Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 222: Featuring Jamal Mayers

Episode Date: November 28, 2019

On Thursday's episode of Spittin' Chiclets, the guys are joined by former NHLer Jamal Mayers. Jamal joins to talk about his great work in the community with the Chicago Blackhawks, along with some hilarious stories from his career. The guys also talk about all the crazy NHL news, including the Bill Peters incident. The boys wrap up with some lighter talk including a gambling corner from RA.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 222 of Spittin' Chicklets, presented by Pink Whitney, the pink lemonade-flavored vodka from our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka. What's up, gang? We got some rough days for the sport lately. Some eps more fun than others. This week, we got some rough shit to talk about, but we're going to do what we do,

and we're going to talk about it. But first, we're going to say hi to the boys, a little roundtable. First, our producer, Mikey G. We got a big sale coming up soon, right, Mike? Yeah, boys, a lot of negative stuff to talk about in this podcast, but very positive stuff to start. 20% off the Barstool Sports store for Black Friday through Cyber Monday, the new NBD line, all of our new Nike merch.

We have these new jersey sweatshirts as well. So we're selling a ton of stuff in the Spittin' Chicklets store right now, so go check it out there. 20% off through Black Friday. Nice, nice. I'd wear my sweater right now, but I'm already fucking sweating my nuggets off. So let's go to Ryan Whitney next. What's going on with Doug? Not much.

I got that Christmas tree ornament, Grinnelly, the Spittin' Chicklets Christmas tree ornament. I'm not someone who gets a tree before Thanksgiving. I think people who do that are idiots and crazy. But when I do get a tree, that'll be going right up there and there's some great swag, so check it out. We appreciate all you guys supporting Chiclets and Barstool. My mom

puts it up at Canadian Thanksgiving, her tree. So in October. That's not a total. No, I'm just fucking with you. Dude, I drove by a ton of houses that are decorated, trees, Christmas lights. I'm like, what are you doing? Just wait till the Friday after Thanksgiving. Enough. I'm like, what are you doing? Just wait till the Friday after Thanksgiving. I like Christmas, so I like squeezing out every ounce of it.

So I don't mind the early Christmas trees. Grinnelli's shaking his head. That's just because you're the fucking Grinch. I did like that bar in Philly and all the Christmas stuff. That did feel pretty nice. And that was like three weeks before Thanksgiving. So maybe I don't even know what I'm talking about. Oh, is that the karaoke where R.A. sang?

Yeah. Which, by the way, R.A., I was a little irritated that I never got major thanks for the cinematography and making you look good. Yeah. You know what? I think I was fighting a few different battles on different sides of my performance and whatnot. So, yeah, you are right. You did some great job with the cinematography. I think you were the only cinematographer that night, to be honest with you. I do. I thank you for your commitment.

By the way, that's our last member of the crew, Paul Biznasty Bissoned. You were great that night. Without you, man, then it might have just fallen to the sands of time and no one would have saw it. Why, you don't think I would have gone over and filmed for you? No. You didn't. It's actually funny, boys, because I just got

back from Dallas looking at venues for the Winter Classic. Oh, shit. We will be doing a live show, and one of the venues we looked at, perfect for R.A. doing a little karaoke. What? R.A., would you get nervous doing karaoke in front of 500 people that were our fans? No, no.

I mean, it's just you gotta probably you gotta get that perfect level of alcohol where you're not too drunk but you're buzzed enough to say fuck it and get up there and do it it's very easy for you to find that perfect line you're always there like like let's be honest i mean it's going to be one way or the other you're going to be pretty much sober or waffled hey he's going to look like that dinner in the west coast wagon tour before he gets up he's like all right uh you got to go on stage you're singing a lullaby those la karaoke songs so if in fact we got you on stage to do karaoke at the live event in dallas for the winter classic it's called the winter classic that one correct correct okay about the stadium series sorry there's like so many now that i'm losing track. Would you go back to that same song to no, no,

I got different songs in your bag. Fuck man. I'm Jagger boy. He doesn't even need them. I know timeout when, when he was doing it, he wasn't even looking at the words. I don't know. I just, I said that at the end, he probably for real Rolling Stones, I'm guessing you don't need any of the lyrics to read, all right? Well, that's the thing. If I get too buzzed, sometimes I have to Google him on my phone. I used to get drunk down at Warren Tavern and sing him after hours.

The guy who would come and play the guitar, we'd get drunk and stoned after hours. There'd be like 15 of us in there, and I'd be singing Wild Horses and shit. Oh, yeah, G and my cousin, the Vats, and the Foley might have been there a couple times. So chances are you're going back to a Mick Jagger song, just not that one? Yeah, I'll do a different Stones song chances are you're going back to a mcjagger song just not that one yeah i'll do a different stone song could you do a female artist um and if you did you have a song off the top of your head right now that you might go at oh man that's the thing female artists have such great voices and like i could fake a country twang but like trying to fake like a brenda lee or a fucking amy Amy Winehouse, that's a tough sell, man. So I'd have to really look all in.

Yeah, but you've always been searching for respect. Could you see him doing R-E-S-P-E-C-T? You would do that. I really think you could pull that one off. Yeah. I mean, Aretha, I just have to go with it. The thing is, you've just got to commit. You've got to commit from going.

And even when they pulled the plug on me, I still stuck with it. I think I know what I'm going to get all right for christmas voice lessons before the winter classic and i want to hear this guy i want to hear i think we should have a full camera crew and he's like wait wait we're not doing the singing we got to address your voice on the podcast first hey we'll bring in brett kissel and we'll have a celebrity judge panel and we're going to do it like America's Got Talent. I don't think it's going to help. It's probably about 45 years too late to fix this. We could have some crazy content ideas.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Five minutes in. The wheels are spinning. Let's get cracking here. We do have a guest we're going to be bringing on later, Jamal Mayes. We had penciled in our guests a while back. It's just kind of a coincidence.

Things fell into place the way they did this week. We weren't going to switch, I guess, because of it. So it's actually a great conversation. We're going to get to that later. But first, we're going to get to the stuff that's gone on these last few days. It's been an ugly couple days in hockey. This isn't fun and games. We don't really like to talk about it, but it's important news.

And I figured the best way to do it is chronologically. I know one story, the Akeem Alou story is the dominant one, but that doesn't happen without the Babcock stuff happening for us. So we're going to backpedal a little here, try to stick with us. And, you know, not long after Babcock was fired, stories started kind of leaking out about his methods. One story in particular came out and said that he made a rookie make a list of teammates who were, you know, from the most laziest to the least laziest,

basically. And then he read the list to some of the players on it and horrified the rookie. Well, it comes out the rookie was Mitch Marner, who was, you know, arguably the best player on the team, best rookie on the team, certainly. And he didn't know what to do. He said, I thought it was surprising. I was lucky the guys that were there were with me. None of them took it to heart.

They knew it wasn't up to me. It was my first year. I didn't know what to think of it, but it's over with now. I'm looking forward to the new change and how the team goes, blah, blah, blah. Basically, he wanted to get past it. It sounds like a guy that wants to move on. Babcock said, I was just trying to focus on work ethic with Mitch, focusing on role models. It ends up not being a good idea. I apologized at the time. Jeff O'Neill seems to think he didn't apologize. Bottom line, Babcock's methods, they're starting to come out a little bit. What do you got on this one so far biz I know we got a long ways to go um one one detail uh it was on

the father's trip so I know some people carry more weight to that because that's supposed to be a type of bonding experience where everyone's really having a good time and these fathers see what it's all about I'm I'm just gonna bundle everything we've heard about Babcock in you know not only the last few weeks and and how how uh how excited it seemed the players were that he was no longer head coach there uh how excited they were to get their new coach uh with all the stuff that we've heard in the past with the Commodore situation we told another story with um with O'Connor with my with my buddy from uh from Arizona who lives here now about, when he was coming up to the minors, how Babcock walked out and was like, like pretty nice building,

at an NHL building. He said, you know, you'll never get another game here. So enjoy it kind of thing. So there's, there's, there's enough there for me to basically say this is, is if you're spending time thinking about being a dick rather than trying to be a better coach and thinking of ways to bring out the best in your players as opposed to mind fucking them to seem to think that that may work to get them to play better i just i i feel sorry for you that's that's what it comes down to i mean i don't i don't know how much this is going to hurt him in the future but i think that that after all this comes out,

and the Mitch Marner thing, some people will say, it's not that big of a deal. Some people will say, no, that's mental manipulation. But he needs to reflect on what the fuck he's been doing. And I guess one of the closest connections I've had to it is the Commodore situation or how aggressive he's been towards Babcock since Babcock fucked him over some people some people were on the fence of uh or on the line of all Commodore's just bitter because he's a washed up guy and he

wasn't getting his ice time so you know they probably had a fuck you match and whatever no it's there's enough correlation there and there's enough stories to know that he probably did fuck over Commodore. And luckily for our friend, he's got thick enough skin where rather than him going into a shell and him probably maybe even end up becoming depressed over it, Commodore, it's water off a duck's back where he's just going to be like, fuck you and tell everybody that he's a fucking asshole. Well, what if Commodore wasn't that type of guy? What if he was the type of guy where that would have put him in a downward spiral where it would have affected him even post-career where he would have fell into a deep depression? It's rude for me

not to think about how it would have affected somebody else and not just my buddy. So I guess I'll reiterate the fact that I just feel sorry for Babcock if that's the type of shit that he's pulling off and this is a guy who's got a psychology psychology degree from McGill well I don't know man like throw that out the fucking window because that ain't fucking helping you doing any favors so I don't know how long till he gets another coaching job but this is something for me that you think about the hall of fame and before all this shit really came out you think this guy's a hall of fame coach because he's got enough accomplishments where i'm like the hall of fame isn't for a place for fucking people that have

treated people in the game like that that's not what this is about it's a fucking game we're talking about people here and if that mental manipulation and all that power being flexed over regardless of how hard you think that you know you're just being hard on the guys to get the bus out of them fuck you i've had plenty of coaches who have who have yelled at me about being accountable about my actions on the ice not trying to fuck me over with other little other shit off the ice and and once again i'm you guys know me i'm a throwback i'm more old school i talk about my old coach stothers all the time where dude he used to fucking get pretty heated and he used to

put us on our heels but it was for right reasons we weren't listening we weren't listening to what he was trying to implement as far as systems where he's like fuck you guys let's go bag skate then if you don't want to listen to me it wasn't this other behind the scenes bullshit so i've rambled on a little too long here with and i'm sorry but i just if you're gonna lie on the side of like oh whatever it happened fuck it it's over with you know it's just like man there's enough fucking there to say this guy's a complete fucking asshole that's that's kind of what i was gonna start off with there's many things so if i forget i might interrupt somebody after because i have things that i gotta get off my mind one being he's just a prick.

Dude, he's a prick. And Biz, I will say quickly because you said this at the end. I can't imagine some of the stuff that the guys are in the Hall of Fame pulled off, dude. This is it. It was different. It was 100 percent different. This is beyond that. This is beyond the whole conversation of how coaches are bullies and coaches are rude and

the whole culture of coaches and players in pro hockey, minor hockey. we're going back to peewee, all these type things. What he did is beyond that, because you're right, it's mental manipulation. It's being a fucking dirtbag. And for everyone who quickly out there said, well, why did the players stand up and say something? Dude, you can't say anything. Do you understand what it's like for people who don't know? When I was with the coach would we'd have a meeting or meeting and meeting, and he'd just rip on me and say things that were just like, holy fuck, you couldn't believe it. Well, dude, that was how it was.

You had to do what the coach says, man. Especially, you're talking Marner's a rookie. The kid's sitting there like, what else is he supposed to do? There's no other option. And after, people don't want to say anything. They don't want to ruffle any feathers. You always think like a coach could bury me. It's happened.

It happened many times over the course of history. Coaches bury players. So for all these people, how didn't players step up or media step up? That's the other thing. Well, media wants access. A media guy breaks that story without it really you know being set in stone and you couldn't get Marner to talk about it if he was still the coach and this story broke well all of a sudden that media guy he can't do his job so all the people out there why wasn't

anything said dude you've seen it in a lot of uh different parts of life and you talk about like hockey's me too movement I swear to god like, like I saw a couple of people tweet that. Well, yeah, things start coming out because people still, even after don't want to ruffle feathers there, it is a weird culture in terms of like people have power over you. You need to, uh, you fall, not only follow the rules, but just do exactly what you're told and not step forward and step doing anything or else you might not keep rising your career.

You might not get to the NHL. So I'm rambling on as well. But the whole issue being that Mike Babcock, he sounds like a prick. I've heard enough now. He's a prick. And call me when you told that quick story about the kid when he said you'll never see us. I almost was like, is that true?

And now it's like, yeah, that definitely was true. Yeah, he's my buddy. I don't think he'd make up the story. I know. I know. He's adding a little spice to it, but it's just like that definitely was true because he's my buddy i don't think he'd make up the story and i know i know he's adding a little spice to it but it's just like holy shit man how many more of these stories are we gonna hear we heard the the madonna one told by jeff o'neill before i throw over to ura of course the way the special is the spezza situation was handled this guy showed up you know two months just before training camp to work with all the rookies it's just like okay so some people might

not agree with one situation in particular but if you group them all together it's really hard to to go the other way and we we mentioned cancel culture during the Don Jerry episode do I think Babcock should never coach again no what I think should happen is he should take some time away and he should seriously reflect on, on maybe some of the things he's done in the past. Maybe reach out to some of those guys. He went above and beyond in order to fuck over, really, truly apologize. Whether those guys want to forgive him or not. I don't know because if it, but at certain point, if you're, if you're a bad human, something significant has to happen in order for you to change your methods. And this has to be it for Babcock. And if it's not, then fuck you. I completely write the guy

off. Now I'm all for a second chance. And, and, and that, that's all I got to say about that. Yeah. Monday on his show, Jeff O'Neill, he said, I would be shocked if Babcock actually apologized because he said he apologized to Monty. He was like, I doubt he never did. And he said, he's just not a good person. Like O'Neill was very forceful with his words and then see things seemed to die down until monday night and then the ripple effect i'd say really kicked in that's when former player akim alu who's taken 56th in the 07 draft by the blackhawks tweeted a series of what i'd call stunning tweets uh for a little background alu was born was born in nigeria to a nigerian dad and a ukrainian mom before moving to Canada and settled in Toronto in 2007.

