Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 312: Featuring Kirby Dach + James Duthie

Episode Date: December 22, 2020

On Episode 312, the guys are joined by Kirby Dach and James Duthie. Kirby joined (32:33) the podcast for his second time to discuss being named Captain of Team Canada for the World Juniors, his rookie season, the bubble and more. The guys then talk some NHL news, including the new divisions, the return to play, some free agents and tons more. The boys are then joined by James Duthie (01:18:44) to talk about his new book, his career, 2021 World Juniors and everything in between.. The guys wrap up talking Tiger/Charlie Woods and some Soccer.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 312 of Spittin' Chicklets, presented by Pink Whitney. From our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka here in the Barstool Sports Podcast family. What is up, boys? As Wayne Campbell said, game on. The players and owners, they've signed off on the 2021 season. We are a go. We also got the World Juniors starting up this week. We'll get to all those details shortly. Let's say hi to the boys first.

Mikey Grinelli, what's up, buddy? You all set for Christmas or what? Happy holidays, boys. I am all set for Christmas. Just hanging here in New York playing some video games. What have you guys been up to? Biz, why don't you chime in there? Well, I didn't know if I should have been there because he kind of asked us how we were doing in the midst of the intro,

but I didn't want to cockblock you on teeing me but i'm doing great one of those podcasts where you hop on you've done a little bit of studying as to everything you need to know and then the minute it starts you're like what did i even read so look at really looking forward to this one boys and uh just drop that um that mcdonald's ad the sustainable beef one another one we did and figured out when we were high and uh shout out to Jeff and Pasha who helped me on that one. And speaking of Jeff, his Smokey Robinson thing ended up getting all the way to SNL. They ended up doing an SNL skit about it. So he's been all over the place.

Did they really? Yeah, that cameo request turned into an SNL skit. Crazy. How about that? Thinking of you studying, I just picture two pitbulls like barking at each other, trying to get like it's just like there's zero calmness, zero being remembered. You're studying for a podcast cracks me up. I'm a Chelsea team. Chelsea team is my team, I should say. We'll go into that later. Hockey's back. Like you said, R.A., that fires me up. We have some serious issues within the divisions because some are very easy. Some are very hard. Some teams got lucky. Some teams may have been fucked. What else?

Grinnelli, you mentioned Christmas. Yeah. Christmas is going to be awesome. Low key this year. Everyone knows you can't really be hanging around with other people. You got to keep things small, quiet. So we're going to be doing that and we'll just be hanging.

And all of a sudden Christmas movies, I'm enjoying them again. You know, my son's into them. I'm watching Charlielie brown christmas 500 times maybe the 301st time it started getting a little annoying but i'm still all in till we watch it maybe 750 i gotta tell him the 26 say bud christmas is over no more charlie brown but i'm great and like i said i meant to say it's nice being once a week right now. I am fired up every time we record. I want to ask the movie guy,

what's the most underrated Christmas movie of all time, R.A.? Underrated. I feel like every Christmas movie is probably even overrated at this point. Is Bad Santa? I mean, Bad Santa is not underrated, is it? It's my favorite movie. I think because it's so profane, it might get overlooked a little bit. But I say Bad Santa.

I don't think that gets brought up enough in Christmas movie discussions. Who's the guy? Billy Bob? Billy Bob Thorne. Yeah. Absolutely brilliant. And the black midget. Oh, Tony Cox.

Yeah. He is hilarious. Now it's coming back. They were just such absolute fucking scumbags, but they just kept running into bigger scumbags than them. So I put that to you. Good answer, R.A., good answer. It's funny you mentioned Christmas movies.

Well, when we last recorded last Monday, I had to take off because I told you guys I had a party. I had to go revisit an old friend, the Stanley Cup. I was fortunate to get invited to the cup party. Coincidentally, with assistant coach Derek Lalonde, it was at an Irish bar in Tampa, which ironically was closing. They actually kept it open for a couple extra nights, so the last night would be with the Stanley Cup, and I was honored enough to be invited to it. It

was actually pretty cool. It's this old Irish bar, no TVs in there. The owner gave a big speech to say how special it was to close the place with the Stanley Cup there. Hang out with my pal Derek, I haven't seen in 22 years, and Biz, as you know, I got introduced to Coop, head coach John Cooper. And I know we say this for a lot. The guy's an absolute beauty. He didn't give me the handshake and walk away. We sat there and we talked for an hour, an hour and 20 minutes.

He FaceTimed Biz. But we were talking about Christmas movies. And he said, me and my kids, the other night we sat down, we watched National Lampoon Vacation and then Christmas Vacation. And, like, those are the best family movies. I mean, you know, when you get little ones now, like, even Vacation, the first, and there's some parts, yeah, that are kind of of the 80s, but you can still sit there and watch with your family.

Any family's taking a road trip. Like, there's always some nostalgia there. So hanging out with Coop, man, was awesome. He's such a great guy, man. It was great, obviously, to see the Cup again with social distancing and COVID. You couldn't be as free and footloose with it say the last time i partied with it but i was always no lines no lines out of the cup just to keep my social media yeah he wasn't allowed to put any hallucinogens in the bowl this year what do you know tough covid hit man it sucks Hey, did you get a FaceTime from Coop with? I did not.

Coop? Oh, shit. Okay. He had your number too, Biz. Yeah, because Biz has probably been at it. Biz is probably, that's Biz studying. He calls Coop to ask what breakout the Lightning are using. He still forgets.

So, yeah, it was a good night. And if you think John Cooper's a good guy from watching him, he really is, man. We shot the shift for a while, had a great time shooting the breeze with him. But we should mention our guests, too, because I did say the World Junior is starting up Christmas Day. We have James Duffy from TSN. He's an expert in that field. Also, a great interview.

We're going to bring him on a little later. And we've got Team Canada captain and Chicago Blackhawk Kirby Dock. His second appearance. Kid's not even 20 years old yet, already making a second appearance on Chicklets. We've got him from the bubble. Tell us what he's thinking going into the juniors so we've got some good shit coming. But first, boys, the 2021 season is a go. NHLPA and the NHL reached an agreement over the weekend.

Board of Governors approved it Sunday. We're going to have a 56-game season. Puck drop January 13th. Regular season's going to end May 8th. The last possible cup day, July 15th. Trade deadline, April 12th. A whole bunch of dates thrown out there. It's going to be four divisions.

We'll have to realign this year. Each division is going to have four teams in the playoffs. So this is like the 1980s all over again. You're going to have to fight your way out of division. But what's crazy, what we're saying, each team, well, three of the divisions have to play their opponents fucking eight times you're not playing outside your division then you're playing the playoffs I mean these guys are going to hate each other so fucking much biz by halfway through the season it's like put them in the coliseum and I love every aspect of it I

think it's like you said it's a man's game at this point get your way out of your division and then you could fight for the cup I like it for one year i could understand some people's complaints but uh the only question i had around the division alignment and that may have already been answered due to like a a covid situation but why why did dallas not make it to the central they didn't really give an explanation because a lot of people figure either minnesota St. Louis because geographically, those cities are actually further east than Dallas. But they didn't really give an explanation on that. I don't know if that's where like owner sway comes in and like, you know. Oh, excuse me.

We haven't heard publicly. I meant why isn't Dallas in the west as opposed to St. Louis? Because I messed that up. So right now, Dallas is in the western division. Wouldn't it make more sense for St. Louis? No right now Dallas is in the Western division when, wouldn't it make more sense for St. Louis? No doubt. Dallas is in the central.

It's okay. So I was right. I was right. I had it written. Study and work, study and work. That's what I see. I had it right. Originally.

Then I looked at my notes and I got it the other way that I'm fucking serious. The letters are backwards too. I wrote, this is what I wrote divisions. Had they said why Dallas is in the West instead of st louis imagine this guy writing this imagine watching i wrote down like scratching his head with his one hand and writing i'm like a fucking caveman jesus christ i'm not there go i threw my i threw my notes okay okay they're gone i am curious have we heard what

owners publicly like didn't like the original division lineups. And it was that all kind of, you just hear somebody's complaining, but you don't know who. Basically that, yeah. You kind of, no one goes on the record. You kind of hear scuttlebutt. So-and-so's pissed off. And, and biz, I think the reason would be Dallas is also considered a Southern city, even though it's further West. So I think by lumping them with Tampa, Nashville, Florida, Carolina,

it's almost more of a, almost more of a Southeast con or South conference. So I think that's probably the justification for it. So one of the justifications I said was to create better rivalries, but then I was like, ah, man, like St. Louis and Chicago and St. Louis and Nashville, they got that rivalry going. But what you're saying is, is maybe just think forward thinking as far as like bring back the rivalry of the stanley cup finals because they're going to be playing right yeah i mean i

think i know i mean i think they're just kind of going with geography here and someone has to get fucked basically out of that dallas minnesota st louis they're all right in the middle of the country someone was going to get screwed as far as traveling or two teams in this fair enough so yeah i would say like again dallas is a southern city as well as a western city so uh that's probably how they how they figured that out but either way okay i think that uh biz do you remember what it was was it 12 times you'd play a team in your division in the ahl and wilkes-barre's division wasn't it six and six with bridgeport and stuff yeah there'd be some weekends you would legit just play one team three times. Yeah, so and then the one year

we played Bridgeport in the playoffs. I think we played Bridgeport 17 times and at some point it's, yeah, you hate a team so much, but you just figure each other out. They always seem to be close games. I think gambling is going to be impossible this year, at least at the beginning, because the divisions you, when you

know a team's game and you're only focused on what seven, eight other teams, 10, whatever, it just changes your season's mentality because you're really playing team by team, as opposed to preparing for 30, 31 teams. So I think that that really will be interesting to watch, but what's going to be crazy is you get the four semifinalists. Each division sends one team, and then you're battling out for the Stanley Cup two more rounds.

You're not going to have a clue. You're going to think one team looks great coming into that, and then a team that comes out of a division that doesn't look as strong. It's just so different. You won't have known anything about one another. It's going to make the playoffs so exciting. I actually love what they did this year. It's a crazy year. You could

have gone even crazier, but this is different. This is going to have a different feel, and it's a sprint to the finish. I'm ready to go. Have we told everyone we'll be together when this season begins? No, not yet. We haven't announced it. Go ahead. We'll be in Scottsdale, Biz's home.

Biz's city. He's just howling like a coyote, so he Go ahead. We'll be in Scottsdale, Biz's home. Biz's city. Yeah, he's just howling like a coyote. So he'll probably have some content pieces for us to do, some sandbaggers. And we'll be able to live stream the opening night of the NHL, opening couple nights. I'm ready. Get the gambling going. We'll get a little bit of gambling going, too.

I can't wait for those odds to come out. We haven't even mentioned the North Division either. It's all seven Canadian teams. These guys guys going to be playing each other between nine and nine or ten times a year i mean picture that nine or ten battle of alberta's just in the regular season then they could meet in the playoffs i mean that's fucking obscene i think from a viewership standpoint everything's going to work out and they're going to be able to to retain at least more of the revenue that they thought they would and with with that we could probably segue into the helmet ads yes absolutely let me scroll down are we realistically like in the hunt to get helmet ads i asked i tried to ask those like

budweiser you know like chevrolet or those big dogs roman swipes yes Yes, from David Pagnotta. He said, we will see ads on helmets this season subject to category restrictions. And Sports Business Daily did have an article the other day. They said both sides of the helmet and only one brand allowed out of time on the helmet. They're basically calling it a make good for sponsors, but it's also a bit of a trial balloon because if it works, they'll probably continue it going forward. They said teams are likely to have one option for the road and one option for a road brand and a home brand. They won't be able to swap sponsors during the season, so they'll need to commit to it for the year. And, yeah, they'll go to the bigger names out there.

And, hey, New Amsterdam, they're partners with the NHL too, so let's not rule anything out at this stage, right? We'll sponsor the postgame. The lack there of this year. It'll just be our post game in a room on a zoom. Hey, what, what I wanted to mention about the North is like Toronto is a team to me.

I actually picked them to win the division. I tweeted back at Chico to, you know, put all the divisions on a tweet. I said, the winners were going to be Toronto, Tampa Bay, Colorado,

Philly. Those are my division winners. So a couple of guys, I saw one guy roll out. There goes their seasons, poor fuckers. You know, just proving that I, or showing that I have been a mush. But Toronto is a team who went from,

let's say the third best team in the Northeast, Tampa Bay and Boston, I could say, you know, they're better than them, I would say, to probably the best team in Canada. And that just makes that can change their entire year, not having to get out of a division that everyone always talked about would be so difficult for them. So there's just so many teams who can be happy and pissed off. Columbus gets out of the Metro. You know, Columbus is that that division is was so difficult to begin with the Metro. Look at it now. Pittsburgh's you could see you could say Pittsburgh's in danger of maybe not making the playoffs for the first time.

And what is it? Fifteen years. I don't know exactly since I think they have not missed playoffs since Sidney Crosby's. We missed we missed our rookie year. Yeah, we were together. That was the only time he's ever missed playoffs. Yeah. So their streaks, I mean, could be in danger.

You'll see what goes on there. I, I just, like I said before, I'm repeating myself. I'm ready. I'm ready. A couple of,

I didn't even study biz. Look, I know I can't even fuck. And then I tried to book Dallas in with Tampa and like the South on the East side. I've just been, I've just been a mess with the locations right now. Help me out. All right. Well, that map i had my blog today some kid and kin it was very rudimentary but he

drew colors around each zone it's actually really good like because the northeast the east is so the if the furthest up ruins have to go i think it's pittsburgh like there's eight teams all clustered like the northeast card and then everything else is so spread out it's actually a pretty cool map i took my psychedelics and looked at that. That's probably why I figured that Dallas was in Florida. I'm like, oh, yeah, to get the fucking cup match up. And you guys are like, what the fuck is this guy talking about? What country is that dancing bear from right there on my map? A few other notes, too.

There will be a 23-man roster, $81.5 million salary cap. There's going to be no proration of salaries, no exhibition games. Non-playoff teams will get a few extra days of camp. We just did mention, I'm sorry, Whit did that. We're going to be in Scottsdale. And also the San Jose Sharks are going to be in Scottsdale as well. Due to county laws, they're forbidden to have any contact sports. That's the same reason the 49ers just had to finish their season in Arizona.

Well, San Jose is going to start their season there. So maybe we'll snag a few shots we're on town as well biz so that means in that area of the country that kid no kids playing hockey or football i'm not sure what it is at the youth level if the pros can't the kid that's so brutal that's so brutal yeah can so my parents are in ontario and and I believe as of 12 o'clock on the 23rd, you have to stay in your house. It's basically full lockdown. I think you can go to the grocery store. I think you can go do curbside pickup for restaurants.

Toronto's doing that or all of Ontario? I think it's all of Ontario. It's like a fairly serious lockdown. And I think that right now they have the days set at 28 days. And guys, like right now I'm in Scottsdale. And, you know, I think things are moving fairly regularly here. So all of our Canadian listeners, I know this is a really tough situation you guys are in. Like I think at one point, depending on how bad it gets in other provinces,

they might have to shut down there too. But if you're cooped up in your place and, you know're going a little crazy like this is a this is a tough time of year to be alone so uh you know hopefully you guys got friends you can reach out to and talk to and get yourselves through this difficult time because it's it's it's pretty intense man when it's cold and dark out and and they're you know confined to their houses with, and I'm sure you, you can chime in on this. Are there a lot of cases in Ontario? I mean, Canada kind of beats to a different drum than I would say the United States. They're just a lot more cautious. So, I mean,

I would say that cases have spiked to a certain degree that, that they're just trying to nip it in the butt. And I'm sure that the hospitals are getting over flooded and it's just a horrible situation all around guys. So good luck getting through it up north we love you and we know we got a lot a lot of Canadian listeners so have a great holiday because I don't think we'll be chiming in until afterward yeah yeah but we got lots to get to for us I mean speaking speaking of we just mentioned San Jose they can't play in their own county well conversely the Florida Panthers intend to have fans in a limited capacity to stop this season and as a guy who's been in Florida for the last two and a half weeks, I am not the least bit surprised.

I was up in Massachusetts, where did I go? Provincetown a couple of months ago to finally check it out. And the difference between there and here, just as far as like mask usage and, you know, keeping making sure people wear them. It's absolutely night and day. It's almost like a different country in some ways. So the idea that the Panthers are going to have a crowd to start the season isn't the least bit surprising at all. I was just surprised the league would allow it just given they don't want to

like if, you know, because you just, you just, you were going to bring it up later in the episode, but I guess I'll bring it up now. You said, you know, team Germany, they were over overseas. They got tested. Nobody tested positive. And then they came over here. All of a sudden, eight, eight of the players for team Germany and the world overseas they got tested nobody tested positive and then they came over here all of a sudden eight eight of the players for team Germany the world juniors test

positive so it's like you know if if that were to happen because they're allowing fans in the building listen I don't I don't care whether they do or not but I wouldn't want that to be the reason that games had to be shut down this whole this whole wheel that they've been doing a good job so far and the NHL should be commended on it as far as keeping it safe inside the bubbles so to speak yeah and just to throw in as well my mayor marty walsh here in boston he taught td guide the other day and he said it's possible that the bruins could have fans in there as early as february yeah so this you know when i know we have fun with florida a lot of times but this could could be other other cities as well and the nhl has been seeming to defer it to local authorities on such matters.

