Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 320: Featuring Chris Thorburn + Professional Fan Cameron Hughes

Episode Date: February 16, 2021

On Episode 320 of Spittin’ Chiclets the guys are joined by Chris Thorburn and Cameron Hughes. Thorby joined (58:51) to discuss winning the Stanley Cup, playing with Whit and Biz, some hilarious pranks and a bunch more. The guys then break down all the recent NHL news, including Burkie/Hextall in PIttsburgh, the Canucks/Preds struggles, the Golden Knights golden buckets and tons more. We were then joined by professional fan Cameron Hughes (02:28:07) who joined to discuss why teams pay him to come dance in their arenas. The guys wrap up talking about Biz’s vacation, the Brittany Spears doc and much more.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 320 of Spittin' Chicklets presented by Pink Whitney from our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka here in the Barstool Sports Podcast family. Hopefully everyone's doing alright out there. Let's say hi to the gang first before we get cracking. Mikey Grinelli, how was your Valentine's Day, young fella? right out there. Let's say hi to the gang first before we get cracking. Mikey Grinelli, how was your Valentine's Day, young fella? Valentine's Day was fantastic, but I myself, I'm a big birthday guy. I know Ryan Whitney has a birthday coming up this week, so happy birthday, Ryan. I hope all the listeners reach out and say happy birthday. February 19th. Oh. Yeah, you are a big birthday

guy. Just happened to drop it online accidentally. Next up, The biz man. I saw your Instagram photos. Looked like you had a nice Valentine's Day for yourself. Simp nasty's back. I told you guys I was taking those couples photos, and I was holding them, and I was waiting. That's what good boyfriends do, guys. They wait to release the arsenal on Valentine's Day, hit them with a big blast. What did you think of that, Whit? Simp nasty fucking.

Yeah, I mean, I remember when you told us about the couples pictures. You're like, what did you guys do before your couples pictures nasty fucking uh yeah i mean i remember when you told us about the couple's pictures like what did you guys do before your couple's pictures were like uh we didn't do them till we had kids but still they looked great you guys both look phenomenal mr vanning i love you he looked pretty good nice little gray beard on him um my valentine's day was phenomenal now listen i gotta go back and shirt myself a little bit i think it was last year i got my group chat at home with all my best buddies and i said something like nobody with Valentine's Day was phenomenal. Now listen, I got to go back and shirt myself a little bit. I think it was last year. I got my group chat at home with all my best buddies, and I said something like, nobody with the Valentine's Day post this year, guys.

Enough of this. It's ridiculous. It's not even a real holiday. Then sure as shit, I ended up posting one, and I have been ridiculed by that night when they saw that I posted one after I was the one to say don't. It was like I got buried. So I just put a little couple pictures on the story.

I don't post a picture. It's like, come on, just do the story. I'm a big story guy. But Valentine's Day, like I said, what a crock of shit. I still think, though, it's nice. We had a date night. So that's always a good time. I'm down in Florida right now.

I'm crushing a green smoothie. I feel healthy as ever. I'm going to the gym down here. I feel good. It's nice out. I'm playing golf later. There. I'm crushing a green smoothie. I feel healthy as ever. I'm going to the gym down here. I feel good. It's nice out. I'm playing golf later. There's a million things to talk about. So let's fucking rip it and roll it, boys.

Time to go. There are a lot of things to talk about. I actually had a pretty busy weekend as far as work. We had two Coyotes games. I ended up taking in a few docs, Free Britney being one of them. We'll get to that a little bit later i also watched another one about the earth's soil and it was specifically the united states and how it's getting dried out from all the chemicals they use and how you know you know what i'm talking about uh all right i haven't seen that documentary but yeah i mean we've been

basically fucking poisoning the ground here for a while so So I'm sure it's in rough shape. It's called Kiss the Ground. It's a documentary on the earth, soil and CO2 emissions. And it's actually narrated by Woody Harrelson. I recommend it. It was kind of a weird guy to have narrating, but it actually worked pretty good. And I really enjoyed the documentary. And we're recording very early Monday.

Well, very early for me. I should have just fucking stayed up all night. Biz, you're off to Aspen soon, correct? I'm leaving for Aspen in a couple hours. Yeah, I'm going to go skiing for the first time. I'm really excited. I got a buddy there. Actually, the buddy who ended up chipping in some money for that ECHL Player Relief Fund.

His name's Sheldon Walensky. I think he played at University of Alabama. Huntsville? Huntsville, and he was part of that group that ended up saving the program. I think they raised half a million dollars. Butcher Gross was tweeting about it, and he helped out as well. So I'm looking forward to a couple days in Aspen, hit up a few restaurants, and hopefully learn how to ski.

That John Denver's full of shit, man. We got a pair of guests too we got a long time nhl chris thorburn uh we spent about close to an hour with him great interview we'll get to that later and we also have professional fan cameron hughes uh biz chatted with him a while back so we'll get to that a little bit later uh first i want to let you know now that hockey is back you're gonna have to find your shot and what better way to do that than pink whitney from january 1st through march 26 we are giving Chicklets fans a chance to win a custom Pink Whitney shot machine. All you have to do is post a picture of you in your Pink Whitney and use the hashtags

Hashtag Pink Whitney, Hashtag Take Your Shot, Hashtag Sweepstakes. We'll be picking winners from the U.S. and Canada every other week, so make sure to get creative with your submission. We got one from some college in Canada the other day. There was like 100 bottles of fucking Pink Whitney in a pyramid, man, putting some work in up there. All right, getting to the news here. We had some tough news out of Canada, particularly in Vancouver. There's Canadian telecom giant Bell, which owns TSN.

They cut 210 jobs and suddenly shut down sports radio stations in Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Hamilton. Dan O'Toole being the biggest name who was laid off of Jay and Dan fame. Per the Hollywood Reporter, Bell continues reducing operating costs while Canada's ad-supported cable TV market shrinks amid cord cutting and the dominance of U.S. streaming services. Basically, they're loaded, but they're blaming it on money. But what was weird is they didn't tell anybody in the building. They literally just played a recording. It wasn't even a human voice. It was like a robotic voice. And then they played that Green Day song like, we hope you had the time of your life. What's it called? Good riddance. It was like,

it was almost like a fucking cruel joke, but it's just awful, man. And losing their jobs. But it's always worse when it's just like a conglomerate who can afford it, but they just choose not to biz. Yeah, a lot of people in Canada were it was it was a bit of a blind side especially in the in the course of a pandemic knowing that a company's making pretty good profits and then right after the bell let's talk stuff and it's just yeah it didn't look good uh you know to all the people who got laid off i mean we're thinking of you. Sometimes this industry can be a kick in the nuts. I don't know. I don't really know what else to say.

It's just a real shitty time for something like that to happen. Did you say there was an announcement over the loudspeaker of the building? No. People went to work that day. Nobody had any clue that this was happening. Yeah, but what about the voice you're talking about? At 9.30, the station played went to this announcement and if you listen to it it sounds like an automated voice me like not even tough it doesn't even sound like a human voice and

it's just like just imagine the crew imagine the crew like that are sitting together like how do we tell them how are we going to do this and the guy's like well let's get this voice that sounds like siri and we'll just announce it to all of them like a computer. And they're all like, good idea, Jim. Let's do that. And then they decide to actually pull that off. That's a bunch of bullshit. I feel really bad for those people.

And like you said, R.A., for it to just happen so sudden. That just makes it even more difficult. People in the building were getting texts from outside saying, oh, sorry about it. And the people at the building were like, what are you talking about? They didn't even know. People from outside were fucking texting them outside saying, oh, sorry about it. And the people at the building were like, what are you talking about? They didn't even know. People from outside were fucking texting them because they might not have heard the message. It's like when Bobby Mac broke my trade to Edmonton. Yeah, and employees were told they had 30 minutes to collect personal items before corporate security implemented a shutdown process.

Like, you're fired, and you get a half hour to get out of the building. And I guess the stations in Vancouver and Winnipeg, they're going to play stand-up comedy routines. I don't know. I would rob that place blind. I'd be stealing their pens, T-shirts, grab a computer, a couple Apple products. What a joke. Well, hopefully all those people end up landing on their feet

and get back in the industry somehow because that's a bummer. Yeah, just typical corporate scumbag shit. All right, moving right along. Let's get to the hockey. That's what we're here for. The Central Division, we're going to lead off this week. Patrick Lanny was the huge story that happened just after we recorded last week. His fifth game in Columbus, I believe it was, benched by torts.

Everyone was guessing this, guessing that, all because he was lazy on a couple goals. But Columbus Dispatch was the first to report he was benched because he, quote, mouthed off to one of the assistant coaches. That's a bad look for a fucking guy just getting to a team. You know, I think all was well Saturday night at a six night. He fought Chicago's Brandon Hagel after Hagel bundled Jack Roslevic. But, Biz, I know you were champing at the bit to get to this one.

What a week. What a week for a lot. I feel like it's been a month. He's going to be the guy who wins. You know when they just do best week ever and then worst week ever? He was like both guys. I mean, he went from getting benched. I don't know.

What was the verbal about? Just like maybe a defensive responsibility and him arguing with the coach. And next thing you know, he's getting benched. The internet's exploding. And I think Atkinson had a quote after that game and I want to say line eight ate it pretty well like he said I gotta be better there's some things that I can improve on and then Atkinson which we've been kind of reiterating from the beginning like that culture inside that locker room like they believe in torts they believe in in you know what they feel

that they need to the bring they need to bring to the rink every night in order to have success. And it seems like everybody is buying in. So the next thing you know, Laine must have drank the Kool-Aid. He's part of the cult. Next thing you know, he's fucking trying to cave guys' faces in. And now he's chasing Gordie Howe hat tricks. What do you think, Whit? Well, I thought that it was pretty interesting why, like,

people are all of a sudden making up and guessing as to why he got benched. He's lazy on certain plays. And Tortorella was very clear. It had nothing to do with his play. It was all about, and whether he said fuck off or what he said, it was Brad Larson who played in the NHL, played pro hockey for a long time. He mouthed off to him. And, you know, I think that right after he did something like that

he's probably like what am i doing right the the the the emotions are high in the nhl right you're coming to a new team you're trying to fit in and all of a sudden you do something you should you shouldn't have done and you're benched and i think that makes total sense you bench a guy if he's going to mouth off to especially to an assistant coach i think we've heard of different culture coaching player relationships in the past when you talk about uh hitchcock and guys kind of giving it back to him and him almost liking it well it all depends on who you are but if you're going to go at an assistant coach that's one that's a that's a different thing where the head coach is like hey hold on show some respect you just got your gitch bag and now you're telling the assistant to fuck

off exactly so line a uh when when he got on the ice the next day of practice or whenever they skate again he went right over to larson and they had a long conversation and by the end you know he's he's he's kind of like tapping his chest and they're they're all good right like that's water under the bridge like i said when the emotions are high it's going to be over but i understood why he's benched but tortorello is upset with the medians in a sense of like you guys are just creating reasons as to why i sat him down he's i don't want he i think he said i don't like benching players well torts i don't know about that i think sometimes you love it but line a in the end i think will fit in there i think it's going to take a little time but like you say the culture is so solid and they're so aware of how they have

to play and how tortorella wants them to play. And I think the guys have all bought in, like you said. So it's a little bump early, but he's going to be a big part of that team. And Roslovich, Jesus Christ. I'm just going to go over to him quick because the line-A benching was a while ago, and it was funny that it happened that quick. But once it came out, there was disrespect involved. It's water on the bridge. I repeat myself. Roslovich, Jack Roslovich, what a player.

Yarmulke Kalayan said when he got him, he's a top six center, and people thought of him as a wing, and he never really got the chance that he won in Winnipeg, and we've been over. That's why he didn't even go to camp. He requested a trade. His agent's Claude Lemieux. Well, he comes over, and he shows what he can do, and it's not just about his speed and his skill, and that goal against Chicago. Was it chicago or carolina oh my god maybe the goal of the year so far just threw the legs dangles two people it was so sick but not only is that it's his strength on the puck this guy he doesn't look that big six feet six one buck 90 but like he's somebody and you see so many players like this who don't look overly uh strong or or overly tough to push off the puck but for some reason he is and he's able to get down low and create and hold on to it and the one number the numbers that kind of blew up stood out to me before he came to columbus

and line a as well uh the blue jackets were at 2.57 goals per game, which was 23rd in the league, and the power play was at 5.3%, which was 30th. Just one team worse. And since then, the Jackets are 3.11 goals per game, which is 11th in the NHL in that time, and the power play is at 26%. So it's like this guy's rubbing off on everyone, and he's able to play a role that he always thought he could play, and he didn't get the chance. And it's amazing to see, because when a player really bets on himself and says i'm not going get rid of me it's like all right man like wherever you end up if you do end up somewhere you better show up and he has so it's good for him and good american boy and i mentioned before austin matthews talked about how sick this kid was when he played with him at the national program

years back and you can tell he still has that game. Is that guy went back? Is he officially back after that one? He never left, dude. He never left. Sometimes you go to sleep, you take a nap. I'm back, baby. Four goals, five assists in nine games so far in Columbus.

Go ahead, Biz. Did you have that quote from Atkinson? Because it was right after the benching game. I did. And his quote was actually before why everybody knew he was benched. But it still applies to Torts. He says, Torts expects us to play as hard as we can. It doesn't matter who you are.

And I think everyone knows that. If you're not giving 100% and look like you're trying, he's going to sit you. It's no secret. That goes for everybody, myself included. I've been that guy plenty of times. He just wants the guys that are going to work. It's not always going to be pretty. You might be playing with a lot of different guys,

but for the most part, if we play the right way and stick to our concepts of playing north and four-checking hard, it doesn't matter who you play with. And if my memory serves me correct, I believe Atkinson, after he signed that pretty nice deal that he got, that next season afterward, he went through a bit of a rough patch where he ended up being health-bombed a couple games. So that's a guy speaking from experience.

Yes, I believe it was Carolina he had the two goals against. But how about Laine to put the cherry on top? He ends up scoring that beauty. I think it was a wrister, off the rush, top cheese against Chicago. And then was it his post-game interviews? Post-game interview, Grinnelli, roll the clip. Quite an active first period for you. You had a goal and a fight. Just describe each of those if you would yeah I think uh I think if

you know the goal I think that was textbook top cheese um you know it doesn't doesn't really get get any better than that and uh the second one kind of you know legs weren't quite quite going so i had to uh get myself going some other way and uh you know there was a good uh good spot and he he accepted to challenge and had a pretty good uh good tilt and uh you know just focus on the third now yeah now go out and get that assist in the third period and finish off your gordy how hat trick right yeah exactly that's what I'm going for and get the two points. I mean, fuck, dude. This guy's an absolute comedy show right now. I'm becoming

a super fan. He might have to get a restraining order on me if he continues this bullshit. Yeah, his presses are becoming funny. Called a guy a pigeon earlier this year, too. So that wasn't the only surprise news out of Columbus. Miko Koivu retired after 16 NHL seasons.

He signed with Columbus in the offseason, but played just seven games with them. You know, and of course, this is another story, Biz. Everyone jumped on, oh, you know, this happened right after the line-A bench. And someone's like, oh, he doesn't want to play for Torts. And it was like, no, dude, like settle down, everybody. Had nothing to do with Torts.

He made it clear. He just, he had nothing left, basically, is what he said. I think Yamo just took a shot on an aging countryman, a guy he's known for a long time. Maybe see what he still had. Because, you know, Minnesota let him go and basically didn't think he had much left. And he said he didn't have it. He said what it came down to was I wasn't able to play at the level I want to play at.

I feel for myself that if I can't do the job on the ice the way I want to do it, it impacts me in the dressing room with the things I trust I want to do. Every game was kind of like I had a push to get ready. I just couldn't get into the rhythm. I just didn't feel the way I wanted to do it. It impacts me in the dressing room with the things I trust I want to do. Every game was kind of like I had a push to get ready. I just couldn't get into the rhythm. I just didn't feel the way I wanted to feel as a hockey player and being also to enjoy the game. He also pointed out how much respect he had for Tortorella. So hell of a career, hell of a player. I know you played against him a few times.

Yeah, I've been playing against him since Quebec TV tournament. No, I don't think Finland had a team that year. They weren't able to get in. At least they didn't make the finals. Listen, this guy, since I first started playing international hockey, was such a beast. And him... Oh, what a shirt it is.

I love that. Him and Tuomo Ruto, who ironically enough both had older brothers, Yarko and Saku Koivu, who maybe helped... Of course probably helped them growing up and becoming the players they were, but they were 83s from Finland and playing against them, it was like they were so much better than any 83 that we had in the United States. They were in the NHL real young, both of them, and they were just horses. As all these Finns are, it's like the lower body, so much strength on the ice,

so much professionalism, even at a young age. I feel like Finns are, it's like the lower body, so much strength on the ice, so much professionalism, even at a young age. I feel like Finns are just off the ice. They know how to approach the game. They know how to approach, and they'll also have fun, but they know how to get ready to play and get ready to improve before practice and training. So it was like watching Koivu at that age, and we were 17, 18, I was like, oh, my God, it was like a man amongst boys.

This guy's going to be so good. I luckily had the chance to play with Saku in Anaheim. And what a guy. I think many times it's been said he was just a dream teammate and an amazing player in what he went through with his cancer. And Miku was really no different from what I've heard because he showed up all the time. And I thought what was cool is when you hear about his retirement,

you saw Tortorella have some quotes in that when he met with him, he just told him, like, forget about what's happened here. It's been so quick. Your career was as a Minnesota Wild, and I was always such a big fan of watching you play. Like, I actually think that we've turned Columbus into a team, this is Tortorella speaking, that kind of played the way you did. Our team tries to play the way you approached your career, and it was just being tough to play against. It was never giving up. It was always being in the right place defensively and offensively it's just an all-around awesome player and so getting the chance to see a guy that I grew up playing against and to see how long he played over a thousand games over 700 points it's just an honor to have

a chance to play against somebody like that so I think when he looks back he'll he should be so proud he never won a Stanley Cup, but he played in the Olympics. He played in world championships. He played playoff games. It was like this guy did it all. He'll have his number retired by the Minnesota Wild for sure, no doubt, when fans are back. I know that was mentioned.

And I think when you talk about retirement, I've read something by Bill Belichick. I've said it before. Long ago I read it's like when are you ready to retire? Probably the first time you kind of start thinking and asking yourself, am I ready? It's like, that's the beginning. And I don't know when that happened.

And maybe it was just this off season. I know he's got three kids, like two, five, and seven that he's away from right now. And if you don't feel the love and the passion towards the game, that's when you know. And I think his most telling quote was how he mentioned,

like, I don't feel like that feeling before the games. It's, like, hard to get myself going. And that's never happened to people. And when it does, you realize, like, my time's up. But what a run and what a player. I couldn't agree more as far as, like, even really Scandinavian, just the way they handle their business. And I think that that's, think that they're so in tune.

That's why I think when they get a little bit of leash, they get so fucking buckled when they go out and party. Oh, they love getting buckled. Fins get fucked up. Fins get fucking fucked. They get crippled. Fins will drink you under the table. They'll smash your face in if you say anything to them.

They're just savages. And then they'll show up. They'll be the first person at the rink the next day and they won't say a peep they'll just be in their stall and it's just like it was like project x the night before and you're looking at the guy like really you're just gonna you're gonna stroll in here like nothing happened you were the craziest motherfucker on the planet last night yeah like guy and you're getting your tip state what did i say last episode you're ticking your state. And you're getting your tip staked. What did I say last episode? You're ticking your stape right now. You're ticking your stape after what you did at the club two hours ago.

And then they're first in line to do the drills. And then they're also like going at you hard in a battle drill. It's like, dude, I was literally in a cab with you home from the club like 90 minutes before this practice. How are you doing this to me right now? One other note about Columbus. Congrats to Miku Koivu. Well said. That was a hell of a tribute. Columbus also in the process

of trying to get fans back in the building. They're just waiting on approval from the Ohio Department of Health. They'll be able to get 10% capacity, which is just under 2,000 fans. So a couple other teams, we'll get to that a little bit later. Biz, next up, we're going to chat Nashville. Not because they've been good they've

been terrible yeah what let's go well actually before we get to you adrian data he's been a long time avalanche beat reporter he tweeted yesterday he's hearing whispers that quote john hines is in some real trouble definitely on hot seat uh it's not a good sign for a guy who's only been there 43 games over two seasons this team has clearly lost its mojo from a couple years ago. Biz, let's go to you. Yeah, I mean, you know, there's quite a few stories going around the league, but I thought this was probably one of the biggest ones right now for a team that's, like, drastically underachieving.

