Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 287: Featuring Brad May & Rich Clune

Episode Date: August 20, 2020

On Thursday’s episode of Spittin’ Chiclets, the guys are joined by Brad May and Rich Clune. Mayday joined (5:32) to talk about the passing of his good pal and hockey legend, Dale Hawerchuk. The guys then give an NHL playoff update followed by an interview with Rich Clune. Rich joined (1:19:21) to talk about his career, his sobriety and a bunch more. The guys wrap up talking about a new sick league and RA’s return to acting.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/schiclets

Hey, Spittin' Chicklets listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Hello everybody, welcome to episode 287 of Spittin' Chicklets, presented by Pink Whitney from our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka here in the Barstool Sports Podcast family. What is up everybody? So many teams are departing the bubble that fans are actually going to have a couple afternoons to head outside and not miss any hockey the next couple days. It was a rough Wednesday for a lot of the qualifier winners, and we'll get to that shortly.

Let's say hi to the boys and girls first. Mikey Grinelli, producer. What's up, brother? What's going on, boys? The bees are moving on. We're slinging T-shirts, so today is a great day. All right. Cha-ching.

Cha-ching. You got to get those commissions, huh, G? All right, that was short and sweet. Next, go to Paul Biznasty, Bizcinette. Aren't you hot with a sweatshirt on in Arizona, brother? Well, I'm excited because I got the AC bump. You said ladies and gentlemen. What, do I got to fucking tuck it in?

You want a little Mangina action? A little Timbit Man from Tim Hortons on the other side? Speaking to all our fans, I guess. Do you know the Timbit Man from Tim Hortons, Whit? You ever see that little, he used to be on the box? They got rid of him. I think they took him off the payroll. Why'd they gas him?

I don't know. I don't know what happened. Maybe he got canceled because he looks, because when you, when you tuck it in, you do the mangina. If you,

if you bend over. Yeah, cancel culture, get rid of him. Horton, Tim Bitsy, little Timmy. See ya.

What song am I singing? Mr. Schwitznicka. By the way. Buffalo Bill, Silence of the Lambs. What's up? By the way, Buffalo Bill, Silence of the Lambs. What's up? By the way, I was getting some compliments on my. And you thought it was terrible. You booed me off stage and I got a couple of tire pumps. I thought I threw tomatoes at R.A.'s version.

I thought I said yours was just whatever. I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong on that point. Either way, talking about it completely jinxed the Canes and Shvetchnikov's ankle. So good job, guys. Actually, we talked about it after he had already

got hurt. So thankfully. Suck it, Witt. Wrong again. Nice dunk, RA. Nice dunk, RA. What's up, Witt Dogg? Ryan Whitney. How we doing, buddy? What's going on, guys? Yeah, being wrong that early just gets it out of the way.

It's like taking a big hit to start the game. Sometimes that's what you need to get going, guys. Everyone knows that once in a while if you get rocked first shift, you have a hell of a game. Great to chat with you guys. Wasn't happening to you because you didn't go back for pucks. Ayo! Actually, I've told you 15 times.

I got a couple conkies taking enormous hits in the minors to get it D to D to my partner, Chris Kelleher in Wilkes-Barre, because Terrian was obsessed. If you didn't get it D to D, you didn't play. Had to take a hit to make a play. So don't even go there with me right now. All right? Nice try.

I had to take my hit there. We'll be getting to some D to D a little bit later. It was a tough one for one team. We'll be addressing a little bit later. Oh, my goodness. But first, gang, we do have some terribly sad news to share here on Spit and Chicklets. Hockey Hall of Famer Dale Howichuk died from stomach cancer on Tuesday at the age of 57. First off, we want to extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to his many family and

friends. He's a great guy by all accounts. I mean, it's rare in hockey for a guy to have nobody talk bad about him. And for people to say that guy didn't talk bad about anybody else, I think that's rare in the game. Just a beloved individual, 16 years between Winnipeg, Buffalo, St. Louis, Philadelphia, and 1,188 games played. He got 1,409 points, a 1.19 points per game average, 99 points in 97 playoff games, Memorial Cup, Canada Cup, first overall pick, called the trophy. We can cite his stats probably for a whole show. Whit, I know you want to add a little something here as well.

Just from what I've been told by so many different people an amazing person it goes beyond just being a good hockey player it's about who you are away from the arena and the type of person you are and like everyone just talks so highly of Dale Howarchuk and all right was it the 88 Canada Cup 87 87 Canada Cup he took the draw he's on the ice with wayne gretzky and mario lemieux lemieux says i'm not taking the draw and gretzky says howard chuck you take it and he snaps it back and it's just so many and and and when i talk about uh you we always mention the most underrated guy and how the most underrated guy quickly becomes the the most overrated guy. But here's my idea. You have a player, a league-wide vote, most underrated player every year,

and it's the Dale Howarchuk Award. Nobody even knew. Nobody even understands how amazing he was. So he wasn't underrated because he was a superstar. But in terms of hockey history and names and the popular names in the history of our game like he he don't people don't get how great he was and so I don't know maybe I'm making no sense on that but I just I wish people more people understood how amazing of a player and person he was and when I thought

of that I thought of Brad May who was a good buddy of mine going the golf trips he's been on spitting chiclets and I texted him so sorry to hear about your buddy. He called me back and he was just talking to me. And in the middle of just hearing him and how emotional it was to hear how great of a guy and great of a friend he was, I thought, Mayday, I think people would love to hear this. Do you want to come on? And he decided, yeah, for sure, I'd love to talk about my buddy. So we're going to kick it over to him.

We gave him a ring and it's always nice to talk to him. Unfortunately, these circumstances made it sad, but some great stuff coming from Brad May. Now we welcome on our good friend Brad May. I just let everyone know how we chatted, and I thought it would be great if you came on and did the same. So how are you doing, Mayday? You know what, guys?

First of all, thank you for having me on and having a chance to talk about our friend Dale Howarchuk. But it's been a tough couple days, there's no doubt. Obviously, the last year has been difficult for everybody that knew Dale. And he fought so hard and he rang the bell. And I want to say it was January or February where he was able to beat his first bout. He had surgery and he was able to get through it.

But unfortunately, cancer sucks, guys. And it came back and it came back in a raging way. And of course, that basically spelled the end for Dale. But he fought all the way to the end with dignity. And he brought so many so many people along with him and um forgive me for long-winded answer here but oh no one thing that what what no no but one thing that um that he did and I and I've come to know over the last couple days is the last few weeks he's actually reached out to so many of his friends in the hockey world and, of course, his personal side

and reached out to say goodbye. And in doing so, in a lot of calls, I was on a text thread yesterday when Dale passed, and there was eight guys on the thread, and two of them, you guys would know the names, Brian Troche and Serge Savard, Dave Ellett. And I don't know why I'm involved in that other than being inside the circle with Dale and his friends. And it was so cool to have, you know, certainly that friendship. But each and every one of the guys on their texts were saying that

Dale, in their last conversation, first of all, first and foremost, was asking about their well-being, how their wives and children were, and how their lives were going, and what their plans were, and then, of course, you know, the worst part is you have to end those phone calls with a goodbye, but Dale said that he fought awfully hard. Cancer was beating him up, but he was in a good place. He was comfortable. His family was with him. I was fortunate enough that two nights ago, Dale called me from his home with his family.

We had a little conversation. um from his home with his family and um we had like a little conversation and the one thing he said to me was he said Maisie whatever you do don't be in a hurry to come visit me he goes I want to be up I'm going to be up there upstairs and I'm going to look over all our friends and I just want to see you do great things and you know what I'll have everything set up but you know on the other side we'll definitely meet again, but don't be in a hurry. And then he proceeded to ask me about my family and what my plans were. And it was heartbreaking and obviously tearful. But the abrupt goodbye was when I hung the phone up, I was like, I just wanted to keep talking to him.

But he was also sitting in a room with his family. And of course, they deserved the time with him. So it was awfully sad but beautiful. And if I could really break it down, it was so amazing that he was able to die with dignity and grace and be so thoughtful of others. But it just happened 30 years too early, guys. thoughtful of others, but it just happened 32 or 30 years too early guys. And I'm 57 years old. It brings life in the perspective that, you know what, you never know what tomorrow brings. So live, live for the day, love your family, love your friends and, and treat people right. So,

and that's exactly what they would want us all to talk about. And that is, that is his legacy. He, he made everybody feel special in his own way and um I'm really lucky that I was inside his circle and um yeah it's awfully sad that's so well said uh Mayday um so well said and when you talk about you know you're you're a young kid coming into the league and you're going on to a team that Dale Howarchuk plays for. He's had six 100-point seasons in Winnipeg. What's your thought process on even getting to meet him,

let alone thinking you're going to play for him and protect him? Well, the greatest thing is, and I can honestly – so in 1990, the day I got drafted on June 16th in British Columbia at BC Place, is where the NHL draft was. The Buffalo Sabres moved up in the draft. First rounder, Mayday. First rounder.

Yeah, first rounder, boys. They moved up in the draft. They made a trade with the Winnipeg Jets. And Buffalo was maybe picking 20th or 21st, and they moved up to number 14. And they traded Phil Housley, Scott Arneal, and Jeff Parker to the Winnipeg Jets with the swap of picks. And in return, they got Dale Howarchuk,

and Buffalo selected me 14th overall. So right from the outset, Dale and I are certainly – I'm sure Dale was – that was his first trade, but it kind of bonded us. When I got to Buffalo, we had something in common and he was my big brother. He took care of me, did so many great things. And yeah, I was tied at his hip for sure. And, you know, even after my career and dale was done and he was a coach teaching all these young players how to play the game some great ones at that and um dale has a few charity

events over the last 10 years that i've been a part of and and um invited every single one of them two three-day events playing golf and and celebrating and raising money for charity and um dale and being in the hall of fame he was able to invite all the hall of fame players and some great guys from peter mahovlich to butch goring billy smith a lot of the islander players brian trache and cert savard and um so on on that text message i was just talking about cert savard actually wrote it wrote something to all of us, and he said that a week ago he talked to Dale, basically their last goodbyes. And Dale, before anything, all he wanted to do,

when Dale was drafted to Winnipeg, Serge Savard had actually taken over. He was going to play, but he was kind of somewhat of a manager and a player at the time. And Dale bought a house beside him, and all he wanted to know was how Serge's wife was and how his family was and what's up with Serge's life. And that speaks volumes of who Dale Howarchuk was. He cared about everyone else.

And not that he was second fiddle, but he was so comfortable in his own skin that he didn't need to pump his own tires. Everybody else would be able to do that for him, but he cared about everybody else. Mayday, just from going online and reading all these comments from everyone and about how he was not only a Hall of Famer on the ice, but the way he conducted himself off of it,

for our younger listeners who didn't grow up in that area, do you have any other examples of things he would do when he was a player and the time he would take out of his day, given all the responsibility he had as a player, in order to go out of his way to make everybody feel welcome and loved around him? Yeah, you know what, Biz, it's a great question, and I love talking about this.

Basically, he was, and certainly I was lucky enough, I got to play 19 years in the league, and there's no way I would have been able to play for almost two decades if I didn't have that upbringing and and and exposure to some so many great veteran players and you know so much you know for the young listeners out there that um experience you know you can't teach it. Good, good experienced players impart that energy and experience on their teammates. Dale was a guy that could sit down over a coffee and basically sit there and talk the game. It came easier to Dale because he was so good and he saw things that the rest of us players probably never did, or certainly from that perspective. And I can tell you a couple of stories about them and I'd love to. We were going into the playoffs against the Boston Bruins in 1992, it was my rookie year. And I got tasked at, you know,

going into the playoffs, we were, we lost seven games in a row going in. Boston was the best team in the league. They won 19 of 21 games or something going into the playoffs. And we, or that, that was 92-93, excuse me. But in 92 playoffs, we lost to the Bruins in game seven. And I got to play with Dale and Wayne Presley on a line. And Dale would take so much time after practices leading up. Back in the Adams division, you kind of knew who you were going to face,

you know, for weeks prior to going into the playoffs. And he would take me aside and he was like, okay, the only way we can break, you know, Boston's four check and be able to break out of the zone and, you know, with, with control and speed is you have to be, you know, so disciplined and you have to stay low as a D to D pass up the wall, back to the d to the other side and and that was the one way you could break the boston bruins forecheck and and as a left winger if the puck started to go out the right wing side you know we are always taught as a left winger you just get on your horse and you barrel through the middle and try to push the defenseman off the blue line and and dale was like listen you have to run that route but you have to get back below the hash marks in the corner.

And you have to be stationary and waiting for that pass. You know, it feels like you're so far away from the other end, other end in the offensive zone. But when you get that pass, you got to move your feet. And if you don't move your feet, it's going to screw up the whole thing. And Boston's going to, you know, kill us here. So, but I'll tell you one thing I will be right here and we ran that that route you know like almost like a football player you know and timed it and and he worked with me

for for a couple weeks going into the playoffs and we ended up we put together an unbelievable run we lost in game seven at the Boston Garden but um Dale was, he was, you know, true to his word. He was never, you know, never frustrated. Or if he was, he never showed it, you know, with a young player that was maybe a little rambunctious and made mistakes at times. He slowed it, he slowed the game down for me and my teammates. But for me in that case, he basically got me so confident

and we worked on it for, I would say hours, I'm not exactly sure, but certainly 30, 45 minutes after every practice going into the playoffs. And we had some good success. I think I had six points in that round. And Dale was like, you know, all world. He was so good. And we were matched up against some, you know, all world. He was so good. And we were matched up against some, you know, pretty, pretty heavy players.