So obviously we'll keep you posted. And we mentioned the holidays. Biz, the holidays are upon us. And we know a lot of people are going to be enjoying a few drinks. So you want to make sure your body is ready to bounce back the next morning with DHM Detox. DHM Detox is the ultimate vitamin for people who like to have a few drinks. It's the smart, responsible way to celebrate.

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i'll be dummy and dhm detox beforehand no days wasted absolutely you take a couple after your first few drinks and it goes to work double up if you're going to be having a few extra pops dhm detox is part of our drinking routine as well as tens of thousands of other people make it part of yours. The packets are easy to share with friends and family this holiday season. They make great Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers. They just launched their holiday bundles with the new Hydration Replenisher, an electrolyte drink mix that helps you hydrate and helps boost your immune system with vitamin C, D, and zinc. DHM Detox is a 100% risk-free purchase on your first box.

So if you don't like it, they'll refund you. It's a no-brainer. So at the very least, give it a shot. And if you don't like it, get your money back. We're going to hit you guys with a promo code. Just head over to nodayswasted.co. Use the promo code biz20 for 20% off. There you go. Once again, that's no days wasted dot co

no days wasted after drinking with biz 20 i don't think i ever did that we gotta we gotta say what happened all right put his hand down he knocked his uh his mic out so he couldn't say anything that was funny a uh the guy who owns the company uh no days wasted dhm detox he just went on that dragon's den which is the shark tank of canada he did pretty good he had one of the judges being a complete dickhead to it anyone uh invest yeah the one lady yeah yeah she invested so they're they're working out a deal and what she can do for the company behind the scenes yeah so it was uh oh this one guy was absolutely grilling him so it was pretty funny he's like mr wonderful of the states you ever watch shark tank well mr

wonderful is kevin o'leary isn't it yeah he grills people he like i think he's kind of a prick i think on there yeah i think he's from canada actually so he's on he's on both of them he was so good on the good yeah the Dragon's Den and the Dragon's Den version I believe was created by Brad Tree Living's father uh who's who's GM of the the Calgary Flames Jim Tree Living he I think he's like a fucking billionaire dude he's created Boston Pizza he's created all the like these crazy things and I think it was originally his concept and because it was so successful with Kevin O'leary who i'm sure they met and crossed paths and jim tree livings like this guy is an absolute character i've heard stories of this guy going all

night and then doing one of those calls in the morning like no underwear on just a shirt and tie for the zoom call on like mr wonderful's like. Wonderful's like that? Oh, yeah. I heard he cranks it. So hopefully I'm not spreading any rumors here, but if I am, who gives a shit? Johnny Goudreau to the Flyers. That rumor started the second day after you get drafted, I think. Yeah. Hey, we got another big drop coming this week, Grinnelli, right?

New sandbag. I'm hearing whispers. This is the all-time best sandbagger ever. Is that true? Yeah, I'll let Witt and Biz talk about it. I think it's the best sandbagger ever. We worked pretty? Yeah, I'll let Witt and Biz talk about it. I think it's the best sandbagger ever. We worked pretty long and hard on it. It's Yans and Hazy. I'll say this.

We help with the editing process, so shout out to Chase and Pasha who were able to get it to a point where we kind of just chime in a little bit. But the first time around, like the first 15 minutes, I didn't stop laughing because Yans and Hazy are an absolute – they're caught they're a comedy show keith keith's line on the first tee muttered under his breath involving a lighthouse is all i'll say it's like you're gonna see the the humor that we see you know away from um the interviews with keith you'll see it when we do it on with with chiclets and him

getting involved but he's even better when it's like you know no cameras on although there was cameras on but in that setting it's so different you know what I mean biz you just feel like you're just you're with your buddy him and hazy are clowns and I think that everyone's going to enjoy it I'll be on the live chat 8 p.m on our YouTube channel that drops on Tuesday so this comes out this comes out Tuesday morning I don't know how many people listen to the pod in the morning it's tuesday everyone's it's tuesday right now well right but but not every listener gets to listen the first day is what i'm saying so all the ones

who are is head there for 8 p.m to our youtube channel for a live viewing that means we drop it on the spot and then what's going to be in the chat it's it's probably like the coolest thing last time we had 6 000000 people watch the launch. So there's a lot of electricity in the chat. Let's get 10. Let's get 10. Get the 10,000 with hazy hands. What is that?

Concurrent or something? Concurrents. Concurrent viewers. 10,000 at once. So 10,000 at once. And there's like golf videos from golf podcasts getting released. We're crushing them. We're a hockey podcast.

It's unbelievable. And the other thing is, too, before the show will start, for two minutes, they play the best song I've ever heard. It's the chillest beat. Like the final, what is it? Two minutes, apparently? Minute and a half? Yeah, two minutes before it starts.

I want us to just play that song and that video for 30 minutes. Is it on the big booty mix? It should be. We're going to hear about the big booty mix coming up here with Kirby Doc. They like them thick with three C's. They got the booty coaches with the band. They're doing the Sidney Crosby leg ass workouts. Anyway, we'll get into that later with Kirby Doc.

But this CCM Sandbagger, which is brought to you by Cross Country Mortgage. Guys, let's get into that later with Kirby doc, but this CCM sandbagger, which is brought to you by cross country mortgage guys, let's get 10,000 concurrent. We'll see you there. Let's have some fun, bring a glass of pink Whitney and get ready to fucking laugh from hazy in the hands. Absolutely. I'm looking forward to seeing it myself. When I know another thing you want to talk about regarding the new season was this taxi man squad. They're going to have a four to six man taxi squad. Teams can carry up to 29 players max. They'll travel and practice with the team. They'll get paid a full AHL salary.

The CBA has been expanded to include for more recalls, but it's going to be interesting. I mean, like I think it was Frank Cervelli biz that brought up the point. Toronto can just only keep 21 guys in the roster. And that's one way to kind of, I don't know, not subvert the salary cap. That sounds kind of bad, but like, hey, play by the rules. And if you can have guys, one way to kind of i don't know not subvert the salary cap that sounds kind of bad but like hey play by the rules and if you can have guys you know kind of in weight and

not on your cap then then take advantage of it right he always like hey we're carrying the league here we're helping you guys out i don't know if you guys saw the last valuation okay we're kind of at the top tier so make sure we could slide under this cap number or it could be the analytics genius who is Kyle Dubas, and he could be just doing his thing, and he knew it was coming, and he saw that. What's it called? Foresight?

He had the foresight. Or skin sight. Foresight. He had the foreskin. Yeah, the foresy. I don't know if he's a foresy guy. So the taxi squad is interesting because I talked to an agent who mentions like the in-between guys where

you know you have a two-way contract and you make it probably decent money in the AHL because you know the guys I'm talking about they're gonna probably get put on this taxi squad and realistically get paid their AHL salary to get bag skated for the whole season you know they'll get in here and there but they'd be playing in the minors if this taxi squad wasn't available. Some of them at least. So our guys like that, it's kind of a tough, I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know if there's opt out opt in the way the NFL did it.

I don't, I actually don't know if all that stuff's been settled. I don't know if that's even been announced, but there is certain, I don't, I want to say, I don't want to say things that would make you wary if you're one of these guys, but more, I'm not going to get a chance to play well down there, possibly get picked up on waivers, come up, make my NHL money, because they can bring you up for a game,

pay you one day prorated NHL salary, back to the taxi squad. You know what I mean? It kind of sucks for a certain small group of players in that league with taxi squad you know what i mean it's just it kind of sucks for certain small level small group of players in that league with taxi squad issues i think all right you brought up the point though that that'll be this case until the ahl season may start in february i that's what i wrote in the text but i read up on a little bit further that's not so clear i think like these these guys are the guys they have to have now if they go them, I think they'd have to have some sort of clearance. I mean, if you guys get hurt, you're going to have to go somewhere to get them.

So are you saying that they would have to stay in their own kind of little bubble and just practice, and then if they're kind of in this purgatory place, so to speak? With the team, but – I thought at one point they'd be able to shift over to the American Hockey League and at least stay moving. I don't think so. So overall, what you're saying, it's not even the money standpoint as far as the shipping back and forth. It's the fact that these guys who could be left in purgatory, and I'm sure that there will be a number of players where it's like a year lost.

All you're doing is skating. You're losing. It's your career, and it's a big year no matter how old you are. And all of a sudden, it's a big year like no matter how old you are and all of a sudden it's a waste i'm gonna be honest as soon as i turn into that fourth line player where i was in the lineup and i could go four or five when was that 87 shut the fuck up let me get my thought out okay i'm struggling as it is this pod is you just completely lose your feel for the game because you haven't really been you haven't really played it.

I hadn't played it since the Coastal, eventually. So for these guys, a year burnt, and then all these other guys who are playing, and even if they're playing in junior, at least they're advancing and staying in that rhythm. So that's a little bit of a difficult situation, and that may be looking at the full and detrimental aspect of it. But yeah, there's some people who are going to get

no spit, no lube, sandpaper finish up the hoop. Yeah. Cause you wonder if a team is going to say, well, you know, this guy, we want them to develop in the AHL. He's not ready for the NHL and they might take a guy further down in the AHL roster. Who's not even going to sniff the bit, the big club, but they just need to have a taxi squad. You know, it's going to be very interesting to see how GMs handle it. Cause this,

I don't know. It's all where it's all new territory for everybody. The taxi squad. We should get like a taxi squad player of the week award I'd be a taxi squad player that's if you're if you're taxi squad in the playoffs like black aces or even if they had it in a normal year you're ripping it up on the road. You can't even leave your hotel room. Taxi Squad this year is a shit show. If a taxi company doesn't jump on some sort of sponsorship about that. Do they exist still, taxis? Remember guys were paying like 600 grand for medallions in NYC and just Uber came along and buried all of them?

No, really? Yeah, that'd be like selling, or I don't even know how to describe it. Well, it's like getting a liquor license probably wit, and then all of a sudden anyone, their mother could get a liquor license seemingly. Like spending $2 million on a home, and a month later like a gun range going in right next door. Okay. I mean, that's a pretty good example off the top of your head.

Thank you. Appreciate that. So, yeah, these guys are basically going to be black aces for the year, but they will have to get in some games because, like I said, guys get hurt, man. that's a pretty good example off the top of your head thank you appreciate that um so yeah these guys are basically going to be black aces for the year but they will have to get in some games because like i said guys get hurt man sometimes you know teams get fucking bundled with injuries so it's going to be interesting would you guys say that fights are up 100 given the fact that how much these guys are planning i think they have to be i think they have to be oh that's good yeah there's a positive it's going to be like Oh, that's good. Yeah. Guys are going to get sick of each other. There's a positive.

It's going to be like the playoffs during the season because guys are going to fucking hate each other so much. Think of it. His season is just one fucking team after the other, the same fucking seven teams. You know what we should do a prop bet on? Who gets first sussy of the season? It's got to be somebody. Wilson's minus 600.

Right? I mean, well, who would be the favorite? Revo. I put Revo. Revo could be the fate uh revo i put revo could be revo gets a seed actually chuck who are we forgetting what do you say matthew i was gonna say something i was gonna say cassian's gotta be up there cassian screws are probably loose right now just getting ready to just kill someone i mean the canadian division he's been bumping he's been bumping cameos too there's like there's quite a few guys who hopped on the train yeah he's uh he's pretty he's going i've thought about cameo biz you've done some funny ones but i don't know i just like i'm not not in yet i think it's a great idea i'm just not in yet i don't know

it's hard it's gonna be hard for me to like of what to say. You're good at that, Biz. Well, they have to tell you a little bit. Oh, really? Yeah. Big Walt's going to have his two kids going head-to-head nine to ten times a year. Now, that's Matthew and Brady. I'm curious to see if they just skate each other's way.

Oh, Jesus. This is the worst thing that could have happened. Yeah, exactly. But it'll be good for the fans. I want to note on this, too. Teams have to carry at least three goaltenders between their roster and the taxi squad however they do it roster wise it don't matter but they need to have at least three uh on call so all right boys we also mentioned the world junior games are starting this friday christmas day uh the gold

medal game will be on january 5th at 6 30 there were a handful of exhibitions that had to be canceled due to the covid stuff biz mentioned that would happen with the German squad. They did nothing wrong, but they come over and guys tested positive either way. So it looks like we should be off and running Christmas Day. The Canadians are a sizable favorite here. No shock defending champs. But we were fortunate to get Kirby Dock, Team Canada's captain, to come off a little bit. But first, I want to let you know this interview was brought to you by Cross Country Mortgage,

America's crazy good mortgage company who make it easier to get the financing you need fast. Go to ccmlens.com slash NBD to learn more about your future home buying or refinancing refinancing experience. NMLS 3029 equal housing opportunity. And now enjoy Kirby Dark. Well, we're happy to welcome this young guy back for his second appearance already. He's not even 20 years old yet. He just finished his rookie year with the Chicago Blackhawks and got his first taste of the NHL playoffs. And next week, he'll captain Team Canada at the World Junior Championship in Edmonton.

Thanks so much for joining us again on the Spittin' Chicklets podcast. Kirby Doc, how are you doing, brother? Good, good. Thanks for having me back, guys. I mean, last time I was on here, I set a swear word record, and I don't think I'm going to try and top it. Oh, it's been topped. Pump the brakes, buddy. It's been topped. It's been topped.

I mean, personally wise, but... Oh, okay. Oh, okay. I got you, I got you. Personal best, okay. No, you have the best for under 20. It's like World Juniors, under 20 swear jar. You just overflowed the thing.

The best part about that day was we've said many times that your dad was just in the other room just laughing. He's like, fuck it, right? Yeah, my dad would have beat me. So you guys finally got to hit the ice after, what, four or five days of mandatory isolation. Is that correct? Yeah, I think somebody told me today it was like our past 18 days of 23 have been in quarantine.

We've been stuck in our hotel rooms, haven't been able to leave it. It's been brutal. Like one big video game tournament in there? Yeah, pretty much. We played a lot of online poker with each other and stuff like that. Is Schnapple still a thing in junior? Yeah, but we can't play cards. Like, how do you, you can't play cards with each other.

Oh, yeah. You guys have to quarantine from each other? In our own rooms. That's absolutely bananas. You're on the bench next to each other for 60 minutes a night, breathing all over each other in the corners, and you can't play cards? That's what I know.

You're the captain of the hotel towels must be taking an absolute licking right now yeah every time this is how much bleach they bring it in oh the maids are like at least they don't have the maids come in at least they don't have the czech republic floor holy shit imagine the dna float around there's like a csi crime scene in there. Hey, we know you got named team captain. Whit mentioned your dad. He must, like, what's he going through right now?

And then talk about yourself, because I know he's probably jacked up. Yeah, obviously the family was happy. Got a couple of texts from them. Talked to Siebs quite a bit today, actually. Had an hour-long conversation with him on the phone. That was fun. Obviously lived with him. Learned quite a bit, and hopefully had an hour-long conversation with him on the phone uh that was fun obviously lived with him learned quite a bit and hopefully uh i don't disappoint him he told me that uh if i mess it up i'm not allowed to live back with him hopefully it goes well you don't want to fuck up team canada world world junior juju hey what about um like when you find out the

news it's one thing because the season's not started, you're not in the NHL, but for this to happen and then be named captain right away, you're just so fired up? Yeah, obviously last year was tough not going or whatever. I mean, Biz can say this too, but growing up in Canada, World Juniors means everything to us. So this year, having the opportunity, I'm grateful for it. Obviously, I'm excited to be here,

and hopefully we get to start playing games soon. And you're one for one, am I correct, in international play? Because you win one at under 18? One for two. I lost at U-17s, but won U-18s. Okay. Two for three wouldn't be bad. I'm sorry to say I'm not rooting for you, but still, good luck. Come on, Whit.

What the fuck, buddy? You think I'm going to say I'm not rooting for you, but still, good luck. Oh, come on, Whit. What the fuck, buddy? You think I'm going to root for Team Canada? I wanted to know who got named Team DJ. Who gets the DJ? Who gets the iPod? And what the heck do you guys play in that locker room nowadays? Ryan Suzuki runs the locker room music pretty well, actually. Or Connor's there.

He's had it a couple times. They're pretty good music. A lot of country in the morning. And we're kind of just slow again. But during the games, there's a lot of Big Booty. Those mixes are pretty deadly. What do you mean the Big Booty? What's this?

Something we don't know about? Yeah. What are you shaking your head for, Grinnell? What do you know about the Big Booty? Booty mixes are the best. Number 11. Who's making them? Two friends.

Yeah, two friends. They both have big-ass booties? No. I don't know. I don't even know what they look like. Is that what the boys are into right now? The young guys? The booty?

