Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 267: Featuring Connor McDavid + Elvis Merzlikins

Episode Date: May 4, 2020

On Monday’s episode of Spittin’ Chiclets the guys are joined by Connor McDavid and Elvis Merzlikins. McJesus joins (20:22) to talk about his leg injury last year, the Oilers turn around, driving cross country and a bunch more. The guys also discuss opening golf courses, some NHL signings, Stranger Things and a ton more. The boys are then joined by Elvis Merzlikins (1:00:31) to discuss growing up in Lugano, his run with the Blue Jackets, Torts and lots more. The guys wrap up with a big announcement about an NHL20 tournament and their schedule moving forward.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. Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, Mr. Dan Vodka here on the Barstool Sports Podcast family. Let's go around and see how the crew's doing during quarantine time. I think we're somewhere around 38 days, but who's counting? Mikey Grinelli, how you feeling? Looking a lot better than the last time we checked in with you. Yeah, what's going on, guys? Rocking my Spittin' Chicklets tie-dye sweatshirt. Big seller for us.

Also, I am the manager of a ESHL team, so we've added Spittin' Chicklets memes, used the first round draft pick. So things are going good right now in Grinnelly world. Nice. Good to hear. Good to hear. Next up, the Whit Dog, Ryan Whitney. How are we doing, brother? I'm doing great. What a beautiful day. I mean, today was, I think it's 75 degrees sunny, six mile an hour wind. So, I mean, that's what you need during these times. When it rains, it's straight up, what do you call, just a miserable-ass day from the minute you wake up. Dreary.

The weather can really change your tone and your spirits, and that's why I'm feeling great right now. Are you going outside where other people aren't necessarily keeping their distance or wearing face masks? Does that not persuade you in any way? Okay. No. Some woman in line at Whole Foods is like,

oh, excuse me, you need to give me six feet. I was maybe five and a half feet, if not six, and I took a step back. I'm like, is that good? Shake your hand. That's fine. I'm like. It is funny because it's such an arbitrary number,

as if the virus recognizes six feet. That's what I'm saying. I'm saying, okay, hold on. No, no, no. Let me get... I got a quarter of an inch more. Yep, we're good now. All right, we're good.

Hold it, hold it. All right, next up, Biz, looking like the most comfortable chair in the world right now. Paul, Biz, Nasty, Biss, and Ed. What's up, brother? As far as I moved into my new apartment, I'm so excited. Hey, these guys don't even understand what Biz... You look so chill and ready to just podcast.

I'm going to take a nap. I'm going to take a nap. No, we don't need that, biz. You don't want to say that. That's not going to fire the listeners up. Not at all. Not at all. Well, listen, I'm rejuvenated.

I'm in my new place. I got to ask you a question, Whit. You said the wind. Do you always check the wind, too? Is that something that you do because of the golf? I'm just into the wind. Yeah, mostly because of golf. But i'm just into the wind yeah mostly because of golf but also if it's real hot you get some wind going might not feel as hot you know so

if you're looking to kind of figure out what to wear when you go outside don't just look at the temperature look at the wind right if it's 45 degrees no wind you're fine if it's 45 degrees and it's blowing 20 you're in one one. So I'm a wind guy. Yeah, the real feel they call it. Also, speaking of golf, you kind of got into it a little bit. Well, fully more so online because you were not pleased that some governors opened up the golf courses in certain states. Now, to me, going to a golf course at this point seems less dangerous than leaving your apartment building

am i crazy here uh if you live in an apartment building of course i mean like the fact that you got touched the elevator button well if you go golfing now you don't go check in you go right to your your cart area right and and or some people are just doing walking correct where and they have these things where you don't even touch the bottom of the cup now. They have it where they bring the ball up. You just got to do it with your putter. So, I mean, I think golf's one of those things where, hey, it just so happens that there's not any contact whatsoever,

and I don't see a reason why people can't play. I don't give a fuck about golf, but I don't see a reason why people can't play. Right now, you can play golf and be nowhere. You can be 15 feet from everyone you're playing with, let alone six. I'll be in the forest. You're never near anyone. You're walking through the water hazards and the bunkers. And these people that I said, yeah, open up golf.

Everyone wants to play golf. There's like 50,000 people that signed a petition in Massachusetts. And I got these absolute clowns coming at me on Twitter. More important things. Dude, am I saying that what's going on on the coronavirus? The nurses let us go off. Like, dude, I'm saying that 48 states have passed golf. I'm pretty sure it's OK to be outside if everyone else is doing it. And it's good for people's mental health to get exercise, be around people, play golf. It is not bad. And I got that absolute moron, Hags, tweeting Joe Haggerty. Tweeting about, if you think that you should be allowed to bitch about golf right now, you're an asshole.

And then blatantly at me, doesn't tag me, you coward, Hags. Hags, I was in the locker room with you during the locker to be you, and now you're coming at me on Twitter and not tagging me? You coward. And let's be honest, Hags. Come on, buddy. You were talking to me. Come on, buddy.

We can have him on. We'll have Hags on. He knows what he did. He fucking knows what he did. And I'm saying you're wrong, Hags. It's not bad to play golf. It is in no disrespect for what people are going through and have gone through with this disease.

It's getting outside in a safe manner. Shut up. Yeah, I've had no issue of it. I mean, it's a rare sport that, yeah, you can golf socially distanced and not, like, put yourself in any danger. I mean, like Biz said, you can just socially distance and not like put yourself in any danger i mean like like biz said you can just roll up do everything online i just like figured if we're gonna go logically about it ra like it's less dangerous than doing a lot of other things like

going to the grocery store is far more dangerous than going to a golf dude i don't like i have to go to the atm every once in a while it's fucking you know like you've got gloves and shit on i feel like i'm in a match stunt double or something people are like that's essential i'm like yeah but if it's if it's if we're all if all we're doing is closing things for health that's what you're saying right well this is healthier than what's going on so open it up allow it it's i just figured as the golf guy on the podcast i should ask you because that seems to be where the line is right now and where a lot of battles people think that that means i don't care and I want people to die from this thing. It's like because you want golf

open. Maybe they work for the USGA, those people that are coming after you in retaliation for your comments. Don't sleep on me getting into next year's tournament if they have to cancel all the qualifiers and they slide us back in. That could still work out in my favor. Except for you.

It is possible to care about other things that just happen not to be in a tweet. People seem to fucking forget that on Twitter. Alright, good news though is there is some hockey to talk about, at least conversation-wise. First off is, let's not bury the fucking lead tonight. We gotta talk about the guests right now. We can't sit on this.

Who? Who? We have Edmonton Oilers super-duper star, Conor McDavid stops by for about a half hour or so. We had a lot of laughs with him. And the Columbus goaltender called the trophy in the running for sure. Elvis Merzlikens. This dude was a character, a funny, charismatic rookie. Both of them, come on.

We got him kind of last minute, so we paired him up tonight. We're going to bring him on a little later, but we'll get to the other stuff. People are going to get to hear you not dunk on me and take the take the classy route in the beginning of the Merzlikas interview when I thought he signed a two-year at four million dunk on me tonight's the prequel tonight is the prequel and uh speaking of McDusty I mean no he didn't hold back any punches and I think that given how much keith yandel loves carol baskin and how much mcdavid may hate her there might be an on ice feud that transpires from this whip if anyone could get the canadian government to somehow get in the mix for this this joe exotic oklahoma florida panhandle

trash documentary watch it's could it could be connor mcdav McDavid. McDusty could have the parliament being like, hold on. We need to get involved. She did it. Next thing you know, they're expediting her up to Ottawa, and they're hanging her. And we got to give a back story here, too, because I don't know how much we talked about it over the course of the interview, but McDavid ended up renting an RV and driving it from Edmonton

all the way back to Toronto where he lives for the summer, at least at this point, given that we don't know what's going on with the season and you know he didn't want to go to airports he wanted to take the safer route and avoid uh you know avoid the the contact with other humans so big ups to him I uh did we ask if he had the dog I heard his jet had a flat tire oh that's okay all right well that that's more. And also probably trying to save a few bucks too. I always want to drive across. I'd love to, if I had a chance like that, to drive across country. I mean, United States.

Would you want to be behind the wheel or would you want to be chilling, smoking in the back seat? That's a big difference. I'd prefer to be a passenger, not just for the smoke and for the scenery. Like when I went to Ireland with the old lady, I had to drive everywhere. Now you're driving Clark Griswold, European vacation style, on the other side of the road. You can't look and get the scenery, man, unless you pull over.

So you miss out quite a bit on driving. But, Biz, you just mentioned the on-ice feud. Well, we had a pretty cool Zoom get-together. Our buddy Cam Jansen, Ruppa, Brandon Prust, Ryan Carter, Stu Bickle, and Eric Bolton all got together on a Zoom to break down that epic line brawl between the Rangers and Devils back in March of 2012. What was great, there was

zero animosity. Everybody was just bullshitting like all these guys who pounded the fuck out of each other in this epic line brawl wit. I know you checked it out. Yeah, that was some great viewing, and I thought that it was hilarious to see. Jansen's nuts. I know you checked it out. Yeah, that was some great, great viewing. And I thought that it was hilarious to see. Like, Jansen's nuts.

I don't know what came out first. It was this or the other video of another fight with Prost when he ate that uppercut. And it didn't affect, I mean, it didn't really affect him. That's when you're like, this dude's nuts. So I don't know if I hadn't seen that yet, but I knew going in that his whole presence is perfect. And Rupp is so professional, right?

The way he works at NHL Network, he's like a perfect host of it. And it's just like Ryan Carter, too. That's another guy I played with in Anaheim. Way tougher than people thought or kind of gave him credit for. I mean, he fought a decent amount whenever he had to, and he's a big, tough kid. So it was just great. I didn't know.