Ray Bork was on the ice all the time. And, but he just took the time guys that, that a veteran player with all the pressures on him and the pressure comes when a great player doesn't score. He took all that time. He was confident enough that, that he could spend that time with us and others and make us better.

And then, of course, if we're better, then he could get in the right spot to do the right things and light the night on fire. And he, along with Paddy LaFontaine, two elite Hall of Fame players on our team, the two of them, for me, they were both my guiding light. Paddy was my roommate for many years and outstanding guy. And I love Dale, but I'll give you another story. And the young guys will like this one. My rookie year, I was in Hartford, my teammates, they play a prank on the young rook. And I have no clue what happens, but we're at dinner i like desserts i order a coconut cream pie after

dinner and um this unbelievable like huge pile of chocolate on top of my pie and i literally scraped the scraped the plate clean i ate it all we went out that night afterwards we went to see it um the the betting game high lie and and in hartford and it was a great night however if you guys remember dumb and dumber when when Harry went got to Aspen I I was up in the seats I made my bets and then all of a sudden my belly starts to you know rumble and I have to run literally I have to run right to the shitter and um I sat on the toilet for literally the whole night for two hours or whatever it was and got back to the hotel room and I didn't sleep all night and literally I was pooping all night long and I didn't sleep we play

an afternoon game the next day I'm terrible I minus two John Mucker comes in our locker room our coach and he's like you're so bad kid you'll never play a game for me with the Buffalo Sabres again I'm sending you down after this game to Rochester. I don't ever want to see your face again. And it was really like that. And so the rest of the game, I don't play. We ended up losing the game. And again, after the game, Mucks comes in the locker room and tears a strip up one side and down the other of me.

And I have no idea what to do. Like, how do I get to Rochester from Hartford? Do I take a bus? Like, who's going to tell me? And there's no cell phones at that time. So I I'm back in the hotel now. Nobody's told me what's going on, but come to, it comes to me anyways, my teammates played a trick on me.

They put X-lax on my pie the night before at the team dinner. Oh my goodness. Can you imagine? And not, not not one not one cube of x lax they shaved the whole bar on my pie like it's bad like it like that's really bad right so at the end of it dale and patty and dave anderchuk all went into muckler's office and he was losing his mind and literally i was never going to play in buffalo again and back then if you get sent to the minors you never know if you ever get the call back. And they were like, listen, Muck, you can't send the kid down. It's not his fault.

And anyways, Dale stood up for me. I didn't even know what happened. I had no idea about this prank. But it came to me the next day that Dale and Patty and Dave and the rest of the veteran guys, they were like, John, you cannot send this kid down. It wasn't his fault. We played a prank on him and whatever, but a guy like Dale Howard, Chuck,

the confidence that he had, he saved my career at that moment. If you had a bad group of veteran players, you know what, Brad goes down to down to Rochester and maybe never gets the call back. You know, I mean, our careers are so fragile, certainly when we start out as a young guy um but i look up to dale for that he actually put his his time on the line for me and and made a difference so that was pretty fun obviously knowing that you had veteran players stand up for you but there's another story that in in st louis um dale was we we were at the old Keele Center, the fairgrounds in St. Louis,

their old arena, or the Checker Dome or whatever it was called. And there was an indoor soccer game going to be played that night. And we had a practice. We had to go to some other rink. But Ducky and all the boys,

they grabbed a soccer ball from one of the pro teams and ran out on the turf in the arena and started kicking the ball. And Dale stepped on the ball. He was a good soccer player, but he stepped on top of the ball and he rolled his ankle. And I don't know if he tore ligaments or not, but he was out for about two or three weeks. You know, out there just playing with the guys, went right into the coach and was like, listen, you know, he can't walk.

His ankle blew up. But back then, it was a brotherhood and it was a family. And John Muckler didn't say a word to the media. Nobody in the world, I don't even know if this story's ever been told, but everybody had each other's backs. And it was a great league to come into in the early 90s with all these wonderful players that played in the 80s and some in the late 70s

you know what it was a different time obviously it wasn't as big of a business but you needed great great veteran players like Dale Ourchuck on your team to actually groom the young players and I'm so lucky to be you know one of those guys like Donald Hadet and Derek Plant and others that Dale took under his wing and helped us. Mayday, a lot of the has been made of the fact that he, I don't want to say he was under the shadow of Gretzky, but his greatness wasn't as appreciated because Gretzky was in the same division and he didn't get to shine as much because of that. How did you grow up watching him and how underrated was this guy over the course of his entire career?

This guy was so good. He had eyes in the back of his head. He was one of the greatest passers of all time. In 1992-93, he had 80 assists. That was the year that Alexander McGillney scored 76 on our team, and Paddy LaFontaine came second in scoring behind Mario with I think it was 145 or 155 points. And Dale, I think, had around 102 points that season.

But he was one of the greatest passers of all time. And I want to say from 1983, and you guys can maybe help me out on this one, but from 1983 to – or 83 to 1994, there was only one player that had more points in the nhl than dale howard chuck and that's not mario lemieux that was wayne gretzky mario i think was number five on that list if you can believe it dale howard chuck was number two behind wayne um for that 10-year stretch he was that good he just he got overshadowed he was in winnipeg that was in the high-flying Oilers days. And then the Calgary Flames, you know, became a great team, you know, around 86 to 89.

They won the Stanley Cup in 89. But every first-round series, Howard Chuck and the Winnipeg Jets would face either the Edmonton Oilers or the Calgary Flames. It was almost unfair that such a good team would be knocked out so early. But back in those days, Adams division, Smythe division, the Patrick, if you were in that division, certainly with Gretzky and Messier and Curry and everyone else, Paul Coffey, you're not going to beat them.

But Dale Howarchuk, single-handedly, did um you know every every playoff he was that good but um yeah you ask players Dale Howarchuk was was a special player in 1987 I think you've probably seen all the the highlights of the Canada Cup and Team Canada beating and and Biz for you is 45 minutes down the road from where you grew up in Hamilton, Dale was a big part of the rally to beat the Russians in 1987 Canada Cup. And he won the face-off that led, you know, in 10 seconds ago in the game where Gretzky sets up Lemieux and Lemieux scores. Howarchuk, he hooked the guy just after the face-off

and probably should have got a penalty, but the guy he hooked would have actually caught Lemieux in the high slot. So as a Canadian, How Howard Chuck will go down in history as one of the best players ever. Hey, Dave, for our younger listeners, I was trying to think of a comparable modern-day superstar, a guy who's a great scorer, a great passer, not a speed demon, a gentlemanly player. Who would you maybe compare Dale's game most to a player today? I would say, and I'm not so sure they played the same way,

but I would say it's Nicky Backstrom with the Washington Capitals, who, by the way, for me, is the best player in Washington. I mean, that's outside of Ovechkin, who continues to score goals. I think Backstrom, and he's a good buddy of Witt and I, and he comes on our golf trip, but Backie is such a skilled player, but kind of under the radar, if you will. I'd say maybe Backstrom would be certainly one of them. I'm trying to think of somebody else, but Backstrom's the first that comes to mind.

I mean, reading some of the things on social media, somebody mentioned that he'd gotten a place in Winnipeg after he signed there, kind of out in the boondocks and out of the city life and just seemed to be the most just chill, calm, demeanored guy. Sorry about that. Yeah, absolutely. No, sorry about that. He was just a wonderful guy. Like really, if, if, if hockey was never around,

I guarantee you people, and he wasn't a hockey player, Dale would have done something like he made everybody around him feel special and, and not only feel special, he inspired people to be better than what they thought they ever could be. And, um, and he continued to do that as a coach. I mean, you just think of the young stars in the NHL, from Shvetchenikov to Shifley in Winnipeg and Tanner Pearson and a lot of other players that are now having great NHL careers.

Dale's, you know, tutelage his the way he was able to communicate with with other hockey players he made everybody better and um but what he did with his life off the ice i mean this guy was was selfless he did a ton of things for easter seals up here in ontario not to mention hospitals and and visits the hall of Fame is a designation for a great hockey player. Dale's a Hall of Famer in life, or excuse me, was, but just so lucky and fortunate to be a friend of his. And I don't take that for granted for one second. And his family's, you know, obviously they're hurting today,

but they know. And they're wonderful people because they were raised and they had all that time with their father or husband. The Howard Chucks are awfully proud of who Dale was as not only a player, obviously, which is his life's work, but just as a man. Mike, I can't say enough about what kind of guy and what kind of character this guy had well Mayday we can't really thank you enough for coming on and and giving him the proper

send-off he deserved um at uh it's obviously a tough tough day for the the hockey world um and uh our condolences to his family and and once again condolences to all his friends that are probably listening and yourself included uh you clearly lost a very important person in your life we all have yeah and you know we all have and and i just if i could end with one thing it just it was it was very sad a couple nights ago talking to him and and the way we said goodbye i just wanted to i just wanted to keep him on the phone and talk to him. But, you know, at the end of the day, none of us are getting out of this alive. I think we all understand that.

But he had so much more to share with all of us. And, you know, we're older. We can understand possibly and move forward, obviously with the memory, but all of the players that he was coaching and helping in the Ontario Hockey League, you know, I'm thinking of them right now that, you know, young guys, young that maybe haven't experienced a loss to this magnitude. There's going to be a lot of kids and a lot of families that are kind of in nowhere's land right now and because they lost you know their their leader their mentor and

you know I'm thinking of those guys right now and hopefully you know the hockey world comes together and and we help those young guys we help the old players the old friends of Dale and you know what all it is keep telling stories keep telling talking about his his personality and and his character and and you know what um we're all better for it and maybe we're a little bit more compassionate too so um it's been tough but um in some ways I'm just so proud and so happy that I can honestly tell you guys that he was a really good friend but he was more of a mentor to me. And yeah, it's a sad, sad time. Thank you so much, Mayday.

Big thanks to Brad May for joining us under these circumstances. You've lost a good pal and it's a, I think it speaks to Dale Howichek's character that he wanted to come on and share some stories about him. And, you know, Mayday made a great point about, you know, Dale Howichek, what you were saying, how a lot of, even Meyer, didn't get to see him a lot. I mean, he was such a great player, but he was in Winnipeg during a time when not a lot of games were on TV.

He had to go through Edmonton in the playoffs every year. So I wish I had seen more of him. But fortunately, when he got traded to Buffalo, we did get to see a lot more of him here in Boston. And he was quite a player. And, again, we want to send our sympathies to his friends and family and hopefully everybody's doing a little better today meanwhile we're going to move along cover some of the series we've been talking about here we got our first handshakes of the first round Tuesday night when the Vegas Golden Knights beat Chicago four to three and

eliminated the Hawks in five you know hats off to the Blackhawks they played with tons of heart they never stopped coming they just don't have the horses that Vegas does. I mean, they just couldn't match them stride for stride. Got a huge game from Alex Tuck in game five. So far for Vegas, Marc-Andre Fleury's only started one game. It looks like Robin Lehner has that number one role for right now. Peter DeBoer, obviously a new coach. He didn't have any loyalties there. And he said, quote, this is not about flour not doing something.

He has been great. Robin has just been at a different level. But either way, Vegas is moving on. Chicago is toast. Biz, what you got for us here? Well, the third line for Vegas right now looks really good. And as far as depth up front, excuse me, because we know what their fourth line can provide,

I'm thinking these guys in the abs look you know ready to lift the Stanley Cup they look very dangerous credit to Chicago for hanging around as far as scoring chances and and and and how much you know how much Chicago really got done in this series I think Crawford stood on his head for the most part and that's a big reason why at least every game was entertaining because they were I watched that game five uh where the Chicago Blackhawks got eliminated. And I don't know if you guys caught that Selly on the, on the Patrick Kane goal when they went up three, two where he just was in all alone.

And I could have sworn I saw him take off his glove and yawn because he is so calm under pressure. Okay. And I don't, I, he just quick quick uh poke check came out he just avoided it and slid it right between robin leonard's wickets and then afterward did you see the hand twirl wit what did that represent you think he's man just i got i got the puck on a string possibly is that possibly the hand twirl or just that i'm having so much fun bingo could you imagine the game being that fucking fun he's out there just in that situation he's almost smiling before he's put it between his legs and keep in mind they played together for half a year so you know patty kane was just writing down all the weaknesses he knew where he was going before

it fucking happened so that was cool to see great game of course vegas closes it out a couple guys stood out to me alex tuck who i would say underachieved during the regular season based on expectations of you know when they went to the finals and how he popped off but holy shit dude he is um he is one of the league's best power forwards right now and he's a beast and that third line is very dangerous nick cousins looked really good that was a stellar underrated move that vegas made at the deadline he came over from montreal uh he was excellent in arizona i don't know why they ever got rid of him he's just that swiss army knife. He's a piece of shit to play against.

He's always yapping. He'll stick you in the nuts if he has to to win. He can play with the puck. He can move up and down the lineup. He can penalty kill. So the Vegas Golden Knights, especially with that two-goalie tandem, look very, very, very fucking good.

And that's all I got to say about that. A lot of question marks for Chicago. I saw Barstool Chief just write a fucking blog about Jeremy Colleton and coaching. I don't know how you feel about anything on the Chicago side, Witter, R.A. Well, Chicago just was outmatched. And I feel bad just quickly going over Vegas. But the one guy that doesn't get enough credit, Alec Martinez, Stanley Cup winner, you know, the guy who scored the goal to win the Stanley Cup for the LA Kings. And people said, you know, he's having down years and had been a couple, you know, he's had a tough go in LA.