Oh, thickness. Everyone wants that thickness now, Biz. These young bucks are sickos. Oh, yeah. We're on this. That is unbelievable. Hey, so I want to know, and people are going to have to immediately look up this clip and granella you can get it out on chiclets when did you think to try that that pass

i saw in one of those scrimmages busy he's coming down the right side that was opening day he's a righty for everyone listening at home he sticks to the outside of the net he throws it back in his feet almost looks like he loses it and at the same time with his right foot fires a one-time rocket pass for a one-timer goal I have never seen that done so when did that originally come about I learned that like four or five years ago uh from a skills coach Daryl Belfry actually told me that he's from Niagara yeah yeah I worked with Daryl for a couple years, so I learned that from him.

And I tried it all the time in practice. Like, I was at a 4-on-4 league back home, and Caden Gooley, who's here with Team Canada, we skated together in the summer. And I must have tried it 100 times in those games. Oh, now you're the loser that won't give it up. Never fucking worked. Never, not one time.

And he comes to me and goes, this is the one time it's worked, and it's televised everywhere. Now you're getting all this clout and stuff. I'm like, yeah, not one time. And he comes to me and goes, this is the one time it's worked and it's televised everywhere. Now you're getting all this clout and stuff. I'm like, yeah, you're right. Get the booty mix out. It's all about when the cameras are rolling. So you tried it in WHL games all the time, you're saying?

No, I tried it in summer skates and stuff like that. I've tried it all the time. But I've tried it in the game like a couple times and like in the corner and stuff, and it hasn't worked. Mitch, love would have pumped your eyes shut if you tried that in the game with the Saskatoon Blades. Lover's my coach here. Oh, is he really?

Yeah, he's my assistant coach. Oh, no way. Yeah, but that's different if he's assistant. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You have to play tummy sticks with the boys if you're the assistant. Viz, imagine the death stare from Duncan Keith, that legend, if he tries that in a game against St. Louis and he kicks it in the corner. Yeah, I'm going to get two-on-one with Kaner.

We'll go back to Taves and Keith, and I'm sure they reached out to you too, and Taves' heroics back in the day. You mentioned Dale Belfry. So did you start working with him on your skills because of Kane? Because him and Kane are tight, right? Yeah. So obviously like when I was, I was 13 and 13 or 14, the first time I went and saw him and like,

that was the big thing was like, this guy was Kaner skill guys. Like he did. Kaner's learned from him. So I was like, Oh, this is awesome. I remember the first time I went there for the first two days, I couldn't do anything like not a thing with the puck and he's like looking at me like what like what is going on with this guy like he's supposed to be this kid and can't do nothing with the puck and then after a while like you start to figure it out and you feel real good on the ice but he does so many things like on the ice where it's like translate to my game where it's like different from Kane or not which is like unique for a skills coach to do

really so he's breaking down your video and games and then showing you in the areas and why you're doing certain certain drills as far as skills yeah pretty much and like for me of being a bigger guy it's more about puck protection and playing along the wall and learning skills that way and uh he tapers to each guy obviously with matthews he's works with his uh his shot quite a bit and his release and that guy's shot is how's that how's that release it's stupid man you're gonna find one of those you're gonna add that to your bag yeah obviously that's that's the plan but i don't think i'll ever shoot the puck like him well you gotta get quads like that probably first yeah it's quadzilla um yeah take me back uh how old are you in 2003 when I got a player of the game against Belarus

because I had three assists in World Juniors in Halifax? How old were you then? I would have been two. Jeez, you were born in 2001? So my best moment in my international career was a three-assist game against Belarus in the World Juniors. What's your first World Junior memory? Like one that sticks that sticks out yeah one that you're like i don't know maybe seven eight nine and you you think back like oh my god well that's what i want to do

the taser shootout one's good answer pretty vivid you remember that how old were you then yeah i would have been six six or seven oh only a six-year-old canadian kid would be i got that one and then uh the abrilay one was a big one when he scored with like five seconds left against the russians that's like you're on the outdoor rink you practice that all the time you're like five four you put it in you're celebrating that's with your buddies and stuff we mentioned the captaincy already but you're also the only nhl on the roster does it kind of feel a little bit like all eyes on you between the media and your teammates a little bit?

Not really. I mean, there's a lot of good players here. And obviously, Quentin Byfield just went second overall. There's Cousins here, Byram. The list goes on and on with the talent we have. But I think we're all pretty humbled in this experience. I mean, how are all these guys going to play first line, power play first line?

So we got to figure that out. And I think that's a good thing about Team Canada is that we're able to take so many talented players and make a 20-man roster. Don't fall into that trap. You guys, some first liners are going to have to be a fourth liner this tournament. Good luck trying to calm one of your boys down.

That's not an issue with Team Canterbury. These guys know it's about the flag. We know it's about the flag, right, Kirby? You tell them. Yeah, the maple leaf across your chest, singing O'Connor at the end of the tournament. Hey, baby. I know other teams weren't so crazy about having

some of their prospects play in the World Junior, but did Chicago leave the decision basically all up to you? I approached my agent then he approached stan i think a couple days before the draft and said hey this is something kirby wants to do i mean uh he wanted to play in it last year and stan's like okay we'll talk about it after the draft so after the draft got on the phone call with stan and he said if this is something you want to do and we're not starting and it's not going to interfere with the schedule uh go ahead and i'm like right, sounds good to me.

So I've been here since day one. And I think they told me 51 days we're going to spend in hotels for the World Juniors. And that's after what you went through in the bubble with Chicago. And you had a great playoff, six points, nine games. I mean, it must have felt pretty good to end your first NHL year when you were playing a pretty dominating role there yeah i felt good coming back to the to the chicago bubble like before we went to edmonton uh honestly i think your draft year is so long like you you have the

under 18s at the beginning of the year you play your whole junior career or your junior season then you go from the combine to the draft to the, you even have new 18s after like the world championships and development camps and all these world junior camp too. In the summer, you have all this shit going on and you don't have time to really train or rest. So when I got home from Chicago, like during the first COVID hit,

I was like, okay, I'm going to take a couple. I think I took a month off of skating and just trained. Like it, I just felt good, like to kind of get in the gym and get a routine again and felt strong on the ice when I came back. Worked with my trainer there, and he's really helped me out a lot,

to be honest with you. He's really changed the way I've trained, and even at 19 years old, I do a lot of things I probably wouldn't think I'd be doing at this age. Even nutrition? I know younger in my career, I was working out and stuff, but I'd be doing at this age. Even nutrition. I know younger in my career, like, you know, I was working out and stuff, but you know, I'd be eating like a shithead. Yeah. I, I try and track what I eat a little bit. I mean, obviously I'm going to have my cheat meal here and there when I'm with my

buddies or something like that, but I eat pretty healthy at home. I think I like to think so at least. You're picking up all the checks for your buddies at home now, right? A little bit. Sometimes they'll pick it up. I got good buddies at home. Oh, yeah, but they'll be better if they're like, Doc, you know you have tonight.

Thanks, bud. Yeah, there's been the odd night. I've treated them. The Earls. Yeah, Earls. Cactus Club. Cactus Club, please. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Those are staples in Canada. Kirby, how would you grade your first NHL season overall, including the playoffs? I think there's a lot of ups and downs. Obviously, 18 years old, playing in the best league, and it's going to be tough, and I'm going to have my times where I struggle

and times where I flourish. So I've got to find a way to be more consistent. I think that's a big thing for me is being able to be consistent. I think in playoffs, I was, I was really good there. Did you hit the so-called rookie wall? We hear about it all the time. Some guys seem to jump over other guys really hit it. Did you, did you experience that at all? Yeah, I think there was a stretching at 23 games without a point or something

like that. Those are biz numbers. Holy shit. Yeah, that was tough. That was tough. And he wasn't playing the DJ role either. No. No, I was a pigeon in the locker room not saying anything,

listening to all these guys talk. You said you talked to Seabs. Did Taves call you? I texted with Taves a little bit. He was supposed to call me, and then he just never called me back. He's like, yeah, I'll get back to you when you get the night before the gold medal game. That's going to make sense.

Taves snubs teammate Team Canada captain. I'm just kidding. Yeah, Taves would text me. He's busy. He's always doing some training. Four returning players, have they, like, stepped up to talk about what the experience was like last year winning gold and, like, you know,

what you have to go through as a team? And has that taken a little bit of pressure off you as well, like maybe not knowing some of these guys and them being named captain? Yeah. Those guys obviously know what the tournament takes to win. I mean, Aileen on Cousin and Bo quite a bit. Obviously, we grew up playing against each other,

and they're both the assistant captains for a reason. So those guys are good buddies of mine, and we have a lot of fun off the ice. I think we're all just looking forward to start playing games again. I mean, for some of these guys, I mean, the guys that have been playing the Q or myself, haven't played a game since last March. I think everybody's just a little antsy to get going.

Were you ever a captain before at any level? Yeah, I split captaincy duties at U16. So like team Alberta when I played for that. But other than that, I've never been a captain. I've always been kind of an assistant captain. I'm interested. Well, your team your team first off what is it 21st rounders as you said the number earlier yeah yeah all right either way it's just insane group of talent put together i'm a defense guy or an offensive defense guy this bowen byram for for uh hockey fans out there maybe not uh colorado avalanche fans just another freak on D coming into your Denver homes soon. So I just want you to describe him a little bit.

I'd describe Bo as a fourth forward. He's so good with the puck. He's fun to play with. He always puts it on your tape and on the power play. He's so patient with the puck up top and always seems to make the right play. But at the same time, he's really good in the D zone. He's got a good stick, and he's really patient with the puck up top and always seems to make the right play but at the same time he's really good in the d zone he's got a good stick and he's really starting to fill out and be a be kind of a hassle in the corners to deal with uh i think that's something that he learned going back to colorado for the bubble experience too is just how hard it is to play

at that level against those big guys and obviously he's got mckinnon landis gog ran into the practice against all the time and i'm sure that's no fun but he, he's taken a lot of strides. I think he'll, he'll be a really good player for a long time. Who's that team's Canada's Jester. Who's the guy, the absolute clown of the locker room, tucking it in, doing the man, Johnny getting the boys going before the games. Canada needs to know who's doing all that and getting Canada's Juju going.

We got a couple of guys. Bo, I'd say, is one of them. He's pretty funny. Our goalie, Taylor Gauthier, he's actually – I'd say he's number one for sure. Wow, a goalie too. No, he's from Calgary, Alberta. Oh, is he? Alberta boy.

Alberta boy. Good kid. Oh, yeah. Well, it must be a lot of Westerners on this team this year. I haven't even looked at how many guys from the Q, but you know as it gets to World Juniors, they need the toughness from out West, right? Yeah, I think we have nine guys here from the Western League.

I think it's like the most we've ever had. Sam, it must be different than the other bubble. Guys have pretty much buckled the first two weeks of the NHL bubble. This is a little bit different this time. So when can you interact with the other, like other teams that you're gonna have to stay in your room the whole time? You can't even play cards with each other. I know that's, that's what I'm curious about talking to any other guys on the other teams.

Yeah. Uh, I think what kind of said, we're not really allowed to talk to anybody else besides our own team, but I think after the first week or so, there's going to kind of loosen up on the rules and let us roam a little bit more than kind of having us locked down, which will be nice. Has there been anything that you've thought of

to keep yourselves entertained that'd be outside the box that people would find funny? No, not really. We've kind of kept it like, everybody's got their like Xboxes or PS5s or something like that here so we're usually dialed in on that stuff and doing all that but uh for me i spend a lot of

time on facetime talking to buddies and stuff it makes the time go way faster than just sitting in your room staring at the same four walls all the time now you fire up the netflix at all prime guy or just just video games facetime uh no i watch a lot of TV shows. I just finished watching Yellowstone. Actually, with Kevin Costner. I love Kevin Costner. He's a great actor. That's a great show. I can't even take credit for that TV

show. Brent Seabrook got me into it. I think he was telling the guys in Chicago for two years that it's a good TV show. Nobody believed him, except for me. Then I watched it and told everybody, it's actually good. Now everybody watches it. It's a good TV show. Nobody believed him except for me. And then I watched it and told everybody it's actually good. Now everybody watches it, but it's a good TV show. It's my favorite by far. Yeah.

It's good stuff. Kevin Costner kind of doing the grizzled old, like a rancher thing he's never done before. Plus it's, I mean, it's probably the best looking show on TV to the scenery is incredible on that thing. Oh yeah. Yeah.

It's beautiful. It makes me want to become a rancher, but I know I never will. Yeah. For about five minutes. Yeah. team canada world junior captain uh ranch now rancher yeah i would want to do the work just just to go to stampede and get tap-ins um last question i was going to ask you who's your celebrity crush who's uh who you like these days uh madison beers or something is that one of them yeah honestly that's a good that's a good he's a legit missile launcher oh yeah yeah i'd say madison beers for sure yeah hands down now that i think about it and she's a singer too oh perfect we appreciate you coming on again so much, though, buddy. I do. I wish you luck. I don't want you to win, but I hope you do great.

Thanks, Witt. And last thing, you're taking Jack Sparrow as the look you're going with with the facial hair. Did we establish that? I've just gotten lazy and haven't shaved it in a while. Usually Hockey Canada is like short hair, shaved face, look good. Now we all look raggedy with our long hair and our terrible beards all right buddy best of luck no pressure i won't be hitting you up

sounds good that's because you can't get any tickets for him to like sell and make a little cash yeah scalp him on the side kirby thanks so much for joining us again not even 20 years old already got two episodes under your belt I'm doing swipe ups for meet and greets at the gate in the quarantine bubble in Edmonton let's talk about that we'll get the cologne going because fucking Leon Dreisaitl didn't want to do it

for sure alright see you doctor best of luck buddy yeah thanks guys I want to send a huge thanks to Captain Kirby for joining us from the World Junior Bubble. Great kid. Again, second to parents already, not even 20 years old. He's a super kid, Biz. Easy to root for. Did you just happen to see that McDavid video? It actually dropped after we recorded our last episode.

Pretty good stuff, huh? Folks, it hadn't been out yet, and all of a sudden that came out. I'm like, oh, no, McDavid on the Jumbotron in Edmonton announcing the fact that he's captain how do we not ask him about this but then i looked and i think they kept it under wraps at least till that night so unfortunately we didn't get to ask him but that's got to be a dream come true nonetheless uh and good luck to team canada there's going to be a lot of pressure there's a couple other teams that at least to this point hadn't gotten consideration but the more information you hear about it and RA I'll throw it over to you it's it's not going to

be an easy task here yeah I mean the Russians I was just taking a look at the uh the odds here they're five to one and they have a new coach now uh Igor Larionov who was a fantastic NHL player but he didn't get into the NHL until he was 29 years old he was playing for the team Russia the Russian army this was back in the early 80s where russia didn't want their players in america i mean it was still during the cold war there was all this you know politicization of everything and they really didn't want their players here so he was taken in the 11th round of the 1985 draft didn't end up getting to the nhl uh to vancouver till he's 29 years old he played in vancouver for a few years of course everybody knows him at Detroit.

They played the Russian Five style of play. Now, he had played that previously for the Russian Army under Viktor Tikhonov. Then he played it in Detroit, and now he's going to incorporate that style of play with the Russian World Juniors, which if you haven't seen it, the style of play from the Red Wings back then is incredible. Can you describe in layman's terms exactly, you know, so the Russian Five style of play and how it works? it's amazing because when i was in russia we would do you really would practice five guys in a color and his unit was um i think it was the green line

the green unit or they might have called this and it was so in russia he was so he was so incredibly talented this guy and the whole whole Russian unit thing is like, it's not forwards working together as three guys. It's not a defensive pair working in front of the net in the corner. It's five guys. Like every single part of the ice, they all have different jobs, and all their jobs can be interchangeable. So they get five super skilled guys together that all of a sudden

not only are skilled on different levels, but they know their game so well. know each other inside and out so they're able to just move and and and i i tell you larry on off i had the chance to um one of the best most patient goals i've ever seen in the stanley cup final was his trip was a triple ot winner in o2 against carolina that was the game that um we were we went as top prospects like going to the draft uh up shawl loophole bowmeister myself rick nash you get to do the interview with don cherry we've talked i've talked about it a bunch with guys we've interviewed and is this a new peewee tournament you're just going to mention this every episode well listen that's why i made you talk about larry onoff so I'm at this game and, you know, you're all hanging out.

You're all hanging out together. And at some point I was just off on my own. I met John Bucciagras there. And then I'm standing in the corner where Larry Onoff comes down and just waits out. Was it who was in net? Herbe? Yeah. Yeah.

Waits out Arches Herbe and just shelves. And it was so sick because the guy's the professor it was exactly how he plays so smart so smooth and the fact that he's now coaching like i said the russian coaching can be different i mean it's like they play in five-man units but they also you know a lot of individualism yes and that will the coaching, too. It's like so robotic. And I don't know. It's hard to describe, but they don't give guys many freedoms, at least not like the best players. Now, Larry Onov, you've got to think he's going to have a different approach, the way he thinks the game.

And I mean, I would love to like if you could throw money on Russia, not rooting for Russia, but you never like it seems like in this tournament, they're always in the mix. They're always in the mix. They're always in the mix. I think the way he described it. Fuck, Rinelli. You chirped me last podcast for just saying the Russian goalie was good, and now you're saying you're rooting for Russia? No, you're so dumb. You're so fucking dumb.

