it comes to hockey culture. Let me put it this way. And this is, I think, a very good example of this kind of thinking. often on Christmas we will go to my aunt and uncle's house and my aunt's stepfather I want to say he would always be complaining about the freaking the liberals you know freaking Archie Bunker you couldn't say any of that stuff on TV anymore

and it's like yeah Blazing saddles you can't make blazing saddles today Yeah, and he's like, hey, you watch a lot of TV. What did Archie Bunker used to call the Irish? And it's like, what are we fucking talking about? Like, who cares? And it's the exact same thing. You can't say anything anymore.

Used to be, you wouldn't even have to roll up your window to say the N-word during a rap song. And now, you know, like, okay, man, sure. Yeah, I, you know what? I'm, I see where you're coming from, Greg, and I see, like, I do get, like, yeah, like, we used to be able to have fun and there were no cause and now we can't. The problem is he said it in the context of the Brennan Leipzig thing, which is, you know, which is somebody behaving in an extraordinarily crappy way in general, but specifically towards women. And he actually says, as part of the comments, we did the same things and we said the same thing. So it's not even like, you know, when I first heard a. about this, I thought, well, maybe they asked him about this incident and he just used that as a jumping off point to talk about something else, which happens sometimes. But he says, we said the same things and there was no way to get caught. So that's where he, you kind of, you lose him. Look, I don't doubt for a second that it was way more fun to be an NHL player in the 80s and 90s than today. Like, not just the social media and cell phones, but the training and everything. I mean, you used to be able to just go and after the game, you'd have three beers and eat a steak and you'd skate it off.

the next morning and now everyone's being the you know full around the clock training and you know everybody's in way better shape and the bar's been raised for everybody and yeah i don't doubt those guys had a lot more fun and if that's all he's saying then sure but to say it in the context of something where you know this this wasn't you know guys getting caught out there after having a few too many beers and uh you know and that's the end of it this this was a very different thing. And I get that he was answering the question he was asked, but

he knew what they were going to ask him when he came on the show, and this is what he came up with. Yeah, no, I agree. And in that context, it's shitty. And I also, once again, with the fucking Xbox thing, it's like, you know, he's like, all people do is stay in their hotel rooms

and play video games now. And it's like, yeah, and that's how they bond. This whole old-school bullshit thinking that that goes back to the Fortnite conversations from last season. It's just like, that's, what do you think's happening now?

Like, all these guys are playing fucking Call of Duty against each other. They're all playing NHL against each other right now. Like, that's how guys fucking bond in their 20s in 2020. It's such a weird-ass thing. Yeah, I was watching the Bruce,

or Springsteen on Broadway, finally. It's on Netflix. And he has a point where he's talking about, they're driving from New Jersey to San Francisco for a gig. And, like, somebody, I want to say it was Danny Federici, like, just disappeared while they were in Nashville. And he's like, now young people out there, I want you to think about when you were gone back then, there were no cell phones. There were no pay.

And now, try to imagine that. And I'm like, Bruce, I love you, but like, don't do this shit. Like, don't do, like, now all you young people out there with your cell phones and your high. top sneakers. I don't know what you guys are getting up to, but back in my day, we didn't have to face consequences for our actions. Oh, okay. Driving around.

Driving around with Wendy, Streets, New Jersey. And I love Bruce. Was he the best, yeah. Was Bruce in the East Street band the best American band to answer Hank Azaria's Twitter question this week? Well, Hank Azaria's answer to that Twitter question was the doors, right? The doors followed by Aerosmith, O for two. Hank. Yeah, no, Bruce Springsteen and the East Street Band is indeed the greatest American rock band of all

time for a million different reasons. Man, there was another band in that mix. R.E.M. was one that I gave mine to. Yeah, I get where, but, like, they didn't have the staying power that Bruce did. You know, they broke up after however many years. Bruce was like, Bruce is like a fucking megastar. Now there was a period where R.E.M. was selling out stadiums. Like, they were the biggest band in the world for a little while there.

They were monsters, literally. That's right. But, you know, like, Bruce was like a cultural, like, a cultural behemoth in a way that, like, R.E.M. never really was. You know what I mean? Yeah. He owned the 70s. He owned the 80s. And then he came back in the rise. was an incredible album after 9-11. So it's good. Yeah. Bruce, that's a good answer.

He's the best. He's the best. You wanted to talk about the Minnesota Wilde getting job by the NHL about their Russian kid. Well, it's not just the Wilde, though. I mean, like, a bunch of teams, in part because of, I think, the cap crunch for next year, like, oh, we can go out and get, like, replacement-level European guys for pretty cheap right now. And so a lot of teams went out and signed European players of varying quality, let's say. Like, you know, obviously, like you said, the wild have Carol Caprizov who's going to be, you know, they hope their first real, like, long-lasting offensive juggernaut.

But like the Leafs went out and signed this kid, Miko Layton, and that they say is going to be a real good player in the NHL and that kind of. and that kind of thing. And often, not always, but often when you're an NHL team, you can sign these guys coming out of European leagues. And they can, you know, if they meet certain qualifications, they can be on your postseason roster. I want to say Radulov falls into that category, right, when he came back to North America.