I've never met Eric Bolton, Biz. But there was a time when he was considered a pretty big heavyweight, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I remember being petrified of him when he was on Atlanta. I know that. Solid player, too. He was similar to my role where he'd be in and out of the lineup constantly. And even towards the end, I think he was being a healthy scratch

more than he was playing. But such a great teammate. He was able to stick around for quite a few years. I want to say he spent, I would say, north of 10 years in the NHL. Am I correct, just off the top of my head? Because he was a little bit before my time, but as I said – 654 games. Damn.

That's a – Yeah, no shit. Yeah. Hell of a career. Way more than me. He's got more than me, and you combine this. All right. Well, there you have it. I got more got more than me and you combined this. All right, well, there you have it.

I got more healthy scraps than all that combined, though. What were we talking about right before that? Oh, the line brawl. Yeah. Cam Jansen might be the only dude that I ever played against who beats off to his own hockey fights videos. This guy absolutely loves his own dust-ups, and we love him for it. He's a big meathead. He's not shy about it, and he's proud of it, andups, and we love him for it. He's a big meathead.

He's not shy about it, and he's proud of it, and that's why we love him. He is who he is, and they got a great podcast going over there, him and Strick. We talk about it sometimes, but I didn't really get a chance to tune in much, but Ruppers is another solid dude too, like off the ice, like very well-liked by his teammates, where it's just unfortunate that we had to play that role but these were all solid dudes i think bickle was in the mix in that as well yep yep and and every

one of those guys i'd grab a beer with off the ice so very cool to see and then i'm pretty sure you know everyone knows but the visiting team puts their lineup out first right and and that kind of set the tone from for what the rangers you know came back with but that was definitely a memorable night i remember watching like the highlights being blown away when it first happened all right was there any comments of of uh of torts like did they talk about torts reaction in the locker room i mean i not the pot i caught i didn't watch the entire thing i put it on checked it out more more or less to find out exactly who was in it i i'm not sure if his name come up at all i don't imagine it it would, but I think we're probably,

we probably ask about torts more than any podcast out there. He's like, he's on our checklist. Like ask about torts, make sure you ask about torts. I actually hired a private investigator to follow him around. Yeah. A few seasons back. You would snap your private investigator's neck. Like when the guy was like eating a sub one day, like, yeah,

you try to sneak up on me. Torts does not get followed, not know what's happening. Oh, that kind of reminded me just the whole following thing uh i watched the first episode of stranger things yeah i really really enjoyed it and that funky little soundtrack they got going i might i might pop some lsd or or or a lot of mushrooms and watch season two they got a funky thing going on although i heard season two drifts off a little bit. All right. You were pretty negative. And what's the girl,

the, the lead, the lead in this, the woman, um, Millie, Bobby Brown, 11.

Yeah. Millie brought him. Oh, she, she is excellent. Uh, is it Sigourney Weaver? The one?

No, that's the mother. The mother was either. mother of a rider. Winona Ryder. 80s. She was huge in the 80s. I give it. You're not Canadian.

I'll give you an okay for it. Don't worry about it. Yeah, that was a major, major fuck up there. But she wasn't that great in it. Kind of took away from it a little bit, in my opinion. But other than that, really liked it. I feel like that little kid with the missing teeth kind of looks like a younger josh gratton dude when i i don't know if you read my review i sent you after yeah he does dude he reminded me of what i thought i'm like i wonder

if the guys wrote this all kings fans because he reminded me of dustin brown because his name is dustin he was missing the teeth he talked remember dustin brown was missing his teeth and he talked the same way like that all right i'll give you give you a Josh Gratton slash Dustin Brown collab there for what that kid would look like. Yep. Okay, fair enough. So I think we need to maybe get some sort of new segment where Biz gets into stuff like seven years after it comes out.

Like what do you say about the Serial podcast? Now he's Stranger Things season one. We need a Biz every two or three weeks. Like, hey, did you guys hear about this movie, something about Mary? It's incredible. The 90s hour with biz. Okay, so going back to that serial podcast and Adnan,

apparently they just released a four-episode HBO documentary because there were some things that it didn't mention about the case where it sways you back to the fact that Adnan did in fact kill his girlfriend when he's 17. So it's kind of like the moon landing shit where every time you watch the conspiracy theory on it and then the real one, it just keeps bringing you back and forth. So I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know what to believe anymore, guys. Oh yeah. There's a, there's a lot of good shit out there. You ever see the one on the West Memphis three bit biz? No. Oh, that's a crazy one, man. man but anyway how long ago was that really that was it was the first part was uh hbo doc i gotta look up the the initial name of it it was on hbo like

93 and honestly what happened was the new york times sent the reporter down just to cover like oh go cover justice down south and when the guy guy, the reporter got down there, he saw like a wicked, like crazy trial happening. Like they were going to send this guy to death row on the flimsiest evidence ever. It's called Paradise Lost. The child murders at Robin Hood Hills. It dropped on HBO. It's like fucking 27 years old. So this guy went down and just do a basic New York Times file report on a hit, on a basically a redneck case.

And he saw a wicked miscarriage of justice when he when he covered it. And they basically were going to convict these guys. The doctor in court literally did one of those matchbook applications, you know, become a doctor, fill it. That's literally how this guy got his doctorate. He was the witness for the state. They're like they were part of a satanic cult. Like the whole town was gossiping about him before.

So they took a jury from all these people who already had their minds made up. Oh, man, they covered it these two journalists five sorry two uh documentary makers i think joe bernanski i think his name is they covered it and they fucking basically made a documentary eddie vetter gets involved pearl jam fucking spent a bunch of money oh my goodness these guys were one guy was gonna get to go to death row fucking well don't tell me the end of it if i well i mean it's kind of like it's well i mean it's it's it's very interesting regards i didn't really spoil guys that's my biggest fear or one of my biggest fears is being in the wrong place at the wrong time where you get accused of murder imagine going to prison where you didn't kill someone and they're like

yeah you did and that'd be the worst you can for the most part control that no i mean you gotta be you gotta be putting yourself in some bizarre situations if that were to happen. Honestly, watch this documentary, and you'll see, like, there's one of those kids. Of course there's crazy cases here and there, but if you're somewhat getting questioned for a murder, dude, you've got to think you were doing something you might not have

should have been doing. Yeah. Anyways, Paradise Lost, Biz, if you're interested. Biz, you disagree. I'm seeing your looks you're giving me. No, I'm just going back to my fearful state. I'm just going to stay in this room the rest of my life. The biggest shocker, though, Biz, since we last met, Jumbo Joe,

his young daughter Ayla does a little I Dream of Jeannie maneuver, boom, his beard of what, five years, six years. I don't know. Two years gone completely. He looks like 20 years younger without that thing on his face. Oh, you wanted to ask me about, I was going to wait for wit to chime in, but yeah, I can actually say something. One guy in the world had a worse beard than Joe Thornton. It was Ryan Whitney. No, but I, I like Joe clean shaven.

Cause I think he's a handsome dude. I just like the whole beard thing., it's just really distracting out there. Yeah, I was fired up to see him shave it, but I immediately thought of his daughter. I don't know how old she was, but if she was just a couple years younger, I remember there was an age where one of my parents' friends, I don't remember who it was, but this dude had a beard ever since I met him, and I was probably four or five, maybe six.

And then he shaved it. I mean, I, I was, I was petrified. I went like, you see him. And I, I almost, uh, it was like the, the gif of the dude from the wire. We Bay, like, Oh, the guy just couldn't believe it. So you could tell his daughter was excited. But if you, if, if, if someone sees him around the neighborhood now, some little five-year-old he'll jump. He'll shit his pants.

It's like Matt Gompi without a mustache. I saw my dad one time in my life without a mustache. It was weird. It's kind of like, who is that guy? I don't think I ever told you guys. My dad was a Walmart greeter at one point. I thought that was pretty cool. With the mustache? Yeah, after he retired, he became a

Walmart greeter just because he wanted to get out of the house and he's so social. What a nice guy. You've got to be a really nice person to just be saying hi to everyone coming into Walmart. We should get him on the podcast one time. We did a – We're doing that. We're doing dads.

You know when you play against your fathers when you're, I don't know, probably around peewee age when you're probably the same caliber because they're getting older and forgetting and not on the blades as much and you play your minor hockey team against the fathers fathers my old man tore we did that one time he tore his groin first shift first stride right off the fucking face off yeah yeah camera we should get him on he's got a lot of interesting stories anyway i'll throw it back to you all right i'm sorry that's quite all right well biz if you're an athlete you know how hot it is to find clothes that fit you well the truth is men's clothes aren't designed for guys with bigger asses and legs,

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Well, boys, what do you say? Want to send it over to Conor McDavid? Sure. All right, let's do that. Without further ado, Conor McDavid. Well, it's an absolute pleasure of mine to welcome back our next guest. It feels like every week we mention a new milestone he passed or a new record he set or something like that,

and he's still just a pup at only 23 years old. He's got 351 career regular season games. He averages an incredible 1.34 points per game, puts him right between a fellow by the name of Bob Ewer and another guy by the name of Marcel Dion. Welcome back to the Spitting Chickens podcast, Conor McDavid. Hey, how you guys doing? Good, good. How you doing, pal? How you coping with everything?

Doing good. I mean, like anyone else, it's tough, and you want to get back to regular life, but we got to do what we got to do. Well, I think life's a little different because you and that animal, Gary Roberts, are releasing workouts for the public. You think people can handle what you guys do? I know him. I was actually just listening to your episode with Teddy and Bungie Malone, and I heard you guys talking about it. So it sounds like Teddy might have done a few of them.