Some, you know, big contracts were given out. If I'm not mistaken, Hines was hired, like, six days after he got canned in New Jersey, right? I'm not sure what the time frame was, but it wasn't long after. I love when you ask questions that we know no clue that you don't either. I love when you do that. Well, it was a quick turnaround. He wasn't having any type of success in New Jersey.

And then all of a sudden he gets this job, which coming out of that situation seemed like a bit of a dream scenario. You got a little bit more skill to work with, some guys that are proven. I mean, you got like Arvidsson's a legitimate scenario. You got a little bit more skill to work with, some guys that are proven. I mean, you got, like, Arvidsson's a legitimate player. You got Forsberg. You got a couple aces on the back end. You got, well, arguably one of the best, if not the best defensemen in the league. Goaltending's pretty solid.

And this team just has not looked good. And they're not getting rid of any of these guys who are locked into these contracts. So I don't really see any way out of this for Poyle, good and they're not getting rid of any of these guys who are locked into these contracts so i don't really see any way out of this uh for poyle who's the winningest gm i believe in nhl history with over 1400 wins so he's probably gonna have to change this up and i i don't i don't know anything about heinz's coaching habits or or styles but you know he he had the opportunity in new jersey it landed extremely flat we're seeing the type of success that they're having now or at least more than they did with him

and then now this in Nashville so I I message skillsy and I'd like to get either him or Mason on here to give us a more in-depth look about what's going on they just have no mojo and one of the most I'd say obvious situations is probably the contract to Duchesne and maybe the lack of production out of him. I mean, Forsberg's really the only guy. Johansson, too. Johansson. Johansson, big time.

He hasn't been healthy, right? Exactly. He's missed games, but he doesn't have a goal in 10. That's why it's like I understand if the coach is on the hot seat, and for sure, he comes in, the team hasn't done anything. But you look at the players and like the lack of production by these guys. Now, is it the coach's fault for the system they're playing? The lines that he's putting out there?

Is it just kind of on the players for not playing great? And you have two good goalies, especially regular season-wide. Both of them aren't playing well. It's like Saros is beneath 900 save percentage. I think that Rene is just above it. It's like the whole team is underperforming, and this is one of those situations where it's a team that you think could make the playoffs.

They're certainly in their window, right? And it's one of those starts. Can you come back from a start like this? I mean, there's so many teams in that division that have missed so many games. They're going to catch up. It's like, I don't know. It's a weird thing going on there. And maybe it's a team who really struggles not having fans in their building

when you get such a home ice advantage there. But they're not terrible at home. They're awful on the road. I think they've won once. So weird time to see if the coach gets changed, which would be a quick turnaround again after the firing of LaViolette. And then also if there's a

trade to be had. But it's definitely probably a stressful couple mornings and afternoons and evenings for David Poyle right now. Shout out to Grinelli. So he was fired on December 3rd and hired on January 7th. Maybe I was thinking of DeBoer or another coach where it was a quicker turnaround.

But ultimately, he wasn't left on the bench very long, got that job right away. And a little over a year later, he's once again on the hot seat. And I think that they have the type of group and the players that they could definitely turn this around. And that's why I think that if you see one or two more games the way they've been playing, I wouldn't be surprised if they had to replace him.

Now, who are some coaching candidates that are on the shelf right now that are just waiting for a job? Is there any big names that are popping out? I can't see Babcock getting a job this quick. Boudreaux is probably the first name that comes to mind. Bruce Boudreaux. I don't know how much his room has picked up speed Imagine the barbecue sauce in Nashville on his shirt Oh you thought it was bad in D.C. or Anaheim

I want them just to get hired And they could do like a once a week rib eating contest Or some shit just to see how that'll go Him sweating eating that Gerard Gallant too Oh yeah I'm looking at an article uh from Adam Vingen on the Athletics saying that Hines is getting the most that he can out of a flawed

Predators roster so maybe there's people who aren't blaming him and it's just talking about like the actual players on this team but crazy to see how bad they are I mean they're right above Detroit and you take a look at their cap situation. I mean, they got Duchene at what, $8 million for five more years after this year. Johansson, he's making $8 million as well. He's got four more years left after this. They got three goals between them. I know, like

you said, Johansson's been dinged up. He's on the injury reserve right now, but that's just not production. You've got to get better production for that kind of fucking money. And they got Ekholm out right now, too, so that's not a good sign and and i i believe they have one more game against tampa so i mean if if you're going to get tested that's the team uh on the other side of the ledger though chicago blackhawks man they had a tough start but they've been on fire since they are just two regulation losses over their last 13 games.

Like our buddy Chief wrote, this team works hard. They don't quit. 34.7 on the power play, second in the league. And they got a bunch of rookies helping out. Suda, the goalie Lankanen, Kurashev, Hagel, Bodin, Mitchell. These guys are stepping up. But Patty Kane, I mean, what he's doing is incredible with no tase. They have seven goals, 15 assists, 22 points, tied for third and scoring in the league overall oh real oh so chief is stroking the hawks off now is he yeah so he oh now he's playing tummy sticks with stan ever since he got the interview and now and now they got the goaltending

and and patty cane is is oh my goodness he's he's probably he's probably in the top three for the heart right now i think he's got, what, seven goals, 15 assists. He's leading that team. I mean, we got no Jonathan Taves, no Kirby Dock. And how soon is Dock out? I mean, did they say he's probably out another couple months? Yeah, I think it was four to six months. Four to six months.

His wrist was mangled. I thought the goal the other night, who got that goal? Why am I drawing a blank? I think it's the blanket in overtime. Oh, my God. That was sick. Just the hand-eye to just knock that thing to himself once and then right past the tender. Yeah, Biz, you were good at that.

I think Kane is just proving he's kind of like, it's like Bergeron, like Fountain of Youth. Will he slow down? It's like he continues to get better. It doesn't matter who he's playing with. It doesn't he is it well not where he is he's in chicago we know that i mean like in terms of his line mates it's it's insane and the speed down the wing and the vision and just so fun to watch without him uh the hawks are completely fucked and i do think that it's a team that's way more difficult to play against than we probably imagined when we were dogging them earlier in the year but at the same time i don't think they're going to make the

playoffs i mean they're not in the playoffs right now and half the teams in their division have played like 11 or 12 games they've played 16 so i think that it's more impressive than what people thought it would be going in at the same time i i don't think they have what it takes and in the end that almost fucks them even more it's like if you're going to be bad be bad we've talked about this are they going to be middling and then finish fifth in the division it's like that doesn't help them i'd be lying if i didn't think that the chief stan bromance blocks he still hates him even after i think he snapped on him like somewhat recently about something he did and this was post-interview chief hates him he's going to be on page six.

They're going to be out for ice cream together. Page six. On Michigan Ave, doing a little shopping. Chief and Stan sharing the same bag from Lulu. It's a break at eight goals, eight assists as well, and with only 12 games, he's been tearing it up too, like you said. And that's a big comeback year for him because after he signed the deal last year, he struggled.

And you see what he's doing now. And I know Kane's a big part of that, but happy for that guy. A, they're hanging out at Viagra Triangle there by Sutton Place. Oh, yeah. Where did we get that steak before the live show that we didn't have audio?

Gibson's. Gibson's, yeah. He's like, hey, Stan, you be the bad cop. I'll be the good cop tonight, buddy. Viagra Triangle. That's what they call it there. It's where all like the 50 year olds with like bugattis roll up and they're they're fucking 20 year old instagram model we got a viagra triangle here in scottsdale no i'm in jupiter jupiter is the viagra triangle of the bermuda triangle triangle

oh oh it's it's like that. You went there, R.A., on vacation. I believe it's in Jamaica. Daytona Beach. Not Daytona. Didn't you go to Jamaica to the sex resort? Oh, Hedonism 2. I thought we were going to save this for a rainy day. Yeah, Hedonism 2.

I went there for one of my spring breaks. Yeah, it was supposed to be this big fuck fest. Like, all you heard, it was advertising a Playboy and Penthouse. It was supposed to be a big orgy Like all you heard It was advertising a playboy in Penthouse It was supposed to be a big orgy place So you went to a place that It was Cocktoberfest is what it was No, it was the fucking bait and switch I flew 2,000 miles to make out with a girl

From fucking Hyde Park And the only one of my buddies who got laid Was the fattest guy there And he banged some guy Some swingers wife in the hot tub Right next to him So that was the extent of that trip. I pay a lot of money to be able to go back in time and go on this trip with R.A.

Just to watch it all play out. But I will say the vegetation in Jamaica is definitely worth going down for. Oh, yeah, the weed? All the vegetation down there. Oh, okay. We also had a trade in this division. Carolina obtained Cedric Paquette and Alex Galchenyuk from Ottawa for Ryan Dezingle, who returns to the Senators

after they traded him a few years ago. All players are pending UFAs. Dezingle's got 3.375 left. Paquette, 1.65. Galchenyuk, 1.05. Galchenyuk signed with Ottawa in the offseason. I guess 18 is enough. This is last year in the league for Alex Galchenyuk.

That's it. Fifth of six team he's been with. Also, one other note. Were you watching the Dallas-Carolina game Saturday night when Ajo was going in? Oh, my God. Was it Ajo Okuda buried it? Now, they ended up winning the game. But, people, I'll take you through this little wit meltdown watching.

I had Carolina in the game. So, Carolina's up 3-2, and Ajo's coming down the left wing. The goalie's pulled, and he has an easy shot from just outside the offensive blue line to bury it and win by two. Thank God I didn't have him puck line. And he goes to throw it over, which I totally understand is an unselfish play. You want the other guy to get the goal. Even in a sense, maybe he thought his angle was off, and he just gave it to the guy in the middle. But even in a sense, maybe he thought his angle was off and he'd just give it to the guy in the middle.

Well, the nastiest young defenseman in the league maybe turns and fires his stick around backwards. Miro Heskinen knocks the pass away. It goes right to, I think it went right to Jamie Benn who gives it to Pavelski who goes down and just buries one shelf to tie up the game with under a minute to go. I was losing my mind. It's like, dude, bury that empty net at Ajo, who I've kind of said isn't at the top of his game, even though Carolina's playing well. And Carolina goes on to win in a shootout, but oh my god, if they

had lost, and then you look down the year, look down the season, and you've missed the playoffs by one or two points, it's like, oh my god. When you have the chance to put it away with an empty netter players at home, don't be the unselfish guy. Be the apple guy. Be the cookie guy. All you care about is yourself and the team, and put in the net,

especially if I bet on you. You got to put the lightsaber. You do that shit when you're up two goals, not one. Unbelievable play. What a play. And then Pavelski comes down, snipe. He's fucking Pavelski. Nine goals, eight assists in 12 games.

I mean, San Jose, we're going to get to them later, but what a fucking disaster letting him go. Whoopsie daisy whoopsie daisy actually i think people people uh have been comparing uh lidstrom a lot to this heskin in the way plays and even uh lidstrom uh chimed in on it he had a pretty interesting quote basically seeing like from games that i've watched there's a lot of similarities to the game and obviously that's high praise and maybe some media members uh you know stroking him off a little too much at this point. But ultimately, watching this guy, he's just a special kid. You're like, and Lidstrom did chime in.

He was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on. I don't think so. Yeah, kind of like what was the comparison you and Shea Weber last episode? No, R.A. called him my contemporary, and then Shea fucking threw up all over the Shea-Purree lounge. It just means you played at the same time together, that's all. I was thinking of the team world police when the guy's puking. That gives the best.

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when all you're trying to do is just get your workout in. The Chicklets boys have been wearing Whoop for a while now and we've already turned our sleep and recovery into a competition. Once you're on Whoop, you can create a team with your buddies and make sure to chirp whoever's sitting around and falling behind. That would be me. WHOOP has helped us get smarter about the way we train and has made us so much more aware of our body, sleep, and recovery. WHOOP can also help you set new goals

and achieve the New Year's resolutions you've made for yourself. Go to WHOOP.com, that's W-H-O-O-P.com to join now. Sleep better, recover faster, and train smarter this year and beyond with Whoop. Speaking of track and sleep, have you guys heard the story about the Red Deer Rebels? How all the players and coaches and stuff, they're sleeping in the boxes? Yeah, the suites. They turned the suites into bedrooms with. So they got mattresses on the ground just chilling inside the arena,

so you really can't get away from hockey. When the guys want to crank it, they all agree on a Uges film, and they put it on the big screen in the middle. Everyone's like, turn off the light. It's starting now. Every night, half hour after the last call, there's a banging on the door outside, and they're like, oh, it's Rick again, Fucking trying to fucking get in here.

The junior, you know what? Hats off to the junior leagues. They're making things happen. I know it's been probably too long of a season. You feel so bad for the draft hopefuls not being able to show their stuff, a lot of them, but it seems like all the leagues are finally getting things going.

OHL is going to have a bubble and things, 25-game season, whatever it is. But these kids need to play. Get these kids playing. Get the kids back in school and get these kids playing. That's my soapbox rant. Okay. All right, moving over to the east.

Big news out of that was in the front office, Pittsburgh. They brought in Ron Hextall and Brian Burke to take over as general manager and president of hockey operations, respectively. Fly a legend, Ron Hextallall actually lived in Pittsburgh as a little kid when his dad was a Penguin and his dad was teammates with Jimmy Rutherford. Pretty crazy how that works out. Berkey mentioned how he missed Sid back in 05 at the draft,

but he has him now. And I don't know if you guys caught it the other night when Berkey was signing off TV for the last time. David Amber goes, see you next year. And Wicked chirped and Wicked bet. Even Amber goes, see you next year. And Wicked Trip to Wicked Bad. Even Berkey was pissing himself off. I mean, it's not too often the front office is making the news, but let's go to you first as a former Penguin. Yeah. So I wasn't surprised at all to see Hextall get this job. I think that he's been rumored for a long time to definitely get another chance in

the league. And we can talk about what went on with him in Philly and maybe the good things he did and the mistakes he made at another point. But I totally saw that. Where I was surprised is Pittsburgh hiring a president of hockey operations. That's where they got Brian Burke. And the main reason is when you look at Pittsburgh, they've never had somebody in that position. And part of the reason is when your co-owner is Mario Lemieux,

like, do you need a president of hockey operations that's kind of been the feeling well lemieux was the one that ended up really wanting brian burke to come in and do this and brian burke had been helping that team out in terms of helping of helping them find a gm and kind of like talking about different options and then all of a sudden i think he was uh he'd never worked with hextal but they've known each other for a long time. So he's all aboard on Hextall. And then Lemieux's all in on having Brian Burke come in and help run the show with him. So what's crazy to me is when we had Burke on, it's upsetting.

We probably won't be able to have him on. I don't know if he'd still come on now. But we talked to him about Pittsburgh. And I don't remember when that episode was, Grunelli, but he said how he thought their window had closed. He said how you've got to figure out what you're going to do, but he looked at Tampa. He brought up Tampa.

He brought up Boston. He brought up Washington. He said Pittsburgh's not better than any of those teams. So now he's there, and certainly your tune changes when you get there, and they have a job to do, and that is really on Hextall, I think, in the most sense of getting the most out of these next two years. It's like Letang and Malkin are done after two years. Can you win again?

And how are you going to approach kind of rebuilding on the fly? Because the last thing the Pittsburgh Penguins want is a kind of a Chicago LA thing where you go from the top down to the bottom, right? It's like it needs to be fluent. It needs to be a transition where maybe you're not a top team for a couple years but you're certainly not a bottom team and when you look at trading like one of the core guys and you Darren Drager's talked about possibly Sidney Crosby moving on you've heard Malkin rumors Latang possibly he is like he is like doubled down on this I am drinking

the Drager Kool-Aid at this point I mean i feel like he wouldn't be making stuff up i'm sure he knows people that that really are in tune with what's going on but hextall like right now okay if you look at that team if you look at that team you're gonna need to make changes you're gonna and so like how do you go about making them because they don't have a first round pick a third a fourth like a six they have no picks coming up in this draft yeah that's kind of what i want to ask you about so like going into it and taking berkey's opinion before he was hired to like throw that out the window right because i think that was a very fair point in the fact that that team is not better than the teams he mentioned and that they might be looking at a rebuild based on everything else do you not get

the sense that they're going to have to go in there and get a feel for what they want to do with that or are you convinced that they're going to try to go one more kick at the can with that core group because i'm convinced they will because and part hold on part of it let me answer your question quick part of it is that they cannot they cannot move on and move on from these guys and then have fans coming back into the building. They need, when fans back, they still need the Penguins to be the Penguins, right? I mean, you know what I'm saying. If all of a sudden they make moves and trade some of these core guys

and then fans come back, it's like, whoa, what? I mean, nobody went to Penguins games before Crosby. They were awful before they got Lemieux. Nobody went. They were awful before they got Crosby. Nobody went. And so it's like, I think you have to give it a go and and now here's the thing like Ron Hextall's been known as a development guy a draft guy he's in Rutherford was the opposite fair but if you don't necessarily have any assets to give up in order to make this team better in

this short amount of time you'd be smarter trying to start the rebuild now more so than later I think Sid's got four years left on his deal right do I think that they're going to move on from him this year no Drager seems convinced and obviously the the obvious landing spot would be Colorado they are coming in their their peak they have a shit ton of assets I think that they could probably dispose of bo byram they could probably offer up at least a couple first rounders and i think they will go all in in this little window here this next two three years to try to solidify and get sit over there in order to get their cup and they have the cap space in order to do it and they have assets

to give up how the fuck is the fuck is Pittsburgh going to rebuild? Mind you, do I believe in that core group? 100%. But they also don't have a proven goaltender right now. As crazy as this sounds that I could be pulling this out of my ass, there has been rumblings that they might be looking to bring back Fleury. Have you heard that at all? Yes, I have.

But that's being shut down. He is on fire in Vegas. He put a clinic on Sunday night against Colorado. But here's the other name, Biz. Jonathan Quick. Jonathan Quick, who Hextall was the assistant GM when they won a Stanley. And then he's got two more years. But you're right.

You're right. Because with the current goaltending situation, there's no chance. Yeah. I mean, their back end's not the strongest. You've got Marino, who's in his sophomore year. You're not exactly sure what you have. They got guys hurt, though. They need to get Dumoulin back, Pedersen.

I'm just saying this is going to be a very interesting time to see what they decide to do, because the first thing is going to be getting the big core group inside that room and saying, what do you guys think you need? What do we think we need? And so on and so forth. So definitely I see Sid being the piece that moves first if in fact they do move him.

And as far as Malkin's concerned, I mean, and another thing too is Malkin plays way better when he's the guy. Whenever Sid's out of the lineup, I mean, he has been with whether And another thing, too, is Malkin plays way better when he's the guy. Whenever Sid's out of the lineup, I mean, he has been with whether it was the head injury or what else was he out with? Did he have a knee at one point? Sid's had different things. But whenever he has been like the number one guy, Gino, his numbers are even better than his career on a whole. It's nuts. And maybe to maximize a return on Sid that you could still have a very solid foundation

with Letang having Malkin and of course you don't have the biggest piece of them all, but also what would be coming back for him? Ari, what do you think? Do you think that they're going to keep trying to take a stab at it with these guys? I don't know, man. Are they really going to get rid of both of them?

Gino's got one more year left after this one on his deal. 9.5 million. You would think that would be the guy they trade and keep Sid. I mean, Sid's fucking a penguin. Sid's going if he wants to go, and he's staying if he wants to stay. This is up to Sidney Crosby. And I think that's been Drager's biggest thing. Yeah.

And I think whatever he wants to go, they'll try to accommodate him as much as they can. Now, if they have a better offer somewhere, will they take it? Maybe take it maybe but you know when you think back to Ray Bork uh remember they were trading him and everyone thought he was going to Philadelphia and it turns out Colorado gave him a better deal and you know he wanted to go to Philly he wanted to stay in the northeast and they didn't accommodate him necessarily it worked out for the best obviously um but yeah I would think Pittsburgh would try to accommodate Sid uh As far as the draft this year, they got a second rounder, a fifth rounder, and a couple on the seventh. Yeah, they moved.

How are they going to rebuild? I know. Yeah. The first round pick was sent for the Zucker deal. I think the sixth rounder might have been part of the Kessel deal. At least they got that Joseph back. He's a nice-looking D-man. Yeah, he is.

I don't know. Yeah, it's a crazy time in pittsburgh but i think that burke and hextall together are going to be a really solid team i think both of them are straight shooters both of them going to tell you exactly what's going on they've both been around the game so long where they're going to get an idea of how they want to approach this and hextall i do want to shout him out a little bit in that he was kind of given a little bit of an early exit in Philly. I think it was four and a half years. I could be wrong there, but a lot of times you kind of ask for a little longer as a GM to get your signings, get your draft picks, and give them a chance to really develop.

