Puck Soup - Sophia Jurksztowicz

Episode Date: November 15, 2018

Greg and Dave welcome Sophia Jurksztowicz to the podcast to talk about Toronto hockey, Don Cherry, her loathing of 'A Star Is Born' and the scary joys of freelancing. Plus, Gary Bettman's Hall of Fame speech, Tom Wilson's suspension reduced, the concussion lawsuit's end, NJ.com tries to hire a beat writer that's really an intern, a full "one quarter season" rundown of everyone in the NHL, the passing of Stan Lee and who you're most embarrassed for in hockey right now. Brought to you by Hockeywood: A Novel, Seat Geek and Leesa!

Today's episode of Pucksey was sponsored by Hockeywood by J.S. Oppenheim. Hockeywood is a fictional novel about a legendary hockey player attempting a comeback when he learns his dad, the coach of the Toronto Mounties, has terminal cancer in hopes of helping him win the Stanley Cup before he dies. But then on the eve of the Stanley Cup final, he is forced to choose between sacrificing himself and betraying his dying father. Intrigue, Dave Lozo. Hockeywood is a love letter to the sport written. by a hockey fan for hockey fans. Every sale benefits to charities, a dollar a piece from each copy. Luke Robitized echoes of hope charity, helping at-risk and emancipated foster youth, and end

brain cancer, the latter in honor of the author's brother, who is currently fighting the disease. The book is available at Hockeywood-Dash-Novel. That's Hockeywood, all-one word dash novel.com, and on Amazon Kindle, use the promo code. Puck Soup, all one word, all caps. P-U-C-S-O-U-P, all-C-S-O-U-P, all-C-C-S-O-C-U-C-O-C-O-C-W for 15% off through Hockeywood-NoVoW. 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 tools. It's your weekly bowl of hoggoules. I'm Greg Wyshinsky of ESPN. I am Dave Lozo, and I work at the same place Greg does. And you're in Puck Soup. I say this in a formal way, Dave Lozo, because as you know,

I was at the greatest temple man ever built to the greatest game on ice, the Hockey Hall of Fame. We're boys on the pond, you're. to dream about going when they played all the way into their 70s, and they say to their grandchildren, look at what I did. My face is etched on a glass plaque next to Bernie Ferdrko. Ready, hear me out.

Wouldn't the Hockey Hall of Fame be better if you didn't know who was getting in until that Monday? Like, you knew the finalists and all eight were on stage, or however many it is. And then, like, they just picked the winners, announced the winners one at a time. because I feel like there's like three different like moments where we talk about the Hall of Fame people. And then it's just like, yeah, we already know all the Hall of Fame people where you told this months ago. I'd rather have the big reality show reveal where like it comes down to like Gary Bettman and like Patrick Eliash. And they're just sitting there on the stage and only one more is going to get their name called. That would add that would have some drama for me.

It would have some drama for sure. You know, everybody loves a good reality show. I would point out that this would mean Doug Wilson standing on a stage every year. for the last 23 years while getting passed over. I'm just saying that would be a story because, like, as opposed to everybody writing the same stories about the same guys, you could then have more, there'd be more angles. I think I really just solved the Hall of Fame problem because, as you know, no one goes to

the Hall of Fame. I just really, I just put it on the right track. I look forward to, you know, that sort of set up and then someone going up to Doug Wilson being like, so you're kind of the Susan Lucci of the Hall of Fame. And Doug Wilson's like, who the fuck is Susan Lucci? Oh, he would know who Susan Lucci is. He's old enough. I think so.

Yeah. He's old enough. I, listen, my thoughts on the Hall of Fame are this. I love the Hall of Fame itself. I think the collection of shit in the Hall of Fame is one of my favorite hockey things. One of my favorite things about Wayne Gretzky, actually, is that he is such a hockey nerd that he would disguise himself. I don't know how. I mean, I assume like Trump said about voting, it would be he puts on a hat and a different jacket and then sneaks back into the Hall of Fame to vote again.

He disguises himself and goes to the Hall of Fame just because he's such a hockey nerdy, wants to see all the shit there. And to me, that's like the epitome of what the Hall of Fame is. Like, you just could spend a day there and marvel at jerseys from around the world and see all the cool shit from different players and everything else. The selection of players to the Hall of Fame is probably my least favorite thing. about the Hall of Fan. Even though I am somebody who obviously geeks out about it every year and puts odds on the players and shit like that, it's kind of a fucked up process, don't you think? Wait, what's wrong with the process? Well, first of all, it's clandestine. We don't know anything about who voted for what or how they got in. But I also think it's inherently, you know,

political. And listen, I, we're going to talk about Batman, obviously, but like, it will forever pissed me off that Gary Betman got into the Hall of Fame as an acting commissioner and we had to wait until Pat Burns fucking died before he got in the Hall of Fame. Like that will forever piss me off.

Well, in his speech, was he very self-deprecating? Because from what I understand, he plans on to not retire ever. So that seemed like a horrible thing they'll drop on people at the Hall of Fame. Like, wait, what? He's going to keep doing this forever. Hold on, Dave.

Are you trying to tell me that, like, millions upon millions upon millions plus other millions, times millions other hockey fans, you did not watch the Hockey Hall of Fame induction speeches? I'm going to tell you, Greg. No. Don't care. That's what I mean. I already know who's in. I could probably, like, bullet point all the speeches to some varying degrees. but yeah like I haven't watched the I don't think I've ever watched this I've never got to cover it I've never I don't even think it's oh you know what it's on the NHL network right I don't have the NHL network I can't watch it if I wanted to anyway because like the NHL network isn't part of like my sports package that I get with my cable I get the NFL network I get all the other networks but somehow the NHL network holds itself above all the other networks where I'm like yeah I'm not paying an extra 10 bucks a month for you know old highlights of the 1988 Smyth

and playoff game between the flames and the oilers. So, no. Once in future Puck Soup guest, Jamie Hirsch, throwing her iPod against the wall, or iPhone or whatever she uses, against the wall in anger right now over this snub. It's not so much a snub as much as it is a cable package tier situation that's untowable. Ah, I see. I see. Well, now she's got tears. So the summary of the speeches goes like this.

Marty Bredor cried a lot. Marty San Luis, I was small. Jana Hefford, give more opportunities to more diverse people so you can make hockey better. Rilly O'Ree, give more opportunities to more diverse people to make hockey better. Oh, and also, you wouldn't fucking believe the shit I went through. Gary Betman. Oh, wait, Russian guy. The Canadians loved me.

And also, I said that Canada invented hockey, so now they really love. of me. Gary Bettman, I'm going to talk for 23 minutes. 23 minutes. Okay, okay. So now a follow-up question. Is that like a long speech at the Hockey Hall of Fame? Because I was picturing like a 10 to 15 minutes speech.

It is a, I heard from somebody at the Hall of Fame that he nearly broke Messier's record for longest speech. But the only reason Messier went, hold on. But the only reason Messier went long was because he cried like all the time. Like, Betman did not cry. Spoiler warning. Wait, did Batman go last? No, he went fucking first.

He went first, and they were cutting back to, like, Brador and San Luis in the seats, and their, you know, their fucking speeches are written on the back of an envelope, basically, and, like, Batman's on minute 16, and both these guys are literally just rolling their eyes in the crowd. It's fucking great. Listen, my stance on Batman, we talked about this, I think, when he got in.

Like, what's the fucking problem with waiting? Like, what is the fucking issue with just waiting? Like, there's no reason to put him in now. I don't think, unless there's something going on with him that we don't know, but I don't think there is because he literally said that he's never quitting, that he's going to be here forever. Well, he is old. I mean, he is at that age when people do die sometimes, so maybe that was kind of part of it.

I don't know. I don't know, dude, but, like, to me, he's a whole, He's obviously a Hall of Famer. No, he's not. He's obviously a Hall of Famer. He's a builder. He built things. He built a bigger league.

He built a few vacation homes for his owners because they got a lot more fucking money under his watch. I think he's a Hall of Famer. But I also think that there is absolutely no way for anybody who is a National Hockey League fan to appreciate anything this man has done while he's commissioner. Because he's paid to be a lightning rod of criticism for the league and play. and plays the role quite well, and also is going to oversee probably yet another work stoppage in the next couple of years.

So, like, maybe we take a step back and let the toxicity drain a little bit before we go and celebrate the life and career of a man who at the moment is, without question, the most popular, one of the most unpopular people in sports. I don't know, man, 23-minute speech? Like, how many, like, standing ovations were there? Like, how many times people get up and, like, really, really cheer?

Seven. It was incredible. It was Obama at the DNC. It was the most inspiring speech that anyone had ever seen. Listen, in Gary's defense, you made fun of him for that, you know, I'm not going anywhere kind of thing. But like he had some chuckles in the speech. The line about, you know, me getting into the Hockey Hall of Fame forever tells you it's not a popularity contest. It's a very, very funny joke.

I enjoyed it. Can't believe you made that joke. Didn't see that come in at all once out in advance. Good one, Gail. He didn't do the thing I thought he was going to do, which is the, you know, all these cheers, I'm not used to it. Can I hear some booze? Yeah, but he basically did that joke, though. Good one, Gary, good one. Nice.

Yeah, yeah. Good one, Gary. Yeah, good one, Gary. Yeah, good one, Gary. Carl Haggwin? By the way, how does Carl Hagelin get a goal and two assists playing almost the entire season with Malkin and Castle? Like, how the fuck does that happen? I can't believe.

Like, the Eastern Conference is so weird, man. Like, the devils are in last place, but they're seven, eight and one. And then, like, the penguins are like, two spots up ahead of the devils. Like, I feel like there's really no need to sort of, like, panic at this point. But, hey, if you have to trade Carl Hagelin to send a message, I don't know. Sure. Why not? All right.

We're going to get to that in a second. I want to finish off on a couple of Hall of Fame things. First of all, it's the greatest thing ever that reporters, when they cover the Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony and want to talk to all of the dignitaries there, it's amazing that we have to work the red carpet. Like, we're a bunch of fucking Joan Rivers is out there working the red carpet and talking to guys as they come in with their arm candy. It's pretty great.

Secondly, a new trend amongst red carpet players that don't want to talk to the media. dudes that are in the Hall of Fame not wearing their Hall of Fame blazers. So they're not readily identified as Hall of Famers. It's pretty fucking clandestine and ninja-like. Oh, so even like people who are already in the Hall of Fame walk their red carpet too? Oh, yeah. I mean, like to go sit down. So basically, for those who don't know, the entire thing takes place in a mall,

which I guess makes it appropriate that Bredor got in. The whole, like downstairs is a food court and the media hangs out there. and that's also where the entrance to the actual hockey hall fame is. Upstairs, they set up a bunch of chairs and do the ceremony literally in the middle of a mall. So there's a red carpet that goes from like the front door all the way to where the seats are. And people walk the red carpet. You know, luminaries like Patrick Burke walked the red carpet. And then all like the TV station set up.