And it's hard to be a defenseman that plays against top two lines every night and eats minutes and really play well when you're on a team that's struggling. And LA hasn't had it for a couple years now. And he came over and he's just looked so good. I mean, their back end, they all can just fly. I mean, Schmidt's out there. Shea Theodore's out there. And these guys can skate. They get up in the rush. So they make Vegas. It's like a five-man unit constantly attacking. They got guys roaming around. They're just very difficult to deal with. Them and we've talked about them and the Avs. Just thinking of that series tickles me in places.

But I do think Chicago, at least they had a little bit of success. They won that because they're now looking at it is a new group, right? They need to kind of get back to where they were and winning that play-in round against a good Edmonton team. And then they win one game. They were overmatched, but they got a game against Vegas and looked really good today at times or in all the games. They got to be actually looking forward to next year

because they got other guys coming in, Doc's older. So i think if you're a hawks fan you're not excited you're certainly not the powerhouse team competing for the stanley cup anymore but you could turn around pretty quick and all of a sudden if next year gets even better you're flying and the reason for that weight is they do have a new wave of small core group. And guys, I mean, you look at Debrinket. I know he had an off year as well, but he's a proven 40-goal scorer. You got Dylan Strom, who I think is a solid piece. You have Kirby Dock now as well. I guess the question really lies on the back end

and how they're going to be able to improve that. And as you just mentioned Vegas, and you talked about Martinez and Cousins, how are you going to fill those little holes and add guys that are going to help you get to that next level without having to pay them a lot, which is of course difficult in today's age, and the fact that the salary cap's staying the same and you're paying Kane and Taves what you are, whatever.

Obviously getting rid of, and I hate to say this because I love Sieves, that's getting rid of and i hate to say this because i love sieves that's getting rid of that contract or hopefully he's able to come back from these hip surgeries and make an impact like he once did based on what he's getting paid that would be a massive lift for the team as well so question marks for the hawks but christ you got some young young guys in the pipeline and things aren't uh things aren't looking too bad and d wise they do have they signed a kid you gotta shout out these college guys he's canadian but he's a college guy they signed that ian mitchell who was a second rounder from them so puck moving defenseman right that's what they need we'll see but you gotta look look

to the better times and look to the past good times if you're a hawks fan and i don't want to hear from you black hawks fans i forgot to mention kuba leak in that fucking young core group that's coming up and you know i'd be getting hit in the fucking dms with death threats if that was the case so vegas moves on we'll have plenty of more to talk about them and their stars are you in your underwear they look dangerous no i'm not in my underwear i'm actually in my bird dogs those are real shorts shut up with that color like i'm not i mean dude i fuck shut up there's one more note and i think whoa whoa what's gonna you're gonna come after me about style yeah for sure i'm a stylish guy i don't wear the lime green i don't wear i don't wear lime green shorts with with shorts that are nut huggers.

I thought they were undies. I've seen you wear crazy fucking underwear, and I thought that was underwear. I'm not dogging your shorts that bad. Let's listen to the internet tomorrow and how they think about wit style, fucking sandbagger. Hey, because, guys, if the internet says it, it's true. Just ask Biz. Yep. Tin foil hats. All right. Moving right along. Wednesday's true. Just ask Biz. Yep. Tin foil hats.

All right. Moving right along. Wednesday's been a bloodbath. We're recording on Wednesday. Been an absolute bloodbath for teams that were on the brink. Carolina looked like they might have hung in there. They were up in that game four. Ended up blowing the lead to Boston.

Boston stormed back four goals in the third period. Eliminated Carolina on Wednesday with the 2-1 victory. They got two power play goals. Whit, let's go to you on this one first. I know you had some input for us. Well, watching these games, the Bruins just took advantage completely of Shvetchnikov leaving that series because it's a different team with him in the lineup.

But still, 8-1 now in the past two springs right the conference finals and this year's first round just domination and the david crecci appreciation moments i have it just they never stop this has been what 10 years of this now 11 years of this guy just every single year maybe battling injuries and some inconsistencies but god when the playoffs come this fucking guy he leads the league in scoring in 11 they win the cup he leads the playoff the league in scoring in 13 they lose is that the year they lost to chicago all right 13 it is and then right now he's just on fire and so Bergeron's the the the number retired I don't I wonder quickly do you think it's just crazy get his number retired here I do I think so yeah I mean okay second in franchise playoff score in 14 years

I think there you go so yeah so I I my initial thought was yes then I thought maybe crazies but never doubt yourself with thank you thank you I know just ask me i'll tell you so so the the thing the thing the thing is is people don't talk about them and you understand with with that top line why but you need two big dogs up front 1a and 2a centermen to win the stanley cup all the great teams have two great centermen you know you can't just have one guy do it all and i think that that he's just just a fabulous player to watch bruins fans are spoiled by having him for this long so i think the bruins look fantastic at the end of the series man you see uh chara and brindamore had a very special exchange, it looked like, in the handshake line.

And you could tell Chara was so complimentary of him probably as a coach and as a player as well, and Brindamore was saying the same. But, you know, the Bruins look just right there. They're going to be right there again. Probably the pivotal moment of the series was when Carolina went into that third period up 2-0. And that was a fairly colossal collapse and something you would not expect from the Carolina Hurricanes. I thought it was a lot closer series than that. Losing Shvetchnikov was massive.

I think goaltending is going to be the issue moving forward for Carolina. If they want to be taken seriously, I think they need to go out and get I don't know, maybe a Holpe. I don't want to start cock-blocking you Capitals fans. Markstrom's UFA, isn't he? Pay my boy!

Yeah, it sounds like he's going to be staying in Vancouver though. That's the buzz from there. Yeah, but you never know. I guess you're right. I didn't follow that series too closely, but is it Clifton? Oh, yeah, Clifton. Clifton Hockey. I keep hearing about this guy.

His name keeps popping up, and I see that snipe when he gets fed in the slot, and he put it right in the elbow with a net. That guy runs around and every single night brings tons of energy. I think he occasionally makes some wild plays. I think that's Cliffy Hockey where he'll do something genius and then he'll do something moronic and you're just like, that's Cliffy Hockey, and then he kills somebody behind the net and rips it off the glass.

But he's shown glimpses of just – first of all, he flies. He actually skates like Nateate nate schmidt he bombs around like he does never gets tired doesn't play as many minutes but uh and and then he's nuts like he'll get in there he'll get right in the mix he's physical so he's just another piece they got and that i know we already talked about that hit but mcavoy playing the way he did in that first round the bruins the bruins are um they're looking like a favorite to come out of the East, per usual, in the past few years. Yeah, and Jake DeBrusques is playing well.

There's another guy who, he was in a contract year, right? So sometimes that'll fuck with your head. And he's been having, you know, he started popping off a little bit here. So Bruins look good. They're kind of like Dallas in the sense where it took them a little bit to get going but they've arrived and they're doing so without uh pasta he played game five when they got it done though he's back today oh he's back yeah okay all right i didn't know that i didn't see that i was too busy watching you were watching your team get crushed. Bent over.

I told people that the Bruins go 0-3 in the round. Robin, don't sweat it because they're playing those games as exhibitions. And I think that last round proved it. And, I mean, how bad is my hoop right now after getting porked on the puck line two games in a row, Biz? I mean, there's nothing worse when you get it like they had at the last game. 4-2, they come all the way back. And then goalie pulled off a skate. Boom, frosted meed me and then today Marshawn missed one and missed another one but that's the name of the game you live by the end but the worst part about it and and it was

over 5k that you lost and the fact that the Bruins made that four four unanswered comeback so they were up 4-2 and I knew that you had the puck line and when I saw that fucking thing go in I wanted to ring Halak's neck out. You know that Alonzo Mourning gif where he's like looking off into space and then he's kind of like yeah well that's how I was I'm like well I lost the puck line but also I got a four goal comeback I was able to win the money line bet to kind of pay for the puck line

so I'll give it to Alonzo Mourning. That meme is incredible does anyone ever know what had happened that game to make him do that? Like, what did he realize? That it ain't too bad. Maybe he's like, I got $100 million.

Yeah, I followed up, but I got $100 million in the bank. I was going to say, maybe this is a good opportunity for you, R.A., to plug your t-shirts. The Puck Line Jesus. Yeah, well, we have our Blessed lady of the unguarded cage i'm still waiting for the puck line vert puck line jesus version of that t-shirt to come out we got the carter hot t-shirt the lotto line we got a bunch of t-shirts grinnelly pimping lately so yeah buy some t-shirts i got my carter hot somewhere around king bergy baby the king

bergy ones are flying off the shelves oh Ooh, Nelly. Hey, listen up, gang. Even though I occasionally struggle with English, I've always wanted to learn a new language, but it can be intimidating. Whether it's time, effort, or money, Babbel gets rid of all the roadblocks so I can start speaking Espanol sooner. Babbel has proven to get you speaking the language within weeks.

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so your progress will be synced across all devices. Right now, when you purchase a three-month subscription, Babbel will give our listeners three additional months for free with the promo code CHICKLETS. That's three additional months free if you go to babbel.com and use the promo code CHICKLETS on your three-month subscription. months free if you go to babbel.com and use the promo code chicklets on your three-month subscription that's b-a-b-b-e-l.com promo code chicklets c-h-i-c-l-e-t-s i got a question shoot wit if you could speak any other language like if you could learn it which one would it be

i think just spanish because i'd use that most but if if I was young like Jimmy Vesey, I'd try to speak Chinese. You make millions. I would want to speak one of the romance languages like Italian or Spanish. I think like Italian. That's a language I think when you talk it has a little bit of a luster to it. It's romantic. French is very romantic. Yeah, absolutely. yeah then you might get beat up by guys from boston i'll thank you from montreal but no italians is a language i'd never i'm i could never learn another language at this stage of the game but definitely italian

all right moving right along uh also on wednesday afternoon it was looking like columbus might live to see another day they were down to nothing but they scored four in a row. However, Tampa came back from down 2 to force OT, and after a botched puck exchange in overtime, the Lightning took full advantage of it. And who else? Braden Point gets yet another OT game winner, and he sent the Jackets home. Whit, we're going to go to you first.

You are a defenseman. I'm not going to cast blame here. I don't know if the puck should have been handled. Was the pass bad? Was the receiving of the pass bad? Take us through what you saw in that goal. Yeah, just a brutal bounce. And I think that when you see Savard goes D to D behind the net, he uses the wall and right to Gavrikov.

And it looks lackadaisical. It looks like he's kind of not as into it as he should be at that point in the game, at this point in the series. But it's a pretty common play to just use your foot and stop it that way. Maybe there's hockey purists or coaches out there that say I'm foolish, but he should have had his backhand out there. I guess that would have been the best way to handle it. But using your foot, this isn't tough for these guys. And it just happened to catch his skate in a bad way and kick right to the boards point gets fed and then there it is it's it's

that's the series but you got to think that there's there's this the same way it bounced off his foot sometimes it can hit your stick and just be a bad bounce off the blade of your stick so it looks bad but i know it's's probably a way easier play for that guy to make 99% of the time. It just happened to be the wrong time for it to happen. We're going to spend a lot of time talking about Tampa because they're another team that I think is going to go probably to the finals or could, at least the semis.

Columbus, I think we underestimated your organization and how you've drafted and developed coming into the season. At least I did. Excuse me. Uh, great run. Uh, you guys knocked off a good Leafs team. I would have personally liked to have seen Leafs Tampa because I think it would have been a lot more high flying.

Uh, but you know, overall, you got a couple of good players in net, and Elvis and Corpus Sala, who put on an absolute fucking show. You're back end solid with those two massive pieces, and Seth Jones, who absolutely annihilated Hedman. I don't know if you guys saw that hit. And Wierenski. And you got some, you know, you got a number one center. I think that you learn that you have a true number one center and even in crunch time in Dubois.

Would you not agree? And that's a pretty fucking good feeling in the fact that you know you got your ace, especially when crunch time comes and you're playing against playoff teams. Yeah, I agree with that. I just think Tampa, it was really it was funny because they they they waited so long and the fact that the pandemic happened and then they're they come back and they get columbus still again and it was probably cathartic for them to win this series because it's just like last year was weighing on them so bad i I saw an interesting story. At one point throughout the year, Maroon and Shattenkirk said they could tell that the team was just – they weren't over last year.

And it was also difficult because they weren't the same team as this year. So it's not only did they lose that heartbreaker and people don't realize when you have the season they had, you broke these records. And then you don't even win a playoff game. Like that can crush you and i think there was times this year earlier in in the season when it was weighing on them and they weren't lighting it up like they had the year before and finally i don't know if it's maturity and that's what cooper talks about he says that they're not even that much of a better team than than last year right now they're just more mentally tough and that's what it kind of took and i i the way they just keep coming at you in waves and and vasilevsky yeah i mean today he gives up a bunch but i mean you can't be panicking over him the way you were last year

it's just it's a it's a wild team to watch because they have so much depth. And then they went out and they got that good row and Coleman and, and even Zach Bogosian is playing great. They, people said he was done and he's looking, he's playing with headman at time. And it's like this, this team has a bunch of guys and Shattenkirk was a, a very cheap signing after getting bought out.

He's been great. And he gave a speech after the second period in the clinching game Wednesday. And, you know, like this guy second period in the clinching game uh wednesday and you know like this guy was played in the league a long time and tyler johnson said after was something that had to you know stuff that had to be said and so i don't see how you're going to pick against them you talk about the abs in vegas out west well it's kind of bruins lightning in my eyes in the east and that's just how it's going to go. I'm assuming, and Islanders fans, shut your mouth. At this point, I think I'd give R.A. a handjob

if we got that semifinals matchup. Those two teams going at it, you can tug them. For that matchup, actually, if Yotes were in the West one, I would tug you, actually tug you. The Yotes, dude. You mentioned Corpozalo. He was outstanding, but. I actually tug you. The Yotes, dude. You mentioned Corposal.