But if you talk to anyone within the Flyers, including Chuck Fletcher, they talk about his handprints all over that team still. I mean, Carter Hart, Provorov, Konechny, Joel Farabee, Travis Sanheim, all picks by him. And the one you could maybe question is he picked Nolan Patrick second before Heskinen and Kael McCarr and Elias Pettersson. So maybe there it's like, I know he's had injuries. You can doubt that second pick.

But even going into that, Patrick was the consensus second pick in that draft so I think Hextall really did deserve this chance and I think he's going to do a lot of good things I think his only downfall was the fact that he he held on to Hextall so long and he I I want to say he was not refusing to fire him but but believed in him and he clearly wasn't the answer so I don't know if that was the downfall but but I agree with you, Whit. There's a lot of positive there, and yeah, if one guy can do it, him and Berkey, little tag team, Bushwhacker style. If one guy can do it too, Ken.

You've got to think, you know, Berkey and Hexwell. If one guy can do it, there's two of them we're talking about. Whatever the issue is that Rutherford left, you've got to figure they hammered that out for us because there was speculation Rutherford wasn't being allowed to trade somebody, and that's why he ended up leaving. He was trying to trade Sid, Malkin, and Letang for Conor Garland. No, that's come out.

That's come out. That was proved to be false. I was just starting a rumor. Can I start my rumors, please? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me do my thing. Let's say somebody's fat. Let's say a fat boy's out in the league right now.

All right. That's it for Pittsburgh. How about the fucking Rangers-Bruins Friday night? Awesome. Absolute old-fashioned. I mean, this was playoff intensity. Fantastic game. The Bees won 1-0.

That's not why it was a fantastic game. It was a great game otherwise. Started off playfully. You had Marshawn, then Zabinijad, RPS for the last guy. They sat there for six minutes. That's like an eternity to sit there and just wait a guy out. Oh, no. I think it was longer. It may have been. I thought I saw six minutes. I think like an eternity to sit there and just wait a guy out. Oh, no, I think it was longer.

It may have been. I thought I saw six minutes. I think it was longer. I think it was. And they were taping there. They were sticking their tape or whatever it's called, they're ticking their tapes. And also, I really, really thought once Marshawn lost the Rocks,

Paper, Scissors, he was just going to be Marshawn and still knock it off the ice. It was like, I don't know, man. The rat is the rat is the rat. And he did. He lived up to his end of the bargain in losing. But interesting how guys can be so superstitious to want to stay on the ice. I used to sprint off, take my pants off, and take a smash.

I'd always, even if I couldn't go, I'd sit on the floor. You would always shit after a warm-up? I'd try. I couldn't always do it, but I'd try. Interesting. Yeah. I'm a weird cat. It was an old-school game.

We had three fights, man. Actually, McAvoy and Trouba went at it. Trouba hit Zaboro pretty high. He ended up getting a roughing penalty for that. Now, Zaboro, I'm sorry, Trouba and McAvoy didn't get fighting penalties. They only got roughing. But, you know, I would still call it a scrap in 2021. But then the other fight, Brendan Lemieux and Trent Frederick, absolute tilt. Biz, did you

think Lemieux might have got a little bit of an early jump there or what? Yeah, he didn't give a fuck. He's not there to make friends. Yeah, he got the quick jump on him. And I think Frederick was pissed. And a big reason as to why we kept seeing the clip, he goes, we're fucking going again, as they were heading to the box. this frederick kid he's 100 all in on trying to establish himself as a brewing type player where most nights he's trying to get under somebody's skin fucking get in front of the goalie cause fucking havoc very similar to like a matthew kachuk type now is the skill set there? I don't know. I haven't had a chance to watch Boston much. How is he as a player?

I think he's doing what he needs to do because the offense isn't there. I think one assist in 14 games. He hasn't scored an NHL goal yet. He was a former first-round pick. But like we say, bring something to the table. If you're not going to score, he's like, all right, I got to stay in the lineup

by being an absolute menace. And he, Stis kid i saw uh our boy cam jansen talking about him tough kid and he's shown like he's willing to play that role and there is a reason you're not your numbers are that bad and you're in the lineup right now and that is that he's doing that and he's showing up and being a prick and sometimes certain guys have to come in the league they have to establish themselves like that i'll use i'll use tom wilson as an example did i ever think in a million years tom wilson would end up scoring and making plays at the nhl level like he is now and being a first liner no but when he came in he fucking ran guys yeah did he have to deal with a couple sussies he fought guys he basically created his own space out there guys don't want to go near

him because he's a piece of shit especially in an 82 game season you know how many guys are like oh god we got to play this frederick guy tonight like it's it's going to be a fucking disaster he's going to be running around he's going to be chirping me he's going to be slashing me there's gonna be challenging me to fight and eventually you get that space and then sure enough the points start coming so i wouldn't be surprised at all if all if the floodgates started open for this kid and and as far as the rest of the game's concerned that's old-time hockey we're seeing it because of these back-to-back games against the same teams and people love the hate it makes the game so much more interesting and i fight fights are unreal i'm

sorry fights are unreal like there are sorry. Fights are unreal. There are people who know nothing about hockey that say, these guys, who was the rapper recently? These guys are allowed to fight? Rick Ross. Yeah, it's just, the fights are unreal. And let me tell you, we go into this game, there's one more. Luzon beat the absolute wheels out of Pavel Buchnevich.

And now probably a little Buchnevich. A little bit of a mismatch, right? I mean, a Russian, I don't know who he's fought that much, but like body shot, body shot, body shot, head shot. And why did he get a misconduct for that? I don't know. He wasn't playing the bongo drums like Simon. He beat him up too much.

I seriously think he got a 10 minute for beating the shit out of him. They never came out and said what that was for. I think it was not Ice Cube. It was Ice T who mentioned it recently. Like, how are these guys allowed to fight on the ice? But the clip that you're... I thought you said Rick Ross. No, the clip that Gridelli's talking about is a throwback clip.

Play it, Gridelli, for everybody. That's the game that's set up for the savage white boys, the Gs. Yeah. I like a good fist fight, you know what I'm saying? Nose broke shit like that. You know what I'm saying? I never been there, but it's always good to see a nice big pack

of tough white boys, you know what I'm saying? That's sliding on the ice, you know what I'm saying? And you look over, I fuck with them, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, I like that shit. I think that happened like four or five years ago, but it's an all-timer. But yeah, recently.

But like I said, guys, I think it's good for the game. I think we're well aware that, yeah, it could cause issues. I have a certain feeling on it. I like the controlled, organic stuff where in the midst of a game, like Lemieux and Frederick, they hate each other's guts off the face off let's go baby yeah it was all the people all the people who don't like it are telling the guys who are signing up to do it what it's like what it's craziness you don't like it don't watch it's part of the game yeah ice t said why why is fighting allowed he said don't answer

tradition so i replied i was like because the the players vote for it like the union allows it and as long as the union it's their workplace condition that's why people are go the fighting's gonna go away people are gonna complain i'm like no it's not going anywhere players union says we don't want it anymore and i've said this a million times in five years of the show but it's like in case of emergency break class that's what nhl fighting is if you need it it's there if you don't want to fight you don't have to but it's not fucking going anywhere where it's going to now is great it is and and keep in mind ufc is it's on a rocket ship to mars okay exactly so we'll take a little bit of it mixed in with everything else do i want to see it like it used to be no but it still has its place

and in its electric factory and anytime it happens like it did the other night, everybody's talking about it. I mean, look at that East Coast fight we tweeted out from the Chicklets account, Tulsa versus Rapid City. What's that guy's name? Klotz? The fucking dude who Nello knows? So Nello Ferreira reached out, and he skates with this Klotz guy.

He's like the last of the heavyweights, apparently, in the ECHL. We ended up retweeting the clip of this fight for the rapid city rush this is guys if you want to watch an old school fight go to our twitter account and watch the haymakers being thrown by this klotz kid and who knows maybe at one point we get him on to talk about what it's like playing in the jungle still i would imagine things are a little bit different with the way that league's set up right now because of the COVID shit. So it'd be nice to get an ECHL, a cheese toast league as they call it, Guy, on the podcast.

We also had a Wednesday game between the Rangers and Bruins and the only controversy there was replay related. Jake DeBrusque looked like he went barred down. They reviewed it. It wasn't called the goal on the ice. They reviewed it and they couldn't tell if it conclusively went barred down. They reviewed it. It wasn't called the goal on the ice. They reviewed it. And they couldn't tell if it conclusively went over the line.

No goal. The puck bounced. Now, my issue is, Whit, is why can't we have a definitive answer on whether or not it crossed line? Like a camera in the fucking crossbar of the post or something. Chips and pucks? Well, I don't know exactly how tennis does it. Chips and pucks? Well, I don't know exactly how tennis does it, but if you've noticed, tennis is able to zoom in and see if the ball is an absolute millimeter outside the line.

I think they call it Hawkeye, but I don't think it could work in the NHL. Really? Yeah, because the nets, it's impeding the vision. Okay, so it's all about the camera having nothing to get in front of the... Yeah, Hawkeye can't work. I think they've tried it. But hey, no, it was an idea of how they should try to fix it.

Yeah, no, that was no goal. Because, R.A., you're saying is how have they not been able to figure out to get different angles to where no matter where the puck goes, you'll be able to definitively see if it crosses the line. I think that's maybe one of the reasons they're trying to put the chips in there. But I don't... They haven't mentioned that. How many times does something like this happen a season, R.A.?

Like once or twice? I don't know. I'd say more than that. I mean, Jake did say after the game it wasn't a goal. You didn't see the white on the replays. But just because you didn't see the white doesn't mean it didn't happen. Because, I mean, it was like Youngblood. It was like the end of Youngblood where he takes that shot the way the puck bounces. Because, yeah, you look at it. Oh mean it didn't happen because i mean like young blood it was like the end of young blood where he takes that shot the way the puck bounces because yeah you look at

it all it didn't cross but if it bounces in the white it's a goal but all right either way how about tuka late in that game wet fucking tie game fucking about to go to overtime he starts going to the bench he either forgot like the score or thought he said he thought they were down to one that was hilarious i was watching i was I was like, what the hell? What the hell? What the hell? Imagine the guys on the bench. Turn around.

That was crazy. So a little bit of a brain fart. But for all the people, Trey Dukas. Trey Dukas. Foley. Yeah, he doesn't look good at all. Fucking dummies. Foley getting fucking buried on the park.

Suck it, Foles. One other note we got in the Bruins. Willie O''ree's number retirement has been moved to january 18th of 2022 the nhl asked willie and the bruins to move it so they could do it at a full bond and everybody agreed i think what you were the one who first said that as far as i know you know why do it in an empty building if you're going to honor the guy so it makes a ton of sense uh also like i mentioned a few minutes ago uh new york state is going to allow fans back soon well unless cuomo's full of shit once again.

They're going to allow 20% capacity. Rangers, Islanders, Buffalo Sabres. So, you know, we're making some small inroads here, getting some people back on the building. And, you know, I know everybody has opinions on it. Simply, if you don't want to go, you don't have to. You know, it's pretty fucking basic. Congrats to New York Islanders general manager, Lou Lammarello.

He won his 1300th game, just the third GM to pass that number. David Poyle and Glenn Sather ahead of him. Also, Barry Trotz won his 850th to pass Hitchcock for third all time after Bowman and Q. But how about Lou Biz? Fucking still getting it done. You want me to tire pump Lou? Yeah, he's the fucking best.

And he keeps shoving it up my hoop. What else do you want? What else do you want from me, R.A.? Let's tire pump the guy that won't let anyone involved in his organization come on our podcast. Take a hike, Lou. Congrats. He's 78 fucking years old, dude.

He is. He's still getting it done. There's no mandatory retirement age. Can't do it. Won't do it. Ain't going to have it. Yeah, a quick run through on the East this week. Philly, New Jersey, Buffalo didn't even play because of all the COVID postponements and stuff.

So not a ton going on elsewhere in the division this week. By the way, I haven't heard from any Islanders fans. You guys stink. You guys are not a good team. You can't score. And all of you have gone a little quiet. All the chirping, all the mentions have have disappeared i don't see you guys yeah you're in the playoffs you're in the playoffs right now but you're not that good if it wasn't for barzell you guys would be in dead last

yeah legit you should be kissing maybe in the whole league let's put it this way better than you without barzell don't don't uh don't forget about these days islanders fans when that when barzell walks away from you guys in three years because he's sick and tired because his back's sore from carrying that whole entire squad, okay? Rumor has it they're trying to trade him now. He's putting lipstick on a pig right now is what Barzell's doing. You should be kissing his feet.

There should be a big mural of him inside the arena. Nassau calls to see him probably still smells, even with no fans inside the arena. That's how it calls to see him probably still smells even with no fans in the building. Alright, we're going to get to Chris Thorburn in one second. Just had a quick word for you. Whether you are an exhausted traveler, a stressed out parent, or you're working out again for the first time in months,

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when you use the code CHICKLETS at checkout. Once again, that's CBDMD.com, the promo code CHICKLETS, C-H-I-C-L-E-T-S, for 25% off your purchase of superior CBD oil products. And now, we're going to send it next guest to the show. This hard-nosed right wing was a second-round draft pick in the 2001 draft and went on to play over 800 NHL games with four franchises. He played most of those games with Atlanta, then Winnipeg, before finishing up with the St. Louis Blues, where he capped off his career by raising the Stanley Cup here in Boston. And in June, he announced his retirement after 16 seasons of professional hockey.

Thanks for joining us on the Spittin' Chicklets podcast. Chris Thorburn, how's retirement treating you, brother? Hey, guys. Thanks for having me. It's been good. It's been weird, obviously, going through what everyone could relate to this pandemic. So it's been kind of crazy. But nonetheless, it's been enjoyable. Hard through uh what everyone could relate to this pandemic so it's been kind of crazy but uh nonetheless it's been enjoyable hard nose winger already or already flying the chirps snuck that right in there okay so chris thorburn uh played with you in junior i was i mean i called you the other day to line this up and we i think we talked for 20 30 minutes the stories that i was reminiscing on, we got a lot of things to go through now.

I got to ask you, how PG do we got to keep it? I know you're a family man now. I sent my mom a text yesterday. I said, I'm going on the podcast, and I might swear a lot. And she's just like, you know, emojis, you know, with emojis. And then she said, you never swore in North Bay. I'm like, Ma, that was like two and a half decades ago or whatever. You didn't swear in junior?

I told him before he came on, you were the Shane Doan of junior. I was. I was. I'm a frig. I know. Yeah, like Rivers too, man. Like my brother still to this day, he's what, 32, 34. And he doesn't swear either.

So I've changed. That's probably why you got to play for three different teams in the O. They're like, get this guy out of here. He won't even swear. This guy's a weirdo. Well, it's nice. We actually only played for two because we moved over. Our organization got moved.

We got moved from North Bay to Saginaw. We got sold in the Bay to Saginaw. We got sold in the midst of my junior career. I felt so used, Thorby. I'm like, I'm seeing $50 a week checks, and I'm reading in the newspaper this organization's getting sold for millions of dollars. This didn't add up. It was crazy because I got sold in the ohl from north bay to saginaw and

then we got sold in the nhl from atlanta to winnipeg so by the time they landed at winnipeg captain i was i was seasoned you know what i mean i'm like calling the boys i'm like all right this is what happens dude like we got to do pack a suitcase and get on a plane, let's go. But, yeah, crazy experiences, man. Were you like a stud coming up, like going to an OHL draft? Were you kind of a late bloomer? I mean, you're a big cat. I don't know if you were your whole life. What kind of was the beginning of getting to North Bay and even kind of before that?

Well, yeah, so I played travel hockey throughout my minor, like when I was a kid and stuff, which was such a cool experience. In the Sioux, we have – at my time coming up, we had a ton of talent. Dale's, right? Well, Dale's was from Toronto, but he didn't come to the Sioux. He came to the grounds through the draft. But, no, we had a lot of talent coming up, and it was very competitive. And then there was like scouts and agents at all our

games and um one of my uh you know my dad's friend growing up he actually got a coaching job at Elliott Lake uh for the Elliott Lake Ice at the time which was junior eight tier two so instead of playing my second year Bantam I went to play for him in Elliott Lake and what a great experience that was and that's kind of when I got put on the map, you know, cause you're playing against, you know, the 21 year olds and, and stuff like that. So I ended up getting drafted by North Bay. And then, you know, not that I was a huge point guy, but I was considered more of a point guy,

not so much of a rough and tough kind of player. I had to kind of evolve into that, but yeah, Throat Junior, like I said, not crazy numbers, but productive in some sense. And then I got drafted by Buffalo in the second round. And when I went to Rochester, that's when my game changed. Randy Cunningworth gave me that unreal tip as far as, you know, we have Jason Palmanville, Derrick Roy, Uri Novotny at the time, Paul Gossett, Bannock was coming up.

He's like, Buffalo's filled with skilled talent. He's like, you might with skilled talent he's like you might want to mix in some majors you know being a bigger taller guy i wasn't i wasn't thick but uh you know i had the height and from where i'm from we got a lot of meat in the soup like we got like really tough guys that made some career uh their careers out of you know doing exactly that so i go home in summer skates and pick their brains and you know just ask them about the techniques and stuff like that well i went back my second year pro and I had like 17 majors. So mind you, a lot of them, you know, when I say I learned how to fight, that was the process, man.

That's why you have an elbow on your face now. I mean, I took some lickings, man, but I learned through that process and it was fun. And yeah, just a cool experience all the way around. But I learned through that process, and it was fun. And, yeah, just a cool experience all the way around. We've asked so many different guys because so many players, you have to change your game to move up a level. It happens, like, quite often.

And for the guys who had to get more physical like you and start fighting more, is that something where right away he tells you, like, boom, all done, all in? Or were you like, oh, man, like, I thought I was going to be a power play guy in the NHL. Like, what was the attitude as to when you right heard that news? No, he told me in my year in meetings, the one in the summer, I already had this advice. So I took it, man.

My whole career, I wasn't one to complain about any opportunity that I didn't get or got. I was just like, give me the advice, and then I'll do whatever I can and run with it. And to this day, I truly believe that that was the best advice I ever got because I truly believe that that's what helped me, you know, get into the NHL and kind of, you know, create a brand for myself or a style for myself. You know what I'm saying?

800 tilts later. Yeah. That was a good ride, man. It was a good ride. I'm getting kind of ahead of myself, but when we met, when you got to Pittsburgh, Terrian was a huge fan of yours, by the way. He really liked you. No, but I remember thinking like, wow, this guy's difficult to play against. Big guy, but no offense, I wouldn't have guessed 800, right? I mean, I'm guessing you wouldn't have either.

Well, and that's like looking back on it too because like the stints in the minors and like i finished my career in the minors essentially like my last year was with san antonio for the majority of the year except for the the run for the stanley cup and then two weeks before the season ended so it just helped me realize like i could have got stuck in the minors for my whole career you know what i'm saying but uh for whatever reason, you know, I'd like to believe that it was my work ethic, my attitude, and stuff that I can control helped me at least get my foot in the door. And then it was up to me, and I just tried to take advantage of any opportunity, whether it was getting four minutes of ice time or, you know, playing on top lines

because there was some opportunities that came along the road that were just like, what am I doing in this position, you know what I mean? And for whatever reason, it worked out, man. But like you said, I would have never guessed 800 games, and I'm super proud of it, obviously. Chris, we've got to go back even further. You played in the 97 Quebec Peewee tournament, correct? I did, yeah.

We lost to the Russians. So did you guys play against each other? Any recollections against games versus each other? Wait, what team were you on? I was on the Sioux Reps. But I think you're a year behind me, though. No, I'm an 83. I'm an 83.

But I was drafted a year after you because I went to college. Dude, so that Russian team in the 97, yeah, we won it. And the Russian team, listeners at home, I think I've mentioned before, they were loaded and so was CompuWare or Little Caesars. And I don't know if there's been a peewee brawl like this. There was Russian coaches fighting guys from Michigan coaching Caesars. I remember Eric Warner was beating the absolute piss out of somebody. He was an animal went to Michigan and, and I think both teams,

I've Russia might've beat him or Caesar. I don't remember who won. Both teams got the boot. So that probably helped the Kings walk to the title. I maybe should have said that. Right, they did get disqualified, right? Yes. I do remember that now that you say that.

