Real Kyper & Bourne - Canada vs Czechia Quarterfinal Expectations with David Amber

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne, and Sam McKee start with a review of the qualification round of Olympic hockey, as the Czechs defeat Switzerland to advance and meet Team Canada. Sportsnet host David Amber joins the show (3:30) to share his impressions of what we've seen in Milan so far, how the Olympics impact international viewership numbers in the NHL, Matthew Tkachuk's trash talk to Leon Draisaitl, and whether Canada's performance in the preliminaries sets them up for success in the knockout rounds. Later, Nick and Justin regroup with Sam to discuss whether Canada should swap a less-than-100% Brad Marchand in for their elimination games and NHL players returning to practice.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Welcome in. It's our Olympic abbreviated version of the Real Kipper and Born show. Wherever you're watching, listening, Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet 590, the fan in Toronto, Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, Sportsnet 960 in Calgary, and streaming always on Sportsnet Plus. We're glad you were bored. Also on Spotify, Apple Podcast, and YouTube. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Jake the Snake Schultz, and Derek Brandeo, this hour of real Kipprin Bourne brought to by Bet365.

Boys, just of note too, we go back to two hours tomorrow after we get a full look at Chechia and Canada at a 1040 Eastern puck drop. In the meantime, we've got some meaningful hockey almost concluded less than 18 minutes to go before Sweden punches their ticket to a quarter final match as they are up 3-1 over Latvia. But we, like I said, we got meaningful games now, J.B. Yeah, we're almost there. This is borderline to me, but I got to tell you, I'm not sure what to make a Sweden. You know, they didn't look great in the preliminary rounds and kind of figured, okay, they could find their stride.

And I can't tell if Latvia's good or Sweden, just kind of can't get it going. But 3-1 and the third, not exactly the convenience. convincing performance that makes you think they got a shot to beat the Americans tomorrow. Half the game, I don't know if they had seven or eight shots, which seems to be a bit of a theme here. Like, you look at some games and they look kind of even until you look at the shot clock. Yeah, there's definitely just lopsided talent, right, in some of these matchups. But today was never billed as the most thrilling of days, the play-in games.

Tomorrow is the day. Tomorrow is the day. We are said goodbye to Italy, who did themselves proud today. They kept the Swiss to win three goals. Italy could have had a handful of NHLers and they just chose not to. Like they could have had the Falino brothers. They could have had Vince Dunn. All of these guys with Italian background, they said no.

I got into an argument online about this. There were specifics about this that they couldn't just take those guys. Like they could have argued for rule changes or their federation could have made some exception, but as the rules... No, no, the Federation just said, they shut it down. Yeah, so as of right now, you have to have played, like, a couple years in Italy. Like, you need to be directly... They didn't want to piss off locals.

I think they made a pretty reasonable decision here. You know, like, they're trying to grow and become a serious hockey nation. These guys have been playing for Italy. If you're going to grow, go get some of the best in the best league and let them spend two weeks with these guys. That's where they... And then let them go back to their... their programs and say this is how NHLers do it. Yeah.

You know what? I know that they couldn't actually go get those guys, though. So unless they had made this decision years ago, which they could have, I was the case I was making, but sorry, Sam. No, I was just going to say they kind of treated it like the Seattle expansion draft. You know, treat yourself to a couple stars.

Yeah, you go have a good time out there. Take a Matt Duchyne or try to take a, what was the other guy that they were going to. Oh, Teresanko. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Anyways. Okay.

let's go to David Amber a regular on our program looking good DA how are you my friend going on guys how are you we're good we're good now is it true that you're not in Italy right now because they couldn't find room for your biceps on the hockey panel

is that true is this how we're starting I'm just asking they look a little tight at times on that panel and I'm looking at you and there's just no way you could get your arms on that desk. If you did a Duffy for Amber Swap, it would be tough. James Duffy, no problem getting those strings attached to his shoulders on the desk. He's got the boys medium going.

I golf with James a lot. He's always, every time I see him, the shirts are getting smaller. I'm not sure if you're getting bigger smaller. So what do you've been up to? Are you watching from afar? Where have you been? I'm back home. I was in Florida.

I was actually golfing for a few days with some college buddies. which was a lot of fun. And we made sure to set our T-T times around the Canadian game. So I've seen it all. And it's been fun. I mean, this is kind of now is when, you know, things start to get really interesting, right? Like, barring something crazy, we kind of knew Canada was going to roll through the preliminary round as they did. And now it gets really, really interesting.

I was watching with pretty heightened interest, though, that game against France. Because in the back of my mind, I said, you really have to pummel France here. You don't want to run the risk of a one. and done situation versus Sweden, right? There's such a big appreciable drop-off from Sweden to check you, in my opinion. And, you know, the U.S. Sweden game tomorrow afternoon, guys, is going to be really, really interesting because, you know, they're so evenly matched in many respects. I know the U.S. will go in as the heavy favorite, but let's face facts.

In a one-game showdown, anything can happen. And the idea that Canada was able to avoid Sweden, that's a huge, huge step for them. And we'll see what happens tomorrow. things finally get really interesting in this tournament. Sabanajad just scored making it 4-1, so all but done and locked in with the USA. Yeah, so I guess I'll ask you. You have been our Canadian cheerleader.

You're, you know, you're root for this stuff. You follow it closely. Would it take away? Sam and I talked about this before the game. If the U.S. were to lose to Sweden and Canada goes on to win the gold medal, Does it in any way take away from it, not getting to actually beat the Americans to do it? Maybe this is a very provincial view of it.