I think so. Yeah. And the NHL was like, oh, yeah, you can't have those guys. in the in the in the in the in the in the in the NHL this year and it's like what why it doesn't it doesn't really make a ton of sense to me especially because they're like well look we all we understand that because of the way this is going to work um like 40 guys on every team are going to get injured and uh you're going to have to have taxi squads with at least half of your AHL team practicing with you at all times so like why not let the European guys do it too I really

I truly don't understand why, and especially, you know, in the context of, you know, oh, we're trying to get people excited for these playoffs. For these playoffs happening. Let's get the one guy, wild fans have been like fantasizing over for three years. Let's get him over here. But that would burn a year of his entry-level deal, so forget it. We're not going to do it. It's very strange to me.

And if I understand it right, I think, like, the technical explanation is that these guys aren't actually signed. They've just agreed to sign and they can't sign it. But that doesn't answer the bigger question of why not just let them sign and figure out the way to get them in there. It's the thing of why not have a second trade deadline. Why not let these guys from teams that aren't going to be even in an expanded playoff format? Why not let them go get traded somewhere, that kind of thing. It doesn't make any sense.

But the thing Greg said earlier about, holding the integrity, blah, blah, blah. Like, I think that's probably what they would say. But, again, if you're letting 24 teams into the playoffs and having the draft in June before the playoffs even start, like, integrity is out the window. So you might as well just make it the most entertaining product possible. And the NHL, as we said earlier, is always like, how do we screw this up? What can we do to make everybody actually just kind of mad about it instead?

Yeah. It's classic shit. Yeah. I wanted to see that the Russian kid be Cal McCar for them. Like, just blow it up in the playoffs. It would be fucking cool. Yeah. Other hockey things.

Did you guys read that NWHL story this week? I didn't read the whole thing, I have to say. Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty damning. I mean, you know, the NWHL, it kind of reminded me of the stories that you'd hear out of the KHL when it first started about, like, you know, guys. getting paid with bags of money in their locker randomly and shit like that. In this case, it was just like the facilities that they were using for practices and sometimes for games are just so unsatisfactory where a women's pro team is changing in the same locker

room as a boys' youth team. And there's one story in the thing that just like will forever now dog the NWHL where women's players were at practice pissing in a garbage can next to the rink because they didn't have access to a bathroom. like it's it's pretty bad and um the thing i wanted to say about it is that i feel like sometimes a thing like the w hl doesn't understand the way to approach stories like this because the right answer is yeah shit was kind of fucked up when we started we were a startup league um we're a women's startup league we don't have the same funding as men's leagues uh we did the best we could

under the circumstances, and we've gotten better. And, you know, our players' association. We acknowledge them. Right. Right. And the NWAHL is like, it's actually cool that we made them do that. It built character. Yeah.

No, no. It was a really good pocket. It's not worse than that. That's actually pretty fucking bad. It's, but their reaction was, this is a smear campaign from the allies of the women's, the women's players that are boycotting us. Like, this is, that's the reaction to any fucking criticisms that. league. And in some cases, I think they're right to point it out that there clearly are a collection

of women's players that, frankly, didn't want to piss in the bucket anymore and decided not to do business with the NWHL, that do traffic in this criticism. But in this case, like, the clear reaction should not be, well, these national team players are just fucking taking a run at us again. The reaction should be, yeah, shit was kind of fucked up. Maybe that's why they don't like us, but it's gotten a lot better since then. And we have players left and right resigning and signing with our league because they want to do business with the NWHL. And we're expanding and things are good.

I mean, at some point, you have to kind of like put yourself over and not put yourself over at the expense of someone else. And if elements of the story are actually false and you want to say that, then specifically say that, you know, such and such did not happen. That's, you know, you don't just do the, it, it, the response to me felt very much like this thing that everybody has permission to do these days, which is when you get called out, you just go fake news and everybody ignore it and they're just out to get us without addressing the actual substances as deeply as they could. I mean, I guess it kind of is that, right? But it's also them going, all those things that are true that make us look bad, that's really unfair for you to bring those up. It's like, well, I mean.

We are target. of a smear campaign. Like, smear campaigns are not supposed to just be people saying truthful things about you. So you got to go a little further than that. But I, yeah, I don't know. It's an ugly story all the way around because, again, like I think most hockey fans, I'm rooting for this to succeed in whatever version success looks like. And it just feels like every story that comes out is there's negativity and conflict and all of that.

And it's tough. It's tough to get the stuff off the ground. and hopefully they find a way. Well, the good news is the NHL just up their donation to $101,000 a year. So everything's fine now. Cool, man. Yeah. All right, that's really all the hockey shit that I had to talk about.