Yeah, I do remember that because that Russian team was a powerhouse, man. They beat us like 7-1 or whatever it was. They're all juicing at that age. You're getting needles. They were large. There was a kid smashing a kid with his helmet. Russian had his helmet off,

and Little Caesars players were smashing him in the head with his helmet. It was a con show for 14. Hey, imagine smartphones that were invented back in the day like that. Oh, my goodness. Oh, the videos we'd have. The crazy hockey parent shit that was going on back then. Oh, no kidding. What were your parents like?

Your father, was he crazy hockey dad? Was he real influential? How was he like with you growing up? He was good, man. He was hard. He coached me a couple years. He actually coached all my siblings. Great coach, but very stern and – but very like informative.

You know, he kept my head on right and told me exactly what I needed to work on, even though I didn't believe him because he's your dad. You take, you know, you don't want to trust what he says. And I'm like, but he had some great tips. He gave me every opportunity, obviously, like, you know, and we all have the stories of the morning practices, the outdoor rinks. And he was just there the whole time throughout the ride. And he just always, you know, gave me the support I needed

or the kick in the pants that I needed when I when i wasn't going uh the way he thought i should be um there was there was like a wave of player during that period of time though too that you're probably playing with while growing up like rico fata was there drew fata was also there cole jarrett uh patrick jarrett who i played 0-1 so do you think that had a big influence on kind of like raising the level of play coming out of that area I think so too and I think this too like it can it didn't create parental competition but like if this if this son's going to like a hockey camp because you know when we were growing up like you get invited to hockey camps you get letters in the mail and like you either commit to it or not or there's prospects tournaments throughout the summer and you get wind that one of the guys is

going to the tournament and like the other guy okay you need to get there because there's exposure so um but as far as like individually like i played with cole jarrett uh and drew fata i mean them two coming up were absolute weapons, man. Like hard shots. They were big boys. They hit puberty like way ahead of everybody else. I remember watching him. He used to kill guys. Fata would throw, and he could chuck them too.

He would run around. Terian hated him more than both of us, I think. He was in the coast with me. That's how much Terian liked him. You got to get it. He was buried in the coast. He was a good coast with me. That's how much Terrian liked him. You got to get it. He was buried in the coast. He was a good player, man. Dude, he would be a good segment.

He's a character, man. I still keep in touch with him. And, yeah, he's doing well, too. You broke him with Buffalo. I know you only had two games with him, but you had a crooked number, seven penalty minutes. So who was your first NHL fight with? Yeah, my first NHL fight wasn't anything cool.

I mean, he's tough. In my books, he's tough, and I think you guys would agree, but it was Cody McCormick. It wasn't like an old-school guy that was kind of exiting at the time. It was like a guy that I played in the minors against and all that. So he got the better of that fight for sure. But, yeah, I was in Colorado, and then I ended up fighting him. And then you ended up in Pittsburgh. Was it was it disappointing to have buffalo i don't basically get ready being a second round draft pick for them yeah it was uh yeah it kind of sucked at

the time for sure because uh you know i i was drafted there did all the prospect stuff throughout the summers got made some really cool uh relationships while i was there and uh actually funny story when i got because it was my fourth fourth year so my second contract now i i can go through waivers so uh darcy regier calls me in and it's like the last cut so it's like me and danny paille and they're deciding on which extra forward to keep or if they're going to keep an extra forward so darcy uh darcy calls me into his office and Lindy rough sitting across from me and Darcy's like Thorpes. He's like, you know, we love, we love having you. He's like,

but I wish I would've known your potential before I gave you your signing bonus. And like, I'm just looking and Lindy already has his head down. I don't know. He's just, I don't know if he was just upset for me or I, at least I hope he was. He seemed that way. And Darcy's like, yeah, he's like, I wish I would have realized the potential and how it wasn't going to work out. He's like, I would have took your signing bonus and bought a boat. I'm just like, dude. He's like, we're going to put you on waivers.

Oh, my. You know what I'm thinking? Dude, that's a low blow. Right. Did he give it the chuckle after, or was he like dead? He was pretty serious. Chuckle would have made it worse.

Yeah. Right. But yeah. So I'm just like, all right, well, I appreciate it. And like I said,

Lindy was just, he had his head down. I'm just, I'm just like, oh fuck. So I leave the, I leave the room and the guy's like, what do you say?

What do you say? I'm like, dude, you guys aren't even going to believe this. So then I tell the story, you know, that story travels. I still told it every team I've been on.

I mean, but to be honest, it was the best thing that happened for me. So Lindy said, he's like, come out for practice, you know, get your reps in and we'll see what happens. And then I get off the ice the next day and Pitt had claimed me, you know, that day. But, like, the thing that helped me was we played Pitt two times in exhibition that year. And I just ran around.

I was just hitting guys. And so I think that kind of made a little, you know, impression. And then they gave me an opportunity. And that kind of kicked off my NHL career, really. I was in one of those preseason games. I remember thinking, this guy's a lunatic out here. He's hard-nosed. But, Master, I said hard-nosed again.

But when you got put on waivers, is that something like, am I going to – I think I'll get picked up or I think I'm going – what's your vibe going into that? Well, for me at the time, like I wasn't – I didn't know. Yeah, you're just so – I mean, I knew the process, but like I was young, man, and I hadn't been through that experience before. And you always think or hope everything's going to work out, but come to,

you know, now that I'm retired and I went through the process, like it might not, you know, now I realize like it might not have worked out. I could have got buried in the minors. So at the time I was just young and dumb. And then, you know, veteran guys around Buffalo were talking to me and, you know, just, just stay positive, do your, do your thing, man. If it, hopefully something picks you up, you get a chance me and, you know, just stay positive, do your thing, man. Hopefully something picks you up and you get a chance somewhere else, you know, so. When you got over to Pitt, do you remember your first meeting?

Because obviously you get in, Tarion's going to bring a new guy in for a meeting. He's going to let him know what's going on. Tarion's like, what's with the boat? I'm going to boat to Darcy again. I don't remember my initial meeting. The one thing I could say is that Ray Sherrill was top notch, man. Like I remember him kind of bringing me in,

kind of explain the situation and not just the first day, but like through the process, which was huge, man, because now there's like a lot of gray area, quiet time that, you know, you think a lot and you just like, you don't have no idea what's going on, but he always kept me in tune what was going on and that was i was super appreciative for that but the one thing about uh terry and was uh i played 39 games straight and then we picked up george larock and gary roberts at the deadline so when they came in i was like a healthy scratch for every other game pretty much so uh, Terian calls me in.

And, dude, I'm telling these stories because they're funny to me now. They're funny. So, he calls me in. And, you know, I rocked the long hair. You know, that was just part of my look. And he calls me in. I'm thinking he's going to give me like a, dude, great job. You're keeping your attitude right.

Keep working hard. You're going to get an opportunity. I'm thinking it's going to go that way. So, he calls me in and he sits down.'m like uh i'm like hey how you doing he's like well he's like uh he's like if you want to be a fucking rock star go be a fucking rock star he's like you want to be a professional cut your fucking hair okay i'm like well actually i grow the hair because it kind of blends in with the size of my nose like i don like, I don't care. Go cut your hair. So I leave his office, and I go right to fucking sports clips.

And I'm like, I need my haircut. She's like, well, what kind of style do you want? I'm like, I don't know, but just bring it up around my ears and short. I got the worst fucking haircut. I came in with, like, a fucking bob cut the next day. On the way to the big tube, like i remember eric karen's calling me like don't don't do it man don't do it like stay true to i was like oh bods i'm like i got it he ended up playing me one more game so i was like fuck i'm just gonna keep growing my hair yeah

i think i think there was a couple like you get a free bowl of soup with that one thorby the next morning you you had like a jerry curl. I can't even describe it. The Patrick Mahomes before Patrick Mahomes. You're right. She cut my straightener out, so my hair just went up. And just like ramen noodles on my head. I was just like, oh, dang it. That team was fun, though.

I mean, that was like. We had a crew. Yeah, we had a crew. That was C crosby's like probably the sickest season maybe he yeah he was he won mvp and i remember though that was a really close group like you came in boys loved you it was just a lot of fun and then do you have any memories of gary roberts remember how much of a machine he was dude like i remember he changed the water flavor or something to or the brand on the airplane.

I think we were drinking, like, the Sani or something at the time. And he got it switched to Fiji. Yeah, FPH balanced water. Right. That's his thing. Yeah. Well, now it's, like, the Italian water, I think. I don't know.

It keeps changing. But Rob's, man, you can't really fault him. He had a long, great career. And he was one of the guys too like when things are going uh you know healthy scratch after healthy scratch he always talked to me him and Johnny LeClaire they'd be just like Thorpe just keep doing you're doing you're great you're you know just keep your mind or your attitude right like you are and so all that stuff helps man and I think that kind of made me who into the veteran than I was you know what I mean because whether someone was you know having a tough time or a tough go you'd always like you

know put your arm around them and try and help them out and get them out of it um after terry had said that to you and you went back the next day with the haircut like was there any like any type of dialogue like did the did any more chirps continue was he all over you for the rest of the time you were there? Not sure. So what, I don't know if you remember this. So this is like shortly after my haircut thing, we go out to, after one of the games, we go to diesel. It's like new year's Eve.

And we go to diesel and me and me and my girlfriend or my, my wife now, but we stayed for like four in the morning. And do you remember DJj h yeah so he was a dj at diesel he ends up driving me home like driving us home and i can't there's a gate that gets into our complex and i cannot get through this gate we can't remember the code so i got arm and arm my my girls on on this side dj h and my toes are dragging me to my apartment complex and like it's hilly in pittsburgh so we got there we have practice at whatever it was 11 the next morning so i get up you know at nine drive to the rink i'm still like holy i can't believe and i'm a young guy so i'm nervous and like

oh my god like panic right so i get out there i fuck i toe pick i pass the pucks we're doing like line rushes like neutral line rushes i pass the puck into like the fucking guy standing on the wall and then i i go the other one it's like i take a puck i shoot i shoot like 20 feet over the fucking net so i get back to the line and i my mistake i stood right beside terry and he's like he looks at me he's like can't shoot can't pass can't skate fucking embarrassing and then you come by and you give me a like a light elbow to the chest and it was like there was banana peels on my skates and i just went boom i landed on the back of my neck dude i was broke my vertebrae i'm like god, God damn, what am I doing? Hey, Terrian told me I had to be more physical that practice.

I was like, I'll give it to Thorby, shit-faced. Oh my God, no kidding. Dude, I had no balance, man. And you just gave me like a little elbow. Oh my goodness. The minute you toe-pick, the anxiety, and then it's too late.

It's all downhill from there because the damage has been done. I know it, man it's all it's it's too late it's all it's all downhill from there because the damage has been done i know it man i know it but i do it all part of the stories that i just all my stories man even the ones i'm telling like it just it made me who i who i am and uh i really appreciate like terrian was hard on me but he i truly believe he respected me and he gave me the opportunities man like he put me on a line with Sid and Gino. I mean, that was so cool. I mean, that's how he scored my first goal. I've long said the guy is old school and was mean as shit,

but he was a pretty good coach, too. He did get a lot out of teams that he coached. He would go to places, and the teams would get better. And then sometimes it would wear off, but they always at the beginning were kind of on a trajectory oh yeah short shelf life unless you're in the minors where you can be a legitimate drill sergeant and they they kind of love that and just all you want to do is get to the nhl so you can get verbally and mentally abused day after day by fans that was that was that that was that uh that time period though like

all the coaches were like that oh yeah i played for like five different coaches and for the most part they were all like that like stern hard nose like but now like now it's just like the coaches have had to evolve because i think kids are a lot more sensitive and you gotta treat them a different way you know what i'm saying oh which is fine too i was i was gonna shift it over to berube i mean you being in that locker room of course that was unreal experience for you so you you finished the year in the ahl or did they pick you off at like the deadline how did that work no so they called me up before the we had both of both teams had like i don know, three games or two games later. Actually, San Antonio had more because the season ran longer.

But with two weeks left, they brought me up. And for some reasons that I'm forever thankful for, because if I don't get called up before the season ends, I don't qualify for NHL insurance beyond that season. So if they would have called me up as a black ace um after the season had ended I I don't qualify for NHL insurance and NHL insurance is we all know it's the best and for our family it's very helpful and army he understood that and what he did as far as calling me up at that point to make sure I get NHL insurance through the summer and then qualify it for like in the Cobra was just, I mean, that's top notch, man. So, yeah.

So there's a few things that went into it. But, yeah, they called me up with two weeks left in the season. And I was talking to Otter today and he goes, man, he was like just a bigger part of that run as anyone. And, R.A., you pointed out before we popped on sorry though but you had a quote r.a pointed out you were you were the fourth or fifth player to get the cup after they'd won it yeah dude it was so cool because i got it from a alexander steve and you guys know steiner oh my god i just i think we could have a show yeah right so he's top notch and uh i got it from him and uh oh so the coolest thing but david perron played a big part in that too because he was pushing me to the front and like i was like

i'm like dp i was like i'll get my chance but he he tipped me off early he's like thor's like after pre-game meal he's like, Thorbs, get ready, man. He's like, you're getting the cup tonight. I'm like, dude, just good luck. Go do your thing, man. Oh, my goodness. I'm getting chills. Right.

And then so we ended up winning it, and we're all around it after Petro gave it to Bo. And DP finds me, and he's pushing me to the cup. And I'm like, I'm like a two-foot snowplow stop. And I'm like, dude, if I get – What a move. I'm like, DP, get out of here get i i was like but if i get picked up on national tv to you know snowplow stop in it i'm like oh my gosh dp thank you man so he pushes me towards steiner and steiner passes it to me and it was just oh it's fucking awesome man then the banana peel came back imagine i would be so fucking nervous especially if you hadn't been on the

blades that night were you a little nervous getting it well yeah and i wasn't done up the right way too because we're in a rush in the dressing room getting ready so my laces aren't super tight you know i don't have my all my like bunga pads and all that so yeah i feel like you know i feel a little bit loose so uh but yeah man once i had a drill and hit you get that cup in your hands and like it felt so friggin heavy i'd like to hold it now just to see how different you know because i remember it feeling like fucking really heavy because the adrenaline my arms went numb you know what i mean oh for sure what a sick way to like go out man like just like it's like a dream for you and and i i guess that if you look at an ending like

that you never really could have imagined it but when you when you were around St. Louis throughout that run and with that team like was there any sort of like panic at any point because that Dallas series was scary and there was times when it didn't look like they were going to walk to the cup no like even the Winnipeg series was tough yeah we scored some big goals man like the one swartzy scored game i want to say five i'm not sure but bozy threw it across kind of in the air and he knocks it into it and like that was a huge goal um the dallas series i mean go seven games and um you know double overtime patty scores that goal hometown boy i mean once that happened it's almost like all right this is almost like storybook stuff you know so um yeah that that was that was that

was the tough series mind you i'm watching so it looked tough which is more nerve-wracking yeah it is and then the boston series was back and forth too so um yeah man it was it was crazy and for me i only have four playoff games in my career you know what i mean so everything past the first round because we played i played one round with pit we lost to ottawa remember we got smushed well we got smushed even more when i was with winnipeg against anaheim we got swept in four and then, so after the first round, all this stuff was new to me. So the off-white stuff is nuts. Oh, my goodness.

How they have, like, the media and, you know, the stuff for the players. And it was just the whole experience was unreal, man. And for them, for the, I got to say, man, for the St. Louis Blues, that team, those players in that locker room, to treat me and, you know, even the other members of the black aces and the guys that weren't playing the way they treated us and made us feel a part of it, man. It was, it was, it was crazy. It was, we're so, I'm so appreciative of it. And what Otter says there about me being a part of it. I, I mean, I just love the way that they include me so um just a great experience all the way around

and i had the tendency to ask a couple questions in one sometimes i kind of glanced over the berube aspect and i was just kind of he kind of had that hard-nosed mentality but i feel like he like didn't really need to say much just because like everybody may be like a little bit scared shitless of him yeah uh yeah so uh teres, he didn't really, because when Chief came in, Tarasenko didn't really know who Chief was. And I forget who told him. It might have been Steiner. I could be wrong.

But someone told him, he's like, YouTube Craig Berube. So Bova YouTubes, and he's like, holy shit. He's like, okay, this guy's serious. Like, yeah, he's legit. You thought Hitch was intimidating. Yeah. But you wouldn't know it, man. He's got such an awesome demeanor.

And, yeah, he doesn't have to say many words, man. You know what to expect. And I don't have much experience with a head coach, but as assistant coach, there was nothing cooler than when I had a fight and I came back to the bench and she pat me on the shoulder like, nice job, Thorpe. Because, like, where he's been and what he's done, to come from a guy like that, oh, my gosh. And then he, when I was in the minors, he would text me once a month,

once a week, Thorpe, how's it going? How's the family doing? Like, just a great guy, man. Great guy. Throughout that organization, great people. How impressed were you with Ryan O'Reilly, both on and off the ice? I know people around the league knew how good he was, but that was a real coming out potty for him that playoffs.

He is so cool to watch. I mean, the stuff that he can pull off, but it's understandable because of the work he puts in like this guy and I'm an extra. So like the last thing I want to do, I mean, for the most part, I know I'm not playing. I want to get off the ice. Well, you can't leave the ice. If your number one player is out there doing skill drills and you know working for an hour after the hour of practice so i'm like holy factor i'm like in my head obviously i'm like okay dude i'm like i'll give you five more minutes let's go let's go let's go but uh and then i just i sat back i'm like oh my gosh i could actually stuff. Whether it's like after my post-career,

like picking up some of the drills that he's doing, like, because they're all skilled drills. So yeah, to have the experience to watch him do what he does, not only during games, but the preparation that goes into it. I mean, it's no wonder he's a phenomenal player and arguably the best two-way player in the game. I love, we're just jumping around. That usually means we're just buzzing.

Yeah, it's like coffee talk. We haven't even gotten to the time where it was my first year of junior, and I was talking to this girl across the street from my billet parents, and she was a cutie. And I was still a virgin at that time. And sure enough, I think we're out as a team somewhere. And who comes wheeling up in Jeff, Jeff Doyle's Denali is this guy and the girl who I thought was going to be my future wife.

And he was probably plow or I listen, I had the squarest wheels at that point. And I was still a virgin. No shit. Like I think three weeks later, that was because like three weeks later, it was after the season and I'd still a virgin. No shit. I think three weeks later, that was because three weeks later, it was after the season and I'd already gone home. I lost my virginity because I was like, oh my girl. Hello boy. You cock-blocked me

as your captain. He was like a coach. He was just firing you up. Dude, get out of your shell. I could not believe because this came in. How big of a smoke was she? The one across the street. Dude, she was hot, bro. She was hot.

But you always, you, because like when we went to Chippewa High School, like we were hated because like we come in for six months, you know, the girls, you know, we're the new kids in school. So the girls kind of have interest or whatever. And then you, like nobody liked us us but you always had like girls around you guys around you like he was a friend of girl yes man like so you always like chatted up you had away from the rink buddies as well as like the hockey buddies that's how i got uh that's how i got russ moyer's fake id because i ended up making friends because his girlfriend was going to the

high school so she's like hey my boyfriend looks just like you hey I was 16 years old and junior and that's how I got into fannies your fannies dude what a place dude what a yeah but how often did you use that ID because you didn't drink one time at fannies on the way out before I left town and then I ended up losing my virginity a few weeks later because i was so mad that you stole my goddamn girlfriend get out of here i was i was a good talk i was innocent too but uh oh dude i don't know man those were good times but did you guys i do did you i have a million stories written down from north bay like we had such a weird group of guys go ahead you can hop in here did you guys have curfew would they call your house and was it kind of like the. Did you guys have curfew? Would they call your house? Or was it kind of like the Wild West? No, we had curfew calls, bro.

And I tried to use it, like the time change to my advantage. So it was like fall back. So I tried to get the extra hour to stay out while we got hammered. Like we got caught, hammered caught, as well as like we were out. But Mike Kelly called. And yeah, we got caught, hammered, caught, as well as, like, we were out. But Mike Kelly called, and, yeah, we weren't home. So he ended up sitting me out a game. We were playing Stephen Weiss. Plymouth was coming in town.

It was a big game because it was, like, before World Junior Camp and stuff. And, like, there were some scouts there that were coming to see, getting invited to camp. And, yeah, Mike Kelly sat me out man me uh me and a couple other guys so uh he was he was a hard-nosed coach and a few other things i had written down with was do you remember the um do you remember the two big bag skates we had one being after super bowl and then the one after the first game of the year of the year against barry against barry we got beat seven Cobb,

and then we went back the next day for what was like Navy SEAL training. Do you remember that? That was nuts. Are you telling us? No, you're going to tell it, and I'm going to chime in after with a few more of the details. Yeah, well, make sure you fill in the gaps here. And by the way, I was a healthy scratch,

so fuck you for your level that night you asshole i think i was plus one actually in a seven nothing i had my guys i had my guy i had my guy no uh yeah so we we get in i don't even know what time it was like two in the morning from barry we bring our bags and hang it up we get back at what like what was it like seven o'clock or eight o'clock? We had to be back at 6am ready to go. Ready to go. And our beer wasn't even dry. It was still like crispy from being cold, like riding under the bus.