But I would say the preferred matchup for hockey fans, certainly North America is U.S. Canada for all the marbles, based on what happened at Four Nations, based on the talent on both those sides, and based on even the geopolitical stuff that's happening outside of the hockey, hockey rink right now would add a layer of compelling theater, right? Having said that, you know, Canada and the U.S., for that matter, can only face, you know,

who's on their schedule. And obviously, if Sweden's coming off a win against the U.S., then to play Canada, you'd say, wow, like, it would still be a very compelling matchup. That wouldn't even be the final conceivably, right? That would be the semifinal. If the U.S. loses the Sweden, they reseed for the semifinal. Sweden's the number seven seed. it would probably be a semi-final matchup.

So, yeah, I mean, you only can beat who's in front of you. But I think everyone, when this tournament was coming into shape, everyone said, oh, imagine that Sunday afternoon. Last event of the Olympics, Canada versus U.S. for all the marbles, would be, you know, I guess the chosen match. I don't know if it detracts from it, J.B., but it certainly, I think it would heighten it if it's Canada, U.S. Where it distracts it is strictly from a business look at it

in terms of growing the game, particularly in the U.S. And from a television point of view matchup to, again, having all those eyeballs south of the border, that's where it turns into a little bit of a disaster. Yeah, and I think that's fair. I think that's fair, Nick. Although we've seen in the past, like 2002 was the same U.S. on U.S. soil, first time since 1980, they have a chance to win gold.

Did it grow the game the way the NHL had hoped it would grow the game? game and that was in Salt Lake City. That was in on U.S. soil. I still look at hockey in the U.S. as a clearly regional game and there's some incredible hockey markets in Buffalo and Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and New York and Chicago

when they're playing well. But the rest of it seems a little regional to me. Not all, you know, I miss Boston. I missed a few other markets. But you get my point. I just not sure. I think in this two week period, you get the rah-rah, USA, USA chance. And then those casual

fans, some of them get exposed to the game and jump on and some of them kind of move on and say, you know, what else is happening? What are my other options for entertainment? I just thought, you know, and I lived down in the States for a number of years. As did you, right, Nick? And I know you have two, J.B. Like, it just feels that way to me.

I'm not sure anything changes the dynamic big picture. We eat, breathe, live, hockey here. It's, you know, it's part of our cultural upbringing from a young, young age. I'm just not sure in the States it has that same appeal. Really, if anything, it's football that has that, you know, insatiable appetite appeal. It certainly will help grow the game, but I'm not sure, you know, at the end of the day, it's going to change season ticket holder renewals or new season ticket holders.

It counts whether the U.S. wins gold or not. And that's maybe that's a cynical approach, but I'm just, I don't think history has shown that that changes the meter as much as we'd like to think it does. So looking at the way Canada is set up through three games, I've actually found it kind of hard to do analysis of Team Canada because it's just been really good. You know, like I kind of like their lines. I like how they're being coached.

It's been good. What are your thoughts as they head into this quarterfinal matchup? McKinnon, maybe hurt, Morrissey, maybe back, a few lineup tweaks here and there, but how do you think things have stacked up for Canada? I'm with you. It is hard to assess. And did you hear Doug Armstrong in the intermission?

with James and BX and Elliott, you know, and basically they asked for an assessment at Team Canada and he's like, well, I can nitpick, but why would I nitpick? I mean, they've been pretty dominant. They've been so good. He actually gave praise to John Cooper and how he's utilized his lines and switched up

the lines and played by, you know, he's sort of coached by feel and John Cooper has as good a feel as any coach in the world when it comes to hockey and knowing his players. His EQ is so high, I think, and understanding the players and how they think the game. I think it's unparalleled right now. it's hard to kind of gauge.

What I do know we've witnessed is how good Canada is, how balanced they are. That's the word that Doug Armstrong used, that he loved their balance, but also how top-heavy good they are. Yeah, they've got the grinders and the guy, you know, the Mark Stones and the Horvats have been really exceptional. But really, I think what differentiates Canada from every other nation, including the U.S., is McDavid and Celebrini. Like, what a find he has been, right? I think he's just met and exceeded anyone's expectations for a 19-year-old in this situation. It's unbelievable. So you have these incredible dogs at the top of your lineup.

And then you still have a bunch of guys who are clear stars as you move down the lineup. You know, it's been really great. I do think the one thing to keep an eye on is McKinnon didn't skate today. Bennett didn't skate today. Doug Armstrong kind of pooed that and sort of said, oh, yeah, it's a maintenance, everything will be fine. Until we see those guys come out tomorrow in the warm. up because I did have some concerns about McKinnon simply because he didn't seem himself in that third period after taking that big hit he took.

So clearly in your eyes, Celebrini is a bit of a more bigger surprise than say Tom Wilson Wilson getting into a fight. That was wild. So, Kipper, listen, you're the expert when it comes to this. Tom Wilson and he looked nervous to get into the fight, not because he was nervous about the fight, but nervous about, uh-oh, I don't want to get thrown out. Or suspended. Yeah, I don't want to be suspended.

So, I mean, I think he'd love another shot at that guy, you know, whether it's on the street or, you know, in another street. Who do you, Rocky 4, Rocky 5? But you saw, you saw his reaction after, because the guy didn't even really fight him. He kind of, he kind of ragged him a little bit. And Wilson was like, okay, it's game on now. But thankfully nothing came of that. And Tom Wilson, I was lobbying for him to be there from day one. We were doing these sort of mock teams.