He was outstanding. But we got to give Vassie props, man. He didn't see as much rubber as Corposal, but he made some incredible 10-bell saves. Every game he was making four or five highlight saves. He was a huge factor in this series. And also, too, Tortorella's press conference, epic. He got asked one of those questions like,

oh, you know, kind of like a feel-good type thing. And he's like, I'm not going to get into the touchy feely stuff or the moral victories. You guys be safe. And he'd get up and walk away. Just vintage fucking torts. That's a little bit of a mic drop bubble situation right there. And to go back to Columbus, I was just basically saying. You drop it into hand sanitizer.

I was just basically saying, you guys are in better shape than i thought originally and and i think you guys you know with a few good more drafts which isn't highly unlikely given your your management and what they've done so far i think you guys are going to be okay better off than my fucking yotes yeah they can certainly keep their heads held high and yeah biz uh the bloody wednesday afternoon continued for the qualifying round winners as colorado beat up on your overmatched arizona squad once again seven to one uh they knocked the coyotes out busy you might have a little blood spatter still in your suit from those last couple games because they were absolute beatens you know the oats i thought they were just too easy to play against i mean obviously the talent disparity was there but they just seemed

to really lack grit they just they weren't bearing, and I thought they were just way too soft-biz. What was your take on the series? Oh, yeah. I mean, I can't remember the last time a team got beat seven-to-one back-to-back games in playoffs. That was the most embarrassing playoff performance I've ever seen. It was hard to watch. Speaking of wristers, I guess I'll start off with the abs.

Oh, my God. um speaking of wrestlers i guess i'll start off with the abs oh my god the the job that joe sackick has done in putting that team together but also we talk about these the pieces talk to you know find a little piece there a little piece there like zadorov like i didn't realize he was in that o'reilly trade did you know that when he came over from Buffalo but also in that trade they got that Comfort so I'm not listen O'Reilly's O'Reilly but like watching that Comfort play third line center tremendous exactly what you'd want in a third line center plays with an edge I know I've been talking about him a little bit on the last few podcasts but just everywhere you look that lineup is really good there's no weak spots although i i could say group grubauer wasn't really tested

i think the coyotes in last in game one four and five i think they might have had five or six high quality scoring chances collectively in those three games um but just led by Nathan McKinnon I can't say enough about this guy and going back to the last podcast given every single intangible and what his salary is I would say him and him and McDavid are tied just what I'm seeing right now what he brings how he drives that team, everything through him. He had two goals. I thought it was a replay while I was calling the game. It was actually two goals.

He scored one of the peeps and then one even strength. But overall, this Avs team, they are – if I could pick one team to win the Stanley Cup, it would be them right now. And as far as the Yotes are concerned, that's a salary cap team. They're at the top they weren't even close to Colorado not even on the same not even the same stratosphere so I'll leave it at that congratulations to uh to the Colorado Avalanche and best of luck to Mac man

because I know how much following Sid and doing everything that he did and accomplishing everything he accomplished. I think that getting one early, especially with a group like this around him, would mean a lot, and I want him to get it. That performance, Stuart. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I mean, it was like the NBA first round.

Fucking just zero chance for a team to win. So the abs, they looked amazing. I mean, but are they that good? I mean, they literally just looked like a pickup game. And they were just a bunch of pros versus the joes versus the versus the ra so and i have even i haven't even mentioned and i haven't even mentioned cadre yet who was the best that's who i was gonna bring up this guy he has more points in eight playoff games or was it seven or is it eight then then he had in his entire career as a Maple Leaf in the playoffs.

He's got six goals. He's just – and you wonder, I mean, just the difference in media hype and pressure as opposed to playing in the playoffs with the Avs and playing – well, and right now it's different with them in the bubble, I understand, this year. But he fits in so perfectly there that you wonder if the Leafs could have ever seen the Nazem Khadji that's playing right now in the playoffs. They never would have wanted to trade him if they could have saw him. But there he was taking stupid penalties and getting sussied half the time. So it's like we didn't have this Khadji to begin with. But to see what he actually can do when focused and playing this well and fit in on a team where he slides in you know he just

slots perfectly behind the big dogs it's just a sight it's a sight to be seen right now because he is um certainly up there as mvp of the playoffs i mean none of his team you know he's got other guys in his team excuse me but domination the craziest part about that one, he only makes $4.5 million. Jeff O'Neill was talking about it on one of those TSN. I thought it was more than that. $4.5 million. That's just as big a bargain as what McKinnon's making based on what he's doing.

One or a few bright spots on the Coyote side, it'd be rude not to mention Darcy Kemper and the performance he had. It was sad to see the last two games, how he had to get pulled, just based on how the guys were playing ahead of him. But I thought Clayton Keller was very good. He had a big playoff. He had seven points, four goals, three assists. That's big for him and his confidence moving forward,

which he's a big piece of the organization. So I was happy to see that. And then who knows with Halsey? I don't know what the future is, Whit. That's one of the biggest free agents on the market this summer. So we'll see. And apparently Colorado is a name that keeps popping up, given the amount of cap space they have.

So maybe he can just join them right now. And how about Nate Dogg ragged on Christian Fisher after they were chirping and Fisher got the stick high in his face? And you could tell Nate didn't want to fight him because he didn't want to break his hand or take five. And he was almost like a big brother, like just mushing a little brother's face, like, why do you keep hitting yourself? Why do you keep hitting yourself?

I must have been on a bathroom break already. Hey, Biz, one more note, too. Obviously, John Chayka's gone, but does this kind of have any statement on him, the way this team performed? Is it kind of like a non-endorsement of what he did in Arizona? Basically, this is the team you put together, pal. If it's not on target, was his construction of the team pretty poor? Oh, God, okay.

So you put this on a tee for me. I wasn't going to go there. I mean, if you don't want to, I don't think you're right. No, no, already. You got him to say it. Now you're like, go, go. I think that I wasn't a big fan of analytics before all this and never was, but I'm someone to be open-minded.

And he took over the team as a 27-year-old GM, and I think that that surprised a lot of people. And I was always willing to believe, hey, you know, like this guy handles himself well and would be able to like at least not like colossally fuck it up. Like as of right now, like it's, yeah, it was a hack job. It was bad. We're a cap team and we just got embarrassed by a team fifth from the bottom. And I thought he got bent over in negotiations.

I thought that he didn't necessarily do the best job drafting. I don't know what's going on with the farm team and how we're developing because we don't seem to develop a ton of players, although Connor Garland developed, but he wasn't drafted by him. He was drafted by Don Maloney. And yeah, I think he's really left the team in a very difficult spot. And that's kind of why I felt cited when he just kind of took off and left before the bubble where it's like, this is what you put together. You had four years to do it. I felt that you rushed the rebuild a little bit by some of the moves you made and then that's

what we got and i mean i don't know i i'm more i'm a little more old school when i feel like guys should get paid when they've proven things and and if you got guys like crosby taking deals i don't know yeah so we'll see although the guy the guys who got paid here fucking show me i don't get shove it up my hoop i've been getting it a lot lately so that's how i feel and and and i love this organization but that's just being real about stuff and i think analytics is the biggest fucking farce in the world that's uh that's just being blunt if you want want to be a GM of a team and you want to be successful, I think you should take analytics about 3% in your decision-making. And we don't need to go into that.

I just feel that there's a process to actually seeing what's happening and what holes need to be filled and how they are. Joe Sackick's in Colorado. Well, he did a pretty good job there. Why do you think Stevie Y did such a good job in Tampa? And now he's going to go do it in Detroit. It's because you have to have some type of glue to the game and have known and seen and been in these winning situations

and understanding how the car is put together. And I think that way too many people who are just staring at a monitor and plugging in the numbers their opinions are being taken far too seriously and it's a fucking joke it is and i'll talk to them i'll sit down and they can any analytics person come on the podcast and explain to me how valuable it is so i know i went on a bit of a rant there but uh that's how i feel about the state of hockey and that little portion of it but hey at the end of the day the product has to speak for itself so like i said things can turn around here and be a lot better based on the moves

that he's made but up until now it looks gross hey imagine having one of those budweiser red lights during this series biz your house would look like a firehouse for all those goals going off because the Budweiser red light is back. Hockey is back and it is time to sellie. The Budweiser red light is back, bringing the arena experience to your home when your favorite team lights the lamp. Sink, sellie, repeat. It's pretty easy. This thing is awesome. It's honestly the best thing to have when you can't get to the games, which nobody can these days. You get yourself one of these and you feel like you're at the game. Like I said, that last series biz, people probably thought there was an ambulance at Avalanche fans' houses

for the last couple of days. You want to go to Budweiser.com, use the code CHICKLETS10 to get 10% off a Budweiser red light, and you'll feel just like you're at the rink biz. Yeah, and all right, to take it out of that ad read, love, love that brand, biz yeah and all right to take it out of that ad read love love that brand um is to go back to my comment about players who have been there and done that changing organizations around i'm not saying that people who never played can't do it i just feel that they need to spend a lot of time and a

lot of hours invested into seeing how it all works and how you can transform it and there needs to be a lot of communication and learning and until you've actually done that i i don't think you have a snowball's chance in hell so i think that it was a very very very rookie move hiring a 27 year old gm and that's not a knock at him it's just i mean it's it's i just don't think it was the right move all right moving right along here uh well said biz i'll give you credit it's just being you guys know anybody can come on this podcast and have a conversation it's just like that's like that guy kind of fucked up the organization a little bit and and and keep in mind like at 27 years old and we can keep this in he had to go meet Shane Doan at 18 degrees and tell him to kick rocks after everything he'd done

for the organization and I've been spending a lot of time on the phone recently with a lot of people who who have been around the organization especially during these periods of time and um it's just like it's just really shitty how it's gotten to this point like why is shane doan not affiliated with the organization and if new ownership doesn't bring them back in i'll tell them they're nuts and they might even listen to the podcast what where the fuck is shane doan yes well get him in a where's waldo thing memes alright well of Coyotes fans who are just empty but I believe that there's people in this organization who are good people and I think that they could turn it around

I just don't like the shape that Chayka left it in and the way he left that's it yeah well said man the results speak for themselves but of course there are still a few other series that aren't done yet Montreal and Philadelphia literally just finished Game 5.

We really can't break it down because we've been recording during it. But Montreal won 5-3, a shootout for this series. Carter Hart gave up four goals after having back-to-back shutouts. You know, I mean, this has been a great series from the get-go. Carey Price has just been absolutely standing on his head. Let's go to you, Whit. What's your take on this one so far? Well, shout out Carter Hart.

And I've actually had this game on as we've been recording. Brandon Gallagher, oh, he got benched the other game. He was a rat all night. But we've got to go to Carter Hart because tonight wasn't great. But to be the third Flyers goalie in history to get two shutouts in a row in the playoffs is is that's heady stuff and that's a kid who's just like looks so comfortable and now the series is three two so i mean much at all they if they win the next one anything can happen that's the old saying in the game shepard anything can happen that's what they tell you what they say in this

in this league biz so i don't think that the canadians can win this series but i said that i didn't think that they could beat the fucking penguins and they're just a tough out when price is playing the way he is i still believe the flyers will get it done next game game six that might have been my prediction for the in the in the preview section as well i said in five i haven't followed this series very series very closely boys um i can't really comment on it other than uh who is it proverov's hair it's been all over the internet what's going on there he's got the flow peroxide jesus flow i saw did you see the picture of uh jakey borch wearing the gritty, what do they call those things in the face?

Not the mask, but the buff or gator or whatever the hell they're called. Jakey had the gritty one on. I thought I was seeing double for a minute. Oh, I like that. Yeah, I know Konechny hasn't scored yet, so they need him to get going. Yeah, JVR was scratched game four as well. So, you know, Philly's getting it done. I know how you feel, JVR.

I got scratched many a time, buddy. Hang your hat in there. We haven't mentioned our guest yet. Obviously, we brought Brad May on already to talk about Dale Howichuk. But we're going to bring on in a few minutes Rich Kloon. Obviously, played for Toronto, won a call to the Cup with the Mollies. And he had a documentary drop recently. Hi, my name is Dickie.

Comes on to talk about that and his career. But we'll be getting that in a little bit. Just want to give you a heads up that we have that coming. Vancouver, St. Louis. They're playing Game 5 after we record. Actually, they just started a minute ago. Then they play Game 6 Friday night. The Blues are starting to look much more like the Blues of last year's Cup run.

They battled back from an 0-2 deficit to knock things up with Vancouver. Game 3 went to OT. Biz called Shin on Twitter. Nice call there. And then the Blues just absolutely choked them out in game four. So this has become a best of three after Vancouver had them where they want them. Biz, what have you seen from this one? Ryan O'Reilly.

Holy shit. What the fuck, man? That guy's nuts. His nickname's The Factor, Biz. the factor the factor and he plays the guitar he could sing he's got a fucking sick little jacket on he had a blue jacket on the interview today he looked like a absolute missile best player fucking figure it out he's the new lundquist that's what he is right there um yeah they they looked like the champs another team that took them a while to get going but they look like the champs now and and I'm very dialed into this

series now um I called Shen because he went to town on a stick on the bench he was not happy I don't know if he'd missed the pass or he missed a shot and he just he gave her the old tomahawk chop 150 bucks on the fine board wit right how much for a broken stick in the minors oh they didn't do that in the show you're allowed to break them and edmonton if they would have done that you would have fucking been given them you would have been paying back your whole salary for probably i didn't break sticks in anger i did the Alonzo Moore. Yeah, whatever. I'm rich. The mind. But, yeah, he beat the shit out of his twig, and I just felt he was going to get it. So Jake Allen, back-to-back games, looked very good.