Did you guys want to talk about any other hockey shit this week? I think that's literally all the hockey shit this week. I don't know that there's anything else out there. Anything, any, any, any, any, any, any, any, uh, any, uh, any, uh, any, uh, any, uh, 20 tournaments that, uh, you want to bring up, uh, in our conversations? No. Simulated games. Um, I did want to bring up video games, though, before we get to a quiz this week. There was a, uh, thing on Twitter floating around this week about the four video games that

formed your childhood, or that meant the most to you or that you played the most as a child. And I know that we were all gamers in our youth. in some way, shape, or form. And I was wondering what your four would be. Four games that you played growing up, either as a little Wii or as a teen, that kind of formed your video game life. Hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I'll go first. Okay. I listed mine this week. Super Mario Brothers Three. Sure, a classic. A classic, and the first one that really kind of incorporated what would become a Mario State.

which is moving around a map and making those types of decisions not simply just going from board to board to board, but also kind of like strategizing a map, awesome, you know, accoutremauna weapons with fucking raccoon tail and shit like that. Well, it's a Tanuky tail and not a raccoon. Or no, it was a Tanuki suit, but a raccoon tail.

That's right. Raccoon tail, yeah. I always got that mixed up. Exactly. Sitting in a little shoe, right? I played a lot of that game. Yeah. And Quirky.

shit like the shoe. Still might be my favorite Mario Brothers game, but that would be one. Ninja Guy Dan is a game I played incessantly on NES, and it was the first game that I played that really used sort of cut scenes and cinematic shit

to tell the story, which I always loved. And the action was good, and it was one of the hardest fucking games to play insofar as when you finally got to the more difficult later boards, you needed special weapons to get through shit. And if you didn't get him, you had to, like, die and jump back a screen or something to

go get them. So that'd be the other one. Baseball Stars is a game that I've talked about a lot in the show. Maybe my favorite sports game of all time. For those that don't know, it was a Japanese baseball game where there were quirky-ass teams named like the Ninja Black Sox and the scary monsters and things like that. You could do, you could create teams with women's players. And you got money for every victory to then power up your team as you went along. And it was just tons of fucking fun. And then finally, I could go one of two ways.

I think I listed combat from Atari as one of my games. That was a game that was just like tanks and planes and shit that shooting in each other. But if I'm being truthful, I think the game I played most growing up in the arcade would have been Spy Hunter, which was a game I was obsessed with and would play whenever I had a chance to you

in the arcade. you're in a souped-up James Bond type vehicle, you've got guns on it, you can use oil slicks and shit, it's fucking tremendous, and it had the theme from Peter Gunn as the theme song to the game, and that would just play over and over again, and it was just cool as shit. Okay, well, I think I would probably say I share Greg's Super Mario Brothers 3, but I think I probably played two even more than that, honestly. which is weird because it's like just a completely different kind of a game. It's not canon in the Mario Brothers universe or anything like that, but I really liked that game a lot. And I played it incessantly. I don't think I ever beat it, honestly. I don't think I ever got to the big Toad Fellow at the end.

The end of that game is classic. I'm not going to spoil it for you in case you. Well, I mean, everybody at this point knows it's, is it? a dream. Mario is a dream. Yeah. I'm not sure you can spoil a video game from 1989 at this point.

Now, what's interesting about that game is that it was a dream and it's not canon, but isn't that where we got shy guys from? I think they got a lot of stuff from that game. Yeah. Like Mario and Luigi having different skill sets and that kind of thing is certainly, you know, the one thing I think that didn't carry over is that Princess Peach can float. When she jumps, I don't think it is reflected in any other Mario games.

But, yeah, it was a really fun game. I liked that there were such a wide variety of, like, levels that you could play, like, with the quicksand and some of the levels were ice and the floors were slippery and that kind of stuff. It was just such, like, a fun leap forward for the game that I really, I really, I think that might be my favorite Mario game of all time, honestly. Yeah, that's good. Later generations, I think you would say Golden Eye. Oh, hell yeah.

Of course, a 007 game. Still waiting to replay that. I have a copy of it at my house right now, and we bought it from a, like, a show that was in town, and I still haven't cracked it open despite being in fucking quarantine a few months. It's really, really good, man. Like, it holds up, honestly. I would love an HD remaster a. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, but I don't think it's ever. going to happen for a million different licensing reasons.

But it would be sick if it did. Let's see. What else? What else? I got to have a sports game in there. What's the sport? I played a whole shitload of like NHL 2003. I played a ton.

Because I think that was the last year before they moved to like the next gen consoles where it was a different kind of look and feel. Right. Because I want to say 04 was the first time that it changed. And you could get like guys from European leagues and stuff like that in it. But yeah, a classic soundtrack. And, you know, if you had it for your computer, you could put your own music into it and not just like... Oh, hell yeah.

Avenge Sevenfold and that kind of thing. I did that all the time with Doom and Quake in college. Absolutely. Absolutely. You know what? First-person shooters, I think the answer might be Quake for me. Quake was a lot of fun. And they also put out a million expansion packs for it at a time when that was still like a huge thing. And then I guess, I guess I would say most recently the game that I've probably played the most is Skyrim, maybe. Skyrim? Oh, I didn't know that.

I think that's one of the best video games of all time. It's fucking so good. and so deep and you can do so much shit in it like it's great it's really really good right Sean so I and we've we've kind of talked about this before I did most of my gaming on a computer back then and nerd yeah pretty much and my my first console I actually go all the way back I had a calico vision but I don't I don't know if those were really playing ladybug and xxon was really formative uh for me it was mostly sports games it was It was Earl Weaver Baseball. It was the early NHL games, probably like NBA Jam, especially if we're including arcade games.

