Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 405: Featuring Joe Mullen

Episode Date: September 6, 2022

On Episode 405 of Spittin’ Chiclets, the guys are joined by American Hockey Legend Joe Mullen. The three time Stanley Cup champion joined (12:22) the show to discuss growing up in NYC, playing in Calgary, playing in Pittsburgh and tons more. Murls also stopped by the show to talk all things EuroPuck, including the women’s world championships.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 405 of Spittin' Chicklets, presented by Pink Whitney. From our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka here in the Barstool Sports Podcast family. What's going on, everybody? Labor Day here in the States, which means we're a little bit closer to hockey, but still got a few more weeks off.

We got to chill a little bit. Something's going to be winding down, but that doesn't mean the birdie juice season is quite over. It just means you can now enjoy some football to go along with your pink Whitney. So grab a chilled shot or mix it up with a little club soda. However you take it, hit up your local bar or package store, grab some of that smooth and delicious pink Whitney. Well, we get a special guest on today's show from across the pond.

Our boy Merals is going to join us we're going to talk a little euro puck the world championships and of course some gambling with murals here and we do have another hockey hall of famer on tap for today we have the great joe mullen coming to you in a little bit but first let's say how do i produce a mikey granelli what's up g what is up fellas murals i missed you But first off, I just want to say thank you to everyone who tuned into the first episode of Biz Does the Coast last Wednesday. Episode two drops this Wednesday at 8 p.m. on the Chicklets YouTube channel. And we are celebrating Derek Nesbitt's 1,000th pro game.

Definitely a tearjerker. A little bit different than the last episode, so bring the tissues. But other than that, R.A., I've been great. Like I said on the last pod, self-care September for the kid. Merle's I'm laying off the sauce a bit for before hockey season starts. So I had myself an absolute weekend on the couch watching college football, making buff dip. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm not a good cook, terrible cook, but I will put my buff dip head to head with anyone on planet earth. So but that's all I got going. All right. Merles, I'd love to hear from you. How have you been, buddy?

Good. I'm off the sauce, too. I made it back to Sweden after a month in Saratoga, betting the horses and, you know, just having the family at my parents' pool. Um, Saratoga was great. I actually did all right on with, with the horses made some cash. Um, but the highlight was the, the day the syndicate was up there, Prez, Mr. Ice, Big Cat and, uh, Jersey Jerry. So I, I, I snuck into the box as well up there and, and was, it was right there when they hit that big, like 80, 90 grand exacted trifecta. And that was an all time celebration. And one of my favorite moments from the summer. Well, Merrill, so obviously I just talked about the Euro puck.

You've got a real hot start. I know you cooled off a little bit. How are we starting the year off so far? What's the record? I know you keep it up to up to the minute. Yeah, it started out great. A four,, one and one right out of the gates. It's Champions League hockey has started. It's all over the Barstool sportsbook. But that was another reason I needed to jump on today. I get all these messages.

Oh, Barstool doesn't have that league, doesn't have this league. It's not up to us. It's, you know, it's state by state. They have different laws on which leagues they have. And I think there's even one where you can't bet on, like in Illinois, you can't bet on college sports or something. Yeah, crazy. So it's crazy how it all works.

But putting the picks out there, and if you got them, you got them. If you don't, you don't. Of course, the one Asian League one I hit, not everybody has. Yeah, it's been good. I think I am 6-4-1 right now, which isn't great, but it's pretty good. But Champions League will be back Thursday through Sunday again, which I can't wait. Yeah, I had a nice little nest egg courtesy of you,

but gave it back naturally. I had a little something on the U.S. woman. They lost the world championship. But ironically, I'm actually 2-0 in tennis. I went 2-0 in tennis in the week. I had Serena, that first game she won before she got knocked out she was you know plus buck 50 you get the greatest of all time at a plus number i bet it during the match and then i had kirgios yesterday well how do you say his name he was plus 145 or whatever so i should just stick with tennis at this rate all right i r.a. and murray's this is actually probably a question

more for murray's but i don't think a ton of our listeners are familiar with what the champions hockey league is. Can you dive into that briefly? Yeah. So it's, it's based off of the soccer champions league where they take the, maybe the top three or four teams from each league around Europe. So you have maybe the top five teams from Sweden, the top five from Switzerland, you'll get the top four from Germany. And then maybe like the lesser leagues like Austria, Poland, you'll maybe see the top one or two teams.

And Finland obviously has five or six teams are one of the better countries. And it's great. They do a six game round robin like group stage. And then they'll as the season goes on you know they'll do that in the beginning then they'll play the regular season and throughout the season they'll mix in those games on random nights and at the end they come down to a champion let me ask you if you put the four best ahl teams in the champions hockey league how would they do that's a really good question now the AHL has changed a lot since I played in it when I played there there was there was a lot of veterans you had you had a

lot of older players really strong players where now it's basically all young development and great kids but they would be right there I think I think they've come over and played the Switzerland and Swedish teams before and it's very fair but leagues, the top, when you look at the European, then I would say Finland, then Swiss, Germany, Austria, Poland, Italy, around there is kind of how it tears down. I thought Germany would be higher than that. Yeah, Germany is the Germans are they're getting're getting better obviously and you get a lot of imports you can have 10 canadians there north americans but they don't pay as well as say

sweden or finland or so you don't get those top end imports it's kind of like it was my last stop in europe i worked my way down russia switzerland sweden germany you know not to keep grilling you with questions here but like i'm so curious like you say like they pay a lot like what is the like what is the average salary over there for like sweden you said a sweet um for an input it's always different for the import players too you know like are we talking like three four million or like no no no you're talking two, 300,000 tops. Um, in Switzerland, they pay the highest.

You'll get four or 500,000. Uh, it's all tax free. Like they pay the taxes so you can bring it all home in cash. Stuffed in your pants when you fly home. Yeah. So sometimes you want to do that and then they pay for your housing. So you get a nice big apartment,

your car and shit too, right? Yeah. Yeah. So if you have kids, they'll pay for the kids to go to private school in some places and it's you can end up making um just as much if not more than if you're on the buffalo sabers plus what is it 750k buffalo special yeah yeah you get to see the weather over here yeah plus you get to see the world and eat the food and meet the women and all the people and stuff.

You had, what, 17 years you played in, what, 12 countries? What were the numbers? Yeah, 17, 18 years and all over. And then you get these great breaks. I think I've talked about it before. You get these 10-day breaks during the season, three of them, and you're free to do whatever you want. So you jump on a train, you jump on a little puddle jumper, and you're in Italy, you're in England, you're wherever you want to go to buy. It's great. I think people I think people forget like how cultured you really are.

Merle's like already said, 12 countries over 17 years. And it's funny because me and Merle's we're on a dozen trivia team now. EBR, baby team EBR. I was talking to our other teammate, Jordan Woodruff, who does the Mean Girls podcast, and she was like, I don't know much about Merle's. Is he going to be any good? And I'm like, I think Merle's is going to be the best.

This guy is more cultured than anyone at Barstool. He's been to every single country. He's eaten there. He's played there. He knows everything. So I've already said it. I think Merle's will be the rookie of the year in this upcoming season of the dozen. So I'm excited to get going there, Merle's. Yeah, I'm excited too.

I've been watching some jeopardy episodes and just anything I can try to think of with the trivia. I found some old, I found these old like NHL game cards at my parents' house. We can't get the hockey question wrong. That would just be, oof. You got any advice for us, R.A.? You're a vet here. I mean, that's the thing.

You can try to prepare for trivia, but you just got to go in. You know what you know. You know what I mean? You can't cram for it. You have no idea what they're going to ask. And a perfect example is the tournament we had, the last one. I mean, we've had that slobber knock versus Chicago. We ended up winning late, and we kicked ass.