And I kept saying, I thought he should have been there. I actually said back at the Four Nations, just for the shenanigans of the Kachukes, J.T. Miller, et cetera, you want a guy like Tom Wilson, and it ended up playing out exactly that way. So I'm glad to see him there, whether it's just to lay the physical punishment. Think about the goal he scored, though. How many guys could have made that play to create that goal, the big hit behind the net, getting the puck, making a beautiful pass, circling back to the net, you know, breaking away from his check and finishing in a one-timer. I mean, he has incredible skill. He's not just the tough guy, as we all know. So I'm glad to see him part of what's been a really nice showing so far for Canada.

It's been really fun. You know, I get a kick out of watching these few superstars on teams that don't have other superstars and how you can watch Chechia play. And it's like, ah, not great, not great, not great. And all of a sudden, NACIS is flying down the wing. You're like, oh, there he is. You know, has anyone stood out to you watching this event from, you know, maybe not Canada or the U.S., where you go, okay, it's been really fun to see that this guy is still a standalone player.

even when not surrounded by superstars. Slovkovsky. I mean, he has been great, right? We think about these number one picks and Salabrini and obviously McDavid and McKinnett. Slovkovsky's been great. He's only 21 years of age. And part of the reason I'm so, you know,

hot on Montreal and where they're heading, we all talk about Suzuki, Cofield, Hudson. Let's not forget Slavkovsky. I mean, there's their core for. And he is, he's a big, strong, talented guy with a lot of skill and he's just stood out so far to me and he was I think in the very first game of the tournament I believe he scored twice and I just said wow like he he he has

some presence out there on the ice and we forget because he's been in the league now a few years we forget he's just 21 years of age so he to me he would be that guy I've seen some of these other standalone stars get frustrated I felt almost horrible for leon dry sidel yesterday and you know he's getting trash talk by good shock and he's probably looking around I'm going, come on, man. You have an All-Star team around you. And I've got a few NHL players and a bunch of guys from the German league. So, you know, it seems almost unfair.

But having said that Slavkovsky to me has been that one sort of stand-alone star that stood out so far this tournament on his team. So Leon, a goal and two assists over France. It sets up against Slavkowski, of course, tomorrow. First game, I think, on tap 6 a.m., 610 puck drop. Good game. So you mentioned the kichooks and the chirping, particularly to Leon. I know how my guy Sammy feels about that. He loves it.

It just adds to the, you know, the buildup. No, Sammy. I don't know. We say a lot of things every day. I'm not sure I said that. You didn't mind it, Sammy. I didn't hate it as much as you did. He didn't hate it.

A lot of people don't hate it. It's part of the game. Where do you stand on that? I mean, it's one thing in the NHL. It's not like I have some moral issue against it, but I kind of laugh about it in the sense of, you know, insert Matthew Kachuk on the Germany team and certainly on Dreisel on the U.S. team.

And what do you think the result's going to be? I mean, this isn't a Leon Drysidal thing. And you're kind of chirping one of the greatest players, you know, in his tenure in the NHL, you know, I mean, he's that good. And I get it. I get Kachuk has the two cups. And I get Kachuk in his own right is a very good. player, but it almost felt like kicking a guy when he's down.

You know, I guess you could say it's like Michael Jordan, you know, anyone even just looked it on the wrong way. It's how he, it's how he got up for a game and how he was sort of like, I've already put 30 on you. I'm going to put another 20 on you because you stared at me the wrong way. And maybe that's how could Chuck gets himself mentally into the battle, which I get. Do I like it, though? No, I mean, I didn't, I don't like it.

And I feel like it's unnecessary, right? I, you know, there's something about having a sense of humility and a sense of, you know, there is karma out there in the world as well. And I just look at whatever I ask myself a question, and you guys, I know how you feel about this. And Nick, I'd love to get your take as a guy, you know, you probably heard that stuff. And, you know, you were in that environment. You know, I kind of say, what would Crosby do here? You know, like, Cid's a different guy, but he, you can kind of get your hockey moral compass from Siddy Crosby. And, you know, Sid probably wouldn't be trash talking a guy at 4-0.

in a game like this where, you know, it's an all-star team versus Leon Drysidal and some others. And that's no disrespect. Obviously, Stutzl is there inside her, but you know what I mean? It's an overmatch team. But so I didn't love it. But again, I think for Kachuk, that's maybe just how he motivates himself for the games. What's funny is, you know, after that happened, has anyone's opinion of anyone changed? You know, like it was kind of who we thought Matthew was.

It doesn't affect Leon. It could affect Connor. too, though, because Connor could easily say, if you're saying that about him, you're saying it about me too. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, Matthew want to wear it. Guys, didn't they spend the whole offseason saying that about

Connor, Leon, the Oilers? Like, you know, we don't have to revisit it, but there was even speculation. Well, Sam Bennett might have been excluded because there was some hard feelings there. And it ended up, I don't think that was the case, but it probably didn't help. You know, it is kind of funny. I wonder what the dynamic is. when Brad Marchand, Sam Bennett and everyone are in the locker room with Connor. Obviously, they're all putting on the red and white.