On Twitter, too, you're like, Sweden's going to win. I'm like, where are you from? I'm saying that if you want value to a bet, you bet the Russians. I'm not rooting for the Russians. That's what I was saying. That's all I was saying, too. No, no, no, no, no. You were like, Sweden's, I'm going to if you want value to a bet, you bet the Russians. I'm not rooting for the Russians. That's what I was saying. That's all I was saying too. No, no, no, no, no. You were like, Sweden, I'm going to come on Sweden.

They're my team. You were cheering for me for Russia though. I don't remember that. Nikolai has been boozing their goalie coach. So look out. This guy's going to be teaching these fucking young kids how to stop some pucks. But Larry Onov did an interview with TSN. I forget who conducted the interview,

but he just said he's trying to change their way of thinking to where they're being a little bit better at conserving their energy out there too, especially in such a short tournament and you're playing every other day or maybe you got even two days in between, but it's congested and all of a sudden you go from, well, at least not playing a lot of games

because there's a little bit of a gap here by the time they come over and get into the swing of things to when the backside of the tournament, when you get to the round robin you know if you haven't conserved energy and you're not playing with the puck and you know you're not going to win and especially with them considering they're going up against canada and other countries who are pretty stacked this year they're going to have to do everything in their power uh what was the other thing he was talking about he said one of their advantages too though and it kind of contradicts what i said to a certain degree was earlier in the year is a decent amount of these

guys on this world junior team were playing with khl clubs so they've been in the midst of games so they've they're in better game shape than a lot of people true in a lot of high level too at a high level as well that's the next i would say it's probably the next best caliber besides uh the nhl it's it's got a a little bit of a different style of play it's a little bit less chances from the ns league the ahls they're they're tough to distinguish who's better but it's it's certainly really good hockey especially if you're gonna then go to the world juniors where guys haven't played in nine months so don't sleep on these russians guys and another fun fact about larry on up for you non hockey fans is this guy used to drink a glass of wine with his pre-game meal every uh before every

game so this guy would crush a nice glass he said what did he say it just calmed him down was that what do you i try to dig because i did read that in the article but i couldn't find the original source on it that said he was said to have a glass of wine before his uh before every game a glass of red wine before i want to say it was robert he just had one because chelios had seven he's like all right i'll have one to finish the bottle jesus chelly i i think i've been with guys who have uh who have a shot glass and a flask in their toilet shoe kit and they would take a shot before game i play with a guy in uh in in the minors that just ripped a huge bowl after pre-game skate i'm like what it's like i get the best nap i've heard yeah i've heard a guy's played hard too it

wasn't like it wasn't like this dude you'd ever think that but that was like i would be asleep some people listening would maybe be like oh it's so unprofessional where it's like sometimes the anxiety and how anxious guys are i also play with with guys who puke before when they're going to start. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Who was one of the most famous goaltender of all time? Didn't he used to puke before games? One of the most famous goalies?

Maybe it was one of them. Why are you laughing at Grinnelli? Such a biz move. Such a biz move to bring something up like that and just not know the answer. Yeah, he's bringing it up like an awesome story, and then he's like, I don't know. One of our loyal listeners is going to say, yep, this star player used to vomit before every game. Let's think of the best goalies of all time. Patrick Waugh.

No, I don't think he did. Might not even be a goalie. That was the first thing my brain thought of. I said goalie. It's just a guy who plays men's league at Welling. Either get the shits or puke or any, you know, stomach issues before a game. Hey, also World Juniors makes me, sorry.

All right. No, but World Juniors, I always like to remind people of the line that Russia had at one point that was Sergei Fedorov, Alexander Mogilny, and Pavel Bure. That was a line of World Juniors for Russia. Oh, we didn't even talk about that Dmitry Filipovic clip. Are we going to bring that up about Fedorov? There we go.

Go ahead. You can say it. Was it a five-goal game against the Washington Capitals? He ended up scoring the O.P. winner. And they won 5-4, too. And was that considered the Russian five to a certain degree? Absolutely, yeah. That was the pride of it?

Yep. You know what? A lot of backdoor passes. Every goal was tic-tac-toe, and Federov with five goals, and they get the OT winner. It was something else. So if you can go check out that guy's Twitter account. And then he ended up throwing out another clip that was over two minutes

of some of the goals they scored that year. And that clip of the five-goal game, I don't know what goal it is. It might be the first, but it reminds you how Vladimir Konstantinov wasn't just a killer on the ice. He was sick. With the puck, offensively, he was quick. He'd get up in the rush, and you see a couple plays he makes. He gives Fedorov pretty much a tap-in.

And, yeah, that was the five-man unit that you talk about. Fatisov, Konstantinov, Fedorov, Kozlov, and Larionov. And, of course, like I said, he did it with Team Russia, too, or the Russian Army. He sent a line with Krutov and Makarov and had Fatisov and Kasatanov on that five-man unit. That's the Russian Five movie. And that call comes back to the Russian Five.

It's about that unit, that Larionov unit, right? Yeah, he was part of the one with the russians and one with the red wings which is pretty crazy because he didn't become a red wing until he was 35 years old i mean he well just just before he was 35 actually he won his three cups there i also want to mention his two olympic golds in 84 and 88 hockey hall of fame in 2008 and biz just one of six players to win an olympic gold world champion gold stanley cup a canada slash world cup and a world junior championship gold that good like six guys in the world have done that and the professor has done it so guys uh throwing something on russia right now going going back to federov and

i think uh grinnell you posted something to the spit and chicklets twitter about some of the like the gear that that has been worn throughout the years like Ovechkin with the full-tint visor. But going back to Fedorov with those white Nike skates and that white Nike bucket, it was a bit of a knockoff from the Bauer 4000 helmet, but nobody in the league had better style, and more kids wanted to look like that guy on the ice, just cruising in the wind with that gear wear.

He was a superstar every aspect like he was like he's one of the reasons i'm getting into soccer he was like a soccer superstar with the flair and the and the look of the whites the white skates i mean i'm with david beckham be a fair comparison yeah kind of i mean was beckham really that good or was he better i think beckham was pretty nasty i'm getting. I don't know yet. I'll learn. But Federov, oh, yeah, the clip of coming out to the All-Star game, just like a little smile.

You're like, holy Jesus, buddy. I think he was crushing Kournikova. He was with Kournikova. He was with Kournikova. She fucking gave McCurry a slump when she dumped him, man. That's like kind of. I mean, they were a very public romance. Is she married to Enrique Iglesiasrique english oh they're still together man i was i thought that was gonna be a quick uh quick

oh my god finnegan's gonna start howling i got great voice. Fizz has peanut butter on his ballsack right now as he sings. Hi, boys. Move on. That's the spot. Happy birthday or Merry Christmas, Mr. Finnegan. Mr. Finnegan sings Feliz Navidad because you and Arizona are right near the line.

We got some more NHL notes to go back to. Nothing to do with the cba fortunately unrestricted free agent anthony duclair signed a one-year 1.7 million dollar deal at florida the 25 year old had 23 goals 17 assists in 66 games at ottawa last year this seems like a nice cheap pickup for florida i mean the kid can obviously score and he you know he's unrestricted he has a 40 goal season someone's gonna maybe's going to maybe wiggle $6 million at him next year. I think they kind of like that run and gun, too.

I don't think they're necessarily very good defensively. I know they picked up Bobrovsky to close the door, but this is a perfect insert and a guy who can – and remember, they lost Trocek. That was a big loss offensively. Maybe Duclair can slide in there. And we talked about him representing himself i don't know if he ended up picking up an agent but i think this is going to be perfect for him

and and he's going to be able to put up similar numbers that he did in ottawa and hopefully he can end up getting that long-term term contract that he deserves so uh i think it's a it's a great move and and guys i have to say it no state income tax yeah trevor lawrence just learned about that the jets fucking those two i don't know how i just thought nfl uh i i there's it's a no risk signing i think florida is looking for goal scoring by the way mike hoffman he doesn't have a contract what's going on there yeah i mean i think he's probably sitting on office i mean i'm sure'm sure he'll sign soon, but I don't think there was any urgency because no one's really started skating yet. Is there any other high-end free agent that's just sitting at home

without a contract? Because it's such an interesting situation as to, like, if a team does have cap room, and let's say they get off to a decent start and they weren't maybe expected to. Corey Perry's unrestricted. I mean, he'd be a great veteran, especially a short season. Correct. But he wouldn't be having the ass that Hoffman's asking right now.

Hoffman was probably looking at this off season and getting five and a half, six with his consistency. As far as goal scoring, this guy is speaking of fucking spit and paper finish. Like this is, I think he, I think it's going to be a similar situation to hall where he's going to, he's going to be able to come in for a year. He's going to prove it. He's going to get probably in that 5-6 range for one year,

and then he's going to have to do it again. And then all of a sudden, hopefully things are back to normal, and then he's going to reverse sandpaper finish on the owner or the GM. And maybe teams have said, like, hey, just sit tight. We're going to do it. But they have to move all the money around first and maybe have to make a deal to make cap room. I mean, this guy's going to get signed, no doubt about it.

Well, you guys talked about Boston needing a winger. I mean, is this someone that you guys would like? I think Bruins fans would just start rubbing each other all over the place if you signed him. 100%. I mean, Krejci is known to be a finicky center. Not everyone lines up perfect with him, but

I don't know how him and Hoffman wouldn't work. The guy's the guys i mean too pure of a goal scorer i love it i mean they don't have crew to pay uh we're not sure if char is coming back so money might not be an issue i agree i agree completely what i'm just surprised he hasn't signed yet uh all right so do you think do you think if he's not signed by like january 1, you'd start to be like, this is kind of weird? So you both think he's just sitting on offers waiting to make up his mind? I don't think that. I think that he's hoping for that he ends up getting close to maybe his number. I don't think it's going to happen.

I think it's going to turn out more like a Hall situation. I wouldn't be surprised if it went past the start of the season, but the question I have is what's going to be the rule on that? And I guess we don't need to go there. But I think I think he signs before the season. I think he does a one year deal haul situation. That's what I think. I will see.

Well, we got some good news coming as well. Oscar Lindblom, Philadelphia Flyer. He remains cancer free after a second checkup just over a year after being diagnosed with Ewan's sarcoma. So obviously great news to hear. I mean, what he went through, had a tough season, managed to come back to the playoffs in a very inspirational moment. But of course, we want him on the ice. So Oscar, welcome back. And we're very happy. He started off hot last year. Real hot. Yeah, he's a hell of a player, man. And we love to see him healthy. And great news to hear. Obviously, we just mentioned the holiday season. And our friends over at NHTSA want to spread two messages.

Drive sober or get pulled over. And if you feel different, you drive different. Drive high, get a DUI. From December 16, 2020 through January 1 of 2021, law enforcement officers across the U.S. will be increasing enforcement on impaired drivers. The consequences of driving drunk, like getting a DUI, your insurance going up, the possibility of a crash, or worse, killing someone, are always there, following you like a wave, ready to crash

at any moment. So again, drive sober or get pulled over. On average, a DUI can set you back 10 grand in attorney's fees, fines, court costs, lost time at work, higher insurance, car toll, and you might lose your job. All right? That's foolish. It's not worth it. Always celebrate with a plan. Always remember to plan ahead if you're going to be celebrating. If you plan to drink, plan for a sober driver or Uber, Lyft, whatever to get you home. It's your turn to be the designated driver. Take that role seriously and don't drink. Not even one. It's not worth it. All right? A DUI covers more than just alcohol to drugs that can make you feel different, make you drive different. You could also get a DUI for that. Talk much. Also, remember,

if you feel different, don't drive. Never drive high. You drive high. You get a DUI. So be smart this holiday season and listen to our friends at NHTSA. Drive sober or get pulled over. If you feel different, you drive different. Drive high, get a DUI. Folks, you're too old to know better. Don't be a goofball this holiday season. We're all going to be celebrating. Just be smart about it.

That's all we're asking you to do. All right, moving right along. Our buddy Henrik Lundqvist, this is some tough news. He's going to miss his first season with the Caps due to a heart condition. Quote, we have decided the risk of playing before remedying my condition is too high. So I will spend the coming months figuring out the best course of action. He's going to spend some time with his family. You got to feel terrible for him. I mean, this, you know, huge career change. He had a rough year last year going to basically sort of restart his career, I guess, late.

And then this pops up out of nowhere, seemingly. Awful news. And it was exciting to out of nowhere, seemingly. Awful news. And it was exciting to think of him in another uniform. And to go to a team like Washington who's looking to rebound off kind of a disappointing season and off to a new beginning with a goalie that isn't proven, right? So you didn't know. I think any fan of the Capitals could have seen Lundqvist all of a sudden being the starter of that team.

You never know. So to have it kind of end like that, I don't want to say end like that. I think I actually saw a tweet. I don't remember who it was by saying, oh, this is the end for him. I don't know if he's going to want to go out like this. Now, who knows what's going to go on with the heart and what ends up being the future diagnosis. But just a shitty tweet to see the video that

he put up but kind of just saw it like that i was like that's a bummer because not only were as a fan was i excited to see him somewhere else i'm sure he was really ready to prove people wrong and go in and play as well as he could yeah i think people could see his genuine love for the game and how much joy it brings them and and you could tell, like you said, by that video, it just, it was tough to watch. So let's hope he gets better and he's able to have a better send-off because this shouldn't be the end of that career.

That's for sure. No, definitely not. Speaking of ends of careers, we want to send congrats to St. Louis Blue, Alex Steen. He's retiring after 15 seasons due to a back injury. Of course, he won the Stanley Cup with the Blues in 2019. He spent his first three years with Toronto. He got traded along with Carlo Koliakovo for Lee Stempniak,

and he ended up spending the rest of his career at St. Louis, played a huge role there. He's got $3.5 million due to him next year. Basically, he's not technically retired, so the Blues are going to put his money on long-term injury reserves so they can go over the cap if they need to. But, man, as a guy who's been watching the league for a long time, I felt like yesterday that he got traded because he actually played with Big Walt

and his father played with Big Walt back in Winnipeg back in the 90s. So, I mean, that was 13 years ago he got traded to St. Louis. So, again, the Steens, just the fourth father-son duo in NHL history to register 600 points apiece, joining Howes the Howes the Howes and the Stastny so uh do you know him at all Biz well we were with him at training camp and what I I don't know we're going to talk about soccer later did he get you on the Chelsea train because I believe he's a no he's Man City which was one of the teams I was considering yeah so I remember he had the socks I so we so Biz and i met him at the same time and

i can't describe to you this guy like the way i would put it is he's just he was a he was the ultimate like pro hockey player yeah he i showed up to the rink i knew nothing about him he's doing like 30 minute bike rides before professional just quick on the ice he's doing every drill perfect he's the hardest guy drill perfect he's the hardest guy to move he's the one that's like going 100 balls to the wall every practice this was in training camp you can tell the respect he gets everyone loves him he's funny he's laughing with guys he's the ultimate teammate and we didn't even get to play real games with him biz but this guy was so nice to us and just so respected by the entire organization trainers everyone's like steiner you

know if steiner said something it got done and when i saw that he retired i was like fucking i am so happy he won a stanley cup made me so happy and think about think about a guy who i i was in two training camps with that's how i know him and i speak like i i knew the guy for fucking years because he was that friendly and that easy to get along with for me and you, Biz, that I was like, oh, this guy, this guy is the ultimate pro. Yeah, work ethic definitely stood out in the training camp. I spell it. He was always on the old school monarch bike. Yeah, everybody move on.

He had a disc man, too, from Sweden, too. He's like just biking along like Rocky. And most mornings are you get in there. You'd be one of the first guys there riding the bike, getting Sweden, too. He's like just biking along like Rocky. And most mornings are you get in there, you'd be one of the first guys there riding the bike, getting ready for practice. The work ethic definitely stood out. But it was not only that, but like we were there for training camp on PTOs. So he extended his arm out to us. And every time they were going to eat larger than a group of like, you know, three or four guys, the invite was extended to us. So I remember when I left there, I felt like I was part of the team, and that's why I was so sad.

But it was definitely great to experience another organization, although it was only for a few weeks, where I never had a negative one. It was great. You know, Armstrong all the way down, and it sucks that he has to retire because of injury, but it's awesome that he ended up going to a place, eventually fell in love with him and vice versa. He got a Stanley Cup. And I think that maybe it's not the way he wanted to go out,

but I think he can sit back and be like, hey, that was, you can't really draw him up better than that. Leafs fans have to, they have to look back at that one and say, oh my God, we could have that. Yeah. Over a thousand games played in a hell of a career. they have to look back at that one and say, Oh my God, we could have that. Yeah. Yeah. Over a thousand games played in a hell of a career and keeping with the St. Louis blues team here,

Ryan O'Reilly will be the next blues captain taken over after four seasons of Alex Petrangelo will be the 23rd captain in team history. No real surprise here. He's only been there two seasons. He's already won the cup, the con smite, the selfie two-time all-star let's see 138 points in 153 games played 34 points in 35 playoff games played consummate leader on and off the ice. You don't hear enough good things about this guy. It seems like so. Well, there you go. No surprise. St. Louis one, you just talk, you know, Pete Trangelo is out of town. Now he was a true leader,

brought the work ethic every day. Same with Ryan O'Reilly now being named the 23rd captain. And then you had Steiner on the team too. So a lot of guys pulling the rope there, a lot of great candidates. But Ryan O'Reilly, I mean, look at the fucking resume. Look what he's done since he's been traded there. I mean, this was a layup. This was a no-brainer.