We all knew a little bit of everything. And then the next game we were over, like you just don't know, especially when they're very oddly specific questions like Jeff can come up with, with, you know, baseball,

basketball. I didn't pay attention to the early 2000. So it's, I was clueless. So it's just the luck of the draw. Like some nights you watch Japanese murals, you would have been the champion of those nights. You would have owed them money.

So see what happens there. Moving right along. We got to talk. NFL is open on this weekend. Rose, the people are probably going to want to pick from you. I know you're a puck guy, but the NFL kicking off Thursday night,

I think believe Buffalo and the Rams, but there's a full weekend slate. Who do you like? Yeah. I'm Bill's mafia. I've been a Bill's fan my whole life. So I'm, they're saying this is the year,

but as a Bills fan, it doesn't feel good when everyone's watching us. It was last year was kind of sneaky. They're a little sneakier this year. They're all coming for us. I've not looked at those lines yet, though. It's so funny with the Sabres fan. I mean, the Bills fans, how scarred you guys really are.

It's because when I was walking around Buffalo, when we were there for the Chicklets Cup, I kept saying to people like, well, at least you guys got the bills. Like this is the bills year. And they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't, not yet. We're not saying that just yet.

Like we are scarred here. Yes. Yeah, it's been a long time. One of the cruelest things I've ever seen sports fans go through four Super Bowls in a row. Not to rub it in Buffalo. I love you guys and gals. But I mean, I was, you know,

watching every single game back then. And it was just, you felt bad for him. I mean, four in a row, you kind of laugh when it happened as a past fan, but looking back, it was just awful. You can see why you guys are so scarred. I jumped on since he minus six a while back, they're opening up at home versus Pittsburgh. It's up to six and a half now. So do with that what you will. One other note too. First,, I believe, Grinnelli, first episode we've ever hosted from Charleston, South Carolina. We dropped the W from Charleston and came down to Charleston for a week. I mentioned last week here filming a role in a

small movie. I'm not sure what I can say what yet, so I'm not going to share too much. But down here, hopefully going to enjoy the weather, try to get to a beach, but we'll see what happens with that. All right, boys, I think we should probably send it over to joey mullen right now man awesome story this guy has grew up like feet from madison square garden ended up playing for the rangers program started by emil francis goes on to a hall of fame career and a great guy as well so uh we're gonna send it over to joey mullen but first we want to let you know that his interview is brought to you by roman roman swipes are, over-the-counter wipes that are clinically proven to help you last longer in bed. They are uniquely formulated to reduce

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Well, it's a pleasure and an honor to welcome our next guest, a true New York City legend from right down the street here in Hell's Kitchen. After lighting it up at Boston College for four years and somehow not getting drafted, he signed with the St. Louis Blues to begin his groundbreaking 16-season NHL career. He was the first American to score 500 goals, the first American to reach 1,000 points, and he retired with the most goals by a U.S. player. He won a Stanley Cup with Calgary, and then he went back-to-back with Pittsburgh. And to cap it all off, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2000.

Thanks so much for joining us on the Spittin' Chicklets podcast, Joe Mullen. How you doing, Joe? Very good, thank you. It's my pleasure to be here. Wow, what an intro, man. That's a lot of stuff, Joe. What a resume. You must hear that and be like, what the hell happened?

I don't even remember that whole run. Where are you hanging out these days, Joe? Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Nice, nice spot. I wear a boat. Wynne knows that Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Nice, nice spot. Whereabouts? Windows, that place. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

What town are you in? Or do you not want the fans to know? They'll be hounding you. Dennis. Nice, nice. That's beautiful, especially in the summer. You officially in retirement mode from the game completely at this point, Joe? Pretty much, except for the three ice now.

Oh, yeah. There we go, yeah. We're excited to hear all about that, no doubt, because I think the first games were this past weekend. Is that correct? That is correct. Nice. How did it go?

I mean, big jumping off. Guys are excited. Our boy Ryan Malone's a part of it. So what was the first weekend like? Oh, it was great. Very exciting, especially for our team uh we we won the tournament so we were we were pretty happy yeah i heard uh pete mccarthur gave me uh some inside info said you guys blew a huge lead and almost gave it all away but your coaching yeah all around gotta sell the game like like the first round, we were up by four goals, five to one.

With less than four minutes, they scored. They pulled their goalie, scored four goals, tied it up. We went into the shootout and lost. So the first three teams that lose, the one with the highest amount of goals gets into the second round because we need that team for the second round. So we were fortunate enough to have the most goals. We got in the second round, and then we went on the next two games.

That's awesome. It's great to see you still involved with the game. Now, I've got to ask you, what originally got you involved in hockey? Watching the Rangers? What made you fall in love with the game early on at a young age? Well, I lived a half a block away from Madison Square Garden. I could look out my window and see Madison Square Garden. Dad worked at Madison Square Garden.

We had a schoolyard right across the street where everybody played roller hockey. I had two older brothers, so I just kind of followed them in. Dad and all my uncles played before them, you know. So we were kind of like a hockey family and a hockey neighborhood because Madison Square Garden was right there and the Rangers were right there. So this was mostly on roller skates or on feet? I mean, was it kind of both? It was pretty much all on roller skates. Wow.

But not the inline roller skates. No, no, the old school ones. The OG ones. The full wheels. No, come on. old school ones. The OG ones. Oh, you got the full wheels. No, come on. Stop on the toe. He'd go down on the toe and stop. And then would you wear the bell bottoms on Friday night down at the old rolling alley?

In the 70s we did, yeah. That's awesome. Stoppers on the front too? Until you wore them off, yeah. That's humbling. And then they were going right to the socks. Oh, gee. And then I read something about that you guys used to play,

but you used electrical tape that was sandpapered down as a puck? Well, no, it just got – it was electrical tape, but it would just kind of form itself after use, you know, and it would slide a lot better. We tried it with the friction, but friction bounced a little bit more. So when you're, say, nine. You know what friction is? Yeah, right. Pump the brakes.

Friction tugging himself half the time. Maybe the concrete is what sandpapered it down, and then it was a little bit smoother, Joe. Exactly, yeah. Yeah. But with the friction tape, it wouldn't. You know what friction tape is? Yeah, I know what friction tape is. I called it Gordie Howe tape.

I put it on my horn some night. Hey, I'm not as dumb as when you used to coach me, Joe, and we're going to get to that in a little bit. I think he is, though. Don't worry, Joe. I got my grade 12 since then, okay buddy? They call it the Gordie Howe tape. Yeah, yeah, exactly. The two-way tape that he made famous.

Was that what you were using to keep the puck on your stick all those years? Yes, I did. Okay. There you go, a little tidbit. I should have maybe done that early on too, but going back to you, so you didn't end up skating on ice until you were 10 years old so you would just constantly as a kid get involved in these street games

and would they get massively competitive oh yeah oh yeah uh we had leagues we had leagues uh run by the police athletic league uh the cyo the yCA. So we're in all kinds of roller hockey leagues. Joe, I want to go back to Hell's Kitchen. I know a lot of our audience is only familiar with the Manhattan of the last 30 years, the gentrified Manhattan. I wanted to tell the audience just how crazy it was living in New York City, in particular

Hell's Kitchen in that era and how hot it was for you to become what you became from that neighborhood. Yeah, you know what? The schoolyard was kind of our haven. So it was right across the street from our apartment building. We'd just go down with our skates on, five flights of stairs, wake all the neighbors up, and skate across the street

and get into the schoolyard and play all day. And we could play hockey in the winter, softball, baseball, stickball, handball, basketball, everything in that schoolyard. And mom, you know, she could look out the window, count heads, and make sure everybody was there. If they weren't, the other ones had to go find them. So, you know, it was a great place for us to stay out of trouble. Yeah, become a great athlete, obviously, if you're playing all those different games, like hand-eye. You must go look back and credit a lot of your hockey success

to all those different things you were doing absolutely you know and and you know i always told my kids you know play other games you know get get involved in other games because it helps you out you become a better athlete um were you getting snuck into rangers games or like were you was your father able to get tickets because he worked at the arena? Well, he could probably get us in, but, you know, somebody's got to do you a favor, then you've got to do them a favor. Oh, yeah, we know about it. Our race sits right next to me. So it was better off that, you know, we not ask and just go and enjoy the game.