And I think you can take the high road and go luck. This is just how a guy motivates himself. I didn't love it. But again, you know, well, what's your take, Nick? I didn't hear your take. You know what? Yesterday I used the same words that you just used. I found it unnecessary for a guy that's already been deemed a back-to-back Stanley Cup champion

and a guy that's placed hard for his team has been. been an amazing teammate. There's probably other guys I'd probably take a run at way before Leon Dreisdell. Maybe take a swing at Timmy Stutzler before you go on Leo Dreisdoll. Right? So I, so your exact words yesterday, I said I found it unnecessary. Yeah, you know, you're beating a guy when he's down. I just, you didn't need, you didn't need to do it.

You know, if Germany's up three nothing and you want to maybe get in his head or throw him off or it's a one, one game and that's going to, you know, you're going to, you know, kind of throw him off a little bit. It just seemed like pouring, you know, dirt on someone's grave, essentially. Like, Leon understands the situation and he doesn't need to be reminded. Again, I'm not in Matthew Kachuk's head. And having said all these things, I love Kachuk on my team. Like he's, you win with guys like him too.

Like he's a great player. He's a fierce competitor. But it seemed like a bit of a cheap shot. I didn't like that part of it. Do you think that all of this preliminary hockey has a ton to do with what happens from here? Like I, you know, I know we've had Chris Pronger on. He talked about, you know, they swept through the prelims in Noggino and lost. They played in the play-in game in 2010 and won in B-Germany there.

Like, you know, it doesn't always, it doesn't necessarily feel tied to. Canada looks great. They're going to be fine. And it doesn't feel like Sweden had to play in the play-ins. They're toast. I agree, full-heartedly. I mean, listen, as much as Canada has had this smooth ride and as the U.S. has had a pretty smooth ride,

But you run into a hot goalie, you get some bad calls against you. You get an injury. Like, you can have a number of things happen in one game. You know, if Canada plays Chechia 10 times, I'd like to think Canada wins nine, 8.5, 9.9.5 of those times. But you just need that one time. Yeah, yeah. Like, this is the thing.

This is what makes it compelling and interesting. It's the purest form of sport. Anything can happen in one game, a couple of bad bounces or whatever. I mean, Jeremy Swayman led in a goal from center ice. And I wouldn't wish that on anyone in an elimination game. But if the stakes had been different and the situation had been higher, that's the sort of, that could be the difference between moving on and going home.

So anything can happen here. I don't think there's an advantage to running through the preliminary rounds. So, okay, I'll throw this to you first, DA, and then I'll let J.B. answer it. Would you have preferred a little bit more adversity in any point during a hockey game going into tomorrow? I'm going to defer that answer. And what I mean by that is, I'm glad Canada was as dominant as they were.

Like they played the game part. They were ready to go right away, and they just buried the other team. And the fact that they're going to play Czechia again, so it's a second time. I like the fact they played them, and they kind of have a sense of what they're up against. So, yeah, I get over an 82 game schedule.

You remember Boston a few years ago, and they coasted into the top, you know, best record ever. And it was an eight, it was an eight month thing. In a two-week thing and have these three games go this well, I don't, I don't really have a problem with that. I really don't. And also, you know, what are you supposed to do about it, right? You just play your games and try to win. There's a chance they can win gold without any adversity, right? It's not out of the question. It does, it feels strange, though, because it doesn't feel,

it doesn't feel impossible that they could just kind of beat teams. Now, 2014, I was in Sochi, and that was his dominant of Canadian performance. the only thing they ran into, the only adversity they ran into was a Latvian goalie who made like 54 saves or whatever against them. That was their only adversity. I know the score will 1-0-0-0-0-0-0-1-1-1-1-1-1-1.

That was never in doubt. 3-0, Sweden in the final, never in doubt. Like, they could have had whoever in net, you know, in that game and won because it was so dominant a performance. And maybe they're on that path again. I'm not suggesting they are, but maybe they're just going to be that good, the way

the U.S. dream team, when it comes to basketball, you know, they're beating teams by 50 points in the preliminary round and they still are beating teams by 25 points later on. It's funny. You say, you're not suggesting they are. And the only reason we're not suggesting they are is because it's jinxy and we're Canadian supposed to have humility. But it does look like the, you know, like one of the possibilities.

Keeping Canada and ask you about the American goalton and Connor Hellebuck going to be the guy again, kind of, you know, the moments are adding up for this guy where this is going to be another big game or a series of games here, he's going to be the starting goalie, the pressure on another chance at redemption. You know, if it doesn't go well, yeah, God, you know, it's, you're going to, people have been whispering

some things that are going to be said out loud pretty clearly. There's a lot of pressure there. Do we know who's starting for Sweden tomorrow? Do we have any idea? I don't know. You got Gustafsson going today. I got to believe they. I got to go back to them. You just stick with him, even though it's back to back. I know Doe Stahl's going

to start. I mean, clearly that's understood or predicted. Yeah, you know what? Listen, there is some pressure. Did he play well enough for the U.S. to win the four nations a year ago? I mean, I think he, no one's blaming him for the Connor MacDavid, you know, goal in overtime. But then you look across the rink and Bennington makes two literally game saving saves in overtime. We remember one against Matthews, one against Brady Kachuk.

So there's some pressure there. You know, do I think Connor Hullabuck's a good goalie? And he did look, I think he looked very sharp in that third game. I'm having a brain blank who they even played in the third game, but Italy or whatever. Germany, thank you. I mean, he looked to me pretty sharp. And, you know, maybe that is the U.S.

Maybe that is their advantage, you know, in this series. The fact that they have the reigning heart winner and a three-time best in the winner in that. It hasn't translated in the playoffs. We know that. We'll see if the pressure gets to Connor Hellebuck. But you're right. If there is a player, I would pick out and say, there's a lot of pressure on the back of this one player.