So if Teddy can do them, then anyone can do them. You lost me at the wall sits. Those are just too much, Connor. Well, thankfully, you don't need to do too many of those anymore um I gotta ask you you're on a cross-country trip right now you're like Clark Griswold and or at least his cousin in the RV uh what's the purpose of you driving cross-country in this RV yeah we're driving back uh from Edmonton just uh my hometown there. I mean, the purpose is just to kind of avoid planes and airports and all that and also just finish building a place in Edmonton,

so I'm also trying to save a couple bucks. And who knows when we're going to get our next paycheck, so a little low on funds. I'll only have one chance in my life to say this sentence, so, Conor, last time I saw you was at Wayne Gretzky's birthday party. So I know you did the Q&A with him. I did the Q&A with him on GQ. Are you guys pals? Do you like text him for advice because you have such similarities in your paths?

Yeah, I mean, Wayne and I have a pretty good relationship. We're not texting every day, obviously. But every time I see him, it's always a good relationship. We're not texting every day, obviously, but every time I see him, it's always a good time. His birthday party there in St. Louis after the All-Star game was a lot of fun. I'm just happy to be there. A lot of celebrities like you there.

It was fun. Is the puppy with you in the RV? What kind of breed is it? He's a miniature Bernadoodle. He's making the trip, too. He's handling it well. He's sleeping lots and

getting to see the country at the same time. What's the setup? Direct TV going on this thing? This thing's got to be just a money ride across country. It's got a couple of ads on it. It's a good job. You've got a couple of dents on it. It's a good

job. You've got to hit up Brent Burns on San Jose to get the lowdown. He's like the master of those things, the RVs. Yeah, that's right. He does a lot of these. He lives in it in the summer, does he not? Like all summer long?

Well, he had it parked outside in his driveway in San Jose. I swear to God, he's living in it when they're in there at home too i mean why wouldn't you the thing was just pimped out but um it's funny we haven't talked we haven't talked to you or seen you since you all started in san jose first time we chatted when you came on our little bus hopefully yours is better than that one but so much has happened man i mean the documentary came out well first off you had the injury at the end of the year. The documentary came out. We talked about it for a while on this show,

but what an insane summer that must have been. And I can't imagine how many different times you thought, like, dude, this isn't working. I'm going to need surgery, huh? Yeah, I mean, there was a lot to talk about a lot. And it's been talked about a lot and broken down a lot. But, yeah, I mean, it's, you know, it was definitely hard. You know, all those different opinions and, you know, lots of people that I trust telling me to do different things

and not knowing which way to go and who to listen to. And, you know, eventually just deciding to not do surgery on it and kind of hoping and waiting for it to get better. I remember lots of times in the middle of summer, I'm going to bed and I'm like thinking, you know, I should just do the surgery. It's not getting better anytime soon here. And then I was just waiting it out. Yeah, it was horrible.

But, you know, it came together nicely and, you know, it healed. You know, it felt like it took a long time to heal. And then once it started to come together, things started to happen really quickly. And, you know, those kind of milestones that being back on the ice, working out without the brace, skating without the brace, you know, those types of things, you can start to check those boxes off pretty quickly. I was going to ask you, I mean, they were talking about when Jordan had his injury and how he kind of rushed it back after he got in.

I forget where he ended up going to get the rehab done. But similar to you, when you first stepped back on the ice, you were very persistent. You weren't really following the doctor's orders. Now, I mean, have you been watching that documentary? And what was that like going through that whole experience? Yeah, I mean, obviously, I did listen to the doctors. We pushed the boundaries every now and then, but, um, you know, it is important to listen to the docs. Um, but at the same time, I just,

you know, that, that, that same anxious thing that you're talking about that anxiety of wondering if it's going to get better, you just have to do it. And if it feels good, it feels good. If it doesn't, then, you know, maybe back off a little bit. And, you know, luckily we really never had any setbacks um you know it's kind of just a slow process and and uh you know kind of get there when we get there um type of thing like it was uh and there was no rush and the whole Oilers organization was great and you know they weren't pushing me to be there for opening day or anything like that although that was was my fault. But they just said, take your time, and whatever happens, happens.

And at the end of this, you've got to be certain. The doctor says, hey, when you get on the ice the first time, just take it easy. He gets on and does a one-leg inside edge C-cut that sends an echo throughout the arena. Everyone's like, ah. All right, sorry, that's a little joke um i gotta ask one more thing about the injury was it were you kind of adamant about and i actually

don't even know if you do wear a knee brace but if you don't were you adamant about not having to add anything to your equipment like wise in terms of coming back from this yeah absolutely um i definitely didn't want to wear a knee brace um when I first got back on the ice, I was wearing a big, big brace and was able to, you know, after a little bit, get fitted for one of those smaller ones, those dondry ones that everyone wears. And then I ended up being able to shake that off as well. So I didn't want to wear anything on my knee at all.

The Battle of Alberta has certainly been rekindled a very big way the last couple of seasons. Was that level of hatred something that was eye-opening to you? Had you ever had a rivalry like that before? Were you really hated the other team like that? Yeah. I mean, growing up, you have lots of rivalries with different teams. You know, I played for Erie.

We played the Sioux a lot in playoffs. And I didn't like those guys very much. But nothing quite like this. Obviously, there's lots of bad blood and eye-popping hits and goalie fights and line brawls. It kind of feels like the 80s out there when we're playing them. But it's a lot of fun. I mean, the fans get into it, and it's fun that the games actually matter.

I mean, there's been lots of times where Oilers-Flames games haven't really mattered at all for points and standing-wise. So, no, it's just good that the games matter again. In the heat of that battle, do any of their guys challenge you there? I can't remember the last time you fought other than Junior, and I think you might have broke your hand on the glass, didn't you? I don't think it was the glass, but I thought it was the back of his head. But a lot of people say it's the glass, but the video's tough.

I was just throwing too hard. I think that's what it was. Too fast. You can't tell. Have any of those Flames guys ever shimmy shook you? Have they ever challenged you? I mean, we haven't. No, not really

a lot of times we're thinking about it but never really. Other than driving cross country what else you been doing at kill time? We know a lot of guys it seems like every guy we talked to is either crushing Tiger King on Netflix or Ozark Outer Bank seems to be the hot one. What have you been

doing at kill time and are you a Netflix guy? Yeah definitely watch a lot of Netflix like I said I just built be the hot one what have you been doing at kill time and are you a netflix guy yeah definitely uh definitely watch a lot of netflix um like i said i just built a house in edmonton so i've just been breaking that in and have my home little gym there and uh i've been trying to stay fit i had uh i had my my buddy out who was quarantined with me and we've uh we've been working out hard together so it's uh it's been fun let Let's talk about Boots and Hearts. I know you love that music festival just north of Toronto. Were you planning on going back?

I don't know if it's been canceled yet, but just talk about that and your love for country music. Yeah, I definitely love country music. I hope to be playing in August still, but we don't really know what's going to happen with that. But obviously, if it's still going on, we'll definitely be back. I think I've gone five years in a row, so I definitely love going.

What's the country music festival that you go to outside of Nashville? I used to go to Bonnaroo, but it was more of all bands, not really country-focused. I don't know how you do constant country. It would drive me up the wall. Is that your go-to music in the car? No, not necessarily, but it's just fun for a weekend. You buy in,

you get your plaid and your flannel, and off you go. Do you dress like one of the Daisy Dukes with the short shorts one day? Oh, yeah. That's me. You know me, bitch. Oh, I figured you and your old school buddies would rope you into something being silly.

I know you got to worry about your public image, but I wouldn't mind seeing Connor David and some Daisy Dukes on Instagram. Connor David. Connor McDavid. That's his stunt double. Sorry, my brain starts going too fast when you get me going on these.

You're the guy who loves country. Do you like any of the classic country artists and the older guys? We saw Alan Jackson one year and he was good. He was good. He was my favorite, but yeah, we saw him there once, but not a huge like old school country guy, like more of the new-school stuff. What about Johnny Cash?

You've got to be a Johnny Cash fan, though. I don't know much Johnny Cash, no. That's one of your favorite movies. Hey, this year, I would say it wasn't surprising that you guys had so much success. But, I mean, there were times Edmonton was dominating. And, like, this Dreitzel guy, man. First of all, how do you describe his game? Like, if you were to tell somebody what he's best at, what do you think that is?

He's probably the best passer I've ever seen. He's so smart. He can slow the game down like no passer I've ever seen. He's so smart. He can slow the game down like no one I've ever seen. He gets his big ass out and holds guys off. He just makes passes that no one else can make. He's a special player, and I'm really lucky that I get to be able to play with him. I asked you about the documentary last dance earlier. What's it like being a two-guy?

Have you been following the Pippen spots a little more closely or what? Yeah, I'm happy to hand it over. Whatever. As long as we're in the playoffs and winning games, whoever is leading the thing, let's go. And Biz, the guy with the C goes to get the cup from Gary at Center Ice first, so I think that's all that really matters here. Both very rich.

Well, since we're getting right on the hockey topic now, tip comes in. I had tip as a coach. I love them. Very structured. What are some of the systems that he brought in early on and things that he wanted to instill in that group in the locker room?

Well, I think it's pretty obvious with our group. We need to be better defensively. And, you know, obviously, Tip is kind of a specializer in that. And just came in and just kind of instilled that defensive mindset and checking and, you know, it's taken a while, but, you know, guys are buying in and we're seeing the rewards of that. Have there been sacrifices to your game personally? Like maybe, you know, going over video,

you were cheating to the offensive side of the puck a little too much. Like what are some things that he's kind of, you know, talked to you about adjusting in your game? Yeah, I mean, cheating is something that I'd obviously need to get better at or not better at, you know, eliminated from my game. I mean, like any offensive guy, there's always going to be a little cheat or a little sniff on the offensive side. But, you know, it has to be an educated guess, I like to call it.

But sometimes it can hurt you going the other way. So it's something that I'm definitely trying to work on, and Tech's been real good with me about it. Kwon, you mentioned you're having a brand new house built. Have you had any impulse buys during quarantine, just out of boredom, of nothing else, just, I don't know, want to buy a new car,

a new CD, something like that? CD. CD. What the fuck? That old PlayStation thing? Perhaps like that. CD. What the fuck? That old PlayStation thing? Perhaps a Johnny Cash CD. A, the subscription. You don't have to buy 11 of them.