That's a long way of saying he's a black kid. And here's what he tweeted. Not very surprising the things that we're hearing about Babcock. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Same sort of deal with his protege in YYC, which is the airport code for Calgary. He dropped the N-bomb several times toward me in the dressing room in my rookie year because he didn't like my choice of music. First one to admit I rebelled against him, wouldn't you?

And instead of remedying the situation, he wrote a letter to John McDonough and Stan Bowman to have me sent down to the East Coast League. 20-year-old on pace for 20 goals in his first pro season with zero special teams time, off to a great start in his pro career. He then spoke to TSN's Frank Cervelli about the incident he elaborated on it lou said peter's made the remarks that when he was playing for the ahl's rockford icehogs in the dressing room before a morning skate the 20 year old the lou was controlling the team's music he said that peter's walked in before pregame skate and said, hey, Akeem, I'm sick of you playing that N-bomb shit. He said, I'm sick of hearing this N-bomb fucks other N-bombs in the ass stuff.

He then walked out like nothing ever happened. You could hear a pin drop on the room. Everything went dead silent. I just sat down on my stall, didn't say a word. He said Captain Jake Dowell confronted Peters about the incident in the coach's room. Dowell declined to comment to Cervelli. And then when Alou had the meeting with Peters, he didn't bring it up. Because like you just said, there's a power dynamic.

He's 20 years old. He's not going to sit here and yell about it. And Peters really doubled down. He said, you know, I'm just sick of this N-bomb shit. It's every day. From now on, we need to play different music. Just completely oblivious to what he's saying. And it kind of buried Alou from there.

And, you know, you've got to understand how a guy doesn't want to speak up in that spot. So, I mean, if it's found to be true, and like I said, it was corroborated by two other teammates on the team who said it did happen. So it certainly seems like it did happen. The Flames are investigating it right now. They held Peters out of practice on Tuesday. He's not coaching the Flames on Wednesday.

I think we know how this is going to play out, but it's ugly. Let's go to you first on this one. So we have the two people that have said that it's true. If that's the case and it's true, get them out. Done. See you, buddy. See you later. You ain't coaching in the NHL anymore.

You have no right to coach in the NHL anymore. That is like beyond. We're talking. You cannot compare Mike Babcock and this guy if this is true, all right? There's one complete difference is the racism and to say that to a kid in front of his teammates, no matter where you say it to him,

it's just like, if that is the case, see you later. What's weird to me, and it kind of goes into what I'm saying about the culture and having people keep things quiet in the NHL, pro sports, I'm sure, but in the NHL, that's how it goes. Well, only two teammates. It's surprising. Where are the rest of the teammates? It's just odd to me that you haven't even heard other people say,

yeah, it is true. And I'm not blaming any of those guys who've been asked, and I'm sure people have. And you named one guy. I'm sorry. like it's just odd to me that you haven't even heard other people say yeah it is true and i don't and i'm not blaming any of those guys who've been asked and i'm sure people have been you named one guy i'm sorry i can't remember his name you just said it jake dowell jake so he he declined not to comment well he's he declined to comment to sarah valley but he said he would cooperate in any investigation conducted by the nhl the flames and i'm not okay since two people had already admitted hearing it maybe he heard that some people like they they just like like i don't know i guess some people

might be like oh you're just a bigger part of the problem if you're if you're you're holding it in whereas it goes back to maybe those guys are scared that they're fucking gonna get buried because of it and they feel like a rat where where i i don't mind the approach if there's a actual investigation being done by the league he'd be glad to sit down in a room and talk to somebody behind the scenes rather than releasing it on social media which that seems like a fairly responsible way to handle it i i completely agree i didn't i didn't actually know about that but it i'm more saying that i guess there's your point of there's two guys out there so other guys are like whatever but it is it goes into what i'm saying that people keep is your point of there's two guys out there so other guys are like whatever

but it is it goes into what i'm saying that people keep things quiet and it's always been that way and the issue is that with this situation right like i understand completely there was a report out there that he was fired walt then brad traveling a tree living he addressed the media and you could tell listen i you couldn't fire him right away. You, this, this entire investigation going on, it has to be done, right? You can't just, I think that it makes total sense to let's just get the entire story out, not in the open, but at least where we're, we're listening it.

We're listening to it. The, the league knows the team knows everyone's interviewed. Then we make the decision, but it sounds like it's true. And we're recording Wednesdaynesday at 3 39 p.m eastern um who knows if he's fired tonight if it is true he's gone do you agree with that hope that's not too early for some of you all 100 so one of the arguments being made by some people is oh what was 10 years ago like at what point do you well listen if 10 years ago he would have said it to him and then maybe been like, ah, fuck. Or, or maybe a keen would have went in the office and mentioned how much it bothered

him. And then bill would have been like, fuck dude, you know what? It was, it was just an ignorant thing. And it was stupid for me to say, I'm sorry. Like, please forgive me that it would have been addressed then. And then I would be like, well, guys, there was already a discussion. There was some time for reflection. It seems like he would have you know apologized then you know even if he would have still got fired in today's age because of it I wouldn't be shocked but don't fucking tell me

I was 10 years ago fuck you that guy wasn't sorry for what he said he fucking doubled down in the office apparently and that's the story that came out Akeem said he went in the room and he and he fucking doubled down on it so no you don't deserve to coach in the National Hockey League and and and we go back to Babcock thing no I don't think it's anywhere close either what's even more shocking is is that given what happened 10 years ago now fast forward to the to the other things that came out and now it's like the babcock thing well it's not just one thing there's a there's a there's a big chunk here now there's more stories coming out where there's some fucking anger issues there there's a little bit of evil where yo this guy needs to take a step back he shouldn't be in a leadership position and this

guy needs to go talk to some people about some of the issues he has up top in his head because it needs, it obviously needs some fixings and, and, and RA, you can kind of chime in as to what I'm talking about regarding the Nolan stuff. Actually go ahead with, sorry. Well, no, my brain's all over the place. Cause there's so many different parts of this entire story. So if we're, if we're flip-flopping here, I apologize. I'm a little out of it. Tomorrow's Thanksgiving we're hosting-flopping here, I apologize. I'm a little out of it. Tomorrow's Thanksgiving. We're hosting. So listen, one thing I want to make clear, at least in my opinion, with all of this is that a lot of these coaches that, that were complete pricks back in the day, that's how the

game was. And I'm not like saying like, I'm not like blaming those guys for being assholes, dude, you wanted to coach like that. You could be an asshole back then guys ended up making it to the NHL because a lot of people yeah were there people buried well that's that was the game I mean it's not like I'm sitting here now like I can't believe I was talked to like that by a coach like coaches can yell at you coaches can be pricks we're not saying that but you have to have respect for guys you can be an asshole coach and you can be someone who thinks that that's going to work and that's going to be your style and it's going away but there's still some of them out there especially coaching kids you can think that that's going to be your style but if you respect the guys then so be it right if you're like actually doing things

behind people's back and like a horrible person you have no place and that's completely different than a coach who was an asshole and expected a lot of our players but you know what he did respect you off the ice and he showed you that respect well that's fine then so there's a huge difference between old school coaches that did it that way and guys like mike babcock and peters who are just complete scumbags it seems like and and we've heard a few stories about Brian Burke on this podcast specifically. And, R.A., I'll let you talk about the Nolan thing, whereas he's got a lot of old-school views. But do you remember when a coin came on and said,

listen, things weren't working out there, and there was obviously a conflict? And Brian Burke came down and said, hey, listen, I don't think things are going to work out here. We're going to try to accommodate you as best as possible. That's the type of stuff where there's a difference. I get Brian Burks a bit hard and old school, but he's still treating guys with respect and not fucking guys over because it's not working out where you are.

If you're a coach, yeah, there's probably going to be plenty of players you don't agree with. Maybe they see their game in one way and you see it in another fashion and they don't want to listen to you because they're a little bit of stubborn and there's a bit of a rift going on. And, yeah, guys aren't going to like each other. Fucking try to do your best to get them out of the organization and just move on, man.

Not everyone's going to like each other. There's going to be creative conflict. And, R.A., we could talk about that, the Nolan stuff, if you don't mind. Not at all. Yeah, no, just for one second on him. He's, I think he's empowered. And he said, he decided to speak out to hold Peter's accountable. Cause he said, quote, it's tough to sit here while he, he just keeps

climbing the ranks after that incident. I got zero opportunity. I've made peace with it. I just hope he's honest and admits what happened. And he even did say biz. If he just apologized to me that day, fine. I would have moved on. But, you know, like you said, he decided to double down and continue to use the racist word. So it just sucks because who knows

what kind of career this kid would have had. But that's not the least of it. Again, I said this is kind of a ripple effect thing. And it kind of got worse for Peters. Then on Tuesday, Czech player Michael Jordan, not number 23 in the Bulls, he also shared his experiences with Bill Peters on Twitter. He said, quote, never wish anything bad to the person, but He also shared his experiences with Bill Peters on Twitter. He said, quote, never wish anything bad to the person, but you get what you deserve, Bill. After years making it to the NHL, had experience with the worst coach ever by far, kicking me and punching other players at the head during the game, then pretending like nothing happened. Couldn't believe my eyes that what can happen in the best league. Happy that I don't have to go through that stuff on a daily basis anymore.

And then Mark Armstrong, who's a reporter in Raleigh, he tweeted that a bunch of the players in the leadership group at the time and other staff members went to Ron Francis, who was then GM, made their concerns known. The reporter said no change was made. I believe he was alluding to a coaching change. But today, Sarah Sivian in the Athletics, she got some good dish. And she said a member of the 15-16 Hurricanes told The Athletic that John Michael Lyles, Justin Falk, Ron Hainsey, and others confronted Peters in his office.

And he apologized, but dot, dot, dot. And then Rod Brindamore, he came out today and said that he was proud the way the players and staff acted and proud the way management acted because basically none of that shit happened afterwards. In other words, I think he was saying management spoke to Peters. No one else got kicked or punched. But also he's in a tough position too because he's coaching the team. He's friends with a lot of guys.

So he probably doesn't want to throw anybody on the bus. He just seemed like he wanted to talk about today's game. And then as far as the three Hurricanes who played under Peters, they were available for comment. Jordan Stahl, Jacob Slavin, and Brett Pesci. Neither one of them really wanted to talk about it at all. They just kind of wanted to move on. So Peters fell out of favor with a number of Hurricane staff and players

during his tenure because of the incident. And his failure to name Justin Williams captain when he came back to Carolina, that was supposed to be the plan. He didn't go through with it. The Athletic reached out to Williams for comment. They couldn't get in touch with him, or he declined to comment rather. So it just feels like this might like, it might be a cultural change here, boys. Like guys are going to speak out whether they're playing or not. And you know,

this old school asshole kind of coach, it may go the way of the dinosaur here. And that might not be a bad thing when you hear these kinds of stories. And we've heard guys talking about Mark Crawford kicking guys. I know we kind of laughed about it. It was 25 years ago, but I was kind of horrified. I'm like, coaches actually fucking kick guys on the bench? Like, I didn't know that shit went on. So it's going to be which way does hockey go off the hip, I think is the big question. And part of me, as I said before, I sympathize for them

because obviously they're just not right. Like something's off for the fact that they're acting that way. I don't know if it was a case of they were treated like that so they feel like that's the way it's got to be or you know combine that with the pressures of coaching and the pressure to win and and media and pile that all on where it just maybe takes over you and possesses you in order to fucking do this stuff it makes you go crazy maybe right right? Because we've never been in that situation where there's that much pressure on us. Maybe, I mean, maybe more so not me, Whit, maybe you because of the type of money you were making and the pressures that you maybe felt in Edmonton.

But it's just, if you're not able to handle it at that level and these types of things are happening, which are clearly offside, you just need to take a step back and you just need to get help on a personal life level. And listen, these guys have plenty of money in order to go get that help they need in order to fix these things. And I guess I'll just leave it at that. It's a part of where I just feel – I don't feel sorry for them. I feel sorry for how Akeem Alou had to deal with it.

I feel sorry for them where I'm like, fuck, dude, you're a bit of a broken human being. You need to figure some shit out. And it's such a power thing. You just have all the power over everyone, and you take complete advantage of it. There's got to be. There has to be other coaches shaking in their boots

about guys coming out. And in the end, there'll be stories that come out that you're like, actually, I shouldn't say who knows what's going to happen moving forward. Some stories that come out may sound like horrific, but I'm just going back to a time of when Terry and coaches the Flyers. I've told funny stories because, like, that's just how it was. I mean, he was fucking abusing us sometimes just giving it to me and army, but he got us to the NHL. It's like, that's how things were.