And, you know, we were always busy playing, so we didn't miss out much. We caught the range of games on TV and always watched those when we could. So when you finally got to play ice hockey, I mean, were you super excited? Was that what you'd wanted to do for quite a while, watching the Rangers and playing roller hockey? And how hard was it when you first started skating on ice? It must have been just so different for you. Yeah, at first I wouldn't say we were even thinking about it

because we just had to roll hockey. And then when it came about that people started to play ice hockey from the neighborhood, yeah, it was kind of exciting. And we wanted to make the transition. It was a little bit tougher because of the stride and the skates and everything, getting used to that. But I think we all adjusted pretty quickly because, you know, we just talked about being better athletes playing all the other sports.

And when you – we ask guys a lot, like, did you dream of being in the NHL and I guess like for you at nine ten years old not really because you weren't even playing hockey yet right like it was that even on your mind at that point no no I mean everybody dreams about that you know you watch a range of games and professional games you're like oh and especially the Stanley Cup playoffs you know and you go uh someday you know like we used to grab a garbage can every now and then you know when we were getting stupid and you know raised up a rat falls out do you have a memorable story about how you got your first pair of skates do you remember how it happened uh well the first pair would probably

just uh the clamp on roller skates you know and uh when i was probably four or five and uh my brothers would take my hand and skate me around and you know let me go all of a sudden and then you know you learn how to skate that way I met more so your ice skates because it was years later that you... Oh, the ice skates? Yeah. Wow, probably a pair of hand-me-downs from my brothers. You know? You might have fallen off a truck. I remember. Might have fallen off a truck in that

era as well. Jeez, R.A. That's how R.A. gets his stuff. A lot of things seem to do that in that area. Yeah, exactly. When your dad was on the ice crew, that area. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. Now, when your dad was on the ice crew, that was before the Zamboni existed, right? Correct, yes.

No way. Yeah, they have to go, like, shovels and wood and all this whole big contraption, right? So every intermission, they'd be out there just making it a little cleaner, a little smoother? They would go out there with the shovels to get the snow off. So there was probably about six, eight shovels, but they were big, big ones. And they would go around with them, get the snow off, and then my dad would go in. He always did his with skates on. And then he'd go in and get the barrels and push them out and wet the ice down afterwards.

That's crazy. And so you get into the game, and obviously you're a natural goal scorer. Everyone knows that. So around New York at that time, what were the leagues like? Who were you playing against? Are you having to travel, take the train, the subway? What was your competition at 14, 15 years old when you really only had been playing four or five years?

At around 14, 15, I was already in the junior league that E-mail Francis had started a few years before that. He actually was in the old Madison Square Garden where up the street from us. And he decided to go out for a walk and just get out of the building and he's seeing these kids skating down the street with hockey sticks so he followed them and he followed them right to the schoolyard he stood and watched for a while and he went back to his office and he started calling people saying, why can't we get these kids on ice? That's amazing.

So many of them. That's truly growing the game, huh? Oh, my goodness. Oh, yeah, yeah. And so he got a bunch of people together. They started. Well, there's the New York 14th Precinct, which is that one of the ones? And then the New York Greenleafs.

That was our team. The Metro Junior Hockey Association? That one, Joe? At the Metropolitan Junior Hockey Organization, yes. But that's what he started. And then we had the 14th Precinct kind of backed our team a little bit to help us out with some of the costs by raising money. And so we had jerseys.

They were pretty cool jerseys with a big badge on the front, 14th Precinct, police and stuff. But it was the New York Metropolitan League. It was the only league in the area. A lot of teams from Long Island, Westchester, New Jersey, and one or two in Connecticut sometimes. But we played probably a 40-game schedule. You know, we played probably 40 game schedule.

We practiced once a week and played once or twice on the weekend. Well, you played enough to get yourself a partial scholarship to Boston College, played for the legendary Lenny Siglowski. So you did all right in that department. Yeah, yeah. I got a lot of guys' scholarships. A lot of guys got a lot of college scholarships coming out of that league. A few made the NHL, Nicky Petit, Jimmy Pavese, Richie Hansen, Brian and myself. Probably a couple others I'm not thinking about.

Was that always the goal? When you got approached about getting even a half scholarship at that time, were you and your family just over the moon with the fact that you were going to be able to play hockey at a higher level? Oh, it was, we're over the moon now. I was going to college. But I, actually the scholarship was pretty much a full scholarship. I just had the paper books my first year.

Okay. And you're like, I'm not buying those anyways. Did you have other choices? Did you go on any of the recruiting trips? Did they have that back then? I did have a couple of Division II schools, and BC was the only Division I. And I just thought I'd take a chance. I had some friends in the Division II.

My brother Tommy was in Division II at the time and some friends from the area that played on our teams in New York. It would have been an easy thing to do to go play the Division II, but I decided to take a chance on the division one and it worked out for me in that day wasn't it didn't people not play as freshmen or am i mistaken that uh i think it was just a couple years before me they they started to allow okay allow freshmen to play on varsity um was a culture shock going from maybe not getting as much ice time to where all of a sudden you had these facilities to where you were practicing more often?

I'm sure your expectations to work out and be fit, was that a culture shock going from where you were playing to university? The culture shock when they tried to get me in the gym to lift weights. You were like, pardon? I wasn't big on that. Ever? Give me some rollerblades. Yeah. Well, being not too tall, you know,

I was always playing against the bigger and older kids. And I think I used to, you know, get my strength, you know, getting bounced around by the bigger, older kids, you know. All right. Before we go any farther, here's a word from our friends at Sling TV. Sling TV has something for everyone. All your favorite shows on your favorite channels, all right at your fingertips. What you watch is up to you.

It really just depends on what kind of mood you're in. So if you're looking for sports, Sling's got you covered with pro and college football and basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer, golf, racing, and so much more. Sling also has reality TV, so you can keep up with the latest gossip of today's hottest shows on channels like TLC, Bravo, MTV, and more. You feeling adventurous? Explore thousands of movies and shows on demand. So what kind of mood are you in? No matter what your answer, Sling has what you need. And getting Sling is easy.

Sign up and start watching in just five minutes. You can stream on any device and record up to 50 hours with included DVR space. And the best part is you can pause or customize your subscription at any time. So check out sling.com slash Bastu for special offers. Sling, the live TV you love for a price you'll love. Were you teammates with Buddy Yandel for a year? I was looking up some stats online. I couldn't tell if you were or not.

Yes, I was. My freshman year. That's Keith Yandel's father. Oh, you call him the legend buddy. Yeah. And I coach Brian. I coach Brian in Wilkes-Barre for a little bit. Yep, yep.

Along with you and Biz. Yep, yep. So obviously – It's a good time. Oh, yeah, buddy, it was a blast, and we're going to get to that later. But people want to hear about your legendary career, not when you had to babysit me when you were coaching the American League. And that's what it was, man.