Oh, hell yeah. And then into like, and then into like the Madden games in the like late 90s. And this is, I'm getting out of childhood. I'm cheating a bit because I'm out of childhood at this point. But like when I first finished university, it was living on my own, I would get Madden games. I would play the crap out of them. And I wasn't really much of an NFL. fan back then and they kind of like turned me into an NFL fan between that and getting into fantasy

football. I was like, oh, God. Like this is, I want to watch the real show that this video game is based on. And, you know, I'd make, you know, make the trades and write down the stats and all that. So it was, it was fun. And then it got super complicated. And you had to take a night school course just to learn how to throw a pass. And I was, I was out of it. But so I would, I would probably say those. I do have like, I do, you know, I've always, I've got time for any game where I get to kill a dragon, whether it's dungeon master or Skyrim. And by the way, Ryan, I don't know if you saw this. It was good to see this week the company that makes Skyrim once again,

reiterating that they're not working on anything new and aren't going to put it. And we're like mad that people keep bringing it up. Like, why do you keep bringing up this incredibly insanely popular product from 10 years ago that we refused to make a sequel to? Hey, they did that really. terrible Elder Scrolls online game. What else do you want from us? Exactly. So, yeah, but I would say those are my thing.

So two things on this. First of all, I don't know if I've ever told, have I ever told the story here of how I was introduced to the NHL series, like the Sega John? No, I don't think so. So I'm in high school. And during high school, this is back in the olden days where we had these thing called arcades, where you would go and like put quarters into machines to play video games. And every now and then, every now and then, we would either over lunch hour, we'd skip a class and we'd hop in like the one guy who had a car and we'd drive to an arcade. And so one day my buddies are like, hey, we're going to the arcade. And I was like, you know, maybe not today. And they're like, no, no, you have to go to this arcade. They've got this crazy hockey game. And it's got like real players in it. Like, it's like their numbers and everything. So like the Leafs have got like Gilmore and Wendell Clark and everything. It's, it's such a good game. I was like, all right, I'll check it out. I went.

And there's an arcade machine with NHL, like, 92, so the original NHL. What? And we're playing this. And we end up playing all afternoon. And it's like the best game I've ever played. I can't believe how much fun this thing is. I remember, like, going home and I think, like, actually dreaming about this game. Because it was like so fun and just so, like, to have like, Wendell Clark, I could just

be like, I'm going to like just run over everybody. And it was, we had all this fun. So like a week later, I'm like, we got to go back to that arcade. My friends are like, yeah, for sure. We hop in the car, we go back, we walk in, and the game isn't there. And we go to the guy who runs the arcade. And we're like, hey, what happened to that hockey game? And he goes, we didn't have a hockey game.

And we're like, yeah, no, that machine in the corner over there. That was the hockey game. What happened to it? And he goes, I don't know what you guys are talking about. We never had a hockey game. And I was literally sitting going like, did I dream this? Like, am I in a Twilight Zone episode? What the hell is going on?

Now, it was only years later where I realized that what must have happened is the arcade owner had like a modded console that he could just drop like Sega Genesis games into. And he had an H.O. 90, and then obviously got in trouble for it or something. And had to be like, no, we never did that. So like, when we show up going, where's that game? He's like, no, kids, I never. but like for a while I was like and then we never saw it again because back then it wasn't like

you just wasn't like today where you walk in there's a wall of NHL games it was like a pretty obscure game and it wasn't until NHL 93 came out and like I was playing it at my buddy's house I'm like this is the game this is the one I remember I didn't dream it so yeah that was my strangest video game experience and it introduced me to

the NHL series which to this day I would consider King of the Mountain as far as sports games. Now, is it possible that the game also wasn't plugged in and that at some point if you beat it, you'd be digitized and put inside the game? Definitely, definitely possible, and I wish that it happened. I should have been better. Can I tell you one more thing about video games? Because I didn't mention anything about...

I mean, it is your podcast. I didn't mention anything about Nintendo because I never had a Nintendo as a kid. I didn't play a lot of Mario, but I remember going to my friends house and playing the original Super Mario Bros. Fast forward to today, my son and I ended up going down this rabbit hole where we were watching Super Mario speed runs. I don't know if you guys have seen. People can beat the game in five minutes, and it's like, apparently it's incredibly like, it's like down to like the frame of how you hit a certain move. You can shave off like a tenth of a second to the right and all this stuff. And we're watching this.

I mean, it was really cool. and my son who has like Super Mario Bros on one of his systems is like yeah he goes I definitely couldn't beat that game in five minutes and I was like yeah no no kidding you couldn't and he's like I bet I could beat it in eight and I was like I'm like what did you just say and he's like I could probably beat it in eight minutes I'm like I played that game as a kid I didn't know anyone who beat like you're talking like I felt insulted I'm like this is my childhood you tell me you're gonna beat this and I was like I bet you you could you can't beat it, period. Like, forget eight minutes. And he was like, yeah, he's like, dad, I just go on YouTube. I'm going to learn, like, all the moves. It's going to be easy. I'll beat it.

