Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 138: Featuring Darren McCarty

Episode Date: January 3, 2019

On Thursday's podcast, the guys explain what happened on their trip to Chicago. The guys discuss why the Live Show didn't go as planned and how the tailgate and the game was. The guys are also joined by 4x Stanley Cup winner Darren McCarty to discuss Music, his time in Detroit, cannabis and more. The boys wrap up by touching on some league news, including Dallas Stars CEO going after Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn to the press. All that and much more on a jam packed episode.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/schiclets

Hey, Spittin' Chicklets listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Hello, everybody. Welcome to episode 138 of Spittin' Chicklets. This week's episode is presented by SeatGeek, the exclusive sponsor. I know it's normally New Amsterdam Vodka. this was supposed to be our live podcast in chicago uh we had some technical difficulty so we're coming to you today instead uh let's talk to the boys and then we'll jump right into chicago what's up biz how we feeling today buddy oh boys i'm battling yeah 6 50 a.m wake-up call after fucking traveling uh i red-eye on the way to Chicago. Delayed flight yesterday.

Had to work the Coyotes game last night. I have a very funny story after you do the rest of the intro about the Coyotes game. So, hello, everyone. Mikey Grinelli, how you doing, brother? I'm doing well. I miss you guys already, though. Getting separation anxiety. Oh, boy.

And, buddy, Ryan Whitney, how you doing, my man? How are you, boy? How are man? How are you, boys? How are you? Let's get right to, actually, Biz, give us your Coyote story before we get to Chicago. Oh, I had Edmonton last night. Suck on that, Biz. Big win for Witty. Ditto.

So, you know, I was not feeling good. Lack of sleep, stress because of the live show situation that we're going to get into. And I got home after the delayed flight flight and I had to go right to the rink and I always do pre-game with Tyson Nash and Todd Walsh and my brain just wasn't into it so I'm more nervous than than usual so we do the practice round before we're actually live on air and then finally it's time to do it I've went over everything. Everything was fine. And Todd Walsh starts it off with Brad Richardson because he's back in the lineup after missing the last three games with the flu.

And I always let Tyson Nash lead for comments, for color, because it's just out of respect because he's the vet and he's way more polished and better. So he goes, and I'm always supposed to chase him. Well, finally it goes to me and he passes it over, and I freeze always supposed to chase him. Well, finally it goes to me and he passed it over and I, I, I freeze live on air. I say, I say something quick and then, and then I just, I, I'm like staring into the camera and then I look over at Todd Walsh and Tyson Nash.

I go, I'm like, I just had a brain fart. I got to throw it back to you. I'll see. Live on air, man. I felt like complete shit. They were so cool about it. They ended up chirping me about it in the next segment. And, and luckily I was able to dial things back in, but there's nothing worse than when you're live. And then all of a sudden you got nothing, you got nothing. Your brain just

goes clear. And you're like, Oh my God, I'm getting laid into people watching this at home. And I can't imagine because you have, if it happens on here, we can even always go back and recut it. And it sucks when it happens doing this shit. So I can't imagine fucking live TV, brother. Oh, the people in the truck are probably like, what the fuck was this guy doing? Oh, the people in the truck are like, speak! Fuck, say something!

You're just like, oh, man. They're talking back to them on TV. You're like, what did you say? Shut up! Yeah, they're probably like, why do we even hire this guy? Just have him run the Twitter account. Well, you're certainly not lacking any thoughts when it comes to our trip to Chicago biz, right?

Oh, man. Who wants to start this off? This is, I don't know, a mix of emotions because I'm really upset because we had a lot of fans show up. So we didn't know what to expect. We had this Joy District venue that I would say it comfortably fits about 120, 150 people. That would be my guess. And, and we didn't know what kind of a crowd we were going to get. Well, we, Mikey gets there a little

bit early, obviously to meet the audio guy and we'll get into fucking him. Cause there's going to be a rough and rowdy between Mikey and this guy. But what were there probably 350 people that showed up. There was a line out around the corner, around the block from this place. And, you know, it was very overwhelming. There was people that drove there from Toledo, which was four hours. Other people that drove from farther distances for the Winter Classic itself, but came to the live show. Mind you, it was raining outside and it's freezing,

but these people still stood out there and waited. And then we're pumped. I was going around talking to people before the show, and everyone was fired up. So were we. We had awesome guests lined up. Keep in mind right now, you shouldn't be listening to us, idiots. This is not supposed to be the fucking episode.

No, you should be listening to Adrian Akoin, over 1,000 games in the NHL, hilarious, played with him, had a lot of good stories. So audio guy hasn't sent this fucking – his interview over, which maybe we're able to salvage and play in a later episode. We had Reed Simpson, who went over to play in Russia for four years, need I say more. We would have had a ton of Russian gas stories and more of that.

Jamal Mayers. Jamal Mayers was there, Stanley Cup champion with the Chicago Blackhawks. So obviously the locals would have loved that. And then Jeremy Roenick shows up, surprises the boys because he had another event and then drove over from the other event. And then even though the audio was shit, when he walked in, the morale came right back up everybody was like yes and in my head i'm like man like this is gonna last for a minute because this audio situation is not going

to get figured out and i was just praying that maybe just maybe that audio would kick back in when jr came in and we could have roundtabled it with jamal mares uh reed simpson and of course jr uh because adrian acoyne had already left and we already did his interview but nothing and and i felt like shit and um mikey mikey you and that audio guy were going at it you want to talk about that yeah he's fucking incompetent he the guy was like legitimately incompetent first off they brought their own speakers like you said we had a lot of people show up Clearly the guy doesn't know who the boys are. He doesn't know how popular we are. Cause he didn't know that we were going to pack that place.

I didn't even know we were popular. So he didn't know we were going to pack the place. So they brought their own speakers, which clearly weren't loud enough. Halfway through the DJ or someone from, from joy district walked up to me. He's like, what is this idiot doing? Why hasn't he just plugged into the house speakers? Like, why don't we just use the house speakers? So I look at the guy and I'm like plugged into the the house speakers like why don't we just use the house speakers so i look at the guy and i'm like what the fuck buddy why don't we just use the house speakers and he's like i don't know i'm like let's use the fucking house speakers then you idiot so then he spends 20 minutes trying to fucking do that he has to call his boss to come and we originally requested like eight microphones and then the guy looks at us he's like i can give you two to work and we're

like dude we have six people on stage like we can't use two microphones the guy was incompetent i want to fight him in rough and rowdy the guy was like six two like 225 30 pounds brother yeah the hair down to his ass he would definitely dummy me but i I have to do it for the boys. I got to do it. Listen, it's this entire thing. There was a moment up there where I wanted to crawl under the table and just go to sleep. It was so embarrassing.

First of all, the fact that that many people showed up, thank you. I couldn't believe it. And then everyone's fired up. I mean, people were boozing it's new year's eve afternoon everyone's ready to go and like you said biz we had these guests and we can't even say anything we can't even say anything we're trying to talk to each other and then naturally people in the back of the bar they're here they're there for a live show they can't hear anything well at some point when they can't hear anything they're going to start talking

so then they start talking to no fault of their own and then all of a sudden it just kind of drowns out our noise. We, you know, we tried to take five different breaks. We had a complete fucking idiot. That sound company is pathetic. I mean, I don't know what the hell happened. I don't know. I don't know if they sent their, like, you know, their usual scratch, their fourth liner, like where's their major guy to come help us. But it was severely disappointing i mean at that point we were so fired up like this is incredible this many people are here and we couldn't even do a show it was like we had we had better technology and me and ra were on his couch sharing a microphone um and i don't want to really point the finger here but i'm gonna fucking point the finger

um so as far as audio is concerned mike grinnell askednell asked Barso, he said, hey, do you want me to go there in the morning and set up? And whoever at Barso said, no, no, we hired a company to do a live podcast a few weeks ago in Chicago with the Redline guys, and it was excellent. So obviously, Mikey backed off. He's like, well, if you're hiring a company, like, sure, okay. One less stressful thing off my plate. Well, obviously, it didn't turn out well and these people sent over shit people and and i'm thinking one i'm thinking we're in

the third largest city in the united states and we have a a podcast that's a fairly fairly large in size now i'd say we average about 500 000 listeners hire a fucking competent company like don't go with the fucking two star to maybe save a couple bucks now to their defense they did one a couple weeks ago and apparently they hit it out of the park so i'm like oh shit well then i can't really fault them well yeah i go to the tailgate the next day at the game once again we we got to meet with fans and stuff like that i i think i said sorry to every single person that talked about the live show, obviously who came to the live show, said it to a guy at the tailgate. And the guy, I said, you know, they had the audio company at that Redline thing,

and they were good, so, you know, no fault to Barstool. And he goes, ah, he goes, I went to that podcast, and the audio wasn't that great. And my fucking, my adrenaline just popped up. I wanted to go fist fight the barstool RV. I'll fight the barstool RV in rough and round. That's how pissed off I was. And so that's going to be some conversations internally. Once again, we're not throwing anyone under the bus.

You know, people make mistakes. But when we have that much on the line and people who travel that far and the few people that far and the and the few people that got to me um as far as letting down as when are the fans the concern was there's a few uh people that came up to me and one kid in particular and he goes hey he goes i just wanted to say um that you know this podcast has really helped me through a dark time in my life and that's when i was like fuck man like Like, I didn't really know what to say. I was like, Jesus Christ.

And when I think the same guy came up to you, and that's how much weight we carry. Like, we want to put on a show for you guys. We want to do well for you guys. And that one really hit home. My parents came from Boston. They came all the way from Boston for the show. Yeah, shout out to Grinelli's parents,

completely waffled at the show. I try to go to the bathroom, and his mom's like, hey, let's get a picture. Your dad comes over. So I'm waiting to take the picture. I've had to hose for an hour. And all of a sudden, they're like, hold on. I want to have my aunts and uncles come over.

And there's like eight people in this picture. I find out none of them are Grinnelly's family. Grinnelly's family is just completely buckled, saying people are like their brothers and sisters. So it was great to meet the Grinnelly's family. I said, you have a good kid on your hand. He's a little rat, but he's also a great kid. So he's our little rat. And also, Biz, in terms of the people coming up, I cannot believe the amount of people that came up. And every time they said, thank you so much for the podcast, I said, dude, what? Don't say thank you to me. We want to thank you. You guys listen. The listeners make it. I can't believe how passionate people are. It was so cool to see. But when, if you come up to me and

say, thank you, I don't even want to hear it because we're just sitting here. We're doing our thing. It's fun to do. Thank you for listening. Thank you for coming out to the live show to the tailgate. I I'm telling you right now, all four of us here were in shock at how that weekend went. And now, granted, we were getting noticed a lot because we're at an outdoor classic. It's all hockey fans. But still, it was just it was overwhelming. Oh, yeah. You know, we had we had some I talked to a guy who served in Afghanistan. We talked to a kid who's battling cancer. People who say thank you so much. And it's like it almost gets me emotional like thank you dude like i can't imagine i can't even tell you how much we appreciate you

listening so no thanks to us it's all thanks to you guys and unfortunately this show was a joke it wasn't our fault um but you live and you learn so we're just gonna have to kind of rebound for the next one if there is a next one just to clarify with um grinnelly's our rat but we don't want to confuse him with the rat in his actual apartment the one that shows up for occasional episodes and uh did you google third biggest city where i did you google that one oh yeah i was surprised when i heard that and then i yeah i did a little google search so yeah just we hired a sound company off the street yeah i mean honestly grinnelly he's been fucking great so far would have been great just using him

but anyways um it was like when you go to a concert guys in the open and actors on and no one's paying attention and you can kind of hear the talk and that that's what it was like and we were just sitting there like fucking zoo animals and you know like we said we just got up we're gonna turn this into a meet and greet we're gonna hang out with everybody and shoot the shit and take pictures and people were outstanding I mean nobody complained to our face I'm sure online they might be but uh everyone was awesome, man. Like when I pulled up, the line was still down the block around the corner. And I was like, shit, when are they going to let people in?

And I walked in the bar and it was packed. I was like, Holy fuck. Like you guys just said it was, it was overwhelming. Like, I mean, I knew you guys played the show before, you know what it's like to have people come up to you and slap you back and take pitches. Me and Grinnelly didn't before. Me and Grinnelly was signing fucking autographs, okay? That's the fucking level of ridiculousness. Yeah, dude. I feel like I'm in the

Beatles. I did, dude. When I was throwing the merch out at the end of the show when we just said, fuck it, show's over and I just started launching merch and people are just trying to grab it. There's millions of people everywhere. That was the best moment of my life. Hands down, best moment of my life.

It was outrageous. And I was like, shit, I told Wits, I'm like, do I sign my real name or my fake name? I felt like a wrestler. It's like you sign a fake name, but no one knows my Brian name. So I was like, all right, I'll just sign Ray Radmell. I thought it was fucking hilarious. Now, all right. I know I got some. I know Witt got

some, but I love how our listeners will come up and they'll just be like, hey, Biz, how's that ugly calamari cock of yours? And I'm just like, oh? People will just lay into it. Strangers will come up to me and just fucking rip me. I'll be checking out the grocery store and they'll be like, hey, what's up, Snuffleupagus?

How's that ugly cock? And the clerk is looking at this 16-year-old kid like, what the? Is this guy part of some underground sex ring with little boys? Like, what the hell is going on here? Hey, I said the same thing. People come up, they're like, oh, yeah, no wonder you got a winter hat on covering your left ear. And right away, I'm like, fuck you. Look at your sweatshirt, bud.