So like the smart reporters just go sit by TSN because they know that if anybody really, really famous is coming in, they're going to go sit down with Pierre and Frank, Frank. Cerevelli, and then we'll get him afterwards. So that's how one gets to talk to Wayne Gretzky at the Hall of Fame. Gretzky came in last, the surprise of no one. One imagines that Wayne was probably, you know, hydrating for the Hall of Fame ceremony, as he's wont to do. He came in, and he sat down with TSN, and then he was mobbed by all these reporters.

And, like, the Hockey Hall of Fame's a weird deal, because, like, it's a place to go and talk to the most famous and impactful players in the history of hockey. But it's also kind of like one of those sort of hands-off kind of deals where it's like, we're kind of just asking these questions about the players that are going in and who would you like to see it and the grandeur of the Hall of Fame ceremony. But there's always one person that's trying to like be Johnny Newsbreakers. There's a dude from like a Canadian radio station going around and asking all the players about the concussion lawsuit being settled, which I understand.

It's news and you want to get these people's opinions. but like what's Wayne Gretzky going to tell you about that? He came up and put a recorder in Gretzky's face and he's like, you know, any reaction to the players only getting $22,000 in a concussion lawsuit? I know I don't really follow the news and da-da-da-da. It's so awkward. Wait, is Wayne Gretzky just congested Sidney Crosby?

Or is that tired of Sidney Crosby? No, there was no, there was no, I know, I, you know, I, uh, yeah. See, that's funny because like I, I always pictured it like, um, like when we cover like the Stanley Cup final and they do media day. I always figured like it was like a room and like people were just kind of hanging out and you can just go up to them and talk to them over the course of like a half hour. I didn't think it was like this rushed sort of thing. It's a whole thing. There is it there is a media day for the, the thing is there's a media day for the people getting in um, during the weekend.

the other people. Yeah, that makes sense. But not, you can't, you can't go, like, grab fucking Larry Robinson like I did at the hall. He's not just, like, wandering around the Hall of Fame, like, looking to talk to reporters. Yeah, it's an interesting process. I don't know, man. Like, like I said, Betman, I just don't quite understand the idea of putting him in now. I just don't.

Like, is it a situation where they thought that Willie O'Re was going to give him enough cover where people are going to be so, like, happy that Willie got in that no one would notice Batman spoke for 23 minutes about, about him. self in lockouts. I was going to say, like, yeah, you can't talk for 23 minutes then if that's going to be your game plan. You can't just, you can't just like, like, how long is the actual, is it like two hours? Like, is it the, like the show, whatever you would call it? And I, it felt, it felt like six, but it was probably only about two. Right, 23 minutes, man. Like, yeah, like 23 minutes. It was fucking nuts, but

wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, he did, he did, he did mention lockouts, though, I was impressed. I didn't think he would, and he did. I'm curious, like, so when he gets up on stage, is like everybody who's covering the event just hit like the start button on their stopwatch to see how long it's going to be and then there's like 50 people in the room but stopwatch is going to see how long it is so they can tweet it out

Gary Betman's speech was 23 minutes 14 seconds yes it's just like the attendance at a playoff game you know for you have you have to be first attendance no I only I only knew because I had to record it like I had to like write a story off of it oh yeah I don't know man

it was it was just like really? You know, that's kind of, you know, if there was a slogan for the hockey Hall of Fame class of 2018, it would be, ugh, really? Before we get on to real hockey stuff and not like Hall of Fame stuff, the class of 2019, my prediction, as I wrote about on ESPN this week, I think Alpherson gets in because, you know, we started off talking about what the Hall of Fame is. The Hall of Fame above all else is a business. And I have a hard time believing that of the most popular player for a franchise in the same province as the Hockey Hall of Fame wouldn't get in this next year because there's no one else really that's a first year guy that's going to get

in like Le Covellié, Dan Boyle, Brad Richards, Patrick Eliasch. None of those guys are going to get out on the first ballot. So you need to get somebody in there. And I would be really actually genuinely shocked if it's not Alfredson next year. That's not to say he's a Hall of Famer. I just think strategically and from a marketing standpoint he's a Hall of Famer based on what these guys do. Well, I think what you're forgetting is, is the huge popularity and the huge draw of Sergei Zuboff. And once he's announced and he's finally given his spot in the Hall of Fame,

like, there will be a line outside the door days in advance, people camping out, trying to get in and just get a glimpse of Sergei Zuboff. So I see your point about Alpherson, but I think the power of Sergei Zuboff will be enough next year. Breaking news. We now take you live to Toronto CPC 14 Hey everybody There's a crazy storm of calculators

and pocket protectors that has encompassed most of Toronto Apparently everybody threw them in the air in celebration When Sergei Zubov was elected Of the Hall of Fame, all of the analytics people Calculators, you can just look at his career stats for God's sakes You don't even have to go beyond games and points

Oh, I can't We can't do this We already did it at the live show. My formal prediction is Alpherson gets in. Obviously, Haley Wickenhizer gets in. I think they probably put in a defenseman next year. They haven't put in a defenseman in the last three classes. So that's going to either be your Alford mentioned Sergei Zuboff,

Sergei Gonchar, Doug Wilson, who very much deserves to be in, or Kevin Lowe, who Gretzky wants in. So I think it's going to be a defenseman and Daniel Alpherson and Haley Wickenhizer. And my other part of the prediction is, I think kindly old Jim Rutherford gets into the Hall of Fames of Builder. It just seems like it's around time and he just signed an extension. And it's a good story in Pittsburgh will care. And Lou got in when he was an acting GM as well, if you remember. Era.

I see far too many mustaches in this crowd. What year did Lou get in? I don't even remember. I don't remember either. It wasn't recent, though. I guess it probably was recent. Was he still with the devils at the time or no? I think he was, you're at the devils at the time.

See, as much as I did not want to have Gary Betman speak for 23 minutes, I want Jim Rutherford to speak for 23 minutes. And then they said I was too old. And then I got another job. And I won two of the shiny cups. And I said to Jason Botterill and I said to Bill Guerin, you can go away now. I'm staying.

Go to Buffalo. they need someone. Have a Wurthers. Do you know how many of these Wothers I could fit inside the Stanley Cup? Let's find out. I was supposed to just kind of come over there and be a band-aid for the penguins, but I decided to be a whole new limb instead. Yeah, you're always hearing that. He always said that he's a whole new limb.

The whole new limb. A general manager that won't leave. Jason Bauderol got out of town. Chated Ryan O'Reilly to the blues. He had to leave. Okay. I wanted to see where that was going. That was good.

Yeah, it didn't really go anywhere as for usual. So you say, would Albertson be in your Hall of Fame? Probably not, right? Hall of Very Good. That's what I mean. Like, based on the standards of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Yeah, like, he's probably going to get in, but I don't, like, consider him. I don't know.

Like, uh... Would you put in Elias for Alfredson? Probably. But, like, not by much more, you know? Like, I think Eliash is, like, he's, like... I think Eliotch fits the, fits the parameters for the actual hockey Hall of Fame, and I think he's, like, pretty close to being an actual real Hall of Fame with his accomplishments and his stats and everything, but...

I don't know. The thing is, is like, your argument makes a ton of sense where it's like, we got to have a big name go in and Daniel Robertson and all that sort of stuff. But, like, if he's like the big name of the year, that's not like. Oh, well, you see, hold on. The other part of my prediction is I think Don Cherry gets in next year as a builder. He's not in yet. I think next year without there being a giant headliner, like in a Ginla or, you know, any of the other people that have retired recently, like, to me it's like the perfect year to be like this is Don Cherry's year and have all those you know

conservatives I hate the pinko commies go to the Hall of Fame and like wear their loud jackets and celebrate the enshrinement of their dear leader Don Cherry but can you be a builder if you're always talking about how European players are bad like that's not really building the game that's not building that's the opposite of building look look I'm building a Canadian majority, get the Europeans out of the league, building a good Ontario boy league, that's building. And that was Pierre McGuire doing Don Cherry.

It's all the fucking scene. There are two different impressions. Look, get the Europeans out of the corners, start a fight, get them out of there, go back to Ruski where you belong. Pierre McGuire, Doc Kennedy. Do the same thing, but just throw Doc and Eddie in front of it, but you were already doing Pierre McGuire.

I didn't realize. It's actually, it's a difference in tempo in the impressions. Don Cherry is much more, you know, staccato, halting, and you point your thumb every time you talk, like Bill Clinton, and then Pierre McGuire. And yeah, and then Pierre McGuire is more sing-song. Doc and Eddie points every bit of course, what to the, you know, that's, you know, that's more of the...

You're an artist. You don't have a... Oh, fuck. Dude, it's the subtle differences. As we've talked about in the show before, theirs goes, dun, dun,

din, my goes, din, dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun. It's all about context. I apologize. That's my fault. I know.

You should apologize. And of course, we just made a vanilla ice and queen reference. And as you know, if you ever want to get out there to see, incredible artists like vanilla ice or queen.

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A little dusting. Why does it make you sad, man? Winter's the best. Falls the best. Winter's second. Rank the seasons. Come on, Dave Liza. What?

What? Winter's the second best season? You spend three months in the darkness and the cold? That's your second. favorite season? Oh, yes, it's the greatest. It's the best. Because it also has Christmas and it has snow and it has, I look infinitely better dressed in layers than I do in the summer.

Just saying. Winter. Wait, so rank the seasons. I'll rank them. My seasons are autumn, winter, spring, and summer. Summer's last. Yeah, I hate summer. Man.

All you do is sweat. Well, the problem, too, is where we live. There's really only, like, two seasons. It's, like, hot for five months. It's cold for five months. And then you get, like, one month of spring and one month of fall. Yeah. And I should say that, like, my answer is also greatly affected by where I live in the sense

that the wintertime is a time where I can get into any restaurant that I want because nobody leaves their house. And in the summer, there's an increasing smell of urine in the entire city. Like, by the time. you hit August, it literally smells like you live inside of a toilet. Yeah, it's the fucking worst. The hot urine smell on the subway tracks and the platform

is, um, it's not in every platform, but like you know which ones it is when you get the, you know, yep, yep, I know right, I know right. Oh, and also, I mean, speaking of the subway, I mean, like, many subway systems, many subway systems, many subway systems around the world have things like, um, palpable

air conditioning and, uh, comfort and things that nature while you're waiting for the trains. Not so much in New York. Like, the trains themselves are fine. They're nice and cool when you get on the train. But, like, wait for that fucking train when you're underground. And it's, like, it's literally, like, standing inside of a toaster oven, waiting

for a fucking train to come. It is the worst. So summer sucks. I hate summer. But you rank, you rank the seasons. Um, I go fall, summer, spring, winter. I would rank spring higher if, like, I didn't spend one month of the six weeks of spring in, like, allergy hell.