So we have, like, a standing challenge. He's got a few weeks to beat this game. I will report back on whether he does it or not. But, like, I was, like, offended based on 1987 me that this punk kid thinks he can just watch a few YouTube videos. You're like, this MF going to get a freaking game genie online. That's the only way he's going to do it. Yeah.

He's like, he's like, he's sitting there. He's like, dad, you know, there's warps. I'm like, I know about the warp pipes. Like, come on, man. But you're not, you're not beating the thing. And he's confident that he's not just going to beat it. He's going to beat it easily. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I watched a, I recently watched a YouTube documentary about the chase for the world record in Mike Tyson's punchout. Yes. Oh. It was just captivating. It was so interesting because, like, you know, what's the, So how do you get a world record in Tyson's punchout? By beating guys in under a certain amount of time. And, you know, the game, the game breaks it down to, like, less than a second at the end of fight.

So, like, if you beat Glass Joe in 42 seconds, it'll show you, you know, 42.25 or whatever. Right, right. And they were like, oh, yeah, basically it was a thing where this one guy set, like, most of the records. And, you know, it was figured out that you, you. You physically cannot beat piss. The first time you fight Piston Honda, you physically cannot beat him in under a minute 42 or whatever the number was. And then like 10 years after everybody figured this was like settled and you can't, you can't do it. This one guy came in and was like, oh, I just knocked like 0.87 seconds off the king hippo time.

And people were like, what? Yeah, why I like lost their minds? And, you know, they posted videos and that kind of thing. Love it. It was really interesting, actually. A lot of those characters, you have to wait for them to engage before you can start fighting them. Oh, I know. That's fascinating.

I love that. And then there's another guy who beat that game blindfolded because he just figured out the rhythms to it. And so, like, when they, you know, from like the time the bell rings, he's like, okay, I have this many seconds to punch Von Kaiser or whatever. and just like a guy beat that game fucking blindfolded because it's all just, you know, a repeating pattern, basically. And that to me is maybe even more impressive than just like winning quickly. Yeah, tell your kid to do it blindfolded, Sean. Yeah, well, he might have to. If he's getting a little too close, if he's on like 8-4, I might sneak up behind him and just like pillowcase over the head sort of thing.

See how good this kid actually is. The other thing I wanted to say about all-time great sports video. games, the early 2000s MVP baseballs. O3 and 04, untouchable in terms of how good they were. So, just something to think about. This might be the baseball stars,

the baseball stars guy in me, but RBI baseball is one of the most wickedly overrated games in gaming history. The NES game that had Kinseko. People like it because it had the actual players, but you compare it to baseball stars or bases loaded. Yeah, I was going to say bases loaded, yeah.

Yeah. All right. Good talk. Time for a game show. Oh, boy. It's going to be Ryan versus Sean. Ryan's game show last week was an all-timer. I think we should all acknowledge that.

And thank you everybody who spread the word about how great name Pat Falloon was. We will definitely bring it back at some point because it was a really good fun time. We bring back another classic this week. It's time for another edition of Puck Soup threesomes. as Sean and Ryan Battle. I'm going to name three things, individuals, what have you, and you tell me what they all have in common. I have eight questions.

Who goes first? I can't remember who won the last quiz, but I feel like Ryan on the basis of serving up last week's quiz deserves winners' rights here. so I'll let him make the pick. Ryan, kick or receive? Receive, please. All right.

Here we go. What these three NHL players have in common? Patrick Kane, Bobby Orr, Ove, Krupp. Hmm. Patrick, Mike, Bobby, Or, Uve, Kru. Once again, you cannot go with three people who have never been in my kitchen. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That is a canon. They're all in the freaking N8. HL. Next question. They all played for Chicago. I don't know. Can we steal? Can we steal? Dude, you got to remind me. Is there stealing or is there?

I mean, Ryan believes they're stealing. Do you want to steal? Because I know the answer on this one, so I can. And it may be my only one of the eight that I know, so I want to throw it out there. Good. They all scored Stanley Cup winning goals in overtime. That's correct. Well, that makes sense.

That's a point for Sean. Great. Two of which people actually saw and noticed at the time. Right. And one of which no one noticed, and then the puck was stolen by Allianceman. Allegedly. Oh, sorry, allegedly, right. All right, Sean.

Bobby Holik, Kelly Bookberger, Ilya, Elya Kovalchuk. Bobby Holik. Kelly Bookburger. Kelly Bookeberger, Ilya, Ilya Kovalchuk. Burger. Mm-hmm. a Czech, a Russian, and a Book Burger. Yeah.

See, this is why I'm glad I at least got to show off on the first one because I got a feeling I know where this is going. It's like, it's like last week when I hit Henrik Zetterberg off the fucking hop and then like I couldn't get any other answers. Yeah. Holik. Boogger Kohlchuk. Bukberger. Similar era. There's like some sort of New Jersey Devils Delta here.

What do you think? Is it as simple as say like players acquired by the Devils in trade? That is incorrect. Ryan, do you want to attempt to steal? No, I have no idea. Atlanta Thrashers' captains. Oh, boy. Wow. I would see.