Like, you come up and shirt me. I don't care. I'm giving it right back to you. I couldn't believe it. People are like, oh, my God, you bag of milk body. I'm like, fuck you, dude. You're 5'3". You're chirping my body.

All of a sudden, we're going at it at the tailgate with people. But, I mean, listen, I think people expect if you come up and chirp us you're going to get it back I also got a couple like people come up not a big deal and stare at me I'm like what what do I say it's like they just rip off like the lines that they like that you know they hear in this

podcast just stare at me after they say it like I just start laughing like yeah dude not a big deal thanks for swinging by saying hi. Some guy was chirping my boots at the tailgate. But like you said, Wade, if you come up and rip us, we're programmed.

We're coming back, man. Unless you're a girl, then I just say, okay, just lay in me more. By the way, shout out to all the many female fans who showed up. There was a lot of our female lady listeners showed up. They were great. They were as supportive as anybody.

It was great to see that we have that many female listeners. And also a special, particular thank you for me to all the many fine listeners who offered me special cigarettes or a vape during the time I was there. There was plenty of those. And even had a guy giving a little tap on the nose because of what Biz said in the live podcast. I politely declined, but it was pretty funny. Similar to like the ranking, they're coming up and offering whatever you

might want. So the live show, like I said, it was a debacle, but it turned in. We took lemons and we made pink lemonade out of it. That's what I was saying the other day. So the tailgate much more successful. That was fun. That was just nonstop Blackhawks fans, Bruins fans. And, of course, dude, it ended perfect, the game, man.

I thought the game was one of the better winter classics in years, highest-rated regular season game in four years. So, I mean, we got wits. We got the end that we wanted. Yeah, exactly. Ari and I, we had the puck line. That was plus 180, so that was a nice little chunk of change. Thanks for coming.

By the way, Biz, you are a machine, a legitimate machine, dude. We did the show. We did the fake live show that wasn't a live show. By the way, I missed my good friend's wedding, one of my best friend's weddings on New Year's Eve for that live show that never even happened. So shout out to that. I probably had to miss him eating 19 pieces of cake. Or I should have to pay for that guy's second wedding.

Yeah, he probably ate the whole cake. But still. Biz, we met everyone after the live show. We stayed around for two, three hours. We were talking to fans, just trying to meet them. Then Biz, that night we went out to dinner. Then Biz went out until 3 in the morning. I had to shut it down.

Then he gets up at 6. We go to the tailgate. He's hanging out with Panthers. He has the tailgate. Then we all got to go watch the game. That was it. Biz then did a first timer all day. I don't know how the hell you're able to go constantly. You don't stop when we do these things. You're like the Energizer bunny dude.

Yeah, no. I mean, putting out content for fans is, I mean, that's kind of like the adrenaline you get in the final result. We decided to do one of the NHL first-timers at the Winter Classic. Now, before I get into the first-timer, I had even expectations going into what the Winter Classic is because you hear mixed reviews online. I would say, from a consumer standpoint, obviously I didn't have to pay for tickets. I would have 100% paid to go experience that Winter Classic.

The conditions were perfect. There was overcast, so obviously the ice wasn't reflecting as much as they have in the past. The stadium was a perfect setup. The fans and energy was incredible the game ended up being close all the way down to the end uh could not have asked for a better situation um going back to nhl first timer uh robin lopez from the chicago bulls he's an 11 year nba vet came out awesome guy like biggest heart just and and it was cool because we had two people from the Salvation Army

that we reached out to and got, a girl named Naya and a guy named Marchand, sure enough, Brad Marchand, so we kind of made a little joke about that. But they were basketball fans, so they were like over the moon that Rob and Lopez were there. The girl was in shock. We had a great first-timer, great experience. Of course, the game was awesome, and they got to meet a bunch of –

Yeah, what about the audio, though, after our audio? Okay, so obviously we deal with this audio issue at the live show. We basically do the full first period, and me and Robin are vibing. We have great chemistry. We're cracking jokes. He's telling some funny stories that I won't tell about him involving mascots and you i i can just tell there's a disturbance in the force i can just fucking sense it was that was reference yeah a little star with everything you're welcome all right he knew that was star wars but yeah and and i can see pasha uh my right hand man they're

stressing a little bit and he's running the camera and all of a sudden the audio guy comes up and goes, hey, can I change your pack with my little audio pack? And I'm like, yeah, sure. Then he goes and sits back down to where he was recording the audio. Then he gets back up and asks to change all the other people's packs. We didn't have fucking audio for most of the first period. It was such bad shit. I've never went to like a Zen state naturally.

Cause my natural self would have been like, get your fucking shit together. And I would, I would have snapped and things would have got uncomfortable. And, and I, and I'm sure that the, my guests and Robin would have been uncomfortable,

but we were lucky enough where he dialed things back in towards the end of the first period. And we were able to, to execute what I think is going to be a very good NHL first timer, but talk about all these fucking issues that were popping up. Yeah, I think the Instagram story, I took you at a restaurant the other night. It was probably the best audio we had all weekend, Biz. That's true.

Now, speaking of the game, I got to get your side of things. You guys got to go watch and enjoy it. Now, you have a pretty funny story uh wit about r.a and uh in his beverage choice r.a we we sit down all right i have i got a coarse light i think granelli got a coarse light and r.a comes bombing into the sea he's all happy with this glass of red wine it is noon i'm like dude you're drinking red wine right now he's like yeah yeah it's unbelievable a little take the edge off my stomach's upset can't have any more beer dude the wine was so full you know if you get a huge glass of wine you maybe take a sip to kind

of like make it go down a little bit no ra is just like walking around with his full wine sure as shit a goal scored he's like yeah jumps up doesn't even consider the wine in his hand spills the wine all over graninnelli's white jacket. I was crying laughing. Mike's like, get the wine off me. What the fuck? But Ari's the only guy who just, like, you know if a goal is scored and you have wine, you're maybe like, oh, I have the wine.

I got to get up and cheer. He was just like, yeah. First off, that's fake news. Grinnelli spilled the wine. No, Grinnelli spilled the wine on himself when he sat down in the chair. The wine was in the cup. That's a lie. No, it's not.

You were soaked with wine before the game even started. That's false. You sat down in the seat and knocked the wine onto yourself. I'm not going to let that fly. We're going to go to the tape. How do we do? Because it happened before the game. Second off, you can't chirp me for drinking wine when you guys drink wine 24-7.

I drink wine at night, not at noon at the Winter Classic. Who gives a fuck? It was I needed this guy drinking wine there. I had the last couple beers. They went down like sand. I wasn't feeling it. So I got a little vino, and then you duke the guy. When he's pouring the drink, you tip him a couple bucks,

and he gives you a fucking double pour. That's an old trick, old hockey trick. Go ahead, Bill. I wasn't there, so I can't vouch. But, I mean, I have to believe Witt and Grinnell here. I mean, all right, I'm not trying to throw you on the bus. I mean, you were trying to spoil yourself. I think you were trying to flex a little bit with the wine.

Some nice pinot. Some nice pinot. He's like, yeah, this pinot's good, boy. Hey, you got to dupe the guy for a little extra pour. Now, speaking of the gambling side of things, congratulations. You guys all did very well. You bet on the Bruins. And we often talk about the goal spread thing.

Once again, I'm not a gambler. Explain the R. Lessett, Blady, mother of whatever. Well, we actually have a new religious reference to make. Well, we got there. You know, they have Touchdown Jesus. It's a legendary thing at Notre Dame, the big mosaic painting of Jesus behind the end zone. And I said to Wits, we got there.

He goes, hey, today he's puck line. Jesus. Cause we both bet the puck line, which, you know, you're laying one and a half. You need the Bruins to win by two. And honestly biz, we couldn't have scripted this any better. Like Bruins were down. I kept saying a wit plenty of time. They just got to get a goal, like next goal. And then all they got to do is get the empty net. It played out perfect. Porter, who the guy who come out to videotape,

he did a great job. He was called ninja for a whole day because he had so quick quick side story here that was great is uh we finally finished that debacle at the live show and um and i'm saying hey like you think maybe uh ninja got a bunch of good video because then we could put like a little content piece together for the fans and these guys are like what ninja who the fuck is ninja i'm like ninja ninja the video guy the videographer and i was calling this guy porter ninja all fucking day that's why he was looking like i had three heads and i just couldn't understand it so sorry to my boy uh ninja what's his name porter videographer just kept kept looking at biz like like lee trevino and happy gilmore why are you calling me move move you guys who

was he talking to so sorry to interrupt you there that's all right that was that was funny stuff so yeah he he was it was perfect like the scenario couldn't have been better the net was pulled he's taped he actually got the goal on tape and then he got our reaction right after and because we talk about the puck line all the time I gave the prediction before the game I said Bruins 4-1 I was off a little and so I think everybody else bet it so it was like this is what we do about the puck line all the time. I gave the prediction before the game. I said Bruins 4-1. I was off a little. And so I think everybody else bet it. So it was like, this is what we do on the show. So the fact that they scored an empty net without us watching, they would have a tape.

And it was just like kind of epitomize what we do here. All right. I got to give it to you because you did when, when it was like one to one or two, two to one, you were like, all we need is, is just a one goal with the 10 minutes left in the third period. And then the goal came at 940 and you were like,'ll be good and we were good it was great call yeah thank you that's

that's that uh degenerate gambler instinct yeah you'll learn a few things after 40 as a gambler speaking of which we do got the corner coming a little bit later we'll be getting to that okay so ra how about uh how about murley matt murley who's a he came on what once before before i jumped on? Friend of the program. We're going to get him back on. He's playing over in South Korea. Whit, you've got to tell this text you got because he's also a degenerate gambler.

So I'll let you tell the story. He texted me on New Year's Day morning, and he's like, before we went to the game, and he's like, dude, because that was that night, right, Biz? It was the first that night. So he texts me. He's like, hey, man, you see the schedule? I'm like, no. He's like, dude, Philly's in Nashville.

LA's in Vegas. They're both on the road. New Year's Eve in Vegas and Nashville. There ain't no chance those teams are going to be ready to play. They probably went and ripped it up. They're probably out all night. You know, Philly's partying in Nash Vegas. The Kings can't control themselves in Vegas. We got to hammer the home teams. Sure enough. I'm like fucking a Merle's

I'm on you. Vegas with a two nothing win at home. Nashville with a four nothing win at home. Both double money line puck line winners because Merle's is looking at the party scene in the NHL and trying to gouge his winners off that. So shout out to Merle's in Seoul, South Korea. He's on a 15-hour flight right now to play. There's like a team in Russia in the Japanese league, and he's in South Korea. So Merle's, you're a legend. God bless him.

Just a couple other notes too. I love the biz. I wish you were there just because you could have saw Whit watching me be like the Bruins fan i was in fan mode and r.a was like i mean which is just like putting his head down shaking you know when they introduced music i was like yo chief she's like they can't hear you r.a they cannot hear you oh it's fucking hilarious he's like yeah yo oh becky's i don't know becky's was playing oh yeah shoot come on corelli yeah, shoot. Come on, Corelli. I'm like, dude, they can't hear you. We're so high up. Then the guy next to me started dying laughing.

All right, so come on, man. Let me enjoy this win. But a couple of the really cool things I thought were the players that they came out to the Notre Dame fight song. You know, a world-famous song. They come out to that. Jim Cornelison's insanely electric anthem. That was fucking fantastic.

I was fortunate to see it at the Cup in 2010, but to experience it again in that atmosphere, I mean, Witts and Grinnell, you guys hadn't seen it before. It's quite a thing to be in person for. I've seen it. I played against them. I didn't even know it was a thing. Witt looked at me halfway through it, and he's like,

you didn't know they do this every game, every Blackhawks game? I had no idea. They go crazy during it. Best anthem in the league, and they get louder and louder as the song goes on. And that guy has absolute pipes on him, too. I think he's – what's his name?

Jim Cornelison. Jesus. I think he gets the cup rings, too. He's that part of the team. He should. He should. He does. He's got three of them.

Yeah, he kind of sings it his own little way. He kind of puts his own inflection on. When's when he gets the flag he points the flag every time it's it's cool shit really good stuff and also i gotta talk about my my encounter with mike milbury oh yeah i was down below and like like i used to rip on him a little bit and like i you know i've talked to jr and a few other people about how he's actually a good guy. He's just a little bit grumpy. And I saw Catherine Tappan. Jonesy was there. And Mike Milbury was facing the opposite way. And I knew it was him, though.

So I ran over and I tapped him and I gave him a big hug. Before he could even turn around and shake my hand, I said, hey, buddy. I'm like, let's bury the hatchet. Like, I heard you're a great guy. Maybe we can get him on the podcast. So all our listeners, maybe lay off Milbury a little bit. You know what he is? He's like that Grinch that just needs a little bit of love back,

and I think he'll turn the corner. So I'll see what I can do. And speaking of Catherine Tappan, you've got to tell your first day at the NHL Network story, Witt, because she would think it's funny too. I thought I – oh, man. You told me, and I was like,, oh God, that's classic you. So, um, Catherine Tapp is the best.

She actually got me like my job at NHL network. She wrote a guy there. I was like, Hey, I think this kid would be good. Like just help me for no reason. Like such a nice person. Great at her job. She's a, she's a monster now. So my first day at NH time, I was nervous.

