Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 217: Featuring Eddie Olczyk

Episode Date: November 11, 2019

On Monday's episode of Spittin' Chiclets, the guys are joined by Eddie Olczyk. Edzo joins to talk about his new book, beating cancer, his career, horse racing and a ton more. The boys also talk some NHL news, including the recent NHL Global Series and how much it means to players playing in front of friends and family. The guys wrap up with a Gambling Corner and answer a Chiclets Mailbag.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 217 of Spittin' Chickas, presented by Pink Whitney, the pink lemonade-flavored vodka from our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka. What's going on, everybody? Hope you all had a great weekend. Just want to let you know we're going to be recording a tad early this episode. A couple of the guys have a busy travel Sunday, so we've got to do it a little bit earlier. Just want to let you guys know that.

Speaking of the boys, let's go say hello to them right now. Mikey Granelli, producer. Nice lid you got there. What's going on, guys? Looking forward to hanging out with you guys in Philly next week. Some big interviews on tap and another event. So looking forward to it. Likewise. Ryan Whitney, what's going on, buddy?

Is it too cold for golf yet or what? I was talking about this today with somebody. How are you guys? Great to see you again. And I will bring up, I have a little formula that I use. No wind and sunny. I can do 41 degrees. That's my max. No wind and cloudy, I need it to be 45 degrees.

And windy and sunny, I need it to be at least 50. So I have a very specific... You're a fucking nut job is what you are. The fact that you know your exact numbers is just like. Well, I've been outside enough to be like, okay, I can tell you. You ask me what the temperature is outside, Biz, in Philly. I'll tell you. What's the temperature?

Okay. 662. Fuck you. That's a content piece, Grinnell. You write it down right now. Every single day when we step outside. Fuck, the problem is, though, is, I mean, I trust you. I don't think you'd be looking at your phone

at the weather app, would you? Oh, buddy, I would never. Are you kidding me? I mean, I'm the guy that gets handed broken sticks in Chicago. I'm not the guy that's going to be checking my phone. I'm a man of honor. That's true. That's true. I agree with you. This is the last member of our force, Paul Biznasty. Biznast, what's up, buddy? And RA,

I got to throw it right back to you, buddy. Just a team guy. He says, like, some of our travel schedules, the only reason we're recording on Saturday as opposed to Sunday is because it's my fault. So you're a team guy. You kind of, you know, put it on the team. I like that about you. Tell him it's a pretty special day tomorrow.

That's gonna be awesome. It is. But nonetheless, I'm the reason that if something crazy happens on Saturday night NHL, which I mean, it's been a pretty crazy year so far. Every Saturday there's some type of storyline. If we end up missing it and have to push it to the next episode, this one's on me, boys. But it's for a great cause.

I get to go back home to Welland, Ontario for hometown hockey. Ron McClain is coming to Welland, Ontario. Dude, I don't think you guys understand. This guy is Canadian royalty. Like it's a Sunday night and I'm going to be heading out afterward for a few pops and for a lot of stories, I'm assuming. And there's a lot of people who are going to be

hurting on Monday. Welland is going to be the least productive city in Canada on Monday coming up here. And it's such an honor that I got asked to do it. And remind you, Dan Pye is going to be there, Stanley Cup champions, with the Boston Bruins. He was part of that fourth line that was just incredible, correct?

Oh, Dan Pae, unbelievable. Huge part of that cup. So he brought the cup home to Welland. So fuck, he's royalty in Welland. We got Dan Girardi, who just retired. Unbelievable career. Guy who was undrafted. Eight pucks.

Eight pucks for breakfast. Matt Ellis, a Rudy type where, dude, this guy, like, no one ever thought he was going to see a game, and he ended up getting, I think, what, 200, 300, whatever it may be, but great NHL career. And then I got asked, of course, and we get to go thank everybody from back home who made our dreams possible because like you guys know coaches growing up i was blessed i had unbelievable coaches every year i had a lawyer for a coach mark larose who who when we couldn't

find practice time or we weren't allocated practice time for moella minor hockey he would pay out of his own pocket and go rent ice in another city just so we could get on the ice. Like, what? That's fucking wild, isn't it? That's awesome. Like, guys like that, and Mr. Kralix, Mr. Shannon, all these different guys I get to go thank, and they were all our coaches because we all came into the NHL

at that same time. So we all had the – like, we were all getting passed on to the exact same coaches, so that was the formula for success. And, of course, I mean, Moella just, you know, it's a tough town, man. You got to – you know, you're behind the eight ball maybe a little bit. You don't have the resources the kids in Toronto do. And, you know, we put our group of – our core group of guys at that period in time kind of put it on the map.

So it's going to be a very special day. And, yeah, I kind of rambled on there quite a bit. Well, two things one sunday night somebody's getting put on the workbench and well and two i've been i've been uh you know when i worked up at sports net and even people at nhl network that know ron mcclain not often do you get a guy that's that famous and that high up and respected there's never been a bad word said about the guy people said he's the like the best guy you could ever work with when they you know they've been with him i think he's done the olympics and

he's done it all and everyone says he's just a joy to be around and the best part is i guess after all the work's done ron will go and have a night for himself he likes yeah he deserves it he crushes drinks tells stories and he's one of those guys, the more drinks he has, the happier he gets. Yeah, he took his shirt off. That's going to be fun for you, Biz. He took his shirt off one time at a bar in Victoria. He's kind of ripped off, isn't he? Oh, yeah, he's jacked. And the picture went viral.

I don't think people understand the type of pressure that's on this guy in order to deliver Canadian news. You mentioned, I mean, he's more sports, if not all sports, but you said he did the Olympics. You're on the center stage. He's done it all. You have to be on the ball every day. He's like a robot.

He never really slips up. Yeah, until he goes to the bar and takes his shirt off. I wouldn't say that's slipping up. Yeah, but he's just showing everyone that he's probably crushing HGH. Ronnie McHGH Clayne. It's the worst nickname. No, it's staying. It's staying.

I love it. McHGH Clayne. You know what it was? And I wasn't being sarcastic. He walks in any place in Canada. People are like, whoa, that's fucking wrong, Clayne. I would say he's just as recognizable as the the prime minister in canada yeah definitely i would say especially enough

enough for stroking off ronnie my bad that's good stuff though it's funny i almost said called you like the last of the fab four when i brought you in i was like that obviously that comes from the beatles i'm like if we were the beatles though i was thinking which ones would we be and i was like obviously you two are paul and fucking john i would say whitney is john lennon because glenn was kind of like grumpy sometimes you know that's how bad you want me to get shot that's how bad you want me to get killed you're a fucked up person fucking major dreams come true that is so funny fuck you wit for going dark there he he said it because you're a bit grumpy. I only called you a genius, for Christ's sake.

I knew it. You're definitely Paul McCartney, the charismatic one, always smiling, whatever. Grinnelly's Ringo. He's the backbeat, keeps everything together. And I'm fucking George Harrison. True musician fans will get it. Was he the drummer?

No, Ringo was the drummer. He was Grinnelly. I'm George Harrison, kind of like the glue behind it all. I don't know if it was the 60 Minutes I watched recently on Paul McCartney. He's the one who's still going, who ended up getting the divorce, and he had to pay like 100 sheets or maybe even more. I think it was way more than 100 sheets. Okay, my bad.

Like 300 sheets, whatever. He hates when people come up and ask for pictures. He says no. He's like, no, I no, he's like, no, I'd rather have a conversation. And I, I, I'm really the same way. I fucking would never say no.

Cause like, you know, I'm a fucking Paul McCartney, but I like the interaction far better than like, Hey, picture, picture. It's like fucking like,

what's up, man? How are you? I'm Paul. What's your name? You know? So then if, but,

but when you're at these things and you're at the united center and there's 30 people waiting to meet biz nasty what do you do you talk to all of them yeah buddy fucking ask anyone anyone who's ever met me uh in in public who comes up and it's just kind of organic oh no no no no you're misunderstanding me i know that you actually you you talk to anyone and everyone and ask people questions about their life but i'm saying if there's 30 you're saying you'd rather go through a conversation you'd rather sit there and then meet and talk to every person three hours over take 30 pictures no i mean if you're on the run and you want to you got to go back to somewhere no i mean you got to say guys like i fucking wish i could fucking talk to all

of you i mean i'm just saying I thought it was cool that, like, Paul McCartney would, like, rather converse with – I mean, fuck, dude. Like, he's giving you – what do you want? Would you rather that picture or would you rather that minute and a half, two minutes where, like, dude, Paul McCartney was talking to me about my job. I told him I was a nurse and we were we were talking about nursing like fuck the picture so i think people probably when you say it that way would agree you'd rather the little discussion

with this legend this person that a lot of people idolize but people do everything to show others and they just want to be able to show look i got a picture with them look look look look look at my picture with paul yeah and i and i and i guess what i ultimately what i was saying when you said paul mccartney is i really respected the fact and it sucks because a lot of people are going to be like oh he was an asshole he wouldn't take a picture it's like man you he was he just wanted to talk to you i think he would have said hello that's a good point paul because i got a selfie with chris rock last year one of my favorite mount rushmore comedians you know i put online whatever was pretty cool but like 20 years ago i was in ve Vegas and I actually was going to see Rodney Dangerfield.

I met him in the lobby before of us before the show, like hours before the show. And I actually got to tell him he's a legend. He's a fucking guy I've looked up to. And he looked me straight in the eyes and shook my hand. He's like, oh, thank you. Thank you very much. And I was like, I remember that way more than the fucking selfie with Chris Rock. You share a quirky moment with him.

Exactly. It's incredible. I have actually read. I think Bill Russell wouldn't give people autographs, but he's like, I'll shake your hand. I might be getting that completely wrong, but it was something where there's many times famous people, really famous people just have something they take a hard stance on. I'm not doing it.

So, I mean, I guess if you're doing it as much as these people, you can understand where they're coming from. Yeah, absolutely. You can get overwhelming. All right, let's get back to the sheet here. Let's say we're here to talk about a little hockey and the Global Series over in Europe kicked off Friday afternoon. Buffalo and Tampa Bay. Nice little Friday afternoon game from

Stockholm for the guys hanging out. Might have worked a little early, taking a long lunch. Tampa Bay won 3-2. You're welcome, Gamlin Corner. But there was an ugly... Yep, you got it. There was an ugly. And yeah, you got it. There was an ugly hit, though, that Nikita Kucherov went a little low on Sabota. Some people thought it was an old fashioned hip check.

Others didn't feel the same way. What would you take on that one? Just so unnecessary, in my opinion. And that Kucherov, he's got a little mean streak in him. He's a real motherfucker out there. Oh, yeah. So I just looked at the hit and it's funny i saw prusty uh brandon press said yeah this is nothing which i i sense looking more at the hit it's not

like he doesn't go directly at his knees i mean it's just an unnecessary hit i i think and it's like a dirtbag move in the sense that this guy's already shot the puck nothing matters anymore and you could push him in the upper body if you really already shot the puck nothing matters anymore and you could push them in the upper body if you really want to make contact but just to go down like that is just dirty i think so it looked like savaka was pretty injured i don't know if it's a charlie horse uh which i think would be best case scenario and then you know busted knee or something is worst case but for me just you don't need that hit it makes no difference in the play or the game and i thought it was bullshit yeah i'd have to agree with you and i'm i'm looking

back to last year's playoff and that and that play um against the defenseman from uh columbus i think it was is mark marcus uh nidavara is he a defenseman nunavara yeah i think it was him yeah it was him and he ended up getting suspended for Game 3 in the Cup Finals last year. Well, not the Finals, excuse me, the Stanley Cup Playoffs, first round. And so now we see another thing, right? And I'll give him the benefit of the doubt where I will not label him as a dirty player right now. But I've seen two things in recent memory where this guy when when he's a

little fired up his wires kind of cross a little bit he gets he gets a little nasty okay and listen you're playing a lot sometimes the oxygen isn't all the way up top because you've been out there for a minute and and you know you're you're a little frustrated at something and and you know ah fuck and then you do something stupid okay, he's done it a couple times now where his frustration has really shown, and it's been other guys kind of feeling the brunt of it. So just moving forward here, like, I don't know, can you remember another guy as skilled as Nikita Kucherov,

who's one of the league leaders, having that big of a mean streak? Like, who's been, like, the other guy who, like, who's a top know a top 10 scorer every year even top five score every year who's who's fucking marshall now yeah i guess okay so marshall for sure becoming that great of a score by the way i saw it quick i'll get into it after but another player top 10 it's always been mean as shit like but even even saying marshawn i would say if kucherov has like one one or two more of like these incidences in in the next two years are you gonna start putting him in that category maybe to like not the level of marshawn but you gotta

eventually say well fuck i mean there's a pattern here you yeah you said all of a sudden you say all right this guy's dirty and and people who came out and said yeah he's kind of getting out of the way he was not getting out of the way of sabaka you can you could have easily gotten out of the way and had zero contact that was i'm gonna do something later than i probably should and i'm just gonna get him low for no reason and with even for those those morons who who they're they won't even agree with you on the facts, okay, sure. You know what? I'll chalk this one up as a let's call it a wash. But on the next one, I ain't fucking doing it for you because we saw the playoff one. We've seen this one, and that's within the last nine months, okay?

So if I see another one this season or at the beginning of next, okay, all right. When are you going to start not giving it benefit of the doubt? Now, once again i'm not gonna throw him in that category that shitty situation he had a brain fart another guy got hurt because of it let's fucking maybe he gets a game i don't know let's move on no he's out there right now yeah oh he didn't get sussied no nothing from the dops and yeah it is rare to see mvp candidates pull that kind of stuff there was no penalty on the play as well. And Vladimir Soboka was not in the lineup today.

He's not in the lineup on Saturday. So he's obviously a little bit dinged up. So yeah, just a tough situation you hate to see for. And I would say I'm, I'm a little bit more lenient than others on the department of player safety. I think that's it.

That's a game. And, and I'm not trying to be a fucking asshole or hero or be like, it was a bit like it was a bit it was a bit dirty it was low it was like if luch gets two games right it's like right and i'm not going to start even bringing up the consistency thing because no i'm not going to be one of those people it's a very difficult job because you're trying to keep everybody happy and and and you know there's eventually a decision has to be made but if if Luch is getting two there, I don't know.

