Real Kyper & Bourne - Gold Medal Fallout for the NHLers

Episode Date: February 23, 2026

Sportsnet and Hockey Night in Canada's David Amber (5:32) joins Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne to chat about the outcome from Canada vs. USA's Gold Medal hockey game, if Hockey Canada brought the right personnel to Milan, what winning the gold medal and Captaining USA Hockey could do for Auston Matthews and the Maple Leafs for the rest of the season, how the loss could fuel Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon, and if the NHL should reintroduce a Summit Series between USA and Canada for a 7-game series in the future. Then, Nick, Justin and Sam McKee weigh in on what the next World Cup would look like, if Doug Armstrong and Jon Cooper will return for Team Canada, and Nazem Kadri addressing trade rumours.  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 back into the national hour of the Real Kipper and Boren show. We are live on Sportsnet, Sportsnet, 650 in Vancouver, 960 in Calgary. And streaming always on Sportsnet Plus, always available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Keep the chats rolling. Give us a thumbs up if you get a chance. Love you being part of the program. This hour of Real Kippur and Boren brought to you by Bet365. Nick Kippreos, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee.

In a few minutes. We'll welcome in David Amber, studio host of Hockey Night in Canada in the NHL on Sportsnet. as we continue to dissect a disappointing loss to the U.S. You mentioned the YouTube chat. That is not a place I like looking right now. A lot of Eagles, a American flags, a lot of... That's okay. Hey, listen.

That's all right. Let them have their moment. You know what I would be doing? The same thing. This is what sports are about. They're gloating. They should be gloating. That's the point.

The one thing that we haven't talked about in the first hour, Kip, that is absolutely essential. someone on the streetcar today told McKee or the Subway that he looks like Matthew Kachuk. Wow. There's a lot of times that might be like, oh, okay, I don't see it, but whatever. But the day after the Americans win gold. I am Teflon.

You can say anything to me. I am the least easily offendable guy. People listening are not going to believe that because they've heard you talk about sports. Yeah, but like in the real life, you could really say anything to me and I'm not really going to get offended. I looked at this woman and was like, what did you say? I have never been more disgusted.

I said, today of all days? And then she's like, he was even on the team. I'm like, right, did he play? Oh, I didn't notice him out there. Did he play? I'm not sure. It's also just such a bad call. Regardless if you think he played or not or how he looked.

He plays between whistles. Is there another guy in the history of a game that can poke the bear more than Matthew Kachuk? Yeah, I'd say Marshand. Yeah, Marshand, probably. still Marchand worse? Oh now? Like right now? Right now.

If like we're talking about a career achievement award here, I'm giving it to Marchand over Kachuk, but like at the... All right. They're running toe to toe. Yeah, he's certainly the dry saddle stuff, I think, cemented it for a lot of people. The plan was for the NHL players to come back to New York City land and then figure out their own way to get home. almost 20 inches of snow in New York,

pushed the plane down to Miami. Yeah. Where? I think that was planned pre-storm. No. No, no, no, it was not. Not going to make a joke that I really came to the top of my head, but a snowstorm.

What's interesting now is the invitation for the, for the USA team to go to the White House. state of the union State of the union President Trump has He's invited the team there It's debatable on which players Will go which players can go

And get back Some of them Including the captain Austin Matthews Has a game Wednesday night To get politics back involved It was too fun when it was just No no just

They're going to 11 nightclub tonight For a huge party at 11 nightclub Forget about politics just from simply logistics on who can get there and actually come back and be ready to play Wednesday night has put some of the players in a tough predicament. Not that tough. No. Don't just don't go.

You don't need to be the president's state of the union for. He does this. I don't think they're not going to get the whole team. I had heard a few players have already said no, but it'll be interesting. I mean, I think we could probably pick out the guys that are going to go. Well, they love.

I mean, I'm for the eight women's team. They're not appreciating the way they were talking about. To get it. Bill Garon already gave his guys a green light. But like, come on. He knows he's going to the playoffs. He knows there's a comfort zone for the players to take the rest of the week off.

Like, if the Leafs ever lose again, they're out of playoffs. They can't. But like, you know. They need their dude. I don't know. Does the captain of the USA team go or does he stay in Florida and prepare for two games? I am fascinated to find out.

I think the fact that they're in Florida and they play two games in Florida, I think to leave Florida is a... No way he goes. I think there's a world right now where, I mean, I don't know if Amber's there or not, so where Toronto Leaf fans, like Canada Leaf fans are somewhat happy for awesome. and Matthews. Like, myself, I'm so right.

He could totally blow this. It could bad. Yeah. This actually, this is a, it's not exactly the rosiest relationship with the United States right now, and it's one thing I understand.

He's the president. I'm not going to get into politics. If you love the guy, you got to, whatever. Yeah. Again, like, for him to leave where,

if they weren't playing in Florida, it's one thing. But the fact that they're here, they're going to be there, and he flies out. Lying to a snowstorm. His approval rating. you know, people like, oh, he won something.

Like, I know it was against us, blah, blah, blah. If he flies to go see Trump, people are going to hate him. It's gone. Facts. All right, we got David Amber. Politics, David, David, Amber. Host of Hockey Night in Canada. Your thoughts on Cash Patel.

Anybody would. I've walked into a hornet. How are you? You have a little bit. How are you, my friend? I'm good. How are you guys doing? We're good.