I didn't know one person. And I think that night I was going on. They kind of give you a little bit of a trial, but you go on for one segment almost just to let you get loose, let you figure out kind of how TV works, see how you do. So you have your meetings three, four hours before the show. You go over that stuff. And that night, like Kevin Weeks was going on and he was going on earlier than I was. So he was up watching games

and he was up with the whole crew. Like the producers are up there all watching games and they're just kind of going over what they want to talk about when they're going to go on. So I was going to be on later. So my meeting just happened and Catherine Tappan was in the room and there was also a bunch of other people and you know the the room was it was like kind of warm whatever i don't know we were only in there for 30 minutes so i go up to the room where weeks he is because i kind of knew him a little and i'm just like god i want to see someone i kind of know so i walk in the room and there's like eight guys sitting there with weeks and he's like oh wait what's up bud how's the meeting goes fuck's hot

in there huh i was like yeah she's really pretty i mean yeah like she's reallysy and he's like, oh, wait, what's up, bud? How was the meeting? He goes, fuck, it's hot in there, huh? I was like, yeah, she's really pretty. I mean, yeah, she's really pretty. And he goes, dude, everyone looked at me. They're like, the room's fucking hot. I was like, yeah, no.

I was like, no, I know. It's really warm. That's what she was saying. She warm too, and they were just like What's wrong? Me tooing people your first day in the drug That's a tough start for me to NHL Network But once again, Catherine, you're the best Thank you for helping

And that's a compliment, she's beautiful Five star athlete The room's hot, dude I was like, oh My face It was like when our live show i was just like this guy's live show that it was like when our live show that didn't become a live show happened foot and mouth disease uh one of the note two shout out to the boston fans who drank yet another road venue

out of bia uh i heard noted dame ran out of beer like the first to second period i was in dallas for a pats game years ago and boston man, they just fucking drink places out of beer. So shout out to the Boston fans once again, and also the Johnstown boys I met at the game. Oh, and before we move on, this is it, right? Are we done with the Winter Classic stuff? Yeah. Okay, my last thing.

Everyone, I see everyone. I've been notified. Wait, everyone says you're so miserable, and the pictures are the Winter Classic. Oh, wait, why don't you smile? You look so upset. Buddy, I'm smiling in the pictures. I'm not ear to ear grinning. I'm not on a golf course in Spain with Zetterberg flying private jets.

You want to see a big wit smile? Yeah, get me out there. I'm at the Winter Classic. I'm freezing my dick off. And I'm like trying to smile as I'm cold. So shut up about me being miserable and I need to smile more. Mix in a smile, Whit. Hey, your shit face.

I wasn't even shit face either. I had about three drinks. Man, miserable Whit. He's loaded. No, I was sober and I was cold and I wasn't on a golf course. You're not going to get the old big grinning Whit when you're thinking you're going to get him at 20 degrees in South Bend, Indiana. People are pretty hard on you, Whit.

I will say, you know, I know you might be a little bit on the grumpy side, but geez. I know. Listen, I can take it. Just know, if you come up to me like we said earlier, you're getting it right back. I've learned to protect myself with chirping. That's all I have. There you go.

I mentioned a few minutes ago they were the highest ratings for the Winter Classic in four years, in addition to any regular season game. Just a quick note. Boston was number one, Providence number two, Chicago number three. There was a four-way tie for the TV ratings between Buffalo, Hartford, and I'll give you a guess on who the third city that was tied

for fourth in watching this game. Vegas. Bingo. That's because I told you. Wow. Yeah, Vegas. So, I mean, there was a lot of talk of, well, Vegas be a hockey town. I think that's just yet another indication that Vegas is indeed a hockey town.

And they did announce next year when the Classic is going to be at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. I've been told they're going to fertilize the field with fucking horse shit. Can they – is that a joke or are they really doing it? Can they please give Minnesota an outdoor game? We'll end it at that. Why don't the – the Wild have never had an outdoor game. It makes zero sense to me. Maybe it's too cold there.

Like, that's... They have one in Edmonton. Yeah, they do the Heritage Classic. I'm a fucking moron then. Yeah, but there were those people. I guess so, yeah. My bad. Maybe we should edit that out. I sound like a fucking moron. Should we get on? Speaking of Dallas, should we talk about... That's what I meant. The fucking horse shit.

They're going to fertilize the field with fucking horse shit because that's what the – Ah, boom, boom. I know it's early, boys. I know it's early. Oh, okay. It's on rakes on Marblehead. I ruined your little – what is that called?

Intro? Yeah, Dallas CEO. This did happen a little – about a week ago, but we had the holiday, so that pushed things off. He called his two best players fucking horse shit. It was some pretty lengthy quotes. He also said, I don't give a fuck, I'll say whatever. Mind you, his team was in a playoff spot the time he said it,

and they just came off a 2-0 win in Nashville, so the timing of it was a little odd. The next day, Jamie Benn and Sagan said, hey, we play for the guys in the room. Actually, Sagan didn't. Jamie Benn said, I play for the guys in the room. Actually, the NHLPA got involved. They come out and they kind of shit on the comments.

Jim Lights made, who's the CEO. They didn't take too kindly to it. Jim Neal, the GM, he finally spoke up, said I wasn't crazy about the tone and the language, but otherwise he said his boss was, quote, dead on as anybody would about their boss. So I would say it caused a bigger ripple in the hockey landscape, probably more in Dallas given the Cowboys and the playoffs and everything going on down there but boys haven't your CEO call you a fucking horse shit oh what would you do if uh I mean biz you

may have been caught that when you played but I don't think the Wickrug was oh yeah yeah oh you ever been to Edmonton um geez where do I even start with this first of all that was like NBA type drama which I mean I'd be lying if I say I didn't love the fact that it gave us something to talk about on the podcast every time like something like that happens now I salivate I'm like yes we get to give our opinion on it and people actually care um I I guess I'll start with the players um I I really like the way Sagan responded. You know, I think that his comments were bang on, and he said message delivered,

took responsibility and accountability for maybe – and I wouldn't say it's been poor play. I would say that based on how now both of them are paid, they're going to be in the conversations of like the Crosby and Malkins because they're being paid like them now. And, you know, when you get paid like that at the National Hockey League level, there has to be points where you literally point to the boys and say, hey, hop on. And that's just the reality of it.

Like, I mean, Sid and Gino have done it. And some people say, oh, look at their supporting cast. I'll say, hey, fucking dickhead. They won a Stanley Cup with Dumoulin as their best defenseman when Olimata and Tanger were out. So don't talk to me about supporting cast. Those guys got the job fucking done. Now, saying that, Sagan just signed that deal.

He was on probably one of the most fair deals, best deals in the NHL. But now all of a sudden he signed it, so now pressure's on. That team has not made playoffs in quite some times based on the type of star power they have. They have respectable goaltending. They have that rookie defenseman from Finland. I don't know how to say his last name. I don't even want to attempt it because I'll butcher it,

but he just made the all-star game. They have Klingberg. They have Radulov, Ben, and Sagan. Yes, do they have the best supporting cast? No, and there needs to be some work done there. But it's time for them to start making playoffs and making some stabs at it. The last time I can recall something like this magnitude happening

was in San Jose when the GM, Doug Wilson, kind of went after the leadership group a little bit, particularly Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, and he ended up ripping the sea off Marleau and gave it to Pavelski. And that was uncomfortable times in San Jose. Joe Thornton was pretty candid. He kind of went back at Doug Wilson. And when your organization is in a situation where their expectations are so high

and you can't even get over the first hump, at some point something needs to be said. And Doug Wilson said it. He shook things up. Hey, Joe Thornton had a very good two, three-year stretch there. They ended up making a little run. Then they made that big run to the Stanley Cup Finals. And, yeah, shit got weird.

Shit got uncomfortable. There might have been some bad butt around. But, hey, sometimes in order to get to that point shit's got to get uncomfortable now going back to light's comments i i think it's a little weird coming from someone who's not really involved like in the locker room and in talking to these guys face to face i thought his comments were yes aggressive especially based these guys are just under a point of game it's not like these guys haven't done anything uh and but now he doesn't hang out with these guys if they don't start winning they're gonna probably change that whole front office at some point like he's in a sense looking out for his job and all the other guys jobs by being aggressive about it because at the

end of the day if he doesn't say that and things don't turn around, the culture doesn't change, they're gone. What does he care? I mean, he ain't fucking – he ain't playing tummy sticks with Tyler Sagan. It sucks and it's uncomfortable. But at a certain point, something needed to be said. And as I said, I just think it was a bit aggressive. But, you know, I'm hoping that team can turn it around and this might be the point that made it happen.

Very well said, all of that. around and this might be the point that made it happen very well said all of that my issue is that you need to you need in my opinion to go tell those guys first I mean they're they're reading that as fans are reading it they have no clue it's coming you want to be a fucking man you want to carve guys and not just carve them I mean that was the biggest roasting of a player publicly I've ever seen two players. Sorry. And he did it. And listen, that guy, that guy lights, he's the owner's mouthpiece. This came from the top. This came, this was also, this had been like brewing for a while. I mean, the owner, he's put a lot of money in, they've made the playoffs twice in the last 10 years, I think. So he's pissed off. So then he has his lackey.

He has his lackey lights go out there and just, you know, he said he didn't know he was going to use the profanity. Dude, he didn't even care one bit. He said, say what you want to say. And this guy unloaded on two guys who, like you're saying, Biz, I mean, the team isn't winning. He's going to go after these dudes. They're not the reason that team isn't winning.

Those two guys are not the reason that that team isn't successful. They don't have depth. They have third and fourth line players playing on the second line, sometimes the first line. Now, yeah, they can be better. And one thing about Jamie Benn is, I mean, four years ago, this guy is becoming one of the most dominant players in the league. This guy's had a lot of injuries, man.

First of all, he plays hard. He's always played hard. He's a prick to play against. He's first of all, he plays hard. He he's always played hard. He's a prick to play against he'll fight and he's been battling through injuries. So if you lose that half a step, maybe even less, you know, you go from one of the best players in the game to, you know, maybe, you know, one of the top 30 players in the game, it's just a little different. So he's been through a lot in terms of not being that guy in 2014 that people saw come on the scene and dominate and win a scoring title. I think he won a scoring title, right?

Yeah, either way. He dominated. So now the way Lights comes out and says it, it's like, you're really going to go after these two? Those are the two guys who you're going to come and publicly ridicule and say the team sucks because of them? Dude, if you didn't have them, where would you be? I mean, it's just crazy to me that it was just blindsided.

They didn't know anything about it. The GM knew about it too, like you mentioned. And I just thought overall the way the message was given out, the way they heard the message was complete bullshit. I don't think that that's right. I think if you want to be a man, you go to his face, you say it to his face, say, I'm going to rip you in the media. At least they know it's coming.

So like you said, Biz, that guy doesn't give a shit. He's not their friend. He's working for the owner. He's that guy's number one man, and he did what he had to do. But in the end, I thought it was bullshit, and I thought it was very NBA-like, which I don't really enjoy when our league gets a – Worth noting, in the article lights, I mean, he called the media over, too. It wasn't like he just set it off the cuff called a couple reporters over to tell yeah it was a it was planned like

press conference almost yeah and he said he gets five texts per game from owner tom gagladi that simply say wtf so i guess and he was feeling the heat too and i can't remember it might be the first time a pro sports exec has actually used wah-wah in a quote. He said – The posts? Yeah, he said he's hitting posts. Wah-wah. That's what I say about hitting posts. Get a little bit closer to the action.

Actually go to the spot where you score goals. He doesn't do that. He never does that anymore. He used to be a pest to play against. People hated playing against Tyler Sagan. They don't anymore. It's like – Dude, the guy had 40 goals last year.

What are you talking about? You never even played hockey. Go to where goals are scored. He's a snipe. You see where Ovechkin scores from? Shut up, lights. What are you talking about? Go where goals are scored?

Dude, has that guy ever even skated? He's given Tyler Sagan lessons on how to score goals. Dude, Tyler Sagan could go get 25 goals in the next 30 games. Shut up, lights. Go to where goals are scored. You don't know shit. Yeah, like I said, the timing of it was just fucking odd. And another thing that was odd is that after he was chirping –

sorry, Ben, and said he hasn't scored a goal from farther away than five feet from the net. So it's the exact opposite of what – Yeah, he contradicted himself a little bit. But, boys, at the end of the day, I hope these guys can turn around because these guys have put a lot a lot of work in these guys are very dedicated athletes um i don't think they had they should have had to deal with that aggressive of comments but sometimes you know when you're making that much money the heat's got to fall on you now and and i'm sure they're going to rise to the occasion and we wish those guys well

third in the west right now and they were West right now. They had the wild card spot when this report came out. Just know that Jamie Benn, I know for a fact, there isn't a player that's ever played with him that would say one bad word about him. A warrior and a leader. I can't imagine how many texts that guy got

when this all came out. For him to deal with that, I just think is bullshit. My opinion. Suck on it. We were just talking about the Stanley Cup. So speaking of a guy who won the Stanley Cup, how about four of them? Darren McCarty won four Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings. I got a great picture with him from one of those nights. We had a great interview with him a few days ago.