No. I bought a side-by-side. We go out and Matt Benning's got a cottage just outside of Edmonton, and he's got a lot of land, and just go rip up the side-by-side. What's a side-by-side for idiots like me who don't know? Like an ATV, but – A Razor? Yeah, something like that.

Yeah, those are fun. How many wheels? Four, three? Four, yeah, Four. Four wheels. Oh, I'm... No, no. Hey, fuck. I didn't know either. I loved it.

Hey, you jumped on the landmine this one. Oh, man. I thought it was like an app for pictures, the side-by-side. I'm like, what is this thing he's talking about? Ripping up around Edmonton. Did you custom build that home, Connor? No. No. No.

Well, we bought the project, and then, I don't know. We've had a bit of a falling out with the builder. Do you have a beat-off room like Phil Kessel? Seating for one? Seating for one theater? I mean, a theater. I know Kessel a little bit, and he said that picture was a lie. I know Kes a little bit and he said that picture was a lie.

Oh, yeah. There's two seeds in there. But you never know. It was a lie. Well, the picture didn't have his foot rest but other than that, it was just missing something. It was missing his water

cooler size of lotion. Hey, so you said you had a falling out with the builder. When you build houses, it's always way over budget and it usually ends up in a fallout. That's such a grind. It's always way more than you think it's going to be. I would not recommend

building it. It sucks. And our builder just nickel and dimed every way trying to get the most he could wow just such and people dude guys like that tell me if i'm wrong if he just is straight up and honest about it you'd use him forever and anything you need you know what i mean it's like they've ruined it for themselves trying to screw you over and i would have i would have recommended them to any teammates or anyone that was asking to build, but

he definitely ruined that. This is high five. That means high fidelity. Jesus, I was going to say if you want him taken care of, R.A. knows the guy. Just give us the word, buddy. Oh, yeah? We're branching out.

Did you have a home theater put in? All jokes aside, did you have one put in? Yeah, there's a place to watch Netflix and Tiger King and whatever else you want to watch. Did you already get into it? Yeah, you already burned through Tiger King like everyone else? Absolutely, yeah. I want there to be a full another documentary

on if Carole Baskin killed her husband. I found that the most interesting. She is. She's as guilty as anyone's ever been. What, you don't think she is? When she's talking about, like, when someone puts something on Joe's shoes to get the tiger's attention and it pans to her and she's like if you want to get a tiger's opinion just put like

sardine oil yeah and a little shit smirk and you're like you did it yeah oh shit speaking of documentaries have you been watching the uh michael jordan chicago bulls one like the whole world has seemingly been doing? Yeah, I watched the first episode. I didn't get a chance to watch the second one and then obviously we took off to go home, so I didn't catch the two last night, but I heard they were real good.

Yeah, absolutely. The footage they've been sitting off for 20 years is incredible. Have you ever had the opportunity to meet Jordan? I've not, no. No. Just stay off the golf course with him. He just takes people for thousands.

I've heard that. And you blew me off last week to go golfing with. Who did? You did. How so? Didn't we have a plan to do this last week? And I heard you had to go golf. Oh, yeah.

I was thinking you on the course. Thanks for throwing me out of the fucking bus, McDavid. So Biz fucking shriveled me. I see what happens here. I see how this is what happens. You talk about the last dance. This could be the last pod because I'll tell you right now, he's shriveling me., but yeah, I was playing golf.

I'm driving to Connecticut like an hour and 40 minutes each way just to get my fix in. I mean, it's like you getting a workout in with Gary Roberts. You'd do anything to get there. Well, I don't know who to believe anymore. Maybe Biz was doing something and he just threw you under the bus. Hey, that's like private information. I thought we were boys like that. I did want to ask you, though, joking aside with the Roberts videos,

in order to stay in shape at the fact that this may continue and the season may get finished, how are you able to stay in shape? Are you at least getting ice time to get on your edges? No, I haven't been able to find ice um but um got rollerblades i rollerblade a lot um something i've always done as a kid um i'm working out lots just uh doing whatever i can but uh it's probably right there's a is a role playing i mean i i wasn't much of a skater as we all know is the Is the motions all the same, or is there anything, like, different roller blade that you're not getting from ice skating or vice versa?

Well, I mean, it's obviously not exactly the same, but it's pretty similar. But the stopping's a little bit tougher. That was an amazing question. Well, one, you're on wheels on asphalt, and one, you're on ice. Well, one year on wheels on asphalt and one year on ice. But those rollerblades now, you can heat them up and, I think, treat them like real skates in the oven, no? Those Mars blades sent me some of their stuff,

and you actually just take off the holder on your skate and you put it on your actual skate. No free outs. As close as you can get. It's more like muscle movement type of shit. I know the wheels and blades are different. You get to put your Daisy Dukes back on so at least you get more use out

of them. You get to whip them out of the old Boots and Hearts closet. Get rollerblading down the block. No, he actually rollerblades at Boots and Hearts. That's how he gets around. He signs autographs on the wheels. Hey, McDavid, let's talk about your Bahamas trip at the end of last season. That looked like a blast.

Oh, okay. Well, yeah, it was fun. I mean, I don't know what else to tell you about that. Well, I mean, we were hoping you were going to dive into it, maybe divulge a couple stories from the trip. Divulge a couple stories from the trip. Divulge a couple stories from the trip. Like, do you get crippled after the season? Like, you just had enough, and then you just get sloshed,

drunk every night on this, like, I don't know, this three-star resort because you're cheap and you RV everywhere? We were actually at Albany. You guys know golf course out there? Yeah, Justin Rose, I believe, lives there. Justin Rose, I believe, lives there. Justin Rose. Yeah. That nail horn was there with him doing some golfing, I guess.

But you saw Brad Richards, I think, has a place down there. He was there. I don't know. Yeah, it was fun. Maybe we can get you for a sandbagger invitational. Oh, yeah. Well, Sid did it That's all you talk about Is how you want to follow in Sid's footsteps

Why don't you step up and get dusted on the golf course By me and Whit We'll let you pick your number one dry sidle You won't do the cologne with me So maybe you can show up to the fucking golf course You're so cheap You're so cheap. You're so cheap, you're just waiting for everyone to invite you everywhere, huh? He's the guy who never joins a country club but plays all of them.

Yeah, exactly. Did you stay in Atlantis? Everyone seems to stay in there. No, he's in Albany, he said. In the Bahamas, at Albany, the golf course. Okay. I don't know if he stayed there or just golfed there. Was there any, like, spring break going on?

Like, where y'all like to be, like, Edmonton High School senior. Like, oh, there's Connor David. He's down here at the same time as us. No, but we, whatever, went to that Bahamar a couple nights. We went to that Bahamar a couple nights, and it was during the time, I guess, of not college spring break, but high school spring break. So there were all these 15-, 16-year-old kids running around, and they were being idiots.

But it was a fun trip. I don't mean to go all serious on you. Do you think we're going to end up finishing this season, Connor? And when I mean by were, I mean yours? I mean, I don't know. There's lots of smarter people that are going to decide that than me. But I think public safety is more important right now. And we've got to make sure we get this under control.

And if we can get back to it, we can get back to it. But if not, then it is what it is. But obviously I'd like to play and I want to finish it out as does everyone. But public safety is more important right now. Going back to the documentary stuff for a second, I know it probably feels like cameras follow you 24-7 already, but is that something that you would agree to, Connor, you be taped for a whole year, for something to do years down the line? Maybe years down the line here, but not anytime soon. It looks like they had some fun

with it, but I think it's a little too in your face, and I'm a little bit more of a private guy. So, you know, it's something that I'm not interested in now, but who knows, maybe in the coming years, maybe. I got to meet your father a little bit, and we were actually talking about how close you were growing up in your career and how after games you guys would talk about every single game together. And even after games now, I believe you're the first person, he's the first person you text after every game, correct?

Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, he played a huge role in my career so far. He coached me all through minor hockey growing up and taught me the game. And he's still the guy that I talk to and bounce ideas off of. And if he has anything he sees in my game, he still shares it with me. So I value his opinion a lot and owe a lot of credit to him. So when you were growing up playing minor hockey, were you watching a lot of video with him or was it not quite there yet?

No, no video, no video, obviously. Aw, come on. What do you mean, come on? Who videotapes a minor hockey game? Well, now they got these cameras set up in all the rinks, and then you pay for a membership to, like, watch the hour your kid was out there. It's insane. They're making clips, sending them in to Instagram accounts.

It's banana land. So I think Biz thought that you guys were way ahead of the curve. Hey, stop bullying me. Stop bullying me. You're so bullying me. Stop bullying me. You're so sensitive now. That's crazy. You bully me every time I see you, you bully me. So it's a little payback.

Not this time. I love it. We've got a segment on this podcast called Ring Shrink where Keith D'Ando's brother, Brian, he comes on and he talks about all these crazy hockey parents. He told one last time about a mother replying all to the head coach and uh might have been something they were doing on the last road trip together they shouldn't have been oh boy oh yeah this is what's going it's like the maury povitz showdown

there funny story when i was i was probably seven years old, like novice hockey, we were playing a team and whatever. There's just parents in the crowd, right? And we're in the corner, and this mom comes running down. I'm in the corner battling it out, face up against the glass. She bangs on the window. Look at her. She's giving me the finger. I was seven years old.

I'm like, what the, what is going on? But so it's just, uh, those crazy occupants have been around for centuries. So nothing's changed. You probably criticized one of her questions in the lobby when it was like doing that opening ceremonies or something. Maybe she was a little bitter. Who knows? Hey, Con, uh, we were lucky actually to meet your dad, Brian. Awesome guy.