But, but, but, you. Yeah, but the problem too with winter is like, like you live in New York, you don't really have to drive too much. But like the like the slightest bit of rain or snow messes up the subway sometimes, which doesn't make any sense because the subway is underground. Not all of it though. Not all of it. Like once you get out to Queens and stuff, you're above ground. Yeah, but like, you know, that was always that was always something very interesting when I lived in Virginia.

Like they would cancel school for what was basically a light rain. and it's because other parts of Loudoun County where I lived were like mountainous and shit. So while it was like light rain where I was living, like it was like a six, seven inches of snow and nobody can get to their houses because it's like one lane roads all the way up the mountain kind of shit. So the schools would be canceled. I have a different opinion about the snow in the city, of course, because I do have a car here. So when it does snow a lot, if your car gets snowed in, it's usually no opposite side of the street parking rules in effect for like two weeks. It's fucking great. It's like Christmas every morning.

All right. We're going to talk about... That's right. Talk about the government. So we are going to talk about the NHL for a second, because you guys like to talk about hockey. Most of the teams in the league have played 18 games,

which means that by the time many of you listen to this, they'll have played around 20 games, which means this time for the puck soup, one quarter poll review. of the National Hockey League. I'm just going to say this now so no one says it to you.

It's not the quarter pole. One quarter season. I just don't want people to yell at you because that's totally a thing people do and it's just, it's annoying. But yeah. Three quarters left. Let's start in the Metropolitan Division.

As we do the show, the Columbus Blue Jackets had 22 points. the Islanders and the Rangers inexplicably are second and third of the division. It makes no sense. It's a great division in the sense that as of right now, the Islanders and the Penguins

are the only two teams with a positive goal differential. And the Penguins have lost six in a row. Is that what they mean? Right, right. And the Penguins lost, no, they only lost one in a row to the Devils as we do the show, but they have been very middling five, four, and one in their last ten. Of course, as we mentioned before, traded Carl Hegeland for Tanner Pearson.

Kudos to the LA Kings, by the way, for acquiring a faster player while also acquiring yet another older player. It's good. Dude, with progress. Whenever the Penguins make those one-for-one trades at this point, I'm always like,

oh, man, Penguins just got like a 30-gold guy that isn't a 30-gold guy yet, right? And Tanner Pearson had 24, I think, playing with Jeff Carter. And, like, you could see the fucking writing on the wall. It's like, you know, it's the classic Jimmy Rutherford. I buy low and then watch him score many goals

you know kind of thing and so like you know he basically traded Kaspari Kappen and a one for Kessel he bought low on all these guys you know and and then they wound up being great players so it's just kind of what he does so

yeah I think Tanner Pearson's gonna work out really fucking well for the penguins and as for the kings like they got that contract off their books he had one assist in like a billion games probably was time to move on and like they could flip high one maybe for even like what, like a second or third round pick at the deadline for somebody who really wants them. Yeah.

Yeah. It's funny. Like, if you look at the standings, like, the Kings are, like, the only really bad team right now. Like, the East is, like, I think if the Devils win three straight, they're in the wild card spot still. Like, it's all jam-packed. And, like, the West is pretty much the same thing. But the Kings, man, like, they're not done. That's too strong of a word.

But, like, man, I'm surprised by how bad they are still. I just... Yeah. And, like, you go into... the numbers and it's not simply just like, oh, you know, they've had some bad luck or whatever. Like they're pretty fucking terrible. Like, you know, they're last in even strength goals for and, and, you know, every metric you can possibly apply to that team, it's just bad. And it's kind of crazy. Like, I mean, everybody kind of knew that, that, you know, Copatar would probably

regress a bit and what have you. But I mean, I didn't think, I knew they weren't going to be, we, we both agreed they weren't going to be a playoff team, but I don't think either of us thought they'd be this fucking bad. No, it's, it's, it's, look, Southern California had a really good run with hockey, uh, the ducks, the kings. They had some good, they had some good times, but, you know, we have to, we have to face facts. Like, hockey is now an Ohio-based Columbus sport and that's where we have to go now for our hockey. There are only bad teams in SoCal. SoCal has only bad teams. If you're looking for bad teams, look no further than SoCal. Dear Jim,

I would kill to get out of SoCal, signed Ornthal. Rackham. All right, I'm done. Columbus is, of course, as you mentioned, leading the division. And, oh, look what happened. Sergei Barovsky isn't dog shit anymore. He got good. He got good again.

He's doing well. Will he sign there? Probably not. Will Panarin sign there? Absolutely not. But for now, good vibes all over the place as they surge up the standings to the top of the Metropolitan Division. They're going to play just well enough so that they can't trade them at the deadline.

They're going to be like in that third spot in the division or the first wild card spot, and everyone's going to be like, oh, you can't trade him. You have to go for it. You're in the playoffs. And then they're going to fall out of the playoffs or like get knocked out in the first round. They get nothing for those two guys. It's going to be fired. I'm telling you, Broxie, playing just good enough is how you keep your job.

That's how you do it. You just play good enough. Broxy. Hall of Famer, Bruxie. all the famer books. Larry Brooks, all the famer. Larry Book, I know that you and I disagree on Larry Books. I get it. It's fine.

You like him. I don't. But he gave like a speech about journalistic integrity. I'm just like, come on. Not a fan. You make up trade rumors. It's kind of what you do. It's all right.

The flyers, the capitals, the Carolinas, the Pittsburghs, as you mentioned, the devils. They're all kind of just a jumble. You know, and like the Flyers, if they get better goaltending, sure. Carolina actually is getting good goaltending, so that's encouraging. Wait, hang on, hang on. If the flyers get good goaltending. Hmm.

Why is that always seemingly the story? I don't know. I feel like I've heard that before, but yeah, yeah, you're right. If they just get someone to stop the puck a little more, they could be okay. Sure. I should mention I should mention now, by the way, that I track down the biggest story of the week. Gritty will not be in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

I hate to inform all of you. What's the Friday? Is there a Friday hockey game still? Do they still do the Thursday? There is a Friday hockey game, but that's not the reason why. I asked the flyers, and they said that Gritty is staying local. Apparently Philadelphia has its own Thanksgiving Day parade. I guess sponsored by Gimbles

And so Gritty's going to be there Gritty's going to be at the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day parade I kind of want to know about the Gritty guy in the suit Because I feel like Gritty is everywhere every day And there has to be like more than one person who wears the suit Because it's just it seems exhausting being We're like two months into the season And I still see Gritty like three times a week

at various, like, mall openings or, like, other sporting events, and it's like, someone give Gritty a day off, man. Gritty needs to just sit at home and just put his feet up for a little bit. You're going to wear him out, man. I disagree. I feel like this is somebody who's been waiting for his big break for his entire life, and he is now living the character. I think it's one of these deals where by the end of December, we're going to have, you know,

reports from Philadelphia that the performer inside the suit does not know where he ends and gritty begins anymore. Like he just keeps a suit on all day. Yeah, yeah. It's like, it's like, it's like, you know, it's like the symbiote suit for Spider-Man. He just doesn't know how to get it off.

It's constantly on him. It's making him dance like in Spider-Man 3. I much prefer the symbiote suit on Tom Hardy, of course. Eddie, we have an incredible, successful worldwide movie, Andy. office in China, Eddie. Oh, I get doggone? By the way, did you realize that Batman versus Superman made like $875 million at the box office?

Yeah, because, yeah, I mean, like, no idea. I thought it was like a box office bomb. It was not. No, in like the first couple weeks it made all that money. Because, I mean, literally people have been waiting, you know, their entire lives to see Batman fight Superman in a movie. So even if it's a shitty fight, you're still going to tune in for it. Yeah. I mean, it's like, it's like buying a Tyson pay-per-view in the late 1980s.

You're just still going to watch it, even know it's going to blow. It's going to be 30.7. It's going to be over. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Batman versus Superman was the Tyson McNeely of superhero movies, but you're still going to watch it.

What the hell was I talking about? Oh, yeah, the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade. I imagine it's just a series of Santa Claus balloons that are pelted by snowballs. Yes, there it is. Thank you. There's my dad. So Gritty's going to be in Philly,

which does mean, though, that the NHL and the Macy's people have a full year to, design and inflate a gritty balloon for 2020 or 19 2019. That's all I fucking want. There's another Star Wars movie coming out, but the thing that will keep me going more than that is to see a gritty balloon next Thanksgiving. Wait, what's the Thanksgiving Friday game this year? Do you know, top of your head? I don't.

It's a bunch of teams playing, but I think it's the Rangers and Flyers or Flyers and Bruins. One of those two. So if it is the Flyers, like the, like what prevents, is it like copyright? Like if the Macy's parade, like, just inflated a gritty balloon, like, where they get sued? They can't just do it on their own. They can't do it on their own. The NHL has to make one. All the balloons are like to market shit.

Like there's a fucking elf on a shelf balloon. It's not as a, it's not like, the Macy's isn't like the Hall of Fame where they're like, we'll create a balloon for you. We've bestowed a balloon upon you, elf on a shelf. No, fucking companies make balloons. That's what I'm saying is like they're promoting the game the next day. So like, why can't they just do it without gritty? There's, well, first.

First off, it takes a lot of time to make a balloon. Second off, I guarantee you the NHL had no idea Gritty would take off like this. And third of all, they have a float already. They have a float. The NHL always is a float. It's always like, you know, some old player freezing his balls off on Thanksgiving morning and a bunch of kids in jerseys waving. That's what it always is.

No, you're right. The second thing, they didn't think this is going to be a big... Yeah, that's the answer. That's definitely the answer. Yeah. You know, as per usual, with most everything that's gone good at Gary Betman's 10-year-as commissioner, they just kind of stepped in some golden shit. Yep.

And they're so happy. And they're dancing in it now. They hold an outdoor game in Buffalo and it becomes a fucking snow globe. And it goes to a shootout and Sidney Crosby wins it. You know, just like they scripted. Right? So it's like on and on and on. Yep.