Good stuff. Sorry. Wait, back it up. You have a fucking picture with every single person. But none of them know the picture's going on, so he's looking at the camera and talking to someone else. He has pictures of people that didn't even know they were there. Darren McCarty even said, by the way, unbelievable interview.

This guy is like, Cam Jansen. This was fun. Full throttle. And we hope this makes up to all those people who came to the live show and didn't get to hear those interviews. But R.A., he said he wants to see the picture and he thinks he remembers meeting you he said that yeah i mean no offense if he doesn't i mean he just won his fourth cup there's a zillion people in the locker room you got some goofball wearing a fucking bruins hat mind you and a detroit red

wings winning cup winning locker room with a bruins hat on and a nantucket t-shirt and i couldn't have stood out more like a sore thumb. Actually, we should probably use that picture to tweet out the tease. Actually, the craziest thing about this story isn't the Bruins hat, isn't being in the locker room when he wasn't on the team with the Cup. It's that R.A. had a Nantucket shirt on. Yeah, there you go. Get a Vineyard shirt on for this guy. R.A., you mentioned putting the picture of darren mccarty up as the picture to promote the episode now there's been a lot of ra self-promotion going on that's uh spitting chiclets account and uh the boys were having a good chuckle the other night i was like

you gotta start using your own account all right although i listen i i i think it's fucking kind of funny because like sometimes i i just like watch and I'm like, the fact that this is going on on a strictly hockey account, like, why are they watching R.A. eat pierogies for the first time? But, I mean, it's kind of comical, and I think that a small percentage of our fan base eats it up. If I'm not mistaken, I thought we said we were going to make content out of that. At some point, I was going to have pierogies, and we'd do a thing. And as far as putting the shit on this week, I mean, Grinnell when we go away and do stuff put to put stuff on the main account so i

figured i don't know i thought we were all doing it so i just was playing along and speaking of social media that's uh spit and chiclets memes continues to to put out fire instagram memes for the chiclets boys uh for any of those of you who haven't heard about it, we talked about it once already. Spitting Chicklets memes is not ran by us. It's some dedicated fan who takes all our stupid lingo and shit and he turns it into masterpieces. And is

he not scaling up? I mean, he's getting better and better. I think we should maybe even hire this guy to Barstool. He's got 20, I'm just looking up, he's got 24,000 followers. He'll be doing swipe-ups soon. The one that made me laugh is, is it the clown in the drench? And he's like, there's no state tax down here.

And then you see bits climbing into the rain. Oh, shit. Yeah, there's been a couple that I've been like, I don't know, but most of them are pretty good. I got to give that guy respect. I don't know who it is. We love the chirps. All right, so hopefully we don't see any more pierogi eating

and maybe a little bit better content. All right, guy. Well, on that note, let's go to Darren McCarty. And now it's my pleasure to bring in a guy who had 758 NHL games. More importantly, he won four Stanley Cups, 97, 98, 02, and 08. I actually celebrated the 08 Cup, but I don't know. I doubt he remembers that, but we'll bring that up later. He was all hot, grind, and hustle.

Darren McCarty, welcome to Spitting Chicklets, man. I really enjoyed watching your career. I appreciate it, Real Advo and Whit. Great to be on here. It's an honor to be on this program. I love what you guys do. I guess I'll just go fuck myself. Now, we got to get to that one cup win because I feel like R.A.'s got a story

about every single Stanley Cup that's ever been won, that he snuck into the locker room and got a picture with one of the players. He snuck into the Red Wings locker room or stole a press pass, either one, and actually got a picture with you after which one was it? The 08 RA? Yes, the 08 Cup in Pittsburgh. Yeah, so you got to understand because

that's the old Pittsburgh bar. So, dude, you were doing some slinking and that's a veteran. You can get into it like an old bar because you got to realize the dressing room is the size of your closet, especially in Pittsburgh. So the fact that you got in there and got a picture, dude, I appreciate it. I'd love to see that one.

Yeah, R.A.'s completely yacked out in the picture. He just looks waffled. And I was over in the dressing room crying my eyes out like a little baby after you guys won. So the picture's great memories for you two. And for me, it just reminds me of a sad day. You know what? But look at you now, kid. Look for you two, and for me, it just reminds me of a sad day. You know what?

But look at you now, kid. Look at you now, kid. Now I'm a podcaster. I like looking and killing it and killing it. Well, speaking of now, what are you up to, dude? Where are you at? What's going on in life? Kind of give us the rundown on Darren McCarty grind time special right now.

Yeah, exactly. the rundown on Darren McCarty grind time special right now yeah exactly well they said that first um I started uh grind time with Darren McCarty which grindtimepodcast.com you can check it out uh getting underway with that which has caused me I've lived uh parts of the last six years back and forth between uh Clearwater Beach because uh I really like golf and you can't do it in Michigan in the winter. But because of everything going on, I'm doing a podcast. I do stuff with the wings. You have my boy Riley Cote on here last week that he is, you know, with what he's got going on in the education with the marijuana. I'm three years sober as of November 11, 2015.

Marijuana saved my life. I'm a huge advocate for it. In fact, so much that they tried to get me back to Canada. They turned the whole country legal, but Michigan came back and they voted strong to keep their favorite stepchild here in Michigan. So, come back here

to help out with that. Do a bunch of things with the wings. And I got to check out Facebook, Darren McCuddy slash The Comedy Tour. They say it's a comedy tour, but guys guys i'm as much a comedian as i am a musician that's insult to both what i am as an entertainer so i'm out there entertaining folks uh with some stories and you know the good old you're doing some stuff that you're doing uh in person and uh like i tell everybody you can google me you can see how fucked up i am. You're showing up to see me.

That really tells a lot about you. So, again, back to the rear admiral. I can see why back in the day you got a photo with me, bro. Uh-oh. Fucking BFS. Hey, maybe you'll steal R.A. Maybe we're going to be without R.A. for our podcast. Him and O'Kartney.

You never know. I got to get him. you never know man i gotta get them you know when when it's time when i feel like i can reach that um upper echelon i might reach out to them just to borrow them from you with there's a few ways i want to take that you mentioned uh the band you used to go on the road with i want to talk a little bit more about the comedy stuff right now do you get nervous going on stage and is it like a battle before every performance well here's here's the here's the thing that you mentioned both of them because the minute and the first show that i did the first time i ever walked on to do comedy i went up there just you know not really expecting i'm better by the seat of my

pants to see how deep i'm in it you know what i? And the first time I got up to do the comedy, it was like, oh my God, that was like fear, nervous, the sweats, but it went away because that's what the band prepared me for, fronting the band. So what I'm doing now is I get to do everything I ever loved about being the front man of a band, yet I don't got to remember lyrics and I don't got to sing a tune.

So it's the perfect best of both worlds uh the more you do it just like anything else more comfortable you get to it and i just i just enjoy going around people like hearing hockey stories and hearing life stories and my perspective so one thing is is that i always i always call it enjoy my truth because it's my truth if it's you don't didn't see it that way you were there then write a book or get a podcast or do something. Darren, did you just decide, all right, I want to get into comedy? Was it something like a longtime dream of yours that you've had?

And if so, who were your main comedy influences growing up and basically up until you started comedy? Well, I think that you and I, I'm one of those guys that I'll try something once, twice, you know, ten times and it doesn't kill me and then figure out if I like it or not. This is something that it was brought to me by a guy through a friend that said, would you like to go out and host these things? I'm like, yeah, you know, whatever.

I'm interested in comedians. I go to some comedy shows. I have some friends that try it. It's something, like I said, i don't consider myself a comedian i'm an i'm an athlete with a perspective on life through addiction and ups and downs and stuff like that that's what i sort of bring to you um so it's that's the connection and the love that i want so it wasn't on purpose but it sort of evolved i call everything in my life organic just like the the plant that i love that saved my life everything's evolving so it's sort of evolved. I call everything in my life organic, just like the plant that I love that saved my life.

Everything's evolving. So it's turned more into, you know, I first go out there and do 10 minutes, then maybe I'll do 20 minutes. I can do a two-hour show by myself now. But again, it gets into more of the entertainment and the stories and the different people that I have. And I've got to meet some great Michigan comedians

because of it. You ask me influences, obviously, you know, guys like Bill Burr and Doug Benson, you know, come to mind. Obviously, the writing and, you know, you can't, you cannot, you know, call Jerry Seinfeld a genius and not appreciate, you know, the writing style that he has. So I like to make people think a little bit and understand where my perspective is and like i said it's my truth so if you got a different one then you get up on stage i got a couple music questions what was your guys go to were you a cover band did you guys have originals and i wrote two albums with kid rock uh yeah all the time i knew i knew bobby back in the day uh well i still know him i met him before uh back when he was doing uh back when he was doing like sort of the kid and play rap

sort of um yodeling in the valley um so he's been around forever uh we actually got to jam um in russia we jammed went on stage and jammed at some bar in Russia when we were over there for the T soft and Larry on of his retirement during the lockout but again you know I'm just I'm just up there just just pretend amazing real musician but I've written originals it's more of like a you know it's more of a punky thing that we go with because you don't have to really be a singer to do punk then you know so it's one of those things and you know actually with the comedy now it gives you a whole new avenue of writing too because i always enjoyed

you know i just uh i just went to see trailer park boys were just in town and those those guys are good guys but i love when bubbles gets up at the end and does his, you know, liquor and whores and stuff like that. Comedy gives you a whole avenue, as Adam Sandler showed us, to write music and enjoy music in a different way, I guess. So, DMACC, I texted Bear, for people who don't know all that, Dan Cleary, I said, hey, we're having DMACC on the show today. Can you give me anything I need to know?

He goes, OMG, DMACC on the show today. Can you give me anything I need to know? He goes, OMG, DMACC. Holy shit. A beauty. An absolute beauty. He says, listen, you have to ask him. He would play venues the night before games with his band. What was that like? Just ripping it up the night before tilt. Yeah, well, you got to remember, this was

back in like 08. Well, actually, when did we do that we did that during training camp so to be honest we would we would do it up in travis city a training camp and uh you know i guess you wonder like when i tell everybody is that when the lockout came in 0405 i was making too much money and i got bought out and went to calgary you know there was a reason maybe that i was paying too much attention to the band instead of uh instead of a hockey career but it all worked out in the end right we got that picture where

Admiral and Pittsburgh yeah that's right you seem like a heavy metal kind of guy just that's the vibe you give off uh who were you some of your favorite absolutely who are your favorite musicians and or bands who either influenced you or just that you love just cranking it up, listening to him? Well, you'll appreciate this story. Back in 06, after my first year in Calgary, I'd been to rehab four times, and I knew this was sort of coming, so I went to see my buddy Zach Wild on Ozzfest, and I ended up doing two weeks of Ozzfest, rode in for Zach Wild, and then a week with System of a Down.

So Zach Wild's a true, he's the caveman. He's a true, the true, what you see is what you get as far as you want to talk metal. love, love him. Love the whole crew that he's involved with.

I'll tell you my quick, uh, Zach Wild story is, uh, we got a pitcher chugging contest in Hooters in Hartford uh me and him versus uh Mark and Phil his uh security guy and his tour manager we did we were chugging pitchers of uh uh Guinness right and uh little did we know that they were going into the bath those two were going in the bathroom between as the other guy would go and they were

puking so zach and i didn't do that i end up anyways long story short i passed out on the floor of the tour bus thank goodness i go to puke and i miss the carpet and i puke all over the the you know linoleum floor or whatever like this i wake up in the morning on the couch in the middle i you know one of those holy shit, where am I? And I sort of look. I go down because I got to take a piss. And I almost step on Zach. He's laying at my feet.

No blanket, no pillow, no nothing. Just like the loyalty, whatever, just wanted to make sure I was going to be all right. That's Zach Wild. This is 2006. He's already, you know. To me, that just tells you what a true, unbelievable dude he is. That's my favorite metal dude. That hooters in Hartville will get you every time.

You know, dude, see? Thank you. Hey, you might be more white trash than R.A. You know what? The best part about me is I can float in every different circle. Yeah, you can. I collected my card. I got my card in all the different neighborhoods in this state

and throughout most of the USA. So, you know, not always a bad thing, bro. Clear's needs guys like me. Clear's the bear needs guys like me. Exactly. You guys vacation in Florida together? No. No, dude.

I can clear what is way too north for him. He's got to be down in Marco or something like that. You know how he is. Whoever the NASCAR races are. Well, that's where I am. You'll find me there. Yeah, exactly. You'll find me there.

That's for sure. Now, the Gulf Coast got some great spots spots i'm a big fan of it now you mentioned the cannabis you have your medical marijuana card how exactly has it helped you darren i know physically it helps with the pain but explain how it helps you like on a psychological level i think people don't realize that you know that marijuana can't help you on that level well there's well here's the whole thing and it's all about uh if you get educated and ask questions and you know we'll be on the entering 2019 it's not about arguing it's all about uh if you get educated and ask questions and you know we'll be on the entering 2019 it's not about arguing it's about you know what do you mean by that what do you

mean is first people have to understand what your endocannabinoid system is which is any animal anything with a spine has an endocannabinoid system which this plant the marijuana plant the cannabis plant feeds your body so when we're talking about different things, I think people understand, forget about the high because the biggest thing, and Riley brought it up, Riley Cote, I'm an athlete for care with him. He's a great guru, a great, he's been a great, you know, someone that I've been able to lean on for education and stuff, but it's about the CBD and allowing your allowing your body to to get what it needs into it as far as your endocannabinoid system because it's deficient to most parts that's why people

are getting sick so it's all about education so for me being an alcoholic um and almost dying and and you know there's different times where i was stroked out or had a heart attack but i decided i was physically see mentally i was ready to quit like the beginning like for final quit final final i'm done like january 2015 took me almost the whole year to be prepared to be able to go into it now lucky i was educated i had the people around me that were educated there's a gentleman called rick simpson who's got this rso which is called rick simpson oil which is pretty much the plant and an alcohol. And it's just taking the whole plant and using everything into a syrup. And pretty much seven days when I was awake, they would give me that.