And your brother, Kim. How are they doing? I enjoyed shooting the shit with them in the luxury box during the All-Star game. Yeah, they're doing good. My brother lives in a little condo in the city. So he got out of there and went up north into Collingwood, where our family has a little cottage. So he claimed that nice and early, and he's been up there for five,

six weeks now, and my parents are just back in Newmarket hanging out. So, yeah, they're doing good. I'm looking forward to getting home and seeing them. Yeah, I thought it was pretty cool that your dad is a Bruins fan, so we enjoyed shooting the shit about that, and he named your brother after Cam Neely. I thought that was a pretty cool piece of family trivia. Yeah, yeah, he was a pretty cool piece of family trivia.

Yeah, yeah. He was a huge Bruins fan. And like you said, named Cam after Cam Neely. And then, sure enough, fast forward a couple of years, Bobby Orr is now my agent. So he's for sure loving that. R.A. had some stat before the podcast. Your point per game average is, I believe, maybe just – Yeah, you already told him.

Oh, he told him? Oh, geez, where was I? Did I take a washroom break or something? I don't know. On another planet. He said who I was in between, but he didn't say the rank. I don't even know what that would be.

Oh, yeah, right. Like, you don't know your own stats. Come on. Who would know that stat? Who would know that stat? That's a crazy stat. No, I don't look at that stuff.

It's just game to game, Connor. You know how it is. Shift to shift. Exactly. Exactly. You actually put your number five. So I'm sorry. Put your number five. Oh, that's cool. That's higher than I thought.

First or last. What were you going to say, Connor, before RA interrupted you? So we were in the room and we were watching a Steve McIntyre fight. I guess he's still playing somewhere. What? And someone had a hilarious story of Steve McIntyre and you with, I guess, he was chasing you down or something like that. You wouldn't go on the ice when he was on the ice. Yeah. I've told this story before. I don't know if you want to hear it again. I'll give you

the cliff notes. Long story long. So we played together. I used to like bust his balls, but everyone would because he was the toughest human being alive, but once in a while was known to be a little bit of a drill wrecker. I mean, everyone knows those guys, and he was going so hard in drills, which I respected. But whatever, just busting his balls. Then one time he was singing country.

I was like, dude, get off the mic. We were all doing – what's that called when you all – karaoke? Karaoke. So apparently, like, he hated me. I feel bad looking back that he hated me this much, but I didn't mean to be, like, that much of a prick. I think I was just being myself, and he didn't appreciate it. Well, so I find out he hates me, like, once I'm gone,

and then I get sent down. I was in Florida, sent down seven games, minus seven. See you later. Down to San Antonio. I run into Edmonton's farm team, the Oklahoma City Barons, or whatever their name is. Dude, this guy's skating around in warm-ups. Jesus, screaming at me, you're fucking dead, you're dead.

I'm like, oh, my God. I can't go on the ice. So what I did was any shift he would hop on, I would sprint to the bench, and he never got me. Oh, my God. That's hilarious. He was on the bench like, I'm going to kill you. And I was probably six to seven times he got on,

and I just beelined for the bench, hopped over, and I remained unscathed. That's hilarious. Yeah, there was a fight at them recently, and he's playing in some league. I don't even know what it was, but he just beat the wheels off this poor guy. So I can't blame you for getting off the ice. He was, I think, I want to say 6'3", 260. His hand would have literally cracked my skull in half. He was a machine.

Not messing with that. That's hilarious. What are some other funny stories you've heard about Witt? I've heard some funny stories. I think he lived with Halsey and Ebbs for a bit, no? Yeah, I lived with Halsey. I was 30. They were 20.

Yeah. I lived with Halsey and Gazi my first year. So I, uh, I got my fair share of web stories. Oh, geez. We just had Gaz on the podcast. How'd he do? He was, he was chill. He was telling us again about that time in Thailand, uh, Thailand.

Is that how you say it? Uh, where he went to that ping pong show where girls were shooting ping pong balls at each other with their, with their, you know, I'm sure you've heard the story. Yeah. Yeah. That was, that was the summer before I started living with them.

So yeah. Told a couple of stories. I could imagine those after hours parties after big, big wins on Saturday nights. Best Edmonton after hours parties when Glenn Anderson was at Sam Gagne's house and Poker Face by Lady Gaga was a big hit. But when the song ended and another song began, Glenn Anderson, the Hall of Famer, I think he's

Hall of Famer, was screaming, No more! Put Poker Face back on! And we had to listen to Poker Face all night. That was an Edmonton after party. Ask Gags about that and Cogs. Oh, what a fun time we had. We were on bad teams.

That's hilarious. Yeah, he is in the hall. That's hilarious. Business fan after a big win. We didn't get many big wins my first year. You're strolling to Sault Ste. Marie right now. Are you guys stopping there overnight? Yeah, we're hunkering down for tonight.

Before you move into the new place, did you have roommates at the old place that you're booting out, or what's the story there? No, my first year I lived with Halsey and Gazi, and then they actually ended up both moving on after that. And I ended up living with Mercy for a couple of years and then moved into my own place after that. So. There you go. All right. Well, Connor, thanks so much for joining us.

I know you're on, you're on the road right now, so we really appreciate you making time for us. And hopefully, man, we'll see you in a month or two or three doing your thing on the ice. Cause we certainly miss you. Yeah, I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on. Thanks, Connor. Well, a huge thanks to Connor

for joining us last minute like that. It was a pleasure to talk to him. This was better than the first time we did, I think, guys. He wasn't in a cramped trailer with other people in other interviews. We kind of had him solo and he seemed to have a good time with us, Biz. Great having Connor on. We've been having some great guests lately.

Going back last week, Tom Green. We actually dropped a couple good YouTube interviews. For those of you who want to check that out, we dropped Ryan Lannan. That was mine and Witt's old teammate that went to Harvard, had the funny story about the cougar that wanted to come back for round two. And he said, hey, I got a lot of homework and tests coming up here. Maybe if you write my bid term, we could talk about you getting the pipe again. And sure as shit, this guy ends up getting a 65-page report in his fucking inbox.

Like, what, less than a week later with? I don't remember the exact time. Three days. It was three days later. Three? Holy shit. So obviously, she't remember the exact time three days it was three days later three holy shit so obviously sure 65 pages yeah she ran out of batteries at home so she needed lano to come over and and fix whatever she was lacking but uh incredible story there great having him on um and then who else did we drop we dropped voracek on youtube as well so check those videos out as part of the echlL Player Relief Fund. We'll be dropping

two of those a week. So the first one was dropped by Boykies, or brought to you by Boykies, excuse me, and then the second one, Can I Brands as well. So big thank you to our sponsors for helping out with the ECHL Player Relief Fund. What else we got here? Yeah, there's the Voracek one in particular. I got a real kick out of him. You can tell he's a fucking

absolute character in the locker room just by hanging in a hotel room for an hour. wish we could get a little pre-game routine out of him hbo 24 7 style to see how he goes through his rock show in the uh his rock show a rock concert in the room excuse me let me take that they must have they were on a road to the winter classic or something there's probably some b-roll or the extra film of him being an animal pre-game yeah no doubt uh we do got a little bit of news to catch you up on boston bruins extended their backup goaltender yaroslav falak with a one-year 2.25 million dollar deal it's a 35 plus contract which means he can get

bonuses and he's got a pretty easy one 1.25 million dollar bonus if he plays in 10 games which given the rate he's been at and if the seasons do get back to normal, should be pretty easy for him. The cap hits only two and a quarter. Average annual value, three and a half million. Two seasons in Boston thus far. Halak has arguably been the best number two in the league. 40, 17, and 10 with a 9-2-1 save percentage. Two, three, six goals against and eight shutouts.

This is a great signing by the Bees. You already got a great number one. You know, you're paying expensively for them, but good signing there. Also, a friend of ours made some news. Bastu Pond hockey star and Quinnipiac's all-time leading scorer, Kelly Babstock, signed a deal with the new Toronto franchise of the National Women's Hockey League. She's a great kid. I was happy for her. Like everyone else, we don't know when they're going to play. The team in Toronto, they are an expansion team. They don't have a nickname yet, but we know how Babs plays. She's

full steam ahead, pushes her teammates with their style. So congrats to her. Hopefully, good things ahead for her. Any comments on the Halak sign, Whit? Yeah, I know that there's some crazy Bruins fans, I think, in my opinion, that think he should be the number one guy. Now, I just think that that does show how impressive he is in the times he does play. Now, he's playing behind or in front of whatever you want to call it, a really good team. But that guy has been just rock solid every single game it seems

that he plays when Tuca gets rest. So having the ability to be that confident and give your number one more rest than he maybe needs is great for any team. So I think it's a great signing and makes a ton of sense. I mean, this is a guy who people want to carry price traded. Instead, keep a lock in Montreal after what he did when they beat Washington and Pittsburgh, I think.

So the guy's been awesome his whole career, and at this point, making good money, probably loves the role he's in. I don't know. Maybe that's actually incorrect. he might be just driven to be a number one again so it's clear there's enough people around Boston that are still barking about Tuka Rask in the fact that he brought them all the way to game seven of the Stanley Cup final and I believe up until this point in the season he's easily in the Vezina race, correct? I think so. I don't know the exact top three favorites right now. Maybe I would if I was still at NHL Network when I was that guy.