And we went out for an ice session. And while we're all like wondering, what's going on, what's going to happen, what's going to happen. And then the assistant coach comes down, Mark French, came down and he's like, all right, put your gear on, be out in 10 in 10 minutes so we go out there we fucking bag skate for an hour right oh yeah come back off we do an off-ice workout then we get told we're going back on the ice so we get dressed again we go back out and it just went back and forth from on ice to off ice to on ice to off ice throughout like till what three in the afternoon we we did i think we did four on ice sessions and then the fourth workout is when we had like subs and i'll never forget like jeff platt called his agent and he's like this is abuse and like legit i think mike kelly hated him his guts for like the rest

of the time he was there. But the fact that we had to do – we were doing battle drills at practice three where we barely had anything to eat, if anything. And this is after game one of the season. And then the other one was Super Bowl Sunday. We weren't allowed to go watch Super Bowl because we got bent over by the St. Mike's majors. We had to come back.

Go ahead. Well, I don't remember that one. Do you remember bag skating after the game, after games? Oh, yeah, yeah. That was one time we did that. Yeah, we'd play a game, and then he'd be like, no, it wasn't good enough. Put your shit – don't hang it up, boys. Put it on.

And we put it back on. And some fans stuck around to watch us fucking bag skate. Watch us skate. Isn't that crazy? Good times. Good times. That's diehard fans right there, though. That's junior hockey fans.

They were booing us during the game. They fucking liked cheering while we were bag skating. That was hilarious. Jeff Platt, by the way uh little did he know that he thought that was abuse he's played the last 12 years in the khl so i don't think he realizes what a real training camp can do to you he's probably like looking back on he's like god i wish for the days in north bay yeah that was good that was a russian training camp getting them ready for there was also uh some of the older guys used to have these like egg wars where they would drive around egging each other's cars.

And one guy got cornered in like behind like a 7-Eleven. I think it was Army was the one who cornered the other guy in. And the other guy ran out of eggs and there was like a plastic bag next to the dumpster and he grabbed it and he chucked it over and it had caught like the guy other guy's door was open and it caught between like the end of the door and it ripped it open and it was fish guts rotten fish guts and it got got in all throughout the interior of of army's car. So his car reeked the entire year. He got privately cleaned. Nothing could get the smell out of these rotten fish guts.

I remember that. This was my first exposure to, like, somewhat of professional hockey was coming to New York. Right, right. Was it Josh Legger? I think it was Legger that he cornered and Legger shot the guts. Him and Peter Veltman, maybe. There were so many things like that.

It was so cool because it felt like no responsibilities. And we just – you know, we played hockey, but everyone got along, and we just had a great time, man, especially as young kids like you coming in. Same thing as my NHL career. We had such good veterans that kind of showed us the ropes you know and nothing ever crossed the line like nothing that would you know other than sending uh Fabiano up in front of the school this was our rookie prank we had to put all all the uh the girls old volleyball uniforms so we had like the shorter shorts on and this guy you could tell the story so yeah so fabs and actually i was talking about up

to about uh you know when i was in winnipeg i was still uh chatting with him a little bit and uh well when he was in junior man we know we all go through puberty well he got hit with the acne like bad you know and these guys would not lay off them so with his volleyball outfit on he had the guys made him go up on stage and do the commercial um the acne commercial that saying like i ate too many chocolate bars and i don't wash my wash my face and he had to agree you have to recite the whole commercial man and he was such a good sport about it was a great sport yeah and uh yeah i felt bad for him just because of the yeah but he's all cleared up he's all

cleared up you know type of shit that'll be a scandal nowadays uh chris i want to bring up a huge part of your career was uh when pittsburgh traded you to atlanta that was your home for the next 10 years you were in atlanta for four years then they moved to winnipeg you were there for six years by the way you got traded for a third round pick do you know who that third round it turned out to be robert Bertuzzo. You know, isn't that crazy? Yeah. Yeah.

We did the research. We did the research when I was in St. Louis and he didn't know what time either, man. It was, that's pretty cool to bring up. I, at that point I didn't even know either,

but I'm like, let's check this out. But yeah, it was Bob. Yeah. You know, I didn't realize Atlanta played 12 seasons there. It certainly didn't seem like it.

And you know, they're obviously all for 2 at hockey. They probably ain't going to get another chance. But why do you think they failed down there? You were there long enough to probably see what happened up close. Yeah, and not that I saw it up close, but I think it's just a lot to do with management, I think. I mean, we had, like, I don't even know what it was,

like 16 owners or just a ridiculous amount of ownership, like owners. So we can never dial that in. So, yeah. And tell you the truth, man. Like when there was like rumors of leaving, cause I signed my extension the winter before we moved. So at that time too, I was just like, well, what's our, you know, there's rumblings going on. Like what are, you know, what, what's going to happen happen and no one knew

or at least no one would inform us or me my agent so we're just like guaranteed money that's the one thing i told myself throughout the career if someone's giving you guaranteed money you fucking take it so we signed the contract and then we ended up moving and i tell you what as much as i love winnipeg and um had a phenomenal time there when we moved when we when we got sold like I went to I went to pep rallies and like saved the team rallies I called out Gary Bettman on like on the local TV station and just like like keep us here because I love Atlanta too you know what I mean not knowing anything about Winnipeg or how my experience was going to go in Winnipeg which was absolutely phenomenal but at the same time I was trying everything I could to keep that team there didn't work and uh not to say I'm glad

it didn't but at the same time uh Winnipeg was such a cool experience playing in the Canadian market and you know just having a blast there what do you first remember about uh i'd never say his name right kovalchuk or kovalchuk what do you say it ko uh kovalchuk kovalchuk so what do you remember i mean he was a rock star at that point you went in there i mean that's kind of the best hockey he ever played i would say some of those years dude like we had him uh we had kobe Marion Hossa, Bobby O'League, Slava Kozlov, like, you know, Chelley. Savard? No, Savard left the year before. Okay.

But then we had, you know, Chelley also retired there. He played his last game there. Matthew Schneider. I mean, we had so many guys, man, veteran guys. And just a great experience as a young guy to be able to learn be a sponge and learn off all these guys but kobe man kobe's a rock star and he he all he wanted to do was hang out with the boys you know you just wanted to be around the guys and team dinners were his thing whether it was the whole team or you know a handful of guys but

he'd always want to be in the mix. And I just thought that was super cool because up to that point, hearing about Russians, like they just want to be by themselves or, you know, secluded. It was totally wrong, man. This guy, you just wanted to be around him. You just absorb people and just a super cool guy. Were you on the ice or on the bench when evander kane ko'd matt cook

i was on the bench i was on the bench but uh i haven't heard the i know i keep in touch with kainer a little bit and uh he brings it up every conversation you know what i mean so he's still he's still living on it there there was one uh kane story i was gonna ask you were you there for the whole tracksuit incident? In Vancouver, yeah. Is that common knowledge now, how it all went down, or is that still closed-door stuff? No, I think so. I think it came out where his stuff was in the shower,

and he just at that point had enough. He was in his hometown, went home, and wanted to move on. He did. He did. So, yeah, that's about it. Honestly, I don't think there's anything more. I got no information. Because it surprised me too that morning because I wasn't even in on it.

I didn't know what was going on. But I just remember we were having a meeting and he walked through with his tracksuit on. And then after practice, he was gone. So. Sorry for killing the mood. That's all right. Hey, we'll, we'll bring someone fun up. How about big buff? You played with big buffer. You must have some, uh, adventures with him for a year.

Big buff. Like we were on the same page, man. Like we, you know, road trip and there's, there's's like you go out and you know there's team dinners there's um you know you go to clubs you go to bars but i for me i thought the best uh time was room parties so you get a bunch of beer in the room invite as many guys you can fit in there and you just drink and tell stories like that was my favorite because i love listening to stories and where people come from and what they've experienced throughout their careers and uh and buff was a big part of that too and uh there was one time in vancouver buff uh i brought my clippers my hair clippers and i was gonna fucking trim up my beard and so me and buff were in there we're having a couple drinks and sitting in the bathroom and he's telling me

what to do because i can't see with this one side of my face my neck is kind of kinked and i'm like dude help me out here like am i getting am i getting there am i getting there he's like nah a little bit more a little bit more and all of a sudden i was just like and his giggle i got buff's giggle was just fucking priceless i'm like what i looked down on the floor there's a chunk of hair out of my beard because i had a big beard and i had to fucking groom that thing into like a chin strap and i'm like fuck you fucking idiot man i'm like get out of my and you know we're all you know a little bit gooned up but um and then another story of buff and i told i told bolti i was going to tell this one we're in pittsburgh

and me buff benny eager and bolti are in a hotel room in pittsburgh and bolti used to always do this thing it's called stupid money it's where where they're out for dinner or anywhere if he gets a pool of money together he'll do whatever we kind of ask him so uh we're in the room and Benny Eager and Buff are like let's let's shave your head and this guy's 33 years old and he's got three kids at the time and he's like call uh Ron Hainsey he's in charge of the uh fine fun so we call Ronnie we time. And he's like, call Ron Hainsey. He was in charge of the fine fun. So we call Ronnie. We're like, Ronnie, it's like four in the morning.

We're like, Ronnie. He's like, yeah. I was like, Bolsey wants to do stupid money. He said he'll do it for $1,400, shave his head. He's like, yeah, I'll do it. So we're like, yeah, I said yeah. Yeah, do it. So fucking Benny Eager and Buff are in the bathroom.

And I'm on the bed. So I don't know what's going on. I know what's going on, but I don't look. They shave his head. Bolty comes out and he's fucking down to like his, you know, he's got like a little prickly on his head, like all over. I'm like, holy shit, Bolty, what are you doing? And Benny Eager and Buff are like, get back in here, Bolty. We got a razor.

They fucking put like soap on his head and they pick his fucking head. like i said he's 34 33 years old three kids the next morning walk on the bus and boltsy fucking walks up with his cue ball head man and he's coming down the aisles and the reaction on the bus man was just fucking priceless now we go to toronto and he's got to do his first like bucket no bucket skate for warm-up and, his head was like red because it was like frost. It's like frost pit, dude. The guy, oh, man. There was probably cuts on it too. There had to be a couple nicks.

Oh, man. He had like fucking toilet paper here and over here. But no, Buff was always in for a good time, man. And I'm super happy I played with him because he kept things light um i don't want to make this sound like he wouldn't be upset after games when the team lost or anything but he really didn't care huh like i i sense like he loved hockey but it was like it wasn't the be all end all and you saw how he retired it was just like all right i'm i'm kind of all set is that is that accurate yeah no buff cares man like no i know but that's what i didn't i didn't word that correctly i know he cares he's gonna be a

lot looser after like normally guys like like no music on everyone's gonna act grumpy like they're like the matter i feel like he'd be like it ain't the end of the world like like i don't know he definitely puts stuff into perspective yeah he puts stuff into perspective for sure ben and he keeps it loose like when things are tight man, like I get nervous before games, but he'll come by and he'll flick my ear or something or, you know, just to, you know, loosen things up. But Buff does care. He just has a different way of showing it.

But he is so productive on the ice, man. It's absolutely insane. Like he, this guy, like the way he warms up is hilarious. He wears like a weight vest and like does jumping jacks. Just like, this guy, like, the way he warms up is hilarious. He wears, like, a weight vest and, like, does jumping jacks. Just, like, it's almost like a pretend workout. And then I'm like, dude, you're going to hurt yourself or do something. But then by the time puck drops, man, he's a force. It just doesn't even make sense.

It's almost frustrating because I know how hard I work and prepare. And Buff just doesn't have to do any of that. And he can take over a game and control a game whenever he wanted. He just doesn't have to do any of that. And he can take over a game and control a game whenever he wanted. I was going to hop in quickly just, R.A., with the Saginaw talk because I didn't ask you anything about it. That was the first time you became a captain in the OHL, right? Yeah.

It was the first year there. Like just about that year and then you ended up getting moved over and playing with Stephen Weiss. Is that how you say his last name? Weiss. Weiss, yeah. Just. Is that how you say his last name? What? Weiss. Weiss. Yeah. Just like talk about that year in general and just like what it meant to be an OHL captain. Yeah, no, it was cool, man. And I remember getting, getting to see,

and it was just, it was just super cool. Like I've never really, I've never worn one. So, you know, there's responsibilities and stuff that I didn't even know about except from the previous captains that I had, which were awesome. So I, I kind of had like a, you know, a little baseline, I guess. But I'm super proud, super honored to wear it, but I was only there for half a year and then, and then I went to Plymouth, but did you take the C over the following year?

No, I think I took, yeah, maybe then for the remainder of the year or that next year. I mean, you moved over for that last playoff run because you knew you were going to end up moving off to pro and it was the first time you'd moved organizations at least. I know we kind of switched things up, but

you went over there and got to play with some pretty good players. Cole Jarrett being one of them. Right, so I cost up a piece that was our general manager at the time. He called me in and he's like, Thorbs, he's like, I got, he's like, we're not going to make the playoffs. We're not going to go on a run. And he's like, it's your last year. I got two teams that are interested. All I need to do is pick one. I got trades lined up for both.

And he's like, Clemeth or Kitchener. And I'm like, man, I would, Cole Jarrett was one of my best buddies growing up. I'm like, I'm going to Plymouth. It's just down the road too, right? So, yeah, I get in the car. Our PR guy, Prouter, drives me over to Plymouth. And I joined the team there. But we went on like a crazy run.

Chad LaRose was there. Cole Jarrett. James Wisniewski, Ryan Ramsey, who was an unreal junior player, pro player. But, yeah, so we go on a huge run. We end up losing to Kitchener in the finals, and then Kitchener goes on that year to win the Memorial Cup. So hindsight, 2020, right? I'm like, hell, dang it, I picked the wrong fucking team.

But nonetheless, dude, we had a great team and just a great experience. And I mean, for Costa to do that, I mean, that was awesome. So, yeah, it was a good time. It was Patrick Laine's first year. Of course, he just had a bunch of drama there. He got traded to Columbus. What was your experience with him? I remember I pressured him.

Was he a pretty unique kid? He seems to be like a different don't a different kind of guy I guess yeah no he's uh he's very intense you know and he wants to he just wants to do well like he wants to be productive and the way he thinks he can help a team is by scoring goals and being productive offensively over the last couple years years, his defensive game, I think personally has gotten way better and he takes pride in it. But yeah, he, I was, I sat next to him for the two years that I play with him and just a great kid to conversate with and very intelligent on his craft.

You know what I mean? Even like from looking at my curve, he tried to get me to change my curve and I'm like, Patty, get the fuck out of here. Like I'd use a shovel, you know what I mean? It from looking at my curve he tried to get me to change my curve and i'm like patty get the fuck out of here like i'd use a shovel you know what i mean it ain't gonna matter so uh but yeah just a super uh super polite kid like and this is these are my experiences with him but i got nothing bad to say about patty line he was uh a super talent too um one of the chicklets uh favorite interview guests uh you got to spend a season with and that's Tim Stapleton oh you got there busty so was he was he as like ridiculous as as we all know him to be

when you're playing with him or was he more quiet in the room no he was he was outgoing man and he was such a fun guy to be around like just a just an enthusiastic and if there was a good time to be had he was oh yeah you know what i mean yeah you want to be a part of it um so yeah we had some we had some fun times with uh with staves man and uh for a small dude i tell you what like he is uh he was a heck of a hockey player and fast and his shot and intense. Like, just like a fucking pit bull, you know. But just a great person too, man. He was a good teammate to have.

Torby, what's next now that you're retired? Like, do you want to stay in the game or are you going to try to coach? I want to – I would love to get back in the game. Like I said, I ended up in the minor so i kind of went full circle i started in the minors and my career pretty much in the minors and nothing's changed you know what i mean and i took a lot of pride in it as far as the kids came up to me and i was at veteran presence whereas before like when i started i was like the kid asking the questions so i loved uh the kids coming up to me and asking

me uh like even just how's the nhl how's the food in the nhl or what can i do can you help me in this and i took a lot of pride in that so as shitty of a situation as it was those kids were awesome man like just to deal with the play with to be teammates with them and uh it just made me think i'm like there's something missing like i would love to get into the player development role but like it's slash mentor role so i would just love to be able to have these kids be able to call whether they have a bad practice or a bad game or something off the ice happen and i'm not a doctor in anything but i think a conversation is important or at least the uh opportunity to have one and for them to have someone to call because you're

going to call your agent and i was i was blessed to have a phenomenal agent steve bartlett he was top notch and he's almost like a family member but a lot of these kids are part of big firms where they got 50 clients and when they call with issues i don't think they're getting you know the advice or the care that you know they're looking for whereas if they had a guy to call and say like, listen, Thorbs, I just need to talk to someone. I need to vent. Any advice you can give me would be great. I just think that's kind of missing with these young kids.

Cause like I said, they're a little bit more sensitive and the game kind of moves fast. And if you can help them, you know, move along and make those jumps and those steps, I think there's value in that. And some of these parents don't have any experience in the field either like you know they maybe didn't play hockey growing up and they're just you know they're you know their kid doesn't necessarily get that hockey side advice anywhere else and and some and some guys are like some guys are more shy than others

I mean I don't think wit was ever a shy guy in the locker room I definitely wasn't but you know you know look looking back we're we're a lot more naive to a lot of things that were happening just because we weren't very like aware of our surroundings because we were just living in this like crazy dream bubble where our schedules lined up they give you your track suit like you know everything's everything's really done for you um your decisions are made. And the thing is, like, you described that perfectly. All three of us started in the AHL, ended in the AHL. And when you turn pro, you get there.

It's still awesome. It's like, wow, it's better than junior. It's better than college. You're playing pro hockey. You're having beers. It's just different. Then you get to the NHL. You're blown away.

And then as the ride comes to an end you get back and you go back to the hl you're like oh my god like i it's so much worse it's so much different but you're able to express the guys like you have to strive to get there because you don't even understand how much better you can have it you know what i'm saying? You nailed it. Absolutely, man. The NHL is – Oh, my God. I wish I could do it over and over and over again. I mean, not like – oh, my God. What about the first time you're in the air on a private plane

and somebody's bringing you your food? Sushi. And then you're like, hey, can I grab a Heineken? And they go get it. Yeah, there's sushi when you first come on unlimited snacks like these hotels these hotels on the road you're like this is the sickest hotel i've ever seen do i have to pay to stay here right dude do you remember speaking of hotels i apologize for jumping on this one but do you remember in pittsburgh when um and i know you were fucking part of it till this day i don't know but i have a pretty good idea me and stalzy jordan stall were roommates

and so i'm in that room oh dude i'm like floor four so i get in the elevator and by myself i just got back from dinner with a buddy on tampa and i press four and i go to the fucking level and stalzy was out too with a couple buddies and so i press four go up to the fucking level and Stolze was out too with a couple of buddies. And so I press four, go up to the floor, the doors of the elevator open. And it's like a fucking VIP room. So like the beds are set up, the ironing board, the fucking dresser, the TV, the notes were on the fucking pillows. I'm like, oh shit. I'm like, I got to get back. Like whose room is this?

So I get back on the elevator. The doors close. I press four four again the elevator opens again i walk out of like what the so i get up to the pillows i look at the cards on the pillows one says stall and one says uh thorburn i'm like no shit so then i realized there's a hallway i go down the hallway i go into my room all that's in my room is the the steel part of the bed frame. Everything else they set up outside the elevator. That was like the best prank anyone's ever pulled on me in my whole career, man. I still tell that story, man.

It was hilarious. Me and Malone literally spent three hours doing that. Security came up. Security came up. They're like, came up security came up they're like what are you doing like oh these are our buddies it's just a big prank they were actually cool about it we i remember i remember we were like hey we're all done we're all done bugsy's like no no hold on there's a little foot rest for the chair we forgot that it was i think we brought the stuff from the bathroom out. It was.

Well, then you got to see all the toilet paper, the shower, ran the show. Dude, it was it was the best prank. Like you said, you guys must have spent it. And I knew you and Bugsy had something to fucking do with it, too. That was that was legendary, bro. Instead of the guy, instead of me saying like, oh, my God, I was tortured my entire rookie year. I would never do that to anyone else. I was like, I can't wait to do that to somebody else. It was like that movie biz when it's your turn to paddle the freshman.