By the seventh day, I was free of the physical addiction of the alcohol. And it was the greatest day of my life. physical addiction of the alcohol. And it was the greatest day of my life. And I said to myself, holy cow, if I've been lied to this much, and this can bring me back from where like, I've got a gun in my mouth, and you know, not caring and wanting to die and being that guy. Been through enough, there's obviously a bigger plan, I got to protect this plant, like I protected my Red Wing brethren or Calgary brethren when I played in the lineup. And that's the role that I do. And it's through education.

It's through guys like myself, like Riley, pointing people in to go find their own answers. We're not telling you, this is it. This is the way. This is it. It's your own journey. But you should educate yourself and get out there and ask questions. So when I get people to ask questions, then it's working. That's the bottom line.

And I've been three years plus. The only thing I use is cannabis, and I use the CBD every morning, which is non-psychoactive. It helps with the pain, my sleep. It's getting to know your body and having a relationship. We're all worried about our diets. We're all worried about, you know, eating organic and all this. This is all part of it.

It's all part of educating yourself on how to take care of yourself. Dude, if I would have known some of this, I wouldn't have been as good of a hockey player that I would have. The reason that I wasn't allowed to find it out until it almost killed me about the truth is because the way that I'm built, it would have really fucked me up and I would have been like Ricky Williams and had to go away on a sabbatical and and and find it because this is bigger than a game this is this is about life and and I just preach what

I know like I said part of my truth were you always a partier like was that I mean you seem like you're like life party wherever you go even now that you're not drinking yeah oh yeah but I was never a smoke I was a boozer andzer. The best thing about being an alcoholic is realizing I didn't have a coke problem. That was just the equalizer to keep me going so I could drink more. Okay, cool. Yeah, right. Exactly. The equalizer.

I don't need that without the booze. Right, exactly. I don't run that high. I've always been the way that I am. It's just enabled me to actually rediscover and find what's important. It makes life more enjoyable. The more that I know my system, the more tolerable that I can be, the more that I can understand how to feel better.

Do you know how long, you know, between, and we haven't even touched on like CTEs or concussions and stuff. I mean, yeah, you don't think that like most of us have some sort of brain injury from, you know, not from fighting. I'm thinking of the guys that never made it. How about the guys that battled with us all the way up? You know, you talk, you know, Dennis Bond, you had him on as a guest, you know. I, in most respect, he's like, you know, Dennis Bond, he had a, he had him on as a guest, you know, that I most respect. He's like, you know,

that guy has more fights than everybody. And, you know, it's just common sense that there's gotta be ways to help us make, to feel better. And, you know, this is just one of them and it's through the education. And so, you know, athletes for care is one of the ways where people have questions, they can look into it. So we're going to go all the way back to the start. We haven't really talked about hockey much, to be honest.

Well, that's what it is. Not to interrupt you. I was going to say this guy. I think people appreciate you so much because you have so much more to offer than just stories about hockey. I think that's what makes, you know, people really big fan of yourself, DMACC. Well, you know what? Here's the whole thing. As we're sitting here on the 27th to the 420 in the afternoon, actually.

Ah, perfect. I know. That was a good segue. It's a good segue. It's because, you know what, dude? I realized after when I was not going to kill myself because I was too egotistical. And, you know, it was time to get my shit together. And there's more to life out of this. after when I was not going to kill myself because I was too egotistical and, you know, it was time to get my shit together and there's more to life out of this and

about being lied to the four cups, the goal, all the new thing, all the other stuff is just set me up so that when I talk, people sort of listen and say, Oh, well, what do you mean by that?

And I'm just trying to allow people to go find their own answers. I'm not, I'm just just this is what worked for me and i hate the fact that there's people out there that have feel like me or have felt like i have in the past so i'm just trying to give them hope that's what that's what i represent i represent hope in these different ways i mean life is life bro, hey, my old lady yelled at me before I came on here. I mean, I'm not happy about it, but it goes on, right? And it wasn't to do with you guys. She loves the show. It was nothing to do with you, Admiral.

Hey, imagine we were the reason for your divorce or your breakup. You know what? You guys are almost that powerful, but I can really fuck one of those things up I'm on my third third's the charm I finally found the right one when I get yelled at it's my part it's my fault it was actually my fault what we're going to ask of you

is maybe you smoke whatever you got over there and maybe come up with a nice jingle for the spit and chiclets podcast maybe our intro song oh that would be huge you got it boys i will you just put me on task i will uh i will you know it's funny because i just i i do i i do have one in the in the bank that i'm using for grind time but i'll i'll do another i'll get one up for you i will i'll get'll definitely work on the spin chip with Seamstone tonight.

All right. Hey, listen, we got to get into some of your career because it was too special to kind of overlook. And my immediate question is, right, you get to Detroit, you're a rookie, 93-94, no Cups there in a while. It seems like it's been a cursed franchise for a long time. And then in 94-95, when I was 12 years old, that was the peak of my fan, my fanhood in hockey. I love the Red Wings.

I loved Eisenman and you guys got swept by the devils. I'm wondering what changed from that season. I mean, I know you didn't win it the next year or even I think the year after you did, but what kind of happened in that room? What changed after that sweep of the devils that year? Well, I think it was a progression. And it's one of the things that I've learned is that, Hey, it's self-awareness and hard work. It's, um,

if we don't lose the New Jersey, we don't, I'm not here with four. I don't think, or where you went back to back, but I think it was a progression that not only because the scariest moment wasn't when we're looking – I remember Chris Draper and I standing looking down the ice, 95, watching Jersey lift the cup, and him looking at me going, bro, we can't let that happen again. I'm like, I know.

And that wasn't the moment where you thought you'd never get back because you've got to remember it's like our second year, third year in the league. Wings are pretty good coming off that season and stuff, so we've got to remember it's like our second year third year in the league you know wings are pretty good uh coming off that season and stuff so we're going to get back it wasn't until the next year we set the league record 62 wins which won't be broken ever and then we lose in the conference finals of colorado where in game six cloud mute hit straight from behind we end up losing you know fast forward that's the moment when we look around and go holy shit we may never get back and you know I'm looking at guys like Dino Cicerelli who

Hall of Fame great one of my best friends to the day but he was never able to lift the cup and so you it was just that moment of realization and then there was the whole way that the moment and and you know i'm biased because god chose me to star in it but the opportunity was march 26 97 because of what had happened but the biggest thing because of what had happened claude new hinton draper from behind breaking his jaw breaking his orbital bone you know not apologizing said you never heard chris draper well we hadn't been colorado throughout throughout the years i don't care what sport you're playing what age you are when somebody owns you somebody owns you you gotta you gotta change that it doesn't matter how what level

you're at so for us winning that game was the most important let alone you know getting that you know some revenge on lemieux but the game to win and so the way that it played out and I implore everybody to go watch the video because Igor Lariana who one of the biggest pacifists in the game probably in the history of the world right and Peter Forsberg of Sweden start going at it I remember I'm inside the blue and I'm on the ice and I look over and I go oh man what's the puppies on this morning oh it's so cute oh they're not gonna hurt each other but i know the muse on the ice so there's my chance and push comes to shove i end up getting with a great cold cock knocking down taking them over smash the space on the board goalies are fighting

shanney's playing ballerina with bob bernie's beating up wah you know all this stuff's going on we got that revenge right but we're down five three in the third and then we tie it up and yours truly scores the overtime goal and it was at that moment at that moment and it wasn't in the rink it wasn't in the city wasn't in the state the country in the world it was like, I believe in other planets, man. So the Red Wing Nation and the universe, right? It was the proverbial rape then was the moment where it was like, it's going to be all right. I don't know what that means, but it's going to be all right.

Because up to that point, you never thought we were tough enough. You never thought that when push came to shove. We had the rushing five. We had this. We had that. We had that. No, what we had was a bunch of guys that love each other and go to war but you know what that's like that when you you're in a dressing room and you look beside you and you know that that guy's pulling as hard on the

rope as you are um there's nothing that you don't think you can accomplish and so in hindsight we go and we win you know beat philly sweet in. I end up getting to score the only goal I beat somebody one-on-one my whole career. Sorry, Yanni Niedermann. It was a good time. Absolutely dangled him. And, but the best part of that is, you know, my Christmas card, first Christmas card goes to every year? Yanni.

No, Eric Lindroth. He scored with 13 seconds left to make mine the game winner. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, right? Because I don't know if you know this, but Stanley Cup game winners, once time goes by, they can't take that away from you either, bro. No, that'll be staying there forever, D-Mac.

That's staying there forever. You know, to look back, because hindsight now, obviously. And then to propel, and you got to understand, people ask me about 97-98. It's two cups, but it's sort of one year, because the accident of Vladimir Konstantinov and Petitsov and then that, the kind of masseuse that put arguably one of the best, you know, best defensemen in the game that people don't realize

is just an assassin of Vladimir Konstantinov. He was one of those goalies, or he was one of those D-men, probably sort of like you, that in the shootouts, or if you give him a breakaway, he's like money. Like you want him in that. I saw that Vladimir Konstantinov scored seven breakaway goals in 96 seasons. That's what I'm talking about. They didn't make him like that.

He'd be so lucky. He'd come out of the box, boom, backhand show backhand show yeah but go ahead so i'm sorry uh march 26 1997 that's actually one of the dates i have written down on my bullet points here obviously like you mentioned a huge day a huge day in the team history and league history one of the greatest rivalries not only in hockey but in sports now as far as you and Lemieux, the scrap you had, did you pre-plan on dragging him over to the dasher and kind of smashing his face off, kind of like, you know, showing this is where you hit Draper? Or was that just spur of the moment,

just in like the insanity of the moment you decided to do it? Well, it was, it was, I figured that the first thought I had was stick my skate through his throat. And I figured that was a little excessive. I wouldn't have got away with that so I figured smashing his face against the boards when I saw Drake's fit right there because if you go back to the video Drake's face gets smashed in the boards in Colorado right in front of me and he's not only my centerman you know the grind line he's my best friend so it was way way way It was way, way personal that if I didn't get him that, I would have got him somewhere.

Hey, D, you're like, I'm going to step on his throat, and then you hit the weed pen. You're like, you know what? I'm just going to drag him over and slap him around. No, yeah. You know, exactly, exactly. See, that's the whole thing. See, weed is saving lives everywhere.

Preach it, kid. Preach it. You know, get educated the whole thing. See, weed is saving lives everywhere. That's the thing. Preach it, kid. Preach it. You know, get educated and preach it. In that game, like, Darren, you know, how do you balance the need, you know, the desire for revenge versus, you know, not costing your team in that situation? Did you say, fuck it and I'm going to do what I got to do here,

or do you have to, like, have some sort of balance going on there? Well, like I said, the most important thing was to win the hockey game. So, so you're looking at, I'm looking at every opportunity I can within not doing something stupid to cost my team and the way that it plays out, I mean, watch it. It's brilliant the way that it, that it plays out. But it was one of those things that if it was like the end of the game and something hadn't done, I would have jumped on the bench

or gone to the dressing room or something like that. But, you know, because it was – you know, that's how important it was. But the game was more important than the revenge. And I honestly mean that. And, you know, everybody knew that. I'm wondering, you mentioned, you know, your lifelong friendship now with Chris Draper, and Kirk Maltby also made up the third guy in the grind line.

When did you realize that you three had something going, it clicked together where you were like, oh, my God, we're going to be able to be the best third, fourth line in the league? And I'm just wondering, like, at what moment did you realize well we got something here well you see the the grind line is it's sort of an enigma wendell clark said it the best before the uh 2013 outdoor game when he said oh man there's four years on the grind line no wonder they're so hard to play against because you put joey because i was like the beginning rover where Joey Kosher would start and this sort of started back in like 97 where I would start the games

and and match up and then I go and play with Stevie and Sandstrom or Holmstrom but I'd play with Stevie during the game and then I'd lock it down with the grind line until Joey was gone after 98 then I you know assumed the role where we were aligned the whole time, you know, where we wanted to know too and stuff. But we honestly, you know, I scored 55 in junior. Malt scored 50 in junior. Drake's ran around with these little blue blades in the choker chain, but was fast as shit.

So you knew what you were dealing with. And I will tell you, it doesn't matter. When you're tight off the ice what you're dealing with and and and i will tell you it doesn't matter when you're tight off the ice and you're like brothers and you'll do anything i don't know how many times i went into piles and saying guys are saying this asshole jay for this asshole mopey and i'd be like yeah but they're my assholes now what you know so it was something that we relished in being able to shut down the top lines and make it hard to play against. And also, too, all of us have scored big goals in our career at key times. So, you know, it's something that between Maltz, Drakes, myself, Holmstrom, and Niklitz from we all have four cups,

and it's something that to be in that category is something I'll always cherish. This is kind of a tough interview considering we have to talk to you about so many iconic players you played with. And, like, I mean, let's start off with Sergei Fedorov. I mean, Russian players are on their own planet to begin with, but he was like a sex icon kind of. Wasn't he dating Anna Kournikova? And he was just like, what was it like playing with that guy?