And we're going to have some chuckles later about it. This guy used to call me OHL guy. And you even had to sit me down and have a talk with me at some point. But at what point through your Boston career did you see that pros was going to become a possibility when maybe you started talking to scouts and that sort of thing? Yeah, you know, when probably about my end of my sophomore year and beginning of my junior year, you know, I was kind of looking around

at all the other kids that were getting opportunities now, and I'm saying maybe maybe a chance I could play with them I just had it in the back of my head kind of and then just went along with what I had to do to get there

and I think just playing hockey all summer up in Boston I spent almost every summer up there playing hockey. And that kept me going for a long time, helped me out a lot. And school, you know, helped me out a lot. So, yeah, just the opportunity to play that much hockey for me helps me tremendously. With the goal scoring being that good, what was a weakness then?

Was it the skating? What was the one thing that people said, oh, you've got to work on this maybe to get to the next level? Get taller. Yeah, Lenny Soglosky noticed my stride pretty quickly. And he used to have me follow one of the best skaters on BC, Rob Riley, around doing warm-ups. And he used to say, look how he just, like, glides back and forth, and the legs just keep coming back underneath each other and stuff. So I would skate behind Rob and just try to copy him.

And I could feel it getting better. You know, I started to feel a little bit smoother. And, yeah that that really helped me out and i i was never told that before other than when i got to college now joe wasn't your dad at work one day and he got paged by the president of the ranges and they basically wanted to know what you want to do if you wanted to go uh take a try with the olympic team or go pro is that what happened yeah they they you know when it was that time it was right around uh 80 olympics and i had the opportunity to either go there or or turn pro and uh he was working one

day and he got called on the loudspeaker in madison square garden you know tom all the police come up and and see uh the boss of all the room the, actually, the owner or whatever. And he was like, uh-oh. But when he went up there and they said, well, you know, no problems here. We just want to know what Joey's doing. He just turned and looked at her and goes, well, don't you call Joey. I have no idea. I thought he was still playing roller hockey.

Did the Rangers make you an offer? No, not really. It never really came to that. That's crazy. I think the only ones that made an offer were Minnesota and St. Louis. So that's what's more fascinating about this whole story, is not only your entire NHL work, but the fact that at that point in time,

a big part in American hockey culture, the 80 Olympics, you decide to sign a contract instead of going, and I believe it was with St. Louis, and it was for $50,000 at that time. How long did it take you to, okay, so maybe I heard the wrong number, maybe five grand, but.

He's like, you added a zero. That's small. I was gonna say, I'm like, that's a lot of dough then. I know. That's why I was like a Bitcoin rich. You're Bitcoin rich there, Joe. It's in the movie Miracle when they're asking, where's Joey Mullen? And the guy goes, yeah, there's 50,000 reasons he's not here.

That's why. There you go. See? I forgot about that line. He said 30,000 reasons. Okay, Scott. I'm not that far off for crying out loud. Frigging Hollywood. No way you thought they were winning, Joe. Let's be honest,000. Okay, screw it. I'm not that far off for crying out loud. Frigging Hollywood.

No way you thought they were winning, Joel. Let's be honest, too. How long did it take you to make that decision? And then obviously seeing what ended up happening, was there any regret in the decision? No. It took me no time at all. My dad got sick.

He had a stroke. I'm thinking if mom needs money, you know, we got to be there for them. And I wanted to be part of that. You know, I have two older brothers and a younger brother and younger sister. You know, so I figured here's my opportunity to help out if I can. And, yeah, the decision was made right away. And I let them know that I was turning pro. And that was it for me.

I made the right choice for myself and my family. And back then, when you're turning pro, I mean, even though you're a skilled guy, was there an expectation as an American kid too, like, all i gotta have to fight a little bit like what was it like then in terms of getting maybe getting challenged it was so rare to see american players in the nhl playing pro hockey i i think so was the guy were guys challenging out there physically a little bit oh yeah oh yeah uh you know a lot of intimid intimidation in my first couple of years. I was fortunate enough to have guys like Floyd Thompson and Rick Bonas on my line.

And every time I turned around thinking I have to fight, I'm like, where did they go? And Floyd and Rick would have them down already. And, you know, they took good care of me. You were at Salt Lake and CHL. You were tearing up, but the Blues were also doing well. Were you getting frustrated that they weren't calling you up? I mean, you had 117 points one year. A little bit frustrated that year.

Not so much the first year. It was a real learning experience for me the first year. Getting used to the bigger guys the heavier players you're 40 goals the intimidation and all that went with it and uh yeah uh they actually uh the coach uh i think it was after maybe about the first 15 games he benched me. And I'm like, getting benched already, you know? I'm sitting in the stands. You know, he never really said why. So, you know, I kind of waited it out.

I'm thinking to myself, I'm saying, well, if it doesn't get any better, you know, before the end of the year, I'll just play out my last year if they want me to, and then that should be it. But Christmas came around, and one guy got hurt, and he put me back in, and he put me with Rick Bonas and Floyd Thompson, and we just took off from there. But your first NHL game was actually a playoff game in 1980 was that like an emergency call-up situation what was the story behind that and how well did you do I think it was more desperation on uh St. Louis's part but uh

you know what I got one shift that game okay and oh yeah welcome to my world nobody's feeling sorry for you, Joe. I'm looking at this hockey DB page. I don't give a shit, man. One shift? I would have taken that. But I can't even imagine, like, stepping in a time machine and going back to that era. That was as old school as it got.

Like, playing with guys like Bernie Fodurko, what was it like in the locker room? Were there guys still smoking cigarettes at that time in there? Like, what was the environment like when you stepped into a locker room? Not so much in the locker room. We didn't have too many guys that were smokers at all anyway. But if they were smoking, they were usually smoking in a bar afterwards or, you know, outside. But, yeah, there wasn't – not in St. Louis at the time.

I'm sure around the lake there was a lot more guys smoking. But just like pops in the room afterward, just like, you know. Oh, yeah. Well, we had – in St. Louis we had Budweiser right there. So they used to always send us beer down right after the game. Were you a post-game pop kind of guy? Were you a post-game pop kind of guy would you were you a post-game pop guy would you have a six-pack no i have a couple not a six-pack okay all right all

right well biz mentioned him but bernie forderco i mean you're he's there your rookie year in the nhl and pretty underrated in terms of what fans know about how good this guy was like and even that year i think joe gill i mean you, you played with Doug Gilmore his rookie year. So a guy like Federico and seeing Gilmore that young, could you tell how good Gilmore was going to be? And Federico, can you explain his game to people who never got to see him? Yeah, Bernie was really good. At the time, he wasn't getting the credit that he deserved. Just a great playmaker uh underrated in the corners he'd go in the corner all the time get the puck and just

he knew where to pass it all the time uh good leader good leader on the ice and you know i i room with bernie most of the year and so uh you know he really helped me out we used to talk hockey all the time in a room uh just a great player though uh he could score he could pass uh you know just a and a great team guy and after that joe they traded to calgary and then two months later you end up beating the blues in the Western Conference Final in seven games. That must have been pretty awkward going against your old teammates. I mean, obviously, you've got to do what you've got to do. Yeah, it was really hard.

You're looking at them. You want to say something, but it's the Stanley Cup playoffs, so you're not saying anything. Just trying to focus on what you've got to do and play the game hard. Yeah, that was a good series. They almost came back and beat us, and we were lucky to win that one. And you move on. You lose to the Canadiens by Patrick Waugh's rookie season.

What was the scout report on him? Did you know much about him because, you know, he was a rookie that wasn't a big cheat on him yet? Yeah, no, not really a whole lot at much about him because, you know, he was a rookie. There wasn't a big cheat on him yet. Yeah, no, not really a whole lot at the time. But, you know, we knew he was a good goalie and he played well that year for them. And but, you know, we just said, if we're going to beat this guy, we got to start going to the net hard. And, you know, we did. You know, we had a lot of success doing it.