Yeah, like what we just talked about the other day. Help us out, R.A. Dazed and confused. There you go, buddy. He's the movie guy. He's the movie guy. Did you have any more questions, R.A.? Not really.

I mean, just stuff I don't want to go back to at this point. I mean, we've held them up for an hour here. I did want to note Grinnelli wanted me to let the listeners know the viewers. We're not filming a David Fincher movie tonight. We had to do some on the fly lighting. So that's why it looks a little funky and Chris's little cube here. So when this drops on YouTube, that's the reason why we're going to water

boredom after the interview. We didn't want to bring up that as good as the career was, he lives in a truck now. It's for better days. I got one more for you. Just like we'll finish it off. Who would you say the funniest teammate you ever had was?

I know it's tough, but dude, you got to pick someone. Do you remember some of my antics my first year? Bez, you're up there. You're in like my top 70 for sure 70 okay nice no i didn't mean funny i just meant sometimes our fans like hearing about the antics like i don't even remember what stupid shit i was doing back then i remember when we had a so i was the captain like you were saying i was the captain so instead of going to the movies and stuff my

girl was 19 at the time or 21 at the time in the states and she was leaving she's like you want to have your team over take my apartment i'm like holy i'm like yes so we she buys us the beer she gets it all in the apartment and uh we uh all the guys start coming over and then all of a sudden the fucking knock comes at the door and i open the door and it's fucking biz and biz had a fucking six pack of root beer and i'm like get out of here dude i'm like i never drank i never drank till prom prom was the first time i ever drank wit and then the rest is history you you turn me into an alcoholic and a sex addict thanks a lot thorby yeah they make pills for that um dude uh no the two funniest guys that i played with that i could you know is uh eric bolton and andre wall wazzy was hilarious too

and the shit he did he was what do you remember the noises you make oh my gosh do you remember when he went into tampa after tampa's pre-game skate he went into the locker room sat down and started listening to tortorella's like pre uh pre-game skate like meeting and then tortorella's like was he what the fuck are you doing get out of here and then like two weeks later they traded for him unreal he was he was awesome yeah eric bolton i just it's a funny thing about bolton is is like he was petrifying on the ice i was scared shitless of him and then always everyone for the most part like most of those guys it's like yeah he's the man off the ice and just cracks people up he's doing yeah he's he's got some great stories too man he's uh he's legendary as far as the uh teammate stuff goes you know but him and

mozzie yeah him and mozzie stand out for sure as far as like the funny guys and mind you when i joined them i was a young kid so i laughed at everything and but the stuff like mozzie and bolte did man holy everybody would fucking laugh at it is there is there one thing about wit that you remember from your time playing with him that uh you think the fans would find funny what do you remember i think bugsy did it that you think the fans would find funny? Do you remember? I think Bugsy did it. Remember they spray painted your shoe blue and then nailed it to the fucking stall?

Hey, so you're mistaking two different stories. I've told this a bunch. That was the year before. It was, oh, no, that was that year. You're right. They were still burying me that year. New York, it was rookie party that night we had an afternoon tilt against the rangers we lost eight one terrian had a meeting with 17

players after the game everyone just waited one one one by one one-on-one meeting each one was at least five minutes 17 guys and then he knew we were going out he was probably so furious but finally i was like where are my shoes like they're under the towel over there with and they were spray painted fluorescent blue with number 19 and black on the toes and then the other one was last game of the year we played toronto at home and we had a back-to-back to finish the year we weren't in the playoffs we were terrible and i go to grab my shoes out of my locker and there's fucking nails in the toes of them and i go to pull and they ain't going anywhere and I do a Pittsburgh

Penguin team issued terrible sandals with my suit to the plane and I got fined for that. Oh my God. Yeah, like we said, dude, we would do anything. I'd let you break both of my arms and let me go back in time and do all that stuff again. You don't realize what you have

until it's gone for Christ's sake. I'd give them my knees, but they already took them. Corby, this was great. It was awesome catching up with you. I hope that that's a great idea that you have, working in the game and staying in the game and how you could help players coming up. And I think that you did it all, man.

And I'm really happy to see you in a good spot post-retirement. And we appreciate it. Oh, thanks, boys. I appreciate you guys having a great talk, man. It's nice to talk hockey and talk about memories, man. Because for the most part, dude, they were all good memories, man. I just wish I had a better memory to remember everything. You know what I mean?

I know there's guys that wrote stuff down, but I just thought I'd always remember. And, fuck, I don't. Do you remember that when we scrapped in practice? no you brought this you brought this up but i cannot i can't i've tried to think about it i thought i fought three guys in practice that year you steve dicks he broke my nose i remember dixie's fight i do remember that one yeah yeah and then dude he blew your nose up oh yeah that was that was the beginning he was tough he was one of the toughest guys i ever played with.

Thorby, thank you so much for joining us. People are going to love this. Congrats on the way it all ended. Storybook ending and best of luck in your post-career,

my friend. Oh, my gosh. Thank you, guys. And we'll be in touch. I'll be talking again. Thank you so much to Chris Thorburn. Getting the chance

to play with him was a thrill. Same for Biz and Junior, even though he's one of the few men who could ever say they cucked Paul Bissonnette. Didn't happen often. I think you were the guy usually cucking other guys. But Thorby owned you and Junior. And shout out to where he was giving that interview because it looked like he was in a cave in Afghanistan with an old light on him. But we appreciate him coming on.

Oh, my gosh. Speaking of cuck, I put the couple's photos up, Sip Nasty style, and memes sends me just one to myself. I didn't know if he'd posted it because sometimes I delete my social media. It was me, my girl, and instead of Finn there, he put Barry. He put Barry in the mix, and most of you guys who follow memes know exactly who I'm talking about. The guy when you used to get the text and you used to open it up and it would be the the guy with the huge hammer sitting on

the end of his bed did you see the meme of him like at the end of the uh ghost scene when they're doing the oh he's so good he put barry instead of who instead of uh i don't think memes did i somebody sent to me so barry's like upside, and when you see them with the hand making the vase, you see Barry laying at the bottom. Oh, my God. This guy, he won't go away, and nor should he. I love Barry. I was happy that memes didn't post that on the main thing. I would have been getting roasted.

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All right, moving right along. We're going to head over to the West right about now. Biz, you were just covering this crazy best of seven series in the middle of the season due to all the crazy scheduling and rescheduling and postponement. Arizona and St. Louis have played a best of seven in the middle of the season. Game seven, if you will, is actually today, Monday afternoon. And, man, the Yotes have hung with the Blues,

brother. Connor Garland, 6 goals, 8 assists, 14 games. This kid, I love watching him play. Biz, what's your take on the state of the Yotes? I'm a homer, but boys have been playing awesome. So far in this series, they've played 6 games. Each team's got 7 points. So

I'm going Aspen. I got Monday off. They're playing a matinee game i didn't realize it was president's day i was unsure why they were playing in the afternoon but they have an opportunity to you know you know show the league that they're for real i think st louis was considered a top dog in the west them colorado in in vegas definitely at the top and as you said already the boys have been hanging with them that top line for the coyotes rick talk had put them together called the short leash line. A couple of young guys.

Garland's leading the way, but Keller has been coming into his own. That Schmaltz kid has definitely impressed. And as far as our second line, this Christian Dvorak played in London. Shocker. Probably making more than we know. He's been awesome as well for the Coyotes. And then, of course, Darcy Kemper and that. But it's it's been fun to watch uh it's gotten chippy garland's definitely getting a lot more attention these days as far as guys sticking them there was a clip uh

with our boy uh you know or tuzo giving them with the shimmy shake from the bench but it's it's been a very chippy series uh there's been some fights there was a headshot uh larson ended up getting suspended for two games so you know if you're a hockey fan and you like this chippy series. There's been some fights. There was a headshot. Larson ended up getting suspended for two games. So, you know, if you're a hockey fan and you like this chippy hockey, I would definitely, hopefully you get to catch the game on Monday afternoon. And I hope the Coyotes can pull this off. I think it's going to give them a lot of confidence moving forward to show that they can hang with one of the top dogs. Wade, have you been watching that series at all? I have been. It's been interesting to see how hard they've played against him and i thought st louis would end up kind of taking over and you know winning that series five to two and

coyotes can make it five to two for themselves with a win today right in the seven games it would it would uh like right now they've each got three wins seven oh i'm sorry yeah i thought it was uh no coyotes were up three one in the series and then the last two they've dropped at home as far as st louis is concerned, Fox looked really good. He's probably been their best defender. Krug's been solid. Pareko just has not looked the same as he once did. I don't know if he's struggling to find his game.

I know the bubble, he was struggling a little bit as well. So, I mean, easy to say with no training camp guys. A lot of guys are struggling right now to find their game but uh you know overall overall uh maybe maybe st louis not as impressive as we thought coming in i think that the guy in st louis that needs to be mentioned is this jordan cairo because you want to see somebody play with speed a new age nhl player i say that you know tongue-in-cheek new age everyone's been fast for a while now but oh my god does this dude motor he he like he's taking guys wide he's making plays he made a sick pass the other day I think it was to Falk who buried it yeah and like you know he was

a second round pick uh five years ago now so he's coming on he's a point of game player and he was able to you know play a little bit last year and not have the offensive impact, but he was in the AHL point-of-game, and now this year, boom, more ice time, so much speed, and a way to just really change St. Louis' style of play when he is on the ice. Sometimes they can grind you out down low, but with him off the rush, it's a different game. And I know right now Robert Thomas is out, correct? I don't remember what he injured, but he is out,

so that's a guy they really need to get back. And still, they're sitting in a good spot. They're in second in that division. Everyone kind of knew it would be Vegas, Colorado, and them. Right now they're above Colorado. The games played has been certainly different with the COVID situations. But I still like St. Louis to really get in the playoffs and not be an easy out. I keep forgetting they got Tarasenko out too.

Yeah, I mean, this team, exactly. They just got to hold their head above water until guys are back. Talkett's done a great job so far, though, with the Coyotes getting these guys playing hard. I don't think expectations were that high coming into this season, and the boys have looked mighty impressive. You don't think the expectations for the – oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, no, for the Coyotes,

like their bottom six have been getting juggled around too. So just as far as everything's concerned. Last guy I'll mention, Chikrin. He's, with all of Reckman-Larsen, when he was out for 10 games, really took some strides. I think he's got like 10 or 11 points right now. So definitely coming into his own and establishing himself as a, I would say at least a number two at minimum.

Yeah, I agree with you there. The Ducks, man, they've been a pretty big surprise too. I don't think a lot of people had expectations for them. 15 points tied for third in the division, getting some outstanding goaltending. But I actually want to go to San Jose. Me and Biz want to bring up the Carlson situation there. He didn't play the final 11 minutes Saturday night in the third period. A lot of people are speculating what was going on.

He was in the trainer's room after the game. Bugner said it was a lower body injury, but nothing serious. The Athletics' Kevin Kurz, he wrote an article that night basically pointing out his deal and Kane's and the awful, awful cap situation that the Sharks are in right now. Eric Carlson's got $11.5 million he's going to be making through 2027. And, you know, the production's not there. The play's not there.

His article, basically, he's obviously watched the Sharks a lot more than I have. And I guess that guy just doesn't seem too fucking interested in playing this year. That contract looks like a huge albatross right now, though, right? I mean, as far as Carlson's concerned, Norris, the fenceman, you always think a guy who's been able to achieve that you know that success and play up to that standard

could find it once again right i'm going to give those types of players the benefit of the doubt but looking at their roster and how much money is allocated to the top four or five guys and where they sit and and just the eye test by watching how they're playing on the ice. Like, it's ugly, and this could, in fact, get a lot uglier. So I don't know how you manage this situation. I think Carlson even commented on it when asked about it. He said, I don't think his confidence is there right now. And if anything, when I watched him play the first two games of the season,

him and Burns were playing north of 30 minutes. Now, I think maybe to get Carlson maybe back to where he was, I think they have to dumb down that ice time a little bit. And also, regarding him getting sat the last 11 minutes, they did say it was a lower body injury, I believe, R.A., correct? Correct. Not serious, but that's what Bugna said after the game. And I want to say that it was something that last year that it was affecting him lower body.

Not sure if it's the exact same injury. So if he's not completely healthy, it's also hard to hold him to that standard of what he once was playing. So if he's trying to battle through it, then I'll be a lot more lenient. But they got some tough contracts there looking forward, Whit. Yeah. lenient but they're they're uh they got some tough contracts they're looking forward uh with yeah and um we can get into the rest of the season evander kane versus the golden knights uh after what he did to uh smith um that could be interesting but quickly about eric carlson what's crazy is he's only 30 years old and granted he's had some injury issues but the way he skated

has always been just such a like a game changer for him but he had years uh 20 goals 21 goals 16 goals 17 goals that was from 2013 14 to 2016 17 in the last four years that's this year included he's got 193 games played he's got 18 goals it's like he had six last year he has none this year it's like to see that drop off and he's not old it's just so odd and maybe maybe it you know like you said he doesn't have confidence but for this long to just like a guy was so able to able to score so easily playing defense and granted people always said he didn't play that much defense but with how much he had the puck he really didn't need to. And now it's just odd. And to see San Jose sign him to that deal,

I feel like they could have seen some of these things coming, but it is a scary time to be a Sharks fan because they're one of those teams that looks like they are just headed nowhere but down in the foreseeable future. I look at it as doubling down. I mean, they gave up so much to get him and then they're like well since we gave that up we have to justify it by signing them where you know if this type of play continues at that dollar amount that's you know in in today's cap world that's gonna that's

gonna cripple you and also i mean even if he was producing and putting the numbers he used to that's still a fucking huge tag for a guy 11 and a.5 million in a regular year, then you add in the whole pandemic situation and the effect that's had on caps. That's just a wild fucking price tag. And you have him locked in until 2050? Fucking Jesus. Now, the article I referenced, he also had Kane's deal in there. I don't think Kane's deal is anywhere near the same level as Carlson.

Kane has got, let's see, four more years left after this season at $7 million a whack. That deal, I don't think it's in the same company as Carlson necessarily, but he's got to stop taking the bait from Revo, man. I mean, it's such a great tradeoff when Vegas can get fucking Kane off the ice and trade off a Revo. They've been going at it again the other night. Some great penalty box chatter we've seen.

And then after the game, Alex Tuck said, jumping a guy like Smitty, I think Evander's got him by a few pounds for sure. I know he's going to have to keep his head up every game we play. The next seven games we play Evander, better be looking over his shoulder. So, I mean, we don't get too many threats like we used to, but that's... There's no reason for me to watch the Sharks, but next time they play Vegas, I'm watching. I'm tuning in. We talked about that hate and I tell you what man that's uh that's pure entertainment we got to get these guys miked up hbo 24 7 style for that next game we got to start doing that couldn't even fucking release the footage with the what the

amount of f-bombs being dropped no i'm just assuming what they're saying back and forth to each other is just ridiculous. Hey, just zoom in on the penalty box attendance with the Curb Your Enthusiasm music. The guy retires from being a penalty box attendant right after. He's like, oh, my God. And that fucking unreal save Marc-Andre Fleury made Thursday night. Another save of the year candidate. I think he's got three or four of them. His number's absolutely insane.

7-1, 9-4-4 save percentage, 1-3-8 goals against. Got a second shutout versus Colorado Sunday night. Cost me a couple pesos. But the real talk about Vegas, the gold helmets this week. What's your take on those, Witty? So I didn't like them, but that team in Vegas, they can kind of do things in the white gloves they have or have, whatever. Being in Vegas, I don't mind it.

I don't think they look good, but I think when fans are in the building, it's just a show. It's an atmosphere. Everything's different there. So I don't actually hate the look for that team, but looking at them right away i was like oh my god like who's the guy from star wars biz that you you compared it to cp3po cp3 cp3o i what what a comparison what a comparison because right away i saw it i was like oh but you could see him pulling it off with that place bumping

and them going maybe to the Stanley Cup final this year. Who knows if we'll see them again. They lost, though. They may not wear them again. It was a losing effort. No, didn't they? Oh, they did. Yeah, they lost the game before.

But as far as all their jerseys are concerned, I like the white ones definitely a lot better. But next thing you know, they do it for the attention, and next thing you know, they're not going to be wearing them. I couldn't imagine them maybe wearing them next year even with that the gray the i don't i hate the reverse retros they have the red ones but ultimately like they're doing it to draw attention it's very vegas and next thing you know they're going to have different third jerseys that you're complaining about so just the rotation continues did you see what

pete blackburn did he you know he took the weekend from the super bowl show and he put it in the helmet when he was walking through all those gold walls uh he's a fucking good little memer himself yeah good stuff like i said colorado that not much to say there they played their first game in 12 days sunday night in vegas got shut out uh minnesota did not play as, so nothing really to report there. So we're going to chug along to the North Division, a.k.a. the Canadian Division. And the big news there was Vancouver owner Francesco Aquilini,

he had a tweet thread Saturday that said he wasn't going to fire anybody and basically the team's still getting used to each other. I'll pull it up here. This has been a unique year for everyone. Roster changes, very little training camp, no preseason in just a few practice days. It takes time for new players to fit in in a new group. Chemistry to take hold both on and off the ice.

Of course, I'm disappointed by our poor start, but the last thing we're going to do is panic. We've been better in recent games, and I believe we'll continue to improve. Our fans are passionate and knowledgeable. They have every right to express themselves, but when the media starts pouring gas in the fire, dealing in rumors and misinformation as if it's fact, it's time for me to speak up. Contrary to what you may have read or heard, we're sticking to the path we're on,

building on our core of young talent. Progression is not always a straight line. There's no easy fix, only patience, commitment, and hard work. Like Bessa, Pedersen, and Hughes, Hoagland was an excellent pick. It looks like he'll be a great part of our future. Our hockey group believes Pod Colson will step right into the lineup as well.

I have full confidence in Jim, Travis, and this group. I have no plans to make changes. And then they went out and played their best game of the season for us, Calgary, that night. It had an obvious effect on the team. Yeah, that was quite the response. I mean, I don't blame him with his comments. It is still early and they did not have a training camp and and they made a few significant moves.

Now, as far as Ackley is concerned, probably one of the more involved owners in the league as far as what's happening with moves. Like I've heard in the past when Mike Gillis was GM, he would like Nick's trades. He'd say, no, we're not moving this person for this person. So sometimes as a general manager, it handcuffs you a little bit. So it's hard for me to be very critical of Benning and maybe the cap situation or some of the moves he's made depending on what information and what he's allowed to do as far as the ownership's concerned.

Now, their play was not very good. They've definitely had a few guys underachieving. As far as bad contracts moving forward, I don't think the Tyler Myers contract looks very good. I don't think Schmidt's been able to come over and make the impact that he's wanted to so far. But as I said, as a guy who's going to be a little bit more lenient into the fact that they didn't have a training camp,

they got some pretty good weapons there that can that can turn this thing around now the the only question moving forward is you know are you going to be able to button up these these young guys mainly Pettersson and Quinn Hughes to to nice contracts their their their cap situation is not very good Benning has not done a good job with that. As far as drafting and developing some of these young prospects, I think they're, they've done a 10 out of 10. Would you not say as far as talent pool, young guys with,

they're probably one of the more superior teams in the league. Yeah, they're right there. Goaltending has been horrific. When neither goal is above 900 save percentage, you know, you're going to have issues. And that's been the case.

And I think that their effort against Calgary the other night was that was great to see if you're if you're a canucks fan they're really answering the bell in terms of how things have started now yeah they do have some great young talent um i think right now some of those guys maybe aren't playing up to snuff but they they will i'm not i won't be surprised at all if they will now you look at not every draft is going to be a home run but like 2016 they picked that ole you levy and they picked him fifth overall it was before math matthew kachuk charlie mccaboy jacob chikrin it was a lot of different players that they could have had he hasn't done much right so that's a guy where you're looking at a top five pick you kind of

need to hit home runs there he's struggled so far he's got a goal this year but just hasn't really made it made his presence in the nhl it's been five years which now kind of seems like a long time after the top five picks come into the league so there's definitely issues there i i understand where the owner's coming from in terms of i'm not making changes last year was great and we lost some key players markstrom being the biggest one why would i rush to judgment right now the thing is though if i look at that division, I think Toronto and Montreal have shown to be the class of the North. And I think after that, you're looking at Edmonton, Calgary, and Winnipeg,

and one of those teams is going to miss the playoffs, and two of them will get in. I think Ottawa and Vancouver already with these starts, I don't think they have a chance. And so you look at the top two I mentioned, they'll be in, and then the other three remaining, one of those guys will be out. So it's definitely a tough season if you're a Canucks fan

and some of these players, and I don't think that they can't turn it around and definitely start winning games. And you see Pedersen make more plays and probably definitely go on one of those runs where he's getting 20 points over a 12-game span, something like that. But still, right now it's disappointing.