Hello, Buck's probably the guy I would circle for the U.S. Can we say the same thing about Canada? If there was one guy that had a ton of pressure going into this thing, it was Bennington and a lot of concern about the net all season long. Was it warranted, DA? There's no room for him to, you know, look like what J.B. predicted all along. You shouldn't have started? He wouldn't have been my pick.

He didn't want him. He didn't want him. Yeah, I mean, listen, he can implode, right? I mean, anything can happen, right? I don't think anyone's second-guessing. I think there'd be a lot more second-guessing if he hadn't performed how he did at the Four Nation. But I guess if he hadn't performed how he did at the Four Nation,

he might not be on the Canadian team, right? I think a lot of, I think they rubber stamped him in after he won four nation. I just think things have gone as poorly as they could have gone in the first half of the season with St. Louis. And here he is, you know, it's a ride or die now with Jordan Binnington. I think he has gained that reputation, though. It's funny. We talk about a guy who struggled, but when the moments have mattered has been great. And you talk about Hellebuck, who has been great, but when the moments have really mattered, has struggled at times.

So it's funny. You almost have this dichotomy of these. two guys. Yeah, listen, anything going to happen in one game. And if Dostal makes 45 saves tomorrow and Bennington lets in four goals on 17 shots, you're damn right. This is what the narrative's going to be.

But there's nothing that leads us to believe that Bennington's going to have that kind of collapse because he's been are you, are you are you predicting this, Dave? No, I'm not. It's just the only thing. He's guarded. That's all. We are going to play Czechia and likely Finland

and likely the Americans. Those are tough teams. Those are the top four. I'm just saying, there's not nothing that would make us think that he would be imperfect. That's all. I hope he kills it.

Yeah, listen. Yeah, I mean, Gold Denny is the most important position to do. Sure. Of course. Every goal he's going to be under that kind of spotlight and that kind of scrutiny. We care more because we have this,

you know, we love the game. We're so passionate about the game here in Canada. This means a lot. And we're expecting, it's gold or bust. I don't know if there's any other country. And I know some of the American players have said that. And I don't disbelieve what they're saying. But they can kind of come home and go.

Yeah, they can kind of go back to their lives. The Canadian players, it's going to be asked about it, questioned, and scrutinized, and debated. And it's a, you know, it's a bigger thing here because we care so much about the game. So it's a tough position to be in it. You're right. Anything can happen. You guys are giving me the. doom and gloom vibes.

No, no, no, no. We're just, do we want to talk about it or do we want to pretend it's not there? I'm just looking right at it. That's all. Yeah. Listen, it could happen, fellas. It could happen. I felt comfortable.

The team in front of whoever is in that for Canada has been very good. And what hasn't happened, right? Just yet, guys, that could happen is, Kail McCarr might be out there for 28 minutes. Mm-hmm. Right? Like, and I'm not saying there's been an issue with the defense of Canada clearly now. But the minutes can change. The allocation can change here, for sure.

I think McDavid played, what, 14 minutes one game or something? Like, listen, you might have McDavid. McDonough, you might have these guys out there for 28 minutes moving forward. That wouldn't shock me, you know? So there's still some chips to be played.

They've looked very good top to bottom. And, you know, you can't be overconfident because it's a one game, anything can happen situation. Having said that, I'd like to think we should feel pretty good where Canada's position themselves through the preliminary round. Great stuff. DA. Thanks for coming back.

How'd you shoot him down there? Fingerscrow. I'm horrible. I might have to retire from golf. Do people do that? No, no, no, no, no. He's got sneaky good touch. Yeah, yeah. The banana fade.

I call it the power fade, but it was not, it wasn't pleasant. But it was good to get out of the polar vortex for a couple days. That a boy. Freezing tomorrow. Have fun. Next time. Thanks so much traveling me. Enjoy. Go Canada. We'll get you in the studio next time. Thanks for dropping by, pal.

What a beauty. David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada. Yeah, beauty. NHL on SportsNet. Okay, so like I'm feeling like you guys are looking at me. Like I'm completely throwing both of you under the bus. You on Bennington and you on... I think I just am trying to be reasonable and have the conversation.

I like it. I like it. I only brought it up, Because it's the only, it's the only thing that we can look at right now outside of the blue line and whether or not, you know, one or two guys should have been there. If Nick Suzuki's going to play five or eight minutes in the next game, like it's not. All I'll say is that I have made the case that Thompson is a better choice than Bennington.

Not that I think Bennington can't do it. So I, you know, I think, yeah, that's all. That's the full thesis statement. I just wanted to get his thoughts on it. Just laying out what's to come. here, okay? So, the Canadians in USA, it's not, I'm not breaking news here, are really on a collision course for the final. Yeah.

Me and Borny talked a little bit about this before, like, I think it would be just as meaningful to go to the final and beat anybody in the final if you don't have to play the States. And I think everybody's stoked and we'd be the number one team, but I think we all know that Canada is probably the best team anyway, regardless of all these results. It just would be so much sweeter to have the USA win. But with that matchup comes one of the all-time nightmares of actually losing to them. Dread of all dread. Like that, like, I just, But that's the beauty of sport, right? Yes. That's why you enjoy it. Amazing. I've never seen

someone to fall as sports. You got to be, you got to be. I don't hate it. You can't enjoy it as much as he can without knowing what the consequences are losing. I would... Here's what I'd say. I would much rather lose to Finland and the semis than the states in the final. Like, no question. Like, not even close.