But unfortunately, we didn't beat them in the finals were you shocked about the trade i mean every time the first trade goes down for people it's usually so surprising we just hit you like a ton of bricks did you see it coming yeah yeah uh well like yeah i kind of knew it was coming around christmas they said there was going to be a trade and i i had contract problems that summer before so i i had a feeling with me you're trying to get that 50k 50 000 more than they wanted to pay me so uh you know it was what it was and uh you know, it was what it was. And, you know, they traded me and I was pretty upset about it. You know, I really liked St. Louis. You know, it was the only place I really knew and was very comfortable there finally.

And, you know, then they kind of just took it away from me. And then going to Calgary, I'm like, where the hell is Calgary? Really similar to Hell's Kitchen. Yeah. Hey, you must have loved it. Too close to New York City. You must have loved it, though, because you guys were like rock stars all of a sudden. I'm not saying in St. Louis it wasn't the focus of things, because I don't think they ever really had basketball.

And maybe at that time they had football. But, I mean, Calgary is just a different beast, man, being in Canada and getting treated like rock stars. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're correct right there. It was like I'm walking through the airport and just regular clothes on, just going my way when I got to Calgary, and people are going, hey, Joey, glad to have you. I'm like, how do they know it's me?

It's St. Louis. I could have walked through the mall and nobody would know it was me, you know? But yeah, it turned out to be the best move of my career, you know? I was sad to leave St. Louis, but Calgary picked me up right away. And, you know, it was really a fun year that year.

We went to the finals. And like I said, we lost. But, you know, it was a great year, a great learning experience for us. And then we just kept building that team out there in Calgary. Yeah. I'm not much of like a history buff, but I think you set the record for most goals scored in a season by an American. Is that true?

Did you accomplish that in Calgary? I don't think it was the most scored, but I think there was only a couple of guys that had 50-goal seasons before me. I think it was Bobby Carpenter and Jimmy Carson. Okay. Let's just pretend for the sake of the question that you did do that. I think he actually did set it, and then Bobby Carpenter broke it. So I think he did have it at one time.

If you say so, Biz, it's true. Biz believes what he says anyway. Time out. Joe, I think at one point you did hold that record maybe already. So I'm not a complete idiot here. And then Bobby did break it, but you did have it for a bit before Bobby broke it. See, I just taught you about a stat you set. How about at that time, though?

At that time, you were getting Canadian dollars, right? You're playing in Canada, so you're kind of losing a little bit. Well, it was written in American, but, yeah, you get the equivalent of Canada, Canadian money. Oh, okay. Yeah. I'm not the big history buff either, but I do know you won the Stanley Cup up there in Calgary. And I'm not really worried about the games as much as what did you do for the party afterwards.

Oh, yeah. Let's get into the fun stuff, Joe. Party afterwards. Oh, man. Well, you know, it was in Montreal so we we didn't leave montreal till about two or three in the morning uh flew back to calgary and then we oh it was not good i can't remember i like stopped at the airport that night. It was like crazy to get to the airport. And so I remember it was like they had the people back against the walls.

And then just as we started to come through, they all started to slide in. It was like a big wave coming at you. And we were like trying to rush right through. Running of the Bulls. It was crazy. But back then they were commercial flights, so did you also fly back with other people on the flight or did they actually book that whole one off?

Oh, no, no, no. We had a private plane for the finals. Oh, okay. Well, that's nice. That was a nice little treat. And we had all our wives with us and everything like that too. We talked to – it was Mike Vernon, I believe, and just the whole vibe around that team

and wanting to do it for Lanny McDonald, right? Like the legend career he had. Do you remember how much you loved him as the leader of your whole club? Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, Lanny got his 500 that year, his 1,000-point that year, I believe. And then he gets one of the biggest goals in the playoffs, you know, that year against Montreal in the finals. And he said, he goes, I got my first goal to Montreal. I got my last goal to Montreal.

So he loved it. But what a great leader, though. Really, really strong strong person great with all the fans no matter what age uh stand there all day talk to them and you know sign autographs and he's just a tremendous guy people bring up the ray bork was maybe the one guy who ended it like the dream way but lanny mcdowell was the same way he doesn it like the dream way. But Lanny McDonald was the same way. He doesn't get the same recognition for the career ending in the dream way that never happens. That's pretty cool.

That was a stacked team as well. I mean, you had Al McInnes on there, Dougie Gilmore, Joe Neuendijk. I mean, you played with a hell of a squad in Calgary. Yeah, Gary Roberts and Hockenlube. Big Joel Otto. Big Joel Otto, Poplinski, and Timmy Hunter, Mark Hunter. Did you also have something around the back of your neck at some point in your career?

Yeah, I had the collar on, like the football player. Like a linebacker. The Steve Grogan neck roll. But did Roberts do it first or do it afterward? Did they have anything to do with one another? I think it was pretty similar timing, I think. I don't know if we wore it at exactly the same time. Because Gary was young when he first got there.

So I don't think it happened right away to Gary. Yeah, so what happened? What was the story? For me, I had a herniated disc in my neck and I had to get it operated on. They took out the disc and it fused by itself. And then, you know, I got I got to play again. But, yeah, you know, it took about eight weeks to come back from the time I got my operation. So it took about eight weeks to come back from the time I got my operation.

And so to protect it from my head from snapping back my neck, we put that collar. And I had to, like, tie it down to the shoulder pads and everything and keep it tight so my head wouldn't snap back. I got to ask, what was a young Brett Hull like? I know you weren't with him too, too long, but what was he like as a youngster? Not much different than he was when he got older. Just coming in the locker room, telling stories.

Yeah, telling stories. Yeah. What a wild man. Well, hey, I mean, we talked about all the legends you play with in Calgary, and then you end up going right over to Pittsburgh and talk about, I mean, we talked about all the legends you play with in Calgary, and then you end up going right over to Pittsburgh and, like, talk about, I mean, Mario, man. That is, I mean, he's, you know, second in line, I would assume, behind Wayne. Yeah, I mean, Mario is, you know, he was right up there.

He was young, too, you know, just a couple of years in the league at the time. And, you know, a tremendous leader. You know, just a great guy. Even at a young age, you know, you could see this guy had it. You know, he was going to be up there, you know, in the points and everything. It was unfortunate he had so many injuries, and not injuries, but illness and everything and sore backs. But you know what? His career is tremendous, and what a great guy to have on your team.

Did you feel 10 years younger playing with him? No, 10 years older. One of our favorite stories about Mario is when we all were in practice with him and you guys were trying to bag skate us, you and Edzo, and he gave the, no, we're not skating. Was that something he did when he was younger too uh i think he could get away with it yeah yeah bag skates revolved around his t times that's kind of just when you're that good that's how it goes down was he a lead by example type of of guy, or would he snap every once in a while if need be? No, I think he's more a lead-by-example, yeah.

He was, you know, we had guys in the room, Ronnie Francis, Brian Troche, Kevin Stevens, Tarket that was there. But, you know, we had enough guys that were boisterous leaders. And Mario didn't have to be that guy. You know, he just showed us what to do. He's got four points every game. That's leading.

Who are your typical line mates, Joe, that you would normally skate with in Pittsburgh? Pittsburgh was mostly Ronnie Francis when he got there. I started out with Johnny Cullen and Kevin Stevens that first year I was there. And then when we made the trade, Johnny Cullen went to Hartford.

Ronnie came in and I started playing with Ronnie and Kevin right away. And then it was Ronnie and Yaga and Kevin went away. And then it was Ronnie and Yaga and Kevin went to Mario's line with Tarket the following year. And

yeah, I stood there until probably my last year and I was just, you know, my last year I was just kind of trying to get that 500 goal. You got it. I'm not done until I get this thing. I was playing with a little bit of everybody.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Team effort here. Now, is it the 91 Cup? Was that the infamous pool party at Mario's? Or was that the 92 Cup? Yeah. Yes. That was the first one, I believe.