Yeah, I know what you're saying, man. He could wreck a guy's knee, ruin his whole thing if the other guy took a punch to the face he was expecting. But they also gave an update on the 2020 Euro games. Next season, Boston and Nashville are going to open the season in Prague. They're also going to play exhibitions in other countries first. The Bruins are going to be in Germany. Nashville is going to go to Switzerland. They're going to play Roman Yossi's old team,

Bern. So that'll be pretty cool for him. And Columbus and the Blue Jackets are going to open the season with two games in Helsinki. So then there's a couple of connections on each team there. So I don't know if you guys read the article, any of the articles about Hedman and how he was at the point of tears during the anthem yesterday because Friday was such an emotional moment for him to be having an NHL game in his home fucking town and stuff. So it's a pretty cool column if you didn't get a chance to read it. What's up, Biz? Some people might be a little hard on these type of promotional games,

but the best part about it, and this is kind of – I hope this situation resonates in – is that the word I'm looking for? Resonates? And people get to kind of hear that side of it looking for resonates resonates thank you thank you all right you're but but that meant a lot to a guy who's done a lot for the league right so Hedman gets to go home and get that experience which is something that essentially the league is is giving back to his people and him at the because he's on the world's biggest stage and they don't really they don't get to experience that if they want to they have to travel over here it ain't the same so just

to see that type of stuff and then hear that like pasta not get to go to prog next year pasta not imagine their night after two games fucking rights man, man. They get to go watch Pasta do his thing in check. And when those guys have success when they go over there, it's like, fuck. And then I started getting emotional and shit. Yeah, he said, I mean, he went to when the Bruins played the Coyotes back at the beginning of the season, the Bruins on the cup. Pasta said he went to that game as a little kid.

So this is like a big full, will be a big full circle thing for him. Yeah, yeah. Really? Yeah, when we were there, we played against them. That's crazy. And they had – no, they had – who did they have at the time? They had Chara. They had a few other big Czech names.

And so did we. We had like Hanzo, Vrbata. I don't know if Roosevelt was there. Krejci was there, right? We had a group of guys on our team we called the Czech Mafia. Mikalik, Zibbanek McCulloch. Zybanek McCulloch. We had a Czech Mafia on our team, and it was kind of cool.

There's a scary mafia. That's Ladislav Smeed, my boy. Which was cool because they all got to hang out and still be themselves and not have to – there's no language barrier. They were all nice guys, so everybody was cool with it. So they had their own little clique where they were all, I mean, it'd be hard being the only check on a team if you don't have anyone to talk to. I think it's funny though, if you,

if you do hear the complaints about outdoor games and about the, you know, say the European games, because when it's such a long season, anything that differs a little bit from the monotonous regular season of travel day off game, day off game. I think guys really appreciate it. So players enjoy this stuff. And like you said earlier about these guys getting to come home, it's just like my dream. It's all I thought about every single day as a young kid, 10 years old.

All I thought about was playing in the NHL. Wake up, think about it all day, go to sleep. It was just, it was my life. And I was able to go to see it happen. And Biz, you said it best. These kids never could. Victor Hedman dreamed of the NHL, but it must have seemed so far away

because you could never even go look at it. You could never even witness it with your own eyes. So I think it's so cool for little kids and younger kids. And they showed guys with Darlene jerseys, Hedman jerseys, even some kids with, you know, Stamco's non-Swedish jerseys. And it's, it's just little kids that are playing the game and dreaming the same dream

that, that biz and myself had. And they're getting to finally witness it, you know, firsthand. So I love, yeah. And,

and, and I'm going to go as far as saying this, the overall point was like going home is, is, is massive. And my, my biggest game I'd say in my career was when my mom had been sick, right, for like a period of time.

She was sick for like three or four years. And she had never seen me play a game in the NHL, but we were going to Buffalo and she was finally better. So she was going to come to the game. So it was going to be her first game ever watching me play because it was near home and she could do it. My grandparents had never seen me play a live NHL game. They got to because it was so close my grandpa was like he wasn't doing good man i had a local guy from welland who had uh he owned a couple tim hortons he had a front row tickets

on the glass and the one and he gave them to me to give to my grandparents so they could have better seats um i must have had three four 400 friends in the crowd because it was in Buffalo. They could go there 40 minutes away. Dude, I ended up fucking the score in the game winner. And I got to give – fuck, I'm crying here. I got to give – That's awesome. I got to give my grandpa knuckles.

No way, dude. That's sick. See, that's the stuff that, like like people don't really appreciate all the time when you watch the nhl is how meaningful and how much of these kids lives have been put ahead and put towards their dream and that's why this was all brought up because these european kids their families get to do that and like business proving the players get to really show how much those family members meant to them because they finally get to see him do it in person. Like he's gone now,

but I got to give him locals on the glass. Cause I got to go home. If I didn't, if I hadn't like, that's what it meant to me. We were going there. Of course they're on the schedule, but for these guys,

it's moments like that. And fuck dude, I'm a plug. And I got to experience that Victor Hedman and guys like that have done a lot for the league and a lot for their countries and growing the game. So now they get to experience that victor headman and guys like that have done a lot for the league and a lot for their countries and growing the game so now they get to experience that so sometimes like when people are hard online and they're not really given like like the full thought through of of maybe it's not just about fucking like the nhl making money or whatever you think the the bad reason is it's fucking there's a lot of thought that goes into that shit. It's a beautiful story, Biz.

Thank you for sharing that, brother. Yeah, no problem. Sorry about the fuck. What's the altitude in here? I'm on the third floor of my apartment building, so that's why. Not around being human. Just watching The Office on an airplane. Not around being human, buddy.

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Speaking of hockey in Europe, looks like we might be getting a chicklets bump on our noggins, perhaps. KHL and Euro Hockey Report, I'm going to probably butcher this name, Avis Kalmans had some interesting tweets. He said that Andre Nazaroff, who was a coach over in KHL, he listened to the Tim Stapleton interview on chicklets, and he said, quote, if you are a man, then say the things when you are in Russia, not across the pond. These people are just hyping and trying to make these well-respected people

and coaches look bad. We, the next generation of coaches, won't let that happen. And next time we see them, we will punch the noses of both. The podcast is in the cage of playing friends. I'm sorry, dude. I had to do the Russian accent. Well, the Russian accent was Spanish, French, Russian. I respected it.

Let me tell you something. It was Nazarov. Yeah, I get some more Spanish, French, Russian. I respected it. Let me tell you something. It was Nazarov. Yeah, I get some more Nazarov. Andre. Yeah. Andre, you're never going to see me again, buddy. And you're never going to see Stapleton again. And you're never going to see any of us.

None of us will ever be back. So don't worry about it. Talk all your smack. Be over there in Russia eating your soup. Don't worry about it. You'll never see my face again. I already was told. I told you guys.

I had a Russian tell me, you can't go back. Did they talk about what specific part they had a problem with? Oh, the parts that are the truth? Yeah. Well, that's what I'm saying. Like anything specific where he's like the MRI story is not true? No, he didn't try to say anything wasn't true. I think he got pissed off that Stapes was telling stories about that

Krikoff guy. And he's a legend over there. So he probably, I think he just felt disrespected for that guy, for the KHL, for Russia. Ah, okay. But also, there was another tweet back in July from Slava Malamud. I hope I didn't butcher his name too bad. He covers a lot of Russia stuff here.

It's pretty interesting. And he said back in July, KHL coach calls for jailing former players who criticized Russia after TJ Gagliotti went on chicklets to drop truth bombs about life in Nizhnyak, not Comstant. How do you say that? Yeah, coach. I'm not laughing at the name of the city.

I'm laughing at the way you tried to say it. The Russian's not my thing. Next time he comes to Russia, we'll arrest him. And this is also a guy. There's clips of him online of throwing a water bottle on an opposing player for beating his guy up. And otherwise, flipping off fans and rest like an Italian. None of the fun going everybody. And then he beat

up a fucking team doctor. Reportedly, fucking beat up his team doctor. Yeah, because the team doctor said, looked at the MRI and didn't agree with what Nazarov thought the MRI said. Okay, listen. You're a lot harder on Russia than us. I don't think I've ever said it's a dump.

I don't know. Maybe I have. Maybe I just don't have the memory for it. I never said it's a dump. I said Mexico was a dump. I actually never said Russia was a dump, I don't think. Okay, well, I mean. I've told stories where, yeah, maybe I come off as, like, very hard on them.

I mean, it's all true stories that are very different from how I live and most of us live. So it is very worthwhile to discuss. It's very extreme and they're not aware that it's extreme, but like it's like you can't reason with them. So that's why it's like, fuck now, because we're just telling funny stories of shit that happens over there. That's just normal. I can't ever go to Russia again. I might have went. I might have wanted to go to Moscow and see what it was like and that now i can't experience that ever in my life so thanks a lot guys yeah especially if they any i know i heard it's

incredible i had the fucking chicks or tens and like like i've heard guys like i mean listen like we're not going to name names here but i've heard guys like they I mean, listen, we're not going to name names here, but I've heard guys like they like biz. I slept with two tens for $800 and they like clean my apartment. It's just like, what? I don't, I don't know. No, no, no, no. Like they'll clean your entire body with, yeah, they'll do whatever to you. They'll be throwing tongue darts down your ass, whatever it may be. Now, listen, I don't pay for play.

I don't. But, like, it's very intriguing to hear that. Maybe I will get to the level where I'm so pathetic and old, but yet I'm still chasing pussy, where I just, like, I'm like, yeah, let's go to Moscow and, like, make it real easy. They won't forget this podcast. You can never go. So we're going to get a little biz versus Naz at the next rough and rowdy or what?

No, I don't want the smoke. I just want to tell these funny stories and make our people laugh. Nobody's lying here. Sometimes the truth hurts. People don't like to hear things that fucking might bother them. Correct. But nobody on here is lying. Is there not an unsettling feeling that like an entire country hates you?

And fuck, dude, there might be a red dot on your forehead at one point because of a fucking pocky podcast and i was telling funny hockey stories i know but i've always i've said since this all kind of began and where i think somebody said you think you could get murdered by a russian can you imagine the god i would be to the chicklets fan base if i ever got gunned down by a Russian? There'd be statues built of me in Chiclets fans' yards. I mean, I'd be honored forever. I'd be the guy who got people to tell funny stories

and got murdered over it. I'm right with you. This consumes my life, this podcast. I would die for this podcast. And you're fucking right. I'm drawing a line of sand right now. I would die for this podcast i would die for this podcast and i i you're fucking right i'm drawing a line of sand right now i would die for this podcast with i'm in state bookings like all right perfect i never thought i'd want to be a martyr for anything before but if i get killed because we're talking truths on a podcast about russia fucking so i don't want to go down because i

hate to go that way but if well i have a son i don't want to go down because I hate to go that way. I have a son. I don't want to get gunned down, but in the end, if I were to be gunned down, say I was gunned down because I was yelling at somebody because we were in an enormous argument driving on the highway and it was a road rage murder, that would be pretty foolish.

If I was gunned down because of chiclets, I mean, this would be edged in stone. Here's what's even crazier about this episode is we're now talking about getting gunned down, and at the start of the episode, R.A. compared us to the Beatles and said that you were the guy who was the one who eventually got gunned down. I think we're – We have entered a different stratosphere.

Hey, let's not forget they found George Harrison in a hotel in Vegas. I had a couple too many snapbacks. Oh my God. We're the fucking Beatles, the podcast. And I don't... We probably sound very arrogant saying that. Obviously, we're fucking having some fun here.

Before we go anywhere else, I caught some heat. Timu's story about me with Edmonton, that's, like, the worst-sounding story. Actually, being older, I, like, cringed that I said that. But you got to imagine it wasn't necessarily as much as a shot at Edmonton as it was at the time I was living in Newport Beach. I was eating sushi out of girls' belly buttons.

I was, like, it was a different time, right? I was in the frozen tundra on the way to the airport. Like imagine if I had to play here. Not like, oh, my God, this is the worst place in the world. More, I'm on the beach in Anaheim. So I know that sounded brutal and looked brutal. But Edmonton, I seriously – it is a great place to play. I know you guys didn't like me, but I didn't mind it at all.

I respect you for saying that because sometimes you just like – your humor is like shitting on things and you just like being negative. And probably in the moment, you're probably just like – you're probably in a grumpy mood and said it. And it made you sound – maybe it made you sound a little bit ungrateful to even be playing in the NHL somewhere. That's what I hated about it. Right.

I sounded very ungrateful for playing in the NHL. Yeah, and you're apologizing for it. We're not going to – I respect that. Thank you. I think people know when I'm shitting on things. I'll accept your apology. Most of the time I'm messing around. I'm just kidding around.

I love Edmonton, so I'll accept your apology. Yeah, because you got your cell phone stolen, and then the fans helped you find it back. And it was very easy kills. Like, layups. Hey, guys, let's talk real quick about Roman. Hey, you know, we're not always young studs. Every time we're out fooling around.

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The blues traded Robbie Fabry to Detroit for forward Jacob De La Rose. Fabry had been taken 21st overall in the 2014 draft, had a great rookie year, 37 points in 72 games with any twice suffered a torn ACL. He just really kind of couldn't get back on track with the, with the blues. And I was listening to LeBron and Dreg and they had said that at the beginning of the year, Fabry's agents went to

Doug Armstrong and said, look, if there's not a role for this kid on the team, maybe we can change the scene for him. And Armstrong told his agents, okay, let's see how the first few weeks shake out. And if there's not a role, I'll take care of him. And that's what Armstrong did. He sent them out to Detroit. And hey, Stevie Y, kudos to him. Detroit, what was it, Dayla Rose, they picked him up off of waivers last year. So basically, Eisenman took a guy they got for nothing and turned him into a former number one pick. His first came with the Detroit Red Wings Friday night, gets two snipes on the power play.