I don't think you want to start there. if I can rid this. Taxpayer money to fly to Milan. I'll pass on this. The military jet. Are you okay with the players using that? All I'll say is this. Sam's point, I'll dispute one part of it.

If Austin Matthews flies out, does his thing with President Trump, comes back and scores a hat trick against Tampa, no Lee fan will be upset. But it's up to deliver. But it has potential to be Vince Carter's graduation. You know, like we kind of need you in this moment. Well, I mean, game 80 against Lightning versus game seven is a little different. Tusha.

All right. D.A., where do you want to start in terms of how you felt about Sunday overall here? And was it strictly just not getting the bounces? They got goalied and leave it at that. Canadians tend to go a little deeper. Where do you want to go? Yeah, well, I want to start by saying glass half full, guys. That was exactly the theater, the drama.

The ending wasn't what Canadian hockey fans wanted, but the actual game itself was fantastic. It was exciting. It was, you know, everything we could have asked for. I've said this numerous times. Sports is the best reality TV there is unscripted, you know, impossible to predict. And who could have predicted that Connor Hellebuck would have the game of his life?

and steal a game for the U.S. You know, we can't be selective in our memory. It was a year ago that Jordan Bennington stole four nations from the U.S. So this notion of, you know, Canada deserves that we were robbed and all this. You know, that's sports. That's what makes sports so fantastic. We don't know what's going to happen. We don't know who's going to make that play.

You know, the Wednesday before the Olympics started, we did our hot topic on our Wednesday. Wednesday night show and it was what are you most, what storyline are you most looking forward to? And for me personally, I said, I can't wait to see who's going to have their Michael Rousione moment, their Sydney Crosby moment. And it ended up being Jack Hughes and Connor Hellebuck. And, you know, listen, we witnessed an incredible spectacle. I watched with my two kids and my daughter, who's an average hockey fan, she couldn't take her eyes off the screen. She was like, I was so exciting. You know, she was so upset and desponded that Canada lost. But my point is it was,

It was a great, great game. Canada played incredibly well. We should be very proud of how they performed throughout the tournament. They gave it everything they could, as to the Canadian women. And what do you know? That's sports. Sometimes you come out on the right side of things. And I'm sure there's a lot of moments there that could have turned that game around.

I'm sure we can dissect all of them right now if that's what you guys want to do. But at the end of the day, between Connor Hellebuck and Jack Hughes and the American team, they pulled off the victory. and it was well deserved because, you know, they did what they had to do. And for Canada, it was a matter, as you said, some bad bounces, some bad luck, not finishing some plays.

And sometimes that's how it goes. Now, the question is now, will that game for your daughter, now make her watch you Wednesday night? Nothing will do that. I'm going to guess, no. Come on. That feels like a no.

All right, so it's just one and done then. She liked the one game I'll see you in four years. We're really good as a species at telling ourselves stories about why things happened, right? Like had one of those Canadian shots go in, Doug Armstrong picked the right team

and Cooper coached it perfectly and the lines were all great, but we didn't. That didn't happen. So there is some second guessing that is going on. A little of it is just maybe one more offensive Dman, Schaefer, Bouchard.

Do you feel like we're going to treat ourselves to a little bit more of that offense in the next one. Yeah, potentially. I mean, a lot of armchair quarterbacking. Trust me, my texts were blowing up with guys. We even have this guy on there. I can't believe they left that guy off. I can't believe that play.

I can't believe that line matchup. And yeah, that's sort of what we do. We love the game. We're passionate about the game. You know, part of the plan wasn't for Josh Morrissey not to be there, right? You had Kail McCar and you had Kail McCar-Light in Josh Morrissey. A puck moving defenseman can get up on the rush, has offensive capabilities. The other defenseman, by and large,

when you look at their resumes, their stay-at-home, honest defenders. And I think they played that game well. I think Canada defended pretty well. If you look at the shots, high danger chances, et cetera, the inner slot shots, everything else given up in that final game. It was all dominated by Canada. They defended incredibly well.

Josh Morrissey was a loss for the Canadian team. And maybe if Schaefer had been chosen, maybe he could have slotted in there. Maybe Jacob Chikrin, who I know, we debated on this show about the merits of his resume. Yeah, there's a lot of second-guessing, but it does seem, you know, a little convenient, right? I mean, they had the abundance of chances to win. The expected goals were 5.8 to 2 or something.

I mean, you know, as we gave Jordan Bennington his flowers a year ago at foreign nations, we really have to just say, wow, you know, Connor Hellebuck, performance of a lifetime. I mean, it was the greatest single U.S. goal tank. performance in international play ever is what a lot of Americans who follow these things closely are saying. And, and, you know, it's hard to dispute that. You know, the save on TAVs, the two breakaways. Who would be the two guys if Canada was having breakaways? We'd go, well, I hope it's these two guys. Hunter McDavid and Mack and Sellebrini. They got clear-cut breakaways from the blue line in and were stopped both times. So, you know, we have to just acknowledge that, I think.

do you guys think the makeup of the team was wrong? Yeah, there could have been other, you know, the Shifles, the Bedards, whoever. Like there's a whole myriad of guys who could have made cases to be on the team, but I'm not sure they had the wrong guys there. They played well enough to certainly come home with the goal. Yeah, certainly over the course of history, we've done that many, many times. We went, we closed off our first hour, just talking a little bit about Austin Matthews and potentially what a win like this could do for him.