And that's kind of just, there's no other way to put it. And goaltending being one of the main issues. You can't win in this league without getting good goaltending. It's impossible. And going back to Akalini's comments, he believes in his general manager, that's fine. I read this on Twitter. Mike Gillis was fired after an 83-point season,

a mark the Canucks have beaten once in seven seasons under Benning. So at what point for a guy, you know, you fired one guy for underachieving. Now you've given one guy seven seasons in order to make things right. If they don't make playoffs, all of a sudden you did trade that first rounder for JT Miller. I didn't think it was a great play at the time because I didn't think they were ready to make that next jump all of a sudden I believe that first rounder has been backed up to this year now well what if they finished as a bottom feeder

well you just gave up another you know top 10 pick to to not make playoffs so I don't know I I I think there's some definitely some some head scratchers as far as an organization but they're not in the worst position that's for sure i will say it would be a it would be a nightmare as a general manager to have an owner that's super involved in making decisions it's like gms don't even want to take jobs where they're not given full carte blanche to make the moves they want to make sorry all right go ahead buddy., go ahead, buddy. No, I wasn't trying to distract you. I know we're up against it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I didn't want to sit here and talk about Vancouver. We still got a bunch of other shit to get to, namely Toronto. The Maple Leafs keep chugging along, still in first, despite a Saturday night loss to Montreal, 23 points, leading the league. They're getting jumbo back today, Monday, after missing two games. The injury was unfortunate, Joe said, but I feel really good now. I can't wait to get to play tomorrow. He's back on the line with Pablo and Mitch.

Amana, seven goals, 15 assists, 22 points, tied with Patty Kane for third in the league. He leads all forwards in time of ice to 22 minutes and 55 seconds. That's pretty good. Matthew's absolutely tearing it up, leads the NHL in goals. I mean, we've got to mention the Leafs. I mean, it always seems like we do every week, but as long as they keep winning, we're going to keep stroking them off,

I suppose. I'll keep it short and sweet. I think they're going to win the Cup. I want them to win the Cup. I've said this. I want the Toronto Maple Leafs to win the Stanley Cup this year. I'm openly rooting for them. Yeah.

I mean, all the guys – listen, our main criticism of that team is they gave the top four guys way too much money, and it's hard to survive in today's league when you're paying so much to the top guys where you don't have any other players to contribute. Well, they got guys on good deals contributing right now. I know Simmons is injured, but he was a main pickup for a million and a half. You got Jumbo Joe. There's this Travis Boyd guy.

Everybody's going crazy over his analytic numbers. I have watched a little bit. He has looked really good. But just as far as their top four guys between Marner, Matthews, Tavares, and Nylander, I mean, they're basically clicking at a point a game. And I was a doubter of Nylander

when they signed that deal. I thought it was a crazy deal at the time because I don't think that he'd earned it per se, but I'm putting the clown nose on for that one because right now he looks good. If he can start producing in playoffs, that's going to be the sandpaper finish. The Muzzin trade was huge also.

He's a beast. He can pitch in offensively, but he's also just so difficult to play against. He's hard-nosed. You saw what he did to Matthew Kachuk's also just so difficult to play against. He's hard-nosed. You saw what he did to Matthew Kachuk. He's a prick to play against. And then Justin Hall, too, who, I mean, you know, I didn't know much about him, right? He's played some big minutes.

He's played, like, top pairing against top players. We talk about him playing against McDavid and things. So they're getting contributions from guys, whereas you're not just looking at the top four highest-paid players. It's like you need the depth, and that's kind of the difference with this maple leafs team i think is that guys are really pitching in like kerfoot he was a great player to bring over kind of he brings like all elements it's just a fun team to watch i'll say that as we get closer toward the deadline here and i know because of this uh covid protocol it's a little bit harder and you're probably more inclined to make a deal a little bit before the actual deadline.

But we'll talk about more of that in future episodes. But I think there's probably one more piece that they have to add. It'll be interesting to start scoping out who's necessarily on the trading blocks as to who they could add to put them up. I still think they need one piece. One more piece.

Yeah, we still got deadline stuff to get to, too. That's going to be an exciting time. A couple more notes from the division before we send it over to Cameron Hughes, the professional fan. Edmonton waved James Neal. No surprise he wasn't scooped up with that deal. Montreal waved Paul. Don't call me Tom Byron

for the purposes of sending him to the taxi squad. 3.4 mil. Nobody picked that up either. And hey, most guys have tried different ways to last longer in bed, but thinking about playoff seedings and potential matchups doesn't always work. The folks at Roman, an online men's health company, are changing the game with Roman Swipes, the secret to longer-lasting sex. Roman Swipes are a clinically proven way to last longer in bed.

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You did this one solo. I didn't know if you want to give a quick note. How about that title, a professional fan? That's a pretty good gig he's got going. And listen, very humble guy, very grateful for what he does. I met him throughout the years, and I thought he'd be an interesting guy to get on. And I think we should send it over to Cameron Hughes, the professional fan. Well, this was kind of a random interview.

It was Tuesday night. I get another text from a guy who just released a book. A very odd job in the NHL, and I guess he'd be better to describe it. Welcome to the Spit and Chicklets podcast, Cameron Hughes, and recently released book, King of Cheer. King of Cheer. Yeah. Who knew I could be an author, right? I mean, I'm a bad dancer, but not a bad writer. Well, so the reason I wanted to have you on is just to explain your whole story and how it came to be. Yeah, you know, I was trying to find myself back in 94 and the Sens were a new team in the NHL. They were horrible.

They were playing against the Jets one night in the middle of January, 30 feet of snow. And I go to the game. My buddy gives me tickets, eight minutes to go. I go watch this. And he's like oh please don't i get up in front of 10 000 people i go crazy in my seat and all the fans are looking at me like what the hell is he doing so i sit back down the crazy there's a buzz and then the next whistle blows and 10 000 people turn around and they're like come on big red let's dance so i go

to the aisle right the whole reason i've had this crowd this gig is because i went to the aisle i start dancing like a lunatic in my canadian tuxedo as obviously and the crowd goes nuts standing ovation i go back to my seat the senators come up to me and said hey we want to hire you and i'm like to do what you know what i mean? And next thing I know, 26 years later, 1500 gigs. And here we are. How many beers deep were you when you decided to do that the first time? Okay. So I've been asked that a lot. The first night, stone sober. When they asked me to come back a week later, I went to the little bar across the street. I had six beers and two tequila. And then I was like, I could do it. I couldn't barely perform. Rightquila. And then I was like, I could do,

I couldn't barely perform. Right. And so then I was after that game, I was like, I can't, I couldn't balance. I was falling. So I haven't drank in the game since then. But when I, so I don't even remember how we initially met. I would imagine it was in the hallways down below. Cause I was always a healthy scratch and you were kind of running around, like get, get your routine started. But at that point point in time your routine had been like crushing Red Bulls yes actually in the early days I was definitely crushing Red Bulls I was I was during your Red

Red Bull phases when I met you yeah I've evolved what's the routine now quick bump or what no hey now no I uh I actually like I that's why i want a private dressing room just to have my own time because i'm getting pretty old out there you know but yeah no i do a warm-up around the arena you've probably seen me stretch right i've seen you do quite the dynamic warm-up we just had vojtek walski on probably much like his but uh uh just so obviously things get popular in ottawa are you being shown on like the local news and then word picks up? Cause then you ended up getting more gigs. Yeah. Well, Ottawa, I actually had an exclusive for two years in Ottawa.

I've got a bit of media coverage. They call me the dancing guy in Ottawa. You wonder why I was single. Right? So then the Leafs are in the playoffs. I drive down to the garden, my buddy, who's an eight. Well, my buddy, a family friends, an agent to Doug Gilmore, no big deal. Calls Cliff Fletcher. No big deal again. And they go, I got this guy and they look at me and they're like, whatever, dude. Okay. You know? So they give me two tickets to the garden, like nice seats right back in the day at the garden and they go, good luck. So I bring my own t-shirts, you know, I twirl t-shirts, right? Well, that's part of your routine and you can get into that as well.

Yeah. So I'm at the garden. I'm going absolutely nuts. And the crowd's like loving it, right? They've never seen anything like it for them. Then Harry Neal calls me out. He makes fun of me on Hockey Night in Canada. Like he attacks me.

He was pissed about it because he's old school? He was like saying, clearly he thought I was drunk and I was like crazy. So a friend of mine so he was right yeah so he was one for one that night so then a buddy of mine emails Ron McLean and CBC Sports explains who I am the next Saturday night I go to the game it's the garden you know what it's like right the place was just popping gardoonies the whole thing I go and do the game. And I find out later that Harry Neal's now like, look at this guy go. He's amazing. He's from Ottawa. He's a motivational consultant, which I don't know what that is. Right. But I got then suddenly everyone across Canada now was like,

wait a minute, who is this guy? And that was the moment I drove back, had my Timmy Timmy's and sit up. I was like, this is what I want to do, you know? And it kind of lit this spark in me. So then you figure it out and you started hopping around from team to team to league to league. I mean, I mean, talk about all the different places this has ended up bringing you because you've transferred sports even. Yeah. You know, so I just started to show up and other teams would call. I mean, remember when the Buffalo Sabres at Marineland and Marina,

the scoreboard fell. So they called called me so suddenly i'm going to buffalo did 10 games around buffalo and then washington sees me and then all these other teams start to see me and then i got a booking agent who represents like all these acts remember morgana the kissing bandit no oh you should i check it out yeah you should she used to run on the field and she was she was kind of like the dolly parton of cheering if you know what i'm saying she had huge bombs correct and she would run out of the field and anyhow i had the same eight crazy george so i had i got a booking agent i started to tour around i was doing like the spokane chiefs and all these other minor league games and then i started doing other sporting events.

And that's when it kind of like, I realized I can make a living doing this because it took a long time to prove to people that I could add value. Right. Well, all the way to the U S open. I remember you were, you danced during a game between Djokovic and who was the other, the was a Federer. It was a Djokovic match. And then i had another interaction with federer but yeah i was live on espn they called me onto the court and there i am dancing with novak that's

unbelievable i mean yeah uh the what was the other thing i was going to ask you about the you ended up going over to cardiff as well in england so you've actually i believe danced for every single team at one point that i've been on in pro. That's been the goal, but usually sometimes you're there. Sometimes you're not. Yeah. Yeah. Right. You got to go down to the fucking dirty leagues, my friend. Did you play, did you do it in Wheeling as well? Yeah, obviously did four games in Wheeling. By the way, let's talk about that arena. Oh my God. Right. Oh, it's West Banco baby. Let's go. we used to have moondog bobblehead night it was

just a it was just a special place now i would probably say it'd be fair to uh pinnacle of your career we got to go back to the few of the olympic stories anyway let's go back to 2002 2002 was crazy my buddy was running the olympics he i got an rv a bunch of guys we met in vegas not a good way to start a road trip. We go to, we go to Salt Lake. We've got an RV. We've got all the Canadian flags on the RV go Canada, go doing all these promos. And then I get a pass to go to all the games. I was like going to all these events, not getting paid, just doing it. It's the night before Canada's playing the U S and the gold medal game. game um these friends of mine these sponsor hotel

coke gave me a hotel room i'm downstairs and saturday morning the night before the game janet gretzky walks by she's just come out of the spa and she says i'll see you at the game tonight and i turn around i'm like oh hi and i tell her the story we're in the basement of the this hotel i go actually i've been banned from performing. She goes, that's bullshit. The US banned him, G. They pigeon tossed him because he was rooting too hard for Canada during all the preliminary games. No, but you were too?

No, I was saying they were trying to nix you. And that's why you told Janet the story, right? Yeah. So I tell Janet the story. She says, that's bullshit. I'll talk to Wayne. Meet me in the lobby of the hotel tomorrow morning at 10 30 the hips playing that night i want to go out and party with everyone oh my god and i'm like i

i can't drink i can't do anything i got to be a good boy right i get down to the lobby of the hotel all of her all the kids come down all her friends janet comes down she goes all right everyone on the bus now i'm on the bus going with the gretzky's to the gold medal game i've got like tyler's on my my knee i'm putting tattoos of canada on we're singing the hip songs and i'm doing i'm like what the hell am i doing here they adopted you for the day they did it was insane so we get out of the bus everyone's high-fiving you know canada go canada go she gives me the ticket i still have the the ticket. She says, have a great game. Let's get them tonight.

And I'm like, that was it. I mean, that was the most unbelievable thing ever, right? So I went and performed for Canada. That is unreal. Were you getting carried off after? Did they come down and get your security? No, they didn't do anything. They left me alone, especially after they started winning.

Unbelievable, man. That must have been a pretty special moment. then years later you ended up at i believe the vancouver olympics was it 2010 2010 uh you know back in vancouver hometown you know not hometown but canadian boy and they hired me for 28 games i had to do two and a half games a day so i had a trainer going in i was no drinking no party don't laugh stem pack on you it's like catching fire what's what's the movie saving silverman yeah i had a masseuse in the room no i'm kidding but i it was insane so two and a half games a day and um it was amazing and i was doing all this media and it was amazing and halfway through through the Olympics, I got a phone call and they said,

we have three warnings about your behavior. I'm like, well, you hired me to be crazy, right? I got in trouble for dirty dancing with a girl. Oh, yeah. Were you flossing with one of the t-shirts a little too aggressively? There was a bit of a t-shirt floss moment. And my friend was a photographer and he caught it. So I was guilty.

I made a baby cry. Oh, well, that's the kicker right there you're like ron burgundy just yeah punting babies off the or is it he did a dog excuse me but so anyhow they anyhow canada goes to play the gold we all know what we know sydney scores i go and have my first beer we go to the molson house party like rock stars i see i'm gonna go to the. I leave my buddies and I see an opening. It's where the VIP room is. Right. And I see Bob Nicholson, you know, head of hockey Canada and Bob's waving at me, come over here, come over here. I go right through no security security's chasing me. Right. Bob's like, no,

he's with me. I'm like, damn straight. I'm with you. Bob goes, come on in. I'm like, what do you mean? Come in. He opens the door to the president's room and there's Sid with his family celebrating. Cause he didn't want to be in the main room where all the players were. Cause it was just too much for him. So obviously he wanted a picture with me. So we, you know, he got one. No way. Did he actually ask you for a pick?

No, but I'll tell you, no, he didn't. I'd asked him for one, but then I went into the next room okay and every player has their own like lineup of molson canadian magnums of beer and that's actually when mike babcock true story asked me for a picture with him and his family because i used to do the spokane chief games oh that's right yeah going going back anyhow sid's like i don't want a picture but i gotta tell you the story about this time i went to italy and uh we played this song uh i don't know if you i don't know if you heard the the joey vitale story about sid how superstitious he is and he told them the the dog days are over story before every game for like a 13 13 game heater because he's so superstitious but uh well it worked right yeah i mean with with everything going on in the world right now, of course, COVID no live sporting events, it must be a kick in the

nuts for you. But during this time, you did get a chance to jot down all these stories. Was that already the plan before COVID hit or did it just align? Well, you know, I've always, I've been working on it for a long time, you know, cause there's all these, it's short stories, there's pictures. It's, it's like a bunch of journal entries that have a through line. There's heart, you know, I lost my mom as a kid and lost my dad a couple of years ago, like the night I was supposed to do a game. So there's a lot of heart in there too. So it's not just like the crazy moments, you know, it's, it's about my journey of trying to make it right. But yeah, I, I think once COVID hit, I realized I had to do it. You know what I mean? I also, because I don't have a career right now.

It's not going very well. Well, not only that, and just kind of how this silly thing turned into you being able to get into all these incredible sporting events. I mean, we might see it more now that you're on the podcast, all these people doing wacky. We got like a Cirque du Soleil going on in the crowd now. No one's even watching the play. I know, it's crazy, right?

Well, Vegas, I've done 50 games there. Where else can you do Blue Man Group opening than at a Vegas game? I've done a couple of Blue Man moments in crowds. Like, you really? My face is painted blue. It's the best. Yeah. So you get to, and the more comfortable some of these teams get,

the more they want to be innovative. And especially a team like Vegas must be so fun to work with because they're willing to go that extra mile to entertain yeah you know they push it there's this you know since day one i think i saw you there in the early days they gave their fans a permission just to go nuts as crazy on a tuesday against columbus as on a saturday against the blackhawks it doesn doesn't matter, right? And they push stuff. They have a huge budget. They try things. They do the showgirls and the night on and on and on. And so I'm just part of that.

And you wouldn't believe some of the stuff I get away with. You know, like it's fun. Have you ever put yourself in the hospital doing this all up and down the aisle? Only eight times. Like what's the worst injury you've sustained from being a clown up and down the aisles? Only eight times. Like what's the worst injury you've sustained from, from being a clown up and down the aisles.

I think the worst sort of most embarrassing though is a ECHL all-star game in South Carolina. And I fell down like a massive set of stairs and I didn't stop. And everyone thought it was a bit because it looks really well done. So dude, i'm literally on the bottom of the stairs i can't get up the play's going on so the fans aren't watching me and i'm screaming for help and nobody comes and helps me they just thought oh t-shirt guy's doing a funny bit yeah i had like a fifth tenth twenty twentth degree sprain the trainer's like you're an ass look at like what

you're doing and i come back in the third period on crutches my my ankles like wrapped like a linebacker's leg and i got paid oh i was gonna say at that point if you would have done the whole t-shirt removal thing and spinning it out and gunning it out that would have been uh quite the icing on the cake well um any any uh bucket list things that you want to achieve moving forward that, I mean, Superbowl, what's the mega ship. I think this, you know, it's funny. Yeah. Superbowl would be the one I did the great cup 68,000 people. That was, that was unbelievable. You know, they gave me, you know, 60 second time out to get the crowd going. You know,

and then, you know, Stanley cup finals ottawa against the uh you know whoever did you ever have a panic attack before one performance because you got too amped up like was there anything that like happened beforehand times it's just that's like a regular occurrence you don't know what you're going to get going in i think that i learned i mean probably like a lot of athletes like you guys you you have to learn to peak at the right time you know like you have your nap you you do your warm-up and then you get, you, you have to learn to peak at the right time. You know, like you have your nap, you, you, you do your warmup and then you get going. I used to come to the arenas and I'd be so excited that by the time the game

started, I'd be wiped, you know, and you know, the road, the road's exhausting, but I'm just a one man band, you know? That's true. You got your 60 seconds to perform a little Roman swipe, and then you're off. How much of it is, how much of it is choreographedographed or do you all just figure it out on the spot? Well, like the first big intro now is choreographed. In the early days, I would just go. They'd play music and they'd try to catch me.

And now we try to plan it just to orchestrate like a big wow. And then the fans kind of know who I am, you know, so they can play along. And they're, you know, everyone knows the power of the jumbotron. Oh, that was definitely a game changer because i mean back in what 2002 when it was in salt lake city did they even have a jumbotron i don't you know i don't think so i mean they didn't when i first started there was no entertainment departments there wasn't all this stuff and you know i did a couple memorial cups and you know and and and you know some places they don't care they just like go you know what i mean yeah you're doing like the fucking what's the dmx or whatever like that in front of like ladies

breastfeeding you're like ah uh one last story actually before we uh let you go uh you kind of got the the mcdavid chicklets bump from uh from mcd McDavid one time when you're on a date. Well, look, he was there in Quebec city receiving a CHL award for player of the year. He was with Alex to bring cat Strom. They walk into a bar. They were just turned 18. I'm on my third date with a girl who comes to Quebec city, obviously romantic, right? You know, go see a guy who's trolling t-shirts and yeah,'s romantic so in walks the three guys and i knew connor's agent so i walked over and said hi we're all having drinks we're partying and we're just telling stories we're laughing we're being goofy and i see that girl over there they're like yeah i'm on a third date with her they're like what that's insane and then i told

her the movie she produced and they're like can we meet her the movie was mvp most valuable primate oh yeah good solid fleck oscar worthy oscar right so she she used to be in charge of the chimp and she be when it would do all the promos around the nhl and the boys said they used to watch the movie on the bus and they're like can we meet her and she's from Edmonton. So she doesn't know who Connor is. She lives in LA, you know? So they come over to meet her and they're fascinated by her. And then we'd run into each other the rest of the weekend. And every time we'd see them, she'd tell them a new story about the chimp and all of its

shenanigans. So cut to a year and a half later, Biz. I got hired by the Oilers to do a game, okay? Light it up. Awesome. Crowd's amazing. Saturday night, Connor gets the first star, scores a beauty in overtime. I'm about to cross over to go to my locker room. I got to go by the Oilers dressing room. All the PR guys are like, wait, wait, wait, please wait for all the players. I'm like standing there politely. Connor comes off, gives me a huge hug. And he's like,'s like yeah man so great to see you oh my god

it's been a while blah blah blah and he goes off and he says see you later and the pr guys are like what the fuck just happened and i look at them i go hey boys what happens in quebec city stays in quebec city most valuable primate baby take a look at them that aid i mean that just goes to show that the encounters you've had with the hockey community. They've really embraced you. And it's an awesome community, isn't it? It's a really special group of people, yeah. And behind the scenes, the fun and the respect too, right?