Yeah, 4.30, 5, it gets dark. Then like 6.30, it gets light out out that's just kind of the news when you hear ryan o'reilly's name captain i don't know i was wondering i saw it i saw it and i'm like what yeah oh this big news they just making it official i guess i'm not chirping you i know buddy all right a couple more notes before we send it over. We still had James Duffy gang. We still have a whole bunch of time with James Duffy, which is great, by the way. He was he was a lot of fun to talk to. A couple of notes here.

Edmonton GM Kenny Holland announced that defenseman Oscar Clefbom will miss the upcoming season due to a shoulder due to a shoulder injury. Some of these words trip me up. Five goals, 29 assists in 62 games last year. This one's from Elliot Friedman. Some of these words trip me up. Five goals, 29 assists in 62 games last year. This one's from Elliot Friedman. Tampa Bay's cap issues may be solved by long-term injury reserve. There is word Nikita Kucherov is battling an injury that may keep him out a while. No comment from team agents, so details are sketchy, but clarity expected this week.

If unable to play, unfortunately, it will clear room for the Lightning. Obviously, they're a team that people are expecting to make moves because they need to in order to be compliant, but LTI would certainly help them out. And one final note before we send it over to Dutty, congrats to Jordan Tutu. He celebrated 10 years of sobriety. He tweeted about

it the other day. Jordan, congrats, brother, from all of us at Chipmuts. It's a hell of an accomplishment. It's not an easy thing to do, and keep on doing what you're doing, brother. We're awful proud of you. And we know it's not easy. So everybody here is very proud of what you've done. Amazing news right there.

And back to Kucherov. Like in 2015, this happened. Kane got put on LTIR. He got hurt against the Panthers. And then he came back and they won the cup. And you can just put him in when there's no salary cap in the playoffs so this could end up working out now at the same time there were some people saying oh very convenient it's like yeah they they want to play the whole

56 sprint regular season without one of the best players in the world like yeah they were trying to do this so it could end up working out for tampa strategy cotton yeah let's sit all our star players for the whole season and then get in and we'll bring them back in no cap fucking genius sounds good if it works but um i don't think that was the game and to summarize clef bomb being out and wit you'd summarize the perfectly just your standard kick in the dick for others fans on twitter so oh yeah in injury to a defenseman. Sheldon Surrey. I got hurt. Who else?

I don't know. I got hurt again. I sucked. Enjoy Duffy, guys. And I believe one of the videos that was mentioned was the spoof video they did when they take my goal away. What's it called? The YouTube link I sent today?

Oh, is it – don't take my goal away because he did the puck over glass too. That one's fucking hilarious. I know puck over glass. I haven't seen that other one. Yeah, don't take my goal away. Him, oh, dog. Martin Biron. I said that in French.

Biron. And noodles. So check that out too, guys. They do a lot of silly stuff at TSN and those are the top dogs. So enjoy Duffy. Well, it's a pleasure to bring on our next guest. You know him from his excellent work up on TSN in Canada.

He's won a bevy of awards for his hosting work. He's also quite the world junior savant, and he just dropped his fourth book, Beauties, Hockey's Greatest Untold Stories, which you can find wherever books are sold. the world junior savant and he just dropped his fourth book beauties hockey's greatest untold stories which you can find wherever books are sold thanks so much for joining us on the spit and chiclets podcast james duffy how we doing brother all right boys how are you guys everything's great thanks for having me on hey what are the what are they called that all the awards you've

won it's like the emmys the canadian emmys right i yeah well i don't like the time what do you what do you do with all of them i know there's some you know too people always say how many of you want to like guys i don't keep track of that nine nine it's nine no they used to call them gemini's and now they changed it to canadian screen awards and it's the it's such a canadian show because you don't recognize hardly anybody who wins. And I shouldn't, like, I'm not trying to be derogatory to Canadian actors and shows and such. But, you know, hey, there's Jerry D.

And there's that guy. What's that show again? That's kind of what it's like at the awards show. But it's great. You have 50 gift cards to the uh 50 off gift cards to the keg though so it's kind of nice that's what you get when you walk on stage there's no trophy they just hand you that timmy's 20 bucks at timmy's well grinelli grinelli said to me he said like what's an example of like how duffy is someone

in america in sports broadcasting? I said, kind of Scott Van Pelt-ish. I mean, you're covering all the main events. I know he does a show every night, and your main thing's hockey. But where you're at in your career, I can't imagine you ever saw this when you were younger and when you originally got into this business, because it's pretty cool to see that you're the number one guy in Canada for all the big events, Olympics, no matter what it is. So take me kind of through the beginning of where this all began or this passion for it.

I think like everybody, like every Canadian kid, I was a failed athlete who wanted to be a hockey player. But I grew up and I was in Victoria my early years. So when I moved to Ottawa, I was eight and I never skated. Victoria my early years so when I moved to Ottawa I was eight and I'd never skated and so I had the Lang nerd and then and then the Micron mascot the big boot skates because my ankles were so wussy and my dad didn't buy me a jock for the first two years because he was cheap as hell and he didn't think anybody could raise the puck and so I was really I didn't really catch up till I was like 14 um and then I wanted to be a football player and in great I really literally thought in grade 12 I was going to play

in the NFL and nobody ever had the courage to say to you you are like five nine about five ten I only have five ten because I got a big long head and uh like 145 skinny guy with mediocre speed. But I really was so delusional. And then- You were Rudy? Yeah, I was Rudy. I got one school, McGill recruited me. I was going to play cornerback for McGill

and then I was going to go play for the 49ers. And then somebody slapped me in the face in grade 12 or grade 13 and said, you better not do that. So I decided the sports casting gig. And then I was a news reporter because I couldn't get a sports job. So i was covering murders and fires and all that crap for about eight years before i actually uh finally got into sports any any go ahead sorry well i was gonna say was there a time you thought about quitting that industry because just because you couldn't get

your your head in the sports world no i mean i was i i thought for a while biz that i would never get into sports just because back then like tsn was in its infancy there were no other networks every sports station had two old guys who'd been there forever so i did think for a while that i am going to be the local news guy forever i'm going to be the guy that's like you know live at five let's send it out to james duffy he's at the uh local ottawa valley milking contest. And I'll be like, thank you, Max. Here's Betsy. I'm really working her.

That's really what I thought my life was going to be. And then was lucky enough to somebody saw me on TSN and I got a chance and was able to get there finally. James Duffy is down there covering the most recent traffic jam we have. Let's go live to James. You want to know the truth? My very first summer on the job, I was 22 years old, and there was the Gulf War broke out,

and they sent me down to Parliament Hill to do a live shot at the beginning of the 6 o'clock news because it was summer and all the other senior reporters were on vacation or whatever, and I didn't know anything. And Max, our anchorman, he always wanted to test the reporters. So he comes on, he's like, James, what do you think Canada's move is going to be in the Gulf War? And in my head, I'm going, I don't have a freaking clue.

Like invade, don't invade, send in the Navy, send in the Army. Do we have a Navy? I didn't know. So that was my first test as a broadcaster because i kind of had to fake it right like everybody fakes it and so i went yeah right now uh cabin is having an emergency meeting uh in the building behind me and they're they're looking over every possible option they'll be evaluating all of the options and in due time they'll make a decision but for now max only time will tell back to you i mean

that's big time that's big time you even closed it up you put a nice bow on it like that too and the point back you actually say nothing whatsoever and uh that's that's half the way the news media is i realized after that you sent it back to him he was like speechless he's like that guy just numbed me i thought i was gonna get fired and then i walked back to the station. People like, hey, good job. Good job. Wow. You can BS and get away with it on TV as long as you sound confident.

So exactly. Your first year when you ended up getting involved in sports or hockey, who's there at the time? McKenzie, I'm guessing. Are you talking about TSN wise? Yes. Yes. You predate him even there.

No, I think he was there definitely before me. When I got hired, I was actually working in Vancouver, and I got hired to host NBA and CFL. So that was my first job. I was your Chris Berman on CFL, and I did NBA, which nobody remembers. And the funny thing I remember about that was that the executive producer back then said we want to have a cool fresh hip young look for for NBA so you're not going to wear a tie you're going to wear a mock turtleneck so I wore these mock turtlenecks under jackets and instead

of looking like young and hip I looked about 90 and that was me hosting NBA but it was cool it was Vince Carter's rookie year with the Raptors so I got to cover that slam dunk contest out in Oakland, which is still one of the coolest events I've ever covered. And then a few years later, I did, you know, I did SportsCenter for a couple of years. And then we got the hockey rights back in 2003. And even that job, they, I didn't apply for it or anything. And they didn't hire me. They hired this young lady who actually knew she was the weather girl out in Vancouver when I worked there and two days before the season they just decided it wasn't going to work she didn't really know that much about hockey she wasn't comfortable they weren't comfortable with her and they called me the Sunday night before the season started I think the season was starting on a Tuesday and offered me the job. And that was, if you go back to those early tapes, that's when we had puppets doing jokes.

We had live bands in the studio. We eventually had a monkey that spun a wheel. It was like a circus, that entire show. It was not your traditional desk with Bob McKenzie on it. It was really goofy TV, but I survived it somehow. James, did you even get a break after the Stanley cup was done? Or was it straight into the world junior stuff? Like this year, you mean in general? Yeah. Well, I did the, I did, I did.

I mean, and RA, we weren't doing that much anyway. We didn't have the masters, right? I did. I did go to the masters. He snuck that one in there in the preparation for the World Juniors RA what a warrior I don't know if you want to sidetrack on that Witt probably does but let's go into that later it was

you know it wasn't great without the patrons sorry I'm like Jim Nance now you're not supposed to say you have to say patrons you can't say fans you can't say rough you can't say gallery you have to say patrons, you can't say fans. You can't say rough. You can't say gallery. There's all sorts of things you can't say. But from an actual selfish standpoint,

one of the greatest experiences of my life and certainly covering golf because there was nobody there. On Thursday, I followed Tiger and the gallery was me, my buddy Puffy, Peyton Manning, who was a member and Tiger's girlfriend. That was the gallery for Tiger Woods. Wow. And you could on, on Sunday, DJ was teeing off on 17 and I had to step back because my shadow was over his ball. So like, it was just, it was so surreal to get that close because when you cover a masters and

you've been right wit yeah i have so you know how crowded it is and you can't bring your cell phone and there's no electronic scoreboard so when you're me and you have to do an hour post game show after it's impossible to cover the masters on the golf course unless one guy's up by five strokes or something and then you can follow him i end up watching most of it on TV on Sunday because you just, you don't know what's going on. And so for, in this occasion I could be out there on Sunday and follow DJ for basically his entire 18 holes and listen to all the, listen to the caddy conversation.

So that was really amazing. I'm sure, I'm sure, you know, this biz, I don't know if you, do you know who Gary McCord is? No. He's a golf announcer. He was in like Tin Cup. He was describing the scene when he's going to hit the ball off the – He's going to hit the pellet flamingo or the pellet off the dock. And he's like this golf announcer, and he still works in golf.

I don't know if he does anymore, but he was announcing for CBS at Augusta, and they ended up gassing him. Boom, you're never allowed back. You'll never announce this golf tournament again because he said the greens were faster than like a bikini wax or something about a bikini wax. Yeah. He mentioned that little and he got tossed. Boom. Augusta national gas piped them. So it's very, in terms of, he was saying, you got to say patron stuff.

It's so uptight with that. It's hilarious. And by the way, they've never like, they've never like chastastised me i'm sure there's times that i've said galleries and such so i don't think they watch me as closely as they watch gymnasts on cbs every i think wit had a text from his uh a buddy's old man or something that larry david sent him about what he thought of his experience at the master so we won't go into it um you kind of we mentioned how you're hopping around from all these things and your your motor is insane and uh i don't know how you do it but as far as experiences go you just mentioned the masters and then uh and then uh doing it for hockey what are some other things along the way that you've experienced that were just surreal and you never thought you'd find yourself there. Well, pretty much everything I do, Biz, when we lost the national rights, which was, I guess, six years ago now, which at the time felt really devastating.

Right. TSN and hockey had we'd done it for so long and we still do a ton of hockey now. We just have regional rights for the Leafs and the Jets and the Sens and the Habs and all that. So we end up doing more hockey than we did before. But for me, it kind of allowed me to change the course of my career to so i could do other sports like do the masters i get to do the super bowl i'm lucky enough to join the cfl for the playoffs and the great cup if you guys haven't done a great cup a great cup i'll take the great cup over the super bowl any day you know super bowl has your uh you know that's a canadian comment. That's a Canadian comment from a Canadian.

I mean that here's the reason, but here's the reason probably, probably cause I can't get into the Superbowl party. We got to change that picking rule. Oh, you think I can, you think I can Duffy? Already sneak into a Superbowl party.

We could run the gray cup parties though. A hundred percent. You guys could, you guys could own gray cup week. Cause it's the same people that loves chiclets and love, love the Grey Cup. But that's, it's true though. Like there's such a, you know, a corporate, a rich guy kind of feel to the Superbowl parties. And the Grey Cup is just so Canadian and it's, I don't know.

I just love Grey Cup week. It's super fun. And, you know, I got to do the Raptors run in the NBA finals. So to answer your question, Biz, all those things, like i never thought i'd get to go to the super bowl i never thought i'd get to go to the masters um pretty much everything i get to do is uh is is sensational and when was the first time you did an olympics uh i was in 06 uh so we were in torino but here's the funny deal with that um i think i was supposed to do 02 and then we had a baby uh and so i couldn't go to that and stupid kids um so in 06 uh cbc had the rights and they didn't want, uh, myself and Gore Miller and Bob McKenzie, I guess the rights holders, I I'll probably get this wrong, but they,

they control who gets in the building. So basically we were the competitors from TSN CTV and they didn't want us in the building. So we had no rights. So we had to buy scalpers tickets to go to the gate. So Gore Miller had this scalper guy. Uh, I can't remember his name was like shaky or something and he'd have cash and buy tickets so gore and sometimes we could only get singles so we'd sit in like different sections and then we'd meet outside with the cameraman and do our commentary on the game you'd send your buddy puffy to meet his buddy shaky that's right to scalp the tickets and so i did torino but uh to answer your question probably

the best thing ever 2010 like i was a real olympic geek when i was a kid i loved the olympics from 10 years old when it was in montreal and to to uh i got to host uh during the day uh in vancouver and then i go down and do the hockey games at night and that whole situation sorry to bring this up to uh R.A. and you Whit but uh I'm sorry pretty pretty great moment wasn't it Biz you know Iggy Sid the whole bit that a that whole experience being there I feel like everybody took three weeks off work and it was just a non-stop party people said it was like the wildest olympics ever probably the most insane couple of weeks of my life yeah i slept two hours a night and but you're just on such a kick the whole time and you're exhausted afterwards uh i told the story in my last book but i finished i went and closed the closing ceremonies after

and then we got in a car some driver picked us up, Lisa Laflamme, who's the main news anchor in Canada and I, who hosted the closing ceremonies. And we got in the car and I sort of went, holy crap, like what a crazy day. And we got 50 yards and some drunk guy ran across the intersection and the driver hit him. I'm sorry, I'm laughing. I'll get to it. So I thought we'd killed this guy. And the driver was this young girl volunteer, and she was crying.

And all of the paramedics were there. And in my head, selfishly, I'm going, oh, man, I'm going to miss the after party. This sucks so bad. Get up. Yeah. And then, like, so there was paramedics there. And I'm like, oh, my God, this guy's dead. And we're going to have to go to the police station to file a report.

And then all of a sudden, he jumped up on his feet. And he, and he like ran by the window and he was irish because i can't do an irish accent but he's like sorry bud sorry my fault and he just goes running off and like the paramedics trying to chase him down and he was down for about five minutes so uh so i made it to the after party but that was probably the best experience of my career, that entire thing. Nothing ever closed. My buddies came and my brother and like they they just ripped it up every single night. And then we were playing like once every five days, it felt like. So I've said it many times.