Yeah, the devils, I think, are the weirdest team in that division for me because there are times when they've looked extraordinarily good, mostly at home. They're 6-1-1-1. And there are times they've looked like total dog shit, mostly on the road with their 1 and 7. It's a very weird team The Atlantic has the lightning The Leifes and the Bruins In the top three spots

Our beloved sabres are playing extraordinarily well And then there's been a course correction With both Montreal and Ottawa as expected Yeah I really thought Montreal was going to go 755 and 2 That's Can't believe what's happening now But hey You know, Shee Weber's on his

wayback, so anything can happen. Like, that division is the only one that makes sense to me. Like, Tampa, Boston, Toronto. Like, that's that's the only thing that makes sense to me, I think, really in the whole, I guess Nashville too, but yeah, the East is weird, man.

Florida's making their way now. As we do they show, they won five in a row. They're scoring goals in a fucking impressive clip lately. They just can't necessarily always keep them out, but they're getting there. They're getting there. Will they reach the hundred points that I thought they would this season.

I have my doubts, it was a pretty bad start, but I think they'll make the playoffs, which is all I really cared about for our beloved kitty cats. So they'd have to play at what, like a hundred and seventeen point pace the rest of the year to get to 100? Probably not that high, like 110 point pace to get to 100. Yeah. You never know.

Detroit's been a big surprise. Somebody's been pointing out to me, and I love it, that ever since I wrote the story about how the Red Wings changed their Arby's Curly Fries offer from a hat trick for free curly fries to, hey, let's just score three goals in a game for curly fries. They've done it like nine times. It's become like the carrot for them to give everybody free curly fries. That's not like an accomplishment.

It's three goals. Like you shouldn't be like, see, told you we could score three goals. Oh, wow. Hey, baby steps. Come on, baby steps. It's like the Giants having an offer where like, oh, if Eli Manning throws zero interceptions during a game, you can get curly fries to be in like, see, he's done it three of his last six.

games like yeah great that's not hey completed pass to beckham and as you know the moment Eli Manning throws a pass for which his receiver does not have to leap in the air to catch the ball you win free curly fries

Arbys I can't believe they beat the Niners on Monday night I really they were in the driver's seat Greg they were they were they were right there because like hey the Raiders are bad that would have been problem but like the bills um they they blew out some terrible team earlier that week i forget who it was so like they were in a really good spot it sucks yeah uh quick of a football update for me uh my team

got their asses handed to them by the buffalo bills and they can't fight yeah they they can't fire their coach because there's no one else on staff qualified to actually run a team in his stead so they're just going to keep them for the rest of the season then firing it's pretty great Like, you know that job is bad And they're like going to people on the team They were like, hey, would you like to coach his team? And they're just like, I'm not qualified. I'd rather not.

They're going to have to do the New York Mets For thinking outside the box So the general manager job kind of shit Because no one wants the gig. Hey, Jacob de Grom won the Sion. That's got to make you a good. Dateline, New York. A storm of calculators and pocket protectors

Descended upon the populace says all the nerds threw them in the air to celebrate Jacob de Grom winning the Saly-O. It's ERA. It's not complicated. Oh, dude, I'm so happy he won. It is a victory. There have been so many years in the past where guys that have been in his situation did not win. I'm just happy that he happened to do all that shit in New York, so of course he won.

Western Conference, Central Division, National Predators, Minnesota Wild, Winnipeg Jets. Minnesota Wild really turned their shit around, huh? Yeah. Brudeau. He knows how to coach. I mean, he knows how to coach, but like, they're, like, scoring goals left and right. They're playing well. They're old just shit.

I'm just, you know, it's not that he knows how to coach it. It's that he knows how to get teams 100 points in a season, like I said. Like, the minute that guy is behind the bench, it's a 100 point team. He doesn't know how to go. She just knows how to get all this teams 100 points. All right. Fair enough. He's not a good financial planner.

He just knows how to get people money. Nashville's juggernaut as close as one that we have in the league right now. The Jets are weird. I was looking at the stats the other day. The Jets were fifth of the NHL in even-strength goals last year, and they are third from the bottom at even-strength goals this year. It's kind of weird. But they're winning, so that's fine.

Colorado, impressive fucking win over the Bruins this week. the top line, exerting their will and saying that, yes, we are, in fact, the best line in hockey. Yeah, Miko Rattinan, man. That's our boy. Is it our boy? I think Nathan McKinnon's our boy on that line. I feel like we can't claim Miko Rantin because I don't think we really ever said his name on the podcast

more than once ever before, like, the last two weeks. It would be disingenuous of us to do that. Dallas is, I don't know what the fuck Dallas is, a horrible possession team with a completely injured blue line that is just, if they're kind of just there right now. And I didn't think that'd be the case. I thought they'd be pretty good this year, but they're just kind of there. Speaking of regression, the Blackhawks, we talked about call it and getting hired, right?

That was a thing we talked about, right? Yeah, well, I mean, we talked about last week, but the thing we didn't talk about because I think it happened between that last week and this week is how he thought the big problem with the Blackhawks was their lack of joy. they weren't playing with enough joy Oh fuck did he really say that I saw that quote and I was like yeah you know what I mean when they won the cup their joy per 60 was off the charts

Last two years not so much So I think he's identified the problem And he's gonna have it turned around in no time So he sat them all in the room And he said all right boys It stars Jennifer Lawrence Co-stars Bradley Cooper You know the gentleman from a star is born

It's a great movie joy She sells them up St. Louis's last 15 points and 16 games. But they're coming around a little bit. They're not dead in the water. I mean, they're coming around a little bit, but like, Jay Beaumister should probably retire,

and Jake Allen, despite only giving up one goal against the Blackhawks this week, is still a pile of hot garbage, so that's not good. But Ryan O'Reilly's doing really well for the Blues, actually, which is kind of fun. I still think they'll train it around and maybe make the playoffs, but does it have to happen after a coaching change, is the question? I don't know.

I'm not, like, I thought, it's so funny. Like, we do this every year where we're like, like, you know how, like, they send out those odds where it's the first coach to get fired and they give you the list of the odds? It's almost never the coach we all think it's going to be. And then, like, that coach ends up coaching the rest of the gig. I just, I'm at a point now where I'm like, they need to be pretty bad at, like, the All-Star break, I think,

to have him fired. Or, like, not bad, but, like, six points out of the playoffs then. maybe they'll do it. I'll go mid-December. Like, I think they'll do it before that because they spent so much fucking money on this team to not have it be good is unacceptable, I imagine. In the Pacific, the sharks are great. The Pacific, by the way, is the other division where there's only two teams as we do

the show that have a positive goal differential. It's San Jose and Arizona, which is kind of crazy when you consider that Arizona, basically it's the same goals per game and goals against per game. There are plus one on the year. San Jose is great. Vancouver is hanging in, but kind of fading a little bit. Calgary, I mean, we know they're not going to make the playoffs because of their coach, but they're doing pretty good right now.

Edmonton, the ducks are finally falling apart. And Vegas finally got a win, so everybody thinks they're okay now. Arizona is going to go to the playoffs. I'm going to be so mad about it. I just, I knew it. I knew I should have bet it, and I didn't bet it. I'm so dumb. It's possible, especially now that we're,

starting to see what this division actually looks like. But we knew it was going to be bad. We knew there was potential for it, and I just didn't do it. I didn't pull the trigger. I'm a coward. All right. Our guest this week is Sophia Yergovic. I'm sure I butchered her last name, but you'll get to hear what it actually sounds

like in our interview. She is, of course, formerly of Sportsnet, now working with CBC and a bunch of other places. Awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome hockey person that I had a chance to to sit down with in Toronto, Toronto. Also is the co-host of the Jack and Sof podcast with once in future Puck Soup guest, Jackie Redmond. So that's a good deal. They're over on Yahoo, Canada, where I used to be. All right, here's Sophia.

You're going to enjoy this. For the people listening at home, say your last name for the record. No, now, did you say so or sof? I said, Sof. Oh, nice, because I like Soap. Well, it's the name of your podcast. Yes, Jackson's. My last name on record is Yerkeshtovich, or in Polish, Yirkshtovic.

What is the biggest or most memorable butchering of your name? And where does it occur most? Is it at Second Cup? I'm making a Canadian reference to a coffee shop for I am in Canada. Well, I definitely don't give my last name out at Second Cup, because I would just throw everyone for a loop. But what normally happens is people pronounce the J as a hard J. So they go jerk, jerk, jerk.

I'm like, ugh, forget it. It's just jerk. Who cares? Yeah. It's a york. That's good. I could have changed it. And you are Polish and I'm Ukrainian.

Yes. But most people think I am Polish and I imagine you've never been mistaken for a Ukrainian. No, I get Swedish a lot though. Isn't that weird? Well, you look a little Swedish. Yeah, maybe that. You look like you just walked off the Mamma Mia set.

Oh, really? Is that a good thing? Well, I don't know. That took place in Italy, I think, or whatever. So maybe that's a bad Greece. Oh, Jesus, I'm sorry. I didn't see either of the films that had no appeal to me. No.

But you saw both? One. Just imagine I saw one with my ex a long time ago. Funny. I don't hate the music's great. Unimpeachably great pop music. I think Abba's coming back. Did you know that?

They're reuniting. They're reuniting. I don't know how old they are, but I assume in their 60s. I assume it's like, and I'm dating myself here, but like Minuto, where you could just pluck a bunch of Swedes and put them in Abba and say, oh, they're part of the family or whatever the hell it was. Maybe. Are you a pop music officionado? What's your music genre of choice? Oh my music genre of choice, I would say, would be indie.

And I've always really liked rock. but I'm starting to border on blues and country rock. Blues and country rock. I don't know if, how would you classify Chris Stapleton, for example? Probably country rock. Probably country rock. Is this a function of you having seen a star as born and now? No, no.

I thought I did see it and I did not like the movie. Whoa, holy shit. Did you? I really was rather fond of it. Why didn't you like it? And it wasn't because Bradley Cooper was completely inauthentic? Because I feel like he was very inauthentic, and yet people think he's going to win an Oscar for this.

I thought, and I love Lady Gaga in terms of her talent and what her story is. I thought she was very inauthentic. And I thought the story developed way too quickly. Like, date two, she's singing on set. He's calling her up. She's dancing in front of a huge crowd. Like, I just thought it was too rushed. This is very interesting because the claim about her performance in this movie,

or the knock on it, the criticism of it, is that it is too authentic in the sense that she's not acting. It was kind of the same thing that they hit, Courtney Love with when she was in The People versus Larry Flint and she played a junkie. It's like, how hard is that for you? Right. And in this one, it's like, you're Lady Gaga, but you're just toning it down. You're not wearing the meat dress. You're just doing what you are, but now you're doing it in this movie.