White skates? Like, what was it like? Oh, yeah. White skates. That was fucking insane back then. It was, but you know what? The best part, and you realize it, and this is what I tell you about Scotty Bowman. Scotty Bowman was my greatest coach in history. He was the greatest psychologist in history, and he just knew who to put together and how. The Russian Five, Sergei, I don't think works as well without being insulated. how like the russian five sergey i don't think works as well without being insulated and insulated by you know by stevie and you know one of the greatest he's one of the greatest talented guys

you've ever seen like and i explained sergey shot it was like shot out of a missile but it like it was one that it wouldn't really hurt you if it hit you but you couldn't see it it was like the like a pellet gun you know like like one of those things but it was off his stick so quick and he could fly and panache and I think the way that Scotty knew for us to be successful you got a you got a 19 and a 91 and an Eisenman and a Federov going at full speed when Sergei can be himself that's the one thing is that in our dressing room you know that's the difference between I see in the games these days. They're all robots.

Back in my day, at least in the mid-90s and whatever, you still had individuals. And you were embraced, at least in our locker room. And I think that was the greatness of Scotty and what he learned, you know, that you don't treat everybody the same way because they're not all the same. So, you know, Sergey was one of the and and Sergey was more misunderstood than anything I love Sergey he's a great guy but you know it maybe be in a way it was like you know not the

language and the I think people he got a bad rap more because he cared more than people you know let on it's because when you're that talented everything looks so easy you know that's i hey i was an awful skater but it looked like i was working my ass off the whole time i was doing you know like you can't say you watch me skate and it's like oh he's not working hard oh look at that poor guy he's running on tape you know like better off if you like is he really going anywhere and you know that's that you know, that's the good part about being a slug like Z-Mac. Yeah, you guys are doing laps to warm up for practice. You're like, look how hard McCarty's going.

You're like, I'm just kind of gliding over here. Fuck, it's not my fault it looks like this. Right, exactly. Yeah, exactly, from a guy that can skate like the wind. Hey, listen, Fedorov, you must have been not shocked. I mean, I guess you see how skilled he is, but you'd be shocked now to see a star forward go back and play D when there were some injuries.

I mean, how incredible is that that he could just hop back and just play 20 minutes a game at the back end as a superstar forward? I think that back in the mid-'90s, like the late-'90s, that it might be easier because you can get away with a lot more. But he was so talented, he could play anywhere. But again, it depends on who you're playing him with. But, I mean, it was like the old – they used to – back when I played in the OHL in Niagara Falls with Forger,

they used to call it the 41 offense because Brian Forger, who set the league record you know was like the fourth forward you know it's like we played one d that's what it was sort of like with sergey but also too is that you got to remember sergey was one of the best defensive forwards there was yeah you know but in the game too i mean they came so that's the whole thing he cared about the defensive end you know you, you saw that. You saw, like, a guy like Pavel Datsyuk. He did, too. You know, where'd they learn that from? Larianna.

You know, it all passes down. And even us slugs picked up some stuff, you know, just from being around him. Osmosis, bro. That's real. I need to ask about another legend, pretty much my idol growing up, besides Eicherman, is Nick Lidstrom. I know maybe a quiet guy, but what was it like playing with him?

Any funny stories or just pretty much in awe every day of what he could do? I know Babcock one time called him the perfect hockey player. Yeah, the perfect human or whatever. The one thing about Nick is that, yeah, he wasn't a – I got a lot of word, but a sense of humor too. And I don't know how many times that you'd come down and practice on him and he used to stick that stick on your hand and give you the handcuffs and you'd go limp back in the day.

They put the rule in where you couldn't do that pretty much just for him because he was so good at it. But I tell everybody, yeah, he was not only as good of a player, so you got arguably, you know, you're going to say either Lindstrom or Bobby Orr, and it depends who's the greatest to play defense. Well, as great as he was as a player, he's a better person. So, I mean, you can't – if there's a king of Sweden, it'd be Lindstrom. So, I mean, you can't – the Swedes are just made like that, though.

Swedes are good dudes. You heard it here. Just going back to Scottie Boma for a second, was he big into head games or was he more direct when dealing with players and you know also how did he motivate guys if guys needed a little extra kick in the pants see it was different and scotty was the king of head games because he used to call him rain man not to his faith behind his back you know because but the thing here's the here's the key when you quit trying to figure it out and just go with it like okay i know it's gonna work out because it always does and he sees a five or six moves down ahead of this and it you just then you end up trusting it and

then you'd see it play out but oh mind game like if you want to get shanee going yet to get him go get irish you had to like shanee's had to, like, Shani's not moving his feet. Shani's not moving his feet. And let him hear. But Scotty was the best at, you know, he'd get behind you on the bench. Like, for me, if he wanted to yell at me, he'd turn to Barry Smith. They're both standing behind me, and he'd yell at me, but yell at Barry. Would never yell at me.

He'd yell at Barry, and Barry would go, you get that? I'd be like, yeah. And so different guys. Like, for me, you got to sort of, he realized you have to have the animal in the cage and out of the cage. And, you know, different guys, you know, it was Stevie's team. He allowed it to be Stevie's team, but it was, you know, it was such a dynamic.

And I always tell everybody the three biggest moves for us to get over the edge and win the cup is Brendan Shanahan trade for Primo and coffee from Hartford early in the 96, 97 season. And then Larry Murphy at the deadline and signing Joey Kosher on the beer league because the kicker to that was we call him Papa for a reason. And it was sort of like he came in and took all us cubs like myself and drapes and malt mario points bandano aaron board just under the blanket and sort of he was our then papa i guess you could say and you know you i don't know about you but you never wanted

to get on his wrong side so it worked out worked out. Just the way that I guess you would expect it to be. There was, I wouldn't say much of a pecking order, but I'll tell you at the end of the day, Scottie knew exactly what strings he was pulling. Darren, how confident was that Wings team on a nightly basis? Did you guys like basically fear you could win every game you were suiting up for during that era? Oh, yeah.

No, no, no question. Especially with, you you know there's some some places some games depending on uh you know depending on back-to-backs and stuff like this but no the confidence with the lineup i mean you look in i look at the ot team you know with all the hall of famers i think there's 10 or 11 of them or at least two be anyways. It was crazy. It's crazy just to be, I say that I'm so grateful just to be a cog in the wheel. That's how I looked at

everybody. Everybody was just as important in the role that they played in every Stanley Cup win. How big or how small, if it doesn't get done, then we don't win. Darren, would it be safe to say you were a card player on the plane? Absolutely.

Absolutely. What were you guys playing? We had Big Walt and JR on and they were talking about some heavy, heavy pots. Listen to me. Back in the day, Slava Fetisov, which,

that's the big bear. He's the big grizzly bear, big Russian bear. He brought this game called Helicopter, right? And it's played with ace to eight, depending on how many people there are, but there can be as many people as long as you get, I think it was like five cards or whatever like this. And literally, yeah, there'd be blue light specials. Everybody know what blue light specials are? Blue light specials. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So there was some heavy mid five figure checks going around for a minute until some blue light specials went on. But that game got stopped because the guys were in jeopardy of losing paychecks. Gilbert Arena showed up with a gun.

Yeah, right. Time to shut this down, boys. Right. Pretty much something like that except the white except the white no the canadian that's when the coach there's the coach of the captain's door and the guys look around and that's the thing to have the experience team where we go yeah this isn't probably you know gonna end good for the team wise so we uh it ended to be i guess we didn't stop playing. We changed games and went back to it, but there was always a cap on it. It used to get burned and – oh, dude. Did you get the KGB following you around town?

Right, exactly, right? You never know. It was getting that deep anyway. Hey, what's the most Russian thing you've ever seen from one of your Russian teammates? Like, you're like, okay, this is like, what, why is there 12 guys in the locker room right before the game? You know what?

Never at that, but you'd see some, you see in different places, you know, on the road where you see a few of the guys slicking out in some nice cars and stuff. So that's that's you know they're they're uh not that anything was wrong with that but i'll tell you the best thing is that igor uh kazi used to have these friends in vancouver um these older ladies that they were russian ladies that they knew or whatever and we used to go and they took me for dinner there and that was the greatest experience to have homemade russian you know borscht and

whatever else other because it was better canadian russian food is better than russian russian food i'll just tell you that i've been there oh yeah darren you also you want a cup on the bone and you also won one uh on the mike babcock correct yes i did no wait what was uh what was the difference between those two coaching styles? Any similarities, any major differences between the two of them? Absolutely. Polar opposites. Mike Babcock is the greatest. Preparation, X's and O's, practice intensity, prepare you for a game.

And then Scotty Bowman is behind the bench. Now, this is 10 years ago, Mike Babcock. And Scotty Bowman is behind the bench. Now, this is 10 years ago, Mike Babcock. And I see a lot of maturity and stuff throughout what it did back then. Now, you've got to understand that when I came back in 08, I had to convince him that he was the last one to figure out that, you know, I always tell Kenny Holland,

you haven't won a cup without being in the lineup since 55. In 08, I knew that my four or five minutes a game, whatever, like that in just being there being around the guys these are my guys i knew i knew what they needed babcock admitted i ended up going to play 17 or 22 games to get back on the cup but um i've never seen anybody more prepared and better practices and and and not be prepared behind the bench and then a guy who who would not prepare anything, Scotty Bowman, and know exactly when to chomp that ice and who to put out there because whenever he got mad and would put three different guys from different lines on, they'd go out and score, and you could never argue it.

That's the difference. Scotty had it figured out on the whole different, you know, that's the way the game. As the game evolved, technology evolved, and, you know, hence we have what we have now, which is not my game. It's incredible to think back to 07-08. You started in the IHL with the Flint Generals, and then you go up to Grand Rapids.

So I'm assuming the season started, and you say, I'm going to get back in that Red Wings lineup. But you had to be the only one thinking it was possible at that point, no? No, here's the thing. I was coming off my third sport hernia surgery in Calgary, coming out of rehab again for the fourth time. I had gone back, decided to come back, didn't have a contract or whatever,

and it was December, and it was one of those things that I was always taught is that do everything to the best of your ability so you never have to say what if. And I still had a what if left. And I knew that this team needed me. So who did I go to? I went to Drapes.

I said, Drapes. I just, you know, I just, to Drapes and Kenny, actually. And I just said, you know what, what would it take? I had to get cleared by the league because I was in the program. But I did everything I needed to do. I was clean and working hard at that and I just wanted to play and just at least to succeed or to fail but to prove to myself this was the last one was for me so I went back and actually because the last you know the since

like oh probably oh three but oh four or five or six like there just it was a business I didn't enjoy the game and I didn't like the game, and it was more just I was coming to the end, I knew, but it was something I was going to give it, and I went and played in Flint, and I started loving the game again. You know, obviously, when you're playing in the ice, you get to play power play and tons of ice time. It was like something that, you know what, they called me up to Grand Rapids,

no promises on a player tryout, first game there, I got a hat trick and an assist, so I figured, oh, yeah, you know what? They called me up to Grand Rapids. No promises on a player tryout. First game there, I got a hat trick and an assist. So I figure, oh yeah, you know, I'm on the way. And was brought something, like I said, where I was able to get called up and get in the lineup for three of the games of the regular season. And then I think Mule got hurt in the first round. Homer got hurt in the second round. And Mule was from the On Prompt, by the way. And so they got hurt. And I ended up playing 17 out of 22 games and you know came back to 09 and just wasn't the

same and went down helping grand rapids and then was was happy to be able to go out on you know my way that's the only thing is that i crazy but that's why i was in the back of my mind it was my dad always saying you you know what? He was the best ability, so you never have to say what if. And that was my what if. And Bear actually told me that you were just so huge for that 08 team. He said even the games you weren't playing, you're dressed for warmups and then be talking to guys in between periods or talking to the team at intermissions.

Is that true? Oh, yeah. I would never take my gear off during the diagonal half down because I knew it was near the end. But it was like, yeah. Like you said, and here's 10 years ago, Barry would come in and I was bitching about

something up front of the net but grinding away. And you just pick out some things that just help because the one thing is that you got to understand is that I could see the things that I knew that the guys that I'd won with, with the Drapes and the Maltz and the Knicks and the Cronwalls and the Dutterbirds and the Dutters. I mean, the Fransons, the guys that I played with is just to be another set of eyes or another something to, you know, help.

And I loved it. It was Chelly and I. You know, you want to talk about the biggest kid in the block, Chris Chellios, we would stay in our gear. And to the fact that, you know, even to when we won at the buzzer in 08, where we were able to come out on the ice and all geared up. And it was a blast. And the one thing I tell about Dan Cleary, Dan Cleary has the worst absolute in the history of Stanley Cup final buzzers

winning the Cup. His standing there in the deer in the headlights, not turning around and grabbing Ozzie and sit there. Like, I know you don't care about it, Whit, because it's a bad moment for you. But, I mean, it's the worst, if you want to say. That's the worst ever reaction to winning the cup by a human history, Dan Cleary, number 11.