him. And on the other side, we see Connor McDavid, Stanley Cup finals falling short a couple of times, and now a little bit short on a gold medal. Can you talk about what this Olympics did for Austin Matthews and, you know, Connor McDavid moving forward? I mean, I guess we're going to see, Nick. It's hard to say. I'd like to think from Austin Matthews standpoint, he doesn't seem like who eats up everything that's said about him or written about him, you know, the way it affected, it seemed to affect Mitch Marner, you know, just being in this spotlight and having that much scrutiny and intense scrutiny game in, game out hasn't seemed to affect Austin Matthews. His play has certainly fluctuated, but I'm not sure it's because of media attention or fan

attention, et cetera. But I'd like to think he's going to have the greatest level of confidence, you know, moving forward. He can now say, I'm a champion. I've been there. I captained something that was historic for my country. There's not many things bigger than that. Certainly that could be a, you know, big boost for what he could bring to the Maple Leafs. We heard Craig Barube say, yeah, I'm so happy for him. I'm proud of him. And maybe this could be that thing that elevates him. And Connor McDavid, I just feel horribly for him, right? I feel horribly. I still don't think the final chapter's been written. He is going to go out a champion. I feel that.

I just think it's in his DNA. I think he will do everything in his power to make that come true. And I just feel it will come true eventually. But I'm devastated because he also was there staring down Jack Hughes, scoring the winning goal after he went, you know, tried to kind of dance through three guys to score a goal in, you know, in the overtime, which I don't blame him for. I totally understand why we do that.

We saw Mitch Martyr do that a few games ago quite successfully. And if anyone can dance three guys and put the puck in the net, it's Connor McDavid. So I just feel bad for him. I don't think it's going to change his legacy. I think there's still many chapters to be written in that. And I certainly for his sake, hope that's the case. Yeah.

No, he's performed amazing in a lot of big moments. And he certainly is the guy that changes the flow of the game for everyone else and makes it easier for them. So he deserves a lot of credit. You know, it's interesting because Nathan McKinnon is a heart trophy winner, a Stanley Cup champion, you know, debatably a heart trophy favorite to front runner this year in the NHL, but he didn't have as good a tournament as Connor McDavid. And I know he was sick for a while, potentially other injuries.

We don't really know exactly what he was going through. But I am curious to know how this affects him going forward because he look at that game. You know, he's on for the OT winner. He misses the empty net. There's one other one in there that I feel like he'd be frustrated about it. But either way, it's like he just seemed really frustrated. Did he not? Yes, yeah, he seemed agitated pretty much the whole tournament.

He was minus two at the Olympics somehow. You know what I would say? I'll go even bigger picture, guys, and I'm not going to try to play junior psychologist here. But I do wonder, the Colorado Avalanche has just been smooth sailing all the way the season. They're the Stanley Cup favorites. Look at what happened to their three players in this gold medal game. And this isn't to put it on them, but I just mean psychologically,

Taves and McCar get danced incredibly by Matt Bolton. boldy in the first goal. You see that happen. You see McKinnon missing the empty net. You see Taves have the opportunity of a lifetime the saved by Helibuck. I just wonder psychologically how these guys are going to

feel. You know, and McCar had the sort of slow back checked on the game winning, you know, gold medal winning goal for the U.S. Again, I'm not putting anything on these guys because they're some of the best players in the world and they, you know, obviously were a big reason Canada was right in the

position they were in to win gold. But I do wonder psychologically if they're going to carry any of that baggage back to their NHL team. And if this is going to derail at all Colorado's chances to be sort of the frontrunner to win the Stanley Cup, that's a storyline to at least, you know, having the back of our minds moving forward. What do you think he did with that stuffed animal? I can hear Sam in the background.

That's the best part. What do you think you do? I think some poor Italian official has been forced to consume it bite by bite. I don't think you made it on the trip home. That actually made me laugh. And, you know, he's like kind of giving it the stink eye. And it is a weird, you know, it's the Olympics. It's kind of it's these, through these traditions that they've done for, you know,

100 plus years. It's interesting. I find it interesting. You wonder how this could move forward here. and David, like, there's no time. We're just talking about guys if they're actually going to go to the White House and think that they can play Wednesday night

or Thursday night. And if they do, what kind of shape are they in to perform? We only got like roughly 25 games. Some teams have the luxury of sitting a few guys out like Minnesota. And others are like, boys, we need you on top of your game right away here. Should we be worried about how these guys come back and what we're asking them to do in a short period of time? Well, think about the sprint to the finish.

So use the Leafs as the example. In the next 50 nights starting Wednesday, they have 25 games. They're afforded, they're maybe in a better position than some of other teams, right? They only had Neel and Matthews at the Olympics. They only had three players. You know, some teams had nine, 10, 11 players, right? Tampa, who they're playing on Wednesday, Kutrov's been, sitting out chilling for the last couple of weeks.