So it was too easy? Maybe it's too easy. Maybe that's what it was. I mean, that's the criticism of people, but you felt it was inauthentic. I just thought, yeah, the story developed too quickly. They met that one night. They're in the parking lot. She's written a song in her head.

Oh, that's the fucking truth. That, that happened light speed. Too fast. Too fast. A little bit more character developed. development and I think it would have been a hit. But I don't know how long it was over. I mean, it was a hit.

So who am I to say? Now listen. First of all, for those who don't know, what are you up to now? Because you were on SportsNet and you left. You left amicably or whatever. Yes. Yes. Right.

You shot your eyes over there and it's like one of those things. I listened to a podcast you were on about media and the sports net thing came up and you're just like you punted like you were a CFL kicker. I got another Canadian reference. Canadian reference. Um, is there anything that you wanted to add about that? I mean, like, is it, is it, was it shitty or what? No, it was, um, you know, anytime you are comfortable, and I was pretty comfortable, comfortably uncomfortable in a sense that I was growing and being challenged to do different things,

but the department that I was at essentially folded and what I was hoping. What was that department? It was digital, which is crazy because digital is growing. But the way that our digital department was built, it was being, um, absorbed by other parts of Sportsnet. And what had started about three years ago was that they needed a host or a couple of hosts. They almost hired three hosts to do digital work.

And then they decided that they were going to transition into other ways of covering sports without a host and voiceovers and so. Anyway. Is there any way we can pin this on Steve Dangle? That's just my general question. Yes. I'm just saying that for the show's sake, but probably not. No, no.

So you went freelance. I went freelance, yeah. Which is really cool. It's stressful. Well, okay, so on the one hand, it's super stressful, right? Like, I heard you reference, like, when you, like, on your travel budget and such, you're, like, more cognizant of money and such. But on the other hand, you now can work with whom you'd like in many ways, and that's a good thing.

It has been exciting for sure, but when I look at in terms of, like, the job security and finances, there's definitely something I miss about knowing what I can do with what and what I can plan for. Right. And that's super stressful for sure. And so, but it's challenging. It's grown me. I can work at CBC. I do stuff for Yahoo.

I've been a guest on TSN radio. I haven't been a guest back with SportsNet at all, but still maintain good relationship with most of my colleagues. Well, they're very busy. They had Brian Burke on a lot and he takes up a lot of the oxygen in them. Brian Burke, yes. I actually had an interview with him just a couple days ago for a hockey league. Burkey's, when you have Berkey and you have Maclean, who am I thinking of?

Ron McClellan? Yeah, it's a lot of, just a lot of jabbering. There's also Doug McLean, though, who is. And Doug McLean as well. Also a lot of jabbering, but I love Doug. There's too many McLean's on that station. Well, there are two, but yes. Speaking of Ron McLean, though, I did see that you worked with Cherry, right?

Yes. How is that like? What's he, what, tell us, because Americans, you know, we see them only for a few minutes every week. Okay. We only know him from that. What do you know him from the intermission? Yeah. From Coach's Corner?

So what is, tell us something that would make us not think he's just that. Okay, so I take it that he's not adored. You know, there's some people that say he might be a bit of a dinosaur. I understand for sure that his views, especially those in the past, if you already YouTube, some of the things that come up, I've been controversial and, yeah, and definitely of a dinosaur. But to me, he was nothing. but respectful and not in the sense where some people were asking me, did he treat you like a lady, like almost too softly?

Not at all. Like he allowed me to sit in the war room with him where he watches the games. And he was asking, in my opinion, did you see that check? Did you see that hit? Did you, what about that pass? What about that offside? And he really treated me, I felt like an equal, whereas his hockey knowledge is significantly greater than mine and experience.

That's really important. Yeah. Because those conversations, like you mentioned, could go one of two ways, which is, I'm looking for your opinion, or do you know what the thing you just saw is? Yes. Girl watching hockey? Exactly.

And that's really cool that it went the other way. And you know what? He even, not that he, how do I say this? Obviously, before you do a show, I'm sure that there are times when you might discuss with your co-host or if you ever have been a get on as a guest, you might discuss certain talking points, not to the point where it's rehearsed, but you know what you're going to hit. There's, as much as people believe it's not the case, there is actually a budget for puck soup.

There is. Yeah. Now it looks like one of those conspiracy string things that people put on their walls where there's a person in the middle and all the strings come off in different directions. But we do have some method to our madness. Yeah. So with Don, we discussed, okay, we were talking about the women's game versus Team USA and then this and then that.

And he actually gave me some pretty big significant talking points. And he said, you know what? So I don't need this story. You take it, which is very generous. Yeah, very cool. So now that we're in sort of women in the media moment here, let me ask you this. There's a part of me that believes that there's been no better moment for women in the hockey media or sports media in general because there's a lot of opportunity. On the other hand, it fucking sucks for women in hockey media and sports media because of the internet.

That's pretty accurate. Is that kind of where you think things are? Can you clarify or I guess expand on what you mean about the internet? I mean about the abusive nonsense that could come your way from people feeling that they are entitled to give this to you because A, you're a public figure. and B, they have a platform for it, which is, you know, that platform is, let's not even go down, though, what that platform is, is just the best thing that's ever happened in the media and the worst thing that's ever happened in the media. Yeah, I would definitely agree with you that the internet can suck for sure, but I would

be lying if I said I received a lot of digital abuse. That's good. I really don't, and I'm very blessed because I know men and women do. Sure, I've been criticized. Sure, I have had some Twitter trolls specifically. point out the fact that I'm a woman, therefore I don't know what I'm talking about. But that is very few and far between. And in fact, I get more people defending, not me, just women or knowledge in general.

But it can be tough for sure. Let's talk about working in Toronto. People have always asked me, hey, are you ever going to come up and work in Toronto? And I'm like, I really like the idea of being a large fish in a moderately sized pond. and I come up here and I see the media covering the leaves and it is like schools of fish and they're all fighting over the same flake of food in the tank and it's so intimidating to me

leaf centric was how concentrated the media is around this one subject is it is it tough to be in the hockey media in Toronto with how many people per capita are in the hockey media in Toronto? You know what? It's all I know. So I definitely when I cover the away dressing room, there are fewer people, but half of the media or three quarters, once they finish with the Leafs will run over to the away dressing room too, so it's still pretty crazy.

But it really is all I know. So I've never been in a room where there are four people or 10 people. Like it's usually 20 plus. Like 100 people? Yeah. And half of them work for the team. Yeah. I know.

So in that sense, that's a really good point, but I think I've had to learn how to elbow a little early and just get my questions in, which is obviously a good experience to have. to fight for that. I love it, but I would like to see what it's like with like five people only. You know, well, in New York,

like I've never had that either. Like in Washington, that was never the case. Maybe in the beginning when I was first covering the capitals and Ted Leonces deputized all the blogs to become his own press corps. Like, maybe then it was a little bit looser. But I'm like,

I think of like people who work in Columbus. And I'm like, there's probably a lot of really cool shit to write in Columbus. Yeah. And there's probably only like three other people in that room with you. And I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, because now are you all fighting over the same thing? Are there other stories to tell?

I don't know. No, I don't think so. When I go to the away dressing rooms, a lot of the times I don't have a story, or no one's telling me what my story should be. It's to go find one. And so what I really enjoy is finding the guys that are sitting without the scrum around them

and I'll sit beside them. And obviously, I've done my research prior to see if I can pick at some fun questions and I usually get something great. Well, that's the thing about you that I like is that you have always been someone who is very interested in the total.

of the player away from the rink. Like, the personality is the player. It's always kind of been the thing that you've done, whether it's, you know, going to the biosteal thing, whether it's what you and Jackie Redmond once in future guests of Puck Soup do on your podcast. Like, you're very interested in the stuff away from the rink,

which is interesting because hockey players, by and large, can be, you know, trying to squeeze water out of a stone when it comes to personality sometimes. But I think you do a good job in finding it. Thank you. That's something that I love doing, and it's definitely, finding personalities and exposing them or giving players maybe,

I've had some players even say to me, oh, I'm not normally this open, but it's easy, which is nice. However, I will say back to your comment about women in sport, I don't know, some of the criticism I have received is that I have these personality pieces with athletes, and that doesn't necessarily speak to stats and numbers and knowledge, which has really bothered me. in the past because I just think that there's another story to be told, and I can report on stats,

but everyone else is. The frustrating part of that for me is that if you had written it rather than an interview, you'd have been lauded as, well, this is incredibly insightful, and you've gotten to the core of the athlete. That's such a good point. But since because it's video or audio, they just kind of see it differently. That's such a good point. I never thought about that. It's all for shit.

Tush. Agreed. You, so I wanted to, like I said, I listened to another podcast, you did, and I was very interested in one aspect of your life you didn't get into. You were an au pair in France? Yes. What's that? An au pair.

Well, I know what an au pair is. I've seen the nanny diaries, but. I haven't seen the nanny diaries. Is it good? It's fine. Oh, it's fine. But what did you, how did you get mixed up in that? And in France, no less.

So in Canada, we have to take French immersion up until grade nine, as we are bilingual. And then after that you can drop it. My parents did not let me drop it despite tears and tears and tears. You know, many Americans are also in an immersion program as well. We shop at Home Depot where all of the signs are in Spanish and English. I don't know if you knew that. So I was just going to say, are you required to take Spanish? Well, the way it works is that we can choose what we'd like to study.

Okay. And normally we'd all take Spanish because it's considered to be the easier of the languages to figure out. I've often said that if I could do it all over again, I would have taken a fucking Russian millisecond. Why? Oh, hockey. Because if I could have the foresight to go to Alex of Ep, is going to be like,

Eric, and he's like, oh my God, look at us. We're bonding and you're telling me things that no one else has. That would have been, if I had a time machine, so I'd go back and learn Russian. I mean, granted, there'd be a whole other component of me. I need a time machine and the thing from the matrix that teaches you kung fu by just downloading something

into your brain. Because I don't want to have to spend the time to learn Russian. But you were in France as an au pair. Yeah, so when I, before I graduated grade 12, that's what we have here, before I was off to university. My mom actually, who never took me out for coffee, she's an immigrant and had five kids, we can make coffee at home. She said, why don't you let us go for the coffee?

And I was like, oh God, like, what is happening? I was actually really stressed. And she sat me down and she said, your father and I believe you should not go to university. And I was like, what? And she said that time is now to travel, to be young, to not worry about school. She said school will always be there. Trust me, you won't regret this. And I chicken out.