But when you're talking about things like Babcock and then the racism is even worse, that's just on a different level. So I know I'm going around in a circle, but it's crazy to think that the whole thing could be changing and the entire way that coaches talk and treat their teams might be different in the next few coming years. One thing we haven't mentioned yet was Paul Maurice's comments. Now, if you guys could go online and read them,

it was kind of a long paragraph, right, R.A.? We're not going to read it. Yeah, he was basically saying that he comes from that old school. He started coaching back in the 90s and he's had to adapt. And he mentioned a story about a year and a half ago. Wheeler coming up to him and saying, hey man, just treat the guy fucking

nice. I know you don't like him. And he said that really stuck with him. It was just like just having a little bit of empathy for people instead of just being 100% of a dick all the time. And he seems like a guy who's certainly changed with the times and other guys from that old school and what's so crazy sorry is the fact that like you're it's busy you're 100 right something is so off in in all right well i need this guy to perform the better he performs the easier it'll be for us to win then my job is safer okay well what's the best way to get him to perform i'll call him a pussy and fucking shit on him every single turnover

and rip on him and call out anything in his life that you can think of? Or, hey, buddy, how you doing? What's going on today? What's going on away from the rink? It's like life 101. You think somebody's going to do better the worse you treat them? How stupid are you? And remember this, a lot of you hockey fans listening,

is this is a small group of individuals, okay? This doesn't represent hockey. I've played for a lot of coaches. I've rarely seen any type of issues like this. I played for Tarion. Yes, did he have us on our toes? Did he fucking – yeah, he gave it to us pretty good he never he never crossed that line with me he may have with others never with me so that's my

experience i told the story on vancouver radio this morning i played for dave tippett in the nhl okay i i was more of a healthy scratch than games played with my time with the arizona coyotes every single time i was a healthy scratch after pregame skate, he would come up to me. He tapped me on the shit pad. He'd go beast. You know, he's like, you know, I don't think they're playing. They're tough guy. And, you know, I think, I think our fourth line is going pretty good right now. And I kind of need this guy here in case, you know,

we get a little bit of penalty trouble. And, and I'm like, dude, I'm a fucking peasant. Like you don't have to come over and make me feel like it was a tough decision better about yourself dude but i but i felt like i was just so much as part of the team as shane doan was and and to me is that's that's my experience okay and i bet you there's 30 other coaches in our 25 other coaches in the league that are probably like that with their players and player coaches and genuinely good people because he was worried about how I was going to feel inside about the fact that I wasn't going to be in the lineup.

And like I said, I didn't need it every time, but that's how good of a human he was. And that's why I think that we got the most out of our teams when we were in Phoenix was just because of how he did it, you know, and how he made everyone feel like they were a part of it. And he kept that locker room tight. He wasn't trying to turn guys against each other. Everything that he had, everything he had an issue with,

he would have came in the locker room and he would have pointed at you and said, I fucking need more from you. What the fuck is that? You're letting us down right now. And that's how it should be. That's real life. That's real down right now and that's how it should be that's real life that's real life baby that is how it should be now in in everyday society i talk to people who work in office buildings where it's like you gotta call hr in you gotta tell them that they fucked up again for the fourth time doing the exact same thing whereas no that's way

too soft and that's why shit ain't getting done there's definitely a line and and and i'm okay with with guys being held accountable but uh as i was saying about tip and these other guys plenty of good to go around the whole the whole people who want to point their finger at the entire industry fuck you well that's kind of what i wanted to say and it was it's about I had a great conversation. My mom was over the house. This was just like the other day or a week or so ago. I had a pen.

My mom hit the pen. Great conversation. We're sitting there and we're talking about, we ended up talking about an athlete. I don't remember who it was. It was a football player who was getting ripped on. It might have been Jared Goff. There was a radio show.

You know how you can watch Felger and Maz on TV, all right? Yeah. So it was on TV just in the background. We're in the kitchen. She's like, that guy, wow, they say that guy's awful. Start going into, it was when I was not on social media because I was then telling her, yeah, it's like just so negative now. That's all you hear about is you hear about the bad things. Every walk of life, you hear about the news. It has all bad stories for the most part. That's just what you hear about. Well, hockey's no different. I mean, there's bad people in every aspect, every walk of life. But in my mind, and that's what me and my mom were saying,

there's way more good people. And I'm talking in every, every aspect and everywhere you look in the world, there's way more good than bad. You hear about the bad. Well, hockey's no different. You know how many amazing people have created hockey and where it's at now the people that are closest to me in my life that i consider like family they're all through hockey and it's to try to bring down an entire sport because a couple couple bad apples well it's no different than at all everywhere you look you're always

going to run into bad people but there's so many more good people than bad and so for hockey to get called out and what's unfortunate is it's on the main screen and you see it on the main thing on Twitter now because of something like this. Well, that's what sucks. But people need to understand that this game's full of incredible people who do stuff for others. You learn the game, you learn a team game where you need to rely on everyone. And it's different than every other sport basketball is very small football is too big it's hockey hockey is such a family and so many guys after the game stay close with the brothers they played hockey with and so i just hate the fact that people try saying it's this awful sport look at this talks toxic culture they have fuck off it's great sport with great people you got some dickheads running it like everywhere everywhere. So that's me just saying enough.

It's an awesome sport that does great things for a lot of people. Tweets like this can serve as a disinfectant for that toxicity. I mean, to me, I think this is just the tip of the iceberg. I know what you mentioned, the Me Too thing, and it's the same thing at play. It's a power dynamic. It's like you're taking advantage of people under you. They're not going to complain because then you're going to

fucking fuck with their career. There are a lot of similarities. I think we'll see a lot more complaints about coaches, and they're probably going to run the gam you're going to fucking fuck with their career. There are a lot of similarities. I think we'll see a lot more complaints about coaches, and they're probably going to run the gamut. Some of them are going to be probably awful, and some of them might be like, okay, buddy, you know, you had to skate a couple extra times, but the thing is, you know, they

all can't beat John Cooper, but I think we might start seeing more coaches with his style because he seems to do it good. He seems to have that blend of just working with these young kids very good, not being too much of an asshole. All his players like him, but he seems to be like the model coach right good. He seems to have that blend of just working with these young kids very good, not being too much of an asshole. All his players like him, but he seems to be like the model coach right now. Well, too, Sheldon Keefe you've seen in Toronto. They're playing like music during practice.

It's a totally different vibe everywhere, and maybe that's where it'll start going on. It's just getting with the times a little bit more, but there'll definitely be more to come. I know I said before. You know what I think is going to happen? I think less and less of these coaches are going to start being recycled. Another guy who I think should get a tip of the cap too is Torts.

I feel like he's adapted. I mean, he was extremely old school. And I remember John Scott coming on and saying he didn't necessarily have the best experience with him in New York. When he got there, he was like, I don't even know why we picked you up. And just like, what? Yeah, welcome to the fucking family, I guess.

Right? But I feel like he's done a better job lately of being a little bit softer and coming off of his old school stance. So some of these coaches have adapted. Paul Maurice, we just talked about, good for him. And I think that's him being like, hey, I've fucked up. I've handled it the wrong way in the past. I'm adapting. We all make mistakes it the wrong way in the past. I'm adapting. We all make mistakes.

So huge difference in the moral compass. And I think every situation needs to be assessed differently. And there was one of the aspects of the Alou story. I guess when he came to the minor pros, he already had a reputation simply because he didn't want to get hazed. Back when he was in juniors, they wanted him to get in the bathroom with like four other players naked for a bus ride. He was like, fuck, I'm not doing this.

So because he didn't want to get hazed and be naked in a fucking three-foot bathroom, they kind of labeled him as a malcontent and that kind of followed him. And it's like, dude, can you blame him? I mean, that shit's – I didn't play on junior teams. That shit just weirds me the fuck out when they make you do that. I have no idea what happened in those locker rooms going back to Windsor with Akeem Alou and the Steve Downey situation. what happened in those locker rooms going back to Windsor with Akeem Alou and the Steve Downey situation.

But I'll say this. I do remember the narrative in the paper and online was that, you know, he was a bit of a troublemaker, which looking back, if he was being hazed where he didn't want to get in the bathroom naked, it's just like, what? This narrative was out in the sky, so then other people uh premeditated thoughts maybe bill peters had heard that and that kind of spun him into thinking oh he's a troublemaker all right so he's already got that thought in his head and then it fucking snowballs from there so we're nipping in the butt now and it's about time

and and and i i think i think it's we can move on and like you said all right it's these these situations suck and we'd rather be talking about the positive than the negative absolutely but the bottom line is we all agree if peter's did this stuff it's not acceptable he should be fucking gone yesterday he just it was this wasn't not that it was acceptable 30 years ago but this was 10 years ago for christ's sake there's just no fucking need for that so we'll obviously keep you posted now i was gonna say i want to cheer you stuff. We might laugh about it, but I'm sure Keith Yendel isn't a wits.

He lost nine fucking teeth the other night, took a puck off the face, skates off the ice, comes back, gets a birdcage on, finishes the game, comes out for the next game. You must've talked to him. What was his take on this shit? Fonk. Poor kid. What a warrior though. let me tell you something i sent out that tweet describing what happened to him and it had already been um kind of going a little viral the clip of him just taking a puck right in the mouth and you know for him to immediately skate off the ice he didn't go to the

bench cross ice he knew something was bad gets in there in there, sees the damage, that many teeth missing. Oh my God. Goes back out there for the third period. He's still bleeding everywhere. Can't imagine the pain he's in. Finishes the game. Will they play the next day? They got to fly home and then play at five o'clock. He gets some dental work done in the morning. The current NHL Ironman continues the streak playing after losing nine jibs and getting dental work the morning of a late afternoon game. So you talk about load management in the NBA. Load management guy lost 19th, played like six hours later.

Suck it. That's what hockey players do, and this is the Ironman for a reason. So buy the song Man for a reason. Buy the Sonk shirts for Christmas. They're going on sale. I think they're already out there. I'm going to be wearing one on Thanksgiving and Christmas. We got Sonk sweatshirts now, too. How is there not an Iron Man

shirt already online where the little head, where the eye is? We can't jinx it. We can't jinx them. We should do a special edition. I feel like if the little head where the eye is. Because we can't jinx it. You can't jinx them. Oh. We should do a special edition. I feel like if a puck to the face losing nine teeth can't take him down, this guy is.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Knock on wood three times with your right hand right now. Thank you. I get enough death threats from merch jinxes. I can't do any more. Okay. All right. Fine. I take it back.

Regarding Keith Yandel, I might have chirped him a little bit, saying he plays a little soft and he's a riverboat gambler. I think I might have said riverboat gambler 20 times that episode. Who the fuck am I kidding? This guy is nails. Nails. I mean, actually, one of my biggest regrets is we didn't ask Duncan Keith about the situation in playoffs when he lost his teeth and came back to the game

because we didn't ask him about that. I remember saying we have part two with him. There's still plenty. We even talked about a couple of the cups, I don't think. Now, I don't know how many teeth he lost, but Keith Yandel might have lapped him as far as lost teeth and returning to the lineup. So congratulations to Keith Yandel.

You've earned the Ironman streak, and we love you. And I guess we'll hold up on those T-shirts. Yeah, well, Yandel is no doubt going to have some follow-up dentist appointments, so he'll want to spot a movement watch to make sure he doesn't miss them. And for a limited time only, every single thing at Movement is on sale. That's hundreds of premium watches blue light glasses sunnies and jewelry styles with a fresh new discount just in time for the holidays and all of your gifting needs pick a style or design that you personally like and would wear to chat about it if you need more

details let us know i got one the other day through i'm not normally a watch guy but these movement watches are wicked smooth i got a bunch of compliments on it i can even learn how to tell time using the thing because movement watches are designed in-house. They're super sleek, clean, and they won't break your bank. Movement watches are an affordable option. They have a clean design, minimal, and really quality products. Movement has sold almost 2 million watches in over 160 countries. Shop the biggest sale of the year right now at MVMT.com and use the code HOLIDAY19 at checkout and get free shipping and free returns by going to MVMT.com, the code HOLIDAY19. Once again, go to MVMT.com and join the movement. Boys, we've had a pretty heavy discussion right about now.

I think we should probably send it over to Jamal Myers. This was a great chat we had a few weeks back in Chicago, and I really enjoyed it personally and and ra i remember him texting me because we ended up shuffling the interviews around he's like hey when's my interview coming out and it randomly got bumped back to this and and despite all the negative talk and you know about the racial stuff i think it's it's good that it ended up aligning with this episode because he's doing a lot of great things with the chicago blackhawks organization and we talked about those good people involved in hockey. Well, this is one of them. So thank you to Jamal Mayers for coming on.

And you're doing some awesome things, buddy. Okay. Without further ado, send it over to Jamal Mayers. Now, it's a great pleasure to bring on our next guest. We tried to do it with him last year. We had a little audio issue. We didn't do the live podcast we wanted to, but I think is better we always like the intimate in-person stuff this guy played 915 games over 15 seasons with five different clubs including the blackhawks here in chicago

where he capped off his career with a stanley cup in boston i might add he's also pretty good face puncher when he played nowadays you can catch him crushing it on tv breaking down the nhl he also just celebrated his birthday yesterday. So happy birthday, and welcome to Spitting Chicklets, Jamal Mayes. Wow, I like it. You guys can travel with me. That's an unbelievable introduction.

You make me sound like I have a decent career. And another great guy retiring before his 1,000th game, so he doesn't make his teammates have to buy him some fancy fucking watch, a bunch of greedy fucks. So congrats. 915 games, man. That's a grind. It's, you know, well, you played a similar role in just trying to stay alive

and just enjoy the game and never wanted to, you know, a lot of guys like Mike Keane, who was kind of a mentor of mine, got to play with him. He was a guy that, you know, always said play as long as you can. How many cups did he win? Three with three different teams. Very few guys have done that that not yeah that's very true oh that's pretty sick so you came in right away learned or knew the type of player you were going to be to be able to have a long career a guy like that or were you thinking more offensive and it changed yeah honestly i came in college i had over a point of game you know like and you realize

quickly playing in the minors that it wasn't going to happen for me. You know, at the time, Mike Keenan was a coach with the Blues. They had an older team for me to make the lineup. Greg Gilbert was our coach, and he basically said to me, you're not going to play in the top six. You're going to have to kill penalties, take face-offs, stick up for your teammates. I'd never been in a fight on the ice ever. Really?