Oh, there's so wrong on that. What? Yes, you're so wrong. Hard. Find it hard to argue. Hard fought, lost to the proud fins and then, yeah, let the states go win. And then you can say, oh, good, nice gold medal, sick gold medal.

They don't have to beat us. Still never beat. us. I'm mapping it all out right now. There is that euphoria of soaking in something. Yeah, listen. Like a final. Yeah, a euphoria just like two outs before Miguel Rojas hit one over the fence.

Just like that kind of euphoria, right? I want you to listen to my words here, okay? Keep from listening. You need to see somebody. I see you two every day. No, I'm talking. We are not the solution here. I'm talking professional.

Yeah. I'm talking white jackets. Why? I'm talking. I'm talking about a chart. I'm talking about, yes. Someone needs to chart this information. J.B. and I can't do it.

Hold on. So you think it's a crazy take to say that I would much rather have them lose to Finland to the semis than lose to. I get your perspective, but I, Kipp's right. I mean, we have a chance to win a bronze medal. No, no, they wouldn't. Right? No, they would.

If they lost, yeah. I just You're protecting your feelings. The stakes of losing to America. And listen, we've had to do this game multiple times at the last Olympics. We beat them last time. We beat them in 2010. We beat them in 2014.

We've beat them every time. But at some point... We're not going to beat them every time forever. That's exactly right. At some point, it's things flip and you become due, and it's just it's way sports work. Is that a goal for women's hockey right now with the USA team? team. No, I think it's...

We're bringing our hopes on that with the Canadian women. I mean, I'm looking at... I watched that first game between the two of them, and it looks like France playing against Austin that game at time. So, I don't know. Tomorrow, it's Thursday afternoon. Tomorrow will be... They get it sorted, man.

I don't know. It's Thursday afternoon, I think is the final. But anyways, I just... I guess I shouldn't have said that take on air, but I've been thinking about it a lot. It's okay, Sammy. It's part of the conversation. Game time? Game time.

I think I need some, like, gold medal odds for some longer shot countries. Like, I don't know what you got planned, but... I'm curious. Slovakia, Finland. Let's see what we got here. It's game time. It's set by Bet365. Visit the Athletes Odds and see why it's ever ordinary at Bet365.

Must be 19 plus. Ontario only please play responsibly. Let's look up the futures for that. That's NHL futures. Just quickly on the matchups for tomorrow that are, okay. Hold on. Let me see what we got here. For this, so we just mentioned the women's game?

You can bet on it on Bet, This is how, I mean, I don't know when you would ever have seen this. The women are plus 375 tomorrow. Oh my God. Are you kidding me? America is minus 500. Against Canada. Against Canada.

Minus 500. About that in anything. You know what? Minus 500 to beat Canada in hockey. You're not a good Canadian if you don't put a couple bucks down on our women. Plus 375. It's one game. You never know.

Yeah, you never know. goalie. Oh, yeah. We have a great. I'm just quickly pulling up. The other matchups tomorrow, Germany and Slovakia, the Czechs in Canada, obviously, Switzerland versus Finland and Sweden now versus the USA. Sweden finishes off Latvia 5-1.

I caught in the corner of my eye, I think Willie Neelander having it on a string. Yeah, that was unkind. I don't know who the Latvian goalie was, but gone fishing. He turned a sign around on the crossbar that said, Gone Fishing. I can't exactly find where the favorites right now, Borny, but here's what I'm going to bring up tomorrow morning, the first game,

minus 105, Slovakia, minus 115 Germany. They're projecting that to be a pretty close game. Canada is minus 1,100 tomorrow. Minus 1100 plus 700. I guess they saw the first matchup and they changed the lines a little bit on that one. And Finland, Switzerland, They don't have the USA Sweden game posted yet because that just finished.

But Finland versus Switzerland. Switzerland's a plus 180 underdog in that game minus 220. I got to tell you, I don't mind the value on Switzerland there with plus one. Sweden is going to give the U.S. a game, I think. For sure. And I think Switzerland's going to give Finland a game too. They looked really good against Canada. Hey, sorry to just do breaking news, but that Pierre Crinnon fella,

he got charged for punching that goalie in the face today. Everyone was so sick of what happened against Tulsa. This is like what? About a week ago? Yeah, the actual... Two weeks ago? How long? How far back is that?

I don't know. And now he's getting charged. Oh, mate? No, no, no. Yeah, he's getting charged by the French police. Is this a... Is this an AI fact? Is this a Facebook fact?

No, I'm watching on daily face off right now. Okay, good, good. Anyhow. Anyways, a couple of guys in that team weren't thrilled that he got kicked off the team. Yeah, the French players were mad. Yeah, they were pissed. What a joke. What a joke, yeah.

I'm telling you, it's like, come on. This is, This is a rough sport. Sometimes we can get carried away, do goofy things. I'm the first to admit I've done things that would land me in jail in a recreational game. But you can't, you just, you can't go and embarrass a guy for having a weak moment. It's also embarrassing to the other players where it's like your federation is so fragile about the whole thing. Yes.