Suck on that, man. We got to get the clip up on the Instagram. I don't know exactly what you're talking about, bro. Right? The puck slides across, close to just missed. Ozzie's laying down. Ozzie gets up, drops the club. Bear's like, what, what, what?

It's like, oh. Hey, Bear's like. I almost beat him to Ozzie. No, Bear's like, oh, my hockey school is going to make so much money. That was going to be nuts being fired. Hey, Darren, there were a few years between your third cup and your fourth cup, and you went through some personal issues in that time. Now, going back to the locker room, I do remember looking over at one point

and seeing you sitting there, and you were just kind of like soaking it all in. You had a little bit of a smile on your face, just kind of absorbing that, you know, you were in the minor leagues a few months ago, and now I hear you are winning yet another cup. Because of everything you had been through, did that fourth one mean even more to you than the other three? I wouldn't say that. You know, when they talk about cups, they're like kids.

They all have their own story. You know, they all have their own story. The last one, it was just to to so when I tell the story now or that you know to tell people is that like I said enjoy my truth here's living proof you know that that you don't ever have to you know succumb to like if you want something bad enough it's it's all about how hard are you going to work to do it but it's self-awareness what you have to do to do it for me i guess you could say that but that was just special in so many other ways to be able to share it and and to be there i guess maybe the thing what you saw is just that as you get

older i think we can all say we appreciate some things a little bit more and might take a little bit more time and enjoy them and i know that i that's one of the things that i if i reminded myself that if you do this will be the last one let's get up there i want to hear some more chelly stories because that guy uh oh holy legend listen listen that's the black book you want bro oh yeah and i introduced chelly to Kid Rock. Answered it. So, yeah. So, Chelly's been on the Kid Rock bandwagon. They live out in Malibu.

You know, they do a lot of stuff together. Let me clear this. I pulled it up here because my guys had to see it. Worst Chelly ever. Hey, he friend-stole. He friend-stole Kid Rock from you, Chelly did. Well, he didn't friend-steal. You know, I leave my mark. But, you know, they got a lot more thing in common he's you know the world traveling stuff but chelly is the greatest he's

the godfather right he's the godfather he's the greatest teammate um for young for anybody as far as go out of you out of his way you know the young guys come in for the playoffs, whether he's playing or not, has them all over for dinner. He's just the godfather of the game to us. He's the connect. Any problem, you go to

Charlie. I can't say enough. I asked him to come on the podcast and he said no. I'm convinced because I think I fought his kid or his nephew who played for the Charlotte Checkers. Is that his actual son? Jake would have been Jake. It could have been.

You could have fought him, and you know what? He's Greek, so yes, he would have hold a grudge, and that is why he won't come on. Which is my great telly story because I'll tell you this. So you've got to imagine, right? I used to chase Kelly around my first few years. He used to try to kill Sergey. Like, literally, like, kill Sergey.

And there's a couple, you know, where I, a couple times where, Kelly, I'd get him in the corner, or there'd be, like, a melee and stuff, and he'd just make me laugh, I'd get him in the, in the corner, there'd be like a melee and stuff. And he just made me laugh. And I could never like, could never like finish, like, you know, pummel him or do anything like that because he was such a good guy even then. So when he came to Detroit, you know, which is, which is huge. It's like, you know, back in the day, Chelly was like the most hated guy and then he came to, came to our team.

And from day one, you know what day one, he just endeared. He was awesome. I remember the first few days he was there. We used to have this shitty old stick room with this couch with this TV on. Him and I sat there and watched Zorba the Greek. He explained to me that that was Gus, his old man. Then when I met Gus a few weeks later, it sure as shit was. Anthony Quinn was Chelly's dad.

And so, you know, that's just the type of guy Chelly is. But, again, the type of guy Chelly is is he will hold a grudge. Hey, he had to have been tanning during his career. He's always got that beautiful tan like he's living in Hollywood. You never heard? You've never heard of the famous Chris Chelios desert ride? No. Every day, every morning, 7 a.m. for an hour in the sauna.

He would ride the bike for an hour in the sauna. It's the desert ride. That's his skin. Every day. Get the demons out, whatever, you know, might not have slept, but he'd be in there every morning for an hour in the sauna riding the bike. I mean, it was, hey, I got onto it. I got onto it, you know, when he'd be in there every morning for an hour, in the sauna, riding the bike. I mean, it was – I got onto it. I got onto it, you know, when I came back in 08 and stuff.

It's a great way to shed weight and stuff. But that's – I swear that's why. And plus, he's Greek. So, I mean, the sons from the gods anyway. So, would he ever go LeBron James-style cramps during practice? No. Never? No, I cannot.

Yeah. I don't know how you practice after that. Yeah, I've been thinking like – I go, whoa, dude, because – Listen, because he was the most – like he had all the old school techniques down or whatever like that no and then he'd be out there and he'd be 45 years old and just buzzing around the ice and the thing is with chelly is that to this day he's still the most competitive guy out there you never want to

be on fish chelly or drapes and you don't want to play against them because they still think that they're you know still think they can play in the show where they're, you know, still think they can play in the show. They're still, you know, campaigning for position or something. I don't know. Me retiring means I don't want to do it anymore. DMACC, do you still watch a lot of hockey? Are you still kind of involved in the game at all? Or what's the deal with that?

Yeah, you know, I try to – I'm in and about. I'll be doing it a little bit now. I moved back a little bit more in Grand Rapids and stuff like this. But you know what? I actually – it's funny to bring that up because I just realized I got a couple TVs in my basement and I was actually watching two hockey games the other day, which I don't think I've ever done. So I'm – it's a different than my the game that I was brought up

on but I'm beginning to enjoy you know like the the talent and you know I mean it's it's badminton hockey what do you want it's right down to the last wire the last game is going to mean five playoff spots and three teams making it and just wait it you is. You know, it's the way that the game is, but I enjoy it more than I did, you know, a month ago. So that answers your question. No, that does. But I mainly wanted to ask you because around playoff time, will you agree to maybe come back on? Because this has been phenomenal.

I know we've taken up a lot of your time. We'd love to have you back. Oh, no. Yeah, absolutely, bro. You hit me up and we'll break it down. I'll have it all broke down by then. Perfect. I'll hit you up before then because I'm going to be working on this jingle for you.

Well, that's what I was going to say. You better hit that fucking weed pen and get our jingle going, buddy, because there's a bit of a time restraint. We need that thing before playoffs. Well, that's easy. You know what? You guys have fun with those pens. I just play straight ones, bro.

Straight flower, guy. Straight flower. Maybe Chelly's still pissed out. I interrupted his cup celebration back the night I got my picture with Darren. Or you didn't ask him for the picture. I sniped one of them. That could have been it, too. That could have been it, too.

I want to see this picture bro it'll be out on Instagram hey tell the people where they can hear the Grind Time all the stuff you're doing alright here we go grindtimepodcast.com Grind Time with Darren McCurdy on Facebook

Grind Time Podcast on Instagram at grindtimedmack25 on Twitter email me at email DMACC25 on Twitter. Email me at email at grindtimepodcast.com. You'll hear more of me definitely in the future. I got DMACC25.com coming out

in January, so I'll reach back to you guys then. Thanks for having me, guys. Hey, quickly before we go, what's the handicap at right now? Yeah, it's still five, bro. What? It's just gross, bro. I always thought of you as a one, a one to two guy.

I was. Even par. I was. I was that guy. But, you know, now it's frigging the guy. I'm trying to dish him bullshit and single-length stuff. Get the fuck out of here. You're not Bryson T. Shambo.

You're the opposite of him. That's right. That's it. I didn't know Affliction made golf shirts. Hey, Pat. Hi, bud. That's a great fucking – there's my next email. Affliction golf shirts.

Here we go. Hey, the pleasure was all ours, Darren. It was a blast having you. Yeah, you're a beauty, buddy. See you, bud. Thanks, Lichten. All right, Adam. We'll see you.

Take care, brother. Man, Darren McCarty, what a great interview that was. It's so funny, man. I hung out with him in a locker room, took a picture with him, and then I hear him 10 years later interviewing the guy. It's funny how life turns out. Biz, we were just talking about all the props you were getting. Did you happen to see the sign of the World Juniors Wednesday night?

Someone made a sign that said, I got these tickets with promo code Biz20. And on the other side, they said, What's the state tax in Finland? I retweeted that last night. Fuck, man, I love our fans. We've been stroking our fans off all episode. I wasn't stroking anyone off the tailgate and chirping my jeans. I was just ripping into episode. I wasn't stroking anyone off the tailgate and chirping my jeans.

I was just ripping into them. I wasn't stroking anyone off. And somebody from Finland actually chimed in and said, yeah, they're pretty high over here. Someone on the Twitter feed, which is absolutely hilarious. So just a little news and notes maintenance we like to do on the show here. A couple of big guys are going to be out for a bit. Ottawa defenseman Thomas Chabot,

he's going to be out for a few weeks with the old UBI. He got hurt last Friday versus the Isles after a hit from Matt Martin. Looked like it might have caught his melon a bit. Sens weren't happy about it, a little bit of a scrap after. And also Big Buff, he's going to be out for a little bit. He got dinged up, going to be out. A couple of all-star caliber players. Just want to let everyone know about that in case they didn't know.

Edmonton made a few trades. They traded forward Drake Kajula and defenseman Jason Garrison to Chicago for defenseman Brandon Mann and defenseman Robin Norell. I think he's a minor leaguer. Edmonton also traded defenseman Alexander Petrovich to Florida in exchange for defenseman Chris Weidman in a conditional third. Hey, quickly shout out to Oilers. One of the beat writers there for one of the papers, Rob Chikowski.

I'm pretty sure you see his name like that. He has some very good tweets occasionally. He's like really good at chirping. He said the Edmonton Oilers finally got Brandon Manning back for his hit on Connor McDavid by acquiring Brandon Manning. That is unbelievable. How many tweets did that get? Oh, my God.

That's like a fire tweet right there. Yeah, he's got some good ones. That's quality. One other trade that just happened, I believe it was yesterday morning, Ottawa Senators traded their backup goalie Mike McKenna and forward Tom Pyatt in a six-round in the 2019 draft for the Canucks backup, Anders Nilsson and minor league winger Darren Archibald.

Vancouver GM did say they want to get a look at Thatcher Demko. They drafted him on 2014, second-round pick, highly prized prospect, so they want to get a look at him soon. And also, congrats to Brent Burns, who played in his 1,000th NHL game, yet another guy who reached that plateau this year. He's such an interesting character. His career seems to be flying by 1,000th NHL game, yet another guy who reached that plateau this year. He's such an interesting character. His career seems to be flying by. 1,000 games already, Biz.

That seems like it got here pretty quick, eh? Probably one of the most interesting men in hockey. I actually had the chance to talk to him at last year's All-Star game when I jumped in all over Rick Marsden's luggage and just basically piggybacked him through the whole trip. When he was first playing pro, he used to cruise around an RV with his wife. And as he started having kids, he started buying bigger and bigger RVs. And every summer he would drive around like the country and just basically point to a place

on the map and drive there with his wife. And they would, you know, just camp and do outdoorsy things because everyone's well aware he's an outdoorsy kind of guy and uh and i talked to him and i said we got to do a content piece and he was like sure i'd love to now he he still has his biggest rv but he actually purchased a ranch uh in the state of texas i don't know where it is but i think it'd be fun to uh to like get together with this guy and maybe spend a few days on his ranch and get a content piece. I mean, I don't know. I don't know if what's went over there could handle a few days on the ranch. Maybe, maybe if they got changing the sheets every night and he's getting the, the Ritz Carlton.

I'm like, what thread, what thread counter the sheets at your ranch? He's just like, you're not coming. No chance Whitney would put that camouflage stuff in his face to go hunting. I mean, I told you guys I've killed, I killed a little bird in eighth grade. I've said I'd never kill an animal again. I felt so bad. I was also three feet away with a BB gun, but, um, Brent Burns, Brent Burns, I think would be just electric with us. Uh, especially if it was on tape. I mean, the guy we've,

we've gone over how many animals he has. He basically has a zoo. How biz was he like like is he a guy who doesn't even like is his training good like when he was on those cross-country tips hey so he would like he would stop at convenience stores at like 7-eleven and he would whip out his weights out of the back of his rv and he would do workouts at like outside of like this guy is is the most interesting man in the world world for crying out loud so i don't i don't know how So I don't know how he kept all of his animals occupied, though. I don't know if he brought some of them with him. I mean, he's got –

He also played – I mean, he was a forward. You know, he was a – I think he came into – did he come into the league as a forward? I mean, either way, he's just – he's a very special player that I think – the league actually makes a pretty good effort of really kind of pumping him out there because his face is so recognizable and his game is so good and his tattoos and the beard and the missing teeth. But still, I hope he kind of gets his personal brand going out there even more.

I don't think he really cares that much. He's got enough money where he could be wiping his face after he eats a meal with $100 bills for the rest of his life. It wouldn't even affect him. But still, he's a very interesting guy that I hope we can see more of. Yeah, he's got that ranch down in Texas. He hunts all his own food down there. In addition to, like you said, which he owns, he has a ton of animals.

He likes reptiles and snakes and lizards and all that stuff. So definitely a guy who we'd love to talk to. And he was just named to the All-Star team as well. Speaking of Burns, I think I've told this story on the pod before, but I didn't know who Brent Burns was, and he was in my draft class. And I want to say he went 20th overall in the Minnesota Wild, and they announced his name, and I was like, Brent Burns? Who the fuck is that?