It was it was the craziest two weeks. It was the best experience of my life, even though we didn't we didn't get it done. When you when you start like. All right. So that 2010 Olympics, because it was the best experience of my life even though we didn't we didn't get it done uh when you when you start like all right so that 2010 olympics because it was in canada could you actually sense like the pressure those guys felt because i've always thought like it was nuts i mean the whole it just felt like it was just a bomb ready to explode if they weren't going to get it done there were such big favorites in in Vancouver. And then when we beat them in that first game, I really do feel like there was just so much pressure built up for them. It was a weird time. Like I, I was so shocked. They ended up winning it because it was tough when they lost that first one to us. You're I think you're bang on and not to plug the book, but I wrote, we'll get into that. No, but I wrote,

I wanted to do a chapter about that. And I ended up doing Luongo and just his entire perspective of it. And, you know, Luongo was great. And he, he freely admits like when, after that game, I guess, I think against you guys the first time, I think that's when they made the change. Brodeur had a bad game and Babcock texts Louis on the bus and says I want to see you at the front of the bus uh when we get off and and he says you're my guy now and and Louis says he basically went white wanted to puke right he's not one of these guys it was bravado confidence he he really felt all

that pressure of being in Vancouver where he played and he felt like he wanted to puke the entire tournament except for the games you know he settled in in the games but I think Canada felt that because if you think about that if you guys score an OT and like Pavelski had a really good chance there was two or three really good chances that Olympics like it was an incredible olympics for canada we set a record for most gold medals by a host nation and all that but if canada loses that game on the last day and this is no disrespect to all the other athletes but it wouldn't have been the same it would have felt like this massive letdown if they lose that game it would have it would have gone from this incredible moment in

our history canadian history to yeah yeah but they they lost to Whitney and the guys in hockey. So it would have sucked. The other thing was that closing ceremony was kind of a – it was like this Australian guy did it, and it had all these Canadian stereotypes. There was a giant inflatable beaver, an inflatable moose flying around. It was the tackiest thing ever. And if Canada had lost, everybody would have been so pissed off.

They would have been chucking things at these guys, but because they want everybody was drunk and it, you know, they kind of pulled it off. Party time. Sorry, Whit. Sorry. No, no, no. That was Crosby doing that. It was, it was meant to be. It was like that. He was put on this earth to score that goal. He really was. Swear to God. He was. Well, James, we mentioned the book a couple of times already. be it was like that he was put on this earth to score that goal he really was swear to god he was well james we mentioned the book a couple times already beauty says the title once again grab it if you haven't read it yet uh congrats again on your fourth book how do you decide what to write

like what's that whole process until i i think it would be different ra for every single book my first book was about a junior hockey coach brian Kilray, who's just a legend up here. I don't know if he's as well known in the States. He coached the Islanders briefly, but I've always felt like he was kind of Don Sherry without the pulpit.

You know, he's just an incredible, larger than life character. And I, when I was working in Ottawa in my early years, I covered him. So I wrote his book. The second book was kind of a cheesy book of columns.

Easy book to write because I'd already written all the columns over 10 years and then the third book was kind of a collection of all my stories from my career and so beauties I don't know I think sitting on that panel for 18 years sitting next to guys not just like Bob McKenzie and Pooley and Odo who I'm'm always beside, but, you know, biz was in there a couple of nights. Wit was in there. I probably had 50 different players, coaches like torts and, and lavy. And I realized maybe five, six years ago, I had this collection of stories that guys had told me that I needed to, to do something with.

And so I started kind of writing them down in my phone memo folder. And I guess a year and a half ago or so started deciding it would be a book. And so that was basically it. I guess the for beauties, I you know, there's a million hockey books, which have are like biographies. So they have a few good stories in them. But you also have that I grew up in South Boston and the whole childhood thing and I just wanted to write a book which is great stories which is kind of and I will say this like what you guys do every week uh you know as I was writing this it's not to blow too much smoke towards you but it was like confirmation that I was doing the right thing because I think when I was first trying to make the deal with the publisher it was when you guys sort of started to blow up. And as, as you know,

I listened to you guys and you got more and more successful. It was confirmed in my head. What I thought I knew is that hockey just has so many great stories. And so when I wrote this book, I wanted it to be just when I called people, I said, as you guys know, cause I badgered you for months. Just tell me you're like, tell me an awesome hockey story that's all i want i don't want anything else just tell 57 different guys tell me a great hockey story and uh and that's what it kind of ended up being so it's i guess my best i've said this in interviews before it's like spitting chiclets but with words on a few of my stories

got rejected though i had to keep my best ones probably can't be written in that book. Hey, it's not going in Hustler, dude. It's not RA's subscription for when he's 13. Well, I got you. I mean, I mentioned the porn star story, but only in a paragraph, I think, in your story. I cleaned it up pretty good. Thank you. I cleaned it up pretty good.

That's the problem, though. I don't know how many stories in the book, cause you've had, I'm sure a lot of the people that are in the book on your, on the pod or, you know, that they've already told on spit and chiclets, I'd have to do a cross reference at some point. Then probably there's a few for sure. Yeah. How do you decide where the line is? Cause obviously some of these stories, uh, let's say colorful that, you know, maybe you tell on this show, but you might not want a family friendlyfriendly print edition so how do you figure that out james well i think with most most guys know that it's a book so when i talk to them i say guys this is

going to be in print forever you know what your grandkids are going to go be able to pick this up somewhere in some obscure library uh so i think most guys there were a few that people would call me back and say hey could you take out you know this line or or this thing but for the most part you weren't getting the you know a bunch of guys at the ripper joint stories it was more you know just most of the stuff i think you could tell on spit and chicklets i clean up the language here and there there's language in the book but i kind of wanted all ages to be able to read it too. So when I interview somebody like a guy like this sometimes, or I'm trying to think of somebody like Kelly chase probably dropped two F

bombs per sentence in our interviews. And so I had to cut it down to one per paragraph or something. To make us sound somewhat articulate. What were a few that you took away from the book being like, this is, this is going to make us sound somewhat articulate uh what were a few that you took away from the book being like this is this is going to make some noise i know there was one about john cooper i think i talked to you about on the phone before we talked on here did cooper has cooper been on your pod and told that story do you know we're trying to drag him on ra was partying with him at the cup party the other night yeah so trying to recruit is great by the way and uh when he for most of

these guys i didn't know the story beforehand i just called people and said tell me your story or they you know they text me and say okay i got one for you and then call me back and coop story without giving away all the details cooper's story involves dustin takarski when when cooper is coaching syracuse dustin takarski gets carjacked at knife point there's a high speed police chase they spend the entire day at the police station they race to a game in bingo they get there late basically run across the highway to get to the game they go down takarski's got ptsd so he just says sit in the dressing room and use civvies. They fall behind 5-0 to Binghamton.

That was a good Binghamton team that had Hoffman and Robin Leonard and all those guys. So they start a brawl down 5-0 late in the second. There's a goalie fight between Leonard and Rico Helanious. They both get kicked out, so the trainer has to go back and get to karski to dress to karski comes in they score six straight and win six five in overtime and so cooper finished telling me that story and i said okay we got a we got a carjacking a car chase a goalie fight a brawl and a like a ridiculous once in a lifetime tarantino movie at this point yeah i finished and i said okay that's the exact reason i wrote this book right and it was the same with wit you know talking about uh being sitting on the bathroom in the back of the private jet uh

which is just when you guys you know you guys you sent me you guys both sent me voice memos which was really cool well it's so much easier oh but i just laughed my ass off you know sid actually sent me voice memos too it's hard to get guys first of all who are like you know as busy as you guys are on the podcast but guys like sid in the middle of a playoff race and so sid would send me voice memos every couple of weeks and he sent me four or five and they were all great stories as i I know, you guys know him well. He's underrated, I think, as a storyteller. And so every couple of weeks,

I get a voice memo. Hey, it's James, it's Sid. So this one time me and Colby Armstrong and it went on and on like that. That's unreal. Which one are you going to sell those for? Hey, if everything goes to shit, you can just sell those things.

You'll be back in the penthouse. Sid voice memos on Amazon.com. What's the story that you used? goes to shit you can just sell those things you'll be back back in the penthouse sid voice memo is on amazon.com cooper was a blessing because at the end of the interview i'd always ask and i probably asked you guys i said is there anybody i should talk to i don't care if they're a big name but tell me a great character great storyteller that i should talk to and cooper sent me to eric nielsen who uh was Sid's roommate in Rimouski. And that ended up being the first chapter of the book because he talked about why he only calls him Daryl. And Nielsen was a wingnut, by the way. And there's a bunch of stories in there that are

just cuckoo. I don't know how Sid survived without getting in trouble. But that's kind of the way the book worked, right? Somebody would tell me about somebody, somebody would tell me about somebody else. And in the end, suddenly have a book of great stories. James, how long is the process from soup to nuts from when you first have the idea to when the actual book comes out on this particular one? Well, in this case, probably five, six years. The idea I have a tendency already to be lazy. And I let something fester in my head for years and say, do I really want to do the

work? And then suddenly I need money. Like my wife comes home with a Louis Vuitton purse or something. And I'm like, crap, I got to write another book. Sid, call me another story. You got to get this paper. As long as you're not doing couples photos. Ah, shit.

Do you have a vodka connection? Well, that and your schedule probably fills up quick with how much you're having to do now and what it's hard to say no to. How did you develop that motor where, like, you have to be on all the time? It's a bit of a mirage. You know, if Jay Onright and Dan O'Toole, the host of SportsCenter up here, were listening to this, they would laugh because they always say I never work. Because I don't – I think people see me biz.

You know, they see me on SportsCenter. We'll do a hit after the game. It runs for 24 hours the next day, and they think you're always working. And that's not really the case. My schedule gets intense at times, like the World Juniors or the Masters or whatever, but then I'll have gaps. And with this case, with COVID, it really helped me in the last couple of months, finishing off the book.

To really answer R.A.'s question, it's probably like a year and a half. I think I signed the deal. I think about it for a few months, then I start making the phone calls and slowly getting everybody together. And the writing process, maybe, you know, four or five, six months here and there. It takes like four months to get ahold of Biz. So that's four months in itself. I'm bad. No, Biz. Hey, Duffy. Biz and I, I texted him and he texted me. It must have been two times each.

And I was like, dude, have you sent Duffy a story yet? He's like, no, fuck. I'm like, neither have I. I would go to do it. Something would come up. Grinnelli knows what I think I'm talking about right now. But finally, I was like, all right, I got to sit down and actually do this. Well, the thing, the reason I was bugging biz so bad, and I hate bugging people. It really, every time I sit down to make that text guys, honestly, I cringe because I hate

doing it. But it was so funny in this book, Bobby Orr was the first email I sent. The very first day I said, I got to start writing this book. I send an email to Bobby or, and I don't pretend to have, you know, I've interviewed him a lot. Certainly he knows me, but I don't pretend to be tight or anything with Bobby or so I think, you know, maybe he'll get back to me or his people will get back to me. So that's 1030 at night, 8am the next day, I get this call from an unknown number and I pick up the phone and it's like, Hey, James, it's Bobby or you're ready to hear my story. And I write this in the book. Like I freaked out. I panicked because I didn't even know how to tape phone calls back then. So the only thing I could think of on the

spot was I get my wife's phone and I put my phone on, on speaker and I'd use the voice memo thing and I record my wife's phone. So I ran into my wife is like ordering something online and she's on the phone with the sales girl. And I'm like'm like honey it's Bobby freaking or I need your phone and she's like yeah yeah yeah so do you have extra small in that in a blue I'm like honey it's Bobby Bobby freaking or I need your phone so this goes on for about six minutes I finally grabbed the phone from her Bobby tells me the story but the point of that ditto Gretzky like I text gretz hey do you think you could have a story that you haven't told in your book 10 minutes later he calls me so i was bugging biz i said i got bobby or in one night i got gretzky minutes four i'll never live this down well and also we have to

shuffle through ones that i could tell in your book which bobby and gret gretzky have never done an ad read that's true okay that's true yeah how many swipe ups have never done an ad read. That's true. That's true. How many swipe ups have they done? We got to talk about world juniors. I mean, we don't, you know, we don't dive too much into it, but this year, because there's no hockey being played,

we are going to, Canada's got to be the favorite in this one. They are. I got to, I just remember, I got to tell you guys a quick COVID story. So this, we're going into this bubble. We got to sit in our room for four days when we get to Edmonton. I leave on Saturday.

And we have to do three COVID tests. So the guy comes to our house to administer the COVID test to me. And then he puts it in a little, you know, goes up my nose. And he puts it in a little plastic bag and says, put it in the fridge fridge and a separate guy is going to come pick it up in the truck or whatever. So I say, no problem. I put it in the fridge and my daughter's home. And I said, I'm going to go downstairs to hit some golf balls. Uh, which is proud of me. I got the little simulator going downstairs and, uh, just call me, call me when, uh, call me when this guy comes or just get it out of the fridge. So I come upstairs an hour later. I go, did he come? And she goes, yeah.

I said, did you give it to him? She goes, yeah, I got it out of the freezer. And I go the freezer. I said, it was in the fridge. So I run to the fridge and the thing is still in there. I said, so what did you give this dude? And she goes, I don't know. It was a little plastic thing with a vial in it i'm going what the hell so now i gotta i gotta call this lab and say uh sorry but uh my daughter gave you the wrong thing they didn't give you my covid test so they call me back and they go okay yeah we have this envelope uh it says uh legale veterinary clinic on it. She gave him, I guess my dog was having these eye problems

and they were injecting some blood serum into his eye. And so that's what she gave the COVID guy. So I tested like negative for COVID, but positive for dog. Rabies. Anyway, yeah. He's not as dirty as us, all right. No, no, no, it's's not it would have been i'm sure

there have been better punch lines for that but uh uh yeah it's coming i'm always pumped you're right canada's is loaded but that does like every forward is a first round pick it's ludicrous because of this weird circumstance we're in with the pandemic and almost everybody being available except for lafreniere but look the americans are to be good the Russians are going to be good so I always think you just never know how these kids are going to react to a situation something goes wrong in a semi-final game you know and suddenly you're down two goals and and I don't think you ever know how how teams are going to react and that's what makes the world juniors great. I've always said the reason it's the best hockey of the year is because there's tons of mistakes.

And they're 18 and 19 and sometimes 17 and 16 years old. And they screw up. And four to one games can go back the other way and be five to four in a heartbeat. And so that's what makes it great. James, Canada's the big chalk minus 130 roughly depending on what site you go on uh but do you think any cinderella plays are worth jumping on i see some 50 to ones out there 55 to ones i mean we're taking a flyer on perhaps what do we got german let's uh switzerland 50 to 1 slovakia 55 germany, even Finland, 701 is, you know, true about it.

I go from fucking Finland's always in the mix. Finland diet, like they're always, isn't supposed to be as good this year. Although Anton Lundell, there might be one of the best players in the tournament. And that whole pesky Finn cliche is true for a reason, right? Like they're, they're not an underdog anymore though. They used to be kind of the fifth wheel at this tournament every Every year, it was funny, every year I could do radio interviews before the World Juniors and they'd say, who are the favorites?

Without even looking at the rosters, you go Canada, Russia, USA, Sweden, good night. And it's, you know, basically there'd be little 10% differences between those teams. But Finland has won two gold medals in, what, the last five, six years. The Finns are a powerhouse now uh i i think ra on the betting you're better off to take like switzerland is always good for at least one at least near upset in the tournament and but but overall upsets like favorites to win it just never happens right

germany you'll upset somebody or take somebody to overtime Switzerland will give you know beat Russia in overtime or something in the in the in the round robin play but it when it once it gets to the medal round it usually never happens you know you know Slovakia creeps into the bronze medal game once every few years but for the most part it's going to be one of those five or two of those five in the gold medal game right what about the checks actually i forgot them at 20 to 1 okay i'm going to be fourth right here uh bobby mack and craig button do the hardcore research when i'm locked in my room for four days i will be studying the check roster but i would be lying to you if i knew any depth right now of the check and there's nothing i I hate more than guys that BS and go on and say,

yeah, well, they got some, you know, they got depth there in the first couple of lines, RA. And that's what we do. Yeah. Guys like you. I'm surprised you came on our show. Oh, geez. I don't know.

I didn't hear what you think of us. I've, I have faked my way through many a relegation game with the world juniors where when I don't know anything, I just go, Bob, the checks, your thoughts uh you mentioned the pressure that they faced in 2010 vancouver just i don't know if americans listening can understand the pressure that these canadian kids go through for world juniors and they're not being paid no they're not um but you know when people i know you're not one of those biz there are people that are that don't like the world juniors because of that.

Hey, did we put too much pressure on these kids? It's funny. Whenever Canada wins, the nation celebrates and goes crazy. Whenever Canada loses, you get a few people on social going, you know, they put way too much pressure on these kids. And my comeback to that is always every single kid in Canada wants to be on that team who plays at that level. They all want that pressure.

They want to be on the world juniors because it's such a grand stage because TSN makes a huge deal out of it every year. That's what they want. And so they love that pressure. And if they lose, yeah, there's a few jerks that take it too far probably in the criticism and I don't believe and I think when we cover it we cover it differently than the NHL because when Canada loses yes it's fair to say they didn't perform well or they underperform

you can criticize but I think at the back of your mind when Bob and I or Craig Button or Gord Miller Ray Ferraro were talking that we're always keeping in mind that they are kids and you're not going to rip somebody and destroy them, you know, the way that, you know, somebody might for a 10 year NHL vet because of what happened in one tournament. And as far as the pressure, is it going to be less this year with no fans? Probably right. I think that that's, it's an amazing boost when you have 18,000 screaming in red and white, but I think maybe it takes a little bit of the heat off when,

when nobody's there for all the teams. Right. No doubt. What's your favorite aspect of covering the journey, James? Just the hockey RA in the end. First of all, we don't get out. We're locked in the studio a lot during the year. And there's nothing like being at live events. And when it's in North America, Bob and I are there. And it won't be as great, obviously, this year because there are no fans there. But anywhere in Canada or the States, like Buffalo was awesome. That outdoor game in Buffalo was fantastic between Canada and the U.S. a few years ago.