Was it you threw it in there? Not me. I couldn't pick it up. It was too heavy for me. Oh, yeah. You were chucking weights in the summertime. No, he had a neck brace on still. The linebacker

pad. That's awesome. Now, were those two teams the best rosters you've ever been a part of? I'm assuming. All-star and Hall of Fame-leading rosters. Yeah. Yeah, but I think I've got to throw Calgary in there, too. That was a pretty good lineup there, too.

You know? Especially defense-wise. You know, you had Bob Ramich, Gary Suda, Al McGinnis, Rick Natras, and Dana Merzen, Jamie McCowan. All good players. You guys ever do a reunion of any of those cup teams, maybe 10-, 20-year reunion about any of those? I mean, you got three of them.

I didn't know if the groups got together. Yeah, I know, 89, 91, 92. So it's like we were doing the first couple of years, I think the 15th we did it, the 20th, and the 25th, and then I think it's time to die out. We didn't really do much on the 30th. Guys' wives are starting to get another reunion.

Yeah, it's just the 27th, honey. See you in a week. And when you guys repeated, you guys had a scare. I mean, you were down three games to one of the caps in that first round. How did you guys rally to come back there? I think a lot of people forget about that.

Yeah, well, you know, when you're playing with those type of players, you know you can turn it around. And you just got to do the right things. And everybody's got to do their jobs and help each other out. And that's all we talked about. It's like being ready and doing the right things and making our shifts a little bit quicker, staying more fresh in our line changes.

You guys get off the ice and let 66 and 68 out there a little more. I know those kind of teams. Well, you know what? They're your best players. You've got to use them, right? Yep. So, you know, and those two guys together, they can make magic. That's for sure.

You must not have been chirping on the ice then either because you won a couple Lady Bings, eh? Yeah, you know me. I don't chirp. The only one I chirp out is you. Yeah, I mean, yeah. You were a little spicy when you were coach of the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, but you're coaching young kids, so they're driving you nuts.

But, man, that's crazy. Two times you ended up doing that thing, especially with how physical the game was. That was just the guys that were fighting amongst each other. That's true. There was a lot of hooligans in that locker room, that's for sure. Did you know you wanted to coach? As the career started winding down, you knew you wanted to get involved in that part of the game?

You know, I always said, no way you'll get me to coach after I'm done. Really? Then when it was time not to play, I was like, what am I going to do? And so I said, let's try it, you know. If you don't like it, you don't like it, you leave. But I tried it. I liked it right away.

And I'm glad I got the opportunity. I know R.A. is probably going to ask you about your small stint in Boston. But towards the end, given the deterioration, was just 500 the goal? Were you just trying to hang on until you set that record? That last year, pretty much, yeah. It took a long time, though. Too long. You're like, I can't go back to camp next year.

This has to happen. Ronnie Francis was saying, when you get it, just skate right off the ice. Oh, that's unbelievable now it's now he brought up going to Boston Joe was that sort of almost like a full circle thing where you know you started off at BC and you know we're able to play back in Boston I know it wasn't your hometown but you know was there some I kind of took it that way I you know I was real excited about coming to boston and and playing and uh you know like you said come full circle and uh but uh you know i was hurt a lot that season didn't work out as well as i thought and uh uh i just kind of put it behind me and you know and when uh craig called me and asked me if I wanted to come back

for one more year, I jumped at the opportunity and took it. I mean, I do want to mention one game. I know we weren't playing that game. When Stevie Casper stapled Stevens and Neely to the bench after dressing them, did he just completely lose the room after that? I mean, because he never coached after that. Yeah, you know what? I was at home because I was injured.

I hurt my knee. And so I was at home when that happened. But I was watching on TV and I knew it wasn't good. Yeah, absolutely. Now, we haven't mentioned your brother Brian yet.

He did end up playing for the Rangers. That must have been a tremendous source of pride for your family, growing up in the shadow of MSG and then him going to play for the squad. Yeah. And Brian, he was the stick boy for the Rangers while he was in high school. Wow. So he did that for about three or four years, I believe, and then went on to college.

And so he loved it there. He loved, you know, he loved Winnipeg. You know, Winnipeg drafted him after his second year in college. He left because Bob Johnson left. So he left that same year and he made Winnipeg that first year. And he played with Dale Howichuk and Paul McLean. So, you know, first line, they were a great line too. They were tough to play against, very skilled.

And, yeah, he had a good career up until the time he got that stroke that he was playing in the playoffs and got hit in the back of the leg with the puck. And he got a blood clot, and then it started to travel after the playoffs were over that summer, and he took a stroke. Tried to come back to play, but he was having seizures and everything, so he never really made it back playing. And had to retire. He was having seizures and everything, so he never really made it back playing.

And had to retire. But he had a good 12-year career. Yeah, 800-and-something games. So now we get to the power. You coach this knucklehead to my left. Oh, my goodness. You came, and then Al Sims was there as well. I didn't realize Al Sims led the NHL in plus-minus one year because he was

playing with Bob Yor so he got to collect all the pluses he would just stay at the defensive blue line but it was it was great I mean like I said I was a bit of a loose cannon at that time and I think he was like oh my goodness like why is this guy running around like a complete meathead and I think at one point you were just like hey why don't you try just like sitting in your stall and relaxing and thinking about the game before the game and i was like well that's a genius idea no we used to we used to have to go to practice rinks i have to dress put my skates on because we're all half dressed uh and uh i put my skates on in the rooms that they were in. And so I'd listen to Biz hold court every morning. Oh, Jesus.

Sorry about that. Music, women, this and that. More women. Women. Drinking. I'd say, hey, Biz, you ever watch a hockey game the night before, you know? Try to pick something up? You fucking asshole.

Oh, my God, is that funny. We got to back it up, though, Joey, because we talk about it before. You were assistant coach in Pittsburgh. Do you remember when Biz made it to the very last cut for the team as a defenseman yes yeah people don't believe it but you were there his first camp was awesome he's like watching him well like you were talking to your partner we could hear you're up top you're talking to your partner do this do that you know and uh you took charge and you played really well that camp. And we kept you longer than you were supposed to stay

just to take that look at you. And we were close to keeping you. And then they said, you know, in the long run, he's probably better off going there and getting more ice cream. And then he asked Mario to go to lunch, and they sent him back to him. I said, we go to a first-class restaurant. I got an extra per diem pack.

I stayed until the end of camp. I legit thought I was rich because I got like an extra thousand bucks because I got to stay all the way to the end. But, oh, man, those were definitely some fun times. You were probably too good because that was the year towards the end of the season. I don't know if you coaches knew this, but I think maybe you guys were giving us some of the money to go out and not purposely lose but to play a little guilty because uh the big draft was coming up the next two years yeah we gotta get cause we were so

bad we end up getting malkin and crosby yeah yeah putting laxatives in our coffee involved in that no all right yeah playing biz on the first power play. Hey, in that first training camp, though, when I ended up staying a little bit longer, I remember one of the sessions I was on with Mario, and I was so nervous. Remember the drill where you had to go pick up the puck, go behind the net, snap it to the guy on the wall, then come around other guy, and then hit the centerman, and then you go down? I came around the net, and I see Mario, and I could have put this puck farther from his stick. I must have missed his stick by 15 feet, and had to blow the drill down and I had to restart.

I felt like the biggest loser on the planet missing Mario's tape that far. And you feel like the whole world's watching at that time. So I'm not sure if that's what to do. He's got a 15 foot reach. Oh, I don't think he moved the muscle. He was just worried about his tee time. He's like, let's get the fuck out of here. Oh, I don't think he moved the muscle. He was just worried about his tee time. He's like, let's get the fuck out of here. Oh, man.

But yeah, what do you remember about coaching Witt and Merles? Witt was just there for what? One game? That year? No, I came up for a little bit that year. I didn't make much of an impact. Nobody still remembers. He played me four minutes a game, Biz.