And this big guy gets up. He hugs his parents. He's got a tie on with a short-sleeved dress shirt. Have you ever seen somebody wear a short-sleeved dress shirt to the nhl draft no it's no and and he walks down and i think he only had about 20 points in junior that year but uh and i i want to say he was a forward at that point and they drafted this guy uh basically part of the reason why they draft him so high too was his uh his combine this guy's a freak of nature off the ice just naturally uh his vo2 max is through the roof. So they took a stab at him. I think by the time he got to the NHL, he now started playing as a defenseman.

Then he went to forward again, and now he's back as a D-man. So as you said, very, very weird career. Similar to Fedorov, right? Yeah. Except the opposite. Both freaks. Yeah, he was traded off Charlie Coyle and Devin Sadaguchi way back when. He was a forward for a bit. And like I just said, he was mentioned to the All-Star team.

The rosters were announced. I don't know if you guys got a chance to look at him yet. I know you've been struggling the last couple days. They got announced yesterday. Have you seen him? I looked at him. Keith Yandel. Thank you.

Yeah, congrats, Yandel. Thank you. Very close friend of the program. We always talk about him. That's nice to make another all-star game for him you know what people are bitching about no marner uh i understand that i think morgan riley almost has as big of a beef as anyone you understand why austin matthews is there obviously but um guys are gonna be it's it's like every year you bitch about who got snubbed

dude like every team has to have a guy. It's three on three. Not that many people make each division. So just like take it for what it's worth. And I thought our boy Jeff Merrick had a great tweet. He said so many people bitch about the All-Star game. Every kid loves it. I remember I went to the All-Star game in 95 when it was in Boston. Bork scored the game winner.

I went to the skills the night before. It was like one of my most memorable things. So the All-Star game is really for kids. They love it. They love the night before with the skills challenge. Now fans, maybe you don't have to watch it. Dude, it's not for you. Not every piece of content or everything the NHL does is going to be for you. So enough with the complaining about the snubs in the game and realize that everyone there deserves to be there. And there's always going to be a couple dudes who got left out. And mind you, they don't give a shit. They're going on vacation. Ovechkin we saw, he decided not to play in the game,

which means you get a one-game suspension. You got to pick. You got to miss the game first game back from the break or last game before the break. Good for him. Good for Ovi. Dude, he's lighting it up. They won the cup. He wants to be rested for the second break.

I mean, flying out cross-country to San Jose, it's not easy. I mean, people are dogging him for that. Fuck off. He needs to get his rest. He needs to get – they also, I think, have their bye week along with the All-Star break. So he'll be ready to go in the second half, and the All-Star game will be fun. There's no reason to complain.

So when I saw people complaining about the Marner one, I'm thinking, is there any way they could change the setup up or the system in order to get – because that's a – I wouldn't say it's a snub, but it's just like, damn, that guy's not going to be in the All-Star game. Like, obviously well-deserved – well-deserving. Like, I tried to think of a format of where they could implement more players, but there's just like nothing to do because you don't want to go back to five-on-five and back to boring hockey.

So three-on-three I think is genius. Would it be smart maybe to go back to like four-on-four maybe considering no one's really playing that hard anyway. So there's a lot of like breakdowns and, and odd man rushes just in order to squeeze like three, four more guys in. Yeah. I mean, I just don't know if that's worth it because of how exciting three on three, by the way, Marner's dad probably lost his mind.

Somebody get a mic in that guy's face. He sees the all-star teams release and just smashed his window in his house. Just ripping Tavares. He calls Mitch. He's like, it's okay, Dad. It's all right, man. It's okay. No, it's not.

They're only playing three on three, so you don't need as many players. But, yeah, you can't get too mad about it. It's just an All-Star game. Every team deserves a guy who's not going to be there. And there might be a guy who gets there who shouldn't. So, yeah, the All-Star game's coming. It's just an all-star game. Every team deserves a guy who's not going to be there. There might be a guy who gets there who shouldn't. Yeah, the all-star game's coming. It's a nice weekend. There could be some surprises that weekend as well.

All right, boys. Time for another R.A.'s Gambling Corner. We got my funds reimbursed pretty good. My Aaron Donald bet came through Sunday. Congrats to you. The NFL in sacks. I put that in back in September, 25 to 1.

Won't say what I had on him. How many sacks did he finish with? I want to say 19 and a half. I think he won by three or four sacks. He had a nice league morning. So it was pretty good. Gave me my bank account a little encouragement to keep gambling like a degenerate. So I got a couple of picks coming up this weekend. We got the empty net of the other day.

Gave me a few more bucks to play with. Okay, the Caps, and specifically Braden Hopi, had all week to steam over the 6-3 beating at home. They suffered for Nashville's hands on Monday night. They're in Dallas Friday night, and I like them a lot, especially if Braden Hopi's starting. Take Washington on the money line, and if Hopi starts, follow that with the puck line as well.

They're a proud team. Cup champs got embarrassed at home. Hopi gave up six goals. If he starts, I think we're going to get a good start out of him. Saturday afternoon, Calgary, they're playing well lately. Flyers did not. Calgary's in Philly for a Saturday matinee. They're going to be a good price on the money line.

I'm going to take them on the money line for a unit, then the puck line for half a unit. And final pick, Saturday night, Tampa Bay is in San Jose. Tampa Bay has been pretty much unstoppable. I like them definitely on the money line. On the road in San Jose, huh? Yeah. San Jose's playing

nice. Yeah, but I think Tampa's just a better team. And you get great prices on the road, especially money line and the puck line. So definitely money line and I'm going to see what the goalie's like. I'll money line and the puck line. So definitely money line. And I'm going to see what the goalie's like. I'll probably have a little puck line wage at two. So those are the three picks I like this week that I'm going to blow my Aaron Donald money on.

I'm going to agree with Wade on that one. I think things have been going too well lately for Tampa. I think they're going to suffer a loss on the road there. So that's my pick there. So, boys, we have to congratulate the boston uh or not the boston the chicago guys for barstool they just went on full time so congratulations to them uh barstool chief has been a big supporter of our show he even showed up to the live show did he not unbelievable hair he has some of the best hair i've ever seen in person the live show that didn't

happen yeah they were all that they were all at the live show. Feidelberg was there. Oh, they all were? Yeah, I mean, I don't think they stayed due to the situation, but yeah, Bastl, Kyle, Eddie, Chief, White Sox, Dave. Chief, me and Chief had a podcast four years ago. That was my very first podcast. He's a guy I've been talking to for six or seven years. We felt like great buddies. We finally met this week,

so it was awesome to hang out with him and White Sox, Dave. They're great guys. I had met Kyle before and Eddie before, but people are pumped. People are pumped. They think these guys are legit. They're simply talking about sports and humor, you know, for the ones who complain about maybe like the, like the other stuff going on at Barstool. Yeah. They're not into the drama. They're not into the drama,

the office drama. They just make people laugh. And like you said, third biggest city in the country, they should have a really, you know, Barstool centcentric office there. Maybe we'll ask them if they can get us an audio guy next time when they're doing a live show. The World Juniors are still going on. Grinnelly, what's the update there? Oh man, did you

guys, were you guys able to catch any of the games last night? They were unbelievable. I mean, one of the best nights I've seen in World Juniors in a long time. Tons of upsets. We saw the Swiss upset Sweden. And so now we're going to have the Finland at the Swiss and USA versus Russia on Friday. I mean, last night, USA beat the Czechs 3-1. And we saw Canada lose to Finland in overtime.

And one of like the craziest scenarios. I really like every week. Dude, I feel so bad for the kid on Canada and even the goalie. I mean, so what happened was Noah Dobson teed up a one-timer and broke his stick on the play. So the puck fumbles away. Finland walks right down in overtime and scores to win it. So it's tough for Canada, especially being on home ice, to lose that way.

But, boys, it's going to be a great, great semifinal between the USA and Russia and Finland and Swiss. Because, I mean, the Swiss upset Sweden, too, and Sweden was a wagon as well. So this Swiss team, I mean, they went viral last year when they clinched the tournament. They had that video in the locker room of them just going bananas. So I think the Swiss team, there's something going on there.

But again, like I said from the beginning, I like the U.S. They got Jack Hughes back now. They're buzzing. So it's been a fun tournament so far. Some good games last night. But again, I like the USA going forward, especially now that Canada's kicked out. Canada also missed a penalty shot in overtime.

I think it'll be the first time they're 13 times hosting the tournament as a country where they won't medal. Crazy. Basically, Canada's national nightmare has now come true. And also, James Duthie had a very interesting tweet. Since Canada won its last five straight World Junior Golds in Ottawa in 2009, that was when Eberle tied it up late. An incredible team. Subban,. That was when Eberle tied it up late. An incredible team.

Subban, Tavares, Eberle. The tourney has changed a lot since then, he writes. Canada and Russia have had won 27 of 33 gold medals in the world juniors. Since then, USA has three. Finland has two. Canada has two. Russia has one. Sweden has one.

And then this year, who knows? God damn it, the fucking Swiss could win. So it's a much deeper, better tournament. That's what he ends up saying. And it just shows how much better hockey is becoming around the world as opposed to just dominant by canada so a good turn that we'll still have some more talk of as the next episode i think it'll be over by then um and also regarding that come to us situation i didn't watch the world juniors i mean grinnell you could talk more about this but apparently he was like diving all over the place like namar namar style yeah it was terrible it was that's horrible so even the

canadian media started calling him out because canada is like the first country if there's a diver like everyone on twitter social media is all over that player from that country i know don cherry's shaking people are losing their mind i'm curious to know what he has to say about it because he's like all over every single one that's ever happened. And sure enough – He's got to be getting a ton of shit at that Comtois because he was the one that had the penalty shot in overtime there and didn't score.

Well, that's what I was going to say. So a lot of people are saying it's karma because he was the one diving and like getting penalties from it and he was scoring and having a good tournament. And then another kid on his team got tripped on the breakaway, and their coach picked Comtois to take the penalty shot. So obviously – He's a player, man.

That's why I think – Oh, he's good. He's real good. The problem is you got to get that out of your game. Comtois. We were talking about him at the start of the year when I had to call him. Yeah, remember we just kept going Comtois. I was on the Coyotes radio broadcast broadcast and i'm like oh yeah that's

what i heard yeah that's why i said come to what oh i thought you meant the pockets i forgot i heard you saying yeah so so tough one for come to all i'm sure he's getting buried uh on on his twitter account if he even has one uh don't read the mentions bud any canadians and if people if you're out there if you're sending 17, 18 year old, 19 year old tweets that you're the biggest loser, you're a loser, you're a bum. And I bet you a lot of people that do it are listening. You're a bum if you tweeted at some world junior

kid that he sucks. You suck. Grinnell, you reminded me of that Miss USA contest that a few minutes ago, calling it the Finland. I remember that girl was like the Iraq and stuff. The Finland. I know it's been a long week. I know you're tired, buddy. Yeah. I think that. Well guys, real quick, before we wrap up, I just saw this on Twitter.

I know we didn't talk about this before, but I have to bring it up. So there's a tweet on Twitter that says funny story from last night's game. Guy sitting next to penalty box was lighting up, sit all game with some fantastic chirps and trainer delivered this to him after the final buzzer. And it's a signed stick from Sid that says some fantastic chirps. A trainer delivered this to him after the final buzzer. And it's a signed stick from Sid that says, grape chirps, take it easy on me next time with a Sidney Crosby signature. That's fucking awesome.

That's classy. And Sid also, I think the Penguins have won nine of their last 10. And in those 10, Crosby has 18 points. The Pens are coming. That's Witt's team. People say, are you rooting for the Bruins today at the winning class? Are you rooting for the Bruins? Are you from Boston?

No, I'm a Penguins guy. Everyone knows that. That's why I'm sitting here, hanging out in a beautiful living room. And I'm going to go lay on the couch and take a nap after this. And it's Thursday. Liar. One more note.

Sorry, biz. Seek geek again, download the app promo code. Chicklets. C H I C L E T S. $20 off your first Ciki. Go to do that.

Support our sponsors. They're great. I use them all the time. And, uh, Matt Barzell had a hat trick the other night. $20 off your first Seat Geek order. Do that. Support our sponsors. They're great. I use them all the time. And Matt Barzell had a hat trick the other night. I've been a little rough on him on the pod saying he needs to start shooting the puck, and then he shoves it up my ass. So congrats to Matt Barzell. He's an up-and-coming superstar in this league if he isn't already one.

Yep, his first All-Star game also. And once again, as we're wrapping up, listen, I can't even say how much we thank the listeners. I said it before, but don't say thanks to us. Thank you to you guys. And this is almost like, this weekend was very eye-opening for all of us because

we didn't really realize how many people do enjoy this. I know it sounds kind of stupid, but we're just doing our thing. And to have people enjoy it this much is overwhelming in a of stupid, but we're just doing our thing. And to have people enjoy it this much is overwhelming in a sense. We'll try to keep doing our thing. And we really, really, really thank you. No thanks to us.

Thank you to the listeners. Well said, Whit. And R.A. is actually going to call McCarty and see if he's got our jingle ready. Maybe we could even drop it at the start of this episode. I'm sure he's been working hard on that. That's going to be a doozy. All right, boys. Peace out.

Great job, boys. See you, guys. Have a great weekend, everybody.