Yeah, that's the extent of I got right now. Ryan O'Reilly just kind of took over the series in games three and four and really has been unreal all series long yeah i think vancouver's not going to i they've they've been overmatched these these past few games but they got those young guys they got the power play just the problem is is that st louis once they figure out how they wanted to play against this team and once they figured out their special teams, which I talked about how that was so poor before,

that's when it's like, all right, well, now it's the veterans take over. Now it's the guys who've been there before and make it way harder on these young superstars that for Vancouver, they need to get going. So I don't really think – I think it's easier for St. Louis to Pettersson and Besser and slow Horvat down than it is to slow Hughes down. Because it's different as a defender, right? You can't, you know, there can't be a line matched up that's just smothering against the top unit. He's just able to join the rush and get back so quickly and do whatever he's doing that makes that team go. So it's a lot easier for these forwards to maybe have

a tough time going against Ryan O'Reilly and Perron. How much of a rat can that guy be? I still think that's why Hughes has to really lead this team and continue to be the best defenseman on either side. Did you see Roussel

bought Blay in the face when Blay came over in Sanford's defense? Yeah. Bank. Roussel don't give a fuck. Oh, and there was actually some postgame quotes here from, from Berube, chief.

And I think all you young kids should, should listen to this. I guess all you hockey fans and a pretty important quote about how you can win in the playoffs. We scored more than them. So pretty simple there, folks. There you have it. Just score more than the other team and you should be all right. And, Biz, I put it on and Van, 7-2.

Ten minutes into the first in shots, not score. I know I surprised some of you that didn't know the score, even though games already happen when you're listening. But that means they've started off quick. They know how to get their legs going and figure out a way to try to push the pace game five, rest of the series. And one other important note in the series,

Vladimir Tarasenko had to leave the bubble to get his shoulder looked at. So obviously they'll have to get some negative tests before he's allowed to return to the team. We'll obviously keep an eye on that like we always do. Biz, most guys have tried different ways to last longer in bed. But thinking about Corsi and Fenwick like we always do. Biz, most guys have tried different ways to last longer in bed, but thinking about Corsi and Fenwick doesn't always work.

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getroman.com slash chicklets and you can get your first month of swipes for just $5 when you choose a monthly plan. That's GetRoman.com slash chicklets. Rink isn't the only place you want to overtime these days, Biz, so grab that Get Roman stuff. Oh, is that your own little... Hey, and guys, Grinnell doesn't often chime in much during the podcast, but this is my chance to give him a little shout-out here. We are recording right now at 1107.

It is right now, Eastern time. Grinnell, what time do you think you're going to be done editing this podcast? I'd say around 530 a.m. I still don't even understand how there isn't better technology. No. Explain to the listeners what you do, although this is only adding time to your job after this. I produce. Move it along.

It's as simple as this. It's as simple as this. Two and a half hour podcast. Got to listen to it twice before it goes out. That's five hours right there. That's five hours of just listening. There you go. God bless you.

Imagine how much he hates us. Oh, my God. He must fucking, my voice must drive me. You must look at me and just want to puke. Although this is probably the last time it happens because I'll be heading to boston we're going to be in the a little pink whitney bubble i'll be doing the second and third round of playoffs in there i'm going to be doing there be there excuse me doing live interviews uh we're going to probably do a few sandbaggers we're going to have some fun so i'm excited to get to boston and uh we are going to have some in-depth coverage of playoffs

hockey hockey hockey hockey so that was a g a g uh appreciation message there so all of you fucking followers who are like where's the podcast he's up all night editing it thanks boys yeah of course buddy well a couple more series we want to touch on before we send it over to dickie clune uh washington the islanders are going to be playing game five the day this episode drops Thursday. The Islanders are currently up three to one. They won the first three games, but the Caps battled back. They showed some life, staved off elimination.

I think Sezikis probably didn't want to wake up Ovechkin like that. He gave him a little bit of a love tap. It wasn't a hard slash, but it got Ovechkin's attention. He did the same thing that Nate did. He just kind of ragdolled Sezikis, kind of buried him in the ice. Took the two minutes, but then he scored two goals afterwards, including a game winner. He passed Gordie Howe and Sid Crosby on the playoff goals list.

He's now at 18 with 69. Also, Gouda's huge hip check on Cal Clutterbuck. That was another highlight from the game. Whit, let's go to you for this one. Ovi, never wake a sleeping giant. Never even give him a chance to get pissed off. Now, I think he already was being down 3-0 and not wanting their season to end in an embarrassing fashion

to a team that they consider themselves way more skilled than. But they don't work as hard. They don't work as smart. But you woke up Ovi. And then he shows up the the winner oh my god just a rocket this guy is shot there's no chance doesn't matter who the goalie is there's certain times when he shoots it nobody is stopping it doesn't matter so I still think the Islanders win this series but it certainly gets a little more hectic, especially Oh, I can't say that

word. I was told by my friend that I cannot say the word especially. How do you say it? It's especially, not expecially. What do I say? You say expecially. So there's no X. That's what he said. He said there's no G.

Okay, Biz. I don't want to break down this series much more because we've gone too long, and there's so much more to happen because I think this might even go the distance. You heard it from Brad May, though. Backstrom, just an incredible player, and that's a big, big hole in that lineup. So if it doesn't go the distance, that's why right there. Let's save this one for Monday's pod. I'm excited to see how it plays out.

Absolutely. Absolutely. In the last series, we're going to mention before we send it over to Dickie, Dallas-Calgary, they're playing their game six Thursday night as well.

Dallas is currently up three games to two after winning a very tight game four on Tuesday. Anton Hudobin has started the last three games for Dallas. Interesting, he's the UFA to be. Bishop still has three years left on his deal,

and he's the number two right now. Obviously, no Matthew Kachuk has been a huge loss. Calgary clearly missing him, clearly a different team without him. One other quick note, the game four game winning goal was originally given to Pavelski, was changed to Radulov. Biz, let's go to you. Any notes on this before we send it over to Klooner? That Matthew Kachuk loss is just so significant,

and it seems to be the difference right now. I talked about how Dallas, you know, they got it going right now. They got their mojo back, and Goodobin's been strong in net. The defensemen are tripping it off offensively and uh i don't know i'm hoping kachuk comes back because i want to see him make an impact in the series and i pick calgary i believe in seven and i i'm sticking with it i think they can find a way the the the goal jamie ben had to start the game just going to the net scores, runs over the net after. Dallas is, you know, the Blues barely got by them last year. Dallas got better, too, over the offseason.

So you never saw Hudobin being in net throughout this entire run. You pictured Ben Bishop, but now, I know we talked about Pavelski before in the heroics in game three, and just to come back into this series that quick and then now be leading and doing, like they're doing it in a way that isn't that exciting. I can kind of throw them on the Islanders train a little bit where they can be a little boring to watch, but they get in your face and they have enough players

who've been around this league long enough to understand what it takes to win in the playoffs. Calgary just – I think there's times Calgary just plays exactly the way they need to do it to be successful and then they get away from it. They're like inconsistent. Some games you watch them and they look like world beaters and then there's other nights when I guess their big guys don't show show up where it's just different it looks so hard for them to create

any offense so i i think that the the series could easily go seven games but when you're up three two i don't know the stats i'm usually a stack guy i apologize to everyone who i let down but i think it's 80 percent what 80 85 percent of people of people up 3-2 win a series. That's a guess. I'm not sure, but there's also no home ice, too, so that's a fact on those stats. Big time. It's been totally taken away. Big time.

That's true. And you mentioned that lack of offense for Dallas sometimes, especially from up front, but right now, with the back end helping out, it just gives them that little extra as opposed to last year when you said they couldn't get over the hump through St. Louis. So interested to see how this plays out. At least we've got something to watch tomorrow, or I guess today because this comes out Thursday. Absolutely.

We've still got a few more games to go. All right, gang, I think we should send it over to Rich Kloon right about now. This is a pretty cool interview, pretty wide-ranging. We get into his career, his history, his documentary, lots of good stuff. So without further ado, we're going to send it over to Rich Klune. Our next guest is currently a member of the Toronto Mollies and just finished his 14th season of professional hockey, including stints with the Kings, Predators, and Leafs.

He won a world junior gold back in 2005 and a call to the cup in 2018. And he recently released a documentary about his struggles with substance abuse early in his career titled, Hi, My Name is Dickie. It's a pleasure to welcome to the show, Rich Kloon. Nice to join us, Rich. Thanks for having me on, fellas. Good to be here. First, I want to congratulate you on your 10 years of sobriety. I understand you just passed out milestones, so good on you for that. I wonder how you've been killing time with no work during this whole quarantine thing. Oh, I mean, fuck, dude.

I've been doing everything from, like, online ballet to writing, doing, listening to Spittin' Chicklets. You name it, man. Rewatching fucking Good Will Hunting a hundred times, just trying to chill. Actually, the truth is that, so I don't know when it was. Whenever phase two kicked off for the NHL, Kyle Dubas called me up and asked me if I wanted to come out and train. I think the truth is mainly I think he knows how much of a junkie I am

when it comes to working out and skating, and he thought that I would like it. I believe he did try to talk to the NHL about trying to get me in for Phase 3, but because I was on an AHL contract all year, it didn't fly. So I was going out to the Ford Performance Center for five or six weeks in those small workout groups. And so it was cool. It gave me something to do.

And then I got the boot like two weeks ago, and now I'm back to doing push-ups and lifting into bids and rip it on spitting chiclets. Dude, you are cut. What type of supplements you on, for Christ's sakes? Are you on the Gary Roberts plan too or what? No, man. There's a little-known secret that I have is that probably once every 40,

50 days I like to put in a $42 McDonald's order. That's the guilty pleasure right there at McQuicks. Oh, yeah. Hey, how'd the ballet go? And, like, how did you even get into that? I'm limber. I'm limber. Light feet, light toes, man. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, you know, all those Russian hockey players, that was their secret back in the day. They all did ballet. So I'll try anything to just keep this body moving. So how many classes did you last and how to go dude i'm still enrolled i'm waiting for my i'm waiting for him to start up again all right because like you can't really do you can't do beginners ballet on zoom it's just you know it's impossible but okay like turn your toes in more you're like oh what i'm uh my streaming isn't working right now yeah that's awesome what have you what have you guys been up to how are you guys keeping busy

eating like a sewer rat being a being a dirt dirt ball just like waiting for hockey to come back that's right now but it gets me thinking about you man and 14 years pro like just this incredible story what you've been through, what you've overcome. And I mean, you're only 33. Like how much longer do you want to do this? Are you totally just kind of year by year, day by day right now? Yeah, no, I'm totally year by year, day by day. I think that, you know, if I could, in a perfect world,

if I could play, you know, one or two more seasons, um, that would be cool. But the truth is like, I was ready to walk away five years ago before I came back to Toronto. I mean, um, you know, I had played a few years for the predators and you know, I was being a little bit of a little bitch. Like I got bought out. Uh, I can't remember what season, I think 2014. I was on a two-year deal and, you know,

I don't know if any of you guys have been bought out, but essentially the sequence of that is just like, you know, they try to trade you during the year. Nobody wants to trade for you. They put you on waivers. The whole league can basically claim you for nothing then that doesn't happen you know then i went down to milwaukee and i played hard and i'd heard like rumblings through my agent that you know maybe some teams would try to trade for you at the line deadline that didn't happen and then the draft comes around they try to again nobody trades for you and then you get an email with like

20 people cc'd on it and it's about four paragraphs long and it's like in not as many sentences like yeah we're buying you out for two-thirds of your contract and you know I got caught like my ego is just massively bruised and I I was just, you know, being a baby. And I had, you know, clearly whatever you guys know, like we kill ourselves at that level. And then I was finally kind of living out my vision of being like an everyday player and living in Nashville. And I thought, I was like, yeah, I'm going to play here for 10 years

and retire and probably, you know, go hunting with Mike Fisher every weekend and eat Chick-fil-A on Sundays, and that'll be all she wrote. But life had other plans. So that offseason, I moved out to L.A. with my brother. My brother Matt was living out there full-time by that time, and I didn't know what I was going to do, truthfully. I literally was – I almost quit to, like, try to be an actor. I was in to do, truthfully. I literally was, I almost quit to like try to be an actor. I was in like four acting classes a night.

I was being super dramatic. I'm like, I'm not playing fucking hockey. Don't want to talk to my agent. And I was just being a baby. And, you know, I wasn't, you know, I wasn't manning up. And luckily, luckily, I always loved train, and I stayed in shape. Then I had an opportunity to come home to Toronto, and my attitude changed pretty quickly.

And yeah, now we're here. Rich, so it was strictly attitude? At the point that you were in Nashville, was it ever for a lack of effort? And if it wasn't, do you think that that's why your ego maybe took over at that point? Because you were like, I'm fucking working my balls off here and they're gonna let me go yeah no i mean i think when you're in it and when you're in the moment i personally thought that like it had so much to do with me like i took it so personally and you know like they can spin it any way you want the truth is is, is like, we've all been there.

That whole thing about the numbers game, that just means there's a number of guys that are better than you that we want here now. It's a kick in the nuts. No, it's a total kick in the nuts. But the truth is like these things are what I needed because at that point in time, you know, I had whatever, I had some sobriety under my belt, thought I had like a good handle on you know

my own awareness and self-awareness but I was still so wrapped up in ego and like finding my way I'm still in my 20s and uh it was just it sucked because you know I had had really good opportunities with uh Barry Trotz and then he he got fired and Labialet came in. And for whatever reason, it just didn't work out. So, you know, I mean, it was like I was down on myself because I had, you know, I'd been put on that stage to like, you know, not just be a fighter. Like Trotz, he used me in a lot of different situations.