I played college hockey and got points. I could hit and was physical, and when you do that, it comes to you. And I had to learn on the job, which wasn't fun. So it's funny. We bring up a lot of times that there's guys who could have had NHL careers if they were willing to change their game. It's not that easy to do. I mean, forget just going into like becoming having to fight more but the whole ability to just know you're not going to get chances to score and it just changes your mindset so good for you for doing

that or else you probably wouldn't have the career you ended up having and then you realize yeah it's a good point I think a lot of young guys get stuck in that it must be tough even even more today because these younger players they get paid after their entry level and then they see their peers that they realize man i was better than him in in junior college or whatever and they have a real tough time accepting whatever role they're being given so that's got to be it right you see your teammates you see but for me i'll be honest with you it had a lot to do with the money it was either make 45 grand in Worcester or make 450 it was pretty simple for me so um and then we talk about putting on that mask like you don't have a mean bone in your body off the ice and and you're one guy who you kind of had to you know do it because and did you did you hate doing it honestly it got harder when I got older

um as you know biz you had to fight I As you know, Biz, you had to fight. I never really understood guys who I had to fight when they weren't angry. That to me had to be the hardest thing for guys to do. And for me, I was more fighting as a reaction to something that happened on the ice or to get your team going. Somehow I can manufacture some type of emotional attachment to it. Fighting when you're not angry was tough. As I got older, into my 30s, I was just hanging on and I was fighting more than even in my 20s.

In my late 30s, fighting was tough. I had young kids. I had daughters at the game. It changed everything because I was like, I don't want to get knocked out at the game tonight. My kids are in warm-up watching the warm-up. When I was in Pittsburgh, one of my preseason games against Toronto. And he's fucking at that point he'd played, what, eight, nine years with St. Louis.

And then it was just when you came over to Toronto. And I think that was your first year with the Leafs. It was. So we're in a face-off. And I'm like, I got it. That's my job. I'm trying to make a game for myself. And I tap him.

And this guy's like, man, it's fucking preseason. It's my ninth year. Get away from me. But I was egging him on and off. We're used to the new team where he probably felt like, fuck, this asshole's calling me out. So we ended up going. Really? I could just tell where you were like, fuck off, you loser.

The documentary, which one was it where McGratton was in it a lot? It was on Netflix. Ice Guardians. Ice Guardians. That was, I knew it, like you just mentioned, but watching that and then really seeing guys talk about the night before stuff or the pregame nap when you don't even dislike the guy, you're not mad about anything you know.

It's like that must have been, it's all damn near impossible. It's just, that's a tough way to live. Yeah, I don't know how those guys did it. Fortunately, like I said, for me, it was more of a reactionary type of thing. But at the end of your career, for sure, you're looking at the lineup. I mean, I was not a heavyweight, but I was looking at who were those second-tier guys that I may have to fight. Are they righty, lefties?

And then it got worse because then you watch them on tape. You're like, oh, this guy's a monster. I don't want to watch. Why don't I even look at that video? I'm like, shit, am I Larry Holmes or a hockey player? You'd see guys that fought that didn't mind getting hit. I was like, what's the point of that? I did not want to get hit.

I was strong enough that I could hold guys off and punch when I wanted to punch. In no means do I take any shame in the fact that I was going to punch when I wanted to punch. So who won out of you two? Who won that? I would say it was even. We'll just call it a draw. I'm sure I got taken to me a little bit. I figured people listening would want to know. I certainly did.

It's probably on YouTube somewhere. You mentioned Western University. Let's go back to your college days, your point of game. You must have been loving life. It was great. I went as a 17-year-old, played junior in Toronto, from Toronto, grew up there, and then played for Thornhill Thunderbirds. We had 11 guys get full ride from that team. We had a pretty decent team.

It was us and Wexford at the time. Jeff O'Neill got drafted. Was it OP, JHL, or no? I think they changed the name over the years. Thornhill Thunderbirds. Matt JHL, it's his one, yeah. Yeah. Jeff O'Neill was a 15 year old letter team in scoring

I was 16 a second not a big deal that's a perfect drop right there perfect drop so then were there other schools in the mix or actually pretty funny story so I grew up in a single parent home with my mom and my brother and so

we didn't I like to say we didn't redecorate. We moved a lot, just with my mom carrying two and three jobs at times. So if you can fast-forward to I'm 17. I've got Western Michigan. I'm in my second year junior because I didn't play midget, and I've got a college coach in my living room, although at that time I started getting letters from Michigan and all these bigger schools, Denver. He sat there and said and said you know we want to offer you a full ride and my mom

stood up and shook his hand said he'll see you in september and they they laughed and i said what are you talking about i want i don't know if i want to go there that man just stood in my living room and told me he's going to pay for your education for four years that's where you're going no way and that was the end of it she's like we're not even risking something happening you're taking that right now exactly so wow sometimes i would say most of the time your parents know what's best and it worked out so you you brought it up i want your mother single family home you said you know her having to get you to hockey and all that how do you how did she balance that do we didn't even have a car so taking the you know ttc the transit system

her carrying my bag you know slipping through snow storms ah geez man just just the battle of having to have i mean she's not to be like corner she's like hero yeah absolutely i didn't play hockey when i was 10 because my brother is six years old he was 16 playing north toronto double a and he realized me I went to every game. I was cheering for him. And then you could tell I missed the game. So he quit hockey the next year so I could play. Oh, man.

Really? Yeah. Kind of feeds into what I'm doing now in the community and things and projects I have going on. So it's – Well, do you want to talk about those quick while you said it? Yeah, sure. I work for the Hawks as community liaison, which sounds, I didn't want them. Sounds cushy.

Doesn't it? Doesn't it? You sound like you'd just be kicking it like we are on check. I love it. Do a shot in the private boxes. So the organization, you know, it comes down from Rocky and John and what they want to do as far as giving back to the community. And with the practice facility, we have a program called GOAL, which stands for Get Out and Learn. We visit 150 schools, which over 100,000 kids get introduced to hockey in their phys ed class ball hockey take the ice component out of it let's not confuse them learn the game let them learn the game and have an appetite for it from there we have a thing called first ride where they we then bust those

same kids kind of trying to eliminate all the obstacles so we go get them right we bring them to the facility they get to learn how to skate if they have an appetite for it and they like it there and also sorry part of that is the stem program which is science technology engineering and math and they get to learn about how it relates to hockey up in the classroom then the other component is around the ice skating and if there's kids in that group that are interested they can do little blackhawks for less than 100 bucks they can get five lessons full gear head to toe given to them yeah full gear head to huge thing so it's 150 kids 150 schools over 100 000 kids a year that we do the goal program that's awesome so i'm not sure the exact numbers

for the first ride or the uh how far it goes just a matter of time before an nhl or pops out of one of these programs it's it. It's crazy to think. Could you possibly get one? Why not, right? At the end of the day, you're introducing kids that are unbelievably athletic. There's been countless examples, and we did a couple stories where we followed a couple kids that for some reason they just took to it, and they're actually playing on legit teams now in Chicago from this program.

So it's exciting. It's something that I probably, you know, wouldn't do as often as I do, but I get a lot of reward. It's so rewarding to see these kids. Yeah, especially in America, too. Like, you know, like black Americans don't gravitate toward hockey at all, really.

I mean, there was the guy at St. Louis, I forget, Tony X or something. He kind of made a joke about Twitter, you know, and he became a meme. Oh, he's a hockey figure now. Oh, yeah. The Blues, like, they brought him to the game, he met all the team, and he's, like, legit a joke about Twitter. Oh, he's a hockey figure now. The Blues, they brought him to the game. He met all the team.

He's like legit power hockey Twitter. He was tweeting a game, right? He's like, this is unbelievable. He's like, where's the goalie go? He's like, I want to goalie up the net. It sounds hilarious. I'm putting voices on his tweets. But I see him more and more on Twitter, more prominent black Americans on Twitter.

They'll go to a game, they're like, this shit's lit, man. This is wild. It's like you want to grow the game, and there's such an untapped audience out there in america right now i feel it's a great point think about it if the black hawks with their success in the last 10 years have pretty much saturated all the kids that were what five years old to 15 if they were ever interested in hockey three championships in their in their youth that would be the time you get them let's say you have 70 of those kids that actually tried hockey at some point. Well, if you want to grow as an organization, where are you going to go?

There's a huge Hispanic and black population in the Chicagoland area. You've got to engage them. You've got to make them a part of it. You've got to make them feel like it's possibly for them. So I think when there's more people that visually look like them, then they think it's possible. I mean, there's two dynamics. There's the typical dynamic in the black community saying it's not for us, blah, blah, blah. So you're fighting against that, and you're also fighting against the regular establishment

saying that it may not be for them. So there's a huge opportunity there. I'm part of being on just the start of it, but give the Hawks credit. You're a great role model for it. I've actually been asked before, like, why aren't there more black hockey players? I'm like, well, because they don't play because black people are the best athletes. And so if all of them played. Give them the resources.

They're the best athletes. It's just incredible. So the reason that you don't see it is because kids don't play it. And it's just great to hear that you guys are doing that because that's an awesome program. Another thing, too, I mean, of course, with your upbringing as well, like some of these kids are going through tough times and tough family situations. So not only on the hockey aspect of it, just the interaction alone is probably big to them. And that's it. Think about it.

If you see a kid, if you're 12 years old or let's say 10 years old, and you go to your friend's house, and because of your hockey, you have this friend whose dad's an architect, and you see him working away. And I envision that kid going, hey, what's your dad doing? Well, he actually draws buildings for a living. Oh, and what do you have to do to do that? They get in a conversation. He realizes, oh, I'm good at math.

I like to draw. All of a sudden, their world, there's some of these kids in Chicago that live a mile away in these terrible parts of the city that have never been downtown. They've never seen the beach. They've never been a mile away. Their world is so small, and they think that's where they're going to end up. They don't see the possibilities for themselves, right? So I think if this could be a vehicle to get them out of that,

it's not really about the hockey. It's about making them believe in themselves and showing them that there's something else. There's more out there, man. Yeah, that's awesome. Very cool. Wow. That was good to hear about all that.

Especially with what you went through growing up. It makes it so relevant. You know exactly what it's like. That's just awesome to hear. I mean, was this kind of your idea? Did they know right away when you retired he'd be perfect for this? Well, they had already started these programs, and I think I just helped be a face of it.

And I kind of make a joke with my wife and say, you know, playing for 15 years, playing as a kid, it's not like being half black was looked at like, oh, that's a great thing. This is awesome. I'm like, for once, it's a positive. I'm going to take advantage of this. Absolutely.

We got to talk about St. Louis. Of course, now that they've won, You spent a majority of your career there. That's what I think of you as, a Blue. A Blue, for sure. When I think of your career, I think of you in the Blues Union. Yeah, when we post our picture of this episode, it's going to be in a Blues jersey. Talk about your time there, how often you get back. I'm sure you keep in touch with a lot of your teammates from there.

Sure, yeah. I grew up there. I was there from 21 to 35, and so I was with the organization for 12 years, played up there for 10, met my wife there. We still live there. So I travel back and forth to do the TV for the Hawks and stuff in the community. So certainly was happy for the organization and the people around it still. The organization and the people around it still keep in touch with Craig Conroy to Prongs to Jamie McLennan to any number of guys that have retired there. Outside of Toronto and Montreal, it might have one of the biggest alumni that stayed in that area. No one's from there, really, not until recently.

So it's a great town. It's not too big. Great schools, good community. They've been waiting a great town. It's not too big. Great schools, good community. They've been waiting a long time. I was happy for, I think some of the alumni thought they won. You chirp a chaser right now. They know who they are. Some watchmakers might have thought they won too.

Larry Flowers, he's like a, now mind you, he did take him to that bar, which led to their goal song. But, yes, I think he thought he was going to get his name in great. So shout out to our boy Larry Flowers. Mention Bronx, dude. We hear he's not the only one, but a hotter one, practice, tough guy all the time. What was it like playing with him? What was he like in the room? He was great.

He was always serious, though. So, like, we were roommates, and it would be funny. He'd be the captain of the room. In the room, it would be fine. We one-on-one, we walk out of the room, and I'm like, what just happened? So, you know, he liked to be hard on guys. You have to figure your way out. You're going to navigate around that and give it back to him, too.

But, you know, he was a competitor. He would give it to you in the corners in practice. You just have to give it right back to him too but um you know he was a competitor he would give it to you in the corners in practice you just have to give it right back to him so you're saying he would he would essentially like maybe snap on the group and maybe even fucking throw you under the bus and then the minute you leave the rink he's like hey man we're going for lunch pretty much yeah i think that he was such an ultra competitor and i i've started to watch him and honestly i think he became friends most a lot of times with the goalies because he never really felt like he had to compete with them on the ice. I think he was always thinking, I might have to play against this guy.

I want to have him. I want to have the mental edge on him. Wow. I remember in the locker room. I don't know. I haven't talked to him about it. He's the guy he was playing with. I mean, we're going to get him on eventually, but I'd love to pick this guy's brain

because he was a very strong personality and some of his teammates who were leaders on his team, maybe they weren't fans of him. And he had a certain way about it, but I mean, he backed it up with his plays. He's so good that he knows he was a winner. We would joke with him, though, that he would get frustrated with his teammates

and then me and Noodles would say to him, you know, Prongs, we're trying. Guys are are not don't see the game the way you see it yeah like you're you're on another level like we're those great players will say why weren't you right here i'm like dude what i didn't even do you're seeing seven moves ahead buddy i was just trying to get up the ice like but the year he won mvp i've never seen someone control a game like he did guys would try to dump the puck in you know how deer get knocking pucks down on chips he would knock it down right on the stick of our of our forwards going the other way not just knock it down like direct it toward them on purpose almost like a pass out of such a presence too he would be like even backing up on the drone he just snap rocket Tape to tape Cross ice And he just

Whenever he had the puck He might have had The most poise I ever saw Like a defenseman had He was just like Not even moving that fast And just looking people off It was

I loved watching that guy play And then he was mean as shit too Or if he didn't like When the forwards took off And then he'd come back Oh he's like fuck off He'd just ice it on goal Right from like

Just past goal line He put it on net a lot like just past goal line he put it on net a lot actually right on it he's basically saying get back if you want to practice it apparently in junior where he would he would do the fake dumpings and then he would put it on net and sometimes he would score he'd catch a goalie sleeping you know the goalie comes out to try to stop it um so we did some digging and we talked to you prior, but apparently in 2001, you guys swept Dallas and got three days off in St. Louis. Something funny happened there? Well, not really.