But, I mean, they never complain or they do, but I don't hear the complaints in the regular season because he's so solid. And in the playoffs, he's usually two, but he hasn't won the cup. And Thomas did. And it's like until he wins that cup people are just gonna say this guy is no good he'll never win us a cup that's pretty much the narrative at this point he's got to win one to win all these idiots over who have no clue all right yeah i think sports radio fuels it a bit no doubt in the area so people now that

brady's gone they need a punching bag yeah uh as March 2nd, Tuka Rask was the chalk to be Vezina favorite. It went Tuka Rask at plus 175, Connor Hellebuck at plus 250, and Jordan Binnington at plus 600. And then Ben Bishop at plus 700. It's kind of good when people say it, because then you know where they're coming from, and then you can just

block them out from there on if you choose to, you know. All right, boys. Hey, I want to talk to you about St Strength King for a sec. Strength King is a sporting goods and custom fit apparel brand based out in L.A. Normally, they're one of the top companies making lacrosse sticks, baseball bats, and hockey sticks. When the quarantine canceled sports, though, these guys converted their entire supply chain and production line

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String King is currently donating over $25,000 worth of masks each week. It's really tough for places like nursing homes, hospice care, first responders, and all kinds of essential workers to get protection right now. So we're teaming up to get even more people the masks they need. And you can help out too. Go to stringking.com and use the code CHICKLETS when you check out and they will donate a three-layer face mask for every mask sold. It couldn't be easier for you to help out. All you got to do is stay home, order a mask, and enter the code. That's CHICKLETS at checkout on stringking.com.

String like shoestring, king like queen. S-T-R-I-N-G-K-I-N-G.com. All right, gang, and speaking of that, a longtime tough guy, George LaRock, did test positive for the virus. He's in the hospital recuperating. He made a video from the hospital thanking all the frontline workers for helping him get better.

He's had pneumonia in both lungs. He also has already suffered from asthma. So he said, quote, you guys are the real heroes. You're putting your health at risk just to help me. You guys are amazing. He said we got in frontline workers. So hopefully he's doing well. And also Maple Leafs legend Boya Salming also had tested positive a few weeks back.

And he also made a video thanking workers and imploring people to be careful. And our friends at Bauer, they've been working on a medical-grade face shield to help protect the hockey community. When played, that will resume. It will be available from the NHL down to minor league hockey. So kudos to Bauer, who's been great throughout this whole ordeal. And let's send it over to Elvis Merzlikens, man. This is a funny, charismatic rookie that we really enjoyed talking to. So Elvis is in the house. Well, our next guest is an NHL goalie who came out of seemingly nowhere to inject himself into the call the trophy conversation this season.

That chatter is thanks in large part to his five shutouts, 2.35 goals against, and 9.23 save percentage as he has had a huge hand in keeping the Columbus Blue Jackets in a playoff spot at this time of the season before the suspension. He also got a pretty sweet raise lately. He got paid about $4 million a year. Welcome to the Millionaire Club, and welcome to the Spitting Chicklets podcast, Elvis Merzlikens.

Hi, guys. Hi. How we doing, pal? Where are you hunkered down? Are you in the States? Are you in Europe? Where are you? I'm in the States. I'm still in Columbus. Yeah, I'm trying to live day by day here in Columbus for a bit. RA was getting a little excited there, Elvis. I believe you're getting $2 million a year, not $4. So maybe RA should have been negotiating your deal.

My agents did a great job, so I'm really thankful for them. Yeah, thank you for that. You and Kirk Rosallo very very interesting story this year of course you kind of came out of nowhere although you you were spending some time in lugano before that for six years and it was kind of a freak incident it ended up going to the shootout because of that that um ridiculous goal call and then you end up getting thrown in and all of a sudden after christmas you go on this ridiculous run like just kind of summarize the entire experience of your NHL 33 games. Well, yeah.

I mean, the start maybe wasn't the right start what I imagined it. And I really don't suggest to any kid to have that start what I had it. But, yeah, later on I just kept working hard with my goalie coach and trying to understand the North American hockey uh try to understand that I'm against the best players best shooters in the world uh that that's not anymore like a joke I mean here is everything is serious and yeah then I just let's just keep working hard even mentally that was a new life experience for my mental stuff

I got stronger mentally as well because it was really hard to handle all the pressure then I was putting myself under pressure as well asking myself a lot of questions, am I ready? I'm not ready for the big hockey for the big stage.

And yeah, then I just kept working hard and trying to find myself. And when I got the chance to find myself, then like I said, I was trying to rock and roll. I mean, I was going well and I'm trying to play my game. Well, you jumped on the scene. It made an enormous impact. I think it was really fun to watch. I want to just take a step back and go back to the beginning. You were born and raised in Latvia, and then at 19 you went to Switzerland to play. I'm curious, you know, Latvia has a team in the KHL in Riga. Riga, by the way, the most beautiful woman in the world.

What a city. How did you end up going to Switzerland and leaving your home country? Well, when I was really, like I was really young, my mom, she got married there. And the first time in my life, I moved to Switzerland when I was eight. So I started actually playing hockey in Lugano. And then my mom, she got divorced, And then my mom, she got divorced, what happened in the life. So then we moved back to Latvia. And when we were back in Latvia, then I was just kind of practice goalie.

For two years, I did maybe one real hockey game, half of the game, I remember. We were leading 6-0, and then my mom, she was just really mad at the coach and asked why they are not putting me in. So I played 30 minutes. That was bad. I mean, in two years you play 30 minutes and you are just practicing and everybody is older than you. You are the youngest guy in the team. Even there, I was battling against myself as well.

I wanted to quit hockey as well. And the mom was the one who was pushing me, fighting with me. And she wanted that I play hockey. So then she just kind of shipped me away to Switzerland when I was 15. I lived there in the family. And I grew up kind of basically more there than in Latvia. So hometown, yeah, it's Latvia. That's my country.

But my home, home, I feel more Lugano, Switzerland, because, yeah, like I said, I moved there when I was 15. I went to the school there and I grew up in the locker rooms of Lugano. I was living basically in the rink. I was all the time practicing. And then I was coaching with my coach and the little, little kids. So I was just really having fun. And yeah, that was the best moment of my life. I mean, you were all the time.

You wake up in the morning, you go to the rink and you were practicing by yourself. Then you practice with your goalie coach and then you spend all day there and then you go to the school and then you come back to the to the to the rink better you can have well listen i know ra is a question but i quickly gotta ask i don't know if you've heard of our podcast or ever listened but one of our our our favorite guests that we've ever interviewed is Tim Stapleton, and you had the chance to play with that guy. What do you remember about him and the experience with that and not in the locker room?

Oh, I love him. He's a really funny guy. He's the guy when maybe you have a rough morning, you come in the locker room, he's not even opening his mouth. You just look at him on his face, and you start already laughing because his expressions and how he is, he's really funny. I really love him. I enjoy the time playing with him.

And obviously, his family is awesome. He's a great father. I love it to watch him even like an example for my future. So he was a great guy to spend the time with. That's funny, Elvis. Now, you were drafted by Columbus in 2014, but you still played in Switzerland for another five years. In your last contract, you didn't have an out clause,

like some players do so they can leave for the NHL. You stayed there until you were 25. Now, did you think your game still needed work to get to the NHL level, or were you just having so much fun in Switzerland that you weren't in any hurry to come to North America? Well, in that period, before that I resigned with Lugano, I resigned at three years, and I remember that I was talking with my agent and we were planning what to do, to go to start and play in HL or what to do.

And there was too many goalies. I remember there was Bobrovsky, McElhaney, and then in HL there was just Korpisalo just came, Anton Forsberg, and Dansk. So there was already really good goalies in front of me and i understand yeah you you i could go there and fight but why should i do that if i can go in switzerland and fight against one goalie get the first goalie and then and then even there get the experience playing swiss hockey league because anyways I think the Swiss Hockey League is really good hockey league there is good players

mostly if we see all the NHL players who played in NHL they are going to Switzerland, Sweden, then Germany probably these are the top three leagues I mean there is actually even a chance to go to KHL but

I don't know why but everybody is using the Switzerland Sweden and Germany so um I think it was great great league to to to understand more the man hockey because in that period I was more like kid uh junior I just finished my juniors so uh it was great great time to spend there uh get a little bit money into your pocket as well more than in hl obviously and uh and then just see the future well with my agent we were talking that maybe in two years i'm going to be ready for nhl we wanted to sign with two years with lugano but lugano they didn't want it because in that period, there was no goalies anymore. Everybody signed it for three or four years.

So our only option was three years, and that's what we did. So when you got to North America, to Columbus specifically, what was your first impression of Coach John Tortorella? Well, in April last year when I came here for playoffs, I didn't really have the chance to really meet him because I didn't see him that much because we had different schedules. I mean, he was all the time with the team, and when the team was on the ice, I had different ice times with Manny. So I didn't have that chance.

I already knew what kind of coach he is. I really like it that he's straight, he's honest. He's never going to lie to you. Even if it's good or bad, he's going to tell you. And I think even if there is a bad thing that he has to tell you, that's good because that's how you grow up. That's how you man up, and that's how you understand life better. I really like him.

I really like this kind of person who are like this straight, and they're not like hiding something and then saying something to your friend, maybe something different, you know. So I'm thinking that Thornton's a really good coach. I really like it. Well, honestly, I don't really have much to do with him because he's team coach and i'm going i mean thank god i don't have maybe yes sometimes yeah sometimes i feel really lucky that i'm goalie when I'm looking at my players. So, yeah, sometimes I feel really lucky.

But, yeah, like I said, I don't really – not that I have nothing to do with him, but, I mean, I'm goalie. So, I'm more – like, my boss is more Manny. I mean, I'm spending more time with Manny than with the Torch. Did you sign that first offer because you saw what he did to Wierenski when he bullied him into signing his contract? I came late. I know that there was something

with Wierenski, but I don't know what he did. Oh, no. Torts didn't tell me nothing, but yeah, I signed it right away anyway. So I was cool. I was cool in that moment. Well, you know, your first language is Latvian, obviously.

Your English is great, but spending so much time in Switzerland, I mean, I know Lugano is right on the Italian border. Do you speak Italian, German, French? I mean, how many languages can Elvis speak here uh i'm speaking four languages uh latvian english russian and italian mr worldwide yeah probably hurt you with the ladies i want to study the spanish uh because i really like the language and it's similar like in Italian. So it could be a really easy way to study another language. But yeah, I spend most of the time in Lugano.