And he's been on this incredible run, as is Vasilevsky has been able to relax. I think it's going to impact some teams. And needless to say, Fiala's gone for the year. Crosby, I'm not sure what his status is moving forward, but he's clearly injured now and a few other players. And as J.B alluded to, you know, whether it's McKinnon or Marchand,

there's a lot of speculation that a few guys are going to miss some amount of time moving forward. So it is maybe completely, changed the dynamic of where the Stanley Cup playoffs, you know, the complexion of how they're going to look in in two months. It's a really, it's such an interesting season. Hey, guys, the compressed schedule, the Olympics and everything that that brings. And not just physically the toll, but what about emotionally? How are you, you know, you're whomever, you're Jake Gensel and you were playing for gold a few days ago. And now you're, you know, it's game 52 versus the Maple Leafs, you know, we're first in our division. How do, how do I even approach that on the same?

mental level. So I'm really interested to see how guys adjust in certain teams like Tampa, Colorado, Florida, where half their roster were at the Olympics. It's going to be very interested to see how those teams specifically do moving forward. All right. De, I'm going to go off the board here and I'm going to sell, I'm trying to sell you something that Sam McKee pitched off the air. Enough of the Olympics, the World Cup. We just need a summit series with the Americans. which is five games, best of five, will play a couple in Toronto, a couple of New York City,

you know, five games. Let's go. Would you be in on that over the World Cup? Sweden and Finland can do their thing in Stockholm and Helsinki. What do you think? You want it? Best of five.

Playing five games anyway. I like it. NHL rules. I like it. Listen, it would be incredible theater. I don't think it's a bad idea. Right now, those two teams, that's the rivalry.

That's what everyone wanted to see. We talked about it on your show before. That was the dream matchup and it didn't disappoint. We've now had U.S. versus Canada, you know, for all the marbles twice in a year span, and both games have been absolutely incredible must-see TV. Imagine five of those. It would be nasty. It would be incredible skill level of hockey.

It would be a dream come true. I'm not against it. And it's not a matter of shutting out everyone else. But right now as it stands, US and Canada, there's no greater rivalry in hockey. That's for sure. Yeah.

In our era, David, we're roughly the same age. Well, maybe I'm a little older than you. But it was Canada. It was Canada, USSR, now Russia. And for the kids today, it's all about Canada versus the U.S. I just feel like a gambler who just lost all his money,

though. I'm like, double down. Let's go. It's cool again. Run it again. Right? Well, until this stretch here, and I'm not sure where I want to put this exact stretch because it's just so, it just happened. But to me, the best hockey I ever saw was the 87, the Ronde, you know, the three-game series, right?

Canada, Russia, 65, 65, 65, 6, 5, 6, 5, 6, 5, 6, 5, 6, 5, Gretzki, LeMew, Howardchuck with a pick and Murphy, like, all of it. It was just fantastic. It was amazing. And that was, like, beating our bitter rivals, you know, from Russia. That's how this feels now. And to have this served up five times, you know, or best of seven, whatever they could muster,

the players would be all for it. It would be a cash cow for the NHL. I mean, I don't see how it wouldn't. And more opportunities to go, you know, to get tickets to see this. Yeah. I mean, listen, Sam, he's had worse ideas. He's had tons of worse ideas. That's for sure.

There's a laundry list, pal. An absolute laundry list. All right, it's going to get real busy from here on end, man. And we know you're going to be at the forefront for SportsNet. Thanks for joining us. Yeah, guys, thanks for having me on. And it was a lot of fun. And now back to business.

And let's see how it shakes down, sprint to the finish here. Yeah, buddy. See you soon. The host of Hockey Night in Canada and the NHL on Sportsnet, Mr. David Amber. Love that guy. Okay. So he's being diplomatic. Just kick the rest of it.

No one cares but anything else. Just get Canada. I've listened to you for four years saying, oh, God, Olympics, Olympics. Now you're ready to get rid of the Olympics. I just want Canada and USA to matter. What's that? It can be in addition to. I just want Canada is you say to, if you're going to do it.

Take it easy on pulling blood out of a stone here. How much can these guys give? Well, they're going to play five times at the World Cup, presumably. So you're going to scrap all the other teams. All we really care about is Canada, U.S. I do. It's all I care about. You know what the NFL would do?

That's not a good thing, by the way. It's not a good thing. Well, I think it is a good thing. I mean, that's, if it's growing, America is where you want the, game to grow like the most you want it to grow in i mean europe's important yeah but they already like it i don't know it's like i am i am uh hey let's grow it globally i i'm looking forward to the whole world cup thing it would be huge in the u.s if we said we're going totally i gotta tell you something

that first week of olympic hockey blah no i like nothing for me yeah did nothing for me just get to do you watch it yeah no i do not watch we had to talk about it's true you wouldn't have watched talk about it? No. Come on, give me the meaningful games. Yeah, to me, I really enjoy the whole thing. I think it's fun. I'm pumped for the world. You're ready to get rid of it like he does.

For Canada, for dinner. Dessert, dessert, dessert, dessert, dessert, dessert. But this is, I don't know, this is going to be a wild take for me, but I look at that American team that David has played and just won. I mean, you got to, if you want to talk about growing the game, Gary, I mean, how many guys in that team are from Arizona, from born in Florida?

Like, that team is kind of a quantification. No. Amalgamation. What are you looking for? Like, it shows that the game has grown where, like, all these guys are born. Okay. Like, I mean, the captain is born in Arizona. I don't know.