And I was playing decent minutes at one point. to like you know not just be a fighter like trots he used me in a lot of different situations and i i i was playing decent minutes at one point but you know i have to assume responsibility right like i wasn't i was always strong like i've been fucking strong as fuck for a while but you know maybe my conditioning wasn't as good i probably could have worked on my skating a bit more like but in that moment I'm like you know everybody else is to blame but me it was the same thing that I had for I blamed you know in the beginning I blamed everybody for my drinking and my drug problems I'm like it's not my fault but then you know fast forward it just manifests in a different way so you know I'd put the booze and

the coke down but now I'm blaming blaming other people for the lack of talent. Also, I probably could have been working on different things, and I just wasn't. Then you couple that in with Nashville needed contract space, and this is the only way they can get it done. But I learned a lot from it. You mentioned the word ego, and I think as you get older, especially as a man is,

I think you try to learn as quick as possible how to control that. Is that something at that point in time that like you devoted a lot of your attention to working on that, reading books, putting work in in order to shed that now problem? Well, I think, I don't know. I mean, I think that anytime I hear someone say like they want to get rid of their ego that's you know that's the biggest ego trip of all and that's certainly been the case for me but exactly I think that uh you know I I I think that from a young age I really

started to like I've learned a lot about myself and like to me ego isn't just thinking you're better than or whatever it's it's all thoughts encompassing you know thinking that you're not as good and that you don't belong here like it's just like a massive self-absorption and it prevented me from you know seeing what was really happening before my eyes. So, you know, that was a massive awakening for me getting bought out by Nashville. And then, you know, I wouldn't trade anything in the world for it. Like I learned so much and I truthfully saw that I'd come such a long way in my sobriety because I didn't even think about drinking or using at that point. Like I had basically erased all that self-destructive,

you know, coping with my reality by then. Then it was like, you know, then I was, you know, I feel like I was starting to handle things the way normal people would handle them. You know, they just get upset. And then I worked through that and worked through that. And it's something really magical. I mean, I can't say that I read any specific book or anything. I'm, I'm pretty open minded. And I like to, you know, read a whole bunch of different things. But I believe like we learn our most through living, you know, I could read any book or watch any movie or whatever, you know, you sit down with people and have impactful moments in your life. But ultimately, you know, I've just had to make mistake after mistake to learn.

So it's taken me longer and, you know, we could be sitting here 10 years from now and I'm going to be wondering like what I was talking about, but. Well, no, it's awesome. You're so well spoken and it's talking about the ego biz, that book, ego is the enemy by Ryan Holiday. It is a really good read. It's like a quick, easy read.

And it just does talk about how much that can hold people back and the thought of like being embarrassed when in actuality, nobody even cares about certain things. But I kind of digress. Nobody gives a fuck. Exactly. Nobody gives a fuck about you. No, man.

It's unbelievable. I mean, like, it's like, and that's when that mentality has given me the most healing out of anything. And I've been to rehab twice. I've been, you know, I've done a lot. Like, I commend myself. Like, I do the work. lot like I commend myself like I do the work but the truth is is like as soon as I realize that nobody cares and I don't mean that like whatever you know what I mean we just talked about it but it's that like how could I fit in and like just chill out and have a happy life when I just thought

the whole world revolved around me whether it was was good, bad, or different. Like, at some point, you know, I think it comes with age, comes with life experience, comes with fucking whatever. Do you ever find yourself getting sucked into that again, and then, like, boom, you shut it off right away? Like, is it? Every day. Okay, okay. Every minute of every day, man.

Yeah, it's a hustle. Yeah. You're as good-looking as you are. Fuck, it must be Yeah. It's a hustle. Yeah. You're as good looking as you are. Fuck. It must be tough. Everyone's fucking beautiful. Can I get a picture, Rich? Please.

You're so handsome. No, no, no, no. Now you guys are blowing that out of proportion. No, but the truth is, is that I'm just, I'm just, no, I'm just acknowledging where I'm at. And I mean, I think that, you know, for generally most people struggle with that. And it's just every day I wake up, I know I have a few simple things and they sound extremely embarrassing. Like they sound really boring, but I make my bed every morning and then, you know,

I'm not a religious guy or whatever. I believe, you know, I believe, I don't even know what I believe in, but I do believe that getting out of your own way and just living your life like that, for me, that's a secret. And then as the day goes on, I'm fucking, you know, constantly reminding myself that like I'm crazy and then I need to just chill out. And I don't know how other people are. I think sometimes, you know, whatever, you know, I don't know what people perceive in me, but I'm just kind of in touch with my craziness

and I'm aware of it. And it works for me, just acknowledging it and then asking for help and moving through the day. Well, it's funny you mentioned making your bed because the part i laughed at the hardest in your documentary and i tell everyone again it's it's hi my name is dicky check it out it was a great great watch and and you talk about your second trip to rehab and that i thought most rehab places were like passages in malibu where it's just fucking you're just hanging out chilling

you talked about this place where it was more military and and the guy's telling you how to make your bed you're like if you fucking mess up my bed again we're going outside like how different was that in terms of like i think more is expected of you there in a sense yeah no i mean like that's the beauty of of of a movie and editing right like after i gave that statement on camera I clearly acknowledged how insane I was and how insane I probably appear to be at that time and I was having a laugh about it but you know the way they edited it makes me look a lot fucking crazy than I am but yeah this is like damn shit I love it oh yeah yeah no but this place was exactly what I needed you know what I mean like I truthfully I didn't open up to the NHL PA when I was going through everything.

And like, you know, I had, you know, the various people on the Kings that were like, dude, are you okay? Like I'll get you help. Like I'll, I'll just be literal with it. Ron Hextall who, you know, I will, you know, go to my grave respecting. I opened up to him at times and he could see it and he was like like can I help you how can I help you and I always said no I'm fine I'm fine fine and then you know I was embarrassed and I just wanted to deal with this stuff on my own so I never called the NHLPA like I didn't know you know I was I was 21 years old the first time I went to rehab. Like, I didn't know. So my parents and, like, some people in Toronto kind of helped me find this place.

Well, the first time I went, basically, I was forced to go. And I just went to get people off my back. But, you know, I went back in 2010. I checked myself in. But this place, it wasn't glamorous, but it was everything I needed. Like, it was like, you know, it wasn't glamorous but it was everything I needed like it was like you know it wasn't passages it wasn't one of those places out in Malibu that that essentially looks like a five-star hotel but I met people too that you know were far more hardcore than I was although you know our addiction and our alcoholism is all the same I just I was surrounded by people that

were as sick as I was and then these counselors just whipped me into shape and it started by making your bed you had to make it like a specific way it was fucking it was like I remember the first four days my second I can't really remember my first time in there but my second time in rehab like I just like patched the bed together or whatever. I was a zombie. I was still like coming off stuff. And they had me on this drug called, uh, Seroquel, which, you know, under a certain dosage, it's just trying to like help you sleep, help you kind of chill out a little bit. I was on that early in sobriety and then eventually I got off of it,

but I was a zombie and like this I would tear my bed up every day and I would just be like dude like what is your problem I'm like I'm gonna fucking tear this place down and I'm gonna like I'm gonna like I'm gonna hurricane this whole house and they would just laugh they would just be like you're you're crazy we're here to help you and they would just like love me and I'm like, you're, you're crazy. We're here to help you. And they would just like, love me. And I'm like, don't you like, I'm trying to get a reaction out of them now. And they would just be like, pat me on the head. And like, they're like, Oh, you think you're so tough with like your tattoos, your missing teeth.

They're like, why don't you just go over there and like, do the readings and just shut up. You're not special. But I needed that. You know what I mean? Right. And Dick, obviously Whit mentioned the documentary. We want to kind of get into that a little bit. How, how did that come to be? How did, you know, after having sobriety for so long, did this documentary just sort of come out of the last year or so? The two filmmakers who like co-directed the film,

Taylor and Harris, Taylor Prestige and Harris they approached me through a mutual friend and my brother Matt my brother Matt Clune wrote an article for The Athletic like four or five years ago that you know

got passed around and basically my brother's a writer he's really talented and he wrote this article about you know that got passed around. And basically, my brother's a writer. He's really talented. And he wrote this article about his journey from his perspective of watching me self-destruct and then eventually driving me to rehab. He drove me to the doors the second time. And Taylor had read the article

and I think was really moved by it. And through our mutual friend, he approached me and said, would you ever consider like telling this in like a film format? And I was kind of against it. A few years ago, when I first moved back to Toronto, one of the broadcast stations in the city wanted to do sort of a similar thing. And I was just like, not really. wanted to do sort of a similar thing and I was just like not really I mean I'd done some interviews and stuff and tried to pass on you know the gift like when I when I had heard people talk about their sobriety as like someone who was struggling early on like a guy like McGrattan or Jordan Tutu those things you know inspired me so I felt like I could pay it forward, kind of like how they did.

And it just went from there. I mean, I didn't really know what they had in mind. And it just kind of turned into this thing. And then they asked, like, my brothers and my parents to kind of contribute and some people that I played hockey with. And, yeah, so it's been, it was a cool experience. I mean, I, uh, uh, not necessarily comfortable like watching myself. I mean, it's about me, which, you know, it's weird, but, um, hopefully if people watch it, they can kind of relate and maybe, you know, if they feel like

they need to make a change, but if not, whatever, I mean, I've never imposed my way of life on anybody nor would I ever. And I know that I had, don't have that influence, just like nobody had any influence over me. Like ultimately I had to make that decision to change. So. Rich, I wanted to go back actually to play his tribune piece. You wrote a few, a few years ago, You were talking about a big obstacle is asking for Help like what would you tell people in the same

Spot you were in that need help but maybe they're Unwilling or unable to ask what kind of Advice do you give to people I just really You know I just really try to hammer home the point That like there's nothing to be ashamed of And I think sometimes people Probably get

Inside their own heads and and it's tough man especially when you're young but at any age I think um you know I don't really have any magic suggestion I mean like all I say to people is no I've been there I know how how hard it is and somehow some way I found the the strength to just know, give up fighting and ask for help. And that's all I can say. And then, you know, hopefully people, you know, generally now, especially in today's day and age, there's a lot of people that are willing to help. And I mean, I find it hard, you know, in any industry, any family, people don't look down on that type of thing. They actually kind of commend it.

And, you know, I've been fortunate enough to have a lot of people around me. With how vocal you've been about it, you know, especially during your career where you still have that camaraderie with players, have you felt that a lot of guys have reached out to you and came to you for advice maybe over you know anyone else in management per se I think yeah I think like anytime you sort of you know anytime we kind of reveal our scars other people will do the same that's like any any type any type of thing in life so yeah I've, I've had guys, you know, that I've played with that have come

and whatever, they share some personal stuff or maybe they just gravitate towards me. But the truth is, is like, you know, I've never come up against any sort of backlash from any teammates or former teammates. Like, you know, I think in today's day and age pretty much you'd be hard-pressed to find a locker room that isn't accepting of people that are willing to take things serious so whatever it is like you know there was there was a while there there was a few years there like you can ask you know Kevin Westgarth and you know Alec

Martinez these guys played with me early in the minors. And like, I remember when we were in training camp one year for the Kings, I had already been to rehab once and I was telling the guys around me and, uh, I'm like, I'm going to change. I'm going to change. And they were like, you know, they wanted, they wanted it too. Like, um, John Bernier and stuff like these guys were always supportive of me and uh i just wasn't taking it seriously and i remember we were in training camp one year and i made it right to the end of it was my third year pro and i made it right to the end of the

cuts and ended up blowing my groin out and like the colorado colorado avalanche, LA Kings, frozen period in Vegas. And so I had been to rehab in 2009 and I, you know, I was just kind of putting on a face, like I stayed dry, whatever they call it, you know, I didn't drink or do drugs and then got to the end of that camp. And, uh, like I didn't make the team, but I was one of the last cuts and I was was still in town, and the guys were like, oh, we're going into Hollywood to, you know, to go party and stuff and blow off some steam after camp.