They wanted me to go for two years. They said, pick any country in the world, but we would recommend you picking either France or Polish so you can perfect your other language. Right. Now, be honest. At that point, when your mom says that, you were like, okay, you gambled away the money, didn't you? No, no. He had no money growing up.

My mom did say after that, by the way, you're paying for all of it. Okay, but I went, and I'm so glad I did. I wish I went for two years instead of one because I'd check it out and came back to school. Wow. But then I became bilingual. So I actually do approach every French-Canadian player in French and start my conversation with them for a good three minutes.

And then I'm like, all right, I got to do this in English. But that's so cool. It's great. It's got to knock down like a giant wall. They're like, I'll do anything to help you because first of all, I have a bit of an accent. And they're like, oh, she's making an effort, whatever you need. So it's actually so helpful.

One of my favorite things about being around locker rooms is seeing the one French language player that always gets the most attention. Like covering the Tampa Lightning in the playoffs, it's like you'd think Cedric Paquette was, you know, the biggest star in the NHL with the amount of scrums get around them from the French language people covering the lightning in the playoffs.

I know, that's so true. But that's a really cool thing, and I'm mad jealous of it. Well, I mean, it's never too late. Is it late? Now, speaking of late, we were doing this interview and you apparently have crazy-ass hours? What time do you have to start working each day?

Well, when I work at the CBC, the news show starts at 6 a.m., so we have to be here by 4.4.30 a.m. Good God. It's terrifying and hard because we write our own things, and we've got to be ready for six, so we get about an hour and a half for writing, and it depends on how many stories that day. Usually an hour and a half's okay,

but I also spend half an hour of it getting ready and hair and makeup. So between five and six, I'm writing two or three stories. Okay. So when Howard Stern used to talk about his hours as a morning radio host, he would often talk about, oh, I never saw this thing on like The Tonight Show because I went to bed at like nine.

You have to go to bed at nine? So for most, I don't want to say blog games, because that's not fair because every game is important. But I mean, for the middle of the season, maybe quote-unquote meaningless games, I won't stay up. Right. But often I'll nap in between

and then stay up until. 10. I mean, for hockey games, they're usually done on the East Coast by 10, 10, 30. And then in the NBA, it depends. I don't really cover football ever. I can talk about it, but I don't cover it. And I'm trying to think baseball. And then baseball as well. It just depends. I often say that to people that are exploring journalism as a career, that it's a lifestyle choice. Yes. You seem to be the living embodiment of that decision. I knew that. I really did wish I knew that. I didn't realize how much family time I wouldn't have, how many weekends I would never have again, and how this would become your life. And it's awesome, but it's important to try to

find that work-life balance, I think. I don't know if have you found it? Yeah, I found it in the bottom of a bottle of scotch, which is not the thing that you should do in theory, although it does loosen up the old nog and to help those words come out now and again. I definitely enjoy a hard drink more than I ever did before. Oh, yeah. It's depressing, but also cool, I guess. But also very cool. No, no, I think, listen, I've gotten much better in work-life balance.

I used to be really bad at it. And I think that was a function of wanting to be, keep a level of success. It was a function of the job that I had at Yahoo, where it was constantly churning out content and always having to be like a doctor on call. And now at ESPN, it's a different schedule. You know, they are extremely. expecting stuff more in the mornings for when people wake up versus, you know, making sure that you have something every hour. So I don't know.

I think at some point you, you, uh, reprioritize your life in a way that allows you to continue to do the, the work that you do well, but maybe not diet 30. When will I get to that point? I don't know. I don't know. I figure that out as I haven't. Holy shit, but I mean it's 32. It's, it's, there's, you know, there are, there always sort of come to Jesus moments. everybody's career.

I'm close, man. Yeah, where you're just like, you know, I need to kind of figure my shit out. But like with you, I'm sure it's a situation, and it was a situation with me at Yahoo, where it's like you feel you need to have the pedal down at all times because you're working freelance. Yes. And you feel like if you're not that extra five miles an hour or kilometers, Canada, faster than the next person, then you might not get the gig or might not keep the gig.

A hundred percent. Yeah. And that's tough. It's very tough. And it's like, when you're off, you're never off because you're like, oh, crap, I don't workbook next week. Who am I emailing? Who am I talking to? You might get to sign something something you haven't covered in three weeks. Like, all right, got to research, got to catch up on this, going to do that. It is nonstop. What's your dream job? When would be the thing? Sleep?

Forever. You know, they do have studies for that, but you usually have to take an experimental drug at some point. Can I get, wait, I can get paid to sleep. Oh, for sure. If there's a drug, I need to move to the state. I saw an ad on the New York subway once where the top of the ad said heroin addict question mark, you know, you can come. and be in this study for $250 a week. And I'm like, take up heroin.

Score, you know? No one's asking you get off smack, but you can also make money. No, and you were going to, you at one point were going to work in the States, right? You were up for some gig in the States? Yes. It must have been very tempting to come and live

and work in a land of freedom like we have here in the United States. Right. I sense sarcasm. Well, I mean, it's gotten shittier. You were probably interviewing it a good point. No, I mean, I knew, I think I knew. I mean, I'm sure, I'm saying that you were

probably interviewing at a time before, oh, I don't know, the Nazis. Yeah, yeah. Yes. Honestly, I sometimes wonder what would have happened, but it was a decision that I made for mostly family because I have been in this career. I mean, I started when I was 18 and I'm 32 right now, so it's crazy to think, but it's almost 15 years. I guess it would have been around 12 at the time I was interviewing. And I had given up everything, but for, life but work so no family time no friends lost relationships miss this event missed this milestone and at that point i was like this is the next step up but my dad uh was very sick and i was worried that we were gonna lose them within the year and it just didn't allow that job did not allow me to at my own leisure let's say

have every weekend off and come up to see him every week yeah you got to make those family decisions and i did because i was like you know what this job is taking this career i love it but it's taken a lot away already, do I want to look back at 60 and be like, wow, I didn't spend the time with my dad. Right. So my dad is still around and, you know, knock on wood. And he's not great, but I get to see him as often as I can. That's great. I'm not making nearly as much.

I'm hustling 10 times harder, but sometimes you have to make those decisions. For sure. Yeah. All right. So what would be the dream job? Like, if you could craft your own gig in media or maybe outside of media, you know, you want to do this shit. Like, what would you want to do?

I sometimes I wonder if I do anymore, but I still do. I still have a little bit of little left in me. Funny you say that because I couldn't answer that question six months ago. Yeah. And I was just telling you before we started, I have fallen in love with radio. Yeah. So I would love to be on a radio show slash maybe have my own one day. I don't think, you know, I have that much draw to have my own.

But be a co-host with somebody, I would like to stay in sports. But if it was something else, I wouldn't object. From what I've seen here in Toronto, the key, achieving your dream would be to wear sunglasses and doors. Leather jacket. Sydney Crosby may not be the best player of the world. Talking about that after the break. You know, that kind of thing.

I think you can do that. You'll get on a billboard. It'll be great. If it's that easy, then what the hell have I been doing leading up to that? Apparently not wearing sunglasses indoors. Fine, I'm going to try it. All right. Finally, do you have a favorite player in the league right now as far as like maybe someone you've talked to recently

or maybe someone that you just enjoy watching or maybe someone you just find fascinating. God, that is a really good question. Because I feel like, I mean, and we've talked about this before, like on the show, like we're in a good spot. There's a lot of people that I kind of give a shit about and teams that I sort of give a shit about.

And it's not always like that. And also it's not always a situation where you watch a game, you can be guaranteed that one of these guys might actually do something worth a damn versus it being like a one-nothing game. Can I pick more than one? Go ahead.

Okay. They're all going to have little stories to them. I would say, and I'm going to, so I'm going to preface to this choice. I'm going to say Morgan Riley. The reason I'm going to say this is because, but what bugs me is that I've done probably probably about three one-on-ones with him, a couple of features and exclusives. So back to the Twitter Terpers, it's like, oh, you have a crush on Morgan Riley. You're dating Morgan Riley.

No, I'm not. But I happen to live in Toronto and I don't have a travel budget and he's one of the only players I have access to. So to everyone who's like, oh, she has a crush on Morgan Riley. No, I truly have seen him grow. The reason I'm picking this is because I've started covering him before he's with the Leafs. And then I've seen him develop into a better player, but also like a voice in the locker room, a leader, so to speak, of that team. And he's very talented.

But I was also going to say, Taylor Hall, I know the devils aren't what, you know, well, whatever. It's early. It's early. I know. I know. But Taylor Hall, who is actually the opposite of Morgan Riley when I've interviewed him in terms of, like, Spark and, and, and, and, enthusiasm, but he's so Organs a joke.

Insightful. Insightful. Yeah, he's a real. Yeah, he gives you great answers. And he really, really thinks about what you're asking and answers it. And I love that. Plus, MVP, very talented. The first time I realized that was after the Edmonton trade. And, like, the shit he was saying about, they took this away from me. And, like, you know, we were building this.

And I wanted to be here. And we finally saw it through. He probably feels fucking fortunate not to be there right now. Yeah. You know, but he was, yeah, that side of him, I didn't realize. I think a lot of people didn't see it until that happened. But for the record, I have a crush on Morgan Riley. He has a very, he has a boyish comportment that I find just charming.

So there we go, guys. There you go. All right. So where can people find your stuff? Oh gosh. Well, on Instagram, I'm starting to post more and more content, which is my full name, Sophia Yierkshchievich. Just put in J.U.R. I'll come up.

And then on Twitter, I guess, at S. Yerkshovich. That handles so dumb. I should probably change it. That's hard to find. But whatever. But you had the good sense of you and Jackie naming your show something memorable. Jack and Sof. Jack and Sof.

Yes, with Yahoo Canada Sports. Very simple Yahoo Canada Sports, my former, my alma mater, if you will. Yeah. And it's a good show. You should check it out. Thank you. So anyways, thanks for your time. Thank you.

Great time. And, yeah, that's all. Abiento in French. Oh, rivadherchi. No. I don't even know what a rivadierchi. Does that mean to you soon? Yeah, sure.

Okay. Spassiba. That's the only Russian I know. All right. Our thanks to Sof for being our guest. She's great and good discussions about the world of journalism and what life is like as a freelancer now that she's decided to go that way. We should probably touch on one journalism thing before we get back to matters of Tom Wilson and concussions, which is the editor, I guess, or whatever, of NJ.com asking for someone to basically be a beatwriter for free. for free. I mean, like, it's kind of what it is. It's kind of be a beatwriter for free. If you haven't seen the story,

basically NJ.com is looking for someone to cover the Philadelphia 76ers part-time. And in order to do this, they're like, we don't want someone who's covered a team from their couch. You want someone who's covered a team. And we want somebody who's got sorts. and we'll go to practice. They don't want to just sit on the press box. No, no, no, no.