It just, it kind of worked. And they kind of beat Canada in a big game. I don't know. I just. You did it. Maybe if you're, maybe if you're. Arizona's won. I think they got a big challenge in two years for the World Cup

because you got to decide, first of all, on Russia. And they're, I don't know if you saw OVey coming back to Washington and somebody asked him a kind of throwaway question. Did you watch the Olympics? And he said, nope. And left. I bet OV is going to be incredible the final 25 games. That's my prediction.

But my point is, is like, it's an NHL event. It's an NHL event. And if you're going to invite, say, Germany or Switzerland, Switzerland wasn't in the last, they were in the World Cup, Switzerland, 2016. Oh, I don't know. The one with like the team. It was no.

It was not. It was, I think. Team North America. I don't know. Canada, Sweden, team North America, Russia, team Europe. Yeah, this is theme Canada. We don't get to have Connor McDavid. So they had a four nations because they just wanted.

wanted NHL players. Yeah. So what do you do two years from now? You stick with that and you don't have enough. Well, when you say you just wanted NHL players, I don't think that's the case, but they wanted the NHL players. No, they had them. But you also could have filled out a roster for Sweden and Germany,

but you needed to go get players that aren't playing in the NHL. Yeah. Will they do that now? I'm sure. The point of a World Cup is not the World NHL Cup. They're only going to like Switzerland play with eight guys. Like they're going to fill out a team. Yeah.

But they didn't last year. Well, but it seemed like it was a rushed thing. They didn't have, you know, they just wanted to get the Cole's Notes version of it, right? So you expect six nations for sure then. Czechia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Germany. Chequia couldn't even fill out a roster either. But I don't need all NHL guys. Two nations come.

I know you don't, but they wanted it last year. Who did? The NHL and Gary Bettman, the PA and the NHL decided only NHL players. So Chequia didn't get invited. Right. Because they didn't want non-NHLers. So if that's, you're reporting new news here. If the reason they didn't have other countries was because they didn't want players who weren't in the NHL,

I don't think that's been reported anywhere. I hadn't heard that. No, I think it's been out there. I don't heard that either. No. Okay, that's my understanding. Anyways, I'll double check. If that's the case, well, then that means that the World Cup would be the same

because you can't fill out a fifth country of only NHL players. That isn't Russia. You may be right. You may, no, you may be right that it was too rushed to go and ask other leagues to release their players. And that's what has to happen. Yeah. They're in other leagues.

I think we're going to hear in the next two weeks, like where the World Cup will be, or at least some of the potential cities. And I think we'll probably better know which. countries would be included, I would hope. I have a question for you guys. I don't know if we want to do it now or I want to do it after break. Maybe it's too big a question. But do you think the next, I guess it's the World Cup,

whatever that looks like, Doug Armstrong will be picking the team and John Cooper will be behind the bench. Good question. Cooper will definitely be behind the bench. I just think he's Canada's coach. I think it's open for sure. Listen, Doug Armstrong's at a crossroads in his career even with St. Louis Blues right now.

Right. because Steen's taken over? Does he stay on? Does he look for another job? Like he's got, I think he's got some options. And I don't know, he may have another year on his deal, maybe, and that will lock him in next year. But I don't know.

I think he's. Let's see what he wants to do. He could retire. He could retire. He's been around a long time. I think he does a great job, Kipp. I actually a big opening in a big city. I like Doug Armstrong.

And I do think that he would be open to changing. you know, if we feel like we didn't have enough offense, I think he's a type of guy who'd be willing to go do that. Yeah. I don't think he's stubborn. Could be wrong there, but. Cooper for sure? No, not for me.

No, me neither. No. Marner didn't play enough, right? No, I, Barter played, I think, the third most. I mean, the fourth most outside of the, yeah. He played a lot. It took a pretty regular shift.

I thought he was good. A few guys, I think, I just, I just didn't like his flow. I just didn't like, I just thought guys needed to be involved more. I do think that the way the check game and the thin game played out kind of hosed him a little bit because you were behind early in both games.

It stressed them. It stressed the lineup. Not stress or not. It was like you needed one. And so, of course, you were trying to get the best guys out as much as possible. It's a great point. But three games, three games where, like, Nate. You're behind three times.

Was it just a lucky fluke? He missed the empty net? Was he like, you know, as he heard, is he at 70%? How stressed was he? I don't know. He just didn't look himself. That's all. No, he didn't.

And I don't think Connor looked like himself on that breakaway either. I mean, you know, those guys play so many more minutes than that. And that's when they're playing more hockey games than they're playing at this event. I know you think the emotional part. And just, you know, some people are accusing Connor of wanting to do it all by himself in overtime. Those, some people are you looking at me? Because I feel like he tried to overdo it a bit. Okay.

All right. Yeah. And it's not that it's an unfair comment. But when you've been asked so many times to do it to do it. And then you're the one guy that can actually do it. But he's not. But also. He's not the only guy.

I know. But the perception is that I've done it before, right? Go watch my highlights in Edmonton. I can do this. I can go 200 feet, be two guys and score the game winning goal. So we're going. Okay, he's trying to. take on three guys. He's trying to do too much.