Kelly Buchberger, I would never have gotten. Kelly Buchberger was their captain, I believe, in year one of the franchise. See, if you had. It said if you had Blake Wheeler in there, I would have got it for sure. Actually, but Blake, that's funny, because it's not weird. It was Andrew Ladd was actually their last captain before the relocation. Yes, but you see, it's the same team. It's the number.

It is the same team. That's true. I know. I know. All right, Ryan, James Taylor, the Zach Brown band, Jackie Avonko. James Taylor, the Zach Brown band. Jackie Ivanko. Jackie Ivanko, by the way, a 10-year-old girl who, like, won America's Got Talent.

And then it explicitly resurfaced as a, as one of the singers under the mask on the masked singer this season. No one knew who the fuck she was when she came back. Well, I'm going to take it then that Zach Brownbund is not a guy from. Zach Brown, Zach Brown, Zach Brown, the whole band's name. and I don't know, they played winter classic or outdoor game, like national anthems. That is fucking correct. I'm genius. I am.

Wow. James Taylor, I believe, was Fenway. Zach Brown band and also Jackie Ivanko was Pittsburgh. I do not, I was at the Fenway one. I do not remember that. However, one time I went to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park and they were just like, James Taylor is singing the National Anthem today and it was like, oh, cool. Randomly.

So that was my way in. I knew he was a National Anthem singing guy. One to one. All right. Let's fucking go. All right, Sean. Daniel Alfredson, I'm sorry, Daniel, Daniel, Efferson. I had Daniel Robertson of my brain

because we just did another podcast for you guys on the Patreon. Let me start over again. Daniel Sedeen, Alexander Barkoff, Kari Lettinen. Daniel Sadeen, Sasha Barkoff, They were all second overall picks.

That's correct. Although some controversy with the Sadiens since Burke tried to sneak them both in as the same pick, but yeah, I believe it went in the record books is Daniel. Daniel went second. That's correct. Two to one.

Very well done. All right. Here we go, Ryan. It's one of my favorite questions. The Florida Panthers. The St. Louis Blues. Magnigorsky. Medallurg.

Well, it's Magnitogorsk. Magnitogorsk. Medallurg. The Florida Panthers of St. Louis Blues and Magnitogorsk Medallurg. Teams coached by Mike Keenan. Oh, my goodness. I will, I will accept that. The, the specific answer is teams that fired Mike Keenan.

Well, I mean, that's, yeah. It's the same question then. Yeah, pretty much. But I will, I'll accept that. I'll accept that for you knowing that that was a tie. Sean, would you have been able to steal that? No. No, I was.

not thinking of that. I was trying to think of a player, but that's, uh, but as soon as he said it, I was like, for sure. The, the reason I love that question is because those are actually the only three teams that fired Mike Keenan. Every other time he left on his own board or his contract was not renewed. Yeah. So that's, that's the, you're, the only guy I can think of from Magnitogorosk metallurg is, uh, if Kenny Malkin played there before he came to the penguins. And remember, he had to, like, run away from the team in the middle of the night or something. Do you remember this? I feel like, I do remember that.

I feel like if I had said the other team that fired, actually I think he was also maybe fired by the Kunloon Red Star. Okay, sure. The Chinese KHL team. So there's actually four teams, and I feel like you would have gotten it if I had said that. I think I actually wouldn't have gotten that he was Koonloon Red Star's coach. But, okay.

So you only got it because of Magninogos. That's right. Magnetigigis. Yeah. Metalurg is such a fucking cool name, by the way. That's right. Yeah, it seems like a late 1980s, uh, straight to VHS, occult movie that has to do with like heavy metal.

All right, Sean. Vinnie La Cavaille, Martin San Luis, Wayne Gretzky. Oh, boy. Vinnie La Cavaille. Martin. San Luis, Wayne Gretzky.

Three people who played for the lightning except for Wayne Gretzky. No, let me... Or had a brother who played. Didn't Brent Gretzky? Wasn't he the lighting? All right. He was. Frank Gretzky was definitely a lady.

I knew that, yeah, those first two, I was like, this isn't going to... Hmm, okay. And the last one was Dan Boyle. Oh, I think I know this one. Oh, boy. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah.

I don't think they had any overlap on the teams they played for. They're all Canadian. La Cavier, there's no... Scored some goals. They all were good. They all... I'm trying to remember if La Cavae even... I don't think he ever played for an Olympic team.

but I all three of them didn't shoot in the 98 Olympic shootout Um Mm-hmm I'm gonna I'm gonna take a swing at this

I'm gonna say scored the winning goal in a Canada or World Cup It's a good guess Incorrect Ryan Do you want to attempt to steal Um Vinila Calvin

Marty son Louis Wiengretzky. Oh, I remember. Yeah, I don't know. Members retired by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Okay. Okay. That's very fucking good. Thank you.

Very, very good. I'm registering a formal protest, and it will be, okay. And I should say, by the way, to put a fine point on it, the only number is retired by the Tampa Bay. lightning. All right. It's Ryan's turn. All right.

I have a good feeling for you on this one, Ryan. Okay. I think the, I think the odds are in your favor that this fell to you rather than your opponent. Kanye West. God. Deepak Chopra.