This kid's got a fucking rocket out there. You guys know him well. Biz, you go first. Well, there's two parts that I'd like to discuss, Fabry being the last one. But the first part is when everybody was getting very critical of of doug armstrong in st louis when they were going through that patch where they couldn't get over the hump and like we're asking to be fired and like i i was like this guy is like the biggest salt of the earth guy in the nhl he's a very talented gm he knows what the fuck he's doing. And just to see him

do another move like this where he could be an asshole and be like, no, he's my asset. I'll do what I want. And when they finally approached him, because maybe Fabri couldn't find himself in a comfortable role in that team anymore.

He just couldn't recover. He needed a new scenery. And for Doug Armstrong to really accommodate him, like knowing that like I saw online, like people were like, what, this doesn't make sense. Why the fuck is St. Louis doing that? Well, Doug Armstrong got his cup and, you know, he's probably given one back to a guy who he thinks if gets a

new new scene can probably excel and eventually move on and and be successful whereas like sometimes it's like I get he maybe could have got a little bit more in return or or a decent amount back more in return but like that's just a solid bro move and and i just like when guys like people like that have success and i think he's just like he's a fucking keeper he is a keeper uh fabri he did look great playing that little soft area in the power play and bertuzzi found him with two awesome passes the first one manpas gave us some sick sauce through the entire like penalty killing box and then bertuzzi found him but we've talked a bunch about Fabry because Biz and I have mentioned a million times

how we were there his rookie year. He looked incredible. We went out to dinner with him the one time. I actually remember looking at him. He was laughing as you and I were like telling a story. And his face was just like, these guys are so fucked. But right away, I liked him. I thought he was just a good kid.

And we saw the skill so here's the one acl tear and then so many guys come back if you know not not just as strong but even stronger than sometimes i mean it's it's not the biggest deal to tear your acl anymore what would happen everyone knows he did the same knee again all right so now you're looking at a guy who probably won't be the exact same player he He won't – maybe he's a little bit not as quick by the tiniest amount, but enough to change him and basically force him to change his game a little bit. So that's now in the second, third year of happening, and I think going to Detroit where it is a fresh start,

where he's going to play more of an offensive role because of, you know, the lack of depth the Red Wings have, it's great for him. And that's sometimes a lot of times what people need. So not only is he starting with a new team and a new role, well, he's really getting used to his new body. And that sounds goofy, but same ACL twice. It is. You're never the same. So he's learning to change his game the way we've talked about a bunch of guys have.

I love the move for Detroit. And you're right, Ari, I didn't even think about it. It didn't even register that they got De La Rose on waiver. So he's turning – you know, he got something from nothing there. Yeah, absolutely. Not to take anything away from that De La Rose kid because he might end up thriving in St. Louis. What makes sense is he plays more of the role that st louis maybe needs like bottom six right so if

that's where they had fabri well he's not necessarily that type player it's like it's a right switch that makes sense so we're going to get a guy that actually plays the role that we have fabri in anyways when we think he could play at a higher level just not on our team hey this could this could we never know how this one could turn out, but going back to Fabry and you know, he, he wasn't going to get the reps in the top lines of St. Louis that he'll get in Detroit and having the team that they have where for Iserman, it's a no brainer because he's going to say, play him. If, and, and, and, and let them maybe fail a little bit.

Cause we're not in a pressure to win right now situation. And let's see if this guy can eventually figure it back out where he was at that point when he got the camp at st louis because we both know dude this kid was going to be uh i mean maybe like i'm not going to say he was going to be like barzell but i was going to say i'm not going to say he wasn't going to be like barzell i was going to say a poor man's barzell that's fucking crazy i would say he would have been a 60 point guy just a little water bug out there finding the gaps like maybe between like a like a barzell and a ribeiro where like ribeiro was like a little ultra slow but he just was like so slippery but anyway going back to fabri is is nice nice to see him get that good start so now he's comfortable there he has that that Guelph connection with Bertuzzi.

So now he's like right in a situation where maybe he feels like that core group of guys where there's so many big boys in St. Louis, like he might get lost in the shuffle, right? Some guys need to feel like being like a bit of the man. They want to feel like they're going to get those reps, you know? So I think it's a fucking solid move for Detroit, and I hope Fabri finds his game back to where he was because the league will be better off for it.

Absolutely. I mean, the only risk Eisenman has taken is that $900K he's paying him this year. He's still only 23. He turns 24 during the season. He's got an unreal shot, as we saw Friday night. So if he gets, you know, fucking 8, 9, 10 power play goals with Detroit, he can get a nice little deal after this season, too, because he's RFA. And you know it's going to work out because Iserman made the move,

for Christ's sake. This guy doesn't fucking miss. It's funny. He actually has three guys, three members of the, what is it, 14 draft on the team. Of course, Larkin was taken 15th. He just picked up Perlini last month. He was taken 12th, and now Fabri.

So, it's pretty interesting. If they can turn Perlini into a player and a consistent one, I'd tip my cap. He's got a ton of skill, R.A. All the tools, maybe not the toolbox. Yeah, well, you know, Eisman's good at plugging little holes. I'm sure he's going to have some big moves later, but I don't know if you guys caught this in the Bees-Wings game.

Marshawn and Bertuzzi had a little Dr. Hook mccracken fucking stick fucking beef there was a big scrum around the neck uh the net the net and uh bertuzzi was skating by like bergeron was kind of tying him up and mashon saw him and mashon put the blade in of his stick like right in his face like i don't know if he caught him with it and bertuzzi snapped his head back and he could see him go back bertuzzi come over with a fucking guillotine swing with his stick he didn't't hit anybody, but if he ever did, man, it would have been fucking ugly. There's a replay on it. I'll have Grinnelly tweet it out.

It was just like, you got to look real quick, but it was almost a fucking real ugly scene there. But fortunately, no one I don't think had fucking penalized for it. So speaking of guys getting hit, a couple injuries, a little injury roundup, some big names that are dinged up. There's your boy Nikita Zdorov. He's out indefinitely for the Avs. He took a puck off the face against Nashville in Denver Thursday night.

Nah, that's a tough look, man, getting hit, bleeding all over the place. So no word on when he's going to be back. And in the same game, Nate Dogg also left the game early with a UBI, but he's expected back in the lineup Saturday night, thankfully for Avs fans because two-thirds of that line is already gone. Pavel Zaka also took a PK slap somewhere off the body Friday night. No word on an injury as of yet. Alex Steen out four-plus weeks with an ankle sprain.

A mock stall will be re-evaluated in two weeks after surgery for an infection in his ankle. What's going on, Biz? Well, just going back to Zdorov, I don't want to get twisted. I love him as a player. I was just being a little bit critical about him picking his spots in a certain situation. So hopefully he gets well soon because that's a big piece

for that Colorado team. So I just had to set the record straight. Yeah, we don't want to see anybody hurt. We don't want to see anybody hurt. Hey, Grinnell, you got those Dave Tippett quotes teed up, right, about back-to-backs. Fire those off. So let's listen to those. You're right. Hey, Grinnell, you've got those Dave Tippett quotes teed up, right, about back-to-backs. Fire those off.

So let's listen to those. In your time in the NHL, and I'm going to go back to even when you played, how different are back-to-back road games? I mean, it seems to me sometimes teams are better on the second half of a back-to-back. You know how different they are? So you play a back-to-back road game. You go out, and you'd have to find something to eat after, and you try to go back to your hotel and get to sleep and get ready for the 6.30 bus that comes in the morning to pick you up to take you to the airport. The hotel shuttle van would take you to the airport, and you get on a commercial flight, and you get there, have to skate or go to the rink,

your gear would still be all wet, and you try to go out and find yourself a pregame meal because there wasn't pregame meals then. And so they try to go back to your room. You ever see Slapshot where Paul Newman goes back and lays in his thing and puts a towel on his head? That's about what it was. And then you show up the next day and play, and you're tired. Now guys have something to eat, a milkshake or a pizza,

right after they get off the ice. They get a nice luxury coach bus to the charter plane to get in here that they got food on the plane. They get in their nice, comfy, brand-new bed at a brand-new hotel, and they have a nice sleep- in the morning big pre-game meal nice rest in the afternoon they show up there got full energy at night so it's different it's a lot better now put it that way pretty funny stuff man dave tippett talking about back-to-backs in his day versus today i think the subtext of his comments was shut the fuck

up man these guys haven't made like it's not that big of a deal going back-to-back. Whit, what was your take on this pretty funny quote? I liked playing back-to-back, so I never even minded it. I think that his quote was perfect just because of the tone he has with his voice. He's like has a perfect delivery for what he's talking about, but it makes total sense to me. I mean, it was a grind probably when he was doing it. Nowadays, it isn't.

I mean, when you get in real late and you have to play the next night, that's kind of a battle, but you sleep in. There's no pregame skate. By the time the game comes, I mean, adrenaline does enough. So I sometimes never really thought about back-to-backs being a huge issue just because a lot of times if you play well, it's actually a win-win because if you play well, you get to play again the next night. And if you play bad, you get a chance to just make it up

and play again the next night. So either way, you're excited to get back on the ice, and I don't think it's that big of a deal. Tip said it perfect. I think it's fair for him to say because he did play in that old nhl um i do agree with him in the sense that like people are making more of a bigger bigger of a deal about it hey it's how it works out the buildings are busy the scheduling it's just how they can fit in games now hey if they could find a way to not have to play as many back-to-backs sure but fuck let's chill out here they've like the nhl has

adapted so much where where they're if they're skating too much they'll back off and like most teams don't even do pre-game skates now like i think new jersey adapted the policy where okay so they're spending one less time on the ice now so they're backing off the ice time i mean it's basically like saying hey like the highest maybe you got a defense you place 25 30 minutes but that's not as hard as playing 20 as a maybe a centerman man your centerman's gonna play back-to-back 20 game nights that's heavy yeah well he's probably having the day off the next day so yeah let's back off the the crazy amount of talk about like oh my god a back-to-back like these are in the trenches. Yeah, it does get a little overblown. And, I mean, as a gambler, I really don't put too much stock in it.

I go on who played the night before, what goalie was in, how they played. I don't really, like, put too much stock in if they played the night before. And Mike Sullivan had some interesting quotes about it, too, about, you know, just because you used to always do it doesn't mean you have to still do it. And let's not forget here. So a lot of these, like, high-end skill guys in the NHL, they didn't spend any time in the minors. So they don't even know what a 3-3 with bus trips is.

I played a 4-4 in Wilkes-Barre once, and we traveled. And we traveled. I've told this on this podcast before. The year in Wilkes-Barre, the lockout year, we ended the season 4-5, 4-5, 4-5, 4-5. So that's Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. That was our last four weeks of the regular season. And the last one, so that's 16 games, math guy. The 16th game on Sunday afternoon was in Philadelphia against the Philadelphia Falcons.

We had played the night before in Wilkes-Barre. It's like, I don't know what, what was it, two and a half hours from Wilkes-Barre to Philly? Yeah, about two and a half. So we had a game the next day at five. So we played our 15th game in however many days. Wake up, get to the arena. We're driving to Philly.

We get to Philly. We go to warm-ups. After warm-ups, we're sitting there waiting for the game to start. Ross Lupuschuck, offensive defenseman, cannon of a shot. I know to warm-ups. After warm-ups, we're sitting there waiting for the game to start. Ross Lupuschuck. Offensive defenseman. Cannon of a shot. I know, Luke. Yeah. Dude, we look over. He's asleep. Fucking fell asleep.

I'm almost... I mean, I'd love to have Loopy on here. Maybe I'm remembering this not correctly, but I'm pretty sure we had a huge laugh after. Dude, everyone was that tired, and Loopy fell asleep. It was just these, those AHL four and five. Those were fucked.

Maybe that's why I didn't care about back-to-backs in Chicago and Columbus. That is fucking, that's being tired. Like the whole team was gassed. I think David Kochi was like handing out pills with with no label on the bottle from the Czech Republic. Take this. Take this. Oh, my God. Kochi is the best.

And his breath would reek like salmon because that's all he ate. Oh, he ate salmon like a machine. Like a machine. He was a salmon. He ate salmon like a bear. Hey, I just mentioned gambling a minute ago, and I cannot believe we haven't mentioned our guest yet. Speaking of gambling, back in Edzo,

Eddie Olchek joined us when we were out in Chicago a couple weeks ago. Outstanding interview. This guy had an unreal career, and I think we spent 10 minutes on it because there's so many other interesting aspects of his life that we talked about. We're going to bring him on in a little bit. We just usually try to mention it earlier in the show, but unreal stuff coming in a little bit. Now, going back to the scheduling stuff,

having said all that, the ESPN did a huge article, one of the biggest problems in the NBA, and it's about players not getting proper rest. And then the Athletic ended up doing a similar story on the NHL, that it's a constant battle for guys to get rest. And that kind of ties into our next subject, the so-called Jonathan Taves schedule. There was another big article in the Athletic. He kind of proposed a new schedule schedule in hockey and they do acknowledge it's probably not going to happen but essentially what they're going to do is make it more like baseball teams would go to a city and stay there for a few days and play a series then go to another city play a series and it cuts down immensely on the travel again it's might not happen but who knows what the

future holds biz what are your thoughts on the old so-called Dave's schedule? So we kind of touched on it on the Tippett comments, but hey, if it's going to be a better quality product on the ice because there is less travel, maybe rivalries will be set a little bit more because you know better than anyone, especially going back to the American League talk, when you play a team back-to-back nights in their barn if there's like a if there's like a hit in the third period at the end of the game or whatever from the first game oh you know

there's going to be emotions are going to be high for game two there's a there's going to be more spunk in the game which once again equals a better product on the ice for fans. I don't know if they're going to like seeing the same team on a Thursday and then a Saturday or, or a back to back night in that one city. Now, I guess that's fan experience. They may take that into consideration,

better travel situations where they're saving money, right? Cause it, cause it would, I mean, you you're you're flying less and and you're maybe staying in hotels less so that's going to save the team's money and and i mean there's a there's a lot of positives towards the negatives the negative one other negative being um building scheduling maybe that's why they're doing it the way they're

doing so i mean hey if it's not going to fuck anything up and there's a lot more positives than outweigh the negatives, I don't see a reason why they shouldn't consider that. I know that, you know, leagues don't want to keep changing all these rules all the time because it just gets like, you know, that's a big, that would be a big decision because it's not very traditional. Yeah, they mentioned in the article that they actually did this

without taking into consideration NBA and concerts, and that's probably why it could never happen. you're on the ducks and you go into Winnipeg and you're playing Friday, Saturday night, the schedule that I saw in the article, some of them were three and four game sets, baseball style. I think fans would get a little tired of that. I think fans probably enjoyed the fact of Crosby's coming in, in November and March to our arena,

as opposed to right in a row. But the main point of it was that Taves, I guess is not a huge advocate, but has talked before about like, uh, what is it, keeping the green? Yeah, he's a big environmentalist. I couldn't spit that one out, environmentalist. So this would really help on the old carbon footprint

that the NHL can sometimes hammer down on our atmosphere with the private jets everywhere. So it makes sense. Anything less flying and anything where it's less travel is a good thing. But when it's all said and done and there's so many different factors, it's going to be really tough to ever change what it is now. Well, based on the scheduling for NBA, it would be a situation where both leagues would maybe have to get together

and agree to do it together. Yeah, but there's just so many NBA cities that don't have NHL teams. So I don't know. I think we can all, I can, I think we can all agree in that. It's probably not going to happen. I'm just saying if,

if there's a lot, a lot more pauses outweigh the negatives, it may be something to consider. The one thing I do like before moving on is that every team plays in every arena. Cause it used to not be that way. You used to sometimes play a team just once a year as opposed to twice a year. So every fans get to see every player in the league.