These guys have for everyone for how hard we work and what we put out there. So, yeah, it's been great. Thank you so much for coming on. This was great. Check out his book, King of Cheer. Cameron Hughes, thank you so much for joining us. This was great. Check out his book, King of Cheer. Cameron Hughes, thank you so much for joining us. Great to be on, guys. Cheers.

Appreciate it. Yeah, big thank you to Cameron Hughes for jumping on. Met him throughout my playing days. And how about that? A professional fan. What a gig he's got going, going to amp up fans, cranking Red Bulls, and doing the Cotton Eye Joe in the aisle. Nice.

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It certainly works if you're having a few pups. Unreal product. This is the replenisher. I throw at least a couple of my water bottles every day. It just gives you all those little vitamins that you need. Even if you're not boozing, I take the hydration replenisher. And as far as the pills are concerned, I hand them out at weddings and stuff whenever I got them on me. And as I mentioned before, I get texts the next day.

Why are you laughing? Those are the pills you hand out at weddings? Well, I have before, and I got a couple texts the next day of guys being like, yo, what was that pill you gave me? I feel way better than I normally do when I hit the fucking sauce. So shove that up your hoop. You'll need them for your apres ski up at fucking Aspen. Oh, I'm bringing it.

I just put some in my water bottle right now. Look at these fucking hydration pads. Before a long flight? That a boy, biz. Yeah, you know. I'm about to take off here, so you guys can finish off the pod alone. But is there anything else we got to cover quickly? Have a blast.

Have a blast. You mentioned Britney Spears, Doc doc at the beginning of the pod let's quickly talk about that that is one of the saddest things i've ever watched i think we'll dive more into it next podcast when we have more time i know all right why why are you laughing wit do you think i'm a little bit too crazy about no i'm thinking i'm thinking of people at home listening to us talk about it now and saying we're gonna go more in depth next episode smashing their face off if you think we're not doing a five-part podcast series on freeing britney spears hey listen stop listening to this podcast if you are not team britney from now on anytime you tweet me use the free britney

hashtag please because i'm what happened to her is one of the saddest things i've ever seen and it just goes to show 20 years ago the fact the fact that what was the woman's name who was grilling her during the interview being like oh this governor thinks that you should be basically shot and murdered diane soya diane soya because you dressed a little bit seductive and after saying that britney's like that's terrible that somebody wants me murdered for fucking tying my my shirt up the way i did to maybe show a little bit of cleavage and then fucking sawyer doubles down by going well she does have a point you kind of are dressing a little bit seductive craziness yeah this is 20 fucking years ago this was happening they drove her mad wit yeah it's certainly i i caught part of it it's so fucked up and

like think what was kind of normal back then to say. It was like times have definitely changed. Everyone knows that. But her dad has like a special place in hell waiting for him. Yeah, he does. Legit. He's a scumbag. So we'll talk more about that. I'm going on my vacation.

Great catching up. Big thank you to Chris Wilburn and Cameron Hughes. And Thorby the Cuck Monster got me. Biz, have fun. And if anyone says like one more run, don't do the one more run. That's when you get hurt in skiing. Yeah, yeah. Like, the words one more run lead to injuries, and we don't need you.

You already got 14 torn ACLs. So just stay healthy there, buddy. All right. Love you guys. Make a pizza if you're unsafe going down the hill. All right. Get your skis. All right, buddy. Have fun. See you're unsafe going down the hill. All right. Skis. All right, buddy.

Have fun. See you, boys. Later, bro. All right. Chugging right along here with some other news stories. The OHL tweeted that the league is anxious to return to play, but have not yet arrived at an approved return to play framework for the coming season after ongoing discussions with government and public health

agencies. Obviously, we'll keep you abreast of what's going on there. Happy retirement to the Lamoureux twins, Monique and Jocelyn. After 14 years with the U.S. Women's National Team, Jocelyn, of course, scored that filthy shootout called the 2018 Olympics to help the U.S. win gold. I know you probably had a few words for these ladies. Yeah, congratulations.

Monique is married to a guy, Anthony, that I knew well. He helped train BU. Great guy, good family, and she scored the tying goal in that gold medal game in 2018. Then for her sister to get one of the best shootout goals you've ever seen. Amazing career, and I think

that both of them played for such a long time that you've got to be really proud as to where they helped bring women's hockey in the United States. It's at a different level now. It's one of the fastest growing sports in the country. And they had so much success. So congratulations to them. Awesome job.

And I hope you enjoy retirement. By the way, shout out to us back in back together. Us three before that clown, that clown that just left joined the show. It used to be us three once a week hanging out. It feels like we're back in the old times, and we don't have to deal with that lunatic yelling at us with all his ideas and all his bullshit. Suck on this, Biz. I know you won't hear it because you never listen, you piece of shit.

But I'm happy to say I could sit and talk to you guys for an hour about anything. I know. We just got to fucking all be in the same room on the couch, the old school way. Imagine that was five years ago. It's incredible how quickly it's flown by. I was a kid. I was a legitimate kid, and I would ask the

dumbest fucking questions in the world. Tell me the question you asked Eichel. Oh my God. When he told me he asked this question at dinner, I had a piece of sushi in my mouth, and I spit it, and it went flying out of the table because I said, oh, my God, how did I forget you asking that awful question?

Go ahead. The worst part was you, like, went with the question. Because I'm that good of a guy. I'm a teammate like that. You were. So I asked Jack Eichel the first time we had him, and this is, like, the first time we have an NHL superstar in person in R.A.'s living room, and I raise my hand to ask a question,

and I say, hey, Jack, how many beers would it take for you to drink? He's 19 at the time, and I'm like, how many beers would it take for you to drink for me to score a goal on you in pawn hockey? He's not a goalie. He's not a goalie. I just want to throw up just saying that. He's not a goalie. He's 19. He can't even legally drink. C-R-I-N-G-E.

Cringe. The craziest, worst question. And let me tell you, all of us have asked horrific questions throughout the five years. But that one, on us being together, and then me being like, yeah, man, how many beers did it take, just shows that we have grown. It's insane.

Yeah, we all have a few do-overs we wouldn't mind, but I think collectively we're pretty proud of the work we've done. Chris Drury, named general manager of the 2021 U.S. men's national team. Hopefully we'll get some Olympics. Obviously he's been working for the Rangers for a while. This guy's good at everything he does

so I think we could probably pencil in a gold medal for the U.S. if Chris Turrey's the GM of the team. Yeah, and funny enough, you can kind of pencil in him being an NHL GM at any point when he wants to be because you know he didn't want to become Florida's GM and then there was rumors he didn't want to be Pittsburgh's GM

and I think he's very happy where he lives in Connecticut and he works for the Rangers. But it seems like a lot of teams want to bring him in with what he's done his entire career and how much people appreciate his input and his opinion and how professional he is. So when he wants to be a GM, he will be. It just seems right now he's pretty happy where he is,

so good for him. And I think that he'll be great for USA Hockey. I'm not sure if you guys are watching, wellockey Day in Canada it was this past Saturday but when Kevin Bieksa was on he had that picture of Ryan Kessler remember he did the ESPN body issue a few years ago and you know he's fucking naked Bieksa had a framed picture of him on the shelf behind him like you could barely see it someone I forget who found it and sniped it and then Kessler tweeted it's usually by his bedside. But then if you noticed, it looked like it was gone later in the night.

So I don't know if, like, one of the suits at fucking Sportsnet, you know, texted BX and told him to move it. But, I mean, it's harmless. It's fucking – it was on the front page of the fucking ESPN magazine. Maybe he just had it up there until somebody said something or tweeted. But apparently those two going back and forth. And we talked to BX guy you know they fought before and they were just basically like brothers just always chirping each other and went went went together like uh fine wine i'd say they just really enjoyed each other's company so still going at it now

after retirement it's great to see yeah just some funny stuff and bx we're gonna get kessler on at some point yeah absolutely uh this is a fucking hilarious story. Karen Silversmith, not her actual name, but the daughter of the Silversmith who was hired to make the original Lombardi trophy, which is given to the Super Bowl winner. She was crying to the media because Brady passed the trophy from boat to boat during the Tampa Bay Buccaneers championship parade. I mean, are you fucking serious, lady? She said she hadn't slept in two nights.

Oh, she was one of the most all-time biggest losers I've seen on the internet in all my years on the internet. And you look at somebody who thinks, talk about over-evaluating your self-importance or your family's self-importance. He was a silversmith. Who gives a shit? Big deal.

Do you know what guys do with the Stanley Cup? It's like, this lady was actually on the news crying it was like a saturday night live skit i couldn't believe it was real going at tom brady for throwing her stupid father's stupid trophy on over a boat who cares by the way if it fell in the water they would have a diver go in and get it what a loser this woman was and did she not see gronk play fucking baseball with it a few years ago i mean she must have had a conniption when that happened. And he didn't, like, he didn't, like, design.

I mean, he worked for Tiffany. Like, he was fucking paid to. Here's a draw and make this trophy. It wasn't, like, his concept. Like, it was his passion. He was hired to make the fucking thing. He was a silversmith. He was so waffled, by the way, Brady.

I mean, I imagine he only drinks, like, a handful of times, if that, throughout the year now with how he takes care of his body. But just seeing him get carried out was classic. And by the way, before he did throw it, I think his daughter's like, no. So it's just a funny scene. Yeah, it's pretty sick that the way the lightning did it, the Bucs could also just kind of have the boat parade with what's going on, you know, with social distancing and stuff. So I think Florida is a different beast. I'm down here. It's certainly way, way more open and available than many states up north.

But I still could not believe that story. I first saw it when KFC tweeted it. And he was like, in all my years, I've never seen. I've truly I've never seen somebody who's that ridiculous. She's just embarrassing herself on an international level. Yeah. How about Brady's $2 million boat? Just absolutely.

I don't know, dude. I kind of thought he'd have a better boat. I said that. No, he likes to go fast. You can tell he doesn't want a big yacht that's slowing him down. He likes to get out there, and he likes to cruise. How do you know that? It turns me on.

I just feel it. I feel it when I look into his eyes i don't know man i'd rather have a big old yacht that's going around 15 than some cigarette boat that ra'd be driving on spring break at hedonism clinic hedonism uh dude speaking of booze and the boss bruce springsteen got a d ui in fucking new jersey of all places. The initial report was that he took a shot of tequila or two with a few fans before driving off on his motorcycle. The police report said he was wobbly and smelled of alcohol, but he only blew up.02, which is well below the legal limit. It didn't sound like he was out boozing.

It sounds like, hey, fans grabbed him, took some pictures, he did a couple shots, and he ended up getting lugged. Wait, he was below the legal limit? When they gave him the breathalyzer, he was out boozing it sounds like hey fans grabbed him took some pitches he did a couple shots and he ended up getting lugged so wait he was below the legal limit he was when they gave him the breathalyzer he was 0.02 which is basically two shots is two glasses of wine at dinner it's exact same amount of alcohol you know it's like all right i mean it's just i guess that's so surprising he's one of the gods of new jersey and they actually fucking rung him up yeah but he's become so political now people despise him so you could kind of see we lost our race picture but who knows what he's doing probably something bad but i think that the craziest thing was wasn't it from november all right yeah yeah for some reason how did it just come out i don't know i don't know how that works

because usually stuff's supposed to be public record so i don't know how that played out but either way a bit of a surprise to see bruce springsteen actually get arrested another note we're dropping our battle of ontario t-shirts uh this week obviously uh how they design g give it give us a little heads up i haven't seen we're sticking with the concert tour theme i think these are uh the grateful dead theme so they have a grateful dense grateful dead sense to them and they're awesome these concert team themed t-shirts are just a hit and we have more coming. We have Pennsylvania. We have a few more and obviously send me over some recommendations.

If you have them. Nice. We also have breaking biz. All right. We just dropped this YouTube video online. Yes. We ventured, we ventured into the hockey card community.

Biz is, is now breaking, which is where you're opening these new packs of cards. And we just put a video on our YouTube page. You'll go check it out there. And listen, if you want to see one of the best chirps of all time, I think the guy Charlie called them the Chicago Chicken Hawks. If you don't call the Blackhawks the chicken hawks the rest of time after watching this video then i don't want to know you because just an all-time chirp from biz's new card buddy

charlie yeah definitely check that stuff out i actually wanted to grab him and bring it up with him but biz had to go catch his flight um a couple other things here biz uh wait yeah wait did you watch that movie i told you to watch, Judas and the Black Messiah? I know you're on vacation, not home. No, I haven't seen that yet. What's it about? What's it about? It's about the Black Panther, Fred Hampton, who, well, I mean,

it's just fucking part of history, not really spoiling. He was basically killed by the FBI, to be blunt. That's the whole story. I mean, it tells you right in the first description. Is that fact? Yeah, no, that's fact. I mean, it's, you know, J. Edgar Hoover had a campaign to, you know, take the Black Panthers down, essentially.

But the movie was fantastic, man. Daniel, I think it's Kaluuya, the guy from Get Out There. This guy is fucking phenomenal. He's going to get nominated for an Oscar. I think he's going in as best supporting instead of best actor. But it's just a fantastic movie. It's, you know's a historical movie, and you know five minutes in how it plays out. I mean, the title is essentially a spoiler, and Judas in the title, but it's a great movie. Also, Lakeith Stanfield is in it. He was also in Get Out as well, the guy from Atlanta,

Daniel Glover's show. Just a great movie about a historical event that a lot of people didn't know happened, or they might have been aware of and they're not keen on the particulars. But yeah, J. Edgar Hoover was a motherfucker. I mean, that's something that people have come to find out over the last 30 years. How's that movie that Leo played him? Was that any good?

I didn't care for it much. No? No, I thought, I mean, he's a fucking great subject. I feel like his life and yeah, like what that guy did and how many different stories he's been involved with throughout history.

It could have been an amazing movie. I haven't seen it either, but I learned a lot with Leo playing it. You learned a lot from it. I learned a lot. I mean, I didn't, I didn't really know that much about this dude.

And then I did watch that and I find myself like Googling stuff about him. And I did learn a lot about the dude. I did. I agree with RA. I didn't think it was the best made movie though. Yeah. I mean, he was an angry closet case.

Like, I mean, who repressed homosexual just took out his fucking anger on everybody and just fucking made people's lives miserable I uh I have a tv show recommendation it's awesome it's called Ted Lasso it is fucking phenomenal and everyone at home check it out you still didn't watch you still haven't finished it, have you? No, no, I will, though. I will. Vacation, I'm literally going to bed every night at like 10 o'clock.

Yeah. There's just no time right now. No time. Absolutely. The last thing I have here is R.I.P. Larry Flint. Sleep well, young prince. You made a difference in the world. No, I know I'm joking joking but like this guy you know

you can say what you want about him he was a fucking huge pioneer for the first amendment man i mean if he didn't do what he did who knows what kind of fucking reach the government would have as far as people's free speech he fought all the way up to the supreme court uh because jerry fallow took no court for a parody cartoon he made and fucking you know i i think i think there's a little bit of like lar Flint in, in Dave Portnoy. You know what I mean? As far as like, you know, a bit of a carnival Bach or a great salesman people, you know, a lightning rod for people, but also like, yeah, man,

people should be able to say what they want in this country. And you know, there's a freedom of speech and he fought for it, man. He's definitely a fucking icon on that level. So RIP Larry Flint for, you know, a fucking icon on that level. So RIP Larry Flint for, you know, allowing us to say we need to.

Hustler was after Playboy, right? Yeah. And Hustler. And he was just like, I'm going to, I'm going to make it so dirty. Like Playboy is not dirty enough for me. Like that was kind of his thing.

Yeah. It was. Didn't Woody Harrelson play him in a movie? Yeah. The people versus Larry Flint. I believe 96 had come out. Fantastic movie. It's yeah.

Milos Foreman directed it. The same guy directed one floor of the cuckoo's nest. It's a fantastic movie. It doesn't stray from the truth really at all. It kind of gives everything on a factual basis. And yeah, he had a crazy life. He got shot by a sniper when he would get taken to court every couple

months for obscenity charges. Just, you know, the seventies, you get some fucking moralistic, you know, evangelical, like who was pissed off.

So they take him to court. He got shot outside a courthouse by a sniper. That's why he was paralyzed. And they didn't catch the guy until a couple of years later. And he shot Larry Flint because Hustler had interracial photo spreads. So this guy was, you know, what a normal human that sounds like. But this guy, it was crazy. He also was like a serial killer.

He killed like 13 other people. Like that guy, the guy who shot Larry Flint. And they didn't know until they caught him for the Flint shooting. It was crazy. He also was like a serial killer. He killed like 13 other people. That guy? The guy who shot Larry Flint. And they didn't know until they caught him for the Flint shooting? Yeah, he ended up confessing to a bunch of shit. He was basically like a serial killer. He killed a shitload of people. Yeah. Wow.

Yeah, it's a crazy story. But yeah, he started, there were actually the hustler strip joints he had. They were before the magazine, And then he started the magazine. Actually the magazine was a newsletter to give PR to his strip joints. And then it became what it turned into. And yes, very graphic playboy. You know, you see a nude woman there, hustler. It was like going, I remember opening a gynecological book. Yeah.

What is that the full monty you might say but yeah whatever he doesn't if you don't like it you don't have to buy it but larry flint either way uh a big huge defender of the first amendment and this people who work for and at boston sports we appreciate it i don't think i've ever seen a hustler i think that was before my time never really well yeah yeah i mean you guys millennials don't i mean you've had the internet so you didn't you didn't need a fucking box in the closet of spag you didn't need to have like my buddy had a he had a porno it was it was in like an old vhs and it was in like out of the woods the black the main paul korea season so like nobody ever checked but

like that's how you had to hide your shit back in the day. Oh yeah. Your boys would fucking scoff. You VCR VHS tapes all the time. Oh, any other, the Calgary flames get the big screen at the, at the arena every night.

It's just the junior guys, the red deer rebels. Oh man. Oh shit. All right, boys. Um, what else?

Nothing. I don't think I, I wish we could have a camera on Bissonette skiing. Oh my man. Oh, shit. All right, boys. What else? Nothing, I don't think. I wish we could have a camera on Bissonette skiing. Oh, my God. I hope he doesn't hurt himself. Skiing is dangerous as shit. It's a lot of fun, but it's more fun to kind of have a drink, maybe enjoy, like, the ski scene.

Because when you talk about actually flying down a hill, Biz is not the person you want, like, at the helm of keeping somebody safe on a on a on a snow course snow course the hell a snow course snow course i'm going to the course have a great day guys have a great week everyone thanks so much for listening a little catch a little throwback with us three and it's kicking oh thank you guys i, guys. I appreciate that. Thirty eight years young. Jesus, what an old piece of shit. But I still I still love being a February birth date. I really do. Shout out to my brother, Sean. It's his birthday today. Wow. I have to text him right now. No, it's tomorrow. It's tomorrow. But still, February birthdates where it's at. Also, I'm on the cusp.

People say, what's your sign? I'm on the cusp. I'm a Pisces and Aquarius. It depends on the day, February 19th that day. And I've always been told people on the cusp people say what's your sign i'm on the cusp i'm a pisces and aquarius it depends on the day february 19th that day and i've always been told people on the cusp are special so whether i'm special in a good bad or indifferent way i'm special nonetheless thank you guys for listening thank you guys for being my partners in crime and uh fuck off biz Have a great weekend. I'm having a ball Don't stop me now If you wanna have a good time Just give me a call Don't stop me now Cause I'm having a good time

Don't stop me now I'm having a good time I don't wanna stop at all As always, we like to thank our fantastic sponsors here on Spittin' Chicklets. Big thanks to our friends over at New Amsterdam Vodka and Pink Whitney. Big thanks to our friends at Whoop for taking care of our health and sleep big thanks to everybody over at cbd md check them out if you need help sleeping huge thanks to everybody over at tommy john for keeping us guys snug big thanks to everybody at roman for helping us guys out in the bed and big thanks to everybody at no days wasted for helping us we're having a few pops have a fantastic week everybody