He probably doesn't remember. But you would feed me and Bugsy Malone, I got to say, 200 one-timers each after every practice. You were always great about helping us out. And, you know, me and Bugsy needed the extra time to sweat out the booze from the night before. That's true. That's true.

That's true. We appreciate it. You helped us a lot. Yeah. No, I love doing that stuff like that because that's what I did all the time. Just take one time after practice and stuff. You still had a cannon when you were coaching us, I remember. This is how you shoot the puck.

I was like, holy shit. This guy's 55 years old. He's sniping still on Sebastian Caron. Well, we want to congratulate you, obviously, on everything with three ice. I mean, the NHL career, man. You're a Hall of Famer for a reason, man. An American legend. And, R.A., what do you got?

I just want to say, even Joe, as an American kid who couldn't skate, you were somebody I looked up to and rooted for. And you opened the door for guys like Witt as an American. So I just want to say thank you as a hockey fan, as an American hockey fan, for what you did. I always love watching you play. I appreciate that. You know what? All you guys are great.

You guys, you two, I mean, with all your success on Spittin' Checklets and the Whitney, Pink Whitney and Biz on the TV, you guys are doing great. I appreciate it. Thank you, Joe.

This show is a lot of fun to do. Thank you, Joe. You did tape the way. This show is a lot of fun to do. Joe, thank you so much. I wish you would have told me about the two-way electrical tape when you were coaching me. Maybe we would have scored a few more fucking goals. You had your headphones on. You remember that one? What do you mean?

Like in the locker room? No. what do you mean like in the locker room no i told i told you guys you got you guys stay out and you know you got about five or ten minutes do a little bit extra all of a sudden he comes flying by me from the locker room with his headphones on oh on the i was a ghoul i was a i had my ipod on and oh yeah yeah. Joe, I was an idiot. I looked at you. I go, where are you going? I'm going out to skate.

Not with those on, you know. Well, I appreciate you putting up with me, Joe. You're a beauty. And I know Chach and Dom back home in Welland, Ontario. I actually called them before this interview. And I don't know how much we didn't really get into Tom, your brother's career. But he played at, where was it, American International College in, where was it, Springfield, Mass? Springfield, yeah.

Yeah, and they were a big part of Welland hockey culture, and I had to squeeze him in here at the end and your friendship with them. Yeah, they are great people, the very best. They used to pick me up when I came to Buffalo every time. We'd go to their restaurant and eat. You would come in with your dad sometimes. Yeah, most times. He sees Duggo, baby.

I appreciate you always being so kind to me. It was funny how it came around full circle to you coaching me and then us getting to get you on Chickled. You're the man and we really appreciate you for all your time here and congratulations on a hell of a career thanks bitch you know i love you guys huge thanks to joe for joining us a while back for nice chat what a what a great guy i really enjoyed shooting the breeze and i'm just a tremendous fellow and hopefully you enjoyed it as well. And we do want to let you know his interview was also brought to you by Skrill. Skrill is the perfect digital wallet for gamblers because it was built for gamblers. Sophisticated gamblers use it to manage their bankroll, whether they're playing games like poker or betting on their favorite sports.

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the lead a little bit. And speaking of Skrill, Merles, I don't know if you're gonna have to reload your Skrill a little bit after the Women's World Championships. Our American ladies lost to the Canadians once again. What's the take on this one, Merles? I didn't get to you're going to have to reload your escrow a little bit after the Women's World Championships. Our American ladies lost to the Canadians once again. What's the take on this one, Merles? I didn't get to see much of it. Yeah, I had a lot of faith in the women. They played a great tournament. I was watching a ton of the games over here, and they looked like they were going to finally get past them for the gold.

And I loaded up on them, but I'm paying my penance today. I got my Spittin' Chicklets Canada shirt on and the other one here. Both teams were great. Both goalies were great. Nicole Hensley for team USA. She's so good. Kept a minute. And then Anne Renee Desbians, just, she stole the game.

Third period US was all over that. I had my arms up in the air five or six times to tie it up. It didn't go in. And the play of the game was of course, this, this girl that is compared woman that is compared to Crosby all the time because she's so clutch Marie Philip Poulin. Oh yeah. She's known for scoring the big goal, but this time she dives in front of the shot in the last couple of seconds

blocks the shot to preserve the win. And that's why she's, they call her the goat, I think, just like Crosby. And it was a great game and congratulations to both teams. It was a great tournament. Yeah, I didn't get to see too much of it with traveling and whatnot. Gee, we got some other news to get to. Pittsburgh update you, I understand you have for us

for opening the season? Yes. Pittsburgh, the tickets for the pittsburgh live show will go on sale this thursday at 3 p.m eastern time this is going to be one of the biggest live shows we've ever done this i'm sorry i'll correct myself this will absolutely be the biggest live show we've ever done it's at carnegie music hall in pittsburgh oh my all the details will be released on our social media. Merle's will be there. Tons of special guests will be there. Former Penguins,

former teammates of the boys. We are super, super excited. Biz has another major announcement he's going to make. But most importantly, 3 p.m. on Thursday, tickets go on sale. Let's sell this thing out. Let's sell this thing out quick, guys, because we've done live shows in the past, and they were at bars. We're doing a real live show venue. We're breaking out all the stops. We're planning a live show over the next four weeks. So we are super excited. But Thursday, 3 p.m., follow our social media for the link, and we're ready to go. And what's the date of the show for the folks listening at home? It will be Friday, October 14th. Awesome. Awesome.

Can't wait to get back to Steel City. Looking forward to it. Also, you mentioned Biz, of course. Episode one of Biz Does the Coast last week from Orlando. Hilarious. Listen, we've had a lot of laughs on the show, like for six and a half years. I don't know if I've ever seen Whit.

I mean, he's always talked verbally. He was in that elevator out of breath and he couldn't talk and dead seriously puts his hand up to like tell the camera no. And it's a fucking bear paw. I mean, it was like the most unintentionally hilarious thing. The wit dog ever. He was dying in that elevator. But he puts the bar up. I lose my shit that that was so goddamn funny.

I think it's cool because we don't like, so we put up so much video content on our YouTube channel, but none of it's really like hockey original video content. Do you know what I mean? We post podcast clips. We post the podcast. We have the sandbaggers, but we never really do like original hockey content. And that's what we're really doing with this Biz Does BC series. I mean, Biz Does, the Coast series.

And episode two, it's you're going to cry. I'll say that right now. It's very emotional. And then episode three, it's the funniest thing you'll ever watch. So, I mean, this series is just, it's so good. Sean Apuzzo did such a good job on it. And, you know, the more people watch subscribe, like the video comment on it, the more we'll be able to do more hockey, original content like this.