Anyways, that was game time. He said by my bet 365. Visit the athlete of the odds and see why it's ever. ordinary at bed 365 must have a team plus and tarry only please play responsibly boys we got some leaf's practice updates we're going to talk about that coming back lees practicing boys are back to work mandated to get the heck off the beach and get to practice today those looking at those practice lines hit me like a right hook i was like oh god that's coming back all right still undecided on the on team canada's lineup i want to ask you guys who would you take out

to the lineup tomorrow for Brad Marchand coming back in. That plus NHL news when we return to Real Kipper and Bourne. Hey, it's Blake Murphy. And I'm Matt Bonner. Join us weekday mornings at 11 as we break down all things Toronto Raptors. It's the Raptor show on Sportsnet 590, The Fan, and wherever you get your podcasts. Reminder this hour of Real Kipper and Born brought to you by Bet365, Nick Kippreous, Justin Bourne.

Sammy McKee. As you know, I like to keep an eye on. YouTube chat during the show. See what people are saying. Yeah. Anybody. From Diana Hilderley says, the day that Sammy gets cured by a professional is the day that I quit watching this show.

Your disease is your child. So we lose her, but we probably gain a hundred. Millions. Thousands. You guys would be big. That would be huge. Anything in the chat about the Blue Jay jersey left hanging.

Oh, wow. It's been a while. Hey, pitchers and catchers are back. We're just reminding everyone. SportsNet is your home for the Trump. Toronto Blue Jays. Ja, Ja, Ja, Gabor, where are you? We need you bad.

You saw him on the producer meeting today. Blair and Barker are back? Yeah, they're doing, I think they're doing 12 to 1. I should double check that, but I saw a clip of them talking about how the Jays are going to be better this year than they were last year, which I listen to, I listen to the two guys. They're much smarter when it comes to baseball than me, but I was surprised by that I'd take. It's just fantastic to hear those two boys back in the air. I mean, the amount of time I spent after big games down the stretch and in the playoffs, listening to their post-game shows, like just the sounds of their voice means baseball, means spring. means summer. Let's go.

It's so funny because outside here in Toronto today, it feels like it is, whatever it is, five degrees, the sun's out, the melts happening, and then you got this like freezing rain or something, 15 inches. Centimeters tomorrow or something. I drove in today and just going along the street by my house, there's just like a bunch of little cafes, patios, every patio rammed people got. Oh, yeah, everyone having their coffees.

They just can't wait. They can't wait. It was like five degrees. Wasn't that warm? That's great. Do we really care about a conversation on if Brad Mershan plays tomorrow who comes out? Yeah, I think we should. All right.

So what's your preference? My preference is to not take out Brad Marshan. I think if he's available, this guy's proven champ, proven winner, comfortable in big moments. There's some guys who haven't been through that, Sammy. I think it's much like what we do with the Toronto Maple Leafs, it's a lot like your quibbling around the edges, talking about who the 13th forward is going to be in this. case, but in these big games, if whoever, Seth Jarvis or Suzuki or whoever the guy is

that you're going to come out, it's going to be playing five minutes anyway, I think I want to have Brad Marchand on that bench is just sort of a guy that'd be. Yeah, if he's your 13th guy who plays five minutes, make it Brad Marshall. Like if that's, for me, having him there is meaningful. Here's my concern. Yep. He is not healthy. No.

Like, how not healthy are we talking? Like, very concerning. that whatever he needs. This is changing my answer. Yeah, my answer's changed immediately. Right. And he's battling something. We knew that going in.

He missed a good portion on a couple occasions. So whatever he's battling, it's just to get through. So it'll be real interesting where Florida is in the standings a week from now. If he comes back and plays right away, needs more time off. Or could he be one of the first guys? that gets shut down after the Olympics. They're probably not making the playoffs. They're probably not playing.

And then he can focus on getting himself healthy. But if he's hanging on... If he's... And the Leaves are too. If he's hanging on right now, I don't know what an extra few days would do between a game that you're supposed to win and a game that you may need him

in a semifinal or final. Yeah. What have your thoughts been on Suzuki? Because he's been pretty polarizing. I've seen some stuff from maybe the advanced stats community saying that he's actually been pretty decent. I haven't seen a ton from him. Looks like a little bit out of place playing on the wing for me.

What have you guys thought from Suzuki? Because he seems to be a guy that's in the conversation for coming out. I like Bennett over Suzuki. Me too. And that's just, I think there's just more layers to Bennett. And we've seen on occasion that there's a feel of NHL hockey when you can kind of accidentally on purpose bump somebody. I just feel like Suzuki's not going to get used in the way he's used in the NHL,

you know, like last minute down a goal, like he's not going to be the guy they put on the ice. So if you're just playing sort of not meaningless, but the less impactful minutes, Sam Bennett can make an impact in those ones. You know, do you like Suzuki more than Jarvis? Your mileage may vary. I do.

Sorry, I meant to say I like Jarvis more than I like Suzuki. I think he at least brings that kind of speedy element that sneaks up on guys a little bit. I don't know, I just haven't seen it with Suzuki. And the only guy, really, to me... For sure. He's a great player, but he's just the only guy to me that's looked kind of out of place,

maybe seem harsh, but moment big, I don't know. They got him between Hagel and Reinhardt of practice today, which is a pretty good spot. He gets to... It might be a placeholder for McKinnon, but we'll see. I know we've talked about this already with the French player, Crennan. Yeah.

But you told me something during the break that I had no idea about that they actually want to bring charges up on something that happened. We talked about that on air. Did we talk about that? Yeah, it was at the end of the last segment, yeah. Okay, so, like, I'm appalled by this. I actually watched the play. I'm like, I'm blown away.

There's a video of the play. That it wasn't, it wasn't concerning enough to deal with it then. But now that we've watched you out there the other day, now we feel like it's warranted of this. It's like if you want to join the real hockey culture, France, you got to just make this guy a national hero. You know, not afraid to go at Tom Wilson and Nathan McKinn. What are we doing here?