Vern Troyer. You know what's so sad? I think I know this one. Oh. Well, you do have the ability to steal. That's it. They're all in the love guru. Cast members of the love guru.

Classic. All right. Oh, man. All right, Sean. This is it, man. This is for the tie in which there is an overtime question. No good. And then, or Ryan will win three, two.

Jerome McGinla, Jonathan Taves, Wayne Simmons. Jerome McGinla, Jonathan Taves, and the Wayne Train. Wayne Simmons. Hmm. Yep, I know. What could it be? Only one of them played for the Nashville Predators. I could tell you that.

Yeah, I can't, I don't think it's a team Canada thing. I don't think I, well, I mean, world, world championships. Every question seems to come back to, yeah, to Team Canada. World championships it could be. Can't be anything to do with trades because of Taves. can't be anything to do with teams overlap hmm which makes me worry

that it's like some junior team they played for question and I know nothing about junior teams why would I possibly give you a Canadian juniors question well he gave him a movie question and a music question so this whole thing is clearly rigged He received the kick. Sure, he did. Yeah.

Okay. What? Obviously, Wayne Simmons is the key here. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. The key that unlocks the answer, as it were. All right, here it comes. Yeah, no, it's, it's...

My one thought is I'm feeling like, you know, did they all fight the same guy? And I'm like, think... Oh! Because they all, you know... I'll file that. I'll file that away from... for next year.

Yeah. Like, it's, and I was thinking, is it, is it, who's the guy who kept fighting all the Canadian players? Was it, was it, was that back? Yeah, but he, there were other guys that you would, collecting Canadian scalps. He would put Wayne Simmons on that list. All right. I got to come up with something there. Mm-hmm.

The Ginla Taves. There's a classic Doug Gloves move, by the way, where you've kind of suggested an answer. Yeah, and then read based on the reaction. 100%. 100% that is something I'm doing. Well done. All right. It's a good quiz move.

Okay. The only thing I'm kicking around and I feel like they're, if I, if I'm on the right track, I'm maybe not being specific enough. Is it just all three won the Mark Messier leadership thing? Holy fucking shit, that is correct. It is. Okay. All right. Guys, I just remember the Wayne Simmons one being like the big eye roll.

moment. I assume Taves won it and Aginla should have. Okay. Well, all right. Ryan, did you know that? No, I would never gotten that in a million fucking years. Winners of the Mark Messier Leadership Award presented by Bridgestone. That is correct. What an epic battle. And I think the only three guys to ever win it in a season in which they didn't abandon their team, Daniel Elferson, Matt Sundin-style, which seems to be a big qualifier for All right Puck soup Threesome's goes to overtime

This is what we're going to do I'm going to name The three things First person to buzz in With the correct answer wins Okay And by buzz in you mean just blurt it out

Blurt it out I haven't really thought about What happens if you both don't get it But we'll figure out what happens then Here we go The kinetic it coasters. Oh, God. The Oklahoma

coyotes. The Minnesota Blue Ox. I think I just realized. Holy Dick is! Nicely done. Ryan takes the game four to three. A fucking epic battle

in threesomes. What gave it away? The coasters? No, they were just... I was like, I think I would know most Connecticut-based minor league teams because, you know, I live near Connecticut. You do. And yeah, that was literally, that was literally it. I was like, it might not be roller coaster, in which case I'll be like a defunct ECHL team,

you know, just like throwing shit at the wall and... You could have got up, got some coffee. God, you would have been. But I do, I appreciate it. you going full Brian Scruidland on me and just ending it instantly right off the opening face off. That was, wow,

that's good. I think, I would have, as I was asking the question, I think I would have then probably asked you more additional teams from that league. So we would eventually gotten to like the roller gaiters or some shit. So it would have been like a dead giveaway.

I mean, in hindsight, coasters, yeah, but I was not in that place. All right. Very good. We closed today's episode with a quick, overrated, underrated,

favorite, least favorite. We have three different requests for breakfast cereals. Okay. Is the category this week. Overrated breakfast cereal. Frosted flakes. Wrong. Too soggy.

Too soggy. They get so goddamn soggy. It just becomes a pile of mush. They don't really do much to flavor your milk either. Frosted flakes would be my overrated breakfast cereal. Sean, go ahead. I'm still thinking. Overrated, I mean, this is off the top of my head, but I'm going to say overrated fruit loops. They always taste stale.

And if you're going to talk your mom into getting you like a sugary cereal, get something with some marshmallows going here. Like, let's go. I like that choice a lot. I think you guys might have just said my two favorites. Wow. I think for me, I would say Crunchberry, Captain Crunch Crunch Burries. Okay.

All the drawbacks of a standard Captain Crunch, where it just, you know, shreds your mouth and all that kind of stuff. But also, I don't, I think the Crunchberries don't, like, add any exciting new dimension to the flavor. where it's like, yeah, we've all had fucking fruit loops before. That's fine. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Underrated, I'll go Apple Jacks. Apple Jacks, I think, are sometimes seen as inferior to tricks. I think they're delicious. And I also think that sometimes Apple Jacks are seen as sort of like a two children-y. But they're really tasty. and I would say Apple Jacks would be in my underrated cereal. All right. So that was a fun quiz.