So my Italian, I think it's really good. I speak better Italian than English, obviously. But yeah, i like languages and like i said i would like to really uh study the spanish and try to learn it really well the spanish what other things are you into off the ice um well here in the states it's a little bit maybe different and there is I'm not saying that there is nothing that much to do but I mean in Switzerland is different I really like to hike the mountains I really like the nature I really like to make the pictures so what I was

doing usually in Switzerland I was just taking the car i like the cars as well so uh i i kind of had a good car so i was driving the mountains uh it's to have you you get you get some fun on driving the mountains and obviously you see the really nice and beautiful views of switzerland with alps as well so uh that that was how we were spending the days and uh even if, well, if it was a raining day, then you just sit on your couch and play PlayStation all day long. Have you seen the documentary Free Solo? The one where the guy climbs the rock without the ropes? No, I didn't.

Oh, Elvis, you got something to do tonight now. Biz just hooked it up. It's called Free free solo right with yeah free solo this lunatic climbs enormous mountains with no rope like if he falls he's dead he's done he's flat so check it out it's a rush the entire time i think you'll enjoy it some beautiful scenery too okay i will i will thank you and uh have you hiked any uh like well-known mountains well hiking like like you are talking about without the ropes or with ropes no i didn't hike like this no i know i mean i understand that i'm going a little bit crazy but i'm not that crazy to do that i mean i i i still care about my life so So, I like to hike the mountains when you see the goats and maybe the cows around, and that's all.

When it's safe, I like the safe stuff. Elvis, you mentioned your first NHL game at Pittsburgh. It was a tough one. You gave up seven goals on 40 shots. How did that affect you mentally? Were you, like, self-doubting yourself after one game, or were you able to brush it off easily? Man, that was a nightmare.

I mean, after the game, I would like to disappear forever, like never being there. Your feeling is terrible. Climbing out with no ropes. Yeah, then I would like to just not even climb, just jump down from the mountain with all the ropes. If I would have a mountain, that's probably what I would do after the game.

So, no, you feel terrible. I mean, I was all the time dreaming about, like, when I was younger, when I was a little kid, I remember I was dreaming the NHL drop ceremony. I was looking myself in the mirror and putting the hat and imagine that I'm making the pictures. Then I was imagining that my first NHL game, I'm going to make a shout-out. That would be a great start.

It wasn't completely like this, man. I tell you that. Reality is completely different. It's not your dream. I don't want to ruin any dreams of kids where they are dreaming right now, but I tell you that's not the dream. You are living the real life,

and the things are different. First question was, what did happen? What did happen? I mean, there was just, I remember my teammate from Latvia, he was just coming inside the zone. He was just kind of chipping in the puck. He was just from the blue line shooting in and he was going to the shift to change and he scored.

And then I was like, what? Why why am I that bad? What happened? I mean, you have really a lot of questions in your head. Are you ready? Are you not ready for this level? What's going to happen next? Where are you going to end up next? And you are scared, you know, you understand that you are in NHL and you get seven goals in first game. And then you are thinking, what now? I'm going to end up to East Coast? What's going to happen?

I'm that bad? You have really a lot of questions. I don't know even how to express that. Then you're just, I don't know. That's what I learned and what even Torz and everybody teached me, that here there is so many games that you can't really enjoy your happiness

or sadness. I mean, you have to really quickly forget about the past game, what you had, and you have to focus and start thinking about the future game, the next game, what is coming. My character, well, I'm really

hard on against myself. I can win the game. I can maybe do a shutout, but if I felt that I didn't play good, I'm going to blame myself, and I'm going to be mad on myself. So that's what I was doing all the time with Whitman, and then I realized that here, I

really have no time to kind of be mad against myself because there's coming up already the next game, and I have to forget what happened in the past and start to thinking what's going to happen in the future and how to do better and win the game. So that was the first lesson, what Torch and everybody teaching me. So I'm really grateful and thankful for that.

I mean, you kind of answered it in that, but I guess I'll go back to your time in Lugano. You got to play with a few NHLers. Would you pick their brain about what the experience was like? Because, I mean, you talked about dreaming about the draft. Were you just eating information off these guys about if you eventually got there, what it would be like? Yeah.

I was really in good, good hands in Lugano because I had Maxime Lapierre, who he was... I call him my daddy because he was really taking care of me. He was the guy who was saying, no, Elvis, you're doing stupid shit. Stop it. Or he was teaching me.

He was preparing me for my NHL career. And he was explaining me everything, how he's here, what can happen, especially the first year of rookie. It's not going to be easy. You are changing the first time your team. I never changed my team. So, yeah, it was kind of weird and different. And what he said as well, that you are going far away from your home.

It's going to be a different world for you. So those are feelings i felt it and uh and yeah and i was keep i was kept uh his contact i was all the time contacting even him now when i was playing well or bad uh so he was all the time with for me and he was helping me all the time and then i had leonis clasden as wellen as well. Well, he didn't have a really big career here in the NHL, but he's like my brother. I mean, he helped me all the time, and he wanted, he pushed me to be better and better.

But the main job I did with me was Maxime Lapierre. And like I told him, even him, many times, thank you. And again, I'm going to tell him thank you because he was all the time pushing me and he was really taking care of me. I think it's really cool to hear how much this all meant to you and how much time and effort and passion you've put into the game because it makes a lot of sense.

That's where you are, where you are now. And I think a lot of people deep in hockey really are where you are now and i think a lot of people deep in hockey really didn't i mean i know personally i didn't hear about you till the 2018 world championships where you just were flat out fantastic dominating games you played in for latvia and you sent a funny tweet or at the end of the tournament where you said don't worry lugano i'll be back next year were you just getting tons of messages like, dude, you're too good. Time to move over across the pond. Well, yeah, there was like, I had a little bit of fun with my GM. And I remember after the world championship, I said,

I don't know where I'm going to play next year. Obviously, like when you're a GM and you have your goalie saying you don't know where he's going to play next year and you know perfectly that he's under your contract for next year, you get a little bit crazy, right? Panic time. Panic time. Yeah, so he a little bit panicked. I a little bit throw a little bit the gas on the fire.

So that was a little bit, not like kind of final part, but I like to do a little bit of that stuff. So there was, I mean, that World Championship, I felt great. I mean, if I'm not wrong, we just finished our season in finals, straight from the finals in two days. I flew over to see my national teammates, and I started to play right away. So I kind of was hot in that period, and I felt good.

And even our team, we did a really great job. Latvia, I mean, we all know how we are Latvia. It's really hard to say that ever, ever, ever we're going to win a world championship. I mean, I'm honest. I mean, that's the dream, but we are last year. I'm honest. We don't have many NHL players. We are just four guys.

And when you are playing against Team Canada or USA, you see all NHL players. And then the thing is getting harder. And, yeah, it was really nice to see how we became a family national team, and we just fight it for everybody. And we did really well result, and I believe that with this result, we can fight for medals one day. Not maybe for the cup, but for the medals, for sure we can fight.

Elvis, back on December 30th, you asked the media to give you space. You hadn't gotten a win yet, but then after that, the calendar flips. You go on an absolute tear. You have an eight-game winning streak with five shutouts within that eight games. What changed for you after the new year, if anything did?

Yeah, in Lugano, when playoffs started, when my first year I started to play playoffs, my GM protected me and he said to all media that I'm going to talk after playoffs. I don't know, I played really well those playoffs. I was focusing really into my game and I was focusing on myself and I felt kind of light. I don't have any pressure on me. I don't feel any distraction on me. And then in the years, that became like a tradition. Every time I was talking with all media before playoffs and then I was speaking with them after the playoffs. So now I had a rough time.

I didn't have any wins. I had a lot in my head, and I understood that Korpi is out, and I have to play. And the team was really, really hot in that period. They were really going really, really good. And jump on the boat and be kind of a captain of the boat on that period. And you're cold and the team is hot. It's hard.

And I didn't want any distraction outside. So I kind of locked myself into myself. And I asked the media if it's possible to not talk at least for a little bit just to get on that wave together with the team and feel the same as my teammates are feeling good. So, yeah, and then after the win and other wins, I felt great. And then, I mean, I was feeling all right and then I could talk with them. Yeah, so that was my decision with coaches,

mostly even I think it was coaches, but I talked with the coaches, and we all agreed on that thing. And during that streak, were your teammates staying away from you? Were they avoiding you because they didn't want to screw with any combo or anything? Well, no, teammates, they were always there for me. I mean, even when I was getting the losses, they weren't happy as well. I mean, I wouldn't be happy as well

if there is a rookie who's coming first here. He worked his ass off, and then he's just losing one game after other one. Every chance when he's on the ice, he's losing the game. No matter what, even if you get the penalty shots or overtime, you lose it. They felt bad for me. They were

always for me there and they were trying to pick me up, even not mentally. I was kind of without the smile. I'm not that always. I'm always smiling and having fun. I didn't have any more fun. I was kind of without a smile. I'm not that always. I mean, I'm always smiling and having fun. I didn't have any more fun.

I was worrying about myself, and I was worrying about my performance, that I'm not bringing the wins for the club and for the team, which they are really good to me. I can't kind of pay them off, and I was feeling really bad. And then the teammates, they were for me. So that was a good feeling. You got any funny stories about any teammates? Like who are the guys you're hanging out with off the ice?

And, I mean, you got to think Foligno is, you know, one of the guys that probably took you under his wing as well. Well, yeah. Mostly, obviously, I'm hanging out with Gavrikov because he's Russian and we are speaking all the time Russian. The Matisse, Kulonik, Zagoli. Well, then, I mean, with everybody, I kind of have fun. But the funniest, what I really like, it's Jonsi, it's savard foligno basically everybody but those guys are the most

who are who are making me laugh so uh and that is not that anybody else is not making me laugh but uh they are the most guys more funny guys what i think well thank you so much elvis um this was a blast i'm really excited we got you to come on, and good luck moving forward. We hope there's hockey this year, and if not, I think there's real exciting times for all Blue Jackets fans. With you signed up, along with Corpus Allo, it's a pretty sick tandem. So congratulations on all your success, and we appreciate you joining the podcast party.