He's one-on-one with Jack Hughes, you guys. He had a forward skating backwards and beat him wide. Yep. And then tried to jam it into the side. And then curl back on Jack Hughes. Go. He tries to win the game. Yeah. You know what? You know, you don't need your D-Man to dive in. He just asked of himself what he's been asked time and time again. So I don't

blame him for doing it. But it was, it was a turnover. At the end of the day, it ended up just being a turnover of the puck. It didn't work. Right? Hockey's hard. Hockey's hard.

Last thing. Haven't mentioned it, I think we've been pretty good boys. How do you not call too many men? Oh, yeah. How do you not call to me? They had 11 guys and they were well-handling the puck. That was egregious. I can't.

I love the officiating the whole way through. I'm not going to get myself in trouble here because you guys know how I felt on Friday on the high stick. Oh, yeah. Do I look like a tennis? I forgot about it. Curios, the tennis guy? Timu.

Right? Timu. I forgot. No, is he Greek as well? Nick Curios? Yeah. Yes.

Yeah, the names are really close, by the way. To be fair, it's pretty close. But anyways, it kind of lends to what I talked about on the high stick that

I'm with you. I'm with you that it should have been called. Okay? Let's start there. Okay. Too many men should have been called. But? But our game historically has left the officials to decide what they want to call

and what they don't want to call in certain situations. That was a situational non-call where the official did what the officials have done for 75 years and for a split second, say in their head, do I want to end the game on this call on a power play? Statistically. And the answer was no. Statistically, penalties get called at a lower rate as you go deeper into a playoff series and deeper into the game.

So to your point, in big moments, refs are like, I'm out. That's all that happened. This is up to you. He saw it. Managed the game. He saw it and said, it's, it's nothing play. And I'm not calling it. People who are listening,

into stats right now would say that by making the decision to not call that, you're choosing to affect the game. You know, you're still having an impact on the game, might. Shouldn't have called the high stick on Bennett then either. We could say that for 100 years. Shouldn't have called the high stick on Bennett then.

Should I manage the game? It's too big a spot to call it. It's too big a spot. Should I manage the game? He's got the whistle. He's the whistle. He's the judge and jury. Can I ask you that? We've always left him that. Should he have called the one on Bennett? He did physical damage to the But, I mean, it was too big a spot.

Why is it a high stick? But he's not a line. There was an injury crossing running. There was seven guys playing with the puck on the ice. No. Listen, it's a penalty. I mean, it's a penalty. They're all penalties.

They're all penalties. It's not like they snapped around anyway. He holds the cards here. Yeah. And that hasn't changed in 100 years. That's all. I just, I felt, that's the point. I felt like there was no chemistry with the officials.

It felt like they tried to mesh together the two different federal. If it's over 50% NHLers, NHL rules. But I think it was all NHL officials in that game. But was the lines people? I think I'm sure they said if it was going to be Canada, USA. Okay.

All right. I think for the most part, the double minor to Bennett and then the call on Hughes, it kind of just, they just balanced. It just, there were,

there were right calls. We've come this far and we haven't given Bennett any criticism for that. moment because I think they killed it off, didn't end up impacting the game. But you also robbed Canada of four minutes of five-on-five play where they had been dominating. Yep. Maybe that four minutes is where they find the one.

He was out of control of this neck. We talked about when he charged the net. You know, you're at his, you're at the mercy. You brought him over. That's part of the equation. And like the officials, you have to accept it. And so you got to stand here today and say, guys who play on the line, Tom Wilson, was fantastic.

Oh my God. He found line. He all. Did he have been to like that? Did he play after that? I can't believe he walked again. What a hit.

And Wilson walked the line. Bennett didn't find it. That ultimately... Those are fair comments. Yeah. Totally. Has a big impact. But that's the game.

Sure is. Okay. Sammy, is there other sports going on? I've been sent the picture side by side of McKinnon with the open net and IKFs trying to stand it on. for the whole plate. What are you doing? People have sent that to me.

Like, I want to say conservatively 50 times. Just stop sending me that. I've had enough. How about the pitcher of you beside Matthew Gachuk, where you still look nothing like Matthew Guch? Yeah. It's game time. Because of my bet 365.

Visit the athlete of odds and see why it's every ordinary at bet 365 must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. And to answer your question, Kipper, there's NBA going on. Hockey's two more. Could they give him like an extra day or two maybe? Like, we saw it sort of hockey on Friday, maybe? No, how about we do it tomorrow?

It's been long enough. It's just so quick, I don't know. Flying back, getting into a game Wednesday. Shut down for 20 days now. The schedule is gross. Of the amount of games, the volume, and what these guys are going to have to do to close out this series or this season is like an ask beyond belief.

Like, there's, it's going to be like 15 games. games every night. It's unbelievable. I can't wait. I feel bad for the guys, but I can't wait. So, yeah. So what I'm opening up, I'm opening up, Bet365, and the opening page has some NBA lines for tonight. So the San Antonio Spurs in Detroit to take on the Pistons, great game if you're an NBA fan. Wemby going against the league leading Detroit Pistons, plus 105 on the money line for the San Antonio Spurs, minus 125 for the Detroit Pistons. The surprise of the NBA this year, Kate Cunningham, leading the way for the Pistons. Yeah, that's the proper

response to regular season basketball. And that was game time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the athlete of odds and see why it's ever ordinary at Beth 365 must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. We'll be back on.

When are you going to do one for how far this new Blue Jay can hit a baseball locomotive? He's called him. He's called him that. The locomotive. Now he's doing it like he didn't. I like it. Okay.