Well, what happened was Joel gave us three days off, and I was, what, 25 or 24, so what did I do? I flew home to Toronto and partied for three days in between two series. So my buddies always bring that up. A little different time back then. I don't think the guys have as much fun as we did. Fortunately, I had a good conference final as well, but just a different time.

I think guys could go wherever they want. Not very few guys left, I would imagine. That is not a square of a point with the Vegas. Exactly. Santa Anita. Any horse races? Oh, I'm not into the ponies. I'm not really much of a gambler, but, you know,

that would be just another vice i can't add any more yeah tell me about it big wall another another big wall i grew up a while my dad's a good buddies back then my mother's were pregnant at the same time i was born like two months after him so we go way back he's a savage absolute savage so i can't imagine what it was like in the room with him as well but just just anyway, it was wild. Talk about loving the action. Exactly. There's a Super Bowl party we had at his house, and he had a little wager.

It might be over six figures. And the party scratched the record when we had to get out of there because he was not happy. But there's nobody that treated the trainers, treated the staff and the people around the game better i learned a lot from him even though he's only what not even two years older than me a year and a half older but always looked up to him he was a guy who played the game the right way and and uh he's old school look at his sons the success they're having it's not by accident it's great to see yeah that's awesome man that is sick

oh we're let's talk about Toronto just like the pressure of playing there we were I forget we were talking about recently but just like from you going to a fairly small market in St. Louis to Toronto how overwhelming was it and you were kind of going back you were going back home yeah it was it was an awful experience for me really, I didn't get along with Ron Wilson, and I didn't play well, and I didn't get along with him. And so you had your friends who didn't really see you play as much, thought you were a decent player, third-line guy, kill penalties, 10 to 15 goals a year, fight once in a while,

and then you're not playing or you're playing on a – we were terrible. And so that made it a really tough experience. Plus, I always felt like I had to – people were reaching out to and you're like ah man he did he was a good guy to me i gotta help him out get him tickets i gotta go meet him after the game and so it it pulled you in a lot of directions being there and then um i will you know ron wilson was i didn't play the second year there i was healthy scratched for the night first 11 games we were oh nine and two never you know never changed the lineup so i remember telling the chain you're buried at that oh yeah so i asked i can't get in now yeah i tell the trainers i said what time does he get in

and they said well he gets in around 7 30 so i said to my wife okay for the next two weeks i'm leaving the house at 6 45 because the way that you had to walk through the room you had to go through the gym to get so I'm like you're not gonna you know I'm gonna show him that you're not gonna break me I'm gonna work I'm gonna work my way out of it so by the time he came in at 7 15 7 30 I was like halfway through a workout so I just wanted him to know that he wasn't gonna break me and you know I'll give Berkey credit he you know tried to find a way to get me out of there as soon as he could and it wasn't fitting for whatever reason. That happens.

It's not personal. It just was time to go. Any closed-door meetings? Did you call him and say, hey? Oh, yeah, several times. What was his answer? You know, I just was trying to get these younger guys in the lineup, didn't like how I was playing.

In practice. You know, there's not much you can do, right? If he doesn't believe in you and doesn't want to put you in there, some of it's on me. You've got to play better. I always say that. Walt's favorite line is, these young guys want to make more and play more than play better.

So I take that adage to heart, and I put a lot of it on myself. And then you finished your career with Calgary, you ended up going to San Jose and then of course finishing Chicago and winning a Stanley Cup. I mean, Calgary, what type of place was that? Caltown was fun. Maybe a little too much

fun. I got traded from Toronto so my family stayed in Toronto and went to Calgary. We just barely missed the playoffs but it was cool to play with Iggy I sat beside him in the room did you guys shave each other's head? yeah I used to joke that

I said Iggy do you mind getting off the bus before me and he's like why because I'm sick of the reporters and the fans saying oh I'm disappointed that it's not him. Did you guys have, I'm not the captain, obviously,

but did you guys have a special bond being two of the few black players in the league at the time or half black players? Not really. I think there's something, not really, honestly. Something maybe a little unwritten.

It's more of an American thing, like when you have the joke, like two black guys see each other like a white kid, like they give each other like a hug or something like that, yeah. Nah, but I think there's something there. It's probably unspoken i don't know if there we ever were like yeah man yeah fist bump yeah yeah handshakes yeah yeah none of that choreograph handshake yeah no shit no the last year is uh the nhl's big initiative of it has been hockey

is it for everyone oh you played hockey in the 1990s man you know you played college in the states I'm imagining you went through your fair share of shit what kind of shit did you have to deal with as a minority player you know what honestly what I did love about

the NHL when you're a competitor within that locker room and that goes for all five teams that I played on as long as you do your job and you're a guy who cares about the team first that's where you're going to gain your respect and if you're if you're a dick and you're not a team guy that has way more negative consequences other than you know the color of your skin now growing up and playing college where there are instances and things oh yeah anything in any number of things that you can think of have happened but it i learned from a young age from you know my mom that you know there's no sense in getting

frustrated and trying to take a penalty or you know go score more goals it's just gonna be adversity you're gonna have to deal yeah it's just part of what you're gonna have to do if you're gonna play you're gonna have to suck it up and find a way to get it done. And, you know, you can't change people. And that's one thing I think I realized when I got into like 15, 16, 17. I kind of felt this pressure to be an example of, okay, this is your perception of what black people are like is one thing. It's my job to change your mind. No, it's not.

I'm just going to be myself. Yeah, you don't represent them. I'm not going to like your bigotry or your thoughts in your head are your own i'm not i'm just gonna be myself now did anything ever happen to i know unfortunately the nhl has i can't remember the last like quote-unquote racial incident now it's like actually been homophobic alleged homophobic things but did you ever did you ever have an incident in the nhl that that you ever spoke of that we were unaware of uh I always try to handle that on my own. I would never want to.

I respect that. No, I think that people do stupid things or say different things in the heat of the moment. And I try not to, as hard as it is, paint them with the whole brush that that's who they are. I think maybe they're just trying to figure out a way to get an edge. Essentially, you don't take it personal. It's like saying your sister's a whore

or something like that. Yeah. I don't know if he was on the team when you guys won it, but Shaw. So something happened in Montreal. Like you said, he was in the heat of the moment, and then all of a sudden something gets made of it, which it should because under today's climate, it's unacceptable. You can't do it. But like you said, you can't just paint him with that brush

for the rest of his life because he said something stupid that he didn't really understand the consequences to in the heat of the moment that was when the wires were crossed not enough oxygen was going to the brain and he just said something very stupid i don't think he really meant harm to anyone other than he just wanted to fucking chirp the guy i think you're right i think if you want things to change you got to allow people the opportunity to do that right and admit that they made a mistake and let them move on. If you don't let them move on, then they're going to, to me, there's even more chance they're going to be stuck in that and say, forget it.

That's what I think anyway. So you got to give them a chance to recover from those types of things. Let's talk about your transition out of hockey into media. You've been doing a great job. We love seeing guys, you know, excel. And now you're doing, of course, the other stuff as well. Do you like being in front of the camera? Yeah's fun i think it took a year like honestly before you get comfortable you can just you know it's less feel like a robot and kind of show some

personality be yourself um but also articulate and uh i i envy don't envy you guys doing the nhl network stuff too that that's a lot. When you're watching 10, 11 games, I did that for two years when I first started, and it's way harder than doing one game. One game's a joke. And you need to know, as long as you know what's going on with the Blackhawks, that's kind of your job description,

where I'm like, wait, what's the Sharks probably? Exactly. Or there'll be guys that would text me, that puck didn't go off my stick. Did you watch? I'm like, I saw the highlight once. Yeah, bro.

I had no idea. Yeah, I didn't get a DVI. I rechecked. How about Sharpie's transition? He's incredible. Rockstar. Yeah. Some guys just get it all, like the looks, the hair, the money.

He's got a weapon on him, too. Yeah, he is. He's something. He's been killing it lately. I mean, he stepped into the biggest role in the playoffs, the national games, and it was like right away. One-on-one with Tirico. I think, yeah, he did do that.

I think at the beginning he was a little shy, and then all of a sudden it clicked, and he was just like, this guy's dominating. You know what about him, and I have to give him credit that guy he studied it he took notes he watched he took from people that he liked in like a matter of five months i would watch him and he'd ask questions he'd be like what are you doing here and how are you and he always asks questions always asking questions why are you doing that yeah figuring out how he would like be a closed door but you asked a question okay whatever there was nothing there ask more exactly figure things out how he would like be a closed door. But you asked a question. Okay, whatever. There was nothing there.

Ask more. Figure things out. Did he do any Blackhawks stuff before that? Or was that his first thing? That was his first. He did 10 games, Blackhawks. And then I think he went. So, you know, part of it, being Patrick Sharp, the career he had, the three-time Stanley Cup champion.

Let's not kid ourselves. He doesn't look like that. He's not getting that as his first game. Exactly. Sometimes you gotta know when you're that fucking good looking, you're gonna get some chances that we maybe not. But I still think then he just started crushing it.

So it's good to see. We gotta get him on here, actually. We had something. He was gonna come to Boston or something. We gotta meet him. I was doing a Q&J late night one night. He was listening and I was like, you gotta come on the plot he was like chirping me about it so we definitely gotta get him nice nice who are some of your favorite teammates here in chicago and guys maybe you still hang around with locally and what's that celebration like how many days in road you get after it uh seven okay and with the young family we had the part we partied for seven

straight days and then on that seventh day was the parade and we have the part we partied for seven straight days and then on that seventh day was the parade and we have to go back to st louis and my wife was like can we go home after the parade and i said come on one more night and she gave me like a side eye look and i just i knew like okay that's that's enough it's time to go and uh we any single wife yeah the first week at some point a wife's going to be like, you won the cup. Let's go. Yeah, exactly.

The kid needs a diaper change. I did take, the day after we won, I did take my daughters because I promised them I took them to American Girl Doll or whatever. That was part of the arrangement? That was the deal. When we're done, because it's a lot of, you know, going on, not around, so that was the deal. What'd're done, because it's a lot of going on.

Not around. So that was the deal. What did you do that day with it? Took it back to St. Louis. Just my little guy was six months at the time. And going back to Toronto would have been impossible. So I was grateful. A lot of my friends and family came in from Toronto and went to Children's Hospital for a couple hours.

Had a little bit of a pub crawl. Ended up with a big party that night. And by the time midnight comes, I don't know if the rules have changed or maybe just for me, but got to give the cup back at midnight. It was a ton of fun and drinking out of it. All the things that you can imagine. We had a great time.

I kind of, I'm interested to ask former players that are like still shredded after they retired. Do you just, do you go to the gym a lot? This is not shredded well fuck then you're just a specimen because i'll tell you right now you look pretty good fuck you haven't played hockey in how many years yeah this is my seventh year crazy but crazy quick this is um it was four years for me september i was like that was four years i was like i feel like like, I kind of still feel like I played last year. That's crazy. It's wild. We had one of your other Blackhawks teammates

on the other day, Duncan Keith. He doesn't talk much, as you know. He came in, we were like... I was blown away. It was a marvel, an unreal interview. What was he like playing with? I mean, he's an unreal guy in the room, everyone's been saying.

Oh, yeah, he's awesome. He's got his quirkiness about him. I wish I would have known before I would have told you guys to ask about his masks that he had made. Okay, no, but so this is perfect. There you go. Tell the story. Okay, so he shows us his video of these masks. He'll go to like Walgreens, random.

He got professionally made, cost like five grand. These masks that cover his entire face that make him look like he's 75, 80 years old. Oh. And sleeves that go up to his forearm. Like jackass. And he'll walk into the Walgreens and bouncing around and people are looking at him. But there's no camera crew following him.

He's just doing this for fun. Well, he probably gets recognized everywhere here. I'm going to go out and about and look like his drug. It's time to put my mask on tonight I'm going to go out and about. It's probably like his drug. It's time to put my mask on. It's his chance to go out and be normal. That's his chance to just go around and fuck around in an everyday society. Oh my God, that's hilarious. I texted with James Winooski too.

I was like, hey, anything about Keith? He goes, oh yeah, he used to watch movies on serial killers. He's nuts. I was like, I forgot to ask him that one too. So Duncan Keith is basically a member of Jackass. But you guys talked to him he's a smart guy he's always thinking about other ways to to get better always you know reading up on the newest nutrition thing and what to do and and he's you know when i retire he's right away he's asking questions about you know what did you what were you interested in my advice to him was that you know you're not going

to have to work obviously but talk to the, all these people that we get to meet that love the game, that are around the game. Get their cards, talk to them, take them to lunch while you're playing and stay engaged with these guys. If you're interested in something, I don't know what it is, but do it while you're playing. He'll do whatever he wants. When you get HOF after your signature, the door's open.

Has he ever done the mask thing with other guys in presence? No. It's always been just him? You guys should video that. I want to see it. Oh, I would love to if you would let us do a content piece. That would be hilarious. He starts jogging across the street.