That'll always be their state. Yes. I agree with that too. Yeah, the article more or less acknowledges it's very unlikely to happen, but maybe they can incorporate some of the ideas perhaps, you know, a little more home and homes or something anything to reduce the travel. And I think Matty Kachuk might kill the atmosphere if he keeps taking private jets to assist

his field hockey games two hours away, but that's another matter. All right, boys, I think we should send it over to Edzo. Hey, I'd be taking him. I'd be on a private jet every third day if I could afford it. Still haven't been on one. All right, boys, I think we should send it over to Edzo, man. Like I just said, this is an unreal interview. He has a presence about him.

He comes in the room. He's just a cool cat. He takes over the room. It was a great time talking to him. So without further ado, we're going to send it over to Edzo, Eddie Olchuk. This interview was brought to you by Black Buffalo. Hockey is back in full swing, and we know a lot of you guys out there are dipping on and off the ice. But keep the ritual and ditch the tobacco with Black Buffalo. If you've listened to Spit and Chick, that's what boss do for the last few years. You know a bunch of us use black Buffalo and it's because it's the closest thing to

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use the promo code S C as in Spittin' Shacklets, for 25% off your first order on blackbuffalo.com. Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. We are now joined by a very special guest. You know if I'm doing the intro, this is the guy that we've wanted for quite some time. I'm going to go through a little resume action before I tell you who it is. Third overall pick in the 84 draft when none other than Mario Lemieux went first overall.

Thanks for coming. Edzo ended up playing with him and coaching him. Thank you. 16 NHL seasons, over 1,000 games, 794 points. Thanks for coming. In a span of 239 games from 87 to 90 on the thrall Maple Leafs, he had 112 goals. How's that, biz? One Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers, Sidney Crosby's first NHL coach,

and the one that really cracked me up, just put into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame. Whoa. How are you? Ed Zo! Ed Olchuk, thanks for joining us, Fit and Chicklets. Wow. And my first NHL coach as well. How lucky am I? i feel like you're very

lucky you guys are living way larger ever than when we were together in pittsburgh i'll tell you the ritz well biz was like down in wheeling when we were together in pittsburgh oh yeah i was in the dog house in that organization that was uh that was good times well thanks for having me boys oh thanks for coming a tip of the tip of the hockey helmet. You guys are knocking it out of the park, so I appreciate you guys having me. I appreciate you coming. Is that all you got? I mean, you didn't have anything about horse racing or anything? Well, that, don't worry.

The horse racing will be brought up, Edzo. But I do want to bring up the book. R.A., you know what's going on with the book. Yep, explain that. Eddie Olchek, Beating the Odds in Hockey and in Life had just come out, correct? Yeah. How did that process work? You can write. First off, there are crayons for you, Whitney.

I was going to say, was it written Whitney style? You know, it was something that I had the opportunity over the years to, you know, think about doing a book. And then I was like, nah, you know what? Who wants to read about my life story? And then, you know, look, we all got stories. We all can, you know, can talk with the best of of them put pen to paper and and that's what I did and then I kind of put it off for a few years and then the guy I co-wrote it with Perry Lefkoe a guy

up in Toronto who I knew up in my days with the Maple Leafs back in the late 80s he's a horse racing guy and a hockey guy and you know he kind of approached me a couple of years ago and I was we started talking we kind of did a chapter or two and I kind of got into it and then I got cold feet he started convincing you a little bit he did he wore you down he did he broke me down but then I stood back up and said nah you know what I don't have the time or whatever and then you know unfortunately I got sick and then some no pun intended I think when I got diagnosed and I was going through my cancer battle I think that was kind of the final chapter that put me over the hump to write the book you know because I thought well maybe maybe I can tie in with all the things I've overcome as a kid

growing up in Chicago and making it to the show and playing the Olympics when I was 17 for Team USA and you know just everything we all have a story. We all have overcome adversity. So I think that was the deciding factor on when to do the book. And we've gotten a lot of positive feedback. And look, the thing I hope is that I can inspire, we can inspire one person either to stay away from the disease of cancer or any battle, help them get through it because it tests your will to live when you are diagnosed with the disease and we're all touched by it. And maybe just bring a little bit of hope to somebody. So that for me is the goal with the book. Now, I think you'll laugh. I think you'll cry. And I think you'll love a little bit more. And if I can reach out to people in some fashion,

then it was well worth the 16 months of pen to paper and input in the book out. And you had stage three colon cancer, correct? Stage three colon cancer, August the 4th at 7.07 p.m. 2017. I got the call on a Friday night. And, you know, you guys know when a doctor's calling you on a Friday night after 7 o'clock. And I had had – That would be a horse tip. Well, I wish.

I wish. Anytime that phone rings now late at night, I always get that bad feeling. I look up on the TV and it says Northwestern Hospital. I'm like, oh, shit. But it was just one of those things where one day I woke up and I couldn't go to the bathroom. And I was constipated. And I kind of, ah, whatever.

I went to the Walgreens or whatever, took some prune juice, had a muesal, tried to break it up. Nothing happened. So for two days I couldn't go to the bathroom.reens, whatever, took some prune juice, had a mucil, tried to break it up. Nothing happened. So for two days, I couldn't go to the bathroom. Then I started worrying a little bit. Got to check this out. That's it. And look, if you don't go one way, you're going to go another way.

And thank God my friend was over at my house, my best friend Dominic. He rushed me to the hospital, and he told me I had a blockage in my colon. And next thing you know, I had 14 inches of my colon removed and a tumor the size of my fist and a six-hour surgery. And then I waited for that call. That was how many days later, sorry? It was – Like a week or –

Well, I wasn't – I mean, from the time I got constipated, the time I had the surgery was five days. Five days. The last thing you mentioned there is love a little bit more. And I know you're a pretty big family man to begin with. Five kids, correct? Four. Four, I'm sorry. Wikipediaipedia wikipedia right i got i got i got enough money i got enough money going out don't want to make it any time for the chiefs that already is but after experiencing something

like that like how much does your level of empathy regarding any subject just skyrocket yeah you softy. You know what, Biss? People have asked me that, do you look at things differently after being sick, right? I mean, I think maybe when I'm sitting in traffic, somebody cuts me off. I'm like, no big deal, right? But honestly, for me, I think I did a lot of reflection. I look back on my life and on my career, and I think if anything,

it kind of helped reinforce to me. It was like, you know what? You had a pretty damn good career, you know, like things that I accomplished as a player and a broadcaster. Sneaky. Transition out of that is very impressive. Whatever, you know, right. But, well, thanks. But I think when I was going through it, and I, you know, right. So, but well, thanks. But I, I think when I was

going through it and, and I was very much at peace. And what I mean by that is that the most important people in my life, my wife, 31 years, my four kids, you know, my, my folks, my brothers, you know, people are really close to me. And we all have that circle is I've always let them know how I felt about them. And I don't want to get too deep here, but the fact that circle, is I've always let them know how I felt about them. And I don't want to get too deep here, but the fact that matters, it's just like, look, I've always said, I told my wife, I said, look, if something would ever happen to me, it would kill me to have you not know what you've meant to me and what our family has meant to me and how proud I am for us to be together.

And she'd always say, nothing's going to happen, nothing's going to happen, right? I mean, just a regular reaction. So when I was going through the toughest battle, look, I was broken at times during my chemo treatments. I mean, I wanted to quit. I never quitted anything in my life. I mean, during my second treatment, my side effects were awful. Like, I mean, I had terrible nosebleeds, headache, neuropathy. Anybody out there that has had chemo, they know what I'm talking about. I had a blood clot in my right leg. And you know what?

You lose control of your bathroom. Your bowel movements, you just shit. You just go. And I'm just like, I can't do this. I'm in treatment two. I got 10 more treatments. How am I going to get through treatment two on September the 15th? And I got 10 more to February 21st.

How am I going to get through it? I said, I can't live like this. And my wife grabbed me and she just said, you got to fight. You got to fight for me. You got to fight for our kids. And you got to fight for all the people that love you. And we had a moment that lasted probably 30 minutes. I cried.

And I'm like, this is hard. Like it tests your will to live. And just getting back to that aspect of always letting the most important people in my life know how I felt about them and feel about them is I think going through that at my lowest times, I was like, you know what? Look, if they tell me in six months and we're going to reassess and they said, okay, Edzo, that's it. It's done,

at least I knew that those people in my life knew how I felt about them. And I think that helped me get through. So that's what I meant, Biss, about the love a little bit more. And we've all been touched by it. And if I can help one person just get through the day and say, hey, you know what? If that old broken-down hockey player and horse player can get through it, so can I. And that's kind of where the spirit of the book is.

Shift it to something, you know, a happier moment. You don't like flying. How did you meet your wife? I met my wife on an airplane, my rookie here, in 1984, 85, with the Chicago Blackhawks. 18, right? Yeah, I was 18 years old. We were playing a game a Sunday afternoon in Chicago.

It was an afternoon game. We were flying to New York that night. Of course, there were no charters back then. So you're flying commercial. Middle East. The everyday person. Old school, exactly. Yeah, we didn't sit in the smoking section.

So there wasn't like the secondhand smoke wasn't blowing throughout the tin can there chicago to la rip a couple darts yeah so so uh that day after the game there's a bad accident on the kennedy expressway here in between downtown and o'hare and half the team didn't make the flight and i'm a rookie you guys know you look a rookie you don't want to be late you better be a half hour early for everything right so i'm like'm like, shit, I better get to – so, I mean, I must – I probably endured probably 25 tickets violations driving to the airport because I said, if I miss this flight, forget the team finding me. How about the veteran guys? They're going to – only about 11 guys end up making this flight.

And I get on this flight for American Airlines. I walk in there, and I just see this – the most incredible woman i've ever seen in my life and her name was diana and that's my mom's name my dad's an ed or an eddie i'm an eddie i'm like and then i saw her last name was vickers and i'm like holy shit the street i grew up on for almost half my life was mick vickers i'm like let's just get married right now this is a done deal so you don't even know it yet how did this conversation get going well you know i mean i saw what section she was working it was a big ass playing bit so i worked or i must say had i think i had about 18 orange juices that day because you guys know i don't drink so i mean i'm just you know orange juices excuse me excuse me miss exactly i think i was

third star in the afternoon for the game but i'll guarantee I was first star on that flight to New York that night. That I know for sure. So here's even better. So, you know, I was talking or whatever, and I said, hey, would you like to go to the hockey game? She's from Columbus, Indiana. Oh, that's a line right there. So for the next night.

So we're playing the Rangers. I said, okay, I'll get you two tickets to the game, and I'll meet you at Will Call at the box office. So I go ahead, you know, look. At that time, my my rookie year i was making 75 grand okay so tickets two tickets 155 bucks okay not a big deal but i mean still pricey spending money yeah right so i'm trying to impress so you left him cod no no no no last row which is cash on demand for those who don't know biz 20 it was cash

we roll in cash okay us? Us horse guys, cash. Absolutely. Always have a lawn. With a K, by the way. Absolutely. So we win. Bob Murray, general manager, you know Murph in Anaheim. He scores the OT winner.

I get undressed, showered as quick as you can. I mean, I'm getting ready, all dolled up. It's pouring rain at the garden. I work my way to the box office. Nobody there. I lap my way to the box office. Nobody there. I lap Madison Square Garden once. Maybe she was wandering or whatever. I don't see her.

I wander again. I don't see her. I'm like, gave me the nine of hearts. Did you see the rangers? Yeah. Must have been a ranger fan. I'm like, okay, well now what do i do right so i think she'd kind of just give me the nine heart she blew me off so i call her call her phone number and uh ring ring

ring ring and all of a sudden i hear hello i'm like oh geez guy answering a phone i'm like what's going on here right i go do you know if diana went to the hockey game nope sorry i think she went on a she she got called out on a trip you know because she was flight attendant so sometimes you get called last minute or whatever so i'm like okay so i don't know if she ever went or anything so long story short we ended up hooking hooking up but i guess the moral of the story is is that the 155 dollars that i spent that she didn't go to the game over the 34 years that we've known each other has probably cost me probably about nine and a half shill, probably six cents.

I mean, so two tickets at $155, you know, like that's nothing, right? Hey, you propose with the ring. You're like, hey, about that $150, if you're not going to go to the game, tell me. Can I get that $150 back? That's what every pair of yoga pants she buys now costs.

You mentioned that you don't drink much. You've only drank on two occasions. Which occasions were those? Actually, the number's gone up since the last time it's official. Okay. First time as a seven-and-a-half-year-old kid when I was sitting on my dad's lap in the suburbs of Chicago, he had a beer in his hand. You know, you just take a swig.