Sean had to bail. Technical difficulties. Technical difficulties. We are actually rejoining you after the show was completed to do the end of the show, which sounds timely, whimy, but please do understand that we did an overrated, underrated, favorite, least favorite on breakfast cereals. It was very entertaining, except for the parts in which Lambert shit on Apple Jacks. Uh, we, we, we, we, we can't bring it to you because Sean's, uh, recording got, uh, fucked up, but we'll just say goodbye. We, we felt we needed to at least say goodbye and not just have the show end in a weird way. Because then like, you'll, it'll be like, oh, God, they get, they get coronavirused or whatever. And, uh, no, we didn't get coronavirused yet. Although we may have because we may be asymptomatic. That's the mystery of the disease. You never know. Um, anyway, I'm Greg Wichinsky. You can read my column of the wish list every Thursday. I, I

ESPN. Today it was about virtual reality. And I got to make a reference to the amazing virtual reality scene in the movie Disclosure, in which a digitized Michael Douglas spends 20 minutes looking for a file when he could have just opened up a laptop and found it within the span of 45 seconds. The thing I was plugging earlier was check out the Pucksoo Patreon. We did it just an hour and a half-ish, bonus episode about the Hockey Hall of Very Good, where, you know, one player from every team either gets put in to the Hall of Very Good from nothing,

or they get pulled out of the Hockey Hall of Fame and drop down a level. We also do Christ. Misan Pod, the Top Chef podcast. Oh, yeah. Which we did Restaurant Wars this week. It was a wild-ass episode, honestly, of the show, maybe not of our. podcast about the show, but the show itself was wild. What else? What else? Oh, we

have the mailbags every single week. We have me doing Stick to Sports with Sean Gentilly. I do a newsletter twice a week on there right now. So yeah, lots of content and at a very good price. Frankly, we're giving you a deal. So sign up. And then I think Sean just plugged the athletic. And that was it. Yeah, read Sean's stuff at the athletic. I mean, obviously.

This week he ranked a very funny column where he ranked all of the Red Wings losses by more than four goals, I think. Yeah. Yeah. And there were like 15 or 20 of them. So lots to get through. So, yeah, that's what he plugged. If I remember my list, overrated Frost and Flakes, underrated Apple Jacks, which you don't like.

Favorite, cinnamon toast crunch, least favorite kicks was my list. What did I say? I don't remember what I said was overrated now. Underrated, I said, was special K. Right. Favorite with Lucky Charms.

You essentially mean ecstasy. That's right. You gave me a wink on that one. Yeah, ketamine, I think you mean. But Lucky Charms is my favorite. And, yeah, I said my least favorite because it was marketed as a kid cereal and it didn't really taste like candy, so it lost a lot of points in my book was Apple Tats. You guys like doing drugs?

Like do you guys do like doing drugs? Get any of that special K-Exasy on you? The classic kind. Sean's, his favorite was beaver pelt cereal. His underrated was the little mosque on the prairie cereal, like the Chinese. cereal that they had. His favorite was Doug Gill Smoors. That's not bad. You know what? That's better than any

transition to an ad you've ever done. That's pretty good. Your new job now on the show is coming up with a pun Canadian serials. And what was his least favorite cereal then? His least favorite was the freaking saying the Atlanta thrashers and the Winnipeg Jets are the same team. He freaking hates when you do that for some reason. Like he's from fucking Winnipeg.

Who gives a shit? But the thing is that, and we didn't talk about this in the show because I don't want to fucking deal with it. Set him off. There's a lot of other people that agree with him. There's a lot of people in our mentions that are just like, yeah, they're all in the great of Winnipeg area. It's a very bizarre hill to die on.

Like, it's, like, maybe it's just because, like, like as a kid growing up, like when I would look at the devil's yearbook, like, it, you'd look at it and it was just like, Rocky Trotcheye would be part of the fucking list of the leading scores and team history. And you're like, that's weird or Wilf Paymont, you know, or some shit from like the Rockies and Scouts days. And it's just like, that's because it's all one big franchise. Yep. Like, why do, why do people, like, like, when the, when the hurricanes wear the Whalers, when the hurricanes wear the whaler stuff. Everybody was mad about it And then we should have been

I don't know man It's all one big franchise Can you can you imagine like Like like saying that the Hartford Whalers Are some separate entity from the hurricanes And yet fucking Ron Francis and Glenn Wesley Are both like formative players for both franchises This makes no fucking sense

Look Who do you think you're arguing against? I agree with you Apparently Sean He's not here though Good All right Loser

that's the show for this week You know it's funny When he left He said we said we're going to talk shit of him We literally said we weren't going to talk shit about it And I remember him I remember saying no We're not going to talk shit if you're just going to end the show

And A At the end of the show is now six minutes And B we talk shit at him So we just lied Yeah We're we're liars All right Thanks for listening

Everybody I'll talk to next week Bye See ya Sticks and hits and goals And saves and slapshots and goons We've got Sportly comment to whatever you commute.

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