And at least some of the players are starting to kind of stand up for him a little bit here. Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm just watching the video. I'm watching the video here. Harp on it. It's a brawl. Yeah.

And he lands a couple punches on a goalie. So deal with it then. Or just spend it for seven games. That's dealt with to me. Yeah, done, done. Closed, closed chapter. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, back end, Morrissey's skated, looks healthy, available, likely.

Okay, with Sandheim coming out, someone comes out, seems like he'll be the guy. Yeah. I was Schaefer was there. Yeah. Yeah. I think, who else would you? I guess, not Theodore. For some people, but no.

Paraco. Didn't love that turnover. Yeah, I didn't love the turnover. over either and kind of a quick look at maybe some of the things that went on all season long in St. Louis between Perrako and then the juicy rebound by Bittington. Yeah, St. Louis game broke out there

for a second. Yeah, there's a little bit of a St. Louis moment there. There was a few goals like that all season long. Yeah. Yeah. Not ideal. Do you have any insight on Morrissey? Because I think like if he's look at the Jets season I obviously think these are going to be the next these next three games are not just the biggest

games he's going to play all year maybe some of the biggest games he's going to play in his life I don't think the Jets are going to be like hey don't push like do not you know push him if he's not ready to go they probably want to suck anyway they want to get closer to the bottom like I think I think they'd probably have the green light to play him if he's a little bit banged up

and I think you want him in there but it's it's not a Winnipeg thing it's can you finish a game Can you be out there and not hurt us? That's fair. Yeah, the Matthew Guckech in the gold medal game, I think scared some people, right? In the Four Nations where he just had to sit on the bench,

probably shouldn't have played and could have had another score out there. And who's that out? Kyle Connor. Not that Connor's been awesome for the Americans. I think he's out now. Yeah, he is. Back out. Curious to see this American team because you can, it's easy to see a version of them where they're unbelievable, right?

Jack Hughes flying, Nelson and Matthews. lines you like Chuck brother they got so many good things Hughes it's also easy to see a version where it's like god it's a lot of trocheck and J.T. Miller. Well you thought questionable goal tending people were crapping on Canada for having it easy like uh they played hockey game yet and they I mean who they play lapia Denmark and Germany at least Canada played Czechia and Swiss who were both like hockey teams I don't know I think they're in for a rude awakening tomorrow all right we got a couple of minutes here NHL players were mandated to go back to

practice today. Oh, no. Yeah. Does it not feel like an NHL game was like a gazillion years ago? I know. Who does it? Oh,

yeah. Seriously. Knights are challenging right now. It is. I'm going to read a book tonight. It is just. I miss it. It's such a,

it feels like I don't even know. Like who's in, who's out. I got to go look at the, I got to be reminded of the standings again. Leafs being six points out of a playoff spot. So we read all the news today and it's like, Morgan Riley is going to be back in healthy.

Dakota Joshua could be back. Well, it could be back and available. Chris Tanev, skated, not that far off available. They are 100% winning three in a row straight under the break. They're going to get smoking hot. They are going to get smoking hot. And then they're going to not sell and they're going to miss the playoffs by one point. Yeah.

That is our true. For fans to get. I do, yeah. Juice back up next week. No, if the Leafs win a couple, they'll be legitimately in the play. No, not just the league in general, right? Like it's a It's a long break, guys

But the timing is good Heading into the trade deadline That is a big interest rejuvenator Even like the The gap between games all week At the Olympics No, I don't want to see Canada off For two or three days.

I don't get the games in And the other thing that really ticks me off too About the Olympics? Something picks you off? No way! Gold medal game Yeah, it's absurd. 8 a.m.

Eastern time. There hasn't been a... Why? Love it. There hasn't been a preliminary game at that time. You're killing your audience. Yeah, not idea. Could you just make it 10.40 a.m.?

No, no. Play Saturday. It's up... They went early because of the closing ceremonies. Put the game Saturday and put it at 2 p.m. 2 p.m. Eastern. 8 p.m. Local time.

Done. Yeah, yeah. Right now the game is actually being played. The gold medal game is 2 p.m. in Italy, I think. Yeah. Like, it's not like the timing's that. Weird. Stupid.

I believe it's the last event. It's always. It is. It's always the last. It is. So they're timing it so they can do the closing ceremonies, presumably. Yep. Is that same day?

Always is. Anyway, just my little beef. Yeah. Boy, that closing ceremonies after they won in 2010. I don't remember a lot of that one. I remember it was on TV. Yeah, I had to write something. Oh, I wasn't right now.

My finest, not a Pulitzer winner. I was writing home to Mama about my sins. That's all I was doing. We had a few pictures that night. Oh, boy. All right, anything else? Well, I'll just read the schedule for tomorrow. Slovakia, Germany, 6 a.m., Canada, Chequia,

1040 AM. All these games available on Sportsnet, Finland, Switzerland is a 1210. start and then the Americans play at 310 against. During our show. Yeah, we will see the end of that game. We'll be very distracted. I'm terrible. We got Luke's joining us from the rank tomorrow. Nice. Maybe Patrick Marlow tomorrow.

Whoa. All right. And we go back to 4 to 6. 4 to 6 p.m. Tomorrow. Our thanks to David Amber, hockey night in Canada, sports net, and a good friend of the show. All right. Enjoy your night off. We're back tomorrow.