Spit it all over him. He didn't like it. Exactly. Nowadays, you'd be a DSS police him he didn't like it exactly nowadays you'd be a dss police getting called yeah right exactly we had a tap in our my dad was in the food business for 55 years grocery really so we had a tap in the house like i mean you know it was it was there i mean if i wanted to it was very you're crushing draft beers yeah right exactly and then uh second time this was uh when uh when we won won the Stanley Cup in 94 with the Rangers.

Guys were going at it in the locker room and pretty much just stopped traffic and said, all right, Eddie O's got to get in there and take a swig. So I think it was a combination of Champagny and Budweiser, I think it was. And then the third time was August the 4th of 2018, the year to the day that I was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer. My oldest son, Eddie, got married, so I had a glass of champagne at his wedding. You do a speech? Wow.

The night before or anything? I did a partial one. I did a partial one at the rehearsal dinner and then obviously on the wedding day, yeah. So those are the three times, official. Three times. I mean, I drank three times already today. I've had three drinks before 11 today. Well, I mean, it was a different culture back then there too

because guys on the road, it was mandatory to show up. So were you oftentimes going out and just having a pop? Shane Doan wouldn't drink much. He would just come have a pop. Exactly. That's all it was. Mike Greer never drank, and he'd be the last guy out all the time.

People told me to play with him. He was going to make sure he was going to hang with the boys. That's what you do. Look, back in the day, I'm going back to the early 80s because that's when I broke in the league. I think there's still peer pressure in society. There is, without a doubt,

especially now with social media. But back then, was, you know, I mean, you were, it was intimidating to not try to be one of the guys and go, hey, you know what, like, you know, this guy or that guy or, you know. Peer pressure. Yeah. So for me, I just chose not to do it. But I would go out and I'd have fun and I might have about 25 or 30 Diet Cokes or something.

Well, that's what your kid said. He said you averaged during your NHL career like 13 cans of Diet Coke a day. Right? Yeah. Looking back, he probably wasn't very smart. I know. But that was one of my vices. What's funny is you mentioned you really had a hell of an nhl

career and it's kind of come to the point now though where you're recognized i'm guessing more as the the voice on nhl and nbc so there's got to be times when you're like you remind yourself or people occasionally bring up hockey playing days as opposed to working with doc emmerich and traveling and doing the cup finals where you're like, yeah, that feels like a long time ago, but I could play this game. You know what, Whit? Do you ever skate anymore? I do some youth hockey camps. I played in the alumni game there in Winnipeg two years ago against Edmonton,

which was great. That was outdoor, which was great, which was awesome. The Jets threads? Oh, yeah. Those are sick. Sweet sweater. You know what?

I don't have any desire to go and play pickup or anything like that. But, you know, you're right. I mean, look, I've been retired now going on 20 years now. So I've been retired way longer than I ever played. But, you know, I did play 16 years in the league, and I've always been involved in the game. But, you know, whether it was from the video game or, you know, sometimes I'm walking through the airport, you know, and you guys know what it is. You're in a certain been involved in the game. But whether it was from the video game or sometimes I'm walking

through the airport, and you guys know what it is. You're in a certain town. The video you. And people go, I know you. I know your voice. I know you. I go, do you like sports? Yeah, yeah, I like sports.

I go, you like hockey? No, I hate hockey. I don't think you know me. Okay. Oh, horse racing. I go, you ever watch the Triple Con? The horse racing guy. That's it. you're the guy!

I'm like, yeah, you know. So yeah, to answer your question, most people know me now as a broadcaster, not a guy that played over a thousand games in the league. So what's interesting, though, is I don't know the beginning of, I think a lot of people don't, how you got into horse racing.

I'm guessing it was a part of your whole life, but not only how you got into it, but how did you become like NBC's, like, hey, you're going to work for us. I'm guessing they just saw how good you were in the the hockey you're not just a one-trick pony yeah just show them the winners right that's an ra joke hey hey and you're not betting on a three-legged pony are you over there oh i don't know no comment well look as a young kid i went to the track i actually talk about it in the book. I talk about how I kind of fell in love with horse racing. And for me, it was just seeing these 1,200-pound animals run 35 miles an hour

and just the athleticism. And then, you know, you got these crazy humans jumping on their back, you know, at 122 pounds and going for a ride. And they're rock stars when you get around the track. Yeah, yeah, right, exactly. And Sarah told me these guys walk around like legends. Yeah, yeah. So they're, you know, it's always been a part of my life and you know just started i didn't have a

lot of money as a kid so you just go to the track i was a caddy so you know you make 30 a round or whatever and then over the course of time you just go and play and have some fun and i just kind of fell in love with it and you guys know what makes our game go the game of hockey go is the people behind the scenes right like the trainers I've always told. And I think I said this at one of our meetings that we had when, when we were together in Pittsburgh was, you know, the quickest way to really piss me off or, or get me, get you on the wrong side of me is, is, is to disrespect the trainer.

Yeah. Like the trainer is a lifeline of a hockey player. And I've always, and I've always, I learned that i learned that as a young kid and i learned it when i got to the nhl in 84 and i've always emphasized that to my boys and anybody that i've ever come across and it's it's not much different in horse racing why i think one of the important reasons why the game is is so good and and why i'm so passionate about is because there's so many things that happen behind the scenes that makes the game and the sport go. So as a kid, I would go handicapping. I've owned horses over the years. And then probably like 2010, so I had been a part of NBC's hockey coverage

for probably four or five years. J.D. left. J.D. went to become the president of the Blues, and then that seat opened up, and I got a chance to sit next to Doc. And, you know, I think NBC knew that I was into horses, but I don't think they really realized how much I was into horse racing.

So I would always knock on, and you know Sam, Sam Flood, my boss, knock on Sam's door once a year and just say, Hey, Sam, you know, like, if there's any opportunity to get on a Triple Crown coverage or the horse racing say hey sam you know like if there's any opportunity to get on the triple crown coverage or the horse racing just you know no shit just let me know yeah let me know and sam would be you know he'd be respectful but i'd get the heisman and and that happened like for that happened for like five straight years so then eventually i just said

you know i went in there and i just kind of laid my cards on the table we were out somewhere and i just said you know what i don't know if you i don't know if you know, I went in there and I just kind of laid my cards on the table. We were out somewhere and I just said, you know what? I don't know if you know this, but I actually got my start in television and radio and was in horse racing. I said, back in 94, we won the cup with the Rangers. The following year, there was a work stoppage. I happened to bring the – not happened to bring the stuff. I brought the Stanley Cup to the Meadowlands racetrack and to Belmont to celebrate the Stanley Cup. I brought it to the track.

That's what I do. So the people at the Meadowlands said, well, look, you guys aren't – you're not working. You're not playing. The season's suspended right now. Why don't you come to the racetrack? We'll pay you $800 a show. And they knew it was going to give me $800. I'm just going to give it to the teller.

Yeah, there you go. That's that vicious circle, right? And they said, look, we want you to pick the horses for our in-house television and then do our race show after. So that's how I got my introduction to TV was through horse racing while I was playing. And Sam didn't know that. So that kind of got his attention. And I got a little help from Doc because

Doc would kind of put me up on a pedestal during the games and we would read the green sheets and say, hey, what do you like in the derby? And then the one derby, I hit the top four finishers. Top four. What'd you win in that?

Yeah, a couple bucks. I know one of our cameramen won 25 Gs. Because of you? Yeah, because he bet the numbers I played, and he played. He invested like $24, and he hit for $25,000, you know? We're not going to say his name. Yeah, no. But he got me a nice soft.

He got me a Jerry Queen gift certificate, by the way. Very cool. Very cool. So then eventually, Sam, you know me a Jerry Queen gift certificate, by the way. Very cool, very cool. So then eventually Sam, you know, one day Sam just picked up the phone. I was on my way to do Blackhawks Blues playoff game. So I think it had to be like maybe the spring of 14 or whatever. And all of a sudden you see your boss calling you before the game. You're like, oh, shit, what did I say?

What did I do? You know, and he goes, hey, I just want to let you know we're not putting you on the triple crown this year because this was april of 14 he goes but we're gonna give you a chance and we're gonna put you on your show during the summer and then we'll you know i said great that's all i it's all i want is a chance so they send me out to san antonio in california you'll like this so i go out there i get two races in one hour they bring me on i'm the handicapper you know you know again here's this hockey guy talking about a horse racing right everybody's like that's you know i had to get over that hurdle and say i you know i think i'm knowledgeable and i this is what i do and this is one of my passions so i get on there and the first race is a 12 horse field so there's 12 horses in there it's a mile race on the turf and the name of the horse was

a 10 horse the name of the horse was she's a the turf. And the name of the horse was the 10 horse. The name of the horse was She's a Smoke Show. That was the name of the horse. And all I say is regular jockey gets back on. The horse was on the lead the last time. Wants to come off the pace. Great price. 10 to 1. 12 horse field. What happens? Boom. She's a Smoke Show. She wins.

My first pick. 10 to 1. 12 horse field. 10 to 1. Hold on. That's just the appetizer. Next in a 12-horse field. 10-1, okay? 22-1. Hold on. Now, that's just the appetizer, Whit. Next race comes, 6-horse field. 6-horse field. You got two Stone Cold favorites, like a 4-5 and like a 9-5.

What do I do? I go with the 15-1 shot. No, it didn't take it down. Picking them up to pieces. Who wins? Here comes the 15-1 shot. Boom. In the corner. Wins it on there.

Two for two. 10-1, 15- Boom. In the corner. What's it on there? Two for two. 10 to one, 15 to one. Yeah, exactly. The daily double paid like $398 for two bucks. Hey, so you're like, hey, Sam, I got great news. I did pretty well. I appreciate it. But I'm going to need some more money because I was two for two.

So my contract's changing. So that got the attention of a lot of people. And I said, look, don't expect this all the time. If I could bat, honestly, if I could pick winners, if I can hit 28%, 27% I was going to say 2 out of 10 is like... But if you get 3 for 10, just winners. That's big time.

Just winners. You're elite. It's like batting average in baseball, I've always kind of thought. 100%. If you're batting 300, you're money. Yeah, you're going to get 22 schmel. So that story about the cameraman winning, Ronak teed me up for one. He said that one time you picked the lowest.

Is that a different story? Yeah, this is a different one. When he was there, when he was at Del Mar? He said it was like a $40 bet or one of my 5, 6K or something. Oh, him? I gave him the numbers or me? Let me read this fucking text. I thought you would have known the story. No, no, no.

I know I've made J.R. some money. I know that. He's got more X-Acto boxes than shot pucks and he played a thousand games. This is what he said. Ask him when he was feeding me horses to bet at Delmar oh at delmar right exactly yeah yeah so he's at delmar he's there with his buddy craig you're not even there no

i'm not i'm on the phone he's going i need some action i need some action so i give him a couple horses in one race with a horse in the latin another race at delmar and long story short i like like an eight to one and then it's 18 to one in the next leg. And, you know, I told him what to bet. And he bet. I don't think he invested. 20 bucks. He invested. And what did he win?

4K. Yeah. Well, no, I know. Well, no. But I mean, if he bets 200, he walk out of there with 50 or 60 G's. I thought he was. I thought he made a score score. I know.

He didn't have a lot of confidence. That's ridiculous. $100 bills are like ones to you. So then I just said, you know what? Usually I take 40%, but I only take 30 this time. So when you first started going, did the old man start taking the track? My dad, no. No?

No, I went with an old hockey buddy. Actually, I talk about this in a book as well. Tony Quillis, who was my team hockey manager for one of the teams I grew up as a kid. He was a horse player. His kid was a goalie. Mr. Quill is actually in a battle right now himself, and I'm thinking about him, praying for him. But, you know, that's how I went to it.

I just went to the track one day with him. Wow. And that's kind of how I fell in love. My dad, no. My dad's more of a bowler and a golfer, and that's where he would get his action. But my dad never went to the track. So what's interesting with the horse work and all the games, NHL, NBC,

also the Blackhawks games, you work a lot, dude. How many days a year are you on the road? Close to 100? Oh, yeah. I mean, I do 100. I mean, if we get full series in the playoffs, Witt, I'm probably about 115 games. And you love it, though.

You like being that busy and traveling. I do. That's great. I mean, that's – It's like this nut. Look it. It's what we know. It's what we love.

We're passionate about it. The people in the game, for the most part, are incredible people. And to me, that's what I love the most is running to him at the arena or getting a chance to running to you just by chance somewhere or you know just guys you haven't seen or just say get a load on a league and find out what's going on like wow you know you believe this you know can you believe this guy's sitting out can you is this team gonna get you know make a trade is somebody gonna get fired but it's just like you know you the camaraderie with I think with with our guys, regardless of the era,

I think is something that is so incredible. And I will say this, is that the era that I came in, and again, early 80s, I knew who the majority of guys were that came before me. I've always thought about this. That came before me, right? I think there was a stretch. I don't know for how long me right i think there was a stretch i don't know for how long but i think there was a stretch where a lot of the players that came in the league had no clue who some guys were you sit there go how like i would go how in the hell did you not

know who this guy was they could start rallying off guys and go yeah he shot left-handed or he shot right he weren an 18 or whatever. You know what I mean? I had guys who knew what color stick tape they used. Every guy. And all of a sudden, the guy puts on, he puts a little different color in there. And you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Stop the press. You got to put white tape on the internet. This reminds me, because you're talking about the tape thing, and Patrick Sharp was one of those guys. How come when I'm on TV, how come you never do one of those videos and go, damn, is that Eddie Olchek, a good-looking man there? God.

You saw my Sharpie video. Oh, you did? Hey, maybe if I saw you on TV one year out, like Sharpie looks right now, he might be, if he can stay that jacked. 20 years out, I don't think I, you know. Go ahead, Sebastian. I think I'm still remembering you back.

Hold on. Hold on. Your man rocket status. Maybe a little different demographic. We're talking, right? Is that where you're going with? Well, it's funny you said we were just told by big Brent Sopal or Duncan Keith that big buff when he came in. He's like, who's Joe Sack?

Some people just have no clue. It's hilarious. But you were somebody was. But you know what? I think. But you were somebody who wasn't like that. But again, I think that's what makes our game so – I think what makes the game so great is that the respect factor, regardless of the era, for how many games you played, what your role was, if you won, where you're from.