Big thanks to Elvis for joining us, man. I love that kid. He was fucking hilarious. So thanks again to Elvis Merzlikens for joining us. And hey, guys, listen up. Our friends at DHM Detox are doing their best to help those struggling to put food on the table because of COVID-19, and they need your help. They've launched an initiative where your order of DHM Detox will donate meals to single

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all the details are also ready. Fingertips on the Instagram page at dhmdetoxbiz. You're a big part of this. This is a good stuff. Congrats on taking care of some people who need it. Yeah, well, I know Nishal. He used to work for Tesla. That's the kid who ended up switching over to start his own company.

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a good thing with getting meals for families in need. Yeah, very good. Very good. We do also have some other news we want to drop. Mike, we got a little video game action you want to share with us? Yeah, we're going to be starting up an NHL 20 tournament. It's going to be called the Chicklets Cup and it's presented by Devour Food. So we're going to be doing this tournament where NHL 20, two guys are playing. Biz and Witt are going to be commentating, which will be the coolest part. We'll have NHL players. We'll have barstool personalities. We'll have huge twitchers. So it's going to be an awesome tournament. For people who don't know, what's a huge twitcher? Like guys like Nasher, guys like Daddy Padre. We're going to be an awesome tournament. For people who don't know, what's a huge twitcher? Like guys like Nasher. Guys like Daddy

Padre. We're going to have some of the top NHL players playing in this tournament. We're going to have some of the top NHL hockey players. Are you allowed to give us any names? I know. So the first game of the tournament kicks off Tuesday night and it's going to be Jordan Binnington, Stanley Cup champion, along

with Colin Blackwell, a local Massachusetts kid who plays for the Nashville Predators. So Biz and Whit will be commentating as well, which will be really cool. We'll be giving away prizes, game codes almost every night. So everyone's got to tune in. You can tune in on our Twitch channel, our YouTube channel. I think we're going to be broadcasting on Twitter too. So it's going to be basically everywhere.

And again, it's presented by Devour Foods. Biz, should we do like the play-by-play or just kind of? Well, you're the play-by-play guy. I do color for the Arizona Coyotes NHL hockey team. How the hell are you? Come on. One thing that we do have to mention that's not necessarily positive, at least for the ones who like to listen to us twice a week,

just with everything that's gone on and the fact that there's no hockey on to talk about, we're going to bump it down to one episode a week. Just with everything that's gone on and the fact that there's no hockey on to talk about, we're going to bump it down to one episode a week starting next week. We have Milan Lucic coming out on Thursday, so that's a nice one. But then we won't be dropping until the following Thursday, and we're going to start dropping only one episode a week on Thursdays in the foreseeable future until a major announcement comes out about hockey and when it will resume. Considering that we're being very optimistic at the fact that hockey

will come back and they will finish the season, that's just our optimism. We're not saying that's necessarily going to happen, but this would essentially be our summer break now. We can recharge our batteries. We can also put our focus into other areas that we want to grow up the brand. And we're sorry for you people that are listening that are disappointed by that. We will extend the length of those one episode a week per weeks. And there's also some podcasts that some of you need to catch up on.

So we're sorry that if you're disappointed by that, but we're going to get to recharge our batteries. And as I said, live our lives a little bit and also focus on some other things. So we appreciate your understanding. And it's something that we decided as a podcast G. And we'll still be dropping daily content. Like we said, Tuesday nights and Friday nights will be this NHL tournament.

Wednesday nights and Saturdays will be these YouTube videos. And then Thursdays will be the podcast. So essentially Tuesday through Saturday, we're dropping content every day. And if Twitch is like, we've been reaching for, for stuff to talk about here. Let's be honest.

Everyone knows like, it's still great to catch up with you guys. We're right now, two days a week. I mean, what are we talking about? There's nothing going on. I think I'm sick of my Netflix recommendations.

I mean, people are sick of hearing of us. Listen, we are here to talk about, you know, I make a sick McDusty goal and Matthews with another four-goal night or Kachuk and Doughty meeting in, like, the Mall of America

and fighting each other. Like, we need the NHL going. We've been interviewing guys. That's been going well. But we can catch up once a week right now until things come back, and then we can, you know, there's more stuff to talk about. And we love all you guys. You're the best.

But right now, it's like, hey, everyone just slow down. I mean, we take a breather every summer, and if we don't take one now where there's no hockey and hockey does come back, we'll never have a summer, basically. So, you know, this is essentially our summer. Hopefully hockey comes back in July or August, and then we'll pick up where we left off. But, you know, if we, you know, don't take a breather now,

well, my old ass will be out of gas for sure. No doubt about that. And like we were saying, we're opening up different channels. Like maybe the live streams is something you guys will be interested in. Come hang out. And I think it's going to be a good time, and you should check it out. Like I have a PlayStation and an Xbox coming in here. Maybe I'll dust some of you fucking losers online and you could,

maybe I'll put the headset on and start fucking carving you too. You little bitches. Well, also too, I I'm trying to play the role of, of, uh, I don't know,

like the guy, Darren living out in the middle of Wyoming who loves spitting chicklets, loves the game of hockey and has no clue what we're talking about with, with, with Twitchers and the YouTube stream. So we're going to get out the info, right? Mikey in terms of like where you go to watch it. And the thing being people will be able to write and ask questions.

We can also be answering questions during this, right? Yeah. There'll be comments on Twitch comments, Twitter, Periscope. So it will be very fan interactive. Yeah. We're not going anywhere. I mean, we're still going to be here. Just, you know, we're going down to one show a week week i kind of did a little test run with the midnight hour with ra until basically i don't want to stop until the numbers were terrible and then they hit terrible so that's something i'm going to bring terrible what was all right i'll play you heads up in uh in ea 20 nhl every time and every time one of us scores the other guy has to eat a 10-milligram edible.

All right. We'll pull our goalies, too. Terrible and probably being a little too self-critical. I think Wheat Nightly was too much, but I was doing it every night and I almost wanted to keep the streak going. I'm saying, what was the number when you were like, dude, I got to get off? Well, see, the thing is you get the full number, which is like people who tune in, which could be for two seconds or ten minutes but it's then also the number currently watching yeah so what yeah that was like that was like a hundred under a hundred i was like you know what this is

just not it's kind of a waste of time it's not for like a financial standpoint it's just like you know it's one thing if i'm just start crying and you think that you're therapist why would it be financial what do you mean well no i'm not saying, I'm not saying like, I'm not saying like, I'm not trying to get a sponsor or anything. I'm just, you know, whatever, trying to get some content going. It's not like I'm obligated to do it for money reasons. It was like, oh, yeah, okay, okay. But I think if I, what I realized, if I do it, you know,

more infrequently, maybe have a little bit more of a system, I don't know, system, just like segments, I guess. Do once a week, dude. Do one night a week at like 11. By the way, bro, midnight's late. You're the only person staying up till 4 a.m. watching reruns of When Harry Met Sally. It's like you should

you stay up so late. Yeah, it's just I'm a night out. You should start doing spit and chicklets cam shows for our lady listeners. But I think honestly like the Archbishop make it subscription oriented. If you get 150 viewers, R.A. will show his belly button. It's fucking gross.

I'm a night owl. That's when I did all my college work. I learned to write at night. My best stuff comes late at night for some reason. I'm not like a guy who can wake up and be productive from a creative standpoint. Watching R.A. and Nipple Castle. So you must have been horrified when I always wanted to do the podcast at like 9 or 10 a.m. when we started.

No, you know what, though? As I've gotten older, man, I used to need a minimum 10 hours of sleep in my 20s and 30s. Now I can function on like 10, 5 hours, no problem now these days. The older you get, the less sleep you need, man. It's weird. I adapt it, though, because I had fucking six other days I could sleep till noon. Hey, boys, we got

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That's GetRoman.com slash barstool. Eligibility requirements and additional terms apply. So yeah, make sure you're always checking out Roman. And Biz, I know you had a birthday shout out you wanted to share. Kelsey Backman, my old teammate, Sean Backman's wife reached out to me because it was his 34th birthday the other day. And I forgot to give her one of those videos so she could put in the collage so I had to say happy birthday to Sean Backman who was actually my line mate in game five of the Calder Cup final against Utica and I know he'll remember this one when I was in the neutral zone and I had that beautiful pull-up play I think that might have been my last shift of the game mid midway through the second and for whatever, I got put on the third line that night.

And I know, Sean, you're going to remember that move right at center ice because I think I talked about it for every day for the next month while we celebrated that fucking Calder Cup. So thank you for your patience, my friend, and appreciate you carrying me that night. There we go. Well, listen, everybody, have a great week. We'll be back Thursday.

We'll check it in. Like Biz said, Milan Lucic. I know a lot of you have been waiting for that one, but hopefully you enjoyed tonight's show. Any final words, gentlemen? No, stay safe. Stay healthy, everyone. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, people.

It's okay to not be okay. That a boy, Mikey. That's a good name, Mikey. Oh, and I love Zach Wierenski. All right, everyone, thank you. Bye-bye. As always, we want to send a good name, Mikey. Oh, and I love Zach Wierenski. All right, everyone. Thank you. Bye-bye. As always, we want to send a big thanks to our wonderful sponsors. Big thanks to our great friends at New Amsterdam

Vodka and Pink Whitney. Big thanks to our new friends over at String King. Great stuff you're doing over there. Big thanks to our old friends at Mugsy Jeans. Keep them coming. Big old thank you to everyone at Roman. Not only do they help the boys out, now they're helping everybody out with the skincare. And a big thanks to everyone at DHM Detox

when you have a few pops. Have a great week, everybody.