They're like, that guy's a freak of nature. How old he is. He can move like that. It's like, oh, it's Dirty Grandpa. It's like, oh, no, that's just Duncan Keith. What else you got? Anything else written down? Billy Guerin was another name that you mentioned you play with.

He's pretty similar to Walt, though. Awesome. Awesome guy. When he came to our team in St. Louis, he's one of the guys that, even though they're only a few years older, looking up to them and the accomplishments that they have and the way he carried himself and just ultimate teammates. I was trying to was i tell you

the story about uh what happened when we were in columbus um him and dougie wait so i'm out the on the ice doing extra stuff skating and i come in and there's a tiny table there looks like a picnic table with a lunch for one for jammer with one table setting and everything and i'm like i guess no one wants to eat lunch with me today. I don't know what's going on. And I'm looking. They're like, everyone's watching me. And I'm looking around. They're like, you don't notice?

And I'm like, what are you talking about? They're like, look under the table. Well, at that time, I was one of the only guys that started wearing the big checkered gingham dress shirts. They'd just come out. This is like in the early 2000s. They would always make fun of them. I'm like, don't worry.

You guys will be wearing these in a couple of years. But they got me because i look under the table they had tied my dress shirt around the table it was the table the table cloth was my dress shirt i thought they were ripping on me because i was gonna eat by myself they're like you're an idiot that's your dress shirt that's perfect that'd fucking believe it. That's perfect. Oh, that's classic. Those two together must have been so good. What about Matt Stajan telling me to bring up the Brett Hall story? Oh, jeez.

With the stick rack. Oh. Well, he probably would have done this to you if you were right-handed. But, yeah, he just grabbed my stick off the rack and looked at my curve and said, no wonder, and threw it on the ground. Hall's a bit of a bully, wasn't he? Hilarious. He's the biggest bully in the league.

He's like the old Geno Malkin. That's right. That's great. Any other Halls? No wonder. Nothing else. I didn't play with him very long, but just being around those types of guys, Al McInnes, know i've been very fortunate

playing with some hall of famers and just the way they carry themselves and the way that they are it's i feel very lucky are you looking to get into a friend office at any point or you all sell with that or not into scouting yeah but being a part of you know helping shape things sound is interesting obviously i think that that coaching is probably not in my cards just because of the time that it takes up. I have a young family, kids 14, daughters 14 and 12, and my little girl will be seven next month. So they're just so busy.

I feel like playing was selfish, and it feels like coaching would be even worse because they're at the rink, what, 7 in the morning? They don't leave until 11 tonight. That's's a lot but although that would be i think the most rewarding the most fun to be back into it but uh yeah management one day would be great um the ron wilson healthy scratch story with vasotoskala can we get that one so we're this is actually they had already known they traded us to calgary for dmf enough there's a group of us staging and otherwise.

So Wilson comes in and he knows he's already traded us. We don't know. We got to play Vancouver that night. And just lays into every single guy that's getting traded. Wait, you were already traded and played? No, no, no. Well, he knew we were traded. Oh, I'm sorry.

We didn't know. We got traded the next day. Oh, he decided one last. One last. He's just going to give it to us. So he goes around, obviously rips on me. And he did say that I was the worst defensive player in the NHL the last three years, which right after the meeting, Luke Shen comes up to me.

He's like, you're the worst player. He's 18, 19. You're the worst player in the league. I'm like, no. Anyway, it was pretty funny. He didn't even know. He's like, so gull're the worst player in the league? I'm like, no! Anyway, it was pretty funny. He didn't even know. He's like, so gullible. So it was pretty funny.

And then, so what happened was he had calculated that we were playing Luongo, and Vesta was having a tough start. And so Vesta was playing against Luongo, and he had done the math. If we wanted to win 3-2, we could only allow 16 shots on goal based on how many goals Vestas allowed in based off his save percentage. And that we had to get something like 48 shots based on our inability to score.

So imagine poor Vestas sitting there going He said this before the game. Poor Vestas sitting there going I really feel like playing tonight. Oh my god, dude. And then you guys are like, wait, we need 48 shots? Everyone get the pressure on exactly fuck buddy this is great i can't believe oh sorry there was a couple more we had written

down the cortinal the cortinal story oh yeah this is my first ever road trip i get called up after playing my first six games my first year out of college played six games in the minors i get called up uh mike keen's the coach and we're traveling around i forget where we were going i think it was vancouver out west so it was like a five or six day trip and like five days into it i'm like i don't understand why my bag is so heavy come to find out cortinal had slipped in two three or four 10 pound plates you know how when you're younger, you don't open your bag. You don't actually unpack. Oh, yeah.

You just open it. You just live out of the bag. Yeah. And I didn't know, but under all my stuff was 40 pounds of stuff, of weights that I had been carrying around for five days, and I had no clue. You're like, what is in this thing? They're probably waiting for this.

This idiot has no idea. They probably thought you knew and didn't want to give the reaction. Exactly. No, you're just curling your bag. They're like, what's wrong with this guy? Well, now, speaking of reaction, though, at Rookie Party one year in Toronto, you got staged and said you got pretty heated. You ended up getting shoe checked a few times.

Oh, yes. Like, you fucking snapped. Oh, dude. I did snap. If it's that many times, I mean. I got shoe checked. It was fine. No big deal. Yeah, he fucking snapped. Oh, dude. I did snap. If it's that many times, I mean. I got shoe checked. It was fine. No big deal.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'm also wearing, you know, $1,000. How are you? How are you? Which is fine. Nice league. My fault. I want to wear them.

Got to do it. They shoe checked me. Ha, funny, funny. They did it again. And so then I snapped. And then I said, you know, you guys wanted a reaction. Did you get up on the table? I didn't get on the table.

It made me shake the table a little bit and told them, you guys wanted a reaction? Here's your reaction. And I was on a mission to find out who did it. Who was there to find out? No, they ended up, I think they ended up making the Russian kid do it. There was no third time. No. No.

You made that clear. Yeah. I can't believe I waited this No. You made that clear. Yeah. I can't believe I waited this long. Obviously, a fighter in the NHL. Who's the worst beating you took from? And who was it from? Besides Biz? Brad May I always thought was really tough to fight because he didn't care if he got hit.

Yeah. He was punching with both hands and he would swing you around like on a carousel. And then at any moment, he would switch hands and catch you going the other way. So I always felt it was tough fighting a guy like him. But I don't know how you felt, Biz, but any time you fought a guy that wasn't necessarily a fighter, but you had to go fight him because he had done something in the game, but he could be like a stocky kid. You don't even know if he knows how to fight.

But those guys always made me nervous because you figure they're scared, they don't know how to defend themselves, and they're just going to be swinging. Yeah, their instincts take over. Yeah, then it's like that could be dangerous. Shooting pucks at Detroit 2013, white car. Oh, yeah, I saw that one. Yeah, so Joel had me take every one.

I didn't play any games. Joel Quindle? Yeah. I was the same way with Tip. Even though I wasn't playing, go in the locker room, be with the guys. Be with the guys. So they wanted me around. I don't know if it was an accident, but, you know, good guy in the room.

Maybe should have stayed there, but that was my role at that time. So I figured we were down 3-1 to Detroit in the second round, the year we won. And we're all going around telling stories about how we can come back. And I was just frustrated. I hadn't been in and realized that this could be the end. We're going to lose to Detroit. So in that warm-up, I decided I wasn't going to participate in the warm-up. I took about 25 pucks, and I shot them down on their goal the entire warm-up.

With goalies in net? Two Detroit's net. I was firing pucks down at them, trying to disrupt their 2-on-1, disrupt their thing, disrupt whatever they were doing, or start something. I didn't care. I was going to do something. Were you trying to get yourself fired up on a bet?

Switch them off. Yeah, just do something. I felt like I'm not playing. I can't do anything, and this is what I'm going to do. That's great. And then we ended up winning that game. I get fined by the league, of course, because you can't do that for the whole warmup. But I didn't have to pay it because I didn't play the next year. So I won that one.

They didn't take it out of your playoff bonus. No. Perfect. So how, like, explain how that happens. I'll tell you what. If I saw a guy shooting. Exactly. Over and over. I i'd be like there'd be a donnie brook yeah so that's my point so the next warm-up i had played with uh carlo coliacavo and ian white in toronto and i'm standing at the center ice and i'm saying you guys are a bunch of pussies not one guy slashed me cross check me

shot a puck at me nothing i shot 25 pucks at your goalie during warm-up. And I go, we're going to come back against you guys. Absolutely. That series, they were up 3-1. Yeah. They didn't know in that cup run you were ever down. So Game 7 was where in that series? In Chicago.

Was that when? When John Morrison won it in overtime, but they called a penalty. We actually won it. And theneeves ended up winning it. So that wasn't the series when Cronwell knocked out Havlet, right? No, that was 2010. Okay, okay, okay. So Detroit and Chicago, yeah, you guys battled.

I got one more. I hate this. I used to ask it all the time, but you are a fighter. If I don't ask, I'll feel like a dummy. Was there anyone you were afraid of? Did you go a pro beat? Did you guys cross paths? No, different stratosphere. It's been a long week. That was not my fight. Those heavyweight

guys, even when Biz wanted to fight me, I was like, this could not go well for me. I definitely was more of a middleweight type of fighter. I remember. I certainly saw most of your scripts. Bud, we're so happy we got to get this live.

Sorry about fucking you up at that live show in Chicago last year. I'm so pumped for your guys' success. You know what it is? At the end of the day, we're all hockey guys. We have trouble showing personality and doing our thing. You guys are 1,000% authentic, and that's why you've had the success you've had and great job. Keep it going. Thank you. Thank you very much.

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And big thanks to Jamal Mayes for joining us. He spoke very candidly and open, which we really appreciated. You know, he's a guy who's been through things that other players probably haven't. So to have him on, it was nice to get a different perspective. And we're glad to have him on. Mikey G, we got some big pond hockey news. A little more info than last week, right? Yeah, we do.

We have the two locations. And first and foremost, Pink Whitney will be the official vodka sponsor of the 2020 Barstool Pond Hockey Tournament. So for all those out there who haven't had the opportunity to try Pink Whitney, there will be plenty and this will be your chance. So the two tournaments will be in Lake Winnipesaukee, which is Meredith, New Hampshire. That will be Friday, February 21st will be the welcome party. And Saturday, February 22nd will be Friday, February 21st, will be the welcome party. And Saturday, February 22nd, will be the tournament. The next tournament will be in Lake Muskoka, which is Gravenhurst, Ontario.

Gravenhurst. Gravenhurst, Ontario. And that will be Friday, February 28th, will be the welcome party. Saturday, February 29th, will be the tournament. Leap year. So here are some of the rules for the tournament. It will be a four and four play,

four divisions, eight teams per division, eight players per team. Teams are guaranteed three games during pool play. And the top four teams will make the playoffs in each division. There will be four skill levels, A, B,

C, and D. And all of these levels are co-ed. We also have awesome custom jerseys being made by one of our sponsors, Men's League Sweaters. Oh, shit. Team pigeons, babe. Team captains will need to submit their teammates' jersey sizes and numbers when they submit their team.

Teams will also have the option of submitting a short video as to why their team should be selected. So you should kind of try and capture how electric your team would be if selected. Now, these kind of try and capture how electric your team would be if selected. Now these videos don't help your chances of getting selected. It's first come first serve, but these videos will be used as like rough and rowdy promo or like just kind of promos to help pump up the tournament.

So if you want to be part of content, submit a cool video. That's what I'm saying. All you, all you folk out there was like, Oh, I could be a content guy. Perfect. Come to this, bring your buddies. We'll have a weekend you know even you ladies submit a

female team who gives a shit come on out it's a perfect way for us to interact with the fans when when grinelli and erica and a few other people at barstool mentioned it i was like this is going to be very similar to rough and rowdy where we're going to be capturing all of our fans personalities it's going to be great i think it might even turn into a little reality show Christ maybe we'll shove RA and net we'll just take some fucking clappers at them with actual hockey pucks right Whit yeah I want to be open with all this unfortunately I can't be at the one in New Hampshire so if you wanted to come and be able to ask one of the four of us what it was like to play in the Stanley Cup finals or what it was like to play in the

Olympics, head up to the one in Toronto. Moving forward, this is an incredible thing. I love it. I say that word way too often, incredible, but this one, it really came to my mind. And, Mikey, I got a couple questions. I'm going to act like somebody who's listening. Maybe they don't know something because I don't know that much.

So I'm very interested. How do you know which division you'd be in? You submit which division you'd want to be in. So there'll be almost like a pro division, a junior division, a high school division, and then kind of like a beginner's division. So you submit which division. I would assume an A team would consist of guys who played high-end Junior B, Junior A, maybe even some college, heck, even some pro.

Maybe if you played Canadian college or you were an okay Junior C or Junior B player, that's level B. And then C is kind of like meh. You said there's a D as well? Yeah, and then D is like beginner. I'll be in D. Okay, well, here's my thing, right? I'm going to say to everyone listening,

I talk a lot about golf. I talk about that loser at barstool and handicap system. Don't you be going to a worse division. If you are questioning a division, you go the division up. Don't be a sandbag. You want to be the team that, and let me tell you something, everyone.

If it's happening in Toronto, we're going to make an absolute scene out of the team who's dusting everyone in their division. That cannot happen. No one will enjoy getting ripped on for being sandbaggers, skating around the pond. You got Nylander and Matthews in the fucking C division. It's like, guys, come on here. Like, fuck.

We'll also have live music at both events, too. So, R.A., if you want to jump up on here. If you think I'm leaving the beer gardens, you're out of your goddamn mind. And I just want to piggyback on what you just said. If you want to ask about drinking out of the Stanley Cup, I'm celebrating with I'll be at Lake Winnipesaukee. I'll be happy to answer any questions you have about that for sure. Wow, R.A.