They want to be there and do their job. Blah, blah, blah, blah. It's a whole thing from editor, Kevin Manahan. You know, you know the difference between reporter and content creator, and you could do both. You have a tireless work ethic. Brer, bra, blah, bra. So it's a part-time position with parentheses a monthly stipend

to do this stuff. Go to home games and occasionally travel. And, like, it's basically you're an intern. I mean, that's what you're fucking are. Like, interns get stipends. But, but also, like, it seems like you need to have a lot of experience, too, which is the weird part. Like, if you were just coming out of college, I feel like this would be a sweet gig. I don't know.

Maybe it would. No, it sounds terrible, actually, even if you're still just getting out of college. Like, he actually says, like, you have covered a pro or college team and not from your basement. Right. Like, yeah, that means you have experience. And you're asking them to. come and work for a fucking stipend? Like, come on, man.

And, of course, what usually happens. And look, you know, I've talked about a lot over the years, like how I got into the industry. I had a low-paying job at a monthly newspaper. I worked on the side and developed a hockey thing. You know, everybody's got their own story. But, like, there's no fucking question that having every white dude that ever was able to do this thing and not have to eat ramen every night because he had a little money in the bank

come out and be like, but this is the path. It's just like, it's fucking reductive. Like, how many people, this is how you end up with newsrooms that look like the way they are. Like, how many people can't do this? How many people would love to cover the Sixers

who maybe played basketball growing up would have an immediate rapport with the people they cover? And yet they can't afford to fucking do it on a part-time stipend and do it well. And that's the other thing too about this stuff for a guy like Kevin Manahan. It's like, you know, it's sort of like garbage in garbage out, right?

Like if you pay someone a stipend and you don't pay them as a full staff member or even as a part-time staff member, like what kind of coverage do you think you're actually getting? Like, like the level of pride one takes in their job when they feel like they're official and they actually have a salary versus just being kicked a fucking stipend every month to cover some expenses, your coverage is going to be exponentially better for this publication than it would be if you were just being treated like an intern. Okay, but how about this? What if, because we don't know, what if the stipend is $10 million a month?

And this whole thing was a test, and you show up and you're just like, yeah, I know it's not much, but I really love the work, so I'll come and do it. And he's like, well, guess what? You're going to get $10 million this month. And it's like, what? But that's probably not what's going to happen. One, it'd be amazing if it was just to avoid tax purposes, you know, just like, we have to call it a stipend to get around the tax implications. and to managing editor of NJ.com as Willy Wonka. I'm down for that.

Yeah, sure. He's just like a good deed shines through in a weary world, and he's like, here's $10 million. Right. But I thought I was just coming here to cover Rutgers Field Hockey. No, no, no. You're the new Jerry Eisenberg. You have a front-page column on the sports section every Sunday.

No, no, no, you still cover, like, Rutgers sports, but you just get $10 million. Oh, okay, gotcha. It's the same job. And then it's just $10 million a month. Speaking of millions of dollars, Tom Wilson got some money back, just over $300,000. He already served 16 suspended games. He got reduced to 14 by the neutral arbitrator who seems to really, really not like the NHL and what they do based on the reductions of both Austin Watson's and Tom Wilson's suspensions.

You know, look. You know, I like George Peros a lot. I think the Department of Player Safety does a pretty good job. We've got friends there. They do a pretty good job. Some of them have come on this very show and did a good job then. There's the butt. I'm just teeing it up.

Go ahead. Sorry. I think this is at least the second time in one of these. like arbitration appeal rulings where I've read George Peros, George Peros's testimony basically being used against the NHL. And in this case, it was him being like, yeah, it was hockey play gone bad, not intentional. You know, and then like that kind of is used to reduce the number of games.

You know, the NHLPA can walk into that room and lie their asses off. like Matthew Schneider literally said that he didn't think it was a violation of Rule 48. Like he said that. I mean, it's utter bullshit. But he said it anyway because he's trying to get his guy's suspension reduced. When George Peros gets up there and says, yeah, hockey play gone bad, you know, they didn't intend to hit him in the head. Well, that completely undercuts the severity of the punishment the NHL gave him. So I know, I know it's, it's, you're not going to be.

held in contempt of court if you simply say my opinion is that it could be intentional. Like, you shouldn't lie, but you could also kind of just be like, not say it was a hockey play gone bad, yada, yada, yada. Because when you do that,

then the arbitrator has fodder to then say, well, this clearly should not be a 20-game suspension then, should it? So the NHLPA walks in there and basically just misrepresents the play and does it willingly. And then George Perrauss is like, you know, trying to be all truthful and shit, hand on Bible and shit. And then the fucking suspension gets undercut because of it.

But like isn't every play, a hockey play that goes bad in a way, if you think about it? You know, can that really be used as... Dale Hunter-Rampier Turajan was not a hockey play gone bad. Well, I mean, a celebration is a hockey play sort of, you know, an extension of the goal. but like yeah i see your point so when john scott was chasing phil kessel around the ice to beat the shit out of him during that one game when john scott was with the buffalo savers that was the hockey play gone bad i mean the hockey castle just it was a face off yeah and then and then it went bad and

then it went really bad yeah yeah sure so the question i have for you as as i know you're a noted tom wilson fan is do you think that the message has been heard do you think tom wilson will change his ways now he he was quoted as saying he's not going to change his way he was quoted as saying he's not going to change. He's just like, I don't know. I don't get it. And then he went out and then he fought a guy and then he, I'm not going to, I'm not going to like say he ran the goalie because he didn't. I saw that was like a thing. Like Tom Wilson's first came back, he was just driving the net and got pushed and he wasn't trying to take out Devon Dubnick. But if you and I were to make a bet right now as to whether or not he would get suspended the rest of the season, would you want to take the yes or the no part of that bet? Because I would take the, I would take the yes, but I would be fascinating. by it because I really, the NHL does this thing where if you are suspended for like

boarding or slashing or some shit like it doesn't, I feel like they don't count it towards your ultimate total for like headshots. So to me the most interesting thing that could happen to Tom Wilson this year would be

whether, it would be like if he hit a guy from behind and gets wrung up by player safety for boarding, would they then multiply the 14 games, or does it become a different kind of suspension? I don't know. But that would be like his fifth suspension

since last September, for God's sakes. So, like, you're thinking, like, they would just give him, like, five because it's a specific type of bad hit as opposed to, like, give him 30? I also think they'd give him five because they don't want to have to go back to that fucking arbitrator again,

which would happen if they gave him six. Oh, right, because it's over five games. I mean, we're in the end of November, and I feel like I haven't seen player safety do anything that's gotten me, like, annoyed or mad, and I feel like that's always happened by this point. So if, like, the worst thing they've done so far is give a guy a 20-game suspension, then, like, George Pyrrhus used the phrase hockey play, I don't know. I think they're doing all right.

I'm only given the benefit of the doubt if, like, he slashes somebody, or if he, you know, put someone into the board from behind. I think they give him 25, but who knows. And I don't want to bury the lead here, the NHLPA outright lives to protect guys that injure their own players. Listen, if you get hit from behind by Tom Wilson, you probably want to rest up. And I got to tell you, there's no other better way to rest up than with a Lisa mattress. How does he do it? How does he do it, folks?

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I just want to talk myself under comfy covers and be in this very, very soft bed. I actually slept until 11 o'clock the other day on a weekday. I was super tired after the Hall of Fame trip. I had all my shit written. And the Lisa mattress cocooned me and said, Gregory, stay here. Stay with me, said the Lisa mattress. And I said, I shall. The mattress is so formal.

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I'm not a lawyer, but I feel like that's a low number, like astonishingly low. Admittedly, I have not seen all the evidence, so maybe. it's the right number, but I feel like it's not. So, yeah, I did not expect, what is it? It's like $19,000 a person or $20,000 a person. Is it what it's going to shake out to? $22,000 a person, but you also get a

$75,000 medical deductible, basically. So it's, listen, the good thing is that there's so few players in this lawsuit, and it's probably going to even shrink when guys reject the deal that they're going to get their money quicker than the NFL guys did if some of these guys really, really need some help.

But bottom line, man, is that they lost all the leverage they had in the situation when their class action suit fell by the wayside. They had to kind of take whatever settlement they could get. And it's not good. But at the end of the day, like I've always said about this lawsuit, I didn't think there was a smoking gun for the NFL. I did think it was the same thing as the NFL.

I didn't really think they'd end up. up winning a lawsuit against the NHL because of that. Like all of the shit that had been leaked by Rick Westhead and other people, you know, it's incriminating and embarrassing emails, but at no point was it ever like a systemic we are hiding this shit from players kind of thing going on. So I think the NHL would have won at the end of the day. And to me, the biggest thing about this lawsuit and the biggest thing about the continued push from guys like Dan Carcillo to go after the league over concussions is

creating awareness about how fuck these guys are when they get done playing and how much we should be helping them. And if nothing else, this lawsuit in the last couple of years, open the eyes to a lot of people. A lot of stories have been written. You know, Players Tribune shit, TSN shit, you know, learning what's happened to guys when they got done playing. This is all very good stuff,

along with them getting some extra medical coverage and some dough in their pockets. It's not a lot. But at the end of the day, I think this was a positive thing for retired players the way this thing, you know, played out. See, like, I don't see it that way. Like, I feel like that all that stuff that was written, you're right, is all very good. but in two months people will forget about it.

And then people will watch hockey and people will go crazy for fights. And, you know, people will say, oh, that guy shouldn't have had his head down and it'll all be business as usual. So, like, I really do respect Dan Carcillo where he's just like, yeah, I don't want the money. I just want to, you know, I want to get them on the record saying, you know, they screwed up and they apologize. Like, I give him all the credit in the world for wanting to do that because it's thankless and it's going to be a long drawn-out process. and, you know, I just, I just think it sucks for the players. The whole thing sucks for the players. I mean, you know, health-wise, money-wise, I just hope this is the beginning of something bigger,

you know, that more recognition, the fans cannot forget about this shit. Like, it's on us to stay on people like Gary Bettman to, you know, continue to push towards solutions for concussions and admissions. linkage and things like that. I don't know. It's a shit story. And my heart goes out to every player in that lawsuit. Even the ones that are suing the NHL, despite having only played one game in the

NHL, which I think is a little ridiculous, but still your heart goes out to him because there's obviously a reason they're doing it. All right. Before we get to the question of the week, I do want to mention the death of Stan Lee. It's very sad. The end of his life was very sad. Mike Francesca didn't find. it sat at all.