That's his handle, man. He's the engine. I can't tell you. how bad I needed that today, boys. I saw that clip. If he hits at 4.30 to dead center, it was like, yeah, it was nice. I don't care if it's spring training.

That was big league, big league cut. So I like that. Right again in Bo Bichette's eye, playing for the Mets on the other side there who can't field a ground ball. Yeah, they're already on Bo. Anyways, let's get the break and then I'll come back out. Okay, we'll go around the league.

Who's in and who's out in the National Hockey League? There are some casualties. We'll discuss them after the break. You're watching and listening to Real Kipper and Boren. Hey, it's Matt Marquesie. And I'm Mike Futa. We're discussing the top stories of the day

across the NHL and the hockey world. Weekdays at noon. It's the fan on Sportsnet 590, The Fan, and wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back to the program. Nick Kippreos, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. Reminder, this hour of Real Kippoor and Bourne brought to by Bet

365. As we mentioned, gets real busy. Wednesday night. Yeah. What? Sometimes, sometimes they're in the break convos are very good. Don't say that.

Don't say that because now people are going to think we're holding back. We can do it. Listen. We can do it. The Godreau stuff was the most beautiful humanizing part of the whole thing. Totally. And, you know, the herd as Canadians, as you watch that, you're reminded that there's more important things. When I looked up with the TV, moments after one of those heartbreaking moments I can, you know,

member for hockey and seeing them parade that jersey around there, it did soften the blow 1%. Yeah, and you're like, oh, this isn't so bad. And then you see them go in and talk to Trump and laugh at the women and the FBI directors in their party. And you're like, oh, I hate you all again. It's like, oh, yeah, now this is way worse. That's way worse. And the women have declined the invitation to go to the white house.

And in a very classy manner, no reference to it just said prior commitment. I just can't imagine getting to the pinnacle of your sport and then just hearing that clip. Again, I am so curious to see which NHLers can go, particularly the ones that have to play Wednesday. Like, if you really think about their last 48 hours and the lack of sleep and they're drinking like fishes, we know that. We know that. Strochak was like, I'm getting wasted tonight. He's like a mouthed it to someone. So think about like the flight. Yeah.

Right? How dehydrated they are. They are going to be dogs on Wednesday. And then you're asking to fly to Washington for Miami and then possibly if you're Austin Matthews flying back to play two games and two nights. Against two very good teams. What do you think, what do you think, Brad, tree living's suggesting?

To Austin? Yeah. Drink lots of pediolite. No, no, try. Don't go. Try, don't go. Oh, yeah. No, 100%.

Don't go. don't go. I think it puts pressure on his performance on the Wednesday if he goes. Yeah, Amber, I, at the end of the day, I know he's the captain and I know, but like, the leaves have to have some power over that. If they say, don't go, I don't think you should go, right? I don't know, Sam. I don't know.

I think it's too big. It's too big and it's too powerful for, they haven't won a gold medal since 1980. It's, it is a big deal. Here's the one thing that But how is it related to the state of the union interest? How? Do you know what I mean? Like this is huge for the U.S.

Okay. You need to go talk about the inflation rates and be there to talk about how it's a greatest economy in the world. When politicians go and hook themselves up to, you know, athletes or gold medals, it's because you can help me. Yes, of course. But how does this help the athletes?

Like why? I don't know. You're going to have to. ask each individual. You know what? I think it's hard. So they've said they're going to go. They're all in there. They're drinking.

They're talking to the president. I think it's going to be hard for Matthews or whoever. And I'm thinking of high school peer pressure to say to the other guys, I can't come guys. My game's too important to me. And I think that's a big, you paid millions to be the captain. I think you have to be mature enough to say,

I just don't understand if, okay, I get him. I get, you know, Trump wants him for the state of the union. But like, this should be a June thing,

a July thing. There's lots of time. Don't ask them. They've put so much on the line the last two weeks. They're exhausted. Like, let them rest, please. Totally. There's absolutely a place for them to go do that in June, July.

It's dangerous. I think it's dangerous for them. I couldn't agree. For Matthew's, like, legacy or whatever, I mean, that, getting that gold medal as the captain really solidifies him in the States. Like, I think, you know, they will. all of them, that gold medal there, I don't know if there's anybody Americans listening to this,

probably to hear our tears. But for him to get that gold medal, that is far more important to any American than him winning a Stanley Cup is. I totally agree. Do you really? Oh, yeah. Him getting that.

No, no. He captained a modern day. Two Americans. Gold medal. That's what I mean. Two Americans. That's what I'm saying. They don't care if he ever wins a Stanley Cup.

They don't care if he ever makes the playoffs again. To Sam's point, he's locked in as the captain of the 2026 gold medal team. This helps him when you're looking back and he's going to score however many more goals in his career. He's going to, I mean, who knows what he's going to do, team success when it comes to the NHL. But when you're having conversations about who the greatest American hockey players of all time are, him being the captain of the first team since the miracle on ice to win the gold medal is going to be thrown in there. Can I host SNL? No, it's good.

I mean, that wouldn't be the most electric event. But we just got him to smile. Please, you know? Don't rush things. I'm, it's hard for me because it's been a hard year and a half for Matthews. But at my core, I've defended this guy as a Toronto Maple Leaf and, you know, people have been saying that I've been running them out of town and all this stuff. But like, I'm happy for the guy.