Holy fucking, that's better than the pigeon tweet. That was a fucking layup. Also, too, I hope Erica comes through on my new skates because I can't hit the fucking ice without some new skates. It's been a while since I had a pair. Oh, so, R.A., I think you are scheduled to be the head coach of the Barstool team. So I was going to get to that.

Barstool is putting in a team in the tournament. I will be playing. No big deal. But, R.A., I think you're going to be the head coach, and we're going to do some tryouts. You're going to have to pick who makes the team, who doesn't. So, please don't cut me. No, I'll try not to.

Just get me a nice varsity jacket and a fedora, and I'll be good to go. If you want to be coached by RAs, you have to submit a karaoke video. There's no drug test for coaches, right? Hey, speaking of Friday, don't forget to get your chicklet swag when our cyberspace sale starts Monday. I'm sorry, midnight tonight on Thursday, 20% off all weekend. All the great chicklet shit we have.

We've got the Not A Big Deal line dropping. Fresh new sweaters. Like I said, I can't wear mine now. I'm already sweating too much, but a bunch of good shit, so be sure to check it out and get some new swag. Meanwhile, back to the NHL news. Some good news. TJ Brody joined his teammates with the Flames once again. He had that scary

incident in practice a couple weeks ago where he fainted out of the blue, and that shit's always scary. I've had incidents like that, and you always want to rule things out, but apparently they ruled out enough things where he's able to return the lineup. So that's a good thing. And now we have to get to the suspension talk. There have been three suspensions since we last met. And I think the first one is the big one we'll get to, Robert Bortuzzo. He got four games for cross-checking Nashville's Victor Arvidsson. And I got ratioed big time on Twitter for saying I thought

a suspension would be a weak call. The league cited his track record and the injury for why he got suspended. Personally, why I didn't think he would get suspended. I think it's just an old school thing. I've seen cross checks for so long. Guys on power plays get buried with them all the time. You don't see guys get suspended for vicious cross checks too often unless they'll maybe to the face or to the head so when i initially saw it i was like okay the first one was kind of chintzy and then clearly bortuzzo was pissed off that he was getting called and he gave arvidsson a vicious cross check it was savage no doubt about it it wasn't soft but to me the referee was right there the referee deemed it worthy of two minutes he could have given him a double could have given him five with a match could have done done anything. He gave him two, and

I was just like, eh, you know, it was vicious, it was ugly, but I've seen those type of things a million times, so I just didn't think he'd get suspended. Obviously, I was 100% wrong. I got fucking devoured on Twitter, which big fucking deal, it's Twitter. It's not the end of the world. You know, now that I know Avid's insert, okay, sure, I

certainly understand the guy being suspended, but Whitney, what was your take on this stuff? I saw your tweet. I knew right away he was going to get buried. Me too. I tweeted you guys, like, stirring the pot. The reason, R.A., is the guy's down, right? It's different if a defenseman cross-checks a guy really bad

in the lower back in front of the net as the shot's coming from the point. That happens a lot. Yeah, you see penalties called. You don't see suspension. That guy was down on the ground, and he just absolutely railed him with one. And then the fact that he is injured makes a difference. So I was actually surprised.

It was four, you said, right? What, four games? Four games, yeah. I thought it was going to be two. I was surprised by the amount of games he got, but I knew he was getting something. I was a bit surprised to see four, but after just,

you know, hearing the conversation and seeing it over, seeing he was a repeat offender, he was down and out and it wasn't a hockey play. And that's the shit that they're trying to eliminate. So they're going to have to be hard on it. I think with the way things are going, I thought Bertuzzo ended up getting the better end of the deal. And, you know, people have been hard on Peros.

Peros is trying to kind of keep that level playing field of not going too far the other way. He's being submissive to the pussification of the game. But this one, I mean, yeah, it's tough to defend him. I think what happened with Bertuzzo, and we've seen it before, is he plays the game a little rougher, right? And some of these forwards sometimes, when they are getting roughed up a little bit within the rules,

they tend to dive a bit. And I think the way he saw it when Arvidsson went down, I think he felt that it was a bit of embellishment and he was upset that he got the call. And that's why he ended up going in a little harder. And, hey, I don't know how hard he thought he was going that was a fucking nasty one and as a result of the injury i'm okay with with him getting four and losing 70 grand and uh yeah that's that's where i'm at with it i mean i i tell him that to his face it sucks he's a buddy of ours but i'm not going to

defend what he did yeah and i don't think i defended what he did. I just, like I said, I'm the old school guy here. I've been watching hockey a long time. And in crosschecks, you see guys on power plays get buried all the time. But like what you said, the point is the guy was on the ground. It was dirty. The guy was hurt. I got no issue with the suspension. My initial reaction was I didn't think he should be.

Guy's hurt. I get it. So we can all move on. We have a difference of opinion. It's not the end of the fucking world. So I think there's a conversation going on right now should players who injure players be out as long as those players are out i think if it's a hockey play and and i use that term a little bit loosely where yeah maybe the guy's elbow got up and it was a little bit dirty suspension

sarah on dolly same thing so there's a very right it was That was a hockey play. Right. It was a hockey play. It was stupid. It was a reactional play. Yeah, he should get suspended. Do I think two games might have been a little bit light? Yeah. But it was a hockey play. With the Bortuzzo thing, since he's done it before,

and it's just like there's nothing there. Yeah, you got to nip those in the butt. And you got to walk that fine line between saying that they're going to suspend him for the length of the time of the player's injured, where in the Bortuzzo case, I mean, it's fucking hard not to argue against it, but you've got to draw the line somewhere. Now, just to get our listeners up to speed,

we're just referencing Tampa Bay's Eric Chernak. He got two games for Elbowin Rasmus Darlene in Monday's game. Now Darlene is listed as out indefinitely with a concussion. The refs missed it, so there was no penalty on the play. To me, it was a bit of a chicken wing. I mean, I think you can make the argument that's worse than the cross-check to a guy's back because you're hitting a guy in the head. I disagree because what happened is he got caught leaning.

You may not believe me. That was a reactionary play. He wanted to hit him. He's caught leaning a little out of position, and his arm gets up. I think from watching it live and then now the replay of it, I can honestly say I believe it was total reactionary, stupid play, should be suspended, but Bertuzzo's was malicious, and I don't think that Saranac's was.

R.A., I'd have to agree with the wit in that situation because there have been times where by the time that reaction happens and you hit the guy in the head, you're like, fuck. You're like, that was me about to get beat, and I don't want to get yelled at, and fuck, I might cost us a goal. And then the arm goes up, and it's like, Jesus Christ, the damage has been done. There was no time to think and stop yourself.

And that's something that people who have never played at that level will they'll never understand that you can't even argue with it whereas people would say elbow to the head cross shots to the back elbow to head way worse well not really when you're looking at individual uh situations okay i obviously see two professionals on all points like that i I will be curious to see how long Darlene is out. I will say that. Yeah, but you're basing your opinion on the fact of like a damage going to the brain. And I completely understand where you're coming from. It's just, I'm not asking you to sympathize for Cernak. I'm asking you to step inside his brain.

And then what me and Whit gave you was exactly what's happening. Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, it's a high elbow. I mean, that's, you know, that's the point. What'd I mean, at the end of the day, it's a high elbow. I mean, that's the point. What'd you say? At the end of the day, it's still a high elbow. You're taught to keep your elbows down. And, you know, I understand what you're saying.

And we're not done with suspensions yet. Oh, God. Alexander Kerfoot got two games for boarding former teammate Eric Johnson. It looked like one of those things a guy regrets. He kind of hit him. He went over to try to help him after. He got penalized for boarding on the play. He ended up getting two games as well.

He obviously felt bad about it. And then, Biz, I know there was one other hit you wanted to talk about. Well, I figured it would be rude of us not to mention the Marchand one. Yes. Marchand, he hit Minnesota's Jonas Brodine from behind. He was given two for cross-checking. But he could have just as easily been suspended for that, given his record and how close he was to the goal line when he hit him.

Biz, were you surprised he didn't get any games? Not as bad as the Kerfoot one, but another one of those things where it's like, God damn it, Marshawn's just flirting with that line again. I can't give him benefit of the doubt. Buddy, I love the guy. I would want him on my team, but fuck, he hit the – he gave a guy a little cross-check in a vulnerable situation.

Thankfully, he wasn't close enough to the boards where he didn't go in face first but it's like come on man like he's got that switch that just goes off and he goes brain dead and and he does stuff like that my my concern is is that he does it one time and that guy is too close to the boards and next thing you know he's leaving in a stretcher and it's like well we could have maybe nipped this in the butt a little sooner here. So I don't know. That's where I'm at. I'm not hating on the guy. Just, you know, he just plays on that edge.

And sometimes he crosses that line. Speaking of Marshawn, we got a note. It was a Tuesday night in Montreal. He became just the 11th player in Bruins history to record 600 points in a Bruins uniform, joining some pretty good company. Bork, Busick, Espo, Middleton, Orr, Bergeron, Cashman, Hodge, Creechie, and O'Reilly. So a pretty good record.

Pretty good company to join. What's up, Whit? Well, we talked about some bad news with the Bruins. I shouldn't say bad news, but we brought up Marchand being his usual self out there. But if you want to go some good news for the Bruins, David Pasternak, guys, how much have we talked about him? Well, you know what? I'm going to take you in a trip through my mind and how it went last night. Very, very interesting to see what I ended up looking up

and getting into. I started seeing, well, oh my God, he's got 23 goals in 24 games. But what does everyone talk about? One of the coolest records, one of the coolest things you can do in sports, 50 goals in 50 games. This is now a legitimate possibility. It seems crazy. It seems like, wow, is that really going to happen? Well, dude, he looks every single game when he, even when he doesn't score, he gets four or five chances. He's so nasty that I actually think there's a chance. And so what happened was i started going through i was like 50 and 50 everyone knows about gretzky the coolest thing of all time 50 and 39 50 and 39 well the other guys i mean um maurice richard he did it first and then like i i mike

bossy did it years later absolute Absolutely. A long ass time. And then Gretzky did it with a 50 and 39. So I started thinking, have you guys ever seen above and beyond? Do you know what above and beyond is anyone? Any of you three? Yeah. It's a techno band.

Oh, nevermind. No, Dustin Penner. That's his favorite above and beyond. He'll talk about that. I talk about the Wayne Gretzky movie and wouldn't you know, it was on YouTube for me.

I watched this movie 5,000 times when I was little. I watched it every single day. I was like, please be on YouTube. Please be on YouTube. It's on YouTube. Everyone go check it out. So I have a little moment. Like you were watching it on YouTube, or you watched it and now it's on YouTube?

No, I was watching it with the Vhs in 1993 i just wanted to clear that up because people are gonna be like youtube didn't exist back then i don't give a fuck about those people so i have a little uh part of the movie queued up tell me how good this guy's voice is the narrator the music and the description of what 50 goals in 39 games. And I'm going to get people, they might get a million views on YouTube with this movie after this, because when you get this little tidbit, this is what the whole thing's like.

Talks about his whole life. What a movie. Now listen to this. Perhaps more than any season thus far, 1981-82 may have marked Wayne Gretzky forever as the great one. With Curry and the Oilers at his side, number 99 began taking apart the pyramids of hockey, stoned by...

The pyramids of hockey? Wow. Only two players had ever scored 50 goals in 50 games. The music! It was considered the benchmark of all great scores. Gretzky! After only 38 games, he needed just five goals to reach the record.

He needed five points. While the hockey world anticipated him breaking this record, nobody could have predicted the night of December 30th, 1981 against Philadelphia. His 39th game. Oh my god. Goosebumps. I re-watched

the whole thing. Go check it out. Check out the five goals he got. And the coolest thing that they don't even mention in the movie, he got four in the 38th game. He needed nine in games 38 and 39 to get 50, and he went four and five. So check out that video. Pasternak's chance of doing this this year, becoming more realistic as each game goes by,

reminded me of Wayne Gretzky and Above and Beyond in my childhood. You know when you put R&B music on when you're having sex with a girl sometimes? I might start just putting that on. Oh, yeah, dude. About making sweet love. 50 loads in 39 nights. Dude, don't forget Neil. He got 50 in 44. That was pretty impressive. Oh, you fucking

Bruins fan. No, 45 already. 45 I think. Oh, no, 44, yeah. It was 44 although on the record... And then he didn't score again. 45, I think. Oh, no, 44, yeah. It was 44, although on the record it was. And then he didn't score again. Yeah, and he did it on like a half a fucking leg, too. Hey, boys, all these suspensions mean lots of suits are going to have to be worn, and hopefully some of these guys are using Indochino. Indochino is the world's largest made-to-measure menswear brand.

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That's Indochino.com, promo code CHICLETS, for $30 off your total purchase of $399 or more. It's an incredible deal for made-to-measure clothing. You really have no excuse anymore to wear clothing that doesn't fit. Indochino is great, so please check them out. All right, boys, that's enough of the suspensions finally. Thank God, because we're sick of talking about all that stuff. Any fun shit we could talk about?

Absolutely. Speaking of great ones, how about Jeopardy is inviting the best three contestants ever, and they're doing a GOAT Jeopardy. Greatest of all time. I'm not even a Jeopardy guy, but that is awesome. That is pretty sick. They've never done it before. I'm looking forward to that.

Well, I mean, I know everything that's happening. They're going to crush their numbers. Well, you know what? Trebek, he's going through what? Colon cancer? I'm not sure if it's colon. I actually think he might have pancreatic cancer. pancreatic that's what it is so i mean like fucking there was a sad moment lately that was uh put on where the guy didn't know the answer to the question instead of writing

anything and he just wrote we love you alex and like alex trebek got a little emotional very emotional it's a viral clip that that went on so i think uh you know considering uh i don't know is it rude to say they don't know how much longer he's going to be around? They probably wanted to get this done. Yeah, I mean. I'm not trying to be insensitive because his life is more important, R.A., but they probably wanted to do this now.