My princess said, Hull? Like, like, I'm completely okay with him being like, I don't know who that is. But then when he says, who cares,

it was like, oh, man, just, this guy waited out of hole to talk to you about this for probably like an hour and just, just let him talk.

Like, Spider-Man? Who's Spider-Man? Like, oh, my God. Who's Spider-Man? Spider-Man. I wasn't at the comics. Stanley gave me one of my favorite meme jokes

that I ever do, which is he was a normal everyday teenager with extraordinary powers and great responsibility. You can apply that to any job. He was a normal everyday custodian with extraordinary powers and great responsibility. And he also created a bunch of really awesome shit in his career that,

okay, granted, like other people kind of came up with the ideas and he just helped execute them. But, you know, he was a good. guy who helped create characters through the years that made weird kids feel like they weren't alone and told stories that are modern day myths and modern day allegories and to have created that much stuff is like god level i mean it yeah a lot of it's marketing and uh and a lot of it is how you're remembered and a lot of it's what you put your name on but there's no denying that what he did

change the course of popular culture and made it a huge impact on the lives of fucking millions of people. By the way, does he say Excelsior and something else besides the whichever Avengers movie that was, Ultron? Excelsior was his sort of like when he

would like answer letters in the back of Marvel comics like that would be one of the things that he signed off with. along with Nuff said be the other thing he used to say. I was going to say, because I saw a lot of people when he died tweeting that, and I was like, was that line really that popular from that? I couldn't forget, but now, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, that's his thing. We should, of course, this being Puck Soup, mention that Stan Lee is also responsible

for one of the single greatest creations in the history of hockey popular culture, The Guardians Project. Yep, the Guardians Project. Were you at the All-Star game that year for that? I forget. It was in Raleigh. I remember, like, that was my writing assignment that night. I had to write about the Guardian.

Oh, God, that's right. You had to write about the Guardians Project. How did that go? I remember being so excited about going to the All-Star game and, like, being around all the best players and stuff, and I was just like, I don't get it. I don't understand. Like, they're like, teams already have mascots and logos. Like, what is this?

And I remember just not getting it at all. and I still remember sitting there. I think it was the first intermission they showed it. They had like the whole ice show, the whole thing on the ice, but the holograms, that's not the right term. Yeah, whatever it was. It was projections or whatever. But it was also CGI outside of the arena too.

Oh, there was stuff going on outside the arena. Oh, I didn't even know that. See? That shows you how bad of a reporter I am. Yeah. I'm trying to find. I'm trying to find your story on it. Oh, just search.

Search, um. I, I did find your story. Oh, wait, no, I found it. I found it. Here it is. Only time we'll tell. Okay. The Hurricane Save the Guardians by Dave Lozo, NHL.com staff writer.

This is from January 30th, 2011. This is incredible, dude. Raleigh, Dateline. Fans at RBC Center, were treated to a 10-minute laser and video show starring all 30 Guardians during the second intermission of 2011 All-Star Game presented by Discover.

There's my boy. Here's my NHL.com boy. It's not the Winter Classic, man. It's the Winter Classic presented by Bridgestone. Don't know if you know that. Comics legend, Stan Lee, who was the force behind the Guardian Project, introduced the sell-out crowd to the Guardians

and provided background into their history and superpowers. Here we go. This is where the Dave Lozo kicks in. but things turned dangerous after the guardians were unveiled as the evil force out to destroy the guardians known as Devon Dark interrupted and took control of the show. Oh, here, you got it. The guardians appeared outside the arena on the big board only to be sucked into the building by a devious device and trapped under the ice. Holy shit. Dude, I'm not making it happen.

Did you have your dick out during this? Just stroking along as you're writing the story. Have what? Did you have your dick out just stroking along as you wrote the story? In what way do I seem excited about writing that story? Fortunately, for everyone involved, the hurricane, who received the biggest cheers, thank you, Dave, came to the rescue. He pulled the guardians out of the ice to safety, seemingly bringing an end to the Guardian saga. it turns out it was just the beginning.

This is my favorite thing you've ever written. Yeah, that's just good journalism right there, man. That's what we talk about around here. It's just, uh, you know. Wait, hold on. We're not done yet. Devin Dark threatened revenge against the true leader of the guardians, Mike Mason. You know, no identifying sentences about who Mike Mason is, by the way.

His storyline will be revealed in full as the story moves forward. How will Devin Dark? ever be defeated. Will the guardians protect us? Only time will tell. Follow Dave Lozo on Twitter at Dave Lozo. I love you for this. Only time will tell.

I love this so goddamn much. By the way, if you Google Dave Lozo and Guardians Project, there's other well, no, that's the only byline did you have. Did you have to write about the other guardians as they were revealed? Did you write the Maple Leaf revealed this 23rd NHL Guardian? No, I think

that was just like a press release type thing. Fuck. I'm so jealous that you wrote that. I know you and I feel like there was a giant wink involved in that whole entire story. No, that was basically me playing it straightforward because I just described what happened on the ice. That was all I was, that was all I could do. That was all I wanted to do. I wrote during the intermission, I think.

And I feel like you wrote it because you were sent to the All-Star game and you were quite happy to be there. And you had that one job to do and you didn't want to be a dick about it, right? Wait, what did you say? Didn't want to... I said, you didn't want to be a dick about it. You wanted to kind of do your gig because they sent you there to do it, right? To do that very story? I mean, I just did what I was told.

That's all it was. I don't think Dave is embarrassed by his coverage of the Guardians and Nor shitty, but we wanted to know from you the question of the week, what are you most embarrassed by in the NHL so far this season at the one quarter mark of the season. Brian sent in a picture of Anne Coulter wearing an Islander's hat at an Islander's game saying, go, comma, islanders.

And that is what Brian is most embarrassed by so far this season. Coma Islanders, interesting. I guess, yeah, I guess that actually does make sense grammatically, yeah. Never thought of it. Canucks, Canucks Jays and Just Wayne both agree. Whatever defenseman is playing one-on-one with Elias Pedersen and anyone who

Pedersen Deeks. He's been great. He's pretty good. He's pretty good. Champ says, Don Cherry. Old man yells at clouds and no one takes him seriously. Yet in his delusion, he thinks he's got sway and importance.

Pretty sad state for an old man. I disagree. that no one takes him seriously. I think a good portion of Canadian fans of a certain age still take him very seriously. Maybe on like an Alex Jones level, but, you know, they still listen to him. I mean, people tune in every Saturday for some reason. I don't get it. Who should take that job when he's not doing it anymore?

Should it be Brian Burke, you think? Oh, boy, do I not care. It's a seven-minute segment once a week on Canadian TV. I could not possibly care less. Should it be Damien Cox? It should be Damien Cox? Why don't you do it? Because then would never have an American do it.

I would love to do it, but they would never have an American do it. Because it would all be like Canadian heel stuff. It'd be like, it would be me doing the shit. Like, you know, fucking Damien Cox tweets out, hey, maybe the Leafs should think about trading Austin Matthews for goodies. And it would be me for three minutes being like, oh, here we go again. Canadian entitlement chasing away the kid

from this American Southwest. No one would want to watch that. Everybody would be watching like TSN instead. Yeah, that could probably hurt you. Mike McLaren writes in, whoever sells ads for NHL Network, how many times are we going to have to see that dude enthusiastically endorsing catheters?

That's so true. Dave Davidson. Come on, that sounds fake. As an American, Oh, this is, oh, this is James. Sorry. James says, I feel bad for the Uber driver who got wasted, did something petty, and is now at the center of a national scandal, also lost his job. And Dave David said, as an American, I would kill for someone like this to be our national scandal.

Excellent points all around. Gary, Gary writes, and Colvichuk for looking at a list of 31 teams and picking one based off of which one wouldn't make him feel old. That's a good line. Caso Grande says the same thing as before. NBCSN still playing the same annoying eight commercials that they showed all during the playoffs. Sucks they can't get new ads. I don't know why you're watching the ads on NBCSN. I just will go watch something else until the game comes back on.

That's just me, though. Let's see here. Connor McDavid, you know why? is Han. Excellent point. Monoliths, the NHLPA, who has no choice but to defend idiots and aggressors like Tom Wilson, who play over the line over the guys that get crushed by them. Excellent point.

Mike Andrew, that Joe Thornton wasn't selected as one of the NHL's 100 greatest players, 400 goals, 1,000 plus assists. Did we put them on our list? I feel like we did. I don't remember, actually. I feel like we didn't. But I don't remember for sure. We put Malkin and Carlson on, so that's fucking fine.

people should be happy with that. No, I think we did. I think we actually did now that I think about it. I don't know. Finally, Kyle Arnett writes in, T.J. Oshy for tweeting this, for those who didn't see, T.J. O'Shee, when Tom Wilson had his suspension reduced, tweeted a Photoshop of Yvgenyke's Netsoff and Alexander Ovechkin in a boat, an inflatable dingy in front of a whaling ship.

And Tom Wilson hugging an orca, and it says Free Willy 3, The Rescue. And T.J. Oshy said the world premiere of Free Willy 3 coming to you live tonight in St. Paul could be more excited for Tom Wilson to get back in the lineup. Hmm. So T.J. Oshy for apparently celebrating the return of noted concusser with a photoshopped free willie poster. It was an embarrassing thing. That's Puck Soup for this week. Our thanks to Sophia Yergovich for joining us to talk about a great many things. Our thanks to Gary Bettman at the Hockey Hall of Fame for finally ending his speech so we could start the show.

You can find me on Twitter at Wyshinsky. You can find my writing at ESPN.com. Myself and Emily Kaplan doing some fun stuff there. And where can people read your shit? Always late with Katie Nolan, ESPN Plus, also the home for hockey. also the home for, I guess, technically that's not your home, but there's hockey there. So it's like your, it's kind of your home. It's my home as we get deeper in the season and they require my services.

Right now, I don't think they need me. So yeah, Wednesdays, Wednesday nights. We always have new good stuff and you should watch it and it's fun and it's good. All right. Thank you everybody for listening. If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes so other people can find this show. It's the gift that keeps on giving. All right.

Thanks, everybody. We'll talk to you. Oh, wait. No show next week, right? That's what we should tell them. Oh, yeah, we're taking off next week. We're going to relax. We're going to recharge.

And then we're going to come back a week after that. No, yeah, no puck soup on Turkey Day week just because of the holiday and both of us traveling around. And one of us actually getting some rest after working his ass off since getting this job. I'm not talking about me. And, yeah. We'll talk to you in two weeks. Take care. Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slapshots and goons.

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