It's just the atmosphere is different than anything else. It's different than even a Stanley Cup final. And I always say, you know, Canada, we wave this flag as this big hockey nation, but it's all BS. We're seven different hockey nations that all kind of hate each other, right? Everybody hates the Leafs who's not a Leafs fan. Canucks fans, Sens fans, Flames fans, Jet fans, they all hate the Leafs.

Oilers hate the Flames and the Jets and so on and so forth. And, you know, this is kind of the two weeks where all Canadian fans are kind of the same. I know that sounds hokey. Oh, that's a good way to put it. I never thought of it. They all get into it. They're so crazy during those two weeks.

They're singing and you know people are you know half blitzed at the games it's uh it's just it's just it's an awesome experience it ends up being such a great party at the end of that tournament for teams too i remember playing you had one you had the night after the last game and everyone had 6 a.m fights i'm sure you do the same thing when you're in europe you're quickly out of there so that last night everyone just goes crazy yeah oh i know the kids sometimes it's just like a bus ride and they're gone right yeah yeah it's a celebration of a exactly like a few few hours or whatever so yeah i'd say it's it's my favorite two events of the year are the world juniors and the masters for two different reasons the world juniors just because it's like i said the best hockey that you see all year and there's so much passion for all of the

players all the countries and by the way i'm a you know i'm a proud canadian but i i'm one who likes it when the other countries win i like the last eight years or so it's been great because everybody's won and when canada wins five golds in a row, like they did in that stretch to 2009, it was great for Canadians, but it's not great for the tournament. No, it's not. It's great when Finland wins and, and the U S knocks a couple of golds and Russia wins a couple of golds. I think that's fantastic for the tournament. So, you know, call me a Homer, but I like it when everybody was.

What's the typical workday during this, James? Like 16-hour days, 14-hour days? How long are the workdays here? Yeah, juniors will be long, but there's dick all to do, all right? We literally, in this bubble, there is nowhere to go. We have the hotel in Edmonton and the booth where Bob and I will sit for the whole time. So there's literally nothing else to do.

So we'll get to the rink. If Ferraro ever listens to this, he'll, he'll laugh because him and Gord end up doing almost every game and Bob and I take games off and he always makes fun. All those intermissions that you do are really grueling. The two and a half minute chat that you guys do what we're calling every single game. But I kind of ride Bob's coattails, you know, Bob's at that sort of semi-retirement age.

So Bob always takes the schedule. He's like the godfather. The whole godfather thing is true. So he grabs and gives the World Junior sked, and Bob goes, okay, James and I will do that game, that game. Austria, Germany, not doing that game. That game, that game. And so I just sit back and ride Bob's coattails.

But we're pretty much at the rink. You know, we'll do two games a day. Some of the days we'll do three games. But but it's great there's nothing else to do anyway uh one uh story i forgot to ask you that was in the book uh ray emery his comeback story and i know you were pretty close with him i i don't pretend to be close to him uh biz but i i i worked in ottawa and followed this was covering the sands and I really respected the guy always. I always thought he got a bit of a bad rap. He was one of the first guys who wore the flashy suits to games and things. White Hummer?

Yeah, the White Hummer. He made some mistakes, but at his heart, he was a good guy, and most guys who know him will say that, right? The hockey players who know him best. I love him. When Ray passed, it really bothered me that every story was about troubled NHL goalie Ray Emery dies in mysterious fashion and it it had this sort of cloud about it and I say in the book if you google Ray Emery's name every single story is about the way he died and

Matty Nickel who you guys know the greatest trainer out there and a good buddy I knew that he had he had helped Ray get back from that injury and I a lot of people in hockey had already said and I'm sure I'm not I'm saying something you guys all know that that injury is one of the greatest sort of unreported comebacks ever and so Matty I wanted Matt to tell that story and basically Ray could have been I know people exaggerate these things sometimes, but Ray could have easily been paralyzed. This was a surgery that had only been done on one guy. And he was going to need, there was no way he was going to play in the NHL again.

It was almost impossible, but he wanted to. And so he told Matt, you're going to bring me back to the NHL. And Matt said, buddy, if I get you jogging again, it would be a massive success. And Ray said, no, I'm going to play in the NHL again. And so the story is more about these two guys. And Ray didn't talk to Matt for like a month. Matt thought, who is this guy?

Like, he won't say anything. He'll do all the workouts, but he's not talking to me. He hates me. He's going to fire me. But as soon as he let him in, they became like incredible friends. And Matt will now say now he's gonna fire me oh but as soon as he let him in they became like incredible friends and matt will now say now he's he's the most generous hockey player he's ever met so i just wanted to tell a different side of ray emery that people maybe didn't know because that comeback to win the jennings trophy in the stanley cup in chicago with profford and go what 19 and one with a 1.4 goals against him,

like a nine 60 say percentage or whatever it was that year from what, from where he was at the possibility of not walking again, I just think is one of the most remarkable comebacks in hockey history. That's a great story. I'm excited to read the book. How many total stories are there in there? 57 is what i say i gotta be a ryan whitney chapter i gotta look it up for you guys why didn't you why didn't you sign mine did i did i not oh i did sign yours didn't i don't think you did but i don't think you did

oh you know what happened i think you shriveled me no i, I didn't. The books came out and the editor, the publisher guys love you guys, by the way. HarperCollins, they have big fans. And so they wanted to send books to you guys right away. So before I even had the books, they sent books to you guys. So I promise I will send. Do you know how weird it is, though, for me to send like autograph copies to, to guys like you. It's just more like,

it's so, it's so classy. If you have an autograph, you get a legit book and it's autographed by the author. I'm some dinky cable sportscaster from Canada. I'm a peasant. I'm a pit. I'm a peasant too.

I know. My son is writing to Sydney, to Sid, best wishes. Keep your head up. Shave james duffy dear to wayne all the best say no to drugs keep dreaming large you know it's it just felt so dumb signing my autograph on books to all these legends but i apologize for that you guys will get autographed copies i promise that's awesome well good luck with world juniors i didn't have any uh go ahead go ahead you know i was gonna go down a different path than world juniors so you can oh i was gonna mention the chapters for the spit and chiclets

fans out there just so they can go right to it i'm sure they can business last dance is chapter one two three four five six chapter six in the book and wit one of my old numbers bugsy i'm 57 the overbooked pj i think it's called i'm trying to find it he's like uh overbooked pj that's like chapter page 135 and they don't they didn't number the chapters here so bugsy's involved in the story with wit or he has his own chapter i think but I... But we're told two stories. Yes, that's what I... And we made a... I'm not trying to promote a podcast on your podcast, but they ask you to do an audio book, right?

And I felt stupid just reading my book, you know, like I'm Donald Sutherland or something. While Obama did it. Yeah, that's a little different. Paul Bissonnette was a fine young man when he joined the Coyote. You know, it didn't sound right. So I have this great producer. You know, my version of Mike is this guy named Stoff,

and he's an awesome producer. He does my podcast, the Rubber Boots podcast. And so we decided to do it like an audio book on steroids, where we'd take the chapters, but you'd hear you guys tell them the story and any put in all the, you know, the radio doc kind of sound effects. And they're really cool. We did wits already. We're going to get to business in January, but it's kind of an audio book. Yeah. 2022.

Am I expected to read it back? Did you put my voice memo to you on the pod? Yeah. Did I get permission for that? No, I don't care. But did you take out shit I might have said that was bad? Yeah, I made you look great. But I think I sent it to you.

You just didn't listen to it. I don't listen to fucking anything. I don't listen to anything. I literally sent you the finished version of the podcast. But anyway, your stories were great, guys. And I'm not blowing smoke, but when I sat down, I said, both these guys have to be in the book because they're exactly

what the book's all about. We appreciate that. Different route here. How's the golf game? You mentioned the Masters and there was a big... I think they did something similar to the Sandbaggers biz. What was the deal? It was you and Dubas played – I'm going to butcher it. What was the match?

Odo was involved. Yeah, so my sort of business partner, as Biz likes to call Jeff, is a guy named – another Jeff, Jeff Dykeman up here, who also represents Jerry D, and he's good buddies with Kyle Dubas. Jerry D is the comedian that people in the state should listen to watch mr d which i think is now available in the states great show we just had him on yeah he's awesome so basically he wanted to put together this big charity match for a lot of money and it was ended up being dubas and jerry d against me and odog

jeff o'neill and it was a incredible tragedy uh where I was on fire I'm very streaky I'm probably kind of like Biz and O-O is kind of like Whit he's not I would say O is not as good as you Whit but he's a really good player and uh Jerry D's really good and Kyle's got a good swing but obviously you know doesn't have a chance to play as much because he's a GM and and so I was on fire for the first you know front nine basically and made some birdies and we were up by five strokes and then i completely crumbled down the stretch and oh has never forgiven me and it's all captured on video it's it's horrific wedge game was it your wedge game i was chunking wedges because you know like you guys might be better i could do tv in front of 10

million people but you know they closed down the course there was like four cameras and you had two mic things on and when i start to go south i go south in a hurry and you know i started to question everything about my game and i just i'm a mental midget it was just awful oh still that's great content right there you get more into that speaking of odog he's always dogged us he's not allowed to come on too bad now you now you are odog look at the tsn the absolute the the number one man at tsn's on with us now odog come on when you uh when you guys were talking about uh stories that could or couldn't go in the book i had a book of stories from him that couldn't go in the book yeah oh yeah 90 percent of what paul maurice involved i think that's why he doesn't want to come on your podcast because

he doesn't trust himself to edit himself we'll edit but he is he's very much like you too and that he is he is incredibly self-deprecating he's a hilarious guy and uh yeah so he would be great and he's a great storyteller that's the one thing and i think i'm surrounded by you know jamie mclennan dave pool and mike johnson these guys are awesome storytellers. And so that's what makes it so easy to do a book like that. James, I think you're downplaying maybe your creativity too much. You've got a real creative that you like to scratch. You were behind the Puck Over Glass song.

The panel hang a little video was a huge hit. You were a great actor, by the way. You had an appearance in Goon. Is that something you kind of want to do maybe a little more of as you get older with those just kind of fun side projects? I had a bunch of real idiot friends, R.A., growing up, like real idiots. You guys would have loved them all. Just did ridiculously stupid things.

Every Friday night out was, you know, not about getting girls. It was about pulling the stupidest prank. And I was probably the least funny of all those guys. And so I grew up in that. And I think I always wanted to do idiot stuff and when I joined TSN eventually they let me do stupid stuff I did a bunch of things with Luongo that were really dumb and the puck over glass I always wanted to be a musician I think secretly my dad was a great musician and I never had the talent to actually write music but I could come up with tunes and so we did that puck over glass video and uh and we did another one called

don't take my goal away which is was a boy band we did a parody of like an in-sync video and it was odog and myself and noodles and bob mckenzie does a rap no you know retta makes an appearance hey you guys got to youtube that one it's called don't take my goal away and uh we have i have another brilliant friend lester mclean who's on my pod and he's a brilliant musician who works at tsn so basically i will call him and i'll have like the tune in my head i'll write the lyrics and i'll say lester you got to put this to music and it'll be like uh puck over glass i can't remember how does that go? Like, I worked so hard to make it to the league. And, you know, Puck Over Glass. Hey, ref, kiss my ass.

So, and I'll just sing the tune to him. You got some tunes on you. He'll put it to music. And that's the one thing I'm really, like I have amazing people at TSN, but they've always let me do stupid stuff like that. And that's one of my favorite things about working at this network

is i can be serious on the panel with bob or at the masters but they'll let me do idiotic things and uh i i i think i enjoy that as much as anything else soundcloud rapper next that's what the that's what all the young kids are doing are you on tiktok james you're doing the tiktok stuff it's so funny you say that my daughter did a little tiktok video last night that she put me in and she was all excited today because it went i gotta know i guess viral on tiktok it had like 200 000 views and so she's all she's all pumped up because i got her all these followers on tiktok and now i got all these creepy guys. Yeah, you're like, oh, great, honey. Yeah, yeah.

A bunch of guys wrote, because she's in the video for a second too, and a bunch of guys wrote, hey, there's Duffy, my future father-in-law. Oh, my goodness. That's getting deleted. It goes for the clean ones. We're not using that. We even have a limit here. Can I tell my uh can i tell

my favorite biz uh nhl on tsn appearance oh my that was the first time i'd ever experienced anything like that i didn't understand how much work was involved and then like once you're on you're on and i was hung over every single day you don't have to apologize biz like you're you were awesome and and i'll say this sincerely. I sound like I've been blowing way too much smoke this show. But when Witt, and I told him this, Witt came in. You guys came in for only like two days each. We used to have guest appearances during the playoffs.

And when Witt came in and left, I said, like, that guy, I didn't know it was going to be spitting chiclets and everything. But I said, that guy is going to be like an awesome analyst. If he wanted to be a straight analyst, you would have been awesome at it, awesome at it with i know you do some of that on nhl network thank you and biz your personality was just like you were just blowing up at the time right it was just starting to blow up but this 0.1 1.0 right so i think we were doing either we were doing a nashville vancouver playoff game or we were commenting on a nashville vancouver playoff game or we were commenting on a Nashville Vancouver playoff game during the intermission and it was one of business first intermissions and you know that was this this was at the height of single biz just starting to ride fame and Nashville was uh ahead of Vancouver

it was an elimination game in Vancouver and Nashville was up by a goal or something going to the third period and we were doing our serious panel and I said to biz biz what do you think the Canucks are thinking about the prospects of going back to Nashville and biz said quite seriously oh they gotta love that Nashville is awesome the bars there are amazing I said no no biz I meant the prospect of losing the game and having oh yeah they don't want to go back there for that i was like oh man i have like six of them in there six there last year we spent three days actually i might have had seven yeah i'm like fuck this is gonna be what a city night off the east and they're laughing baby let's go canucks oh my god awesome oh whoopsie whoopsie daisy that was

i think we had um carrie frazier was there as well at the same time carrie frazier butchered a story uh when he came on your podcast yeah what was the story well he got me in trouble too because i had one of our pr people call and say hey just so you know uh carrie frazier told a rather controversial story on spit and chicklets about you guys all watching porn. I'm like, what are you talking about? So what happened was Biz and Kerry Fraser, Kerry Fraser was like our referee analyst during the round. Terrific guy, as you guys know.

And Biz, at one point, I think Biz had gotten a video from a lady that was graphic. the graphic it was graphic and it involved some sort of device or something and he was showing the video to carrie fraser and carrie said that looks just like my brush my hair punch and so bob and i thought this was the funniest thing in the history of the world uh because carrie's just like this incredibly innocent, wonderful guy. Yeah, Biz is like, yo, look at this pussy, dude. And so Kerry ended up getting a Sharpie and signing the brush to Biz from your buddy, Kerry Fraser. And Bob and I just thought that was the greatest thing in the history of the world,

that Kerry Fraser gave Biz a brush because of some semi-porn video that he'd seen i got a little yeah i got a little tiktok of my own there before tiktoks were were you the night that i came on uh was it you know reda that was on or would he would you not have been on with him i was on with you for sure uh i can't remember who was on the yeah. Yeah, Gino gave me shit. He gave me shit. It was the biggest bunch of bullshit. I said something, and we went to commercial. I don't remember exactly what he said.

He's like, oh, yeah, you spoke too quick there. Let the question get to you. You sure it wasn't me? No, it wasn't you. And I remember thinking, like, oh, man, it was the first time. And then McKenzie's like, no, no, you were good. You were good. Don't worry about it. I think that you probably did that to hockey uh they you know they milk you guys when you're there so

you probably did gino show and then came down and did the panel through the team let's go through the line of all the shows right going off the record you know that was my favorite time though uh we don't do that really anymore uh with our our regional games but I loved in the playoffs we'd always have current players in and you know some guys struggled some guys were just awesome right away I would say the best Marty Biron when he first came in uh like the first day I'm like this guy's gonna be awesome even though he's gotten more his French accent has just gotten stronger and stronger over the years I don't know if the guy lives in buffalo and his accent just gets stronger every year french it makes no sense whatsoever uh mike johnson same thing he came in he was playing with phoenix he was awesome and you could tell and and

wit was awesome from the beginning then there's other guy like colby armstrong i can remember he really struggled his first night because he was the same as you biz like it's tough people don't realize you guys are hockey players you've never done tv before and we're asking you okay speak to the camera speak in 20 seconds somewhat of a filter on put somewhat of a filter on that's the biggest thing so i gotta don't i gotta run it through two of them the red light the red light turns on first night torts was on when torts joined us we had a pool about when he would swear and uh i think i had the lowest on the under i had 18 minutes and i lost he was 14 minutes he swore and torts he only dropped like an s-bomb he just said he was talking about he was mad about somebody sean avery or

something and and he or just some some player he was unhappy with. And he just said, shit. And we went to commercial break and I said, torts, you can't, it's TSN. You can't swear. And torts says, I didn't swear. And I said, yeah, you swore we had to show him the tape because, and that's the thing about torts people think he's fake or he's putting on a show. He gets so passionate that he loses his mind and then he doesn't know what he's saying. And yeah, he didn't know that he, that he swore, but, but anyway, you like, it's really,

it's hard to come in there the first time with all the studio lights and people barking things at you. And I can remember Colby, Colby was such a nice guy and Colby's like, guys, what do I say? What do I say? And we'd say, okay, well, Colby, why don't you talk about the power play and say, you know, the penguins really worked it around well. And, you know, they used Malkin at the point. And he'd say, okay. And he'd come on and he'd say exactly what we told him.