I think you've got to tip your cap to the guy too. I mean, a lot of guys would have just hung it up by now. He's wearing a wig. He's wearing makeup. He's just going to work every day and he's acting like he doesn't have cancer. That, to me, is a pretty great role model to just keep chugging along when he has this condition, this bad medical condition.

He's certainly a heroic thing he's doing. Dude, did you also see that clip last week? There was three people. None of them knew who fucking Tom Hanks was. They're like, in this movie coming out, this actor plays Mr. Rogers and they showed a clip. It's Tom Hanks played his day and not one fucking person knew it was tom hanks one of the more embarrassing things i've ever seen right now time out here's where i'm going to disagree with you these people

have their nose and books and they're so intelligent that they're not on social media they're not see and he looked a little bit you don't think they've ever seen tom hanks in a movie hanks i mean i i know but he's in makeup and he looks a little bit different because he's supposed to look like Mr. Rogers. I'm looking at it from their perspective. The reason why they're able to answer all those other questions because they're not as smart as us in the useless category. Big fucking deal.

These people could probably figure out world problems just because they didn't know who Tom Hanks is. Everyone's rolling their eyes. Well, guess how many other questions you aren't answering? And they are. Well said. I came as close as I could possibly come to getting on Jeopardy before they did online testing.

Why am I not shocked? They used to do them in hotel ballrooms, and I did one over the back bay, and I got as far as I could that day. I took the 50-question test. I made it to, like, the final 20, and then they play a mock round, and you fill out the application and it says include five crazy facts about you. And I put like the five weirdest things about me. They probably thought I was lying.

And then it's like, don't call us. We'll call you. And I was a free pen. I was genuinely thinking I was going to make Jeopardy that time. So kind of a bummer. Do you think you would be good? Do you know a lot of useless knowledge? Dude, I aced the test that day. I don't do good on the computer one, but I did good on the computer one but i did

good on the written one that day yeah some nights i'm on it dude my wife will tell you like i i fucking kick ass how stupid did i just sound i said useless knowledge and like some of this is like legitimate history and well i've i've been called a call of useless information quite a few times so i didn't take it personal i gotta speak i misspoke there i'm sorry all right all right speaking of cancer our boy kevin hayes is doing the hockey fights cancer thing. I'm not sure if it's tonight at the Flyers game, but he had the blazer made up with his parents' name on it. He's been through so much shit, man.

Having one parent is a bad thing. I have a stepmother going through it right now, so I couldn't imagine having both my parents doing it. So that's a pretty nice thing that Kevin's doing. We're all fighting cancer. Everybody knows everybody, but it was pretty cool that Kevin was not only doing it, but he was pretty enthusiastic to do it. So shout out to our boy, Hazy.

And I said, Biz, we had some good news Monday night at MSG. Henrik Lundqvist took over fifth place for goalie wins when he beat Manny in OT. It was his 455th win, which broke a tie with Curtis Joseph. He still needs 30 more to get into fourth place. Current list is Matty Berdour, Paddy Wah, Roberto Luongo, and Edzo, Eddie the Eagle Belfort. So congrats to Henrik Lundqvist, Chicklets alumni, handsome son of a bitch. It's a pretty nice thing for him.

And another thing, Washington Capitals, they've been itching. Looks like they want to play a game in Russia. I'm not sure we'll get an invite to that one, but, you know, overseas games have been a thing for the NHL for the last little while, and the Caps have shown interest in playing in Russia, perhaps as early as next year. It's very much in the preliminary stages, but they have arguably the most prominent Russian ever on their team

with Ovechkin, and they've got a few other Russians on their team, Kuznetsov, Wolof, and Samsonov. And it's not like Moscow is that far from Prague where they're playing the game next year. So this will be interesting. Do you think they'll end up playing over there or what, Whit? I think they will. Actually, fuck, I don't know.

I can't say. I'm not going to say that I think they will because it's 50-50. It's just different in Russia. It just changes everything a little bit. I mean, they haven't played an NHL game there before. There's just tension there, obviously, between the United States and Russia. And I just don't think – I don't know if it would ever happen. Okay, we'll keep an eye on that, obviously.

What do you think, Biz? Same? Kind of just no clue? Yeah. Is it a cop-out to just piggyback your comments? I mean, I agree. No, because I think – I don't know. I think I made a great point. You're the fucking best.

You're the best, pillows. Boys, I'm not sure, did you get that clip of Robin Lehner I sent over? You got that audio, right? You want to fire that up? It was 96 to 98% over three, four, five, six games, and we didn't win and maybe two lost in the shootout, then all of a sudden I was the worst person in the world because of the shootout. It's no wonder because it's such a fan thing you know a good shootout goalie can have terrible numbers and not be very good but he wins a shootout and it's a

hero of the world it's it's how it is it's the fan game and it's frustrating because you know i'm just not good at it people think as i as I said on the tweet, people think I was mental. Mental, are you kidding me? You think I'm nervous? You think I care? I try to save the puck like anything else. It's a PK in the 1-1 game, last two minutes. I make the save stand.

last two minutes I make the save stand it's a shootout goals against every weakness I have and takes away from every strength that I have a simple and yeah it's a little bit fun in games you know I honestly see what the guys in the Twitter will have to say maybe there's some someone out there I actually got some good ones it was a Harvard study sent to me yesterday on shootouts. I looked, that was interesting. So no, it was just kind of livening it up a little bit, but it's incredibly annoying.

Pretty interesting stuff, man. The guy's pretty candid. He basically comes out and says like, yeah, fucking shootouts ain't my thing, man. It's not really hockey. It's not really part of the game. I wouldn't care if they pulled me out for it. I really appreciated his honesty and his being that candid to say like, yeah, take me out of the game. It wouldn't care if they pulled me out for it. I really appreciated his honesty and his, you know, being that candid to say like, yeah, take me out of the game. It wouldn't affect me.

I just want to win some games here. I think more three-on-three. I think that's a happy median where I still think that that's not like, you know, it's more new school where the shootout is fucked off. I don't like that. To me, would you not rather see, I would say, two more minutes of three-on-three and then just end it in ties? No, I don't want a tie.

I don't want a tie. I hate shootouts, but I don't want a tie. Ties are brutal. Thinking of going to games and it being a tie, that's brute. I would say that 50% of hockey fans right now would be okay with games ending in a tie. And what I mean by that two extra minutes is, well, if you're adding the shootout for excitement purposes, I would say two more minutes of three on three,

it would be more exciting than a shootout. Or, or even you say go to two on two and one-on-one, but then you start talking about more minutes for players to play and it adds up over the course of the season. And how about this one? How about boring we had mcdavid and dry sidled in town on sunday and those guys like didn't leave the ice during overtime i think dry side they took a time out i saw it they took dave tippett had taken a time out about two and a half minutes in but dry side finished the night with 29 minutes played as a forward, as a centerman. I don't think people understand how much ice that is.

I remember when I talked about my Edmonton game where I played 11 minutes and I was in a body cast for a week, 29 minutes. They were on a back-to-back. They played the night before in Las Vegas. Dreisaitl is a fucking freak. It's wild. When would we ever see another Crosby? And then McDavid came and sure as shit, there's a Malkin to the new Crosby,

Malcolm, the same thing. It's like the dry tile. When you watch him, yeah, horse, it's just, you just said it all perfectly about it.

He is brilliant out there and he can just go. I mean, I didn't know that was a back to back game. I forgot they played the night before. Good, good, good game. There's a lot of uh momentum swings coyotes gave up a goal midway through the third and edmonton won to to keep that pace in the in the pacific i actually bet the oilers live

hey what are you fucking kidding me when they went i was in orlando yeah i just looked at it late night and just boom hey quick quick little note from uhter-Narrow, I believe you say his name. The most shots Robin Lane have faced in a game under Barry Trotz last season was 41. He's already faced 41 or more shots in the four times in the first 12 games this season, and he still has a 9-3-8 save percentage. So this guy's legit, man. I know he bounced around.

He had some issues. He appeared to straighten them out, and we wish him the best, but he's so far so good for the Blackhawks. No doubt about that. Also want to say the boys at Spit and Chicklets have a new home for sports betting this year, and you need to check out the BetMGM sports app in New Jersey. The same guys that bring you the world's most spectacular casino resorts and top-notch entertainment have a new sports betting app in New Jersey.

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That's why we've teamed up with BetMGM for a special Thanksgiving offer this week for new users. If you sign up for BetMGM with the bonus code CHICKLETS and bet $1, you'll get $1 for every point scored on Thanksgiving in every game. Place your first bet on any of the Thanksgiving games, and you'll get $1 scored for every point scored all day. You just need to follow these simple instructions. Sign up for a new BetMGM account and use the bonus code CHICKLETS.

Make sure to place your first bet of at least $1 on any of the Thanksgiving games. Regardless of the outcome of the game, you will get a dollar for every point scored all day in every game. That means if we get 45 points in the Lions-Bears, 47 in Cowboys-Bills, and 58 in Falcon-Saints, you get 150 beans. Simple. Can't beat it. I'm sorry, the points are bonus paid in free bets. You must be 21 or older, must be in New Jersey to place bets. Restrictions apply. Visit BetMGM.com for the full list of terms and conditions.

Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Now we're going to send it over to the gambling corner. We had a pretty good night, Tuesday night. Told everybody, get the Bruins on the puck line and the money line. Got a nice bunch of replies on Twitter. Looks like a lot of people followed. I also fucked up.

Said Toronto is playing Tuesday night, but they're playing Wednesday night. Now we're still on them that Wednesday night. Line was a lot bigger than I anticipated, but we're committed either way. As for this episode, we're looking ahead to Friday, and I like the avalanche in Chicago. Mikko Rantanen should be back in the lineup by then if he's not Wednesday. So we're going to go unit slash dime, whatever on the money line, and then half of that on the puck line for Colorado Friday afternoon.

That's an afternoon game. And we're also looking way ahead to Dallas in Minnesota on Sunday. That's a ways out right now. Both teams are going to be playing, but I'm eyeballing that right now. I'm eyeballing Dallas on the money line, but I'll have a blog on that later. So right now, again, Avalanche in Chicago Friday, money line, the major bet, half of that in the puck line, and then Dallas in Minnesota on Sunday. I'll tweet out about exactly what I'm going to have on that. Once again, just another note on BetMGM. BetMGM is the home for chicklets this season.

If you're a new user, you place your first bet of $1 or more on any Thanksgiving game, and you get $1 for every point scored all day by every team. But you've got to make sure to use the bonus code CHICKLETS when you sign up. Hey, by the way, boys and girls, as well as all of our American listeners, everybody have a great Thanksgiving today. I know our candidate already celebrated theirs, but hopefully all our American listeners are drinking some wine, chowing some turkey, squeezing some naps.

What do you got going on, Whit, all day? You said you're hosting, right? Hosting and Thanksgiving is way more special to my family this year because it's our Sunrider's second birthday. So happy birthday to you, buddy. And it's funny, I think about it all the time, or not all the time, but occasionally I'm like, someday he's going to listen. And God, there's a million things I've said on here that's kind of,

he'll be older, although I'll still probably get questioned as to what I'm talking about but I definitely think that he'll listen some days and someday he will and I love you buddy it's such an honor being your dad and it's going to be a great day because our whole family is going to be over and we'll be celebrating him and Thanksgiving my favorite holiday so I'm very fired up and I'm very thankful for many things in this world. What time's kickoff for your first cocktail? Because I know you said that you have to help out with the kid. Okay, so that's soon.

I thought maybe you'd have to go to like two. Gee, what are you doing for Turkey Day? You're back home in Burlington right now, right? Yeah, I'm back home in Burlington for the day. I'm going to spend the day pumping, spitting chiclets, Black Friday merch. That's what I'm going to do all day. I want to sell some merch. I want to sling some merch for the boys.

So I'll spend my day doing that. We have Grinnell locked up in a cage with one of those anklets on. So he only works now seven days a week on the clock. As far as me, R.A., I'm going to Canada. I'm going to go see my first ever pro lacrosse game i'll be flying on thanksgiving and the game is on friday so uh hope to see all you lacrosse fans at the vancouver warriors game uh anything else why are you celebrating because of the extension ryan whitney is officially an insider thank you guys breaking

news what happened we have some breaking news, Ryan. I think it's only suitable if you break the news here. Yep. Charlie Coyle and Chris Wagner both signed multi-year extension with the Boston Bruins today. I actually broke this news. Thank you very much. It was this morning.

Not a big deal. Wagner signed a three-year extension with an annual cap hit of $1.35 million, and Coyle has signed a six-year extension with an annual cap hit of $1.35 million, and Coyle has signed a six-year extension with an annual cap hit of $5.25, I believe. Is that correct? Sounds good to me. Yeah, I broke it. Good luck.

Well, congrats to you guys. Very rich. Ryan had it at 9.34 this morning, so I think you're officially, as Commie says, an insider. I'm an insider. Is there anything else you want to talk about, boys? I think that should wrap it up. We've been doing a nice fucking long haul today.

I think that should do it. Everybody have, again, a great Thanksgiving, a great weekend, and we'll be back to you at the beginning of next week. Hopefully we won't miss any major stories this time. And a big thanks, as always, to our sponsors for taking care of our great listeners. If you want to check out Stitch Fix, go to stitchfix.com slash chicklets and get an extra 25% off when you keep everything in your box. For Indochino, go to indochino.com.

Use the promo code CHICKLETS for 30% off when you spend $399 or more. And to check out the movement watches, go to mvmt.com and use the code HOLIDAY19. Thanks for taking care of our sponsors and for listening to the show. Take care and have a great Thanksgiving. Money, money, money, money.