And I was like, okay, cool. And, you know, nobody knew what I was up to, but the truth is is, like, when I got to that club in L.A., you know, I started drinking, and I wasn't going crazy, but I dipped into a bathroom, and, could literally pick out you know who had coke whatever club like I walk in anywhere just like any good drug addict I'm like yeah that guy's got something went up to some random dude in the club in LA and I'm like he up and he blow and he's like yeah so like I scored coke my teammates had no fucking clue what I was doing and I woke up the

next morning and like Westgarth came into my room and my nose was like bleeding out on the pillow and he and like I had opened up to him earlier and I'm like listen man I'm gonna make a change like we were close buddies and like you know we did a lot of fighting together against other teams so we had that bond and uh but the truth is, is like, no matter what anybody said to me, I just wasn't ready. So for me to sit here on the flip side and pretend that like I have any influence over another human being's decisions, that would be insane. And I just know the disease well enough to know that I don't have that but what I can say is that it's never too late to stop so you know I didn't I wasn't the kind of person that you know got walked into rehab and then some fucking white light came down from the sky and I found God and then I got sober and whatever like that wasn't my experience I've had to fail time and time again and just slowly accept help so if anybody's in that predicament like it's never too late to change you know you could come out the next day and the truth is when an

alcoholic and a drug addict doesn't drink it's weird like it's weird that I don't that I don't drink you know if I really do have the disease you know what was difficult was me sitting there wondering if I can go back so the second time I had went to treatment and my heart of hearts that I was done I'm like alright I'm gonna really do this like I'm gonna I'm gonna go to meetings and I'm gonna I'm gonna really do the things that I've been taught I didn't know that I could fit back in on a hockey team but it didn't have anything to do with like the other guys you know going out and having some beers or whatever you know whatever you know a lot of people today they'll smoke the odd joint that's cool it had nothing to do with me feeling any sort of pressure from them. It was like that fucking ego where I'm like,

I don't want to be the completely different guy in the room and have people fussing over me and having guys like, you know, not wanting to have beers around me or feel like they're not going to invite me anywhere. I didn't want to, you know, attract that kind of attention. So I was like, I don't, I don't know if I should do this. I think I should just kind of like step away from the game. But luckily I didn't because none of that ever came true. And I would say it was probably like a year,

like my first season back in the minors. I didn't make the Kings at a training camp. And I played in Manchester for a full season and I would say around like eight nine ten months and it all kind of coincided with like the more serious I took sobriety the more fun I could have and then I got to the point where you know if you ask the guys that played with me i think some guys get confused when when when they join my team or whatever i go to a new team and they hear the word sober or whatever they think like i can't stay up like rip it up all night with the guys at the bar and that's taking me a long time to get to that place but that's why you're doing the ballet classes you're getting the dance

lessons in the mix of that yeah you're going to burn them up on the dance floor. No, but listen, dude, like this, the truth is, is like, if I can't go out and have fun and like go to concerts and fucking rip it up at clubs with my friends, what am I doing sober? Like what's the point of being alive? So I needed to get to a place where, you know, it's not just because I want to do these fun things. Like I need to. And, and I, and when you're new in sobriety, yeah,

I think there's a transition period. You should avoid clubs. You should avoid bars, but they teach you like you can't hide from life. And you know, like I, I, I literally it's the best decision I ever made. and I've had more fucking fun sobriety than I ever had before. And I got to, well, I was just going to hop in and say, I want to, let's talk about that fun. I mean, we can go a lot of different ways with this.

Of course you spent some time in the national hockey league. I want to talk about your time in Toronto. Cause of course, you know, with the sobriety probably came, you know, a more serious approach to your training, which we've talked a little bit about and the fact that you've had a pretty pretty long career man 14 fucking years let's talk about your whole Toronto Marlies experience and of course up with the Leafs well I the first conversation I had with anyone from Toronto was with Kyle Dubas. And he had just reached out in July of, you know, 2015, the year that I signed.

And they basically, like, ripped the whole roster apart and were trying to build, like, a new culture. And he essentially just offered me a spot with the Marlies and they needed, youlies and they needed leadership and he was prepared to give me a chance

to kind of revamp my career after getting bought out by Nashville. And in my own mind, I knew that the Leafs lineup was vulnerable, which is like code for they weren't very good. The lineup was weak. So I figured I could probably get games. And I just signed an AHL contract and I was like, fuck it, man.

I'll just go home and work, work as hard as I can and have fun. And then, you know, like, like, I would be lying to you if I said that I didn't want to become a Maple Leaf full time. Clearly, you know, you, you guys all played, nobody ever wants to just play in the minors we all aim for the NHL and then and then everything happens but um yeah I don't know played for Babcock and uh you know that was interesting I always thought that Babs was a good guy he he he always treated well. And I feel like, I think, you know, he recognized my feeling of what I was capable of.

And he just kind of asked players to play up to their potential. And, you know, he never got on my back. And then playing for Sheldon Thief with the Marlies. And pretty much, you know, there's a lot of players that are on the Leafs now that were Marlies. And they were rookies back then. And it was just just I was really grateful to be a part of that group I think that uh you know they had Hyman and Nylander and Kapanen and there's a number of other guys and you know we it was like it was everything I needed like it surrounded me back with hungry young players and and really sparked me.

And then I was thrust into like a leadership role that I had never had much experience for. Because, you know, going up with Nashville, like I was, you know, a 25, 26, 27 year old and still basically, you know, a young guy looking up to guys like Mike Fisher and Shea Weber, but then going back down to the minors with NHL experience really put me in a position to thrive, and it's been good. I mean, I've learned a lot over the years, and then eventually won a Calder Cup a couple years ago, and that's been as good as it's got for me. And like I wouldn't change any of it.

Your speech after you guys won at the set, I think it was the parade, just a classic Leo from Wolf of Wall Street type speech. I love that. Oh, yeah. Well, that's, yeah, you know. I would have thought you were fucked up, but you've been sober 10 years. No, I was dead sober. I stayed that. Oh, yeah. I would have thought you were fucked up, but you've been sober 10 years. No, I was dead sober. I stayed up all night, though.

Dickie, the boys must have been getting wet that week. Oh, my goodness. The party in Toronto? Oh, yeah. No, no, no. I mean, listen, we rented out Real Sports, and we had a proper send-off with the Calder Cup. It was unbelievable.

I mean, just the energy and the buzz in that building. We won game seven. I think it was like six to one. So like the Rico was like popping. I thought the building was going to explode. I had an unbelievable seat from the stands. I had a really good view of the whole thing and then got to put the gear on and go out with the boys. But yeah, I don't know. The Wolf of Wall Street thing was basically a dare from a bunch of the whole thing and then got to put the gear on and go out with the boys but yeah i don't know the wolf of wall street thing was basically a dare from a bunch of the rookies they're like they're like you got to go up there and do jordan bell for it like you have to do it and i'm like all right i'll go fucking do it whatever let's go let's do it

i i actually want to go back to nashville i originally was going to ask if the potting scene that was tough to be around when you first got there, but then I realized you did four winters in New Hampshire before that. So you, if you survived that, you probably could survive anything being a man, Manchester, um,

Vegas, Vegas. Yeah, exactly. But I know they've since had a coming out party in Nashville, the cup run and all the playoffs, but did the fan base like take you by surprise when you got there way back in 2012 for like a Southern city,

how crazy they were. It did not really did. fan base, like, take you by surprise when you got there way back in 2012 for, like, a Southern City, how crazy they were? It did. No, it really did. I remember getting picked up off waivers. I really didn't know what to expect. Like, I had played a couple games there, I think, with the Kings, like, versus Nashville. And I did actually go out on Broadway when I was with the Kings as a rookie and you know but I just I hadn't been there and um when I got there and playing my

first game it was like it was nuts I had like it was it was it was one of the loudest buildings I'd been in that like I would put it right there with the madhouse um you know I mean that that's kind of a one-of-a-kind building in the league but I mean I was just kind of blown away by how much they knew about hockey and then how much they supported the team like you walk you go everywhere and it's just like the whole town is crazy for the predators and then the city of Nashville has just exploded over the years. I mean, it was just kind of starting to pop off when I got there, and more buildings were going up and hotels and new bars.

Then I went back and visited last summer, and it was nuts. But it's probably my favorite city in the world. I mean, other than my hometown of Toronto, of course. Want to remember my Dickie story from Nashville when we played against you guys? Oh, yeah. Give it to me, baby. We're skating around in warm-up, and I'm catching wind,

and boys are kind of like, clearly something had happened at the red line that I didn't see. And normally I was put toward the red line. Well, Dickie chirps Shane Doan of all people just like what did you say to him Dickie I gotta know I gotta remember here let me put myself back long story

short is he said something that like I don't even know why to begin with you're talking to Shane Doan during warm up but he was basically like I'm gonna run you through the boards tonight and our fucking team is like livid and warm up. And we get in the locker room and we're all like, are you fucking kidding me?

Disrespecting our captain? We're losing it. Didn't Doner come out and score a hat trick? I think he had a hattie that night. We thumped these guys 7-1. And I remember Hal Gill yelling at you in warm up, being like, what the fuck are you doing? Why are you talking to him?

But I will say, though, I believe you did get a goal that night you scored my guy you're my guy no what happened was so so listen here's the thing biz like that um i got excited built you got excited excited and i'm like you know i'm like you know what like i've i've i've earned a regular shift and trots he's playing me i got a couple goals under my belt feeling good and i'm like that's my style it's like i'm like you know what i'm just to fucking tell their best player to go fuck himself, and I'm going to drag everybody into the fire and let's go. Let's go after these guys. Oh, you got a fire all right.

Here's the thing, though, Ben. Mike Fisher, who's a really good friend of mine, is best friends with Donor. In the whole warm-up, I'm doing the math in my head. I'm like, all right, if I get a don't space right now, I know like fish is old school. So he's going to like it. And I know fish is probably going to be mad at me for like a day or two,

but he'll probably get over it. And then I'm like, you know, I think, I think I can get under donor skin and then maybe he'll fight me, take a penalty. And that's five minutes of him off the ice. And clearly that's a win for, for the predators. So I'm like, I'm like, yeah,

I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. And I go up and like, he's probably got zero clue who I am. I've been in the league for like 50 games. And I don't remember Jersey. Who the fuck is this guy? And I'm just like,

I felt like, and I, and I totally, you know, I totally incited your whole team and it completely backfired. But the truth is, is like, that was my mentality. I was like, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna pretend like I don't belong. And it was, it was a rookie mistake in that sense. And I didn't, it didn't have the effect that I wanted it to have. But there's really nobody that could argue my intensity

and the intent that I had. My intent was to give us a competitive advantage, and I completely blew it. I mean, those are the great stories that we like telling on the podcast. I just thought it was funny that we ended up going and thumping you guys 7-1. Not many goals we can score on that shit ice. The best part is that Biz should have been center ice just watching over everything.

He's trying to get a number in the stands. I had a fucking assist that night, Whit, in a win. Try it sometime. I wasn't getting walked by Yager in the corner. Yeah, because your assist was getting donor Gatorade after warm-ups after you was furious at Clooney. Oh, yeah. No, I mean – go ahead.

No, no, no. You go ahead. You go ahead. Yeah, stop it. No, what I was trying to say is like it was one of those moments where it was just like, you know, I remember talking to David Legwand after the game, and like,

he was a huge supporter of mine. Like he, he really gave me a lot of confidence and you know, part of it, I think he liked to egg me on and get me to, you know, stir it up. Cause I think he just enjoyed that. And he, you know, he came up to me and he was like, you know, I know what you're trying to do, but he's like, the truth is, is like a guy like Shane don't probably just maybe let him sleep the next time. And, you know, you live and you learn, right? Yeah.

No. All right. What do you got? I mean, I'm just, I'm just trying not to get sent down. Yeah. Hey, Cooter. It was like one time, I think I've told us before, but Stortini was like screaming at Joe Sackick and everyone's like,

Hey, no, no, no, no, no, no. You don't talk to Mr. Sackick. That's a one way to the coast. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I think whatever you live in, you learn. All right. What do you got for him?

I want to ask him if he's still doing anything on the acting front. I read the article, obviously saw the documentary. You still not doing any acting stuff at all or into that? A couple of years ago, I did like just some small parts in films and then nothing really. I mean, the truth is, is like you can't I actually never have really tried to, you know, join the Actors Union and go and audition for tons of things. And hockey is a full-time job, but I go to classes all the time. And I think that down the road, when I retired, I definitely, you know, actively tried to, to audition for films and TV shows and

continue to learn. But I mean, part of it is just getting out of my own shell and trying on new things. And it's a lot like playing hockey. Like, it's a performance-based thing, and I've learned a lot. So, I don't know. Whenever the world opens up again, I mean, I would love to go back and play hockey for another couple years and then see where I'm at. I also don't know if I'll ever step outside of the game.

I mean, I love hockey so much. I don't ever see myself completely stepping away. Like I like to work in the game in some fashion when I'm done, but then I'd also love to, you know, spend more time and, and, you know, try to make films and TV and just really do a whole bunch of stuff. I mean, as you guys know, like from a young age, you basically have to dedicate your life to the sport, and not that I would change any of it for the world,

but at some point, like I would love an opportunity to explore different things, so. Well, hey, if there's a biopic film on a famous, what were you doing, ballet? You could get that role, no problem, dude. You could play a fucking ballet guy, and you could just do both. Yeah, I think, you know, if a role comes along with, like, a borderline psychopath who likes to do ballet and, you know.

A little Blunt. Yeah, for sure. Maybe like a, I don't know, like a Tarantino kind of a weird movie. Definitely sit in there. I was going to say, that's so crazy you said Tarantino. That was literally my next question. I know you've referenced them a few times. I need to know, what are your top three QT movies?

All right, let's go. My top three Tarantino movies? Yeah. Okay, Paul Fitch. Yep. Kill Bill 2, number two. Yep. And he didn't direct this film, but I'm going to throw it in there.

True romance. True romance. All right. I don't know, man. What about you? Reservoir Dogs for the West. Reservoir Dogs. Oh, man.

I actually did this movie. That's number four for me. I got Reservoir Dogs for the West. Reservoir Dogs. Oh, man. I actually did this movie. That's number four for me. I got Reservoir Dogs 2, and then actually Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I thought that was incredible. I've seen that probably five times. I probably got number three, if not two. Yeah, no, I liked Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I think probably one of the best scenes I've seen Leo in a film

is when he's in that tavern and he's like you know he's playing uh he's playing the character in the country western show and he just continuously messes up the line and then he goes back to his trailer and he's like oh he's such an alcoholic dude that is exactly what it alcohol he's like sitting in the mirror and he's like why'd you have to have a goddamn whiskey showers rick dalton he's like you messed this fucking lineup again i'm gonna blow your fucking brains out and it's just like that's what alcoholics do they have these conversations with themselves and they're just so outrageous and it's like and then he goes back to set and he kills it yeah it was a great scene i love that scene um you oh go ahead where you had one there

oh no i was actually gonna go away from movies just because, I mean, you've been through so much and I'm just curious if something sticks off. Because I think, I'm guessing your favorite hockey moment is winning the Calder Cup in that run. But in the NHL, is there ever, is there a goal, maybe your first goal at Nashville or a fight that sticks out as like your most memorable moment in the National League? Or is that just kind of hard to pick one? national league or is that just kind of hard to to pick one you know yeah i think i think certainly scoring my first goal was like one of those moments where you actually see that all your hard work has come true and i mean i think you know obviously like i was a physical player and you know an agitator and you know fought a little like fought but when you score a goal there's nothing like that i mean from a young

age you know I was always raised to make plays with the puck and score and then as as I moved up the ranks and played against you know the best players in the world I had to readjust my game just like you know you guys both had to so you guys get it but I think scoring my first goal in St. Louis um was probably like that first moment where I was like okay I can do this Who was in net? No clue I scored a tap on the goal line

You don't know who you scored on? That's a psychopath Yeah you're too worried about looking in the glass at that point your ego is still too big you're still checking yourself out No but I did score a goal on Lundqvist in but looking in the glass at that point, your ego was still too big. You were still checking yourself out. No, but I did score a goal on Lundqvist in Madison Square Garden.