Nice. Can't wait. And episode two drops Wednesday at 8 PM. This is going to be hitting Atlanta for Derek Nesbitt's 1000th game. Like G said, don't want to miss that. Last week we were talking about the Woodstock documentaries on Netflix and HBO and little birdie told us that Merle's was actually at Woodstock 99. We couldn't get them last week. So we got them now, dude, what the fuck? Where were you doing all this mayhem? Like, were you taking pot in any of it not burning shit down,

but you let Merle's perspective boots on the ground. Yeah. So this was after my freshman year in college, I just got drafted by the penguins and I'm on a bender. I'm on a bender, but I still have no money. I have no money. So the ticket was 150 bucks. I think I was making $300 a week running the clock at my high school hockey summer league. So I spent, and you're living week by week back then. If you got $300 on Friday, it's gone by Sunday. So I had the, I had 300 bucks. I paid my brother back the one 50 for the ticket. So I go there with 150 bucks and they tell us you can't bring anything in there. You, you, I remember I snuck a water bottle in my sleeping bag and the

guy dug through that and ripped it out. I was like, we were, we were there early. We were one of the first ones going in and it was the tightest security. So we walk in there with nothing, just a tent and a sleeping bag. And I have 150 bucks cash. And, and, and it showed it in documentary. It was the two hottest days I've ever been a part of. And I didn't have, I had no money and you couldn't spend money to drink beer. All you did was spend your money on water and food. And as they showed it, the prices were crazy and blah, blah, blah. But we ran out of money by Sunday morning. Thank God. So we just, we left, we left before the, before all the real craziness started. And thank God, because on our, on our ride home, we started hearing about it on the radio. I like the fires were started and the riot and like, thank God we were gone. But, uh, the main reason I went was for the tragically hip. They played early, I think on

Saturday morning and it was a great show. And then there was Dave Matthews band, a couple of bands later. It was, it was an amazing experience. And, but it was, it was brutal. It wasn't fun. Like I wasn't drinking. I obviously I don't do drugs, but it was water and pizza, $10 pizzas and $10 waters. So where were you that Friday night when Limp Bizkit and Colon, when the whole crowd was going nuts and swaying? Were you on the field? I was way back.

For Tragically Hip, I was right down in the pit. I was 15, 20 rows out for them during that day. I think it might have been um kid rock came right on after them and there's the the bottles bottle throwing i was right down in the pits for that but at night i was in the back i i'm i'm not tough i'm i'm out of there i was in the back watching were you fearful at all was there any were you at any point scared or had it not gotten that level of craziness while you were still there?

Merle's was too crippled to be scared. I'm telling you, I couldn't get crippled. I didn't have enough money to pay for the beer. And you had to go in this like separate beer tent. It was the worst experience. You couldn't bring in a cooler. It was brutal. But I stayed away.

But that was my last festival experience. Self-explanatory, why? Yeah, well, we're at the end of it. But the documentary was great and it really showed you everything that went on. Yeah, the Netflix one was way better. The weird thing is, I don't know, I've obviously lost a few brain cells since then,

but Metallica was there, I'm pretty sure. But somehow in the documentary, they somehow was like the only band that stayed out of it. But I'm pretty sure they were in there and they got the crowd going too, but they just invited the wrong bands to an event like that. And it was just, I'm interested how Metallica stayed out of that documentary.

Yeah, they played. Metallica definitely played played it says they played at east stage yeah i'm guessing probably a rights issue i would i'm sure i'm sure maybe they maybe they just you know said fucking don't put us in because maybe a bad luck all these years later but yeah that's that's what we said last week it was the combination of bands they use that's why they got you know a pretty rowdy crowd and then obviously security and all the other shit together but so uh gee what have you been up to all week what's shaking with you you've been taking it easy i said you see any movies any tv shows you kill some good time lately or what uh watched episode three of house of the dragon so that was once again incredible i'm i'm obsessed with this show but like i said all right other than that i'm just

so excited that football is back uh i just watched so much college football this past Saturday and the games were not Sunday night. That LSU Florida State game. That was fucking bananas, especially for the overs betters. Like that was crazy. So just sitting on my couch, being alone in my apartment, eating buff dip, watching college football by myself. That is like my ideal day. That is my ideal Saturday. I did it Sunday, too too so i've just been

chilling all right but there i do have a little issue here and i was i wasn't going to bring this up but i said it's self-care september right i got a text last night from my buddies who are all going to miami this weekend for the pats season opener self-care september miami for the Pats season opener. Self-care September, Miami for the Pats opener. I don't know what to do, but I think all signs are pointing to me taking one weekend off in self-care September, heading down to Miami with the boys, watching the Pats take home a W against the Dolphins because I've never been to Miami before. So I got to go check it out.

Yeah. You want me to tell you what happens next week? You get the invite for the Pats home opener and you're back on the sauce again. This is, there's always a reason it's tough. That's why I took it so easy this weekend, Merle's. Cause I knew in the back of my head, I'm like, NFL starts next week. I don't know if I can keep this going. Go down, get buckle dehydrated and watch him get smoked. They always struggle down there for whatever reason.

I do. I don't get it. I know Belichick brought him a little earlier this year to get used to that Florida heat, but fuck, yeah, man. It's been like 15 years. They just struggle down there. It is weird no matter how good they've been. And plus, it's hot as balls down there.

So I went to a bachelor party this time of year when they played there it's a struggle if you're a sweaty northerner like myself but i actually this week i went and saw a movie i've probably seen i don't know 75 100 times over the years 47 year old movie i started twice at the theater last week jaws i mentioned it last week now i knew it was coming out on imax i had seen top gun maverick and i saw et on on imax so i already like Top Gun Maverick, and I saw E.T. on IMAX, so I already got my tickets for that, and then I saw I was doing this thing called Real D 3D.

They kind of, well, it's 3D, not like shit coming at you like old school, but just they make it like a 3D movie. So I saw the 3D version first. It was fine. It didn't make it any better or worse. It was kind of like watching through a view master, but then I went with my cousins on Saturday, the IMAX. Absolutely incredible, man.

If you could see any movie on IMAX, I'm getting spoiled because, like, you know me, ADD, my brain, like, kind of wanders even in the theater. But when you're on an IMAX with that screen so big and so loud, you can't help but pay attention to the goddamn movie. And I don't know if Jaws is coming through any of your neighborhoods or whoever's listening. If you can see it on the real IMA not the not the imax that they put our old school data is like the real imax data absolutely incredible to see this movie man it just like

reminds you as corny as it might sound like the magic of movies man it's it's awesome all right go to movie snack or you one of those guys that brings your own oh i'm byos man oh yeah oh man i get you get they get you they gouge you like crazy man i got a candy in my pocket and a fucking drink in the back pocket and they don't even say anything to you anyway you can bring a freaking dinner in there now they wouldn't say anything anyways but yeah i'm a byos guy so uh all right boys any final notes before we wrap up the old episode here no i got a nice little trick though for the listeners going to the movie theaters my buddy jim l Lorenz used to do it.

He would say he's going with a girl or even with a buddy who cares. Get the box of wine, open the box of wine, pull the bag out and have the girl put it in her purse. You have the bag of wine put in her purse, couple paper cups. Boom. Get in there and you're having some free red wine as you fly. So a little movie hack for our listeners. You always throw some of those Pink Whitney shooters in your back pocket to those things. there and you're having some free red wine as you fly. So a little movie hack for our listeners. You can always throw some of those Pink Whitney shooters in your back pocket, too. Those things are so small. I was sneaking them into Saratoga all summer because they don't allow glass in.

So you can only have the plastic. So I had the plastic nips going around trying to rally everybody. We had a couple of celebratory ones, but there was nothing better than pink Whitney and that, that hot sun. It was great. Is the spa officially done? Was this the last weekend? Today? I think it's the last day. Today's the last day. I kind of, I pretend when I, once I leave that it's over, but I've seen Elio, Mr. Ice,

keep posting pics. So he's him and Dave have been getting terrible beats lately on there. But yeah, I think today's the last day. It was another great meet up there at places. Unbelievable guys. Before we wrap up, I just got to say one more time. Biz does the coast episode one drop last Wednesday, episode two drops this Wednesday, 8 PM on the chicklets YouTube channel and tickets for the Pittsburgh live

show. Go on sale Thursday at 3 p.m. Eastern time. Follow our social media for more information. All right. Well said, G. Hopefully everybody enjoyed the show. Have a fantastic week and we'll catch you next week. Take care, everyone. As always, we like to thank our terrific sponsors here on spit and chiclet.

So a huge thanks to our longtime friends at pink Whitney and new Amsterdam vodka. Big thanks to our longtime friends over at Roman as well. Huge thanks to everybody over at Skrill and a big thanks to our friends at sling TV. Have a good one, everybody.