You know what I mean? I just think there's always a connection. I think there's a respect there. And that's what I hope never goes away from our game. Because if it does, I think it loses a little bit of the uh the varnish on what i think what we all we all think is what the greatest game is um ra's got some interesting stuff about uh how you when you were coming in the league last horse question yeah yeah yeah the story that's been going around of quinville during the playoffs i think it was in the second round, where he was late for a meeting.

You know coaches always come at the same time after every period. And the boys are kind of like, where is he, where is he? And all of a sudden they hear this big roar at the coach's office. I think it was a pre-game meeting though, they said. Okay, maybe.

Either way, either way. Either way, he was late for something. And sure enough, he bet a horse and won a big, I think he won like 50K or something like that. Did you know the story? I had known that he had had a good score, but I didn't know any of the, like where he was or anything. You know, I knew that they were at the rink, but I didn't know the whole scenario. But yeah, I mean, Joel is a, when I hit my big, Joel's a big horse player.

When I hit my big score, I invested real quick, Black black and i was probably going on 11 or 12 years now i invested 168 dollars in a pick six out at hollywood park over across from the old forum the old la forum hollywood park and uh i played it on express bet which is how i play my play my horses and i invest 168 dollars and they had a million five carryover and i invested 168 bucks and uh i was alive in the last race to seven of the 10 horses and the payouts for the seven of the 10 horses that i had were anywhere between 55 000 and a million five so as long as one of those other two two horses that i had eight or nine three horses that i didn't have didn't win i was going to cash for either for 168 bucks it's either going to be for 55 000,000 or $1.5 million. So this is late at night.

It's like 10.15 in California, 12.15 in Chicago. We're watching the races. So I knew Joel, and so I dialed Joel up, and he was out in the East Coast. That's where he is in the summertime. And I pick up – I call him, and then one ring, and he picks up the phone. He goes, are you alive? Are you alive in the pick six? Oh, yeah, he was watching.

He goes, you wouldn't be calling me unless you're alive. I'm like, yeah. And he goes, oh, my goodness. It's like, oh, I've never. This is incredible. So he goes, the 10's going to win. 10's going to win. It was a half.

It was a half. No, no. It was a half a schmill. And he goes, the 10's going to win. I'm going to go, oh, my God, 10. And sure enough. Now, what made it interesting is when they were turning for home, they were probably a quarter, three-eighths of a mile from the finish line.

The third, fourth, and fifth horses were all the ones that were paying a million five. Like, so they, I mean, I, you know, I had a thrill. You know, I had a thrill. And then here comes, who comes circling on the outside but the 10 horse. And the 10 horse hit. So I furred 168 bucks. I got back a half a schmill, and I got... Oh, my God.

What a hit. I got even. I got even. Yeah, you're still down. You're still down. That's how it goes. I don't gamble. Yeah.

I just pick winners. That's all. I don't really put my money in. There's so much atrocious. Seriously, we've been talking for a half hour. We haven't even mentioned his unreal career yet. Now, you've taken third overall, like Wood said. Hometown kid, Chicago Blackhawks.

A, how much of a thrill is that? I did write this question down earlier, so pardon the phrase, but were you shitting your pants a little bit? Like, okay, now I'm the man here in my hometown. What was that feeling like? He was the man. Because it never had happened before. Where a hometown kid had been drafted

in the first round and been the first pick for his team, an American-born kid. So, I mean, yeah, there was a lot of pressure that way. And look, we all have favorite teams when we were growing up and had the opportunity to play for them. And for me, it was the Blackhawks, and I got that chance as an 18-year-old kid. And there was a lot of – I mean mean i probably put more pressure on myself playing at home than i did anywhere else yeah because my first year i had a good year had 50 points we

went to the conference finals against edmonton unfortunately that wasn't when edmonton was in their heyday if they gave up six uh that would be okay because they would get nine yeah they just that's the way they played and they had grant furin goal yeah you know was arguably is one of the good best goaltenders we've had in the league in the last 50 years so my first year we went to the conference finals we got that we lost four games to two to edmonton then my second year i had 79 points i played with troy murray and kurt frazier on a line kurt for troy murray won the selkie trophy at 99 points that year and then my third year started off awful. Unfortunately, I had a friend taken from us at an apartment building in Arizona, and he lost his life.

And first time I really ever had to – I shouldn't say had to. First time I ever went to a service, be a pallbearer. I just wasn't in a good place. It's trauma. It was. And I'm not – it's the only thing i could look back on and go i had such a bad year yeah this is the third year correct it's my third year which is also like i don't know if it anything to do with this you had that was the highest uh pims you had in your

career i know you probably pissed off it's just a weird time and the fans were getting on me and i was frustrated the team wasn't winning and it's just again you're just trying so hard because you don't want to let anybody down in your hometown. So I felt every night that I had 36,000 eyeballs on me, watching me. And look, it was a bad year. And then the Hawks decided to make a big trade. We made a big trade with Toronto. So myself and Al Secord went to Toronto for Rick Vive, Steve Thomas, and Bob McGill. Vive was the captain of the Maple Leafs.

Al Secord has scored 50 goals. And I was just only in my third year. But then the next year I went to Toronto and had my best year goal scoring-wise. I said 42 goals in my fourth year. Showing up to Toronto and doing that. You know what? I felt like there was less

pressure playing in Toronto. I did. I did. Which is nuts to say. Yeah, you're right. I mean, especially today. Maybe a little different. But looking back, I would not trade anything. I mean, I played my first game as a Blackhawk. I played my 1,000th game as a Blackhawk because I came back the second time.

Right, right. And then I played eventually my last game with a lot of games in between. But that third year was rough, and then i was able to bounce back and then i kind of my career really took off in uh starting from my fourth year i gotta hear about uh this dream you had before your first uh game with the blackhawks you had a dream i had this look at we all dreamed about playing in the show and you know you're just like i couldn't get my equipment on my dream well there you go yeah that's good look at that i couldn't skate oh no that was that's another dream i i look at i i would wake up in a cold sweat where i'd be late waking up from my nap stuck in traffic i couldn't get into the rink they wouldn't let me in to parking lot

they wouldn't let me in the rink because he eddieek was already at the rink. And I've had the dream hundreds of times. So I thought the trainers, the guys in the room, you tell them something. Everything's confidential. It stays in the room. It's like Vegas, right? What happens there? So I tell our trainer Skip Thayer in my rookie year. I tell him it's during training camp.

I said, hey, Skip. I said, I just had this dream last night. He goes, what is it, kid? Now, if you never met Skip, Skip was with the Penguins for a long time, too. Skip's a big guy. He's probably 5'11", 2'0", 12, like a huge guy. I mean, a great guy, right? So he goes,

what's the dream, kid? So I tell him, I said, I wake up in a panic for my first game. I'm late. I'm stuck in traffic. I try to get into the parking lot. The parking lot attendant won't let me in. The security guard won't let me in to get in. They say Eddie Olchek's already here. I'm all nervous. He goes, ah, kid, don't worry about it.

Dreams don't come true or whatever. I'm like, okay. So sure enough, I'm getting ready to play my first game in the NHL, October of 84. I'm living at home. I'm living at home my first couple years in the show. I'm driving to the rink traffic. But, I mean, traffic, you know, it's fine.

As I'm getting a little closer to the old Chicago stadium, traffic starts getting a little heavier. All of a sudden, I was like, I dreamed this. There's bad traffic. All of a sudden, I pull into the rink. The guy tells me, I wave because I've seen this guy 15 times

since training camp started. He says, roll down your window. I'm like, Eddie. He goes, who are you? I go, I'm Eddie Olchek. He says, roll down your window. I'm like, Eddie. I got to go, buddy. He goes, who are you? I go, I'm Eddie Olchek. He goes, no, he's already here. I went.

Oh, what the fuck? So now I'm starting to get all these wheels. I'm like, I dream this. Is this guy going to tell me that I can't park here? He goes, you can't park here. I went, whoa. No, no, no. And I'm like. Inception night Shyamalan shit. So I'm like, come on, seriously. He goes, no, no. And I'm like, it's like night Shyamalan shit.

So I'm like, come on, seriously. He goes, no, I'm sorry. I'm going, at least can I park here and try to, yeah, go ahead. So he lets me in. So then I go walk in. It was gate three and a half. It was just a private gate for the players and security. So I walk in there, and the guy's in there, and Spider's in there,

the guy that run the door. And his last name was Webb, so that's why we call him Spider. So Spider Webb. So Spider goes, can I help you? I go, hey, Spider. He goes, who are you? I go, now I'm like, I'm sweating. I'm pitting out now.

And now I'm looking at the clock. I don't have a watch. I'm like, I'm late now. Now I'm late because I'm delayed 15 minutes. And he goes, give me some ID. He goes, Eddie Olchek's here already. I'm going, no, call down to the room. I'm telling you, whoever's here is, and now I'm flustered.

So they're playing this right now. Oh, right, yeah, right. I have no clue. No clue. That's why I love the trainer so much. This is cruel. At this time, I mean, I'm thinking about one thing, not being late for the meeting.

Playing in a show. And this dream has come true. And then finally he goes, yeah, yeah, go ahead. Yeah, they said to go. So like now I'm thinking about one thing, not being late for the meeting. Playing in the show. This dream has come true. And then finally he goes, yeah, yeah, go ahead. Yeah, they said to go. So like that, I'm sprinting. And I get to the stairs and I start walking down and I'm shaking my head and I'm like, I'm flustered. I'm walking.

I walk around the corner. I'm going by the training room. I look in there and I said, hey, Skip. And then as I'm walking by him, I hear, he goes, hey, kid. And I kind of back up a second, and he goes, did you have any problem getting to the rink tonight? Oh, you. Oh, Skippy.

That is just fun. Skippy. So I didn't share too much more with Skippy. How were you that night? What do you mean? Come on. Scored a goal in my first game, Biss. Come on.

Walking right. Thank you. Seventh goal and a 7-3 win. Not bad. Hey, I don't bring up the stats. I bring up the dreams. All right, baby? Yeah, this ain't the stat guy.

I want to go back to when you broke in. You actually broke in with a guy I grew up on the same street as, Jackie O'Callaghan. You guys were basically the only American regulars on that roster, and there weren't a lot of Americans in the league back then. Did you guys kind of bond over that at all? Yeah, Jack took care of me because he was an Olympian, obviously, and that 1980 team is, you know, just the –

I mean, they opened up the door for us, right? Yeah. They did. They opened up the door for people in the NHL saying, hey, you know what? Down there, they got some pretty good hockey players, and that team opened up the doors by winning the gold medal. And Jack took me under his wing. He's always been a terrific guy.

And, you know, yeah, I think that there was that – I think you gravitate to guys, and I'm sure you guys had it, you know, certain guys kind of going out of their way and just making you feel comfortable. And, you know, a guy like Jack O'Callaghan, Troy Murray was one of those guys for me. I mean, when I came in, I mean, we had some incredible veteran guys. I mean, you had Dennis Savard, Steve Larmer troy murray doug wilson ben wilson al secord i mean we're talking about toughness i mean we you know like we could play any way you wanted like i said just unfortunately for us edmonton was in their heyday but but jack was uh you know a great guy and somebody that i could lean on or somebody that you know would would

look after me of being you know a-year-old kid in the league. What was the anti-American sentiment like in the league back then? Because like I said, there weren't very many. Did the Canadians give you shit all the time? No, not really. No, no, no. There weren't that many players. No, yeah, right.

Yeah, I mean, it was... I felt it more when I left home when I was 15 to go up to play in Junior B in Stratford, Ontario. Okay. I mean, I went up there with two other buddies of mine and, and we went up there and played in Stratford, played junior B hockey. And I mean, that's where it was kind of more,

more every day, you know, the ugly American or however you want to put it. You were fighting a little bit, had to fight a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean,

it was, it wasn't bad. I mean, but it's just, you know, just more people, you know, barking at you and stuff,

but it really wasn't, you know, it wasn't't that bad who's your first nhl scrap with you know what somebody asked me that the other day and i can't remember i i remember having a couple scraps with lee norwood who was a pretty tough defenseman and it is fact because we know what's on that world wide web thing that's everything on there is true. Everything is true. I read it on the internet. It must be true. Because Dickie Dunn wrote it. So a five-minute fight. It's in there. Probert, Olchek.

Five minutes for fighting. Now, I did a lot of receiving. Because if you go – well, it's on the internet. I didn't fight him. I just happened to be the first guy around there that had to get in there. And Mickey Redmond, one of the great Red Wings of all time, does a great job there on Fox Sports Detroit doing color on TV.

You can hear Mickey in the background sitting there. What is he doing? He doesn't want any of that. I go, yeah, I didn't want any of that. I'm skating up the ice. Plays up here. You got everybody up in front. All of a sudden the crowd's going crazy.

I'm like, well, the puck's here. There's nothing going on. I look back. There's Proby feeding Kenny Reggett, our goalie. No. And I'm like, huh. I'm looking around like, oh. Oh, that's a legendary clip.

Yeah, like I've seen that before. Change. Change. Yeah, I have to go over there. Yeah, I go, okay. So I get in there, and I'm, you know. What are you going to do? I end up playing with Proby, God rest his soul, at the end of his career.

And then into my career. It was just one of those where you just kind of, you know, you get in there and just get him off the goalie, right? And you're hoping that everybody else comes there. But Mickey says, Olchek, what is he doing? I give him a lot of credit, but he doesn't want any of that. Yeah, you're right. I don't want any of that. I want to be around for the next couple of years.

I want to continue to play this sport. Another one your kid teed me up for was the prank that you pull with the car in the dealership car. You guys went on a two-week road trip. Yeah, we were playing in Winnipeg. And somebody had bought a nice pickup truck. And somehow we got the keys. Was it Mike Richter?

No, no. Huh? Was it Beez it mike richter some is no no huh was it beezer or richter no no no no this is winnipeg oh yeah oh there's a couple of car stories yeah yeah the other one there with the stone up fish in the bottom of it yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah i wasn't a part of that wow you still won't admit it okay oh no don't look at me he's like flurry don't look at me i don't know all right we just happened to put a for sale sign in somebody's pickup truck there, and we put the house number on there. Back then, there were no cell phones. I mean, if you were Maxwell Smart, you took off your shoe.