Yeah. He's taking a lot of crap from everybody, myself included. And he went down there and they won and he was the captain and he's the captain of the least. I'm happy for the guy. I hate to admit it. You can never take it away from him. You can't. So now that the Leafs have a champion,

they should be going for it. That last playoff. But if he goes and misses a game on Wednesday and prioritize some Leafs fans are going to be like, oh, cool. You made the comparison to Vince Carter. Wasn't that graduation on the day of a playoff game? It was game seven. Yeah, it was game seven against the Sixers or game six.

I think it was game six or game seven against the Sixers. And yeah, he went to his graduation. I think there's, I don't know, it's a hard one. It's a tough one for me. Yeah. Ranting in. We'll miss probably, I heard two weeks, maybe three weeks. But, like, again, they're in the playoffs.

They're in the playoffs. They're fine. Some of these guys could really use some rest. Cid. Any word on Cid? Didn't hear anything. It sounds like he was legitimately very close to playing, and I don't think that's. So is that another week, two weeks?

You know, I think ready to play in a game of this magnitude versus should he play in game 58 or different things. So, yeah, two weeks ago. I'm curious to see what Florida does, particularly Brad Marchand. He's a lot of suggestions I got was he's done for the year. He was that hurt and playing? Done for the year. Well.

Maybe he could have taken Zach Hyman then. Yeah. I, maybe, you know. We'll wait and see. I don't know. Maybe he does what he did. Sunday morning and just find a way to hang in there for a couple of games to see if they can get on a roll. But he is, he is really what I had heard, like right there with Sid, I could easily not play.

Well, then what? But there wasn't there. But he was banged up going into it. Yeah, sure was. Wasn't there another Panther that also maybe is Matthew Kachuk? Bennett. Matthew Kichuk, Hurt, though. It seems like he's always on the verge of.

or hurt. Yeah. Yeah. But they've got some important games here still to, I guess, feel it out. I think a lot of these teams are looking at two or three games before really deciding on. And there's are eight points out.

Like if they're going to do the right thing. They're going to shut everybody down. They're going to sell. Get surgery early. Sell players they can. And they're going to come back. And they should be the best team in the league. What are we hearing on Cadry?

Oh, you actually talk today. We have a clip. Leads my trade boards. We have a... Boys, for the first time in two weeks. Audio clip. A clip. There's two clips.

Let's just play the second one. That second one's more relevant to this conversation. Derek, can you play cadre clip too, please, bud? I'm sorry to running back to the table. Have there been any discussions with me? I don't know it all about your future? We've had internal chats.

You know, obviously those all keep private. But, yeah, we've had discussions and communicated. You know, I think that's what makes it great is having that open, open line of conversation and just being able to understand where everybody's at. Article on Sportsnet.com from Eric Francis. Headline is cadre trade feels all but inevitable for flames. Of course it is.

He's not getting any younger. He's not making the playoffs for you. And you got to move them now. And there's a demand at Center Ice. Oh, yeah. He's a valuable piece still for them. You've mentioned Dallas a couple times when we've talked about this. Yeah.

What else? I don't know if Colorado can do it. They're awfully tight, but they would like it. They would like to think that they could take a run at him. Montreal. Yeah. Right.

Dad loves the abs too. Is that right? Yeah. So he's going somewhere. Yeah, that's an interesting one. We also have another piece of audio if anyone's interested. Do we have time? This is a great clip.

This is, Maurice got asked with the Finland rumors yesterday at practice. Let's play it. Chris on the Finland rumors. You heard the Finland report about you? Yeah, I got a bunch of texts. Yeah, silliness. I think somebody got confused with two and more root two. There was a Panther coach on the bench.

It just wasn't me. Do you be interested in coaching team Finland? They got too many good coaches over in Finland. They don't need me. Born in Canada, me U.S. citizen. I think I'll stay in Fort Lauderdale for these tournaments. worked out just fine. That's exactly what Kipper said.

That's what made me laugh about it. That, like, he was pretty happy to have a month off, have his feet up and have 100%. What did Philip Forsberg say? Let's play it quick. You can play it. Clip one. Obviously, not necessarily when the game started,

but when I got there, saw the lineup. It was obviously a little surprise. But like I said, there's a lot of really good players in that team. And I certainly believe that I am one of them as well. But, yeah, like I said, I guess just tough competition.

at the same time, obviously, I would have preferred to play a little bit more, not just that game, but through the old tournament. But at the same time, guys did well. You know, we won first game, and obviously against Finland, they changed it up a little bit. I got to play a little bit in that second half and play the rest. It's a tight tournament, you know, so I get it. You understand it to a certain place.

That's based on his benching in game one. Yeah, Sweden, the big L from that event for me. They just... Well, Black, Black, Betty, Sam Halam. Yeah, well, Sam Halam. It wasn't great. Our thanks to go. Lord Stellick in our first hour and David Amber in the second one.

All right, boys. Never have to talk about it again. On to the NHL tomorrow, boys. Are we down in the Linguct Talk? Forever. Yeah, we'll sneak a few things in. Leafs, fourth line talk. Should they trade Robertson?

We're back. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. If you get a chance, give us a rating and review. We would love to hear from you. Have a great night, everybody.