Yeah, the Penguins power play really worked well. They used Malkin. And now Colby's become like this awesome analyst for Sportsnet, right? So you come in for two days, it's really – it's hard to do, but you give guys a little bit of time. And it's not rocket science right you could you could learn it it just takes a little few reps army's one of the funniest like best guys i've ever met and he came on the show so we got to play in the minors together and you

know he was traded the year before i was we both went through the same thing and i ended up getting him on this podcast real early before beds when it was just me and ra right okay yeah yeah now he's not at me sorry he was such a big hit right everyone loved him like since then they've been asking for him to come back on i ask him and he won't because he gets he has the worst anxiety he gets so nervous that he's gonna say something like and even before shows he gets he'll still get nervous he gets so nervous that he's gonna say something like and even before shows he gets he'll still get nervous he was like that before games and he's such a funny guy the way he goes about it and talk talk about self-deprecating but he's the man so there's a big um podcast i wish i thought of the name of it right now i'll know it in i want to say saskatchewan

and they they said they're buddies with army and they've been asking me to come on i said if army comes back on chicklets i'll go on your show so army said no right away so now the pressure's really on him but you mentioned him and i i've always have people ask me you got to get him back on well now the ball's in his court he was so good in the book and again i always hesitate to start telling stories on this pod because you guys have probably heard them all but his story about wrestling with Sid and he ends up kneeing Sid in the balls does you know that story no well that's so that's one of the ones in the book is when they were you know I think army just got called up and he's rooming with Sid and they were like goofing around wrestling in the hotel room and he kind of ran across the room and tried to do like a dive off the top rope off the bed. And he, and he needs Sid in the balls and, and Sid, you know, he got swole, real swole.

That's the good kid. Yeah. And they had to go to the trainer. Cause he didn't think he was going to play and army talks about it. He's so funny. He's like, I was just praying, you know, the army was worried that he killed Sid. He's so funny. I was just praying. Army was worried that he killed Sid.

You're right. He's just one of the best. Hopefully we'll get him back. We appreciate you coming on. It's been fun catching up and hearing about your career, your life, and what you do. Look forward to listening to you during – actually, I won't be able to. I won't be able to see the Canadian broadcast during the World Juniors. But still, I'm sure you'll have to log in.

I'm going to get to the – I'll get to the top secret James and Bob only link if you want so you can watch the Canadian bias broadcast, particularly for the Canada-USA game. Bring it on. All right. All right. I'm in. I'll tweet it out to all our followers.

I got you guys well have fun james i'm sure you'll do great and once again the book is called beauties hockey's greatest untold stories available wherever fine books are sold uh so by all means check it out james it was a pleasure and a blast thanks so much for joining us brother i know it was it was my pleasure guys i'm uh huge fans of the pod and uh thanks again for uh again beauty's probably happened because spitting chiclets is so successful so don't sue me okay wow well that's quite an honor thank you so much i'll collect some royalties all right see you boys thank you thanks a bunch to james dutty for jumping on with us that was some good stuff man the guy certainly knows his

world juniors is and as well as the rest of the league but uh just a joy to talk to so hopefully you enjoyed it as much as we did doing it. So listen, folks, this time of year, everybody wants to keep their home and their family safe, whether it's from a break-in, a fire, flooding, or a medical emergency. SimpliSafe Home Security delivers award-winning 24-7 protection. With SimpliSafe, you don't just get an arsenal of cameras and sensors, you get the best professional monitors in the business.

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You also get a 60-day risk-free trial, so there's nothing to lose. Visit simplisafe.com slash chicklets for your free security camera today. That's simplisafe.com slash chicklets. Keep the homestead safe. What do you got, Biz? All right. You know who needs a SimpliSafe is Walter Gretzky. What the heck? What's going on here? This is like small town crime. I thought that would have been a hanging offense in Canada. In case you hadn't heard, Walter Gretzky, the old man of Wayne Gretzky, obviously, someone broke into their house and stole over half a million dollars worth of memorabilia and sold it on the internet.

They actually did it back in August, but they had to track all the items down. And it was actually, well, I hesitate to use the word friend because a friend wouldn't do that to someone. But I guess a former friend of the family and a senior Ontario provincial police officer were charged. I guess they were. A police officer was involved? Yeah. Just absolute travesty walter gretzky this wasn't like they broke into some nerd's basement and like oh this guy got a

stash like they knew it was fucking walter gretzky and wayne gretzky it's like it's like russian rules you're done you're getting the fucking red dot what were some of the um he's got the most like the the biggest things he stole did jerseys and sticks with the big sellers and because they sold them online now if you're online you someone's selling something you're not thinking oh someone fucking stole this off the gretzky's so they didn't arrest any of the people who bought the stuff because they didn't really know it was stolen uh but but they were able to track everything down of course in canada i'm sure once they told people it was stolen from the Gretzky's, they had no problem turning it over.

But then you feel bad for those people who paid money for stolen stuff. Now they're out fucking a few hundred bucks or a few thousand bucks. They take it back from them? I don't know if they spent the money or what. I don't know if they were able to track, get all the dough back. Well, isn't Kurt Minahan doing a small town crime podcast? He's doing like a murder, though. Oh, well, this would probably go number one in Canada.

Who stole and how it all went down. So either way, man. Yeah. Like I said, I'm surprised they didn't string them up in the fucking town square, breaking them. The fucking Gretzky's not. You don't do that. The friends of mine. It's like Ocean 12.

The guys jumping through the lasers in the basement in bradford in bradford on dirt so biz i don't know if you're watching i'm leaving florida coming home tomorrow but i was walking the beach and i get all exercise and i saw all the stuff lit up and it was a big sandcastle like art installation it was called sandhenge and it was like designed almost like stone hedge so i was on my instagram just legit as i saw it come in and all of a sudden i turn and no shit no fucking lie whatsoever there's a fucking warthog sandcastle right there of all the creatures of all the beaches to walk down a legitimate warthog fucking sandcastle because if you listen to the video i did you take a picture beside it oh yeah i took a picture of it not it, because it was dark and I was by myself. But when I was making the tape, like, oh, look at these sandcastles.

And then all of a sudden, I just happened to come upon a fucking warthog sandcastle. It was meant to be, buddy. It was all meant to be. Come full circle on you. You just started snorting at it? I gave a little snort in the old Instagram. All right. What else do you have written down? snorting at it i gave a little snot the old instagram so all right what else so so um well what else do you have written down uh i got lamar jackson 21 year old getting arrested in calgary

on video tom cruise is nutty on the mission impossible set yeah he was flipping on those people jesus is that how like actors act they just scream at people that was the barista at the starbucks in boston the first day i got there and apparently all he saw was was two guys on set like standing close to each other but they had their masks on yeah they weren't six feet apart like i mean he the christian science they'll come at you too they'll gun down whoever he wants to gun down scientology just for the sake of scientology whatever it is it is. Those people are wackos. You'll find me defending religion to laugh at them.

Oh, great. Now we got another war. Yeah, he went. That was similar to the Christian Bale, but I think he went a little bit more over the top for something that wasn't as serious. Guys, when you're on these Hollywood sets, it's like high stress anyway. And he does his own stunts. He does his own stunts.

There's timelines. It's just like a. And he wears a lot of caps i'd imagine so yeah you know maybe get a cup of tea yeah it was it was fun i don't kind of funny to hear but he i mean he is the star man he's the reason they're all these guys are all working and i guess you know i mean i don't know what the exact situation was but if if guys were too close together, man, it's like... How funny is the guy who grabs his phone and just gets the audio recording going? He's like, yes. Seriously. I'm going to get so awesome.

This is going viral. TMZ. World star up in his face. Oh, shit. Suckers him. Hey, wait. Did you have... Somebody's like, mashed potatoes.

Oh, is that what they say at the golf course yeah fuck did you ever end up starting the mandalorian uh wet on disney no i've never watched one star wars but i don't know anything i think biz has watched it i checked out after the first three okay yeah if you're not into the star wars i could see why not uh but yeah the finale was the other night it was fantastic but. But you guys didn't see it. So we'll move along. We mentioned the sandbagger already. I'm sure you watched Tiger and Charlie Woods mucking up the course all weekend. They were the last six holes in a sandbagger.

Yeah. Anyway. All of a sudden, Charlie Woods is putting me and you in a mine pretzel. And we're just like down on the ground and sitting Indian style. He's doing keg stance. So I thought it was awesome to see and the coolest part about about the whole thing was Tiger Woods is he's like once in a lifetime once there's no one else like him I would argue Tiger Woods is better at golf than anyone's ever been

at any other sport like I he was he transcended sports he's and so he you never get to see this guy like a normal person he doesn't live a normal life nothing about him is normal until you watch him like play golf with his kid now granted they're both amazing and the kid's 11 years old and he's already a scratch golfer but to see like Tiger Woods as a father, it's actually so cool because he's never, he's never looked as normal to me at least. And when you see like, he's actually so fired up for his son, he made an Eagle out there and the kid was all, all business. He's just walking on the next tee,

but you could see tigers just having a blast like watching your kid do that. So I thought that was awesome. And, and, and now people talk about the expectations put on the kid i think that if you're doing that you're crazy i mean to talk about an 11 year old playing on the pga tour that's you're just it's it's there's there's the odds you say he's on the trajectory to do that based i don't even think no i don't i won't even say trajectory at that age i think i think i think if you were one of the best i think if you're one of the best golfers in the in your in the country or in the world at 13 14 i'm gonna

say you go to the peewee championships of golf uh no no they did not he did not there was a course in quebec but he shot three over par so i still run that town uh i think though at 12 maybe 12 13 14 if you're one of the best golfers in the country or the world, you could say you're on the trajectory. 11, man, I'm not saying it yet. Hockey, too. If you showed me an 11-year-old who was the best player in Canada, yeah, the trajectory's like, I don't know, man, 11?

You'd be getting called out on the ring shrink in no time. I think it's awesome awesome though with at one point where his you know where the personal life side and how how shut down he was to the world when he was on that massive come up it's it's been a treat to watch him on the back side of it and how he's able to enjoy it and i think he's feeling a lot less of the pressure but more of the love from not only golf fans but sports fans in general so it's kind of you know as somebody who's not very dialed into golf but i was always a tiger fan and always watching it's like from the humanity aspect of it it's fucking awesome and then to see

him out there with his kid and how silky his kid is it's like if he could pass the torch cool well if any good maybe just maybe if he could be if he could get amateur status then maybe we'd give them the invite to the sandbagger we'll think about it i don't know if tiger is ready for the stage pga tour sent out a tweet two minutes of them video side by side like the classic like a kid who looks just like his dad has the same type mannerism so it was awesome i thought it was fun to watch one thing biz if this kid does turn out to be a good golfer i mean there's no better person to get wisdom from than his father because his father can tell him all the mistakes to avoid the tiger you know had himself so either way people are going to have eyes on the kid so he'll have some pressure on him being the son of tiger woods

being on tv already but kid looks like a phenom either way uh lots of hockey news this week with so we didn't really get to the soccer stuff yes Yes, so it's a long episode right now, so we'll actually talk soccer next week more in depth. And yeah, if you want to complain, shut up. What I say about golf and how's the sandbagger doing? Now we're going to have a talking soccer segment because business taking picking a team in the Premier League. I'm Chelsea, guys, the Blues, Chelsea Football Club.

I looked at. OK, so everyone's like, you can't pick one of the power six teams. I'm like, dude, I want to make sure the game's on TV. I'm not going to pick now as cool as it is. Biz may pick a team that's, that's in the middle or at the bottom and trying to get up, trying to stay away from relegation. I'm picking a team that has the chance to win it. And not only am I picking a team that has a chance to win it they're young they're hungry and i've done all the research i can i've talked to a bunch of people online chelsea brought back the best player they've ever had for their team maybe frank lampard he's i don't even know if i'm saying the names right

that's okay he's a legend that anyway he's a legend for chelsea he's a legend for chelsea and then he went on now he's a manager And they hired him as a manager because they got banned from having transfers for a year. So apparently they got caught. I've been told they got caught doing what everyone does. And that's like find a 15-year-old phenom some part of the world and you send him to a private school in London. And all of a sudden he's playing for your team. He's playing for your 15 and under team. And then all of a sudden he makes the senior. team he's playing for your under 50 you're 15 and under team and then all of a sudden he makes the senior now who knows what happened but they couldn't have transfers so they brought back this guy as a manager he didn't have

much experience but he's a legend for the team and they're young like I said they got guys who came to that Chelsea organization eight years old biz and their dream was playing for the senior team how cool is that the drama and soccer and growing up playing for the senior team. How cool is that? The drama in soccer and growing up, playing for the Chelsea organization from the time you were seven years old and then getting to the Premier League. And they got a Russian owner. They got a Russian owner who they spent a ton of money this year.

Now we can't go to the game. They got a couple. No, we can. They got a couple Germans. They got a couple Germans as this Werner. He's underperformed this year, but they got the best U.S. soccer player. What could be the best U.S. soccer player what could be the best U.S. soccer player everyone like Pulisic so they won today my first day I'm talking too much because I want to go really in and have

segments about the Premier League I'm all in and I'm going I'm going to a Chelsea game I've gotten a few recommendations somebody's been saying Leeds is is quite the place to watch a game i've been here in crystal palace and it sounds like a strip club so i'm kind of already down like i'm already thinking of the pink whitney promos with fucking crystal palace so and the rowdy fan base doing you know well we don't need to go into details uh so i'm gonna pick a team i watch sunderland till i die which is a documentary it's got two seasons. I don't know what the fan base is rowdy enough for me, but I really respect how these teams that get relegated and they don't have much money are trying to compete and create this culture where they can

compete with the Chelsea's and the menus and the man cities and all these Russian billionaires. Yeah. Man city was an option, but they're a little older. And I, I, I, when I, the only other time I've ever watched soccer, Orpik watched a lot in Pittsburgh. And I remember watching Chelsea play in the Champions League.

They had this player, Ballack, Michael Ballack from Germany. This guy was a stallion, and he was nasty. And I remember being like, oh, I'm into Chelsea. So now I'm getting back in. Now I was never fully in. Now I'm all in. I'm gambling. And so I also looked at Tottingham.

They're the most boring soccer team I've ever watched. And their their their manager is a legend, right? This guy's considered one of the best of all time is Portuguese guy. They're like the devils. He's like Lamarillo. They just it was and that's who gas roots for. No surprise, which is odd because uh i believe crystal palace is owned by the new jersey devils owner really so that's kind of yeah there's another

connection you'll make your team and next week we're doing or i'm doing some maybe we release it on the side i'm doing talking soccer i'm all right i'm rooting for ted lasso's team uh one of the reminder check out the sandbagger we got got Hazy and Yandel dropping on rail. And also one other note, Biz, sorry. We're doing the Dozen Trivia with Jeff D. Lowe. Me and Biz and Witta defending our title later tonight. I'm not sure exactly when it's going to be dropping, but keep an eye out for that.

We'll be tweeting it out from the Chicklets account. Me, Biz, and Witta are going to go defend our trivia title on the Dozen with Jeff D. Lowe. Be there, 7.50 p.m. Eastern time tonight. Sandbagger Invitational, Cohasset Golf Club, myself and Ryan Whitney. And G was there too, helping us out. Versus Keith Yandel and Kevin Hayes. We will see you there.

Be there with a glass of Pink Whitney. And let's fucking go, baby. Bring the birdie juice. YouTube channel. Spittin' Chicklets YouTube. As always, we like to thank our awesome sponsors channel. Spittin' Chicklets YouTube. As always, we like to thank our awesome sponsors here on Spittin' Chicklets. Big thanks to our friends and fam over at New Amsterdam Vodka and Pink Whitney.

Huge thanks to everybody over at DHM Detox for making us feel good the next day. Big thanks to our friends over at Cross Country Mortgage. If you're looking to refi or buy, by all means, check them out. Big thanks to our friends at NHTSA for keeping us safe on the roadways. And a huge thanks to everybody over at Simply Safe for keeping us safe in our homesteads. Have a great week, everybody. landscape till this room for 24 days evergreen sparkling snow get this winter over with flashback to springtime song again would have been good to go for lunch couldn't agree we're both free we tried we said we'd keep in touch in the course till summertime out to the beach to his boat could i join him no this time it was me sunburned in the third degree now the calendar's just one page of course i am excited

tonight's the night i've set my mind i could do too much about it