Who's that, right? Look it up. Look it up on the internet. Ask a millennial. So we put the wife eventually. And the guy didn't check in his wife with the wife for a couple of days. He goes, did you put your car first? Did you put your pickup truck first?

You just bought that thing. He's got like 80 calls. Best offer. Best offer. Yeah, $400 Canadian. $400 Canadian. It was a nice pickup truck. Dean Kennedy was a great guy, but he tried to sell that thing first.

You guys were clowns back then. I feel like there's not a lot of pranks going on anymore around the league. Back then, it was like you did it to all people. Do guys have fun now? Not as much from what I'm told. I've been out of the league five years, pretty much.

It feels like I've been out of the league for 40 years. I don't know if the change from five years ago to now is more than, say, five years after you retired. Maybe it always is the same. It's that much different. But I don't know. The guys we talk to, just with how young it is

and the lack of joking around a lot. Well, you know what? I'll say this. And I think a big reason for that, I think, is for the most part, when you go on the road, most guys have their own room now. Yeah, that's definitely. Look, when you got roomies, there's always something going on, right? There's a story from one room at least every morning.

100%. You know, guys, I mean, I used to room with Mark Osborne. I played on three different teams with Mark Osborne. And we would have wrestling matches. He's a born-again Christian. He would be reading the Bible in one bed, and I would have the racing form in the other. So we had everything covered.

When we flew, we sat in the exit row. I figured I better sit next to him. I got a good shot. I got a good shot. We were flying Scare Ontario with the Maple Leafs figured I better sit next to him. I got a good shot. I got a good shot. We were flying Scare Ontario with the Maple Leafs. I'm sitting next to the Aussie. He's got the Bible out. I got the horse racing Bible out, right?

I like the seven. You're right. But I think that that's – I believe that. I believe with guys being – having their own room more. You know what I mean? And look, I know what happens because I hear, but when guys are on the bus now,

everybody's down. There's nobody... I don't care. I would make the rule. When the wheels are in motion, phones are off. Now, unless there's an emergency or whatever, they got the traveling secretary, then he can come back and say, hey, Edzo, you got to take this call. Okay?

Right? Shoot the shit. Exactly. I know. Look at whether it's the game or whether it's what happened last night or, you know, the coach is an asshole or whatever. You know, whatever it is. You know what I mean? Like, those are where I miss those times more than anything.

On the bus, in the locker room. But now everybody's doing this. Maybe it's not the game. It's more social. It's more phones that have changed everything, not just technology. But there is one common theme in probably the last 10 years. Every winning team, we're so close. And I know alcohol is probably not a big part of the game or as much as it used to be.

But like St. Louis was getting after it. Well, they have nights where what you're saying is you create memories and stories that you're laughing about later on. That's what happens when you all get together for a team party. But too though, to kind of what you're talking about, Biss, is that now you get in, you go for dinner, you go to the hotel, you go to your skate, you go play your game, and you leave. Like, very rarely, you know, you're not staying on the road as much, right?

You're not going out and saying, hey, guys, everybody's meeting at wherever at 6 o'clock. We're going to go out and have a good time. Or after the game, we're all going to go out, you know, right? I mean, that's not happening so so those times aren't as maybe opportunistic because of the scheduling and everything right and look i get it it's much different to be an athlete today than it was i know in my era 100 even in your guys era it's changed a lot like you said i think the quality of play in regular season has gotten better you know but just everything everything that goes with it because everybody's for the part, everybody is focused on one thing and playing and not

worrying about anything else. Because back in the day, everybody was doing the same thing. You can say it, Edzo. It's everybody's thing. Hey, that's the way it is. Bobby, you can say that they're focused on girls. In Winnipeg, you got to spend some time with a very young Big Walt. What kind of savage was he like as a rookie?

Did you know that I gave Big Walt his nickname? Oh, you did? Did you know that? I didn't know that. He came in, and of course, being a hockey fan, being a hockey fan, being a hockey fan my whole life, I was like, Keith Kachuk. I'm like, Kachuk? Walt Kachuk?

I'm like, the guy that played for the Rangers all those years. I'm like, big left-handed guy, a bull in a china shop type of guy. Like like no one's former players like you're saying so all of a sudden here comes i go hey how you doing walt he goes walt my name's keith i go no no you're walt now from now on right then he became big walt oh yeah and that's it the rest the rest is history so pretty big he came in i think his first game of anamistate came from the olympic team yeah and if i'm not mistaken he had a he had a problem with his left hand. He had tape on it.

He had to wear this tape or whatever. And maybe eight shifts in, him and Scott Mellenby went at it. Top of the hall. Big boy, heavy boy, could find his way around the dance floor. And Wall was like, okay, just i'm gonna do it my first game and and man it was a that was a heavy with heavyweight fight i mean it was good but i mean there was a guy that i mean he could play any way you wanted he'd do it all he had had he had attitude uh i saw him as a young guy coming in and uh very uh very raw um loved loved everything about being a hockey player.

That's probably the best way to describe Dave Walton. I love being around the boys. Talk about trainers. That guy treated them like gold. I would hope. I would hope that he caught and was taught a little bit by yours truly. I was pumping your tires. I was like, Jesus Christ.

A blue-claw background to his old man in Boston Fire for years. Yeah, right, exactly. I mean, look at the bloodlines now with Brady and Matthew. You had a young donor, too. Huh? You had a young Shane Doan.

I did have a donor. Shane Doan said you were a little hard on him. Were you hard on the rookies? Old school. I think you were. But he said he helped them. I think I was hard on them but they would always be asked to come over for dinner spend time at the house you know what

i mean actions yeah you know what i mean like because sometimes it's like you know around work you were hard on them but like oh yeah oh no for sure right but you always look out for him you're not it's not it was for. For me, never personal. Exactly. Ever. Ever. Because I know how I was treated. Because sometimes, look, again, eras change.

When I came in the league, be seen and not heard. Yeah. Mouth shut. Right? Last in line at the food bar. Now they're getting the best contracts. Right, exactly. Now they're getting the best contracts.

And they're weeding the old guys out. Hey, that's kind of the reality of it just over time. But, you know, I would like to think that those young guys knew that I had their best interest. And, yeah, maybe hard on them in practice. Maybe saying, hey, you know what? Pick up your shit. Trainer's not there to do that. You know, just little things like that.

That teaches you. Hey, get here. I don't want to see you getting on the bus at 2 minutes to 9 when the bus is rolling. You should be here. Grab the stick bag. Like some of that stuff because that's what I did. That's what you had to do, right?

You were taught. Did you have any more hockey questions? All right. I know we got to close. Yeah, I think we got to wrap it up. Actually, I want to ask, what's your favorite horse track? Which one do you like to go? Is it Saratoga?

Which one is it? I know it's only open a month. That's a tough one. That's tough. If you're telling me, I only can go and... One more day at the track. One more day. Where are you going?

I'm probably going to Santa Anita. Where's that? Arcadia, California. California, yeah. It's real nice out there. That's where the Breeders' Cup is next week. What's the? Arcadia, California. Real nice out there. That's where the Breeders' Cup is next week. Austin, Massachusetts. What's the biggest one? It's like all millionaires in Miami or something.

Huge races. Is that out in California? No, that one's at Pegasus down at Gulfstream Park. That's in January. It's All-Star Day. You buy into the race. You've got to buy in a slot into the race. You've got to have a schmil to get in. Whether you have a into the race. You've got to buy in a slot into the race. Yes, yes, yes. That's what it is.

So you've got to have a schmill to get in. Whether you have a horse or not, you've got to have a schmill just to have a spot. Can I get one more in? This will be the last one, maybe? Or if you want one, follow up. Yeah, I just want one more after. Well, I can ask you now. Who do you like in the breeders?

Do we get a winner yet? Okay. My old man's a magus. You want it? Oh, shit. Yeah, my old man. I've got to text him out there now. This is going to make the owner of the Florida Panthers, Vinny Viola, extremely happy.

We've seen him before. He's a horse guy. He's a horse guy. He owns the Panthers. I believe that Vinny Viola and Mike Rapoli, the owners of Vino Rosso, will win the Breeders' Cup Classic. Straight from Edzo. Vino Rosso. Send it We'll win the Breeders' Cup Classic. Straight from Edzo. All right. Vino Rosso.

I'm going to send it to my old man out there now. He's proven on the track. Santa Anita. He come off a race where he got disqualified for bumping into Code of Honor. I thought it was a fair disqualification. Oh, shit. And now he's going back out to California.

I think it's a wide open race. I think he's going to be somewhere between four and five to one. If you bet $100,000, you got a chance. Or $20,000 if you're JR. Yeah, right. He's made $700 million in his life. He'll bet $20,000 on every single ball he hits. If you bet $100,000,

you're going to get back probably five plus on your investments. Oh, math guy. We got a new math guy on the podcast. Hey, what's wrong with five to one on your money in a matter of two minutes and four seconds? I'll take that anytime. Usually I'm minus five to one. Edsel, since you're the math guy, quick math question.

What's 40 plus 14? 40 plus 14? It's 54. All right, that's all I wanted to know. Now this is going to be the last question I ask you and it's time about when you got... Whit was having a hard time figuring that one out a couple episodes ago.

No, no. These guys don't know what I'm fucking with. You always got to keep them guessing. You're always twisting them. We'll go with that. You're always twisting them. We'll go with that. Always got to keep them guessing.

Can you talk about the time you got ejected from the stands at one of the kids' games? Who was feeding you this information, Bess? I'm a rat. All right, so I'm playing in Pittsburgh. Wasn't going well. Kevin Constantine was riding me like, you know what? And we played a game the night before.

Eddie and Tommy, my oldest boys, but at that time they were like 7 and 6 respectively, so I'm going back. This is like 96, 97 in the Berg. I'm at the Mount Lemmon and Ice Arena. They're playing. It's like 6.40 in the morning. Yep, Sunday. Tommy's out there playing a game Lemon and Ice Arena. They're playing. It's like 6 40 in the morning. Sunday. Tommy's out there playing a game and there's two officials out there.

Mike game, whatever. And the referees are calling off sides like it's, you know, by the inch. Oh, yeah. Right. Exactly. So they're intentional offside all the way down. I'm like, buddy, intentional offside. These kids don't even know what way to put their underwear on.

And you're sitting there ripping these kids. So I'm like, now I'm starting to get a little angry. So sure enough, it happens again. So I yell, come on, ref. What do you think this is, the NHL? All of a sudden I hear, I turn and my son, Eddie, is there, my oldest one. And all of a sudden I hear, you, out. I'm like, what?

He goes, you, out. I'm like, fuck this. I ain't going anywhere. Come on, kick me out. Here comes the team manager, Kathy Galloway, the Mount Lebanon Hornet might team. She goes, Mr. Olchek, they won't start the game until you leave. I'm like, really? She goes, yeah.

So I had to get up. And before I get up, my son, Eddie, goes like this. And my son Tommy's out there. He goes like this. He goes, hey, Dad. I go, yeah, Eddie, what? He goes, are you going to tell Mom? You're like, no, you better not do that. So I had to go stand in a corner at the Mount Lemmon Ice Arena until the game was over.

And I mean, do I want to say that's the last time I ever yelled at a referee? Yeah, right. The answer is no. That guy is more sensitive than me. Oh, my gosh. I mean, I was just like, seriously? But you know what? There's a first for everything, right?

Yeah. It's the only time. It's the only time I ever got thrown out of the rink. We could have done this. Seriously? Hopefully we can do it again at some point because there's a first for everything, right? Yeah. It's the only time. It's the only time I ever got thrown out of the rink. We could have done this. Seriously? Hopefully we can do it again at some point because there's so much more. Well, I told him he has to come back. You're the guy we could talk about anything with.

So thank you so much for coming on. Great to see you. It's great to see you. And lastly, we need to plug the book one last time. Yeah. I got it right here. Eddie Olchek, beating the odds in hockey and in life. A little bit more love we're looking for.

That's it. Laugh a little and love a little bit more. So that's the goal. And get checked to it. I think a lot of guys out there, sometimes the tough guys about it, they don't want to get checked. Well, you know what? Look it.

That's the key is look it. Don't put it off. I mean, since I got sick, while I was sick, the recommended age for a colonoscopy was 50. Since I got sick, they've lowered the age to 45. I encourage anybody out there. Five-year difference. The numbers are way up, Whit.

I mean, it's scary when you look at the numbers. So please, don't put it off. If you're not feeling well, it's okay to raise your hand, call a doctor, say, look, I want to get screened, or whatever it is. It doesn't have to be colon cancer. It can be anything. If you're not feeling good, just make sure you get checked out. And like I said, if we can help one person or keep them away from it or her,

then it was well worth the opportunity. Absolutely. Well said. We love you, and I know our fans are going to love this interview. Cut those horses off too, would you, please? That interview was also brought to you by Quip. What actually makes a better toothbrush? Industrial strength power.

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thank you very much to edzo eddie olchuk i still cannot believe i didn't bet that friggin horse right after he said it i think you heard you heard me come on i'm taking that so he called it hope all you guys got a winner there um not that you would have known he said it because we just released it and the race happened about five weeks ago but thank you very much to him my first pro coach i'll never forget him biz what do you got on mike babcock did he just get a huge uh 700th victory did you mention mike babcock 700 wins wins. And I know, you know, we're like, we have stories on our podcast that rip him a little bit about doing some mean things. Maybe at least we think, right. We think we,

we assume that they're all premeditated. Okay. We don't know that. Okay. I'd love to get him on some time to talk about them. I don't know if he would, but I was at the Leafs game. I did a content piece recently. I talked about, I won't divulge too much information because it is coming out next week, but he took some time out of his schedule after the game to come say hello to someone that I asked him to. Well, I didn't really ask him to, but he didn't need to do it,

and he knew that, like, hey, this guy's here for this reason because a bunch of the other guys had came out. But he talked to him, and he gave him a decent amount of time. So I know he gets ripped on a lot, but he did a nice thing. And if we're going to shit on him about some stories, we've got to acknowledge when he's being a good guy. No, we don't really shit on him. Other players didn't.