That was pretty cool. I think Witts got one on him too, right? That was my first. From Mark Reckie on the King in MSG. Dickie, talk about some of the most influential guys you've played with just on you personally because I mean you're good at diving into a few other guys you mentioned Leguan but is there any that really stand out

and guys you will be friends with forever I know you're buddies with Aves yeah no Sean and I are friends I think as far as guys that I played with when I did get to Nashville,

Mike Fisher was a guy right away, kind of took me under his wing. I just have a lot of respect for him. I mean, he stands up for what he believes in. He's a good family man. He was always cool to me. Kevin Kline was another guy on Nashville who I got along with really well, a defenseman, Canadian guy. And, you know, we seemed to have similar interests.

We went to a bunch of concerts together, and, you know, I got to be good friends with him and his wife and their kids. So that was cool. And then, you know, early on in my career when I was a rookie, like way back in the day, I was actually drafted by Dallas. Like B.J. Crombie was a good guy coming up. He was a few years ahead of me, and he was always trying to, you know, B.J. was always a good influence in me, trying to help me out

and stuff like that. But, you know, I've made friends with so many guys, like still friends with Colin Wilson from the Pedditors. guys like uh still friends with colin wilson from the predators um and uh you know i mean there's so many uh yeah i mean so many friends aves is yeah i mean like it's hard for me to pick like you know one one or the other i think like and then going back into the AHL it's like then you're back as like an older guy right so it's it's but you know Colin Greening's been a really good influence on me um played with him for the Marlies for a few years he's a cool guy and then uh yeah Aves is a good dude I mean we we got to know each other you know years ago from playing against each other a little

bit and just having mutual friends and you know he publicly you know he's ago from playing against each other a little bit and just having mutual friends. And, you know, publicly, you know, he's off the wall and stuff like that. But I get along with him pretty well. He's a pretty cool guy, and he's always been nice to me and my brothers. Were you pulling for Trotz a couple years ago when the Caps went on their cup run? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I love Trotz. Like, Trotz, he's – my first day in Nashville like Barry Trots

I was like so nervous going in and didn't really know what to expect and you never know when you get picked up on waivers like you don't know who's who's the person responsible for picking you up like is it GM was it the coach? So I got in there. I really didn't know what to expect. And I'd had no previous, like, I didn't know anybody from home while in Nashville. And Barry Trotz, like, called me into his office. And we just had, like, a really heartfelt conversation. And, you know, he talked to me about his experience with Jordan Tutu and Brian McGratton.

And, you know, how they were sober. And he loved their energy loved their energy and you know he had heard the same things about me and he basically just like spelled out my role and how he wanted me to play and there was just zero mind games and he's one of those coaches that if you ask like all of his players they would tell you like you know he everyone would go through a wall for him. So I was really pulling for him. And I love Barry. Like, he's probably one of my favorite coaches. Speaking of other coaches, Keefe gets the call up with the big club. How do you think he's going to fare there?

Sheldon's, like, you know, I feel I've grown really close with Sheldon too, over the last five years playing for him. And he's a, he's a young coach, obviously, but he's been coaching a long time, right? Like he retired early as a player and, you know, basically took his life into his own hands and bought a junior team and built that up and then went to the OHL and won there and then won a Calder Cup with the Marlies. So the next logical step for him was obviously to coach the Leafs. And I think he's going to do great. I'm excited to watch the Leafs play in this kind of like, you know, this 2020 COVID-19 playoffs. So I love Sheldon. I think he's an intense guy he's a fair coach and i think he's been coaching um these players for a number of years with the marlies and i think he's got a

really good handle on the locker room and you know who to push and what players to kind of you know build their systems around so i'm really pulling for them. Obviously, I'm biased. I don't play for them. No one's going to take your opinion seriously. We just figured we'd ask you. Zero. I'm just kidding, buddy. What do you guys think about this

playoffs coming up? We don't know what to think, dude. The fucking Coyotes just lost their goddamn GM before they're going in the bubble. I've been messed up the last two days. My feelings are hurt. But other than that, buddy, maybe we can get you back on during the course of the playoffs to see what you're thinking.

I think we need to do a Klooner in person, Biz. I think that would be awesome and film some stuff with him. Yeah, right. Would you ever want to do that, bud? No, because then we have to be on screen with him. He's got those big fucking movie teeth, and we're going to look like assholes next to him, right? Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. I earned these teeth, Biz. I got seven teeth knocked out, and, you know, sometimes, you know, you get lucky. R.A. would be fucking acting next to Leo if he had those teeth, for crying out loud. I don't know if you saw his role in The Town. He fucking nailed it. R.A., were you in The Town?

Yes, I was. I was an extra in it. You can check out my Instagram page for the clip. It was a blink and you missed not even me. It was like a reflection of my blurry face. He's being modest. He's never mentioned it either. he's being modest he's spring he springboarded john ham's career is what he fucking did with a nice little scrambled egg special um thanks for coming on

cluner this was awesome you're the man hey yeah next time i'm in town we'll uh we'll film it where else can people find the documentary i bought her on itunes are there other places people can find it other than itunes no that's exactly where where it is right now and um yeah you can just search hi my name is dickie on itunes and you know a good portion of the proceeds uh are going to go to charity like you know global uh mental health initiatives um globally so you, hopefully the film's successful and we can really make a contribution and give back because that was, you know, that was a huge goal of myself and the film production team. You know, we wanted to make a film that

was helpful and, you know, hopefully entertaining, but then also can make a difference and really give back because, you know, that's a huge, I just, I just think that's important, especially with the nature of the film and what I talk about. And I've been, you know, I've been lucky enough to get a lot of help. So I just love to be able to give back. I think it, I think it's really going to be a success because it, you know, it was, it was entertaining, pulled on my heartstrings, just,

I really liked watching it and I'm really happy for you and what you've gone success because it, you know, it was, it was entertaining, pulled on my heartstrings. Just, um, I really liked watching it and I'm really happy for you and what you've gone through and where you're at now. And, uh, we appreciate you coming on dude, cause that was a lot of fun to do. And in person, I think it'd be even more, more of a blast. So thanks again, dude. Yeah, man. I'll catch you guys down the road and we'll talk soon. Thanks to Rich for joining us. Not easy stuff to talk about that if you've been down that road.

So we commend him for coming on and also telling some fun stories, man. And we get a little yin and yang in that interview. Before we close up here, I want to let you know, whether you're working from home or working on your fitness, you want what you're listening to to be what you're listening to, not what your significant other or your rugrats are listening to. Everyone needs a great pair of wireless earbuds. But before you drop hundreds of dollars on a pair check out the wireless earbuds from Raycon you already know Raycon earbuds start at about half the price of other premium wireless

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That's buyraycon.com slash chicklets, C-H-I-C-L-E-T-S, for 15% off Raycon wireless earbuds. Once again, for the people in the back, that's buyraycon.com slash chicklets. All right, a couple other notes. Raycon. Raycon. That's what they say when you turn them on. Raycon. Well, ratings, Biz.

That's what I was going to say. Ratings are up 3% over the first 23 games of last postseason. Hey, baby steps are good. There's nothing to do. No shit. I think that's – Hey, hey, hey. Shut the fuck up, Mr. Negative Nancy.

You're such a fucking donkey. This is a fucking legitimate thing. Like why are people surprised that the fucking ratings are up? Am I taking crazy pills? Mr. Negativity – It's just a report. I'm not saying you were surprised. I said all these people. I see all these reports out there.

Wow, NHL viewership up. Yeah, dude. Guess who just scored for the Blues. There's been no sports. Shen? Ryan O'Reilly. Oh, the factor. I was just saying. Hey, this is coming from a guy who didn't even think the bubble was going to happen. Idiot.

Ratings are up. Suck it, Whit. Ratings are up. And also speaking of more good bubble news, another week without positive tests in the bubble. The NHL continuing to get it right. Awesome stuff. Before we send it over to you, Biz or Whit. Biz, I could be back on the big screen.

Before we send it over to you, Biz, I could be back on the big screen. I have an account with a casting company, and they have my information and my pictures on file. And if someone sees it and they want to see you, they send you an email. And I got an email basically to possibly be a finalist for a photo double. Now, a photo double in a movie, it's not a stunt double. It's not a stand-in. It's like they're filming a scene from far away, and you just need someone who looks like the actor but it's not actually

them but you can't well who do you look like that's if i have no idea i don't know the movie i don't know anything i just got i got the email said hey someone flagged you they're looking for a photo double you match the you know height weight whatever the whatever the coordinates obviously i'm bald in my pictures so i'll have to shave my my hockey hair if i ever get pulled so who knows we'll see what happens. Could be back on the big screen again. I thought it was going to be an erotic film or something. Hey, it might be, in which case they might need a stand-in.

We got the new Dirk Diggler. All right. I'm going to be a big, bright, shining star. Hey, at least you already got your stage name Rear Admiral nothing needs to change you just got to put the roller girl you got to get like something

what would be your you just crush him in a Bobby Orr jersey that would be your yeah your theme he shoots he scores and you dive on the bed like you did when he scored the winning goal to win the Stanley Cup. Is that disrespectful to the great one, Bobby Orr?

No. Sorry, Bobby, if you're upset. I will apologize when we get you on the podcast for a live interview. Oh, shit. All right, boys, you got any other final notes? We've been running a little long here. What else you got, bud? There's a new sick league out there.

What do you got right now, Bessonette? There's a new sick league out there. Baseball. They're mad at this guy for hitting a grand slam. The new brightest star in baseball, after everything they've gone through over the last, what, six to eight weeks and how big clowns they're being with the fact that they're still flying around and not doing it in the bubble.

And then two teams got infected. They got mad at this to T sky. Was that his name? Fernando to T's junior. And, and basically it's just ridiculous. They're just taking the fun out of the game. And then somebody sent out a picture of all the,

their, their pitchers ERA. And they said, Oh yeah, you think a seven-run lead's safe? And I thought it was pretty funny because the lowest guy was like 5.5. So rightfully so, too. This guy's on fire. Why would you want him to take the next pitch if he thinks it's going to go yard? There's a reason this guy's hitting jacks.

He's making the right decisions. You just worry about signing the fucking checks. Yeah, it's a reason this guy is hitting jacks. He's making the right decisions. You just worry about signing the fucking checks. Yeah. Right? It's a joke. You think if McDusty gets a breakaway and it's 7-0 Oilers, he's going to not try to score? It's a joke. There's those unwritten baseball rules.

The worst part of the whole story was that after the kid apologized, like, yeah, I won't do it again or something. Paraphrasing, he was like, yeah, I learned my lesson or something. What are you talking about, lesson? You crushed, you absolutely hit a piss missile out of the stadium for a grand slam. It's like the ultimate dream for every little kid. Well, the next day he stole third base on like when they were up 6-0 in like the seventh inning as just a giant fuck you, like I'm here. Maybe he was saying – maybe that little press conference I saw,

maybe he was actually just like totally just giving the lip service. The team might have made him do it too because the because his manager apologized so the white socks the white socks had this kid he was like 16 years old though and they included him in a trade for i think it's james shields like who was at the time like i guess a good pitcher but nothing but they didn't know how good he was he was so young he never even played a game in the states i was i heard the barstool chicago guys talking about now he's just a superstar in the majors crushing the ball and apparently the rangers coach was bitching too he wasn't happy about it which is which is like that's another elaine vino situation

about the like putting the power play up out on the ice when it's like four or five nothing like in the third period when they didn't score a power play goal in the first round. And he said something stupid like maybe not being around the game. I alluded to that. It's like the kid is a fucking son of a major league player. He's been around the game his whole fucking life. It's just stupid, old, dumb, dipshit baseball rules, and that's the reason that nobody gives a fuck about baseball much lately.

It's dying. No offense to baseball, but we have a new sick league. So the basketball NBA has been dethroned as sick league. We have a new one, folks. Absolutely. All right, boys, I think that should wrap it up for this episode. We'll be back Monday.

Everybody have a fantastic weekend. Enjoy the weekend. Enjoy your pucks or whatever else you might do and grab some more of that pink Whitney and enjoy it responsibly as always we'd like to thank our awesome sponsors here on spit and chiclets big thanks to our buddies over at new amsterdam vodka and pink whitney a hearty thank you to our friends over at babble you're looking to learn a new language do check them out big thanks to our longtime friends up in bud canada we love that stuff get yourself a nice budweiser Red White.

Big thanks to everybody at Roman. Thanks for taking care of the gentlemen. And big thanks to everybody over at Raycon for their fantastic advice. Have a great weekend all. We'll see you Monday. Thank you. All the things you do And it was called yellow So then I took my turn Oh, what a thing to do And it was all yellow