Also, other players have said nice things about him too. I think we've gotten a nice balance over the years, maybe a little tilted the other way when Connie comes on. Yeah, maybe a bit. At the same time. Also, we're in Philly, like Grinnelly said at the top of the episode. We're leaving, I believe, Tuesday and Thursday night at Fine Wine and Good Spirits on 180 West Girard Avenue, Philly. We're going to be there for our Pink Whitney meet and greet from 5 to 7.

Come by, meet the Spit and Chicklets crew. Grab a bottle of Pink Whitney. If you want us to put our John Henrys on it, we'll do that as well. But looking forward to that. Once again, Thursday, November 14th, 5 to 7 at Fine Wine and Good Spirits on 180 West Gerrard Avenue, Philly, Pennsylvania. Speaking of Pennsylvania, let's go across the state for a nice story. Sid the Kid, what a guy, man.

We know that already. He had his all-star game MVP car last year. Well, he decided to donate it to a local veteran. Veterans Day, of course, is Monday, so the Penguins had a bunch of veterans come into the locker room. And Sid led 28-year-old Madeline Milizio. She's an Army specialist for the past five years. She's currently in school for legal studies. He kind of walked into her garage.

She didn't really know what was going on. Pops opened the garage, and there's his all-star game car from last year. I think it was a Honda of some sort. He says, it's all yours, and she had her three-year-old son with them i mean it just changes this woman's life she doesn't have a car sid comes in he doesn't need it he didn't give it to his buddies or relative he gave it to a total stranger you know to thank her for what she does and it's just i mean you we always love the guy on the show anyways you can't knock him but what more can we say about the guy right oh it's incredible and then after i guess you know

once the cameras were off sid grabbed her by the side and said hey listen the lease is 700 a month just send me 350 just kidding just kidding no that's good humor he uh yeah he's the best we've said it before so that was awesome it was cool cool picture i saw of him handing it over to her and awesome move i mean what's that thing been doing since he won? We were at that game. Hey, it's got 20,000 miles on it. He let us drive it home back east. Hey, he drove it one day, and he scored,

and he's been on this point streak, so he's like, I can't not drive it. He's like, hey, 20,000 clicks, but still basically new. He lets Nate Dogg follow him around with it on Halifax. Yeah, Nate Dogg buys the exact same one. Next week, Nate's going to give that car to an Avs fan. Same exact whip. Oh, man.

Yeah, Sid, he got wind of the story, and I heard she didn't have a car, and he took care of it. So kudos to Sid once again. That's a great gesture. Grinnelli, we did a little cattle call for some mill bag. We haven't done that for a little while. Did we get anything worth using? I know sometimes we get some tough entries, but what do we got? Hey, going back to Sid too. And like, it's such a nice gesture.

I'm really going to feel bad when we fucking bend them over on that golf course again in Halifax next summer. Like it's things like that where I'm like, fuck, like, all right, maybe I am a 16. I want to see more Halifax next summer. Like it's things like that where I'm like, fuck, like, all right, maybe I am a 16. I want to see more Halifax. So sorry, Sid and Nate. I mean, I'm not going to let up on you cause you're doing nice shit in the

community, but it's still a very nice gesture. All right. Gee, we good. All right guys for the mailbag. Um, we'll start off with RA and RRA.

Uh, what is the bet you most regret in your entire life? It's about a 5,000 way tie for first. I mean, it's not one. I mean, any bet over 5,000 balls I lost, I suppose I

regret. I've had a handful of those, but there's not one particular bet like I say, oh man, that's the one that killed me. There's just a shitload of them over the years. So you don't have an answer? well my answer yeah it's a i mean it's there's too many to count i mean i've literally lost ten thousand dollar bets over the years so i but it's been so long and i've done it a few times i guess like in the four or five way tie the times i lost 10 grand but it happened too many times over too many years for me to remember exactly who the game was so um and all these questions are from email JJWW,

and he led off by asking if I've ever used anything above a 65 flex stick. So that was a good sharp. I got to give it to him there. Yeah, you do have small wrists. I do. Biz, your question. Your biggest celebrity crush? Physical crush or, crush or emotional crush?

Like who I've crushed or who I'm going to crush? JJ, what? So I was a huge Scarlett Johansson fan. Oh, all right. Oh, all right. Get your head out of your pants. Holy fuck, Caveman. God, I just, I don't know, man.

Like every day I flipped on Instagram, I'm just like, I want to crush that. I want to crush that. I mean, right now, just based on like talent and, you know, because that matters. Like she gets stick handle. I mean, I don't know handle i mean at least two academy award i would probably put margot robbie up there just because wolf of wall street margot robbie was god that was good yeah that was really nice that was like porn without the actual sex in it like

i can't remember watching something where a woman was closed and kind of getting a boner. Like, I can't remember the last time. She was, like, before her, she was definitely the last. Like, that movie when the scene when, like, when he, like, when she's, like, crawling up or whatever. Or is he crawling up? He's crawling up. In the baby room.

And he wants to just muck her bin. Yeah, the night before he, like, flew a helicopter into his backyard. Yeah. What's the guy's name in the movie? Jordan Belfort. Yeah, Jordan night before he flew a helicopter into his backyard. Yeah. What's the guy's name in the movie? Jordan Belfort. Yeah, Jordan Belfort. But yeah, that scene, like fucking... I used to jerk off to BET rap videos before I had access to porn.

I did the fucking Saz Outlet mags. Come on, old school. Like Dr. Dre, the chronic with the Snoop Dogg in it. The girls in the back of the fucking low top or whatever they call it. Oh, my God. Nelly. Nelly had a few good videos. Like, that's how pathetic I was back then.

That's how I know you. Were you jerking off to music videos, Whit? Oh, Chris Isaac, Wicked Games, 9000 times. YouTube the video. I actually found out later on in life that he had sex with the girl while the video was being filmed. Okay, so it's funny. We're in the age bracket where we didn't have to deal with our parents' pain

where maybe they got a Sears catalog and they went to the bra section, or maybe even they got a couple pages out of a Playboy and they had to use that on repeat. The kids nowadays won't know our struggles of that, music videos, where now they just dude, there's everything. They can get on their phone. They could do it at the

bathroom at their school. Now there's kids in seventh grade that think girls are supposed to have their buttholes bleached. I mean, I'm pretty sure the times have changed. Gee, you got one for the wit dog there or what? Yeah, so the last one. I'm sounding like Tippett over here. The last one is wit, and it's would you rather play your entire professional hockey career

in the KHL and Novo's Kuznets and be able to golf when you retire or play in the NHL and never be able to golf when you retire? That's a fucking unbelievable question. It would have been Novos Kuznets. But here's the thing. To be able to golf the way I want to golf, I had to make the money I had to make. So if I could have made 30 sheets in Novo Kuznets

and crushed a bunch of crocodile up my skull, then I'm all in for it. Now, if you told me if I played in the NHL and won a Stanley Cup and I couldn't golf, I'd have to think about it a little more. But, man, my career ended when I was 32. What the hell am I going to do? I hate fishing.

I get seasick like a piece of shit. I can't even go on the ferry over Nantucket. I got to fly. Oh, woe is me. I just basically can't imagine no golf. So I got to go with Nobles Kuznets with me. And I think there's plenty other hobbies. I don't be a good cycling.

What am I going to like? What am I going to do? I feel like a good tennis player. I am good at tennis. I am actually very good at tennis. How do you get around on those ankles? I don't really move that much because I place the ball in the perfect spot on the court. Nobody can get to it.

Okay, Federer. Nobody can get to it. No, I'm nasty at tennis. Are you really? Ask my buddies. Yeah, I played growing up. Nasty tennis player. I'll take anyone on in tennis.

You're good at all the cake-eater sports. Yeah, I'm a little pussy. How are you at basketball? Horrific. Why do you think I hate it so much? Are you worse than me? No, I guarantee you're better than me. Dude, I don't even –

Really? Remember that content piece? My knee was not – Yeah, but you you look you're you looked athletic like i'm telling you if you saw me on a basketball court i remember the only basketball memory i had i played in sixth grade and my good buddy jack really he's the kid i've mentioned before on here who beat flurry in the breakaway competition that played college hockey i told that story well he was he had a fast break and he was like my best

friend from hockey, and I just tripped him, and he went flying in. Could have got injured. That was my basketball memory because I was like, I got beat. I'll just trip this kid. Do you think you could beat R.A. in a basketball game? A hundred percent.

R.A.? Let's do it. Who knows? Maybe R.A. played in high school. I did. Oh, you played in high school? Yeah. Oh, I didn't know

i'm not saying i'll play him i'm saying i'd beat him yeah um yeah i mean i'm not gonna i'm not gonna just give that i would back him in biz i'd be fucking boom boom i don't know i would come all over those fucking ankles dude i'd force him to take a load management day off like the NBA-ers. Oh, man. All right. I'll bet you $1,000 you can't beat him in a basketball game up to 10. Game on. You got to play to 11.

Game on. Okay. All right. Sorry. See, R.A. even knows the fucking rules in basketball. You're fucked, dude. Buddy, I will be fucking laughing as I'm winning this one. All right, I'll give you every cent that I win off him if you beat him.

All right, we'll have to do it in the summer, and I'm going to have to lose a few pounds before I take him on. I'm going to get you a fucking YouTube shooting coach. Or not a YouTube. You know these Instagram accounts where they have shooting? I'm going to find you a shooting coach. We're going to be doing drills. We're going to do this, all right?

We can be wet. I got a little hoop history. I actually hit a fucking game-winning three one time, but we don't have to talk about that. Oh, fuck. We're not talking about NBA Jam on Sega. No, it was only BNBL, but it was still a fucking game-winning three. Oh, he's fucking dropping league names on you, bitch.

Boston Neighborhood Basketball League, yeah. Dude, the funny part is the guy, my buddy passed it to me by accident. It was inbound and at the buzzer. There was like three seconds left. We were down two. My buddy was coming over half court, and he stopped throwing it to me because he sees a 6'1 blonde guy. As he passed it,

he lets go, and you could see his face kind of go like, oh, shit, because you realize I wasn't the wrong guy. I couldn't pass it. It was at the buzzer. Throw it up. Fucking nothing but net, which was hilarious. I would have thought off the glass. I have a boner after that story.

The shots looked on my friend's faces. Like, that's when you know you really did something, when you look at your friend's faces, and they're like, holy fuck, you hit it. So that was my one highlight. Not my one highlight, but definitely my biggest hoot. I might even put more money on this game. Yeah. All right, boys.

That'll wrap up the mailbag. Now we've got to go to the gambling corner. Let's tune in up here. Let's see. Friday afternoon, we nailed Tampa Bay's Friday win versus the Buffalo Sabres. I said only money line, no puck line. Thank God. They only won 3-2.

So now I've got to pick a few days out. A couple teams will have already played in the interim. But having said that, the Penguins are in MSG Tuesday night. And I'm going to jump on the Penguins. I have no idea how they'll have done since then, all the ranges, but I think they're a better team. I like road teams. They're typically better numbers. So Tuesday night at MSG, I'm going to jump on the Penguins, and this is the tough part, too, because the other day I gave out Tampa, I had no idea they were going to be 160, 170. I just thought the line was going to be lower because of their record. I usually don't bet teams that high, so hopefully the Penguins will be around

the 140, 150 tops. Probably going to take them on the money line, probably chase them with the puck line as well. I'll give out specific wages when I put the blog up Tuesday, but again, Pittsburgh Tuesday at MSG over the ranges, and also today is Veterans Day in the United

States, and we'd like to thank everyone who was served in service today. It's a huge sacrifice to dedicate one's life to the armed services. And we appreciate the hell out of you here at spit and chicklets. Well said, well said, uh, I have a video, um,

that I don't know if I'm going to release yet. It could be my first tweet in quite a while. Could just be sent to you, Grinnelli. So the other day night, NHL network had a show on. I didn't see the beginning. I think it was top 30 personalities in hockey, but it was an old video.

So I'm watching it, and all of a sudden, number 19, Paul Bissonette comes. There were some classic old clips of you interviewing girls on the street and stuff. So what I did was, during the video, I just paused paused it and I gave my opinion on each thing he said. So maybe we'll get that out there at some point. I thought it was pretty funny. It was basically me just carving you. I had to do something with the coyotes, with the man on the street.

Was I wearing a white shirt? I don't remember the shirt you were wearing, but it wasn't just that. It was a bunch of things like your placement in the game and like funny audio clips. But I just had opinions on everything you said, so maybe we'll get that video out. I want to see this fucking video before it goes out.

All right, don't worry about it. Wait, where did you find that video? It was just on NHL Network, and I said, oh, my God, yes. Hold on, Brie. I go record this. It was on recently? It was the other day. The only reason it was on is because the Bruins Red Wings were on NHL Network,

but it's blacked out when it's in Boston, right? Because Nesson has it. So then they show these old time filler type videos. Oh, God. How cringeworthy was some of the content? Not really cringeworthy. It was funny. It was funny. i think fans of

you you will think it's pretty funny like i just all five of them yeah right thanks mom anyway all right guys we love you oh do we talk about the meet and greet yeah uh yeah i did that about five minutes ago. Weed works. And if something happens, Biz, I told these guys, something happens tonight, I'll get on there. I'll get on here tomorrow and I'll recap it. So don't you guys worry. So actually, if you're listening to this and nothing happened, you didn't hear me address anything.

And if you're listening to this, you also know that I would have stepped up to the plate and covered my boy had something happened. All right. Peace. Bye. I'm out. Love you.

See you guys. And as always, we'd like to say thank you to our sponsors and listeners. We hope you're supporting our sponsors because they're awesome. If you want to check out Men's League Sweaters, go to mensleaguesweaters.com slash chicklets or use the promo code chicklets. For Roman Swipes, you want to go to getroman.com slash CHICKLETS. To check out Black Buffalo, go to blackbuffalo.com and use the promo code SC. And to keep those chicklets looking their best, go to getquip.com slash CHICKLETS.

Take care, everybody. Have a good one. Hey, baby. There ain't no easy way out. Hey, I will stand my ground. And I won't